🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Somehow being 2-6 doesn't seem like a big damn deal. This country is screwed. Good job, America.

By incessantly talking only about abortion and not the economy pushed a lot of voters away from her and towards Trump. I hate the election result but would have only felt a little better if she had won.

Yeah. Theres no reason to talk about abortion. We know where the democrats stand.

They either needed to crucify Trumps character or define a substantive vision regarding the economy.

They failed to address the multiple elephants in the room.

I’d be worried no matter who won. We all can just hope for the best. I 100% agree with @wissox and @approxinfinity they have beat the living crap out of two drums the last 20 years with elections. Abortion and the guy running against them is a white supremacist. The last 4 years have easily been the worst of my adult life by a wide margin. The republicans pretty much cleaned house because average Americans are sick and tired of zero progress. We want to be able to feed our families and not get into another war. Trump likely gives us the best chance to do that.

@wissox In my mind, Harris didn't play into the equation at all. It's about why does America want to elect a degenerate, perverted convicted criminal? What makes that right? How does that reflect on us?

Until this morning, I naively believed that there was more good than evil in this country. I was wrong.

@nuleafjhawk said in All of a Sudden:

@wissox In my mind, Harris didn't play into the equation at all. It's about why does America want to elect a degenerate, perverted convicted criminal? What makes that right? How does that reflect on us?

Until this morning, I naively believed that there was more good than evil in this country. I was wrong.

This is where I was the first time around. At least this time my whole world view isn't being flipped upside down so there's that for a silver lining. I had a strong feeling she wouldn't win. When the strategy became, lets see how many republicans we can get to endorse us, instead of actually championing any kind of progressive policy, I figured it was over. Feel like there are a lot of folks who find it easier to say they don't support Trump at this point but when it comes down to it still don't want a democrat in office, or a woman for that matter.

@nuleafjhawk said in All of a Sudden:

@wissox In my mind, Harris didn't play into the equation at all. It's about why does America want to elect a degenerate, perverted convicted criminal? What makes that right? How does that reflect on us?

Until this morning, I naively believed that there was more good than evil in this country. I was wrong.

I think a lot of people especially independents like myself wanted some accountability out of the democrats. They have had more control over the government during my time as an adult (I’m 36) than the republicans but yet they some how bare zero responsibility for the things happening. You don’t have to look very far to come up plenty of dirt and perverted things on both sides. Bill Clinton settled outta could for sexual assaulting young women, I guess it wasn’t important to democrats in the 90s. Having people involved with diddys sex party’s speak at your conventions wasn’t real intelligent on the perverted front either.

They pushed so hard for the first black lady president and made it about her race and previous mentioned abortion. Instead saying she is the most qualified and will to the best job because of this etc. Would y’all vote for Candace Owens just because of how she looks? Imagine Andy Reid announcing he was going to bench Patrick Mahomes in favor of a cheerleader so the chiefs would become the first franchise to start one.

I’m still frustrated that democrats for kicking several folks outta the military including some I personally know for not taking the covid vaccine. While at the same time inviting thousands of unvaccinated illegals into the country. Everyone knows the democrats lost most the African American vote, they want these people in the country so they can some how get them to vote. I guess my body my choice only applies to abortion. Which is my main concern I don’t believe in abortion in the slightest but don’t think it should be outlawed all together or that men should have a key say in it. The people of Kansas already voted how they felt on the matter so hopefully it doesn’t change. The other side of coin on that if it’s in the best interest of the mother to abort and move on? How is that any different than a dad that says I’m not ready for this and takes off only to be summoned to court to pay child support.

I’m kinda rambling here but I see plenty of bullshit on both sides to act like the democrats are saints is just ridiculous me. Let’s keep an open mind and all support each other.

@kjayhawks I'm hopeful that your last sentence isn't aimed at me. I am also an Independent. I could give a shit less about Republican or Democrat. I just sincerely believe that President Elect Ass-Face is evil. At the very least an awful, awful person. Nothing to do with politics.

@nuleafjhawk wasn’t aimed at anyone in general my friend. Just speaking my peace you all know I’m always willing to agree to disagree on serious topics.

Trump gets away with saying ridiculous horrible shit at rallies because people are starved for transparency in any form.

@approxinfinity He is without question one if not the most unprofessional person in the White House. I always liked how Obama carried himself, I strongly disagreed with most of his foreign policies but he handled himself well. Especially compared to Trump and the rambling idiot known as Biden.

