2025 Political Thread

[Anti Marine Layer]

Do you have any examples of actual individuals who fit this mould, or is your fake grievance and paranoia making you construct yet another fictitious person to be mad at?

Yes, there's Ibram X. Kendi, the guy who says “In order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anti-capitalist." and “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” He gets paid up to $20,000 per speech that he makes to public school students all around the country. His books were being used as training material for the military. He's admired by the Democrats.

There's the Colorado teacher, Brian Lindstrom who got the teachers union to pass a resolution. He says "CEA believes that capitalism requires exploitation of children, public schools, land, labor, and/or resources and, therefore, the only way to fully address systemic racism (the school to prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new, equitable economic system."

More quotes from him:




Here's another example:

EXPOSED: How High School Gender Studies is Pushing Communist Indoctrination

And likely violating Donald Trump's executive orders.

karlyn.substack.com

And the full history of the attempted revolution, which even Xi Van Fleet who escaped communist China agrees with.

Marx at 200: Classical Marxism vs. Cultural Marxism

In truth, cultural Marxism not only exists but exists as a dominant form of Marxism in America and much of the West today.

patriotpost.us

But most likely the news sources you read say all of those things are just conspiracy theories and people like Karlyn Borysenko, Paul Kengor and Christopher Rufo are far-right, while Joy Reid is simply a "progressive"

Of course there are some conspiracy theories from the right, but the left uses the term "conspiracy theorist" just like all their other favorite pejoratives (racist, fascist, Nazi, etc.) because free speech has not officially been outlawed yet, so instead they have to call conservatives all sorts of nasty things to shut them down. Some conservatives, however, are not willing to be shut down.

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

If you don’t know about the legal immigrants being deported, you aren’t very informed on Trump’s actions.

It looks like the legal ones are the people who are here on temporary protected status, humanitarian parole, and asylum claims. Biden extended the duration. The ones on TPS are technically legal, but they would not need TPS if they went through the legal process to enter the United States and applied for citizenship.

Legal immigrants are Donald Trump's next target. Could he deport them?

The former president has said he is coming for those in the United States under Temporary Protected Status and Humanitarian Parole.

www.newsweek.com

A large number of them are the 15,000-20,000 Haitians who came to Springfield, accounting for 1/3 of their total population. While the eating pets stuff is not verified, they have done things like taken over people's backyards, made neighborhoods unsafe, created a housing crisis, and caused bus crashes which are killing children on their way to school.

What We Know About the Haitians Taking Over This Ohio Town

Tens of thousands of Haitian nationals have taken over a small city in southwestern Ohio, and now th

townhall.com

Then there's this

 

[maroonedinhsv]

It looks like the legal ones are the people who are here on temporary protected status, humanitarian parole, and asylum claims. Biden extended the duration. The ones on TPS are technically legal, but they would not need TPS if they went through the legal process to enter the United States and applied for citizenship.

Legal immigrants are Donald Trump's next target. Could he deport them?

The former president has said he is coming for those in the United States under Temporary Protected Status and Humanitarian Parole.

www.newsweek.com

A large number of them are the 15,000-20,000 Haitians who came to Springfield, accounting for 1/3 of their total population. While the eating pets stuff is not verified, they have done things like taken over people's backyards, made neighborhoods unsafe, created a housing crisis, and caused bus crashes which are killing children on their way to school.

What We Know About the Haitians Taking Over This Ohio Town

Tens of thousands of Haitian nationals have taken over a small city in southwestern Ohio, and now th

townhall.com

Then there's this

Your mom came to the states seeking asylum, right?

Like I said, you may not like the law, but they’re here legally.

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

Yes, there's Ibram X. Kendi, the guy who says “In order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anti-capitalist." and “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” He gets paid up to $20,000 per speech that he makes to public school students all around the country. His books were being used as training material for the military. He's admired by the Democrats.

There's the Colorado teacher, Brian Lindstrom who got the teachers union to pass a resolution. He says "CEA believes that capitalism requires exploitation of children, public schools, land, labor, and/or resources and, therefore, the only way to fully address systemic racism (the school to prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new, equitable economic system."

More quotes from him:

View attachment 36970
View attachment 36969

Here's another example:

EXPOSED: How High School Gender Studies is Pushing Communist Indoctrination

And likely violating Donald Trump's executive orders.

karlyn.substack.com

And the full history of the attempted revolution, which even Xi Van Fleet who escaped communist China agrees with.

Marx at 200: Classical Marxism vs. Cultural Marxism

In truth, cultural Marxism not only exists but exists as a dominant form of Marxism in America and much of the West today.

patriotpost.us

But most likely the news sources you read say all of those things are just conspiracy theories and people like Karlyn Borysenko, Paul Kengor and Christopher Rufo are far-right, while Joy Reid is simply a "progressive"

Of course there are some conspiracy theories from the right, but the left uses the term "conspiracy theorist" just like all their other favorite pejoratives (racist, fascist, Nazi, etc.) because free speech has not officially been outlawed yet, so instead they have to call conservatives all sorts of nasty things to shut them down. Some conservatives, however, are not willing to be shut down.

