I have no problem with any of those things. Never said I did. You are suggesting a very minor fire department budget cut would have stopped the fires, and that is complete hogwash.

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No, I'm suggesting caring about climate change, land development, and infrastructure would have helped stop the fires. We have countries like Finland that have successfully done this. Defunding one of the few things government in Los Angeles does well so you can pay off the civil lawsuits of crooked cops is just one of many.

I know someone who lives right in that area, and she knows at least 4 people that have lost their homes so far. They're blaming the drought and high winds, not the fire hydrants or the little fishies that Trump seems to be placing the blame on.

That doesn't fit RM's anarchist view of the world, dude is just miserable and likes to share.

I agree with all of that, and never have disagreed. What I think is stupid and just pure partisan BS is:



Because this has nothing to do with the actual fires and helping people, but more "defund the the police" rhetoric bullshit.

The fires are in or next to 2 of the neighborhoods we lived in for most of the last 15 years, and we know double digit people who have lost homes including some very close friends.

Using something like this to peddle half baked theories and to sell a political narrative is bullshit and disrespectful but sadly well on brand for this particular poster. If they had any respect they would back the fuck off (and if we had any kind of effective forum moderation something would have been done about this poster years ago), but I guess I’ll have to settle for continuing to be glad the block button works.

To the contrary, as usual what RainMaker has said isn't nearly as bad as the reaction to him has been.

This.

I disagree. RM's "morally superior" (for the record he is not morally superior) backhanded insults tend to get the responses they deserve.

There is a comment from the Budget chairman, who said that while the Fire budget was reduced, it didn't include some salaries that were still be negotiated, which took the increase almost 50 million over from the previous year. I havent seen any documentation to support it yet.

https://www.dailynews.com/2025/01/09...sed-heres-how/

Edit - I didnt read back far enough, looks like it was already discussed.

Clearly you don't care about murdered children!

The Laken Riley Act puts in motion what I've been worried about. It allows any law enforcement agency to begin the deportation process for anyone charged with a crime who can't prove citizenship. Every cop and sheriff in America will be able to arrest people and send them to ICE without any legal process.

Get your passport cards and carry them with you.

They literally increased the budget of the police so they could make some big settlements. Like they ran out of money last budget for settlements and had to shift them to 2024-2025. They burned through $183 in just the first 4 months of the 2024-2025 budget for settlements. Feels like that might have been useful if it could be used elsewhere.

But it's not about just the city budget. We all knew climate change would exacerbate this and did nothing about it. And now that we are reaping those consequences, we have to adjust. Federal programs have to account for fires happening in months like December and January now (they currently don't). City, state, and federal governments need to be far more proactive about land development and management like they are in certain European countries that have to deal with this too.

These were all things that scientists warned about for decades and were ignored. The people who ignored them deserve blame even if they're on your team.

Nothing screams anarchist like wanting the government to take a more proactive role in protecting people. At least look up the definition of big words before using them.

In 10 days they'll all agree anyway. What's the point?

ICE doesn't have the manpower to handle the influx, so I bet $20 some GOP donor will get a contract to act as an outsourced processor. And they'll do a terrible job.

Feature not a bug


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Yeah, private prison companies saw their stock shoot through the roof after the election. Also all the tech companies are angling for contracts to help. It'll probably be some worthless AI shit but there's going to be a lot of money laundered to the private sector.

Well, that and all the people who are going to be put into camps. Can't believe you forgot to mention that, RM. You're slipping.

Trump backtracks on ending the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours and now says he hopes to resolve it within 6 months.

And Musk backtracks on the $2 trillion in budget cuts and says they have a good shot at cutting $1 trillion.

For those keeping score, before he's event taken office, either he or people involved with his campaign have walked back: The Ukraine conflict, budget cuts, grocery prices, immigration, and tariffs. So basically, his entire campaign.

But we like him because he says things and means it. Except when he really means something else. Or it’s not really about the words but rather the general way he says things.

Well at least we all know the winning strategy for 2028. Just make up stuff and lie about everything. Honesty is for losers.

So in other words, what the winning strategy has been politically throughout all of human history.

right. Everything about Trump is totally like things have always been :rolleyes:

Lets not idolize other politicians just because Trump is terrible. They all lie through their teeth, just less overtly.

I’m not idolizing anyone. How about we don’t normalize trump?

I don't understand why MAGA is so obsessed with de-wormers. Now they are saying Ivermectin cures stage 4 cancer. Fucking nuts.

It does cure Stage 4 cancer. If that's all you do to treat your cancer, you will eventually no longer have Stage 4 cancer.

I get the point you're making, but I didn't at all say that. Yes, Trump is worse. This shouldn't need to be said constantly in my opinion, particularly when I'm on the record I don't know how many bazillion times on that subject.

I don't see the value in making huge distinction between 'regularly lies a lot even when it's provably false' and 'lies even more brazenly and constantly'. Political lying has been normalized for a long time. Politicians occasionally pay a price for it depending on the circumstances but far more often they are rewarded for it. It is what it is, people who vote for them are who they are, and politicians behave accordingly.

Looks like the GOP is already getting behind all of Trump's nominees, so Dems need to make it cost something to get Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel, and RFK.

GOP seems unanimous in their conviction that California gets no disaster aid without changes to their laws.

I got excited when I read the headlines and started dreaming of buying a nice vacation cottage in Greenland ...

Access to this page has been denied

Unfortunately, came back down to reality pretty quick


Nevertheless, I would like to see some real polling done but it needs to have

• Yes
• No
• Maybe, depends on what we get

I've seen a couple articles stating below. I suspect it'll happen.

Just a moment...

It'll be a wild week/month of politics & markets (and on FOFC).


On a tangential note, I was going to criticize the lack of grammar check so I copied the first sentence into Word and ... it passed the grammar check? Am I wrong or should "as soon as he inaugurated" have been flagged?

• Quote:

  Maybe, depends on what we get

[/quote]

Crippling medical debt, forced birth, school shooter drills...

They won’t, but next time dems are in control they should withhold Hurricane relief unless gulf states repeal their abortion bans.

Looks like Maduro is channeling his inner Trump

Nicolás Maduro Calls for Puerto Rico Invasion to 'Liberate' Island From US

Can you imagine if he actually tried it?

I imagine it would look something like me storming Fort Knox by myself.

You're going to be so disappointed when you get around to reading the Wikipedia on Greenland.

Very normal thing to say.

Some of you clearly never watched the second Mighty Ducks movie.

But withholding aid to wildfire victims unless California changes it laws is totally cool?

No, that is equally bad too.

So the GOP should just get away with horrendous behavior and the dems try and uphold the moral high ground. Where have I seen that before...

You're not punishing the GOP, you're punishing innocent people because you're mad you're bad a politics.

actually you're punishing the people who put the GOP in power. Elections have consequences.

Beyond just the moral bankruptcy of punishing disaster victims because they didn't vote for your team in an election, the majority of people in any disaster area likely didn't vote for the person you're mad about.

I'm so old I remember when a blizzard of executive orders would have sent GOPers into fits of rage.

You can't take any GOP process complaint seriously.

That was one of their complaints about Obama. Too many executive orders. Which really was a dog whistle for too much melanin.

It's even worse than what they were saying yesterday. The GOP is going to attach disaster aid to the debt limit increase. Victims only get aid if Dems agree to the room for billionaire tax cuts.

Bloomberg is reporting that China is discussing the possible sale of TikTok US ....to Elon Musk.

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