And at the end of the day, people sympathize with an angry proud embattled flawed felonious rambling dude who isnt apologizing for anything more than a happy lady dealing out platitudes and joy.

“Unserious man with serious consequences if elected” and running away from substantive policy wasnt enough.

It all felt disingenous and presumptive.

Outside of the inherent evil taking over in January there is a much more damaging result set loose with Project 2025 courtesy of the Heritage foundation. Sad day at Black Rock.

As I said probably a year ago, a good candidate on either side wins 40 states. Harris is the same candidate that couldn’t make it to Iowa 5 years ago and Trump is Trump. Voters don’t really know what they want, I guess they want a lot of new government and fewer taxes but no inflation? That doesn’t work. They want less illegal immigration but also reduce the number of legal entrants? Boy that’s a mess. Just a ton of yuck all around. They want cheaper goods but keep our foreign imports (or make them more expensive)? Ooof. Nobody’s going to learn the lessons they need to and around and around we go.

@nuleafjhawk said in All of a Sudden:

@wissox In my mind, Harris didn't play into the equation at all. It's about why does America want to elect a degenerate, perverted convicted criminal? What makes that right? How does that reflect on us?

Until this morning, I naively believed that there was more good than evil in this country. I was wrong.

Not sure if it became clear in my response but I agree. I can't fathom why someone would vote for a convict. As an evangelical I'm really chagrined that the same people who railed on Clinton 25 years ago for his philandering would rally behind Trump. There's no Trump presidency without the Evangelicals which is mind boggling.

BTW, They're not illegals. They're people looking for relief from the most horrible of situations and a nation full of descendants of Europeans who did the same from the 1600's to the 1900's have the gall to tell other migrants to this land they're not welcome. There, rant over!

I told myself I wouldnt bag on Kamala but its hard. She should have never been the candidate. Lots of people to blame for that.

How exceedingly rare are true heroes and villains?

The Dems got belt to ass this cycle. Changes are needed.

@wissox so… whats mind blowing is that hispanics went +9 biden in 2020 and +6 Trump in 2024. Democrats really f’d that one up.

Also, the point being its not just Europeans who came over in 1600-1900.

@approxinfinity said in All of a Sudden:

@wissox so… whats mind blowing is that hispanics went +9 biden in 2020 and +6 Trump in 2024. Democrats really f’d they one up.

I have a lot of thoughts about this election but the Hispanic shift is huge. I'm guessing Arabs swung MI. Will probably post more later but need to take my brother to the hospital to get a port put in for chemo.

@BShark good luck man.

@BShark Prayers for your brother. That kind of puts things in perspective.

If anyone is looking for one of the nicest thing they can do for someone in their lives going through traumatic/serious medical issues, may I suggest offering to call insurance/hospital/billing etc. on their behalf to argue one of the many things insurance will reject, or even approve but you still get a wrong bill anyway, etc. Sitting on hold for half an hour for someone to get a $8,000 bill just erased can be a pretty good way to show you care! Most places will talk to someone who is not the patient if you just get the patient to agree to let you speak on their behalf.

Food is always great to...

Good luck to you and your bro @BShark.

@benshawks08 he doesn't have insurance but I am actually handling all that stuff in general for him as he is autistic. I got the ball rolling on leave of absence from his job, medicaid etc

And thanks everyone for reaching out

A minor election observation based on the demographic at our development-wide yard sale that was open to the surrounding community this past Saturday...... I think if Trump carries out his mass deportation of up to 10 to 20 million illegal immigrants, our future yard sales will be toast.

As to the direction of the country, I am speechless.

@wissox nearly 50% of Hispanics voted for Trump according to the news. I think people forget there is a big difference between illegal immigration and legal immigration. No one is against immigration that was never an argument, it was invented by main stream media. I have a co-worker I hired a few years back from Mexico, his family migrated when he was 8 and I’m proud to say he gained citizenship of this country. He hates illegals more than anyone I know, he says it gives his family a bad name. He claims it’s not that difficult to do things the right way. I enjoy having him work for us and he does stuff the right way everyday. I’ll add it’s punishable by death in several countries to enter illegally especially in Africa and the Middle East. I don’t know what it’s like to travel that path but I’ll easily take the words someone I know and trust on the matter.