These individuals are American citizens and did not immigrate here nor are they the descendants of Marxists. These are Americans like you or I, no more and no less. I am sorry you find their arguments so triggering.

 

[Evan]

I'm not sure who the legal ones are, but maybe they're here on green cards or false claims of asylum or (not so) temporary protected status, or maybe they have committed crimes.

Some of the ones who are descendants of the Marxists who brought the Frankfurt School to America after they got booted out of Germany by Hitler may be here legally too, but they hate America and can't stand the fact that their Wokeshevik cultural revolution is being hampered by Trump and Musk (who used to be revered by the left).

Do you support the deportation of Valentina Gomez?

 

[bjdeming]

Finally I begin to understand the viewpoint of Congress critters. Guess we really do have the government we deserve.

 

[andyhb]

First thing I noticed when I read this is it was posted by Brian Tyler Cohen, so I knew I'd need to go find the full quote. Sure enough, paints a little bit of a different picture. Lutnick makes an out of touch comment, but that tweet (or whatever you call it from BlueSky) is exactly the type of propaganda that the media does today. Takes a snippet of truth, interjects an additional word to change the context (seniors "shouldn't" call), then pushes it out to the masses.

Here's the video of the part of the interview that this is referring to. That comment about older Americans is out of touch because people that need it to make ends meat are going to call and scream, but this video paints an entirely different picture of what he's trying to say than that screenshot you posted.

What are you even talking about or trying to defend there? Howard Lutnick's MIL wouldn't complain because she has her billionaire son-in-law to bail her out. He's scum. Millions of Americans on SS do not have that luxury. Whitewashing people complaining about missing their SS payments as "fraudsters", especially when this upheaval never needed to happen in the first place, is wrong.

 

[Jacob]

What are you even talking about or trying to defend there? Howard Lutnick's MIL wouldn't complain because she has her billionaire son-in-law to bail her out. He's scum. Millions of Americans on SS do not have that luxury. Whitewashing people complaining about missing their SS payments as "fraudsters", especially when this upheaval never needed to happen in the first place, is wrong.

Did you bothering reading my post and watching the video before typing this response? I said it was an extremely out of touch comment and that he’s absolutely wrong that the average person wouldn’t raise a stink, but it wasn’t in the same context that the image you posted is trying to make it.

 

[bjdeming]

But our taxes will not go down. (VC: Venture capital, and I can't help thinking "Billionaire Boys Club applicants", though that is probably unfair to the company, which I know nothing about -- long term, though, given human nature, probably spot on):

Bluesky

bsky.app

 

[bjdeming]

Sometimes parody can make a very strong point by saying the exact opposite of what they mean.



I'd include something from the Babylon Bee for political balance, but this old heterosexual feminist thinks they're misogynous and stopped reading it years ago. The Onion is not perfect, either, of course, but it hasn't tripped my silly little wires in a while.

 

[bjdeming]

I really hope this doesn't verify, but Lithuania and Poland reportedly are mining their Russia-facing borders.

What happens in the US still has worldwide effects.

 

[andyhb]

Did you bothering reading my post and watching the video before typing this response? I said it was an extremely out of touch comment and that he’s absolutely wrong that the average person wouldn’t raise a stink, but it wasn’t in the same context that the image you posted is trying to make it.

Your whole post made it seem like the people calling it out were wrong or overblowing it. There's no real context missing there. He whitewashed people complaining and calling about SS cuts and delays as "fraudsters", that's all that really needs to be said. What else was missing in the video? I watched it.

I'm sick of giving these f*cking assholes who are destroying my field (not to mention endangering my status here in the country) any semblance of the benefit of the doubt, they deserve none of it.

 

[TH2002]

Your whole post made it seem like the people calling it out were wrong or overblowing it. There's no real context missing there. He whitewashed people complaining and calling about SS cuts and delays as "fraudsters", that's all that really needs to be said. What else was missing in the video? I watched it.

I'm sick of giving these f*cking assholes who are destroying my field (not to mention endangering my status here in the country) any semblance of the benefit of the doubt, they deserve none of it.

Just curious, Andy - where do you see yourself on the political spectrum?

 

[Jacob]

Your whole post made it seem like the people calling it out were wrong or overblowing it. There's no real context missing there. He whitewashed people complaining and calling about SS cuts and delays as "fraudsters", that's all that really needs to be said. What else was missing in the video? I watched it.

I'm sick of giving these f*cking assholes who are destroying my field (not to mention endangering my status here in the country) any semblance of the benefit of the doubt, they deserve none of it.

I was pointing out the biased way it was portrayed. Media and those in the media do it all the time. You are welcome to interpret it as you want. I simply disagree with the portrayal from that tweet and the conclusion you’ve come to on the intent.

 

[andyhb]

Just curious, Andy - where do you see yourself on the political spectrum?

Anti-everything that Trump and his cronies are about.

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

Turns out DOGE's actions have cost the US about a half trillion dollars of tax revenue in the few short months they've been around: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/irs-predicts-doge-lost-half-a-trillion-dollars-for-the-usa

Needless to say, that is a staggering amount that absolutely dwarfs any amount of "fraud" or "savings" the group has found via cuts. We've lost a significant amount of soft power, ceded leadership in the health and technology fields, and needlessly fired tens of thousands, and have nothing to show for it. Great work all around.

