cakes wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2025 7:07 pm Omg JB Pritzker trolling Trump. LMFAO that's how you do it.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c ... y/3668802/

I think we need more than just trolling and epic pwns, people are going to die

Obviously at a federal level Trump is running a blitzkrieg through the institutions, making targeted groups lives shittier and generally making as much noise as possible.

I’m curious how this shakes out a State level. Day-to-day do State programs and laws offer a buffer against federal shitfuckery? Obviously if you live in Florida or Texas get fucked, but if you’re in a sane State does most of Trump’s bullshit impact directly or is it more general despair at the direction of the country?

I really need to get up to speed on how federal grants and funding flow into State coffers, and how much legal reach federal law enforcement has.

A couple of things about this stage of the second Trump administration have come to mind. Every new administration in my lifetime has kicked off with more action in the first four months than they have in their remaining years. Biden looked his most FDR after his inauguration in his Covid/economic response. We're seeing what are hopefully the most manic Trump weeks before inertia stems the tide. What remains untested is if he can get congress in line to work for him, which seems impossible to predict because the GOP is surprisingly chaotic and vote margins are slim.

In the meantime we've all become aware of Bannon's playbook of "flooding the zone". I find my mind is less overwhelmed with their bile when I can organize all of this. So I'm going to try to put this here and I'd love for anyone who can stomach this doom stats card to add or correct this, because otherwise I vacillate between "he's ended our country", and "he's so dumb none of this is working".

Team Trump terrifying successes
Enhanced deployment of ICE in deporting people minding their own business (this has been somewhat limited by entropy and activism)
The bully pulpit used to persecute trans Americans, and more measurably excluded from college sports
Emboldened white supremacists marching publicly
DOGE is allowed to even fucking exist

Trump efforts paused, stalled, or pending
DOGE access to the treasury generally
USAid being defunded
Tariffs/trade war with Mexico and China
NOAA shutdown (I don't really understand this one yet, might unfortunately be in the success category)

Trump efforts thwarted
Ending birthright citizenship
DOGE access to treasury payment systems specifically
Overall Federal funding pause

Upcoming bullshit
Defunding/closing the Department of Education
Some of these cases reaching the Trump friendly SCOTUS
Musk attacks the Bureau of Consumer Protection
Escalation of oppression on Gaza

A note on getting Republicans in Congress to work with him long-term: the threat of targeted MAGA violence and instant massive primary challenge funding is already affecting the appointment/confirmation process. There are not going to be defectors. That part is over, consolidated. Death threats kept those wishing to deviate from the script in line in the run-up to the election and they will continue to do so when it comes to the legislative agenda.

jimmy spako wrote: Sat Feb 08, 2025 11:13 am A note on getting Republicans in Congress to work with him long-term: the threat of targeted MAGA violence and instant massive primary challenge funding is already affecting the appointment/confirmation process. There are not going to be defectors. That part is over, consolidated. Death threats kept those wishing to deviate from the script in line in the run-up to the election and they will continue to do so when it comes to the legislative agenda.

True, but on the other side if you're in a moderate district, backing an unpopular bill could end your time in office too. Three or more GOP house reps getting cold feet is all we need every vote.

What does it matter if you can't make it to the general? Or are afraid of what will happen to your spouse or kids? There's been a shift there that is important to note.

There's no context or critical thinking with so much media information these days. "Its the worst", "most horrible thing ever", "OMFG". Tweets and twats (like Rogan) tossing simplistic fuel to millions of dummies.

The USAID budget is 40 billion. So far I've seen probably 30 million of projects or 0.075% of the budget being shouted out there as why this agency is evil and needs to be shut down. Some of these programs were green lit under Trump first admin. What about all the christian good this agency is doing?

Its not about we're here to fix the broken parts. It's lets raze what we can to support more tax for the upper crust and cripple government watchdogs on the financial elites. Never will you here about healthcare, public schools, infrastructure, investing in clean energy or investing in future business unless it can profit Elon and Trump like AI and bitcoin.

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/ncmec-do ... tive-order

“Congress created NCMEC, gave it immunity, and funded it because they do the dirty work,” Don McGowan, a former NCMEC Board member and a vocal advocate for trans kids, told me. “They need NCMEC as much as NCMEC needs them.”

McGowan explained further: “NCMEC holds a space in US government circles that it is refusing to use right now. If they said this Order is putting kids at risk and needs to be reworked, they are just about the only org in the country that has a chance of making that happen. It’s morally wrong for them not to.”

I’m told meetings were called at NCMEC’s headquarters on Friday to address the public fallout from my initial report and subsequent stories.

“NCMEC's compliance with a dangerous and immoral Executive Order is akin to the oldest profession in the world: we laid down for money,” the staffer said. “Rather than fight back, we chose to sacrifice trans children on the altar named 'funding.' If we are willing to capitulate to this, then the logical question must be asked: who's next?”

I can’t express here how much I hate this fucking administration and the pieces of shit who are complying with their demands

The department of education is apparently gone. That affects everybody.

cakes wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2025 9:56 am The department of education is apparently gone. That affects everybody.

Has this developed more? I know they shut everyone out (more questionable legality) to poke around there, but hadn't heard if they'd attempted to axe anything yet.

As a seasoned public educator, with some exposure to policy (note there are non-educators who actually know way more):

The department of education does way less than your average citizen might expect, but is still very important. The Federal government has provided a shrinking minority of the funding for public ed around the country (13-14%). But note that any loss of funding in underfunded schools is devastating. Most schools operate within a tiny margin, if not exactly on their budget with only a few carrying over some of that narrow surplus budget to the next year. This is the difference in some schools between having a librarian or not, or having one and a half special ed positions who are exhausted vs fully funding two positions etc.

Any good governor could feasibly cover the loss, or counties could put bond initiatives to cover gaps which puts another hit on our property taxes.

Which brings me to the second feature of this which is the ghettoization of school funding. Where we do get our funding is quite local, and largely property tax driven. This means that in some cases you can cross a street, land in a different zip code and find schools that are much better or worse funded than another a quarter mile away. This is a prime example of the shortcoming of a local control/states rights approach to governance. This will be exacerbated by dissolving the Federal Department of Ed.

The last concern here is advocacy for the neurodivergent students. Many state departments of education have just as stringent expectations for Individual Education Plans (IEPs) as the Federal ones, but in theory a lax state could backslide and serve students with greater needs less proactively. This could spell trouble in some states for students with autism, downs syndrome or any other impactful learning difference.

My prediction is if they actually get away with this, it won't do an awful lot to states like Illinois, New York, Massachusetts etc, other than shifting some tax burdens around. It will more likely fuck things up for people in Mississippi and Alabama. I get little joy from the ironies of red state voters screwing themselves out of social progress.