Indeed. The main focus is often on international funding.
What often escapes notice is the Domestic aspect. People from well outside a given congressional district. Or State. Will pump money into local and State elections directly. Or via PACs to affect outcomes of the election.
Much like Foreigners shouldn’t be fucking with our elections. Out of staters shouldn’t be funding elections in States they don’t live in either. Whether directly or via middlemen like PACs to skirt what laws do exist.
He appealed to the section of the electorate that rarely turns out in appreciable numbers for anything outside of Presidential elections.
And is surprised the section of the electorate that regularly turns out for most elections. Out voted his base in the primary.
Most of the funds both candidates received weren’t even from people from within the district. It was almost all from people and Superpacs from outside the district for both candidates.
Which is the ironic part. Given how much of a diva he’s being.
Ironically some of the most unethical people seem to be the ones most likely to self-describe and self-title themselves some variation of ethicist and or philosopher.
Is this the part we find out Space Force actually has Space Lasers? Or is it another round of bombing?
Gotta be something rather important. Given he won’t attend Juniors wedding and canceled other plans
Likely at least as far as the U.S is concerned 5.56 will transition to armament for Army Reserves and Rear-Echelon Units at least for the foreseeable future.
As it’s just the Army transitioning over to the new Rifle. At least for the moment. The Navy, Airforce, and Marines still plan on 5.56 Rifles being their standard.
So a Military Bunker Complex stretching at least 6 stories underneath the Ballroom. Potentially more. Complete with at minimum Meeting Rooms, Research Facilities, and a Hospital. Along with a Drone Port on the Roof that is likely going to be capable of the launch and recovery of fairly significant quantities of Drones. As it’s apparently now supposed to be a Defensive Hardpoint for Washington D.C and the surrounding suburbs
Stands to reason the Complex would also include CIC facilities. Maybe a Vehicle Bay. Probably at the very least a Permanent Military Security detachment. Which if his comment about including Snipers nests is any indication will include Snipers.
Combined with other steps they’ve taken. Including reaching out to Ford, GM, and other companies to start military production lines again. The Golden Dome Project, The Golden Fleet Project. Overhauls of the Military acquisition process. Consistent investments into modernization of the Armaments industry. Not to mention growing the Defense Budget.
Along with Adopting new Service Weapons with the new service Rifle being in an entirely new caliber. Force reorganizations. Paints interesting ideas of what maybe coming up the Pipeline Militarily.
Worth keeping an eye on the War Department, particularly about programs and equipment acquisition. Likely worth keeping an eye on the States that have active State Defense Forces as well. And whether they announce force expansions and or equipment acquisitions that expand their capabilities.
Locally we’ve had mounting issues. Speeders, Homeless causing problems etc. To the point it’s causing the local politicians concern over their reelection chances. So they’re screeching at the cops to do something about it.
Not sure about your area though.
As far as Jobs go. Locally it’s mostly economic factors and changing spending habits leading to job loses. Inflation is cutting into wages and margins are slimmer. We’ve had a train of local companies go under over the past year. Also College Kids and fresh graduates are heading home. Opportunity for businesses to get cheaper labor.
So long time people are getting gone on the belief the owners/management will find a new grad or college kid in desperate need of a job they can hire for cheaper than what they were paying the long time employee.
Situation there has been unstable for several years following a botched Military Coup attempt in 2024. Which may or may not have actually been a false flag by the current Bolivarian Government to boost failing domestic support. Given the supposed mastermind faced no real consequences last I was aware at any rate.
I mean no. But if you’re stupid enough to send large quantities of cash via any sort of package/mail service. USPS, UPS, FedEx etc. You shouldn’t be surprised it vanishes.
It was more a general statement that there’s something ironic in the fact that USPS seems to be the only one able to reliably deliver physical packages to me outside Amazon. While other people have the opposite problem in that getting anything from USPS is like pulling teeth. With their packages and shit vanishing while they conversely have better luck with FedEx and UPS.
Which was followed by me questioning whether I just had crap luck.
Ironically. I’ve endlessly seen my packages lost or stolen by FedEx and UPS. But the post office reliably manages to deliver the package. They just deliver it a day or two later than what they said they would.
Meanwhile other people get the opposite problem. The Post Office looses or steals their shit constantly and either FedEx or UPS End up being the reliable option.
Maybe it’s just my crappy luck.
Massie banked on his popularity with the podcast bros and the young translating to primary support.