 

[Evan]

Turns out DOGE's actions have cost the US about a half trillion dollars of tax revenue in the few short months they've been around: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/irs-predicts-doge-lost-half-a-trillion-dollars-for-the-usa

Needless to say, that is a staggering amount that absolutely dwarfs any amount of "fraud" or "savings" the group has found via cuts. We've lost a significant amount of soft power, ceded leadership in the health and technology fields, and needlessly fired tens of thousands, and have nothing to show for it. Great work all around.

Look, I've made my hatred for Elon quite clear, and I think DOGE has screwed up the majority of things they've touched so far, but that estimate is a pure hypothetical. Worth a news article? Sure. However, it is being presented as essentially an absolute by you and Josh Marshall from TPM, and I don't think the IRS analysis is enough evidence to jump to that level of certainty. Just my 2 cents...

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

Look, I've made my hatred for Elon quite clear, and I think DOGE has screwed up the majority of things they've touched so far, but that estimate is a pure hypothetical. Worth a news article? Sure. However, it is being presented as essentially an absolute by you and Josh Marshall from TPM, and I don't think the IRS analysis is enough evidence to jump to that level of certainty. Just my 2 cents...

That's a pretty weak attempt to hand-waive it away. It's the IRS itself that's bracing for a 10% drop due to the $500b decline over the last few months. You can read more about it here from the Washington Post: https://archive.ph/0VIgf

This isn't just one news outlet or one person taking something out of proportion, it's well-sourced reporting on what the IRS expects based on its own long-running modeling of revenues. If you think the IRS is wrong in this modeling, feel free to call out the inconsistencies or problems with their methodologies.

 

[Evan]

This is...stunningly incompetent:

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans

U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

www.theatlantic.com

I can't help but think of all the drama over Hillary's email server. This is infinitely worse. You've got, basically, every single cabinet official and the VP having highly classified discussions about an active military operation on an insecure messaging app.

Waltz, Hegseth, Rubio, Vance, Susie Wiles, Bessent, John Ratcliffe, etc. What in the world were they thinking? There's absolutely zero justification for having a conversation like this on Signal. And, then, you accidentally include a journalist? Lucky it wasn't some other accidental contact.

If Iran, China, Russia, or another bad actor had malware on one of those devices they captured all of that realtime highly classified military information.

This should be a massive scandal, however, since this administration absolutely doesn't care about integrity, ethics, or safeguarding classified information (unless the latter can be used to attack their political enemies) very little would come from it.

In any other administration this is a 10/10 -gate level scandal. Again, absolutely shocking incompetence. Cabinet secretaries should be resigning over this. Sadly, the President himself doesn't have a track record of caring about the mishandling of classified information, so we won't she him hold them accountable either.

 

[Evan]

That's a pretty weak attempt to hand-waive it away. It's the IRS itself that's bracing for a 10% drop due to the $500b decline over the last few months. You can read more about it here from the Washington Post: https://archive.ph/0VIgf

This isn't just one news outlet or one person taking something out of proportion, it's well-sourced reporting on what the IRS expects based on its own long-running modeling of revenues. If you think the IRS is wrong in this modeling, feel free to call out the inconsistencies or problems with their methodologies.

I don't need an archive link. I'm a long time subscriber to the Washington Post. I read the article two days ago when it came out.

I'm not downplaying anything. I'm saying your conclusion isn't supported by sufficient evidence. The onus is NOT on me to prove the IRS' analysis is wrong or right. I am pointing out that your statement (which was an absolute declaration) is not in alignment with the evidence presented. Even the WaPo headline was significantly less conclusive -- and, the article itself quoted several independent experts who were dubious of such a sharp drop in tax revenue collection.

I worked in the tax industry for years and was the responsible official for dozens of EFINs that filed thousands of tax returns a year. Yes, I think the IRS is regularly wrong in their projections.

The IRS' own numbers showed returns filed are only down 1.7%. Filed returns is a number I'm very familiar with. There is often fairly significant variability year to year with tax returns filed by a given date. It is something we monitored very closely to compare our return numbers locally, regionally, and nationally to the IRS numbers.

Holidays, weather, natural disasters, the economy, and when April 15th actually falls all have measurable impact on tax returns filed by a given date. Projecting tax receipts is an even more opaque process. If the IRS numbers still show a sharp drop in revenue a few days after quarterly payments are due then I'd be more inclined to trust their dire prediction.

As far as IRS methodologies and inconsistencies are concerned -- have you spent years working with the IRS? Because if you had -- you'd be echoing exactly what I'm saying. There are some excellent people at the IRS, and it is an incredibly difficult agency to operate, but they frequently get things badly wrong. I am completely opposed to the DOGE cuts at the IRS -- in fact, I think the IRS should be adding significant headcount instead of seeing any RIF (outside of those let go for true performance issues), but, again, that has nothing to do with the fact that your absolute statement is unsupported by the evidence presented.