@BShark said in All of a Sudden:

@benshawks08 he doesn't have insurance but I am actually handling all that stuff in general for him as he is autistic. I got the ball rolling on leave of absence from his job, medicaid etc

Good luck with all of that. Don't forget to take care of yourself through all of this.

@mayjay Get your house re-roofed now.

@BShark you're a good brother! 🙏🫶

@benshawks08 sports helps lol

@Crimsonorblue22 I like to think I do what anyone else would in my situation but thanks

@BShark yikes I hate to hear that buddy @benshawks08 id love to do that if I had any money, great way to help. I got to middle class and then they taxed the hell out of us so it’s like lower class now lol

@kjayhawks said in All of a Sudden:

@BShark yikes I hate to hear that buddy @benshawks08 id love to do that if I had any money, great way to help. I got to middle class and then they taxed the hell out of us so it’s like lower class now lol

Oh, I wasn't saying PAY the bills. The "fun" thing about our current healthcare system is that it all revolves around insurance companies making as much money as possible and paying as little as possible for any actual care. So, in my case, I've spent about 80 total hours on the phone in the last year either with a healthcare provider or the insurance company making sure the bills we've been sent are accurate and have actually had the insurance fully applied, initiating appeals when insurance denies coverage 2 months after the service had been provided, following up when bills that were under appeal went to collections even though the weren't supposed to, resolving issues where insurance says they've paid but we still get a bill, or where the healthcare provider says they've sent it through insurance but haven't, etc. A good hunk of that time is just waiting on hold and telling the same story over and over again until you get bumped up to someone who can actually do something about it.

But we literally got an $8000 bill that I said, uh, shouldn't insurance pay for that, and the hospital said, yeah probably, we will re-send it to them, insurance said, no we won't pay for that, I said why not it was necessary care, they said, oh yeah you're right, we will pay for it, then we got the same bill again, and I did that all over again, then the bill went to collections so a fourth party entered the chat, until finally, last week, this bill from December of 2023 was finally resolved and as it turned out, we never actually were supposed to have had a bill in the first place. That was about 15 phone calls each lasting 30-90 minutes.

What I was trying to say was if you want to help someone going through serious medical stuff is to offer to take one or two of those phone calls for them. Sit on hold and retell the story over and over again until someone can actually fix it. No money necessary, just some time and patience that is often running short for those going through tough times.

@benshawks08 Having gone through this with a relative that had insurance vs one that didn't, honestly not having insurance has been the better experience. Of course, I'll have to negotiate the bills...

@BShark The individuals at all of those places are great and helpful. They all WANT to help people, but the systems are set up to make that as difficult as possible. I could see how cutting out part of that system might actually be easier if not maybe a little more expensive (when you factor in years of premiums I doubt it is).

Digging into the numbers more today, literally every demographic group except college educated women moved toward the GOP. And maybe most interestingly, the income curve inverted. Kamala carried voters that make over $100k, Trump everyone else below. That hasn’t happened maybe ever? And that's with D's far outspending R's in almost every single swing state. Seems just an organic ass kicking.

I can see how people didn't want to vote for Harris. Lots of valid arguments against her for sure. I will never understand how someone can look at anything Trump has said or done and in good conscience vote for him. Clearly too many people like me working for Harris. Because it did seem like the big play was, "you're not gonna vote for that guy, right?"

Yeah, they had to make a positive, affirmative case and promptly face planted. It was very bad juju for her to do interviews and say, actually I agree with everything Biden has done over the last 4 years, wouldn't change a thing given the right track/wrong track number was like 70% wrong track. It was basically more of the same but with different branding and boy that was a mistake

@approxinfinity Yeah, I heard that too. If Trump was really serious about deporting so many it'd be a huge middle finger at a population group that helped elect him.

The good thing IMO it’s less of a wild card for Trump to be in office than Harris. Most of the country prospered under Trumps first term.

@kjayhawks unless he gets his 20% national sales tax. That would be super super bad

@FarmerJayhawk said in All of a Sudden:

@kjayhawks unless he gets his 20% national sales tax. That would be super super bad

Now that would piss people off (rightfully)

@FarmerJayhawk I haven’t seen anything on that but yes as @BShark said there would be many upset

@kjayhawks it’s very very bad https://fortune.com/2024/11/06/trump-tariffs-trade-taxes-economy/ ↗

Question for the people that did vote for Harris, do you think it hurt that they lied about Bidens health for so long and threw her in the mix so late without her winning the democratic primary? Everyone on TV seems to be losing their minds about how bad it he American people must be, do t think that a way to sway more voters.