Young people generally don’t vote in appreciable numbers outside major elections. Old people reliably do.
The polling indicated Massie was underwater with the old people in his district weeks ago. Seems he doubled down on the younger folks hoping that would push him over the hump.
Old people fairly reliably vote. Young people often don’t.
Older folks liked Ed Gallrein. Massie appealed more to the younger demographic. The guy preferred by the people who vote regularly subsequently won.
Not all that exceptional or dramatic. Just mathematics. If I had to guess. Massie saw the polling. Realized he was underwater with the older folks. Subsequently dumped all his eggs in the younger voter basket hoping popularity online would translate to votes.
but I would assume dangerous chemical/drug research wouldn't be done in the White House. Maybe it is really an area for military to research the capabilities and habits of whichever adversary is attacking us? Research can be a mushy word.
Indeed it can be a flexible word. Though the term ‘Facility’ would at the very least carry the implication of something more complex and elaborate than a Cubicle farm of analysts evaluating the motivations, habits, and capabilities of the competition.
The presence of a full on Hospital would throw a further spanner in the works. Even a small Hospital would suggest there’d likely be some sort of hazardous work being done on site. It’s not likely they’d build an entire underground hospital just so the President can avoid leaving the grounds for Walter-Reed or another Military Medical Facility in the area.
It’s also not liable to deal with run of the mill grunts and typical Military medical issues either. Given both its presence under the Whitehouse. And the plethora of so many other Military Medical Facilities in the immediate area.
Which would suggest its either going to be a specialized facility or has some other reason for its construction. The most obvious reasoning being it is related to the Research that might be undertaken there.
Granted it could all be overstatements that Trump is known for. With the Research Facilities really being exceptionally fancy analyst areas. Maybe with fancy tech not readily available at older facilities. There’s been some companies experimenting with various VR and AR systems for engineers and stuff. Which could be useful for analysts.
And the ‘Hospital’ is really just a glorified clinic that can deal with minor injuries and illnesses. Along with any motion sickness and other minor complaints that can come from VR/AR usage.
They already have an operations room under the Whitehouse proper. Unless they plan on moving all National Security Facilities/infrastructure from other areas of the Whitehouse to the Ballroom complex. Which is a possibility.
At the moment though we don’t have a reason to suspect it’s any deeper than the stated 6 stories. Granted I’m just assuming they’d run the risk of interfering with surrounding Civilian Infrastructure and structures if they stretched it deeper. Given the amount of earth they’d need to move and the regional geography. Not to mention how heavily developed Washington D.C is. 6 stories is about how far down the Metro Stations go on average at any rate.
Though to be fair how he worded it leaves the potential for it to be far deeper. Liable the complex will stretch under the White House grounds completely. With the Ballroom being the major entrance. Which means the lower levels could be far larger than the footprint of the Ballroom.
The Main thing I’d be curious about is what research facilities would be located on site. And presumably so top secret they’d need to be positioned under the already Heavy Security guarding the Whitehouse grounds.
Presumably they’d likely be of minimal physical hazard. Given the location under the White House, proximity to the President, and the fact its in the middle of a major urban area.
So the Ballroom is the capstone to a large Military Bunker Complex. And is mostly there to be a shield to absorb incoming fire. While the Complex underneath it housing a Hospital, a center to launch and receive Drones. Which if you’ve looked at what the Defense Contractors are rolling out Drone wise. Could be all sorts of nasty surprises. Not to mention Meeting Rooms and Research Facilities. Which opens a very wide assortment of possibilities. Especially Research Facility wise.
The comment about Military Snipers suggests there’s now going to be a permanent Military Security presence at the Whitehouse outside of the Ceremonial Guards. Fairly likely the Complex will also have its own garrison if they’re packing that much into it.
So potentially it could be setting up to replace Secret Service as Presidential Security. Or it’ll just mean the White House is going to become even more of a hard target. With both Secret Service and a Military Garrison on site.
He kinda glossed over it. But he stated it went down 6 stories. With two floors in the process of being constructed. Realistically with the general rule of thumb of 1 floor per story. Meaning there’s likely going to be 6 floors. Depending on how you want to interpret it. It could be 7 floors including the ballroom. Or 5 floors of bunker. With the Ballroom making up the 6th floor.
