2025 Political Thread

[UpperLevelLOL]

What are they going to do? Burn down the national parks? Close them down? The Pravda media does nothing but fearmongering. They want to make you feel sorry that your tax money is no longer going to be used for government philanthropy, such as paying for TB for the entire world or for global DEI programs.

Watch Veterans Secretary Doug Collins Make a Reporter Sweat Over Her Fake News Reporting

townhall.com

The cuts are gutting staff which has led to a cutting of hours and reservations at National Parks nationwide (https://www.thestreet.com/travel/national-park-services-cut-trump)

(https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ump-layoffs-cuts-limit-resources/79441099007/)

The cuts to the VA has left veterans without access to health care, cancelled drug trials, slashed research, prevented vets from getting treatment, and has slowed down an already overburdened bureaucracy that is supposed to care for those who served

VA Research Funding Slashed

Though not as prominent as the NIH, VA researchers play a major role in advancing basic health science. Hundreds of projects have been cut.

prospect.org

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/12/nx-s1-5325239/veterans-affairs-va-trump-mental-health

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-20/trump-hiring-freeze-spurs-hundreds-of-cuts-in-va-health-research?embedded-checkout=true

Vets are speaking out on Trump administration’s plans to cut VA budget

A handful of veterans speaking to The Associated Press are divided over the Trump administration's proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

www.militarytimes.com

And if you don't think it's in our interest to eradicate TB, especially when it is so close to developing an antibiotic-resistant strain, then I really don't know what to tell you.

Tuberculosis Resurgent as Trump Funding Cut Disrupts Treatment Globally

The United States was the major funder of tuberculosis programs. Now hundreds of thousands of sick patients can’t find tests or drugs, and risk spreading the disease.

www.nytimes.com

World Health Organization warns of possible tuberculosis surge because of USAID cuts

Slashing tuberculosis aid could endanger millions of lives abroad, health authorities say, with potential consequences for the U.S., where TB cases have also been rising.

www.nbcnews.com

USAid cuts could create untreatable TB bug ‘resistant to everything we have’

Projects to detect, treat and research new ways to fight TB among those disrupted by sudden funding freeze

www.theguardian.com

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Then and now

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

The cuts are gutting staff which has led to a cutting of hours and reservations at National Parks nationwide (https://www.thestreet.com/travel/national-park-services-cut-trump)

(https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ump-layoffs-cuts-limit-resources/79441099007/)

The cuts to the VA has left veterans without access to health care, cancelled drug trials, slashed research, prevented vets from getting treatment, and has slowed down an already overburdened bureaucracy that is supposed to care for those who served

VA Research Funding Slashed

Though not as prominent as the NIH, VA researchers play a major role in advancing basic health science. Hundreds of projects have been cut.

prospect.org

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/12/nx-s1-5325239/veterans-affairs-va-trump-mental-health

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-20/trump-hiring-freeze-spurs-hundreds-of-cuts-in-va-health-research?embedded-checkout=true

Vets are speaking out on Trump administration’s plans to cut VA budget

A handful of veterans speaking to The Associated Press are divided over the Trump administration's proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

www.militarytimes.com

And if you don't think it's in our interest to eradicate TB, especially when it is so close to developing an antibiotic-resistant strain, then I really don't know what to tell you.

Tuberculosis Resurgent as Trump Funding Cut Disrupts Treatment Globally

The United States was the major funder of tuberculosis programs. Now hundreds of thousands of sick patients can’t find tests or drugs, and risk spreading the disease.

www.nytimes.com

World Health Organization warns of possible tuberculosis surge because of USAID cuts

Slashing tuberculosis aid could endanger millions of lives abroad, health authorities say, with potential consequences for the U.S., where TB cases have also been rising.

www.nbcnews.com

USAid cuts could create untreatable TB bug ‘resistant to everything we have’

Projects to detect, treat and research new ways to fight TB among those disrupted by sudden funding freeze

www.theguardian.com

Maybe the budget cuts and the layoffs are having some unintended consequences, but the overall goal of DOGE to get rid of the 4th branch of the government called the Administrative State (or Deep State by conservatives) and put things back into the power of the states and local authorities.