@FarmerJayhawk the only thing I’ll say is all that was supposed to happen the first time and it didn’t. It’s really hard for me trust a lot of news sources these days on either side for that matter.

@kjayhawks his tariffs last time cost me thousands per year because we started tariffing Canadian steel for some reason. This would be so, so much worse. The worst part is Congress has given the President the authority to do almost whatever he wants with tariffs. He was on Rogan saying tariff is his favorite word and the Chinese won’t retaliate if we tariff their products (they did and farmers got a government bailout because the Chinese basically banned imported soybeans from the U.S.)

@FarmerJayhawk well I’m not going to act like I have a ton of knowledge on tariffs. I just know I wasn’t spending $300 week on groceries and all the increases on everything else.

When I was growing up, we would have friends visit us in June who were not from the midwest. They'd come for a week and inevitably there'd be weather. We'd get a Tornado watch and they'd freak out. Tornado watch sounded scary. All they heard was "Tornado". They didn't realize that it just meant there were conditions that could produce a Tornado. And they'd ignore the fact that there were no storm clouds. They'd ask 'where's the shelter?'

And one time we were under a severe thunderstorm warning and they kind of disregarded it. And we tried to warn them.. They didn't understand that severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes at a rate higher than tornado watches. They didn't realize that a 'warning' isn't if a storm is coming — it is — the only question is when.

They learned quickly when 70mph winds blew over a huge walnut tree, lightning struck our front porch and we had walnut-sized hail for about 5 minutes.

I think a lot of people saw Harris as a tornado watch and Trump as a severe thunderstorm warning... and didn't really get what that meant.

@kjayhawks well yeah we didn’t have supply chains reacting after a global pandemic and let’s not forget Trump wanted $2,000 checks before the 2020 election. I firmly believe inflation wouldn’t have been much different had Trump gotten reelected. These things don’t happen instantly. Policy decisions months before affect inflation today.

Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

@FarmerJayhawk and Trump had a role to play in the wars he promises to end.

@approxinfinity and he will have a bigger role in the future wars. Brush up on your Chinese and Russian.

Yes Trump was gonna start all sorts of wars that didn’t happen the first time as well. While the Biden administration had the worst military pull out in recorded history.

I didnt answer just thumbed up earlier @kjayhawks but yes Biden stepping down after primary season was a shit show.

Harris shouldnt have been vp. Should have been someone electable and future of party.

Walz wasnt the right running made. Didnt need a next door neighbor friend. Needed a fighter.

Biden f’d up by running because the country didnt get to choose a democratic nominee and the American people didnt get to hear an agenda hardened by primary season. I dont see Biden stepping down as heroic. I see him and his camp not stepping down earlier as selfish and shortsighted.

We did not know or trust Kamala and she would probably not have been the dem candidate anyway.

We need assholes from the democrat side that speak their mind plainly and address the concerns of average Americans.

Then the dems can be apples to apples and send Trump back to wonkytown.

Nancy Pelosi was that kind of asshole.

But we dont have that now.

Just a circus train wreck.

@approxinfinity I'm running next time. I'll be on the dictator ballot.

My motto will be "You assholes WILL vote for me. I hate everyone but everyone will worship me. Grovel at my feet, peasants "

Wait. This sounds familiar.

Fun way to troll Trump. Biden resigns so Kamala would actually be #47 so all the merch would be wrong.

Will never happen because Biden, Obama, and Harris all hate each other buuuut would be fun anyhow

I dont know where to go from here. I will never be on board with Trump but I cant vote for a party that doesnt show up. I know the view seems simple from the peanut gallery but how hard is it to beat a felonious narcissistic doddering raping insurrectionist simpleton for the presidency? You have to be pretty poor at communication, planning and execution to let that happen.

@FarmerJayhawk that would be pretty funny but thats one of weird parts. Most of them seem to hate each other. Biden’s presser idk if it was yesterday or today but he looked competent for the first time in 3 years. He didn’t stumble up the mic, act completely lost or stutter/munble 3/4s of it. It’s actually kinda creeping me out a little bit. Definitely raised a lot of eyebrows as to what is his actual health.

