i'd rather die changing a broken system than live being another person preserving it

i haven't seen this reported in too many places (not on washington post or cnn?):  trump's liberation day "tariff board" is full of lies.  the numbers under "tariffs charged to the usa" is wrong.  and not wrong in the "oops, off by a little bit, lets get lost in the statistics", but wrong in the "you even lied about what direction the trade imbalance was in".  if we're supposed to remember/celebrate this day:  why ruin it all with lies?  ~a mig:  "silence is complicity"  hardly.  i haven't seen you condemn the vandalism.  i haven't condemned them.  do you think you, and i are complicit in the vandalism?  ~a paul:  yes they are in order and my two that aren't extra credit are illegal (and immoral, and harmful) actions against the media and illegal (and immoral, and harmful) actions against the judiciary.  ~a a: I'm going to assume yours are in order and that your two are the actions against media and judiciary. -Paul https://www.mediaite.com/tv/daily-shows-jordan-klepper-ribs-studio-audience-cheering-on-tesla-arson-wow-you-guys-like-petty-acts-of-domestic-terrorism/amp/ “Wow, you guys like petty acts of domestic terrorism, huh? Cool. Wow,” - mig a: I specifically said two in order to try to get people to focus on the worst ones. You cheated by picking too many. -Paul https://nypost.com/2024/12/10/us-news/ex-wapo-reporter-taylor-lorenz-says-she-felt-joy-over-assassination-of-unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-feels-like-just and of course some think the murder was all fine and dandy. - mig As for Mangione it’s always “I don’t support murdering CEOs *but*” the but to me is an indicator that the first part isn’t very sincere. - mig a:  I’ve yet to see any pol aside from Ro Khanna and John Fetterman really condemn the vandalism.  “Silence is complicity”. - mig mig:  who endorsed mangione or tesla vandalism?  ~a a:  I mean, what action has been has been a bit embarrassing.  Angry man shaking his cane at trump.  Angry man yelling at clouds in the senate chamber.  Kind of sort of endorsing domestic terrorism (Luigi Mangione, Tesla vandalism).  Threatening to shut down the government to accomplish ... something? - mig mig:  "I’m more optimistic on the economic outlook than most"  do you expect the outlook to undo the damage to our economy already done in 2025?  ~a paul:  2.  no.  ~a paul:  (1.5 extra credit:  trump has single-handedly ruined the us reputation in the eyes of the world.  "the gulf of the united states" buys us literally nothing.  but also makes us a literal joke.  same goes for all "greenland", "canada is the 51st state", "mexico is the 51st state" bullshit.  it's an exchange of nothing:  for something huge.)  ~a paul:  (1.4 extra credit:  trump has single-handedly ruined the us economy.  the US economy 2004-2024 beat the world economy every year:  and usually by a lot.  vti beats vxus every year.  without fail:  well, 2025 is the one exception to that rule.  why would you want to "liberate" the US from 20 years of prosperity?  ~a paul:  (1.3 extra credit:  doge.  it is not efficient.  it is worse than doing nothing.  500 billion added to the deficit will be very costly in the form of new extra debt payments we make every year in the name of doge:  any amount of "savings" (i.e. irreparable destruction) won't possibly reach 500b.  ALL doge is also clearly a COI:  COI is illegal for good reason.  it's illegal, it's immoral, it makes us a kleptocracy.)  ~a paul:  1.1:  actions against the media.  if the government misbehaves, and the media has been destroyed:  we are truly fucked.  this one matters more than all the rest, imo.  1.2:  actions against the judiciary.  the things trump says and does against the judiciary ruling on his actions are blatantly illegal.  and for good reason.  ~a mig:  you're optimistic about the lack of accountability?  i guess it's paul's fault for giving "(1)" two parts.  what have the democrats been doing in response?  i haven't seen much action.  ~a paul:  1) how the democrats have been acting in response 2) general lack of accountability.  I do think I’m more optimistic on the economic outlook than most. - mig Questions for the board: (1) What are the two worst things about the second Trump administration so far? (2) Are there anythings that you are optimistic about? -Paul a: Not knowing what else was done wrong doesn't mean I don't think heads should roll (it also doesn't mean I do). Seems like separate issues. Seems reasonable for there to be some punishments over this given the magnitude of the error. -Paul If it were me, I'd probably be tossing Hegseth as well, but he's a Trump pet.  So that won't happen. -- Xpovos It seems likely that Walz's head will roll--eventually.  But this was an unforced error of a SNAFU.  Totally witless. -- Xpovos paul: "having Goldberg on a war planning signal chat was bad?" yes that's right.  conservative Reddit and lahren think heads should roll vs "I honestly don't know much else about what might have been done wrong".  ~a a: I'm going to be honest. I have no idea what you're talking about in terms of me being too conservative. In terms of what? That... Clinton shouldn't have had a private email server and having Goldberg on a war planning signal chat was bad? -Paul 0.5 trillion onto the deficit ffs.  the debt payments on that alone will negate any savings in perpetuity.  we always knew doge was going to be an ironic name, but i don't think we could have predicted, how ironic, exactly.  ~a paul:  "Is it not secure enough"  that's correct.  especially this scenario:  on high side email boxes you can still email the wrong person, but it'll be in a much smaller set of people that are at least cleared to the level of the thing you're sending.  like, literally the networks are separated the physical layer.  if you plug a S computer into a TS ethernet cable it won't work.  (also you'll be in trouble, but that's a different issue) ~a paul:  there's also this thing.  