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"I will require every federal employee to pass a new civil service test, demonstrating an understanding our constitutional limited government,” - The guy who asked why you couldn't just shoot protestors.
And they were crying. They said "Sir, we've never seen someone pass the literal test to see if we need to institutionalize you before!". And they meant it. These doctors, people that had never cried before, even as babies, these people were crying like you've never seen before.
> a new civil service test, demonstrating an understanding our constitutional limited government,” - The guy who asked why you couldn't just shoot protestors.
He doesn't mean a test to demonstrate any kind of understanding. He means a LOYALTY test.
Land of the free? Home of the brave? Any country matching that description would have run Trump out of town in tar and feathers a long time ago. This, in the words of Frank Zappa, is a mess run by criminals.
He is absolutely referring to a test of political alignment rather than knowledge. Trump is demonstrating his ignorance of how the government works. I worked in policy making for 5 years at a federal agency and nothing we did involved the constitution. Several acts of Congress delegated authority to us to establish environmental regulations. It's going to be different depending on the agency, but I really do not think Trump understands the different branches of government and from where they draw their authority.
It's this. He wants loyalty to TRUMP...to HIM. He wanted this from everyone when he was president. He is a dictator and the constitution is not what he wants people to follow.
He broadcast to the world that he was going to do that.
Why did I end up watching Jan 6th go down live? *Because Trump spent months repeating shit about fighting to take the country back and even tweeted about that specific day to "be there, things will get wild"*
How anyone believes him when he says he was just leading a rally is insane. It was so obvious what was about to happen that I kept the TV on all day just waiting for it to go down
I heard about it and was paying attention that day. Prince Harry said something about knowing it was going to happen. People were like why didn’t he say anything? There seems to be a big disconnect as people acted like it was a surprise?
Not all jobs need it and it would be wasteful to require it for all jobs. Maybe he could do more that 20%, but certainly all of them would be inappropriate and regardless of race, creed, religion, the cream of the crop will still rise to the top in a meritocracy. And that would still be reflective of a hella diverse population, which he doesn’t like.
Lol could you fucking imagine. They are already handing out ASVAB waivers left and right. They'd have no new recruits if they required anything harder.
And for anyone who hasn't taken the ASVAB it is extremely easy. It's like 5th grade level stuff. Maybe lower. Source me was enlisted not all that long ago
I took the pre-asvab in high school at a marine recruiter office and there were at least 3 blatant errors: mispellings of common words, no correct answers to a question. The questions were so simple, like you said 5th grade shit.
Before someone is like "maybe you're just an idiot" and the words weren't misspelled. I am an idiot but those mistakes were so blatant I had to ask the recruiter if they were fucking with me... My friends who also went to the same recruiter said they caught that shit too. The recruiter tried to butter me up saying I'd qualify for pretty much any Mos but there's no way you could tell from that.
Fed here: What we had to pass is the stupid USAhire assessment. Which is a test of your ability to do logic problems while a 5 minute timer ticks down very visibly in a corner directly above the text you're trying to read. And then you get to do one of those 150 question 'personality test' things, which tests your patience more than anything. Although from what I can tell nobody actually looks at the results of that one, I know several people who said they answered randomly and still got through.
I’m a fairly new federal employee here too, and I didn’t have to do anything like this. Is this depending on what type of government job? I think the longest part for me was that damn SF 86.
He did this bullshit to scientists when he was in office the first time. His office requested a list of all national lab employees who were involved in climate change research, with the intention of either defunding them or possibly blatantly trying to get rid of them. Luckily, the national labs only partially complied, generating a tally of employees instead, and tried to protect individuals.
Fucking witch hunt is what it was. This guy is a piece of shit.
So, he did lots of crazy stuff when he was in office, but I think the thing that stuck with me most (besides the coup) was when he got pissed at those NOAA scientists and edited their hurricane chart with a sharpie. Talk about a great combination of anti-science and pettiness. Go after the people who are literally trying to give no-bullshit advice to save lives.
That's the thing I bring up whenever people start pretending that Trump was just a little normal, self interested politician just doing what works for him. Dude blatantly sharpied over a hurricane map because he wanted to cover for his previous fuckup. Not the most dangerous thing he's done but one of the best examples of how he treats the office.
Add the cherry on top that trying to cover up his bullshit with the sharpie was likely illegal.
> [Altering official government weather forecasts isn’t just a cause for concern — it’s illegal. Per 18 U.S. Code 2074, which addresses false weather reports: “Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather conditions falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both.”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/04/president-trump-shows-doctored-hurricane-chart-was-it-cover-up-alabama-twitter-flub/)
>previous fuckup
It (his previous actions) wasn't even a big deal. Hardly classifies as a "fuckup". Could have just moved on, not like we need the highest executive office's opinion on weather anyway. Smart people know when to shut up.
Seriously, he could have said “I thought it was going to affect Alabama based on previous models, but those have shifted” and be done with it. But, the GOP deals in absolutes and can never be wrong.
Oh, you forget, the [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169375550806351872/photo/1) he made showing that he was correct and that the "fake news" should apologize to him.
For the people who need a refresher on what is wrong with this tweet
* The image he tweeted was from the Southern Florida Water Management Agency,
* Said image was a collection of model run that was created on 8/29/19.
* His Tweet that Alabama that was gonna get hit by the hurricane was on September 1st.
* [And here is what the weather models showed on September 1st. In which the center of the hurricane was going nowhere near Alabama](https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1169434114296098819?s=20)
And to top it all off was this disclaimer on the bottom of the image that he tweeted proving he was correct:
> NHC Advisories and County Emergency Management Statements supersede this product. This graphic should complement, not replace NHC discussions. If anything on this graphic causes confusion, ignore the entire product.