Well… Trump talking about how proud Melania’s parents would be to see him win a second presidency certainly had no vindictive undertones, may they rest in … somewhere.

Theyre all narcissists, really. Trump is just the worst of the bunch.

@approxinfinity that’s really the issue, if they would actually put someone up that seems even remotely like a decent vote. I haven’t voted in every election but I’ve only only considered voting for Obama which I did in his first term. Hillary Clinton was a terrible idea from the get go but I actually think they may have won in 2016 had Sanders won the primary which a lot of democrats accused that of being tampered with themselves. Harris wasn’t very well know and just didn’t seem to fit the part in the slightest.

@kjayhawks yeah Biden’s an egomaniac who absolutely believes to his core he would’ve won (he’s wrong). The backstory behind the Biden/Obama feud is Michelle and Hunter Biden’s ex are really close. Then Hunter cheated on her with his sister in law and a stripper

@approxinfinity said in All of a Sudden:

Well… Trump talking about how proud Melania’s parents would be to see him win a second presidency certainly had no vindictive undertones, may they rest in … somewhere.

Her dad is still around! He’s about the same age as his son in law… so

@FarmerJayhawk alright well i dont know what the hell he was mumbling. Ive heard five lifetimes of gas spill out of that windbag.

@approxinfinity if the rumors are true, she might not have told him either way 😂

@approxinfinity I’ve always said people that get to Elite of status are usually crooks and not good people. I worked on a former congressman’s car for over a decade when I was at the dealership. We became buddies on a first name basis and he never had anything positive to say about our government without getting into details. They want to line their own pockets regardless if there is a D or an R by their name. They give zero fu*** about the commoners just keep paying those taxes.

@kjayhawks almost makes you want to run?

@approxinfinity I encourage it with the caveats that it’s both very expensive and very miserable walking doors 6 days a week for months

Interesting demographic shifts within the parties underway 🐦 View Tweet?s=42

Jack White summed up everything that isnt to like about Trump fwiw: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCCoN6ipAdw/?igsh=MWkwOGtlenlqdjc3OQ== ↗

Dems have abandoned blue collar working class and they are now paying for it.

We are all paying for it.

Oh also my friend in Missouri told they voted to approve a ban of rank order voting, so yay, we can continue to play not to lose… at least in Missouri.

@approxinfinity Missouri gonna Missouri

President elect Ass-Face is making all my political dreams come true.

Hiring talk show hosts(same as), pedophiles and sex traffickers. He's doing this to make it seem like they're worse and more stupid than him.

They're not. There will never be anyone as bad and as stupid as him. Close second - the ones that worship him.

@nuleafjhawk I really think you stop watching MSM, I think it’s getting unhealthy for you. I don’t know Jack crap about Hegseth. But the MSM is screaming Trump picked some random Fox News guy to be his Secretary of defense!! OMG!! OMG!! Me being able to think for myself and admitting not knowing much on him looks him up….. Graduated from Princeton and Harvard (must be a complete idiot as MSM suggests). He had 20 plus year military career, won several military awards, obtained the rank of Major and was a platoon leader in Guantánamo Bay that houses some the most vile scum of the earth. Again sounds like a complete dipshit to me. I honestly think he is a little too extreme towards the right for me to like, but I hope it works out.

Hegseth doesn’t believe in hand washing which seems kinda bad

But really, he’s not qualified to run the Pentagon. An Undersecretary job would be better. He’s just never run anything remotely close to the size and scope of DoD.

@FarmerJayhawk that’s Gross, very logical assessment.

@kjayhawks he a nut job, but I'm more worried about the pedophile sex trafficker attorney general

Who was 2 days from getting his case info released. Surprise surprise!

I could be wrong, but I don’t think Gaetz has any real chance to get confirmed. It’s hard to describe how much he is loathed on the Hill

@nuleafjhawk I agree to an extent, I don’t believe him to be into human trafficking. He just pays women for sex as do most rich males in this country do including dozens of Democrats. The escort website that was hacked a few years ago had government employees galore on both sides. I hope as @FarmerJayhawk says he doesn’t get that far. The problem I have is you seem to be fine with disgusting acts by democrats. You should be disgusted by all of them. Would you let your neighbor to north sexually assault someone and do nothing. Then call the cops on neighbors to the south for the same thing you refused to speak out against? Then praise Harris who had known Diddy party guests and friends speaking at her rallies. Wrong is wrong my friend.