I don't think any of the same people complained when Biden fired a whole bunch of federal government workers and doctors over refusing to get the COVID vaccine or closed the National Parks during the pandemic. Nor do they care that Biden's open border policies allowed new diseases to enter the U.S. from the unrestricted flow of illegal immigrants. Leprosy has returned to California, for example.

One of the articles you posted had some pretty interesting stuff.



There could be a mentally ill person who believes that 2+2=5 and it would cause that person mental health issues to acknowledge that 2+2=4, but that does not make it wrong to declare that 2+2=4. It's the same thing with recognizing only two sexes. If recognizing biological reality makes someone feel uncomfortable, that's their problem. The left also claims transgender is not a mental health issue and you're "transphobic" if you disagree, but that article seems to disagree.

Also I'll post one last article.

It’s Time to Get Rid of the VA | National Review

The only sure-fire way to get canned at the VA is to report any abuses to authorities who might do something about it.

www.nationalreview.com

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

There's also this. People should at least be consistent and complain about the bad things both sides are doing, but we only see people complaining about Trump and Musk.

TB -- The Silent Killer Crossing Our Border

townhall.com

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

There's also this. People should at least be consistent and complain about the bad things both sides are doing, but we only see people complaining about Trump and Musk.

Also if USAID was really working so well, why is the chance of getting TB 60 times higher in Haiti than the United States?

TB -- The Silent Killer Crossing Our Border

townhall.com

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

Maybe the budget cuts and the layoffs are having some unintended consequences, but the overall goal of DOGE to get rid of the 4th branch of the government called the Administrative State (or Deep State by conservatives) and put things back into the power of the states and local authorities.

I don't think any of the same people complained when Biden fired a whole bunch of federal government workers and doctors over refusing to get the COVID vaccine or closed the National Parks during the pandemic. Nor do they care that Biden's open border policies allowed new diseases to enter the U.S. from the unrestricted flow of illegal immigrants. Leprosy has returned to California, for example.

One of the articles you posted had some pretty interesting stuff.

View attachment 36037

There could be a mentally ill person who believes that 2+2=5 and it would cause that person mental health issues to acknowledge that 2+2=4, but that does not make it wrong to declare that 2+2=4. It's the same thing with recognizing only two sexes. If recognizing biological reality makes someone feel uncomfortable, that's their problem. The left also claims transgender is not a mental health issue and you're "transphobic" if you disagree, but that article seems to disagree.

Also I'll post one last article.

It’s Time to Get Rid of the VA | National Review

The only sure-fire way to get canned at the VA is to report any abuses to authorities who might do something about it.

www.nationalreview.com

Folks refusing a vaccine mandate are not the same as the wholesale firing of broad swathes of departments. Not even close to comparable in terms of scope or rationale. Something like 2-3,000 workers across the entire government didn't comply, meanwhile Trump has fired easily 10-fold that. Whataboutism really isn't an effective argument, especially when the damage Trump is doing to vulnerable communities and our veterans pales in comparison. Downplaying this damage as mere "unintended consequences," especially when this is all very intentional since it follows Project 2025 pretty well, shows a lack of comprehension about what's going on.

And if you think that some troops at the southern border mean we're going to stay protected from TB and other diseases, rather than treating folks in their own country, you're incredibly naïve. Cutting the Ebola monitoring and treatment group, in the midst of an outbreak in Central Africa, is incredibly self-defeating.

U.S. Canceled Work to Contain a Serious Ebola Outbreak

The contracts financed Ebola screening at airports and protective gear for health workers, among other measures. Work had been held up for weeks, contrary to Elon Musk’s claim on Wednesday.

www.nytimes.com

Finally, your article on the VA is from 10 years ago, and came in the wake of a Special Counsel report. Since that time, numerous bills have passed that increased modernization and transparency within the VA:

https://fedscoop.com/senate-passes-...y-over-va-health-records-modernization-costs/

As a result, veteran's approval ratings of the VA have improved dramatically, reaching an all-time high last year:

https://www.va.gov/wilmington-healt...ncreased-25-since-2016-reaches-all-time-high/

This is what Trump is tearing down for no reason whatsoever, endangering the health and security of our veterans.

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Interesting Newsweek article

Migrants coming to New York City are being given prepaid debit cards that in certain cases, like food assistance, dwarf the amounts provided to families of legal status. For example, the average family of four's monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment is $713, but migrant families of four receive $1,400 a month.