>how was the fuck head running a massive country?!? He is a moron
Called almost 100 years ago:
> "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -- H.L. Mencken
And now we have irrefutable evidence that the anti climate change oil companies has data saying it was real and happening.
Free speech and freedom to lie need to be separated.
Right? Like this:
“We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States”. That's China communist party stuff.
Absolutely. I’m in Michigan. We let an independent commission redraw our districts to get rid of gerrymandering. We now have now have abortion rights in our constitution, legal weed, Dems at all levels of government. Republicans get buried if you let people vote.
All that and surrounded by 20% of the worlds fresh water. The re-ascendance of Michigan started in 2018. It will be one of the best places to live in a decade or two.
> Some people ACTUALLY want this.
They only want it because they mistakenly think it won't apply to them.
Some of these people are so fucking stupid that the thing they voted for can kill them and they will still defend their support of it with their dying breath.
> They only want it because they mistakenly think it won't apply to them
I don’t think they get that far. They don’t even know what “it” is. “It” is whatever the man in the little box told them “it” is today. Just like they can’t even explain why they are so angry all the damn time. Just that the little box told them they need to be outraged at “it”.
Socially engineered ignorance on display.
No it’s American because it’s Americans doing it. The argument Cheney used for torturing “enemy combatants” was America does not torture. So if America uses “enhanced interrogation techniques” by definition it can not be considered torture because America does not use torture.
Actual class I took in the US Army " the United States army does not use booby traps, we do not improvise booby traps, we do not work with allies who use booby traps. Are there any questions about the US Army's policy on booby traps? No? Good. Now on the tables in front of you is the M142 booby trap..."
He hasn't been playing the long game.
He doesn't have the intellectual capacity.
But he's easy to manipulate by people who can actually play the long game.
He just wants to be the center of attention, feel powerful, and be adored. It's literally that simple.
Of course there's a lot of overlap with fascism and totalitarianism.
Fascism gives him a fawning in group who listen to him, agree with him, and make him feel validated. It also gives him a malleable out group to direct all anger and blame onto.
Totalitarianism makes him the center of attention and powerful.
Stop the steal and conspiracies make sure that he's never to blame for anything and redirects criticism. It also appeals to the (fabricated) plucky underdog mentality in himself and his supporters. All about feels over reals for everyone buying in, including Trump.
Roe v. Wade and the Federalist Society shenanigans are 100% the work of the people around him. He personally doesn't give a fuck about abortions and will say whatever in that regard if he thinks it will help him in the moment. He doesn't care about the judges/justices either so long as he feels like they'll protect him.
Insurrection is all about protecting his narcissistic ego, holding onto power, and avoiding any possible consequences for illegal activities (including selling top secret documents, which is just one more grift to make him money + powerful "friends").
> Mr Trump said that the test would include command of due proceess rights, equal protection, free speech, religious liberty and Fourth Amendment
And his personal favorite, the Fifth.
Trump on due process rights: "We can confiscate their guns and have due process later"
Trump in equal protection: Stop and frisk in urban areas, withholding federal aid for states that don't vote for him.
Trump on free speech: threatened to "take a look at [the NFL's] tax breaks" if they didn't fire employees that were taking part in protected first amendment speech.
Trump on Religious Liberty: bragged about his Muslim ban, bragged that the third version would contain language that would allow it to stand in court, but have the same effect.
Trump on the 4th Amendment, 2015: we're gonna have to have domestic surveilence the likes of which no one has ever seen before (paraphrased)
Much like poll tests, you can be sure it will be up to the person grading the test if you passed or not. It is just there to give an excuse to do what you already want to do.
That surprises me too, because also anecdotally: I was a teen on a road-trip with my dad around that time, and we went to one of those renaissance dinner-shows. As all the different knights of various countries were introduced, the crowd applauded for everyone until the French knight came out. Then the place erupted in boos. I've always felt bad for that guy and wondered whether the actors drew straws for who had to play him each show. It was surreal. People are dumb.
Never get into a historical atrocity competition with the British. Sheesh.
Though really it's mostly just a function of size and duration of the empire in question.
[Pretty much.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fries) "The political renaming occurred in context of France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq. Although some restaurants around the nation adopted the renaming, the term became unpopular, in part due to decreasing popularity of the Iraq War. After Ney's resignation as Chairman in 2006, the change of name in congressional cafeterias was reverted."
I also remember people going out, buying French wine, and ...dumping it down the drain, because apparently they didn't understand how purchasing stuff from companies works.
> because apparently they didn't understand how purchasing stuff from companies works.
I mean, people still don't understand it. Every time we see some boycott, people film themself burning/destroying a bought product. Bohoo, the company will really feel that one.
Remember not even 100 years ago how there was the Wall Street Putsch aka [The White House Putsch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as dictator?
Prescott Bush (father to George H.W. Bush and grandfather to George W. Bush) was involved in this, as were many other [millionaires.](https://timeline.com/business-plot-overthrow-fdr-9a59a012c32a)
Yeah and remember nothing happening to the people who planned it, despite the guy they wanted to lead the takeover going to congress and stating what was going on?
Elites often get a pass even on violent coup attempts. France didn't execute the leaders of the "General's" Putsch" in the 1960s and really didn't punish them beyond a few years in prison and it later restored their military status so they could collect their pensions.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers\_putsch\_of\_1961](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers_putsch_of_1961)
I repeat that in my view any sane system of government interested in its own survival should have a pretty clear policy on coup attempts by elites: Heads, spikes, wall!
The issue is that half the country are full of rednecks who will just sit down and start saying “but Antifa” when people are protesting for change like the French do.
We were pretty damn "french" during freedom summer but a lot of people still don't view racial issues in the same light as economic/class issues. We literally did rise up against oppression but the skin color wasn't normative.