He's not fine with anyone doing those acts! Do you know Harris knew anything about that? Most of those pics shown w/Diddy were at music award shows. Did you know gaetz was having sex w/underage girls? Everyone knows that, including everyone in congress.

@Crimsonorblue22 not defending Gaetz by any stretch of imagination. But to say he’s human trafficker is simply false. He’s a dipshit that paid to sleep with women, one of them may have been 17 but they have zero evidence to confirm this. If you y’all democrats are so against this stuff why hasn’t any ever called out Clinton for the shit he’s done? How Biden sniffing and groping young women? The party not only supports but pushes for men in women’s locker rooms and restrooms. It’s all okay with capital D by their names. Whatever done with this thread.

Good

The issue, IMHO is that Trump is consistently proposing people with relatively little experience for these very high positions.

Some are douche bags like Gaetz, most are mixed bags -- they have some ideas that make good sense and other ideas that are pretty fringe/kooky to outright dangerous.

But the common theme is the lack of experience.

Now why would someone do that? Why fill all the top positions with people with little experience of the area they are going to be in charge of?

Because if you are planning to tell people exactly what to do (aka micromanage), it's much easier if they have no depth of knowledge about what they are told to do.

IF you want to build a team of rubber-stampers and executioners, the best qualification is ignorance in the domain. The second best qualification is pledged loyalty.

Bad: People who have knowledge and experience to cloud their conscience.
Good: who have no knowledge and experience that will compete with his instructions or color their decisions.

This is so dangerous. If people don't see this, then we are truly lost.

This country isn't perfect. There are things that need to be addressed. But there's a lot that isn't broken. The way Trump is approaching this, there is HIGH likelihood that the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater because he and all his deputies don't know which is which.

That's not how you make America great again. That's how you damage the hell out of America and probably make it more vulnerable than it has been in 50 years and leave wreckage that will take generations to repair... if ever.

In Trump's words: SAD.

@kjayhawks what in the hell are you talking about????

I'm not OK with disgusting acts by anyone! That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm registered Independent. Don't give a crap if they're Republican, Democrat or Alien. Keep your weird prejudices to yourself.

@Crimsonorblue22 Thank you!

It used to be that the only thing that caused me to yell at the TV was the stupid calls by the refs in the B12. But it turns out, watching Trump's speech filled with gloating, scapegoating, self-adulation and flat out lies actually got me yelling at the TV more. That's saying something.

I have a lot of passion for KU Basketball and I guess I react whenever I see poor decisions and unfairness... Whether it's the refs or the president.

@bskeet I could only "like" your post one time, unfortunately.

Trump's a piece of shit.. but he's OUR piece of shit.

It is a very interesting time right now that’s for sure.

His base doesn’t care but I was somewhat amused at the basics of the federal budget he just totally made up

Who's this Trump person people are talking about?

Do they mean President Ass-Face?

@kjayhawks Yep. Interesting... 1939 was an interesting time too.

@FarmerJayhawk Oh, it's totally amusing and good theater...until I stop and reflect on the real lives that are being affected and how it's no joke to them. A lot of these folks are innocent citizens who are simply collateral damage that Tornado Trump has zero regard for.

@bskeet I’ll say this it, I don’t agree with all of the crap but I do like the idea of having the information of where all of our tax money is being blown. Read an article last week that talked about how we spent 200 million testing monkeys to see if they were more sexually active on cocaine, spoiler they were. We all know for fact the US government is one of the worst corporations in the world. Any business ran under their practices would be done in 6 months. Literally the most inefficient on the globe

That study sounds suspect to me too... I imagine if I lived in the 1920s and someone said "Go review the government research and get rid of the stuff that seems stupid," I would look at the research on molds as expendable. Of course, that would have been tragic since that research lead to penicillin. (It was actually discovered in London, but hopefully you get my point.) Studying mold turns out to have been a good thing to study even though it might have looked like a pretty dubious thing to study.

Research... Science works this way.. Some studies go no where. Others lead to something consequential. Not every study is going to lead to a revolutionary product like penicillin. Science requires following a lot of ideas. It's expensive and time consuming. Fortunately, the US has been blessed with the resources to invest in lots of research over the last 100 years and it has led to a steadily better standard of living for its citizens and, in many cases, the global population.