Migrants' monthly payment in NYC is higher than veterans compensation

New York City has been a sanctuary for migrants, but officials say they need more assistance from the federal government.

www.newsweek.com

The sample paycheck below has more examples of what USAID was being used for.

 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Folks refusing a vaccine mandate are not the same as the wholesale firing of broad swathes of departments. Not even close to comparable in terms of scope or rationale. Something like 2-3,000 workers across the entire government didn't comply, meanwhile Trump has fired easily 10-fold that. Whataboutism really isn't an effective argument, especially when the damage Trump is doing to vulnerable communities and our veterans pales in comparison. Downplaying this damage as mere "unintended consequences," especially when this is all very intentional since it follows Project 2025 pretty well, shows a lack of comprehension about what's going on.

And if you think that some troops at the southern border mean we're going to stay protected from TB and other diseases, rather than treating folks in their own country, you're incredibly naïve. Cutting the Ebola monitoring and treatment group, in the midst of an outbreak in Central Africa, is incredibly self-defeating.

U.S. Canceled Work to Contain a Serious Ebola Outbreak

The contracts financed Ebola screening at airports and protective gear for health workers, among other measures. Work had been held up for weeks, contrary to Elon Musk’s claim on Wednesday.

www.nytimes.com

Finally, your article on the VA is from 10 years ago, and came in the wake of a Special Counsel report. Since that time, numerous bills have passed that increased modernization and transparency within the VA:

https://fedscoop.com/senate-passes-...y-over-va-health-records-modernization-costs/

As a result, veteran's approval ratings of the VA have improved dramatically, reaching an all-time high last year:

https://www.va.gov/wilmington-healt...ncreased-25-since-2016-reaches-all-time-high/

This is what Trump is tearing down for no reason whatsoever, endangering the health and security of our veterans.

I guess time will tell if there's a worldwide tuberculosis outbreak, but there's still the question of where the United States gets the money to pay 25% of all international funding for TB and is able to send more money to Ukraine than all of its European neighbors combined. We already have a national debt of $36 trillion. We cannot afford to take care of the world forever. At some time our national debt will cause a serious collapse, once our government runs out of other people's money.

There's also the question, as I posted in the second article as to why

• The TB incidence rate is 60 times higher in Haiti than in the U.S. (If USAID is so effective worldwide, as they claim it to be, than why is this happening in Haiti?)
• Cases of TB in the US shot up 34% from 2020 to 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and continue to rise (It's hard to say that the record influx of unscreened illegal immigrants under Biden was not at least partially responsible)
• A staggering 89% of TB patients in the Big Apple are foreign-born
• The single largest national group with reported TB cases is from China, according to the city's most recent Annual Tuberculosis Summary (Socialism works great, and that's what more and more young people want here)

Then there was a 3rd article from Newsweek I posted that says more money is being used to take care of illegal immigrants than our very own veterans.

The other problem is that the more people become dependent on the government, the harder it becomes to stop that dependency. It's the same idea as the signs that warn people not to feed the wildlife because they become so dependent on human food that they can no longer take care of themselves.

 

[UpperLevelLOL]

I guess time will tell if there's a worldwide tuberculosis outbreak, but there's still the question of where the United States gets the money to pay 25% of all international funding for TB and is able to send more money to Ukraine than all of its European neighbors combined. We already have a national debt of $36 trillion. We cannot afford to take care of the world forever. At some time our national debt will cause a serious collapse, once our government runs out of other people's money.

There's also the question, as I posted in the second article as to why

• The TB incidence rate is 60 times higher in Haiti than in the U.S. (If USAID is so effective worldwide, as they claim it to be, than why is this happening in Haiti?)
• Cases of TB in the US shot up 34% from 2020 to 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and continue to rise (It's hard to say that the record influx of unscreened illegal immigrants under Biden was not at least partially responsible)
• A staggering 89% of TB patients in the Big Apple are foreign-born
• The single largest national group with reported TB cases is from China, according to the city's most recent Annual Tuberculosis Summary (Socialism works great, and that's what more and more young people want here)

Then there was a 3rd article from Newsweek I posted that says more money is being used to take care of illegal immigrants than our very own veterans.

