'Living in the time of Nero'

[TheVat]

9 hours ago, CharonY said:

Honestly, it does not look particularly sophisticated to me. Rather it seems that the standards of the electorate has slipped. I don't think it is worse. It is dumber. Well, perhaps that actually makes it worse.

Seems to be.  To "save money" they are cutting federal workers from the Bonneville Power Authority, and other western grids...jobs that aren't funded from the US Treasury.  The BPA operates on the revenues it makes from selling power generated by federally operated dams.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5180779-federal-job-cuts-power-grid-resilience/

This level of stupidity makes the most decadent and lead-poisoned Roman consul look like a genius by contrast.

 

9 hours ago, CharonY said:

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 02:00 PM by TheVat

[Peterkin]

9 hours ago, exchemist said:

He is already looking like a prize twat. 

He always did, and neither that nor the crimes nor the bankruptcies, nor the failure to deal effectively with one situation after another, deterred his supporters. The absorption of Canada and Greenland will probably get pushed off the agenda, but Panama and Gaza are still in danger, because he'll find willing accomplices. 

But the country he's damaging most and fastest is his own.  

[CharonY]

Just to highlight the highly, incredibly intelligent decision-making and power takeover process:

 

Quote

Just moments before the blowup with Mr. Rubio, Mr. Musk and the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, went back and forth about the state of the Federal Aviation Administration’s equipment for tracking airplanes and what kind of fix was needed. Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, jumped in to support Mr. Musk.

Mr. Duffy said the young staff of Mr. Musk’s team was trying to lay off air traffic controllers. What am I supposed to do? Mr. Duffy said. I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?

Mr. Musk told Mr. Duffy that his assertion was a “lie.” Mr. Duffy insisted it was not; he had heard it from them directly. Mr. Musk, asking who had been fired, said: Give me their names. Tell me their names.

 

 

Mr. Duffy said there were not any names, because he had stopped them from being fired. At another point, Mr. Musk insisted that people hired under diversity, equity and inclusion programs were working in control towers. Mr. Duffy pushed back and Mr. Musk did not add details, but said during the longer back and forth that Mr. Duffy had his phone number and should call him if he had any issues to raise.

The exchange ended with Mr. Trump telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire people from M.I.T. as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be “geniuses,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/us/politics/trump-musk-doge-power.html

[exchemist]

If you have 8 minutes to spare, watch this speech in the French Senate (English subtitles):

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danbowyer_vivelaeurope-ugcPost-7303368801457176578-T0B_?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAGxW24BfNLDShCe4dF4XTjG78YdhXJPrbw&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=messages

It lays out with brutal clarity the nature of the change that has occurred and the imperative that Europe now faces. 

It also, by the way, shows great respect for the democratic traditions of the American people and expresses the hope that they will make their voices heard and arrest the rapid slide into dictatorship that is now taking place. 

As a Brit, I also noted in particular the vindication of France's traditional defence policy of independence from the USA (ever since de Gaulle's time) and the embrace of the UK as an essential defence partner. 

But perhaps the most pointed line of all is that: "....it took only only one month, three weeks and two days to dismantle the Weimar Republic and its constitution." 

The speaker is Claude Malhuret, a Gaullist senator. A translation of part of it is already on his Wiki entry:

QUOTE

"Washington has become the court of Nero, an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a jester [actually he says bouffon, i.e. buffoon] high on ketamine (Elon Musk) in charge of purging the civil service. This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose higher tariffs on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you."[10]

UNQUOTE

Translation of the full speech here: https://www.newsletter.samuel-warde.com/p/were-fighting-against-a-dictator

 

Edited 11 hours ago by exchemist