Hardened against Drones and Conventional Munitions. A Hospital of some shape or fashion. Probably on the smaller scale. But still a massive upgrade to Whitehouse capacity. Meeting Rooms and Research Facilities. The ability to launch and receive drones is also an interesting feature. As there’s the current ones being used to such gruesome effect in Ukraine. But the Military has been planning on Ground Based Drone Systems as well as variants adopted for large scale cargo capacity. So any potential threat at the White House could rapidly see the Defenders reinforced by heavy weapons systems. If some of the Drone Systems the Military is working on are any indication.
It’s Likely also setting up for a permanent Military presence at the White House beyond the handful of current ceremonial Guards. As he specifically mentions Prepared Military Snipers positions. It’s also likely the complex will have a small Security Garrison of its own. With it not being left to Secret Service. Though it’s possible they might transition Presidential Security over to the Military. Given the track record of Secret Service in guarding Presidents isn’t exactly stellar all things considered.
It’s fairly likely most of it will ultimately remain classified. But it remains immensely interesting
It all depends on where the funds actually came from. They don’t necessarily need to be honest about where they got the money. So just because they told us it’s private donations. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s actually Private Donations.
One example being Funds filtered through the accounts of front organizations and companies. Would appear on paper to be donations. Even though in reality it’s Military/War Department Funds from organizations/contractors that are set up to get around playing legalese and funding games with Congress.
And we’ll have Op-Ed’s from Construction Companies complaining about not being able to find any help inside a week.
Interesting decision to take if you truly believed in his innocence
Most of every bad philosophical idea of the last 300 years. Ultimately traces its intellectual heritage to enlightenment philosophers. While they didn’t directly create ‘Woke’ or any of the assorted other philosophical deadends that have caused so much grief and bloodshed. They however did lay the philosophical and moral groundwork that made them all possible.
It’s not sins that can be laid solely at the feet of degenerate Frenchmen.
It’s less AI on its own. It’s more of a series of factors. AI is only one of them. It’s just at the moment, with all the anger over data centers, it is a convenient boogeyman the Corporate Manager class can get the peons to blame all their problems on. Instead of acknowledging the plethora of complex factors and the areas where their own ineptitude contributed.
The Boomers as one example commanded one of the largest shares of Capital in the investment markets. The Boomers are now either moving into retiring en-mass. Or are several years into retirement or more. Meaning vast sums are moving into safer investments. Meaning there’s less available capital for riskier investments into businesses. And some industries relied heavily on investors to keep their heads above water and people on staff. Without periodic infusions of investor bucks. They need to cut weight.
There’s also been a lot of market consolidation, over expansion and buyouts that realistically should not have happened over the past few decades. But the ease with which excess Capital could be accessed by Businesses made some firms far too ambitious.
American Businesses also grew addicted to Globalization and outsourcing everything. Even today they maybe laying off Americans and telling us one thing. While turning around and hiring foreigners for pennies on the dollar and allowing them to telecommute from whatever Mumbai Slum they’re living in. It doesn’t help that Indians once they work their way into management often tend to only hire Indians.
A lot of places also just way overhired during COVID. So they’re shedding weight.
College Degrees and some certifications also don’t mean much outside of specific niches anymore. As far too many have them and some colleges will pass them out to anyone with a pulse who can show up mostly on time. For decades a Degree was the accepted credential substitute for the competency testing Companies and Government agencies were no longer allowed to do. When everyone has one. And the act of having is no longer a guarantee of basic grasp of fundamentals. Their worth correspondingly plummets. And attention turns to the older generations who’ve already proven themselves. As opposed to the young up and comers who could very well be mouth breathing retards.
That’s just a few of the many factors playing into things. AI is only part of it.
It’s less strictly issues with small town infrastructure. Though that’s a factor.
It’s more people are running face first into the fact that State and Local Governments across the country did absolutely nothing to maintain or update civic infrastructure. Upgrades that should have been done as just a natural course of the aging of the systems and growth of towns. Just didn’t happen. As funds were pilfered for any number of other projects or just good old fashioned corruption.
Power stations weren’t built. Pumps and pipes weren’t replaced. Transmission lines weren’t strung. Transformers for new substations weren’t ordered.
It’ll make for a nice change of pace if nothing else. Diseases and Wars are old news.
At the very least the memes should be mildly amusing.
Enforcement mechanisms are what matters here. Talking about whatever they may or may not have agreed to and what we may or may not have given up is all well and good.
But it’s moot without enforcement mechanisms to guarantee the final terms, whatever they may look like, are ultimately followed.