The other problem is that the more people become dependent on the government, the harder it becomes to stop that dependency. It's the same idea as the signs that warn people not to feed the wildlife because they become so dependent on human food that they can no longer take care of themselves.

You do a good job of making things sound scary without actually providing context and facts. That "25% of all international funding" is.....$400m, or roughly 0.007% of our federal budget (https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/tubercul...se, as the lead,donor funding for the disease.). Also, our aid to Ukraine (why are we bringing that up? how is it relevant?) isn't just in money but also in defense/weapons transfers, a good chunk of which were just sitting idle in stockpiles.

And all those stats you cited about TB ignore one basic fact: global incidence and deaths of TB has been declining for a decade, progress that will almost certainly backtrack due to these cuts

2.1 TB incidence

Globally and in many countries, however, TB remains a major cause of ill-health and mortality.

www.who.int

Infographic: Global Number of TB Deaths is Declining Again

This chart shows the worldwide number of deaths caused by tuberculosis since 2010.

www.statista.com

As for your final point arguing that veterans are too dependent on our government, I suggest you go and make that argument to the faces of those who served. It's incredibly disingenuous to say that those who served and risked their lives to defend us are now too dependent on the government and thus not worth support.

 

[maroonedinhsv]

Then and now

View attachment 35942

View attachment 35943

Then:

Now:
Pretty much any post you’ve made in this thread worshipping the guy that you think hates democrats.

 

[bjdeming]

I can't say I'm sorry to see what looked like tough gang members deported today, but we don't know that they all were like that. We have to take the Trumpeteers word for it, and the selective photos that were published, and I wonder what the rush was.

I don't think there was any rush.

No one who wasn't trying to undermine judicial authority would have had any problem in taking a bit more time to let the courts have a look and sign off on the deportation of what.might really have been a bunch of thugs.

The positive point is that the Trumpeteers did push it, racing to get ahead of the court order, which signifies that they saw it as valid. A more worrying sign would have been if they had instead used this unpalatable group as an excuse to challenge the courts, using some sort of national security excuse to justify the speedy removal.

They still don't dare that move, as this AP article notes --

Despite the rhetoric, the Trump administration has so far not openly defied a court order, and the dozens of cases filed against its actions have followed a regular legal course. His administration has made no moves to seek removal of justices or push judicial reforms through the Republican-controlled Congress.

Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University and voting rights expert who previously served in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said he’s no fan of Trump’s moves. But he said the administration has been following legal norms by appealing decisions it doesn’t like.
“I think most of this is bluster,” said Levitt, noting courts can imprison those who don’t obey orders or levy crippling fines that double daily. “If this is the approach the executive wants to take, it’s going to provoke a fight. Not everybody is going to be content to be a doormat the way Congress is."

-- but I think the writer is correct in saying that the fight is coming.

If and when it comes, Congress is going to have a tough time clinging to its doormat status, with elections just a year away...unless the fight comes after those elections.

If it comes, after those elections.

 

[andyhb]

Anyone want to try and defend this?

 

[Tanner]

View attachment 36657
Anyone want to try and defend this?

As James Spann would say: what a blow-dried boob.

 

[Evan]

There's also this. People should at least be consistent and complain about the bad things both sides are doing, but we only see people complaining about Trump and Musk.

TB -- The Silent Killer Crossing Our Border

townhall.com

Trump is President. Elon Musk is one of his top "advisors." Joe Biden is in a memory care facility somewhere. No one cares about Biden at this point. He's not currently running the country.

I hated it when people whined about Biden being criticized and it is similarly annoying when people whine about Trump being criticized. No one forced him or Elon to take their current roles. They serve the American people. If they don't want to be criticized then they shouldn't have taken the jobs they've taken.

It is really that simple.

 

[Evan]

Also, I have long disliked Elon Musk. Before he ever posted a single political tweet I didn't like him. Why? Because he's a dishonest and deceitful charlatan who's wealth primarily comes from a company that was successful largely due to government tax credits, government subsidies, government financing, and government regulations.

Musk has repeatedly lied on investor calls while serving as the CEO of TSLA. The company's very survival came from a combination of government money and Elon's shameless lies to investors. I don't have anything against Tesla vehicles. I have a problem with electric vehicles, in general, because the government has dictated their adoption instead of the free market. This country lacks the infrastructure to have more than a small minority of electric vehicles serve as a primary means of transportation for its populace.

