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Not sure I understand Trump's movement in the polls

tommyguns2

tommyguns2

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Disagree - on almost every point.

Our allies are scared shitless Trump will get re-elected. Our enemies helped elect him in 2016, and are helping him to this day because they know how easy he is to manipulate. The Deep State is the only thing holding our government together right now.
Hmm... I know the elites in Brussels are hoping Trump loses. These people are not pro-democracy. They are Davos WEF aristocrats that see Joe Six-pack as a headache. They are systematically de-industrializing all of Europe with their net-zero carbon programs. Just ask Germany. This puts middle class Europeans (really all Europeans) at great risk.

The Deep State is not accountable to the people. I understand that having expertise that crosses over from administration to administration is valuable. But those people have to exercise great restraint, as they are unelected, and when a new administration is voted into office, it's their job to competently execute the policies of the new administration that was voted in by the people.

When the Deep State says screw that, who's undermining Democracy? Really, I mean it. When a-holes like Vindmann undermine administration policy and cite "inter-agency consensus" as justification, what does that mean? It means that the CIA, State Dept. and FBI are giving "the people" the middle finger. Regardless of who wins next week, the Deep State inclination to ignore administration directives has to stop.
 
fasttwitch

fasttwitch

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Hmm... I know the elites in Brussels are hoping Trump loses. These people are not pro-democracy. They are Davos WEF aristocrats that see Joe Six-pack as a headache. They are systematically de-industrializing all of Europe with their net-zero carbon programs. Just ask Germany. This puts middle class Europeans (really all Europeans) at great risk.

The Deep State is not accountable to the people. I understand that having expertise that crosses over from administration to administration is valuable. But those people have to exercise great restraint, as they are unelected, and when a new administration is voted into office, it's their job to competently execute the policies of the new administration that was voted in by the people.

When the Deep State says screw that, who's undermining Democracy? Really, I mean it. When a-holes like Vindmann undermine administration policy and cite "inter-agency consensus" as justification, what does that mean? It means that the CIA, State Dept. and FBI are giving "the people" the middle finger. Regardless of who wins next week, the Deep State inclination to ignore administration directives has to stop.

I am no fan of the deep state.. But I will mention one thing.. The reason why the United States does not veer hugely from one administration to the next like banana republics is because of the deep state. So the stability that most Americans love and expect in their lives would be gone if the president could unilaterally make sudden huge changes unchecked. Life would become more unpredictable, chaotic and maybe better in many ways and worse in many others. The deep state does act as a check on power. The deep state for all its faults acts like a counterbalance for the madness of crowds 4 year itch.

Just a warning, be careful what you wish for.

I see Trump as a false populist. Take away the narcissistic man-child impetuousness and look at what he actually did in office, and to me he's just a more obnoxious version of Bush Jr, but with less wars.
 
BD Bodybuilder

BD Bodybuilder

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Sep 25, 2024
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Hmm... I know the elites in Brussels are hoping Trump loses. These people are not pro-democracy. They are Davos WEF aristocrats that see Joe Six-pack as a headache. They are systematically de-industrializing all of Europe with their net-zero carbon programs. Just ask Germany. This puts middle class Europeans (really all Europeans) at great risk.

The Deep State is not accountable to the people. I understand that having expertise that crosses over from administration to administration is valuable. But those people have to exercise great restraint, as they are unelected, and when a new administration is voted into office, it's their job to competently execute the policies of the new administration that was voted in by the people.

When the Deep State says screw that, who's undermining Democracy? Really, I mean it. When a-holes like Vindmann undermine administration policy and cite "inter-agency consensus" as justification, what does that mean? It means that the CIA, State Dept. and FBI are giving "the people" the middle finger. Regardless of who wins next week, the Deep State inclination to ignore administration directives has to stop.

1. No one is trying to de-industrialize Europe. They are trying to move away from fossil fuels, which must be done.

2. The voting electorate chooses the public officials who appoint the adminstrators who hire government employees and contractors - including those at the CIA, State Dept and FBI. There is and must always be an organized chain of command and control if government is to function. No one in the chain who ignores directives from above will be around any longer than you would be if you gave the finger to your boss.
 
tommyguns2

tommyguns2

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De-industrialization:




These articles are in Politico, Forbes and Bloomberg. Hardly right wing rags.

On the Deep State, try firing Federal employees. Not so easy. Remember Andrew McCabe? The guy caught lying to the FBI on multiple occasions? After being fired, he got his full pension restored.


This is a guy plotting to undermine the President, and then lying to investigators about what he did. Do you think other Federal employees took notice? My guess is yes.

Don't fire Fed employees. Instead, promote them. Create a new agency in a massive airplane hanger filled with filing cabinets located above the artic circle in Alaska, and transfer them there for their new "filing" job.
 
BD Bodybuilder

BD Bodybuilder

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De-industrialization...

