Something I always took pride in for America was that we took research pretty seriously, especially in the last century. Between the CDC, NIH, NASA, FDA, a ton of university research grants, and even the military, the US has been a significant player in research for my entire life. Well, my entire life up until about a month ago.
I know that "dumb American" is sort of a stereotype, and us electing a reality TV star isn't doing anything to dispel that myth. Historically I have defended the US, and pointed out a lot of the "dumb American" memes have been exaggerated or overblown, but now I'm not sure I can; how can I possibly defend this country when the people in charge of this country fundamentally remove every part about it that I love?
But hey maybe I'm wrong and somehow tariffs and losing our place in the world's scientific stage will lower egg prices AMIRITE?
No shortage of anti-intellectualism, but it’s a mistake to group everyone together there; even in the Deep South there are progressive people who are genuinely intelligent.
It’s so heartbreaking to witness this global superpower/empire decline in real-time.
I was hoping that this is a much needed hard-reset of America, for it to rise up better than ever. Not so sure now.
I mean why let basic facts get in the way of a good mass-firing.
Genuinely the fact that we only just barely (kind of) finished with COVID, much in the same way we finished with Vietnam (everyone getting sick of how expensive it was and declaring victory as innocents continued to die) and now are presently gearing up for a fresh outbreak of bird flu which is creating vast flocks of living petri dishes, any of which can roll the dice on a new variant that can bring all kinds of hell upon our medical establishments, now, of all times, we're taking axes to tons of government agencies responsible for managing infectious diseases, is beyond parody. It's beyond national shame.
And the fact that this series of massive structural demolitions is being executed under the "advisement" of one of the worlds richest living people, who was not elected by anyone, and has ZERO qualifications to be doing this (or anything really), like... how do you even approach this?
And for what!? Another fucking tax cut for the billionaire class, presumably so they can get solid platinum toilets for the bunkers they're all moving to after the world fucking ends.
Or at least that's what my rough draft looks like anyway. Though I suspect that hunger may end up being a more potent catalyst for political change than anything I can plan. Unless H5N1 gets feisty first. COVID was a warning shot, if nature scores a direct hit, that'll be plenty catalytic too.
As for why: establishing a Mars colony is going to require the kind of sacrifice that a democratic government would prevent. So, down with democracy.
Those things exist in about the same proportion they exist in any other large corporation, and is not special to the government. There has been a decades long campaign of Just Plain Lies to tell you otherwise. He is failing to seek out the waste, fraud, and abuse because they do not exist in anywhere near the numbers you imagine.
The government does not spend its money on employees. Those employees administer grants and spending programs. That is where the money is, authorized by Congress and depended on by industry and states. The administration is not especially expensive. To seriously cut spending you have to cut those things, and just as with the mass firings, you'll find that each dollar is actually doing something important.
Serious control over the budget requires a serious consideration of our actual goals as a country. But the last election sent the decidedly non-serious message "government bad" and everyone seems shocked that that is exactly what they are doing.
I see spending at 123% of GDP, never that high outside war.
I see $35.46 trillion in debt, tripled over the last 20 years.
I dunno, looks he is right about overspending.
Unfortunately a lot of seemingly switched-on people are still under the illusion otherwise.
It is because you have deeply misunderstand his approach to the world.
He has never demonstrated any desire to bring prosperity to anyone outside of his family. I don't understand how any of this is surprising. They told us exactly what they were planning to do in the Project 2025 plan.
You mean, like the proposed ethnic cleansing of Gaza? Claiming Ukraine started the war? Threatening to take Greenland by force? Alienating Europe? Withdrawing from Climate Agreement and WHO? Cutting funds to USAID? Overall, becoming the new pariah of the world?
People lie, some people lie as easily as breathing. But it is impossible to bear out a lie when your actions give a clear picture of your true intent and motives.
The thing is that the ordinary cycle of government balances political interests with the need to actually accomplish things in an imperfect fashion. Whereas "broad cuts" tend to allow only the politically connected to survive since cuts have no rationality beyond "this government makes no sense".
Most of the federal budget the president cannot just cut.
He legally can't cut any of it. Not even $1. Congress controls spending.
Illegally (which is how he has always operated and is operating now), he can seemingly do whatever he wants.
As I said, fixing the spending requires us to look at our national priorities. We spend most of our money on defense, social security, and medicare. You can cut everything else and not close the deficit.
That requires a serious conversation. Which I cannot have with somebody telling me that somehow "DEI" is a substantial piece of our budget.
Musk and Trump are not concerned about debt or spending. If they were, Trump and Republicans wouldn't be rushing a billionaire tax cut bill that will add tens of trillions of dollars to the national debt.
If Trump cared about debt he wouldn't have run up $8 trillion in debt his last term with PPP helicopter money and more billionaire tax cuts.
Everything _around_ HSV though? Well.
My parents were and are fairly progressive people, and my dad moved there because he worked for an aerospace company that was located on Eglin Air Force Base; he and most of his coworkers had PhDs in aerospace engineering. These were not dumb or ignorant people, they were educated and intelligent.
I've spent more than my fair share of time shitting on the American south and its own special breed of ignorance, but as I said, I think it's a mistake to assume everyone is like that. There are few things more horrible than the Southern Baptist church, and of course that reigns supreme in those areas, but there's always enclaves of intelligent people who are just as frustrated about this stuff as I am.
Trump administration can continue mass firings of federal workers, judge rules
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/20/ruling-firin...
2. Many of the employment and B2B contracts they're cancelling are breaching the contracts, so much of the firing is likely illegal
3. This judge didn't rule on the legality, meaning his ruling has no bearing on whether it's legal:
"However, Cooper on Thursday said, he likely lacks the power to hear the case, and the unions instead must file complaints with a federal labor board that hears disputes between unions and federal agencies."
?
The actual court decison (which I have also read) is consistent with the article.
Let's not forget that in the last 10 years the US has added approx 12 trillion dollars to its GDP which far outpaces inflation in that same period, meaning absolute wealth in the US has increased remarkably--and, yes, the majority of that wealth is paid out to workers who make up the largest class in the country.
Worry more about the people who can buy national elections, who make their money by owning things, not the ones with higher salaries.
It's very likely most of these reduced payroll costs will just be spent on outside contractors who cost much more per hour of work.