Leaning to the Left: 2025

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Thank You Very Much

Is he supposed to say thank you for allowing Trump to mine Ukraine's valuable rare earths without guaranteeing any security?

0:00 Trump describes the deal, runs down Biden, agrandizes himself

3:04 Zelenskyy thanks Trump

6:00 Zelenskyy shares pictures of Ukranians who have been abused while being held captive by Russia

7:35 Zelenskyy thanks Trump again

8:04 Trump starts refering to rare earth as raw earth eventhough he called it rare earth earlier, no one dares correct him

10:15 Trump claims Europe loaned money to Ukraine and gave much less than the US

11:53 Zelenskyy and Trump disagree about how much Europe supported Ukraine,laughing ensues

12:39 Trump states he is far superior to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, he later claims to have been kidding

18:38 Reporter asks why he doesn't wear a suit and tells him that he is disrespecting the office by not wearing a suit

21:23 Reporter from One America News praises Trump, Trump says he loves him

23:32 Zelenskyy tells Trump that Putin broke the ceasefire 25 times including during the first Trump administration

30:20 Trump states he has stopped many wars

35:14 Rubio makes a comment

35:48 Vance makes a comment supporting free speech

38:00 Trump insults CNN reporter

39:53 Vance blames the Russian invasion on Biden, claims we need to engage in diplomacy

40:28 Zelenskyy reminds Vance that Russia invaded in 2014 and they have been at war under Obama, Trump, and Biden

42:00 Zelenskyy presses Vance on how they can ensure Putin won't break a ceasefire agreement again

42:13 Vance scolds Zelenskyy shaking his finger at him, claims he is attacking the administration

43:12 Zelenskyy warns that Russia may be a threat in the future, Trump starts to argue with Zelenskyy

44:11 Vance asks if Zelenskyy has said thank you

44:51 Trump starts touching Zelenskyy

45:10 Trump pushes Zelenskyy while shouting at him

45:27 Vance tells Zelenskyy to say thank you again

46:00 Trump begins swearing and mocking Zelenskyy

47:20 Reporter asks "What if Putin breaks the ceasefire?" Trump asks reporter "What if a bomb drops on your head right now?"

49:14 Trump says "This is going to be great television."

Monday, February 24, 2025

"Demeaning others doesn't help the human condition." If you truly believe this how can you support Trump? It's only class warfare when we fight back. Congress has proposed cutting SNAP and Medicaid for a tax rebate that will go mostly to the wealthy. Maybe you have enough money to provide food and healthcare for yourself or your kids but not everyone does. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, it may not take much to change their situation so they need this kind of help. Cutting Medicaid will lead to more homelessness. Congress is acting like reverse Robin Hood, taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

Here is the post that started this:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/author-upcoming-elon-musk-biography-040538098.html

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Trump's Shadow Government

This will probably take me awhile to finish so I will update it later.

There are the public faces of the Trump administration as seen by his cabinet and his supporters in Congress and on the Supreme Court, but there are also shadowy figures influencing the Trump presidency who get mentioned once in a while. In this blog, I intend to document both the public and the shadow government.

Donald Trump President

Elon Musk (not) Head of DOGE

Stephen Miller Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. He has direct access to the President and wields great influence. He is the one who decided to make wearing masks political.

J D Vance Vice President Sharp-tongued but socially blunt his main contribution is his connection to Peter Thiel.

Peter Thiel Mastermind behind the scenes with close ties to J D Vance.

Curtis Yarvin Mastermind behind the scenes. Favors a country run as a corporation with a dictator as the leader. I think Trump likes his philosophy.

Vladimir Putin Trump ally and advisory. Probably helped Trump come up with the anti-trans message. Helped Trump get elected by encouraging war between Netanyahu and Hamas. A master manipulator he sees Trump as someone easily manipulated.

Steve Bannon devised the "Flood the Zone" strategy Trump is using to overwhelm the media. Currently out of the loop but deserves credit for his past contributions.

Kevin Roberts Head of the Heritage Foundation which developed Project 2025.

Paul Dans Previous Head of Heritage Foundation

Most of the other members of Trump's cabinet are merely sycophants placed primarily for their desire to blindly follow Trump's commands no matter how bizarre or extreme.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Two drops of rain

Som to dråper vann.

Billions

This isn't money that wasn't being used. This is money designated to pay for services for the American public. They are taking money from the American public, and now they say they might return 20% of our money. The other 80% is going to more tax cuts for the wealthy.

20% to keep the masses quiet. 80% to tax cuts for his friends.

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

DEI

It turns out the anti-DEI campaign is largely the work of one man: Internet personality Robbie Starbuck

Robbie Starbuck has a massive X following and takes on corporations one at a time by encouraging his followers to boycott them. His message seems to be particularly anti-queer.

DEI never involved hiring less qualified applicants. It just required that other applicants be considered so as not to skip over a more qualified applicant who is a minority, woman, gay, etc, in favor of a less qualified white cis straight neurotypical male candidate. Since all companies and public institutions were required to have DEI programs, They can now use DEI to attack any company or institution They view unfavorably.

Some people have argued that DEI means there are quotas in place. I have worked at several different public companies and private institutions, I was involved in hiring, and none of them had quotas. DEI implying quotas is either a misconception or a lie.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

How Tariffs Work

Most of the cost of tariffs is passed on so the end result is higher costs and fewer choices for consumers while domestic corporations earn greater profits and the government gets what is effectively a tax.

"That's LITERALLY not how it works. What a tariff does is makes the price of building in America to be the same prices as made in foreign countries. In foreign countries they get taxed low, have EXTREMELY low wages, and then does not have to pay a tax (tariff) to send that product into America and then makes it WAY harder to build in America because they cannot compete with the prices of products made in other countries. Tariffs even out those prices which then encourages corporations to build factories in America. If its cheaper to build in and sell in America, then it gives them FAR more reason to build here.

The entire reason Toyota for instance, has some of their largest factories in America was due to Regan putting tariffs on japanese cars back in the 80's!" --Random Internet Person

I will respond to this comment here. Many people don't realize that American workers are competitive with workers in other countries because they are extremely efficient. This is because our workers are highly educated and US manufacturers employ a great deal of automation.

In 1980 President Reagan was elected and removed price controls on gasoline ending the energy crisis. Gas prices surged and Americans wanted to buy fuel efficient vehicles. American auto manufacturers were slow to respond so people bought Japanese cars because they were more fuel efficient, had higher quality standards, and were cheaper. Reagan convinced Japan to accept voluntary export restraints where Japan was limited to the number of cars it would export to the US. Japanese car manufacturers sent their more expensive cars to the US, raising the price of cars and limiting consumer access to the more affordable models.

In the 1980's my brother had a Honda Civic CVCC that got 50 mpg.