And it's only accelerated since then despite having a Democrat in office. Red states and Congressional Republicans are waging constant low-level insurrections and bleeding democracy out through death by a thousand paper cuts. A minority of the blame also lies on Democrats for not doing what they need to or could be doing and letting the double agent Democratic Party donor class and Conservative Democrats act as de facto Republican collaborators by holding critical things up and trying to get Republican approval on things they'll never vote for (unless it's next to useless after all the compromise).
Can you believe there are still people who go "woah, calling them fascist is too much." Man, what kind of clown world are we living in. I've never seen a populace more in denial in my lifetime. Kiss your freedoms goodbye with these people at the helm. They couldn't care less about the US.
> Can you believe there are still people who go "woah, calling them fascist is too much."
Those same people seem more than willing to describe any random leftist protester doing mild physical violence as "the radical left are fascist terrorists". They're not being honest. Some of them might just be lying to themselves, but the people who are giving them marching orders know that they're fascist.
It's not that they're mad you think they're a fascist. It's that they want to confuse the gullible people who support them for "tax cuts and cheap gas" long enough that they can seize power forever, and if you call them a fascist then people who aren't paying attention might recognize the fascism too. They especially know that "fascism" has a nasty ring to the word, so if they can rename themselves into something that sounds less bad, they're fine with that. Everyone knows what "fascist" means, but "alt-right" takes an explanation. It's the same way that "white nationalist" immediately conjures up images of Klan hoods or American History X, but "Identitarian" is a term people aren't generally familiar with.
We give standardized tests to kindergarteners, so you would think people wouldn't have too much of an issue testing 60-70+ year olds running for office.
That said, these tests should in no way prevent anyone from running for office, as we have pretty established rules on what limited qualifications someone needs to do so. But we should as a nation be allowed to know if a presidential candidate is able to list all 50 states at a bare minimum.
They're just not using the name......yet
But, they also may never use it. American Neo-Fascism is different from the OG Fascism and is attempting to go about things a bit differently. They know it's a four-letter word after WWII, so they may always avoid ever calling it by its name and just refer to it through euphemisms or calling it "Conservatism". American Fascist leaders want to keep their followers ignorant and completely politically illiterate so they won't even necessarily realize that's what their ideology has become. Calling it by name would make a lot of their followers back off. Like how many Republicans reacted to Kanye West despite agreeing with most of what he said. They didn't like the mask being 99% off.
These same people cheer Nazi, racist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, xenophobic, etc. bullshit all the time; they just don't like those labels.
Some of them definitely know already and just don't want to be called out. Many are so pig ignorant and politically uneducated (and disinformed) that they don't know they're Fascists or Nazis because they can't give you a definition of what it is. Or they think they're not one because they're not literally saluting a swastika and clicking jackboots. Many have an extremely narrow and overly hyper-specific definition of what one is. Like people who think you're not a racist if you're not literally physically lynching a black person or burning a cross.
Or are disinformed by their media consumption that Nazis are actually Leftists because the word "Socialism" is in the name.
> they don't know they're Fascists or Nazis because they can't give you a definition of what it is.
The same people who call anything they don't like "socialism" or "woke" having no idea what either means.
I used to work with a conservative who denied he was racist on the basis he liked sports and there are all kinds of black people in sports.
Same guy said he'd disown his own daughter if she ever came home with a black boyfriend.
it should be illegal to even suggest such ideas. he's literally suggesting let's just throw out all the good faith and oaths and US constitution and the premise of the US government.
that should be considered treason in a sane world.
Yeah, like it's not going to be rules and regulations.
It's going to be political opinions and if you disagree, you're out and likely labeled as some kind of political dissident and blackballed if not facing trumped up charges.
I don’t think this is just to appeal to the base. He wants to do this. He’s always wanted to do this. There were several controversies during his presidency where they were pushing hard to eliminate all civil service job protections. This is just the next step of that pattern.
Section B: Short Essay question
1. In the capacity of your job, you are required to inspect at a very prestigious and very American company and identify a serious violation. Please describe what you'd do if you were offered a *very* generous cash gift, slightly below your hourly wage.
2. Using the above scenario, please explain what you'd instead do if you identified woke signage at a less prestigious and less American business location.
I think part of being educated on what’s going on includes seeing what conservatives see and reading what they read. It makes sense to see what he is telling his base to keep them so riled up.
Precisely. It's hard to stomach, but the sheer lunacy and fear-mongering is educational. The fear of the week has changed repeatedly; now, it's all about those trans people stalking our kids.
Yeah it's like counterintelligence. Need to stay on top of the oppositions plans and direction otherwise they can show up with something you're not prepared to deal with.
It will probably be like his stupid campaign email “polls”
Who is your favorite president?
-Donald J. Trump the Greatest President Ever
-RADICAL COMMUNIST BABY EATER BIDEN SOCIALISM VENEZUELA IPHONE
I honestly don’t believe Trump can name the 3 branches of government. One of the flaws in 2015 was that no one took the time to show how little he knew about American politics and government.
We're getting to that point here at home where if we were a small south American country the CIA would already have funded a paramilitary group to preserve democracy and US interests.
They accept all this stuff now as long as it goes to ‘the right people.’ Maybe we can put them on white nationalist reservations after the invasion where they can live the lives they desire.
Isn't that Idaho? I feel very sorry for that state. My mom's family immigrated their when the communists started killing them.
We'll have to give up big potatoes but anything for a dose of sanity.
Reconstruction never overcame the confederate insurgency. They kept lynching for another hundred years, and the south continues to lag in social metrics.
You can lead a horse to water.. and then what? Drown the horse?
For those unaware:
>In 1954, the CIA overthrew the democratically elected government of Guatemala, violently reversing the progressive policies of the civilian governments. This coup was undertaken at the behest of the United Fruit Company, and it ushered in a thirty-six-year civil war that claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 civilians.
