This makes me want to call it slop even more.

I don’t know if you’ve read Ray Dalio’s “Changing World Order”, but it’s in this vein. Here is the animated video he produced covering the ideas in the book in an ELI5 type format. Worth your time if it interests you.

Trump is hell-bent on bringing about financial collapse of the U.S. sooner rather than later. Defense is ~14% of the U.S. budget, so a 50% boost would be massive. Add in the fact that his “Big Beautiful Bill” has already boosted the budget deficit to ~6%, much greater than U.S. economic growth, that his tariffs and ejection of immigrants are shrinking the economy, and that ~ 1/3 of the national debt comes due in 2026 and will need to be rolled over, and you have a foolproof recipe for financial collapse. In addition, Jerome Powell’s term as fed chair is up in May, so Trump can appoint a lackey to juice rates and engage in quantitative easing (money printing), and there is zero doubt that the dollar will be absolutely obliterated before Trump leaves office. There is a reason we’re in the greatest gold bull market of all time, and it is not because Trump is competent and the U.S. is a stable anchor for the world’s economy.

Trump says lots of shit, and his actions rarely align with his words.

I’m willing to bet that Ozzy also likes to climb into your underwear when you’re sitting on the toilet.

Fair trade.

The most neutral country money can buy.

What? The “land of the free”? Whoever told you that is your enemy

NATO has already been destroyed. If Russia attacked a NATO country which then invoked article 5, do you think that the U.S. would come to their aid?

Not even butt plug sellers.

That my parents loved me.

I love how they framed the letter and hung it on their wall.

Toys for thots.

Venezuela is a trial balloon to see how the world responds. As expected, the response was timid and weak. This will only embolden this administration. If I had to hazard a guess, Trump’s next military adventure will be an attack on “cartels” in Mexico.

What he’s trying to do is expand U.S. control over the world’s oil, to the detriment of China. The U.S. is self-sufficient for oil production, and is the largest producer in the world. By virtue of it’s location, relationship, and the strength of it’s military, the U.S. has potential means of control over Canada and Mexico’s oil. By virtue of weapons supply and military bases, the U.S. has a lot of control over the oil produced in the middle east as well, and it would be trivial for the U.S. to shut it all down. Since China’s demand for 12.8 million barrels per day far outstrips its production capability of 4.9 million barrels per day, it relies on outside sources, making it vulnerable to suppliers. Bringing Venezuela under U.S. control potentially gives the U.S. more power to drive China’s energy costs higher and one fewer option for China to turn to in the event of turmoil.

Somewhat reasonable. Reddit from 11 years ago was a much better place.

The Trump administration has effectively destroyed U.S. credibility as a benevolent force in the world, and has shown itself as an unreliable partner in world affairs at best, and well-armed and potentially hostile at worst. Unfortunately, the far-right Trump administration has effective control over all three branches of government, and there are few to no checks on the administration’s power. Fair elections seem unlikely. It will take extreme duress to push the public to what will have to effectively be a revolution to oust those entrenching themselves in power. (Un)Fortunately the upcoming depression, which I’m calling “The Greatest Depression”, may provide that push.

One of my favorite fastbacks:

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses and identification cards.” The Act and implementing regulations establish minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibit federal agencies from accepting for certain official purposes noncompliant driver’s licenses and identification cards, both physical and digital (also known as Mobile Driver’s Licenses, or “mDLs”).

The official purposes covered by the Act and regulations are:

Accessing certain federal facilities; Boarding Federally regulated commercial aircraft; and Entering nuclear power plants.

So Real ID was designed to be good enough for people to use to enter a nuclear power plant, but apparently not reliable enough to identify someone to confirm citizenship? Sounds like some racist bullshit.

Don’t forget that the Supreme Court is in his pocket as well!