you're not supposed to release battle damage assessments (or classified intel in general) willy nilly because it reveals the details of your intelligence agents behind enemy lines.  ~a paul:  according to npr, tomi lahren feels you're too conservative for her, as well.  ~a paul:  they can't decide if it's a show of strength to punish rule breakers:  or if it is a show of strength to suggest rule breakers that work for him don't need to follow the law.  ~a paul:  i read the "conservative" reddit.  it's not exactly a fair view of what conservatives think in general. . . . buuut the conservatives of reddit think your views are too conservative for even them.  goldberg had the goods; so he wasn't lying; there was clearly highly classified information there:  they think the whitehouse should have immediately fired waltz and "dressed down" hegseth/gabbard.  ~a paul:  and gabbard lying to congress?  is that not "what might have been done wrong"?  ~a paul:  "I honestly don't know much else about what might have been done wrong"  what?  what about the hegseth thing?  prior plans of an attack in the future?  highly classified TS data?  the kind of information that gets american service-members killed and wounded?  that is "much else about what might have been done wrong"?  . . . ?  ~a paul:  "didn't Clinton do the same thing in terms of deleting emails?"  according to "the former head of litigation at NARA, described the practice as 'highly unusual' but not a violation of the law".  in other words, according to this lawyer, they were following the laws that govern NARA.  ~a a: Either way, I want to be clear, this seems pretty bad on all sorts of levels. Including the level that nobody seems to be talking about: Why are we bombing Yemen? -Paul a: I have no idea what a low side communications channel is. Are you referring to signal? Is it not secure enough? -Paul a: Although it is ironic if the data deletion is problematic, because didn't Clinton do the same thing in terms of deleting emails? -Paul a: I was referring to the inclusion of the journalist on the signal group. I honestly don't know much else about what might have been done wrong. I just found out about the data deletion last night. -Paul paul:  what hegseth did was probably the worst offense morally.  but gabbard blatantly lying to congress is also arguably maybe the worst legally?  ~a paul:  hegseth took high side TS classified and protected data and put it in a low side communications channel.  that is serious prison time.  i assume you don't mean that mistake.  ~a paul:  "This appears to have been a single mistake"  ??? oh, which mistake?  waltz selected "1 week" for data to be deleted (and later changed to 4 weeks).  the laws that regulate communications between any two government officials forbids the destruction of data within 1 week or 4 weeks:  all this data is legally required to be sent to NARA for later declassification.  i assume you don't mean that mistake.  ~a a: "europe and china have proven strategies for implementation" But the US isn't Europe and China. We have different geographies and systems of government and political realities. What about recent US history makes you think high speed rail is workable here? -Paul a: "i know you're joking.  but, no" Counter-point: The email server was done deliberately, and intentionally, with multiple decisions involved. This appears to have been a single mistake. Still, I think it's fair to say both were bad. -Paul a: "local media is mostly owned by sinclair inc" I don't think a significant portion of media coverage of national COVID lockdowns would be produced/consumed by local media. That seems more the purview of cable news and national news. -Paul a: "if high speed rail is cheaper, easier, (sometimes) faster, without the long TSA lines, then why?" Convenience? Maybe they disagree about it being easier or cheaper? Remember how we disagreed about whether Metro was superior to driving into DC? -Paul a: Maybe, but I just don't know if it makes sense to build out all the infrastructure everywhere for trains which might be marginally better for medium length trips when we already have infrastructure for cars and planes which can fill that purpose almost as well. -Paul a: To me, planes are clearly superior for long distance travel. And for local (ie, to the local grocery store or school or whatever) trains seem clearly to not be an option. Could trains be a slightly better option for those medium length trips (~100 miles)? -Paul a: "but there are very few jobs i think the car is best suited for" Right, I almost preempted this by mentioning that this feels to me like an extension of your thoughts on cars vs bikes where one option seems clearly better but for some reason you prefer the other. -Paul a:  i mean ask James Clapper. - mig i know lying to congress is usually a "no no".  is that no longer a thing?  ~a mig:  yeah, i did not predict this happening at all.  "i assume she knows jeffrey goldberg won't out her obvious lies because he'd be breaking the law to do so"  this was me like 24 hours ago.  ~a still dunce cap on me for today. - mig a:  stand corrected, though still annoyed at the Atlantic for the paywall. - mig mig: "None of this seems particularly sensitive"  ???  i'd feel weird quoting specific updates, because this is 100% TS.  hell, i feel very weird *reading* this:  knowingly reading TS stuff not for you is very against the rules.  these plans were distributed before any troops were in contact: that is the kind of information that gets american service-members killed and wounded. i feel weird even saying this much in a public place.  ~a mig:  i had to click "option 3" here to read, but ymmv.  ~a A big what the fucking fuck to the atlantic for paywalling their article that released the full chat btw. - mig This is still very embarrassing for the administration but from a national security perspective this seems like a big fat nothing burger. - mig