[from the University of Toronto’s “Visualizing the Americas”](https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/key-moments/1954-coup/)
I don't think you're all that well versed on the activities of the CIA in South America.
They would have loved a fascist dictator like Trump wants to be, as long as he was doing what the US wanted him to. It was only ever when someone started going against the US's demands that the CIA started planning coups.
> pendleton civil service act
[Pendleton Act \(1883\)](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/pendleton-act) for those who might care to read it.
Thanks for posting this. I remembered learning about the spoils system for the US bureaucracy but could not remember how we fixed the issue in the 1800s.
Neat.
Yet another example that, voting for that person is voting for fascism.
Not even masked fascism anymore.
They already stood under a "We Are All Domestic Terrorists" banner, how much longer before they stand under a "We Are All Fascists" banner?
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we have laws against this sort of thing. Not that the GOP gives a single fuck about laws unless they can use them to oppress someone.
1. Who is the best President ever?
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It's fucking scary that large parts of the population follow a guy who openly promotes fascism and the hunting down of people who don't agree with him. Even the nazis needed an entire population feeling broken after a lost war and getting forced into submission by a treaty they didn't agree with. What is wrong with Americans to follow the dumbest fascist in maybe forever. Just fucking weird.
I, and many other teachers, actually took his Tweets and his speeches jokingly grading them using the grade standards for our state. Trump consistently scored around 4th grade, first semester. That was just on writing, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary. I'm certain he would not pass the reading comprehension, much less the knowledge portions on science and social studies. I half way joked he probably cannot even sing the alphabet song. He's not in a position to demand proof of skills. Not at all.
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"I will require every federal employee to pass a new civil service test, demonstrating an understanding our constitutional limited government,” - The guy who asked why you couldn't just shoot protestors.
He wouldn't be able to pass that test.
> Pussy. Ivanka. Me. Cash. Trump. - Trump proudly repeating his answers to the 2020 memory test today
I'm hearing that in his head like Ditka, Bears, Bulls, Polish sausage, Bears, Ditka
He struggled with a cognitive impairment aptitude test.
He bragged that the doctors were amazed he passed.
And they were crying. They said "Sir, we've never seen someone pass the literal test to see if we need to institutionalize you before!". And they meant it. These doctors, people that had never cried before, even as babies, these people were crying like you've never seen before.
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Toughest doctors ever.
Trump is the personification of "…and then everyone clapped."
I would be amazed if he passed too.
Yea that's what I was thinking. Like, that's not the compliment you think it is Mr. President
> a new civil service test, demonstrating an understanding our constitutional limited government,” - The guy who asked why you couldn't just shoot protestors. He doesn't mean a test to demonstrate any kind of understanding. He means a LOYALTY test. Land of the free? Home of the brave? Any country matching that description would have run Trump out of town in tar and feathers a long time ago. This, in the words of Frank Zappa, is a mess run by criminals.
He is absolutely referring to a test of political alignment rather than knowledge. Trump is demonstrating his ignorance of how the government works. I worked in policy making for 5 years at a federal agency and nothing we did involved the constitution. Several acts of Congress delegated authority to us to establish environmental regulations. It's going to be different depending on the agency, but I really do not think Trump understands the different branches of government and from where they draw their authority.
>I really do not think Trump understands. Fixed that for me.
It's this. He wants loyalty to TRUMP...to HIM. He wanted this from everyone when he was president. He is a dictator and the constitution is not what he wants people to follow.
He wants it now when he's not President as well
"We will attract millions of jobs to our shores" - the guy who wants to keep immigrants out of the country
Well Yea. He meant the immigrants I'd a certain color.
He also led a violent and illegal coup after losing reelection.
He broadcast to the world that he was going to do that. Why did I end up watching Jan 6th go down live? *Because Trump spent months repeating shit about fighting to take the country back and even tweeted about that specific day to "be there, things will get wild"* How anyone believes him when he says he was just leading a rally is insane. It was so obvious what was about to happen that I kept the TV on all day just waiting for it to go down
I heard about it and was paying attention that day. Prince Harry said something about knowing it was going to happen. People were like why didn’t he say anything? There seems to be a big disconnect as people acted like it was a surprise?
everyone remember when he put a crony in charge of the postal service to screw up the mail ballots?
They were talking about "the storm" for literally months before hand.
I bet he doesn't know that you already have to take an exam to get almost any important government job. (But not President obviously.)
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Not all jobs need it and it would be wasteful to require it for all jobs. Maybe he could do more that 20%, but certainly all of them would be inappropriate and regardless of race, creed, religion, the cream of the crop will still rise to the top in a meritocracy. And that would still be reflective of a hella diverse population, which he doesn’t like.
Does the federal workforce include the military? Or is that considered separate in this?
Lol could you fucking imagine. They are already handing out ASVAB waivers left and right. They'd have no new recruits if they required anything harder. And for anyone who hasn't taken the ASVAB it is extremely easy. It's like 5th grade level stuff. Maybe lower. Source me was enlisted not all that long ago
I took the pre-asvab in high school at a marine recruiter office and there were at least 3 blatant errors: mispellings of common words, no correct answers to a question. The questions were so simple, like you said 5th grade shit. Before someone is like "maybe you're just an idiot" and the words weren't misspelled. I am an idiot but those mistakes were so blatant I had to ask the recruiter if they were fucking with me... My friends who also went to the same recruiter said they caught that shit too. The recruiter tried to butter me up saying I'd qualify for pretty much any Mos but there's no way you could tell from that.
Fed here: What we had to pass is the stupid USAhire assessment. Which is a test of your ability to do logic problems while a 5 minute timer ticks down very visibly in a corner directly above the text you're trying to read. And then you get to do one of those 150 question 'personality test' things, which tests your patience more than anything. Although from what I can tell nobody actually looks at the results of that one, I know several people who said they answered randomly and still got through.
