The Real timschochet

Secretary of Defense is one of those invisible positions unless we are at war. I had to look up who our current one is. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if during the next 4 years we never hear Hegseth’s name mentioned again in the news once he takes his role.

Who caused the waste and mess?

Department of Efficiency seems a bit ironic, no? You want to cut government waste so you create a new bureaucracy to do it?? (It also sounds a bit like something George Orwell would create but I’m trying not to go there…)

There is no permanent winner in American politics. No matter how crazy (or sane) Democrats become they will be back in power in a couple of years, simply because they are the opposition to the party that is in power now. That is the main lesson I take from Trump’s massive victory.

I have the opposite view of their filmmaking skills.

Well.. it turns out maybe two…

ETA I missed that you wrote 21st century for the NBA. Well Ok then.

None of those are going to be anywhere near as hot as the actresses. Well, maybe to you.

What? Dolph Schayes, hall of famer. (I would also mention two all time coaches, Red Auerbach and Larry Brown, but I won’t because they’re jerks both of them.)

Eternal, I actually kind of like you. You seem like a very good dude. I’ve always suspected you’re not exactly in love with Trump but that you find him preferable, by default, to those running against him. Though I disagree with many of your views I don’t have a problem with them or with you per se. My only criticism is that you tend to group all liberals together. You often write stuff like “you guys all support socialism” or “what about when you guys burned all the cities down”, etc. I think you know better than this.

Yeah I mostly feel sorry for @Cdub100. I suspect he’s not a bad dude but his mind has been twisted by a hatred for all things Jewish.

This analysis, added to the results of the 2022 election (in which most of the “MAGA” candidates lost) suggests that the Trump movement is limited to Donald Trump. That without his personal charisma the MAGA movement will not continue. I don’t know if this is true but it’s an interesting thought.

But see that foreign aid is tied to them buying US products. Guatamala knows that; they’re not stupid. So they won’t buy into that bluff (and a bluff is all it would be because we hurt our own industries if we do this.) I think @Fnord probably has it right. There’s going to be some stuff done for show. People like you will be impressed. In the end nothing of substance is going to change.

Sure. “Hey Guatamala we have 2,867 violent felons here who came originally from your country. They’re mostly murderers and rapists, a few armed robbers in there. We want to transfer them to your prisons. Is that cool?” What do you think the response will be?

You want the federal government sending in teams to visit workplaces and demand proof of citizenship? Randomly? Do you have any clue how much manpower and money that will take? I think this whole thing is a fantasy. I just can’t imagine how it’s going to work on a large scale.

I get your point. But I also don’t think we just release a violent felon in some other country.

I understand that they’re able to do it as they’ve been doing it for decades on an individual basis. But mass deportations are a whole different animal. Do you really not understand that?

And I have no objection to deporting the violent criminals (after serving their sentences).

So many of you keep correctly pointing out that immigration is not a states issue. However if the federal government insists that state or local governments cooperate in helping them round up and deport people, those entities have the right to refuse that cooperation. (And I hope they refuse. We will in California for sure.) So when Tom Homan says to states “get the hell out of the way” sorry Tom, we’re in your way. Now what?

Agreed on the way they entered but disagree strongly on their presence. It’s not hard at all to argue that their presence here is a good thing; I’ve made that argument many times and backed it up with studies and statistics. But putting that aside, let me make a simpler argument which is this: any mass attempt to remove these people in large numbers will, at this point, be far more of a detriment to our society than a benefit. In fact it’s hard to find any benefit at all.

As to your first sentence, libertarians have never regarded immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, as “invaders.” Most of of my arguments for giving amnesty to the people you call “illegals” come from Reason Magazine and the Cato Institute, two bastions of libertarian thinking.

When in their entire history was Rolling Stone not on the left? Thats who they’ve always been.

I support lower taxes and less regulation when possible. I wrote that Kamala’s food pricing proposal was a terrible idea. I am a huge believer in capitalism and the free market- in fact my opposition to Trump’s tariffs and immigration proposals are based, not on liberalism, but on libertarianism. I oppose raising minimum wage- in fact I think we would be better off if we eliminated minimum wage. Most of my liberal or woke views tend to be of a social nature, not economic. That being said they’re very important to me.

Yeah I like this move too. He’s another guy I rarely agree with but he’s a “normal”. And competent.

Well then you’re not paying close attention.