It would take hundreds of billions of dollars -- if not trillions -- to upgrade our electrical grid, build additional power generation, and construct the necessary infrastructure to have truly mass market EV adoption. Tesla has been successful because our government has been the primary funder for, or subsidized, what infrastructure there actually is.

I could list a dozen other reasons why I dislike Elon Musk, but what's the point? You seem to see things as if we live in a Manichean world where people's political ideology drive their every preference and belief. You are on the "good" side and any criticism of the people you see as on your side means the person doing the criticism must belong to the "bad" side.

I take a different view. I don't care what Elon Musk's politics are. I care what his actions are. He's a dangerous fool. Ergo, I do not like him, do not trust him, and I am extremely skeptical and suspicious of everything he says and does due to his history of unethical behavior, deceit, lies, and general immorality.

 

[TVILLE96]

Defend? No. Explain? Yes.

Elon is a midwit with a severe case of Dunning-Kruger who snorts ketamine and then sh*tposts on Twitter because he has a social media addiction. He RTs dumb crap like this because his ability to discern fact from fiction is heavily impaired by his nasty ketamine habit.

The end.

Probably still a little over joyed by not being censored by the former owners and the gov't minders.

 

[TVILLE96]

Also, I have long disliked Elon Musk. Before he ever posted a single political tweet I didn't like him. Why? Because he's a dishonest and deceitful charlatan who's wealth primarily comes from a company that was successful largely due to government tax credits, government subsidies, government financing, and government regulations.

Musk has repeatedly lied on investor calls while serving as the CEO of TSLA. The company's very survival came from a combination of government money and Elon's shameless lies to investors. I don't have anything against Tesla vehicles. I have a problem with electric vehicles, in general, because the government has dictated their adoption instead of the free market. This country lacks the infrastructure to have more than a small minority of electric vehicles serve as a primary means of transportation for its populace.

It would take hundreds of billions of dollars -- if not trillions -- to upgrade our electrical grid, build additional power generation, and construct the necessary infrastructure to have truly mass market EV adoption. Tesla has been successful because our government has been the primary funder for, or subsidized, what infrastructure there actually is.

I could list a dozen other reasons why I dislike Elon Musk, but what's the point? You seem to see things as if we live in a Manichean world where people's political ideology drive their every preference and belief. You are on the "good" side and any criticism of the people you see as on your side means the person doing the criticism must belong to the "bad" side.

I take a different view. I don't care what Elon Musk's politics are. I care what his actions are. He's a dangerous fool. Ergo, I do not like him, do not trust him, and I am extremely skeptical and suspicious of everything he says and does due to his history of unethical behavior, deceit, lies, and general immorality.

You are describing the whole Democrat party. We cannot keep out one or two bad players.

 

[Evan]

View attachment 36657
Anyone want to try and defend this?

Whats ironic is she and her family immigrated to the United States from Colombia by taking advantage of the political asylum process. I am intimately familiar with the US immigration system and the legal pathways for migrants from Colombia. Considering her parents do not speak English and were not wealthy, and Colombians have long been ineligible for the greencard lottery program, a highly embellished political asylum claim was the only avenue open to Gomez and her family.

You'll notice she never explains how she immigrated here. That's because she knows she would be subject to an incredible amount of flack if she told the truth about how her family immigrated. For a fairly significant period of time, a number of people from Cali, Colombia and Valle Del Cauca have immigrated to the United States on the basis of political asylum. I'm not saying all of those asylum claims were embellished or improper, however, it is something that is well-known in the community.

I don't even find the hypocrisy surprising. When you have a political movement led by grifters full of extreme rhetoric, well, you will attract other grifters who use extreme rhetoric.

 

[Evan]

Probably still a little over joyed by not being censored by the former owners and the gov't minders.

Elon Musk has people censored every day on Twitter. In fact, he frequently censors people on the basis of personal vendettas. Nonetheless, private platforms have the right to do so. But, to pretend he's a free speech hero is to be extremely uninformed on Elon's own love for censorship. Now that he's in a government role he's even posted numerous tweets wanting people to face legal consequences for wholly protected 1st amendment activity.

 

[andyhb]

You are describing the whole Democrat party. We cannot keep out one or two bad players.

Last I checked it's not the Democrats who are in power right now.