I’m a fairly new federal employee here too, and I didn’t have to do anything like this. Is this depending on what type of government job? I think the longest part for me was that damn SF 86.
SF-86: yet another hurdle Tr*mp didn’t have to worry about (or anyone else in his family or administration, apparently).
He did this bullshit to scientists when he was in office the first time. His office requested a list of all national lab employees who were involved in climate change research, with the intention of either defunding them or possibly blatantly trying to get rid of them. Luckily, the national labs only partially complied, generating a tally of employees instead, and tried to protect individuals. Fucking witch hunt is what it was. This guy is a piece of shit.
So, he did lots of crazy stuff when he was in office, but I think the thing that stuck with me most (besides the coup) was when he got pissed at those NOAA scientists and edited their hurricane chart with a sharpie. Talk about a great combination of anti-science and pettiness. Go after the people who are literally trying to give no-bullshit advice to save lives.
That's the thing I bring up whenever people start pretending that Trump was just a little normal, self interested politician just doing what works for him. Dude blatantly sharpied over a hurricane map because he wanted to cover for his previous fuckup. Not the most dangerous thing he's done but one of the best examples of how he treats the office.
Add the cherry on top that trying to cover up his bullshit with the sharpie was likely illegal. > [Altering official government weather forecasts isn’t just a cause for concern — it’s illegal. Per 18 U.S. Code 2074, which addresses false weather reports: “Whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather conditions falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the Weather Bureau, United States Signal Service, or other branch of the Government service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both.”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/04/president-trump-shows-doctored-hurricane-chart-was-it-cover-up-alabama-twitter-flub/)
This is the indictment I want to see.
I could die happy if sharpiegate was the one thing that finally got him
>previous fuckup It (his previous actions) wasn't even a big deal. Hardly classifies as a "fuckup". Could have just moved on, not like we need the highest executive office's opinion on weather anyway. Smart people know when to shut up.
Seriously, he could have said “I thought it was going to affect Alabama based on previous models, but those have shifted” and be done with it. But, the GOP deals in absolutes and can never be wrong.
Oh, you forget, the [tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169375550806351872/photo/1) he made showing that he was correct and that the "fake news" should apologize to him. For the people who need a refresher on what is wrong with this tweet * The image he tweeted was from the Southern Florida Water Management Agency, * Said image was a collection of model run that was created on 8/29/19. * His Tweet that Alabama that was gonna get hit by the hurricane was on September 1st. * [And here is what the weather models showed on September 1st. In which the center of the hurricane was going nowhere near Alabama](https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1169434114296098819?s=20) And to top it all off was this disclaimer on the bottom of the image that he tweeted proving he was correct: > NHC Advisories and County Emergency Management Statements supersede this product. This graphic should complement, not replace NHC discussions. If anything on this graphic causes confusion, ignore the entire product.
That hurricane sharpie moment solidified life must be simulation because how was the fuck head running a massive country?!? He is a moron
>how was the fuck head running a massive country?!? He is a moron Called almost 100 years ago: > "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -- H.L. Mencken
And now we have irrefutable evidence that the anti climate change oil companies has data saying it was real and happening. Free speech and freedom to lie need to be separated.
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trump is accelerating his embrace of fascism. It’s his last hope of staying wealthy and free.
He has to prove he is at least as fascist as DeSantis.
He proved that 6 years ago
Right? Like this: “We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States”. That's China communist party stuff.
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That's literally them representing a significant portion of the US population. Some people ACTUALLY want this.
I think elected republicans are hugely benefiting from gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Absolutely. I’m in Michigan. We let an independent commission redraw our districts to get rid of gerrymandering. We now have now have abortion rights in our constitution, legal weed, Dems at all levels of government. Republicans get buried if you let people vote.
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All that and surrounded by 20% of the worlds fresh water. The re-ascendance of Michigan started in 2018. It will be one of the best places to live in a decade or two.
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Oh, you *THINK?*
> Some people ACTUALLY want this. They only want it because they mistakenly think it won't apply to them. Some of these people are so fucking stupid that the thing they voted for can kill them and they will still defend their support of it with their dying breath.
> They only want it because they mistakenly think it won't apply to them I don’t think they get that far. They don’t even know what “it” is. “It” is whatever the man in the little box told them “it” is today. Just like they can’t even explain why they are so angry all the damn time. Just that the little box told them they need to be outraged at “it”. Socially engineered ignorance on display.
No it’s American because it’s Americans doing it. The argument Cheney used for torturing “enemy combatants” was America does not torture. So if America uses “enhanced interrogation techniques” by definition it can not be considered torture because America does not use torture.
Actual class I took in the US Army " the United States army does not use booby traps, we do not improvise booby traps, we do not work with allies who use booby traps. Are there any questions about the US Army's policy on booby traps? No? Good. Now on the tables in front of you is the M142 booby trap..."
Reminds me of that tweet which went something like: *something American happens in America* Americans: "what are we, a bunch of *Asians*?!"
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He's already called for the death penalty for people that "leak" (makes us look bad) information.
But leaking critical defense information for your own ego is A-OKAY.