Anyway, the bigger point: I'm all for scrubbing out excessive spending on widgets and over-priced projects -- but I'd like there to be some due diligence by people with knowledge of the domain. I'm pretty sure that is NOT happening. There is no telling how many babies are being thrown out with the bathwater right now. It's preventable.

As for the US being one of the worst corporations in the world -- I'm no economist or political scientist, but based on my limited knowledge, the US is NOT a for-profit business. The analogy of the US being a for-profit business is a false premise.

The US is a government. It's closer to a non-profit if the analogy must be pushed, but it's better to not try to fit it into either of those models. The practices of running a for-profit or non-profit business are different from running a government and mapping business practices wholesale onto a government is dubious.

That said, it SHOULD have fiscal responsibility and accountability. (I think that's what Congress is supposed to do, but I'm no political scientist...) I think it is obvious that it should not operate in an ever-deepening deficit.

That said, I've heard others explain that the rules are different for governments and particularly for the government that owns the standard global currency. Again, I'm no economist, so I'll leave it there.

@bskeet it’s sure as hell profitable for politicians, shit Bernie Sanders is a career politician that came from nothing but is worth millions and has several vacation homes. The Bush, Clinton and Obama families all are worth hundreds of millions that they weren’t before getting into politics. Elizibeth Warren gets paid $200k but all the sudden is worth $100 million. Sounds a little fishy doesn’t it? Go spend a day at the DMV or IRS and then get back with me about how efficient our government is. I’m not political science major either, it’s just odd how everything the government touches turns to dog shit. College used to be affordable for most then the government got involved. Housing used to be a lot more affordable til the government start subsidizing it. Speaking of the early 1900s did you know we didn’t have income tax til 1915 and it was only supposed to be for a few years to help the war effort. Oddly enough we still had universities and roads before hand. It’s crazy to think a nation that started a war for independence over a 2% tax on a drink beverage is now taxed to nearly 50%. Our politicians tho boy they sure live high on hog, how many times a week are we buy fuel for Pelosi to fly from Cali to Washington. The government is one big party friend and we ain’t on the guest list.

I’ll add in some questions about the billions we spend on foreign aid. Did you see helicopters from France or Great Britain dropping off supplies after the hurricanes and flooding in the Carolinas? How after the wildfires in California? Did you see the UN sending their choppers and planes? I’ve helped a lot of people out in my day in a lot of different ways. It’s a great thing to do I’d like to think some of those same people would help me out when they could. I think about it like this, my neighbor across the street has a son that mine plays with often. I would gladly help them if they needed it but I wouldn’t starve my own family to do so. Couldnt imagine sending my kids to school with holes in their shoes and starved while giving most my money to them so their kids could get clothes and a hot plate? Where does that make sense? We still have people living in tents in the Carolinas and California but fuckem I guess.

@kjayhawks So, this is a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with what I said.

I didn't say the government was efficient. I'm not saying that politicians are not corrupt. I didn't say anything about foreign aid or the cost of universities or taxes.

So.... I'm not really going to battle on this stuff... because politicians ARE corrupt.

But corruption is not a partisan thing. A lot of your points seem to be partisan examples.

I would say we may have a difference of opinion regarding whom to trust to fix corruption. I don't trust a guy who operates consistently on the edges of the law and, in my estimation, has a history of crossing the line. I don't trust the guy who has a track record of bankrupt businesses.

I'm watching the market tank as I type. Seems like its more like "Make America 1928 Again".

@bskeet well I did get off the rails a little, it won’t ever get fixed IMO. Everyone’s dirty and has their own agenda paid by some company. Our government employees should wear sponsor suits like they do in nascar then we’d know who was funding them at least.

Both my wife and I have jobs largely affected by DOGE layoffs. While moving things to the state level makes sense for a lot of things, it seems there is no real plan to move things to the state level, only to ax the federal government now while people involved suffer the consequences. I'd give the idea a B, execution an F, and motivation an F.

It isn't political when it's directly screwing with your life. Just throwing this out there.

@approxinfinity it screwed your life?

@Crimsonorblue22 in the process of screwing with it. The hatchet job on HHS and FDA.

I dont mean life in the sense of the body. Fun etymology fact I just learned:

The word "life" originates from the Proto-Germanic word "lībą," meaning "life, body," which in turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European root "leyp-" meaning "to stick, glue," and the related word "*lībaną" meaning "to remain, stay, be left".

The glue is dissolving but to what do we stick?

Together?