The de-industrialization references you provide all make it clear that the proximate cause was energy policies aimed at moving away from fossil fuels, like I said - which is something we all must do before (a) we run out of them, or (b) we perish from the climate change effects of burning them. The Germans had it all planned out - but their schedule got wrecked by the loss of fossil fuel coming from Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine.

And yes, it can be hard to fire a federal employee, but it is important for continuity of government operations that civil servants be protected from political retribution - such as Trump throwing a hissy fit when he doesn't get his way.
 
tommyguns2

tommyguns2

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The de-industrialization references you provide all make it clear that the proximate cause was energy policies aimed at moving away from fossil fuels, like I said - which is something we all must do before (a) we run out of them, or (b) we perish from the climate change effects of burning them. The Germans had it all planned out - but their schedule got wrecked by the loss of fossil fuel coming from Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine.

And yes, it can be hard to fire a federal employee, but it is important for continuity of government operations that civil servants be protected from political retribution - such as Trump throwing a hissy fit when he doesn't get his way.
Good to know you agree that Europe is de-industrializing. But it's OK because it's for the "right" reason. And the "reason" is right because someone said so. I wonder if the voters in Germany are being asked what they think? No, Brussels/Berlin know best.

Just to give you an idea of how stupid Germany is, they took their nuclear plants offline because of Fukushima. Do you know how many of their nuclear plants were within 50 miles of the sea? Zero. So, kill Germany's nuclear power due to a tsunami in Japan. But I suppose it's for the best, because the smart people know that nuclear power is bad and solar/wind power is good. Germany presently pays about $0.40 USD/KWhr, while the U.S. pays about half that, and China about one-quarter that.

1730399991182.gif
 
BD Bodybuilder

BD Bodybuilder

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Sep 25, 2024
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Good to know you agree that Europe is de-industrializing. But it's OK because it's for the "right" reason. And the "reason" is right because someone said so. I wonder if the voters in Germany are being asked what they think? No, Brussels/Berlin know best.

Just to give you an idea of how stupid Germany is, they took their nuclear plants offline because of Fukushima. Do you know how many of their nuclear plants were within 50 miles of the sea? Zero. So, kill Germany's nuclear power due to a tsunami in Japan. But I suppose it's for the best, because the smart people know that nuclear power is bad and solar/wind power is good. Germany presently pays about $0.40 USD/KWhr, while the U.S. pays about half that, and China about one-quarter that.

View attachment 15559

Our discussion was not about the price of electricity in Germany. I will leave you to debate that with someone else.
 
tommyguns2

tommyguns2

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Our discussion was not about the price of electricity in Germany. I will leave you to debate that with someone else.
When the price of energy gets too high, it's too expensive to make goods in Germany. So they move their manufacturing to someplace with lower prices. Germany is self-immolating. That is de-industrialization, and it's happening primarily in Germany because they have the largest industrial base.

And Brussels is trying to kill the agricultural capacity of The Netherlands. Absolutely crazy.
 
Yano

Yano

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Sep 18, 2022
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Good to know you agree that Europe is de-industrializing. But it's OK because it's for the "right" reason. And the "reason" is right because someone said so. I wonder if the voters in Germany are being asked what they think? No, Brussels/Berlin know best.

Just to give you an idea of how stupid Germany is, they took their nuclear plants offline because of Fukushima. Do you know how many of their nuclear plants were within 50 miles of the sea? Zero. So, kill Germany's nuclear power due to a tsunami in Japan. But I suppose it's for the best, because the smart people know that nuclear power is bad and solar/wind power is good. Germany presently pays about $0.40 USD/KWhr, while the U.S. pays about half that, and China about one-quarter that.

View attachment 15559
Just my opinion from what I know about Germany but it will take a decade or so to reverse the damage Angela Merkel did.
 
Yano

Yano

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And Brussels is trying to kill the agricultural capacity of The Netherlands. Absolutely crazy.
It was actually proposed by the Netherlands and the Belgian govt is willing to go along with it as well as the EU govt.

The people that are pissed off are the farmers in both countries.

This is all based on nitrogen emissions. Being the farmers use nitrogen for fertilizer they feel the limits unfairly target them in both countries. So they blocked roads and held protests.

"Agriculture is the main source of nitrogen in the Netherlands, and both the Netherlands and Belgium exceed EU limits for nitrogen pollution. To reduce emissions, the Dutch government has proposed buying out and shutting down livestock farms. Farmers in both countries are concerned that these plans will threaten their way of life."

Only way I know anything about this at all is I have a friend that lives in Belgium I have gamed with on steam for 5 years now or so.
 
fasttwitch

fasttwitch

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The German deindustrialization is mainly loss of access to cheap Russian fuel. Yes, some of the Greens went a little too far, but the Germans made a choice in 2022. They could (as usual) downplay American concerns about Russia or buck Russia which would cause enormous harm to the economy.. They made their decision. The Germans chose America. Even knowing the choice would be painful.
 
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