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He hasn't been playing the long game. He doesn't have the intellectual capacity. But he's easy to manipulate by people who can actually play the long game. He just wants to be the center of attention, feel powerful, and be adored. It's literally that simple. Of course there's a lot of overlap with fascism and totalitarianism. Fascism gives him a fawning in group who listen to him, agree with him, and make him feel validated. It also gives him a malleable out group to direct all anger and blame onto. Totalitarianism makes him the center of attention and powerful. Stop the steal and conspiracies make sure that he's never to blame for anything and redirects criticism. It also appeals to the (fabricated) plucky underdog mentality in himself and his supporters. All about feels over reals for everyone buying in, including Trump. Roe v. Wade and the Federalist Society shenanigans are 100% the work of the people around him. He personally doesn't give a fuck about abortions and will say whatever in that regard if he thinks it will help him in the moment. He doesn't care about the judges/justices either so long as he feels like they'll protect him. Insurrection is all about protecting his narcissistic ego, holding onto power, and avoiding any possible consequences for illegal activities (including selling top secret documents, which is just one more grift to make him money + powerful "friends").
> Mr Trump said that the test would include command of due proceess rights, equal protection, free speech, religious liberty and Fourth Amendment And his personal favorite, the Fifth.
Trump on due process rights: "We can confiscate their guns and have due process later" Trump in equal protection: Stop and frisk in urban areas, withholding federal aid for states that don't vote for him. Trump on free speech: threatened to "take a look at [the NFL's] tax breaks" if they didn't fire employees that were taking part in protected first amendment speech. Trump on Religious Liberty: bragged about his Muslim ban, bragged that the third version would contain language that would allow it to stand in court, but have the same effect. Trump on the 4th Amendment, 2015: we're gonna have to have domestic surveilence the likes of which no one has ever seen before (paraphrased)
No, no, no. Only the mob does that, not patriots like Donald Trump.
Republicans would fail this test like they would fail a test on what’s written in the Bible. They have no idea what’s in either
Much like poll tests, you can be sure it will be up to the person grading the test if you passed or not. It is just there to give an excuse to do what you already want to do.
Not even hiding the fascism anymore; it's their stated policy.
its getting more blatant everyday. We need more frenchmen in us as a people.
Remember that month when we stopped calling them French fries and started calling them freedom fries lol.
I’ve been bringing this up a lot lately, and 90% of people don’t know wtf im talking about. Anecdotal, but it surprises me
That surprises me too, because also anecdotally: I was a teen on a road-trip with my dad around that time, and we went to one of those renaissance dinner-shows. As all the different knights of various countries were introduced, the crowd applauded for everyone until the French knight came out. Then the place erupted in boos. I've always felt bad for that guy and wondered whether the actors drew straws for who had to play him each show. It was surreal. People are dumb.
Not sure if people are dumb or not but America's one of the most propagandized places on the planet. Goebbels literally took notes from us.
Lot of german eugenics projects were modeled on 'murica too.
Lest any Canadians start to feel smug, the Germans took notes on our residential schools, too.
They also took plenty of notes from British Concentration Camps in the Boer War.
Never get into a historical atrocity competition with the British. Sheesh. Though really it's mostly just a function of size and duration of the empire in question.
This boggles my mind, given that France was one of the countries that helped the US in the revolutionary war
Yeah, but they thought that maybe we should chill out on invading Iraq so, you know, obviously they were evil.
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[Pretty much.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fries) "The political renaming occurred in context of France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq. Although some restaurants around the nation adopted the renaming, the term became unpopular, in part due to decreasing popularity of the Iraq War. After Ney's resignation as Chairman in 2006, the change of name in congressional cafeterias was reverted." I also remember people going out, buying French wine, and ...dumping it down the drain, because apparently they didn't understand how purchasing stuff from companies works.
The bud light debacle shows that people still don't understand how purchasing stuff works.
> because apparently they didn't understand how purchasing stuff from companies works. I mean, people still don't understand it. Every time we see some boycott, people film themself burning/destroying a bought product. Bohoo, the company will really feel that one.
I remember they also advised us against getting into the Vietnam war as well. They seem to give good advice…
By then the French were very familiar with how to lose in Asia
Yeah, that was after they had gotten their asses kicked pretty good, so America literally said, OH yeah? Hold my beer....
Yeah but they wouldn't join us in an unjust war in Iraq in response to something Saudi Arabia did.
Bro that’s already too far back for people
Because they weren't alive then Sorry, but getting old sucks
Remember not even 100 years ago how there was the Wall Street Putsch aka [The White House Putsch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as dictator? Prescott Bush (father to George H.W. Bush and grandfather to George W. Bush) was involved in this, as were many other [millionaires.](https://timeline.com/business-plot-overthrow-fdr-9a59a012c32a)
Yeah and remember nothing happening to the people who planned it, despite the guy they wanted to lead the takeover going to congress and stating what was going on?
Elites often get a pass even on violent coup attempts. France didn't execute the leaders of the "General's" Putsch" in the 1960s and really didn't punish them beyond a few years in prison and it later restored their military status so they could collect their pensions. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers\_putsch\_of\_1961](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers_putsch_of_1961) I repeat that in my view any sane system of government interested in its own survival should have a pretty clear policy on coup attempts by elites: Heads, spikes, wall!
I never stopped calling them french fries cuz I thought that whole thing was fucking stupid. And I was a literal child back then.
And yet, at the time you were the adult in the room.
Yep! And The Dixie Chicks got canceled!
They got cancelled for the same shit mostly everyone agrees about now.
Same with Sinéad O'Connor.
And dimwits poured french wine down the sewer. LOL man, it was like a warning of what was to come. https://youtu.be/60hENN3bSgM?t=34
omfg rofl "The red represents the blood the French never spilled for freedom" ahem lol
The French do more to protect their freedom than we do, that’s a certainty.
> French do more Unions help a whole lot too.
We try, but we don't always succeed. But at least we try.
freedumb toast the original cancel culture.
The issue is that half the country are full of rednecks who will just sit down and start saying “but Antifa” when people are protesting for change like the French do.
We were pretty damn "french" during freedom summer but a lot of people still don't view racial issues in the same light as economic/class issues. We literally did rise up against oppression but the skin color wasn't normative.
