I feel like I'm speaking to Saruman and hearing his "You have elected the way of pain!" pronouncement. Also, "I am much more of an issue than" "a kingmaker." Wow. It's Friday, please do some self-reflection over the weekend about your ego. But in response to this I'll indulge the tiniest bit of ego, James. I would never challenge you as a math Ph.D. to a calculus duel. But in the field of debate, you don't put up much of a fight. It's like fly-swatting to me. tenor.com/view/saruman-ganda…

🚨BREAKING: In a dangerous decision for voters, the Supreme Court authorized the Trump administration to overhaul a federal immigration database into a vast, centralized and deeply flawed database of personal information to initiate registration purges. democracydocket.com/news-ale…

There is something terrifying about politicians who don’t seem to understand that the private sector is private. Companies do not exist to carry out the government’s preferred labor policy.

There is no better example I can think of how Trump isn’t a steward of America or remotely patriotic or even nationalistic. He is simply a partisan of his own ego. This is just gross. He’s trying to suck up to a dictator and adversary by mocking another American president. And, btw, the anonymous functionary running this account will be remembered as a tiny little throne-sniffing weasel.

Counterpoint: Government actors telling private businesses what they can and can't do is BS.

Visa Vance looking out for his people.

In an alternate timeline, Trump takes a liking to Thomas Massie, lobbies for him to replace Mike Johnson, the Epstein criminals are in jail, Bibi is fending for himself, DOGE is codified, the Department of Education doesn’t exist, farmers are happy, and the GOP wins in 2026

Bigoted attacks on Indian-Americans by a section of MAGA signal a deeper problem for the GOP. The multiracial coalition that powered Trump to victory in 2024 is collapsing. [My take] wsj.com/opinion/some-republi…

The real truth nuke about Edward Snowden is that he was the Joe Kent of the Obama administration

Im really confused what people thought “mass deportations” meant. That somehow we were going to expel all of them in a month or so?

Unfortunately for Republicans, the situation is very easy to describe: 1. Trump won a cost-of-living election 2. Then he publicly announced a plan to raise the price of imports 3. Then he even-more-publicly started a war that raised the price of gas 4. Meanwhile, he got rich on crypto scams, while engaging in downright Pynchonian misadventures with the reflecting pool and ballroom, which sent the unmistakeable signal that "I care more about random bullshit than America's money problems ... and also I'm not even good at executing on the random bullshit"

Still less deportations than Obama btw. I wish he was the deporter-in-chief libs paint him to be.

U.S. PMI SURGES, SIGNALING STRONG GROWTH AND RISING COST PRESSURES U.S. business activity accelerated sharply in September, with manufacturing PMI rising to 57.0, services to 58.7, and the composite index to 58.4, all well above expectations. The data points to the strongest growth in more than five years, supported by robust hiring and demand. However, input costs jumped to their highest level since 2022, driven by higher energy and transport costs, adding to inflation concerns even as selling-price increases remained relatively contained.

Ok, we now have the actual text of the Greenland deal (whitehouse.gov/briefings-sta…), so we can say how it compares to the existing 1951 arrangement and who, between Trump and Denmark, lied the most in their framing of it. Long story short - which may surprise some - the Danes lied the most: Trump is pretty much correct in saying that this new deal grants the US control of Greenland. Let's look into what changed compared to the 1951 deal. 1) This is now a permanent arrangement: whereas the existing 1951 deal only lasted as long as NATO existed, this one "does not have an end date and may only be amended by mutual consent." It even survives a hypothetical future independence of Greenland: in that event, Denmark and Greenland must ensure that the independent Greenlandic state "affirmatively assume[s] all of the rights and obligations of the Kingdom of Denmark specified in this Agreement." 2) In the 1951 agreement, the US could set up bases only where both governments agreed, and only on the basis of NATO planning. The new deal locks in three bases: the US can "modernize and expand its activities" at Pituffik, its only base in Greenland until now, and "shall be allowed to establish an additional Defense Area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig." Further bases beyond these 3 can be justified by the defense of "the American continent," a US interest rather than a NATO one. Also, quite subtle but this is interesting: Article IV(iii) says that "the United States may establish additional defense areas in Greenland" and that consultations are then held "to decide implementation details based on mutual agreement." What this means is that the principle of a new base is automatically granted and only the implementation details require agreement. Article VII also gives the US "the right to raise concerns regarding construction, or change of use" of any building near a US base, after which the parties decide together what to do. Which means that the US has a say over civilian planning around its bases. 3) On US military movement across Greenland, the wording change between the 1951 agreement and this new one is quite funny. The 1951 text said (Art. V(3)): the US "may enjoy... the right of free access to and movement between the defense areas through Greenland, including territorial waters, by land, air and sea," but only "in accordance with general rules mutually agreed upon and issued by the appropriate Danish authority in Greenland." The new one says: "the United States of America shall enjoy... the right of free access to and movement between the Defense Areas through Greenland, including the Territorial Waters, by land, air and sea." That's it: "May" becomes "shall," and the US military movement no longer has to follow rules "issued by the appropriate Danish authority in Greenland." The US also gets something new on top: "undersea access to and movement within the Territorial Waters," i.e. submarines. 4) Non-NATO exclusion: non-NATO states are barred from military installations or a persistent presence in Greenland unless all three parties approve, giving the US an effective permanent veto. The 1951 deal had no equivalent clause. 5) Investment screening: this is entirely new. "States or investors from a state that is not a member of NATO, a NATO partner, or an EU member state" (i.e. Russia, China, India, the Gulf States, etc.), "shall not be allowed to have (i) control, (ii) significant influence, or (iii) access to non-public information...within Particularly Sensitive Sectors or Activities in the territory of Greenland (including the Territorial Waters), unless agreed between the Parties." Again, it basically means that the US has a permanent veto over who can invest in strategic sectors in Greenland, as far as non-NATO or EU states are concerned. 6) Lastly, in stark contrast with the 1951 deal, the framing of the deal changes significantly: this new deal is largely framed around the US. The 1951 agreement existed only "for the benefit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization." The new one lists the defense of "the American continent" as an objective, celebrates "the irreplaceable role" of the United States military as well as "the United States' indispensable historical and ongoing contributions to the security and defense of Greenland," and names the establishment of Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense system as a key goal. So, to sum up: - The US secured a permanent military foothold that even an independent Greenland would inherit whether it likes it or not - The US now has veto power over any non-NATO military presence in Greenland, and over who can invest in its strategic infrastructure and resources (beyond NATO and the EU) - Denmark signed away its say over the principle of new US bases, with only the right to discuss the "implementation details" - Danish authorities no longer set the rules for US military movement across the island - And all of it is now justified by the defense of "the American continent" I don't know in which universe this even remotely "recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people's right to self-determination," as Danish PM Mette Frederiksen put it (stm.dk/en/press/press-releas…). Yes, the preamble of the text cynically "reaffirms" Danish sovereignty but, in my book, when you let a foreign country put bases on your soil, move its troops without following your rules and veto who else can come in, in perpetuity, after it spent two years threatening to take you by force, the word for that is anything but "recognized sovereignty" 🤷

Capitalism is just another name for freedom. Socialism is just another name for slavery.

Zero chance we have the politics I want the USA to have, which is laissez-faire capitalism. Zero chance. So I settle for anything approaching civic nationalism. Which is a stretch goal. Trump is, by far, the closest to civic nationalism in my entire life. I could be a whiny bitch or I could root for the best we have. I choose the latter. That is my politics, right there.