@Crimsonorblue22 i like that.

Today’s absolutely bonkerstown tariff announcements won’t help. I’ve already seen GDP forecasts significantly downgraded for the year. It’ll be a bloodbath.

Free markets have a pretty good track record for 70 years. Apparently it wasn't enough.

Greed. It will bring us all down.

We are only 2.5 months in. There is so much more stupidity left to come.

Am I the only one who thinks they'll never be able to retire because the psychopath president keeps trying to bankrupt this country? I mean, financially as well as morally.

@nuleafjhawk did you protest today?

@Crimsonorblue22 I guess I didn't know that was a thing. BUT - I've been protesting every day since he was elected.

It’s been a trip knowing A) my folks are very proud of me going to graduate school for economics and teaching it at a good school and B )saying everything I know about macroeconomics and trade is wrong

@FarmerJayhawk believe me, I get it. I was an international trade lawyer for 30 years. This is akin to watching a frustrated 8 year old try to fix a computer by hitting it with a hammer

State Department ruling on South Sudan could impact basketball players. The US is revoking the visas of all South Sudan passport holders. One of the most prominent names that could be affected by this and potentially face deportation is Duke center Khaman Maluach whose family fled South Sudan during the Civil War over there amd grew up in Uganda. Malachi is expected to be a top 10 pick in this year's NBA draft so this is something worth keeping an eye on.

Whatever personal feelings you may have towards Duke, it sucks to potentially see a kid like this be denied his dreams because of that Oompa-Loompa in the White House.

@Texas-Hawk-10 yes, some things are more important than my dislike of Duke. My hatred of KY for example. And the Oompa-loompa

@HoraceZontal said in All of a Sudden:

@FarmerJayhawk believe me, I get it. I was an international trade lawyer for 30 years. This is akin to watching a frustrated 8 year old try to fix a computer by hitting it with a hammer

Maybe you should copyright that.

@bskeet if you can do good illustrations, there’s a great political cartoon there. I wish Herblock was still alive

@HoraceZontal 100%. This situation sets my creative mind ablaze. I've been thinking of a lot of potential cartoons -- Trump as Alfred B Neuman "What? Me worry?"

Or an oblivious Trump supporter yelling "Let's Go Brandon!" on the stock exchange amid a sea of stares from angry traders and Trump sheepishly whispering "Not right now."

Or running the TV set to Bloomberg Business Channel on mute while putting Genesis "Throwing it All Away" on repeat play.

Any lawyers out there in KU Buckets-land? I was just wondering if we can file some sort of class action lawsuit against "you know who" to repair some of the emotional and financial devastation he's caused in the past few months. Maybe we could hire Willie Gary???

@FarmerJayhawk said in All of a Sudden:

It’s been a trip knowing A) my folks are very proud of me going to graduate school for economics and teaching it at a good school and B )saying everything I know about macroeconomics and trade is wrong

Well you probably learned all of that at some liberal university so you're wrong. Dumb DEI degrees you got there. Your professors were probably Hamas supporters who can't use the right bathroom.

And obviously you don't even understand what they're trying to do. Trump is playing 75D Chess because he is brilliant. He's simultaneously ending China's backdoor trading through Vietnam, lowering the interest rate to refinance the debt, cutting taxes, eliminating capital gains taxes, balancing trade, bringing manufacturing home, getting more fair tariffs from everyone else, and he can do all of that while he wins his Senior Club Championship.

Dear leader is much more smarterer than you.

This is fantastic. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone troll themselves.

Trump is so proud of his business acumen in using bankruptcies that he thinks tanking the US economy will allow us to eliminate the national debt.

David Brooks offers an intellectual conservative perspective on Trumpism that resonates strongly with me (a moderate)

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/trumpism-maga-populism-power-pursuit/682116/?utm_campaign=one-story-to-read-today&utm_content=20250407&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=One+Story+to+Read+Today ↗

@bskeet A great article. Thanks for sharing!

@bskeet I just got done reading it, right before clicking over here to see what's going on. Very gratifying to finally see other people reading The Atlantic. Also known as Signal Live.

@mayjay Finished recently a book by Tim Alberta an Atlantic writer. Some hard takes on the Christian Nationalism that's taken over many parts of the evangelical church. I don't read the Atlantic Per Se.

@wissox Tim is a great reporter. He was raised in the church then worked for National Review and The Atlantic.