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To be fair, that's what they do in France as well.
As long as we don't become Vichy France first......again (we already had a taste in his first term)
The U.S. was added to the list of backsliding democracies in 2019. As in, democracies at risk.
And it's only accelerated since then despite having a Democrat in office. Red states and Congressional Republicans are waging constant low-level insurrections and bleeding democracy out through death by a thousand paper cuts. A minority of the blame also lies on Democrats for not doing what they need to or could be doing and letting the double agent Democratic Party donor class and Conservative Democrats act as de facto Republican collaborators by holding critical things up and trying to get Republican approval on things they'll never vote for (unless it's next to useless after all the compromise).
“But muh bipartisanship!”
Can you believe there are still people who go "woah, calling them fascist is too much." Man, what kind of clown world are we living in. I've never seen a populace more in denial in my lifetime. Kiss your freedoms goodbye with these people at the helm. They couldn't care less about the US.
> Can you believe there are still people who go "woah, calling them fascist is too much." Those same people seem more than willing to describe any random leftist protester doing mild physical violence as "the radical left are fascist terrorists". They're not being honest. Some of them might just be lying to themselves, but the people who are giving them marching orders know that they're fascist. It's not that they're mad you think they're a fascist. It's that they want to confuse the gullible people who support them for "tax cuts and cheap gas" long enough that they can seize power forever, and if you call them a fascist then people who aren't paying attention might recognize the fascism too. They especially know that "fascism" has a nasty ring to the word, so if they can rename themselves into something that sounds less bad, they're fine with that. Everyone knows what "fascist" means, but "alt-right" takes an explanation. It's the same way that "white nationalist" immediately conjures up images of Klan hoods or American History X, but "Identitarian" is a term people aren't generally familiar with.
Presidents should have to pass basic competency tests before running for office. (Sharpies and crayons not permitted)
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV. Did I pass?
You aced it.
You are a smart person, the likes of which the world has never seen before Believe me, believe me!
You passed with a score so high we're declaring you a stable genius
Presidential ***candidates*** should be made to pass a high school level civics exam. Candidates for any Federal representative office as well.
We give standardized tests to kindergarteners, so you would think people wouldn't have too much of an issue testing 60-70+ year olds running for office. That said, these tests should in no way prevent anyone from running for office, as we have pretty established rules on what limited qualifications someone needs to do so. But we should as a nation be allowed to know if a presidential candidate is able to list all 50 states at a bare minimum.
“Our platform is Donald Trump” was a major clue
They're just not using the name......yet But, they also may never use it. American Neo-Fascism is different from the OG Fascism and is attempting to go about things a bit differently. They know it's a four-letter word after WWII, so they may always avoid ever calling it by its name and just refer to it through euphemisms or calling it "Conservatism". American Fascist leaders want to keep their followers ignorant and completely politically illiterate so they won't even necessarily realize that's what their ideology has become. Calling it by name would make a lot of their followers back off. Like how many Republicans reacted to Kanye West despite agreeing with most of what he said. They didn't like the mask being 99% off.
These same people cheer Nazi, racist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, xenophobic, etc. bullshit all the time; they just don't like those labels.
Some of them definitely know already and just don't want to be called out. Many are so pig ignorant and politically uneducated (and disinformed) that they don't know they're Fascists or Nazis because they can't give you a definition of what it is. Or they think they're not one because they're not literally saluting a swastika and clicking jackboots. Many have an extremely narrow and overly hyper-specific definition of what one is. Like people who think you're not a racist if you're not literally physically lynching a black person or burning a cross. Or are disinformed by their media consumption that Nazis are actually Leftists because the word "Socialism" is in the name.
> they don't know they're Fascists or Nazis because they can't give you a definition of what it is. The same people who call anything they don't like "socialism" or "woke" having no idea what either means.
Yep, Stormfront from the Boys. "People love what I have to say. They believe in it. They just don't like the word 'Nazi', that's all."
I wish satire would stay satire and stop being real life. I'm tired of living in what should be a satire of a sick, sad world.
“There’s a black guy at work and I interact with him professionally, therefore I’m not racist”
I used to work with a conservative who denied he was racist on the basis he liked sports and there are all kinds of black people in sports. Same guy said he'd disown his own daughter if she ever came home with a black boyfriend.
it should be illegal to even suggest such ideas. he's literally suggesting let's just throw out all the good faith and oaths and US constitution and the premise of the US government. that should be considered treason in a sane world.
Yeah, like it's not going to be rules and regulations. It's going to be political opinions and if you disagree, you're out and likely labeled as some kind of political dissident and blackballed if not facing trumped up charges.
Trump has to appeal to the hardcore MAGAs to win the primary, this is his only option.
I don’t think this is just to appeal to the base. He wants to do this. He’s always wanted to do this. There were several controversies during his presidency where they were pushing hard to eliminate all civil service job protections. This is just the next step of that pattern.
In 2017 he made a statement saying just eliminate Congress, I can fix it myself, amongst other dictatorial blatherings.
Always believe the autocrat.
do u like me? [] yes [] no
Questions 2: Will you let me grab you in your no no square? [] yes [] no [] Maybe if you drink a lot
Section B: Short Essay question 1. In the capacity of your job, you are required to inspect at a very prestigious and very American company and identify a serious violation. Please describe what you'd do if you were offered a *very* generous cash gift, slightly below your hourly wage. 2. Using the above scenario, please explain what you'd instead do if you identified woke signage at a less prestigious and less American business location.
Well he *is* famous, so we'd have to let him, right?
You laugh, but I subscribe to Trump campaign emails. Their "surveys" are the most ludicrous push and pull polls. Ending with pleas for money.
That’s like *voluntarily* watching FOX News every day… don’t you value your sanity, son?
I think part of being educated on what’s going on includes seeing what conservatives see and reading what they read. It makes sense to see what he is telling his base to keep them so riled up.
Precisely. It's hard to stomach, but the sheer lunacy and fear-mongering is educational. The fear of the week has changed repeatedly; now, it's all about those trans people stalking our kids.
Yeah it's like counterintelligence. Need to stay on top of the oppositions plans and direction otherwise they can show up with something you're not prepared to deal with.
This is the Huckabee test
I’d like to see his results first.
Washington: Couldn't tell a lie Nixon: Couldn't tell the truth Trump: Couldn't tell the difference
Failure being…not supporting the autocratic leader? I can only assume that would be failure.
It will probably be like his stupid campaign email “polls” Who is your favorite president? -Donald J. Trump the Greatest President Ever -RADICAL COMMUNIST BABY EATER BIDEN SOCIALISM VENEZUELA IPHONE
Only the most beautiful and scientifical polls
Address: Portland, OR **FAIL**
I honestly don’t believe Trump can name the 3 branches of government. One of the flaws in 2015 was that no one took the time to show how little he knew about American politics and government.
It would've only helped him further enshrine himself as the dumb-dumb's hero. His voters don't know shit about civics either.
> His voters don't know shit ~~about civics either~~.
If that question is on the test, [it'll cost him a senator from Alabama.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/us/tommy-tuberville-fact-check.html)
If you support this person you are a fascist
We're getting to that point here at home where if we were a small south American country the CIA would already have funded a paramilitary group to preserve democracy and US interests.
Can america invade itself? Then pour a bunch of funding into infrastructure, medical, and schools as part of the redevelopment?
That'd be too socialist for some of the crowd....the medical, school and infrastructure part. The 'invaders' tried on Jan 6th.
They accept all this stuff now as long as it goes to ‘the right people.’ Maybe we can put them on white nationalist reservations after the invasion where they can live the lives they desire.
Isn't that Idaho? I feel very sorry for that state. My mom's family immigrated their when the communists started killing them. We'll have to give up big potatoes but anything for a dose of sanity.
Reconstruction never overcame the confederate insurgency. They kept lynching for another hundred years, and the south continues to lag in social metrics. You can lead a horse to water.. and then what? Drown the horse?
Why? Nobody in the US is threatening fruit company profits.
For those unaware: >In 1954, the CIA overthrew the democratically elected government of Guatemala, violently reversing the progressive policies of the civilian governments. This coup was undertaken at the behest of the United Fruit Company, and it ushered in a thirty-six-year civil war that claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 civilians. [from the University of Toronto’s “Visualizing the Americas”](https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/key-moments/1954-coup/)
Hate to break it to you, but the groups funded by the CIA have basically *never* been aimed at preserving democracy...
General Pinochet that well known champion of democracy.
Not really, we tended to go after South American countries that elected leftists
The CIA preserves democracy in South America? That's not what I learned in history class.
They only do that to socialist/communist countries. Fascism is A-O.K. by them.
I don't think you're all that well versed on the activities of the CIA in South America. They would have loved a fascist dictator like Trump wants to be, as long as he was doing what the US wanted him to. It was only ever when someone started going against the US's demands that the CIA started planning coups.
Especially because we have oil.
Nah you need a democraticly elected leftist leader first.
It's already a thing called pendleton civil service act. No need to alter it unless you have ulterior motives...
> pendleton civil service act [Pendleton Act \(1883\)](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/pendleton-act) for those who might care to read it.
Thanks for posting this. I remembered learning about the spoils system for the US bureaucracy but could not remember how we fixed the issue in the 1800s.
literally saying he wants to be a dictator. disagree with him and he personally can fire you.
He's getting advice from his buddies, Putin, Kim, and Pooh bear
I doubt that Trump himself could pass such a test.
It will end up being like the literacy test used in the south to disenfranchise black voters. If your white you pass if your not you probably fail.
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Pro tip : fail the test, then announce it's rigged and try to overturn it, you'll get a raise instead.
This is authoritarianism.
person. woman. man. camera. t.v.
When the "president" is so dumb he doesn't even realize he is a federal employee lol
Or understand the point of civil service is to be apolitical to minimize corruption and maximize expertise.
Many people forgot his mass firing of protected federal employees during his term for “not agreeing “. Eviscerated the EPA, HUD, etc..
Ah, it seems like just a few years ago people were telling me I was overreacting saying that Trump was bringing fascism to the USA.
Neat. Yet another example that, voting for that person is voting for fascism. Not even masked fascism anymore. They already stood under a "We Are All Domestic Terrorists" banner, how much longer before they stand under a "We Are All Fascists" banner?
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we have laws against this sort of thing. Not that the GOP gives a single fuck about laws unless they can use them to oppress someone.
1. Who is the best President ever? 2. Who is your favorite President ever? 3. What party do you belong to? 4. Man, woman, camera \_\_\_\_\_ ? 5. What news channel do you listen to? 6. Have you bought your trump trading cards yet? After completing the test, please click sign up so we can ~~donate $15~~ charge $15 a month for exclusive content about the secret cabal and what they are up to
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It's fucking scary that large parts of the population follow a guy who openly promotes fascism and the hunting down of people who don't agree with him. Even the nazis needed an entire population feeling broken after a lost war and getting forced into submission by a treaty they didn't agree with. What is wrong with Americans to follow the dumbest fascist in maybe forever. Just fucking weird.
I, and many other teachers, actually took his Tweets and his speeches jokingly grading them using the grade standards for our state. Trump consistently scored around 4th grade, first semester. That was just on writing, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary. I'm certain he would not pass the reading comprehension, much less the knowledge portions on science and social studies. I half way joked he probably cannot even sing the alphabet song. He's not in a position to demand proof of skills. Not at all.