Day 1 of Trump's Presidency... and all the days that follow

[gini]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dY8DTeOtrQI

--4 min---14 /3/25--'JUST IN: President Trump Tells NATO Secretary General To His Face That The US Needs Greenland'

[bojancan]

these questions are important to consider... for looking forward.. what will be happening through this administration...

====

Can Trump Legally Deport Mahmoud Khalil? What About Free Speech? Here’s What Experts Say

Everything you need to know about the Trump administration’s attempt to deport the Columbia student protest negotiator and what’s next.

The Trump administration's communication around the arrest of Columbia University student protest negotiator, Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, has brought more questions than answers. Not only is it unclear what evidence, if any, the administration is using to initiate deportation proceedings, but his arrest has also spurred questions about the rights of permanent residents and whether the administration can simply go after someone based on their speech.

Here’s what legal experts say about his arrest, the Trump administration’s actions so far, and what it could mean for other immigrants:

Can a green card holder even be deported? What authority is the Trump administration using to detain Khalil and possibly deport him?

Yes, a green card holder (or lawful permanent resident) can be deported. The most common way is if they committed a crime.

But in Khalil’s case, he has not been charged with any crime. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally signed off on targeting Khalil using a narrow, little-used authority from the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as Zeteo previously reported.

Under the provision – section 237(a)(4)(C)(i) – an immigrant who is not a citizen or US national, but “whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”

While the provision has an exception for conduct deemed “lawful” in the US (such as free speech), the exception has an exception: if the secretary of state “personally determines that the alien's admission would compromise a compelling United States foreign policy interest.” That personal determination seems to be driving Rubio’s insistence that the Trump administration can deport legal permanent residents whom it deems to be “pro-Hamas.”


A screenshot from Khalil’s notice to appear.

A White House official told the Free Press that “the allegation here is not that [Khalil] was breaking the law,” but rather that he is a “threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States.”

It’s worth mentioning that the Jewish publication Forward called the INA a “McCarthy-era antisemitic law” that was widely viewed at the time of its passage in 1952 as a way to target “Eastern European Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet agents.”

What constitutes someone having “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”? Is it constitutional?

The INA provision is extremely vague and doesn’t define any specific metrics the secretary of state must follow in determining whether someone has potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the country.

The provision is rarely used – “that’s how powerful it is,” said Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney and adjunct professor of law at Emory University and the University of Georgia.

The Department of Homeland Security on Saturday accused Khalil of leading “activities aligned to Hamas” and said authorities detained Khalil “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.” The Trump administration has not provided any specific evidence on which it is basing its determination. Khalil’s legal team has rejected the Trump administration’s claim that Khalil supported a terrorist organization. Khalil himself emailed the university a day before his arrest, worried about his safety, saying he had been harrassed and attacked online by pro-Israel groups that had called for his deportation.

John Sandweg, former acting director for ICE, told CNN that provisions like the one the Trump administration is using to detain Khalil are typically cited if immigration authorities accuse someone of “providing direct financial or operational support to a terror organization.”

He added, “It is far less common for ICE to allege that political views or speech renders a green card holder deportable under the terrorism grounds as that raises significant First Amendment concerns.”

That said, immigration courts, more generally, are often given “wide discretion” in categorizing whether people are “engaging in terrorist activities,” according to Karla McKanders, the director of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute.

Because the INA provision is so rarely used, it’s hardly been tested in federal court.

It’s worth noting, however, that a district court in 1996 did find that the provision was “unconstitutionally vague,” said Lindsay Nash, an associate professor at Cardozo School of Law and co-director of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic.

According to Nash, the judge, who was none other than Donald Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, essentially said that “providing the secretary of state [the ability] to determine deportability” deprives the court of the role it would “normally have in reviewing these types of determinations.” The law, the court said, also doesn’t give non-citizens a way to know what is prohibited, and it violated procedural due process because “it provides no opportunity to be heard on the charges against you before you're determined to be deportable,” Nash told Zeteo. Ultimately, the court found the provision was an “unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the executive.”

However, that ruling was thrown out by an appeals court, which did not comment on the constitutionality of the provision but rather said the district court did not have jurisdiction in the case.

In 1999, the Board of Immigration Appeals, which did not address the constitutionality issues, said that under the INA provision, the letter from the secretary of state “conveying the Secretary’s determination that an alien’s presence in this country would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, and stating facially reasonable and bona fide reasons for that determination, is presumptive and sufficient evidence that the alien is deportable.”

What about the First Amendment?

Courts have previously found that green card holders, who are lawful permanent residents, are protected by the Constitution, including First Amendment rights. “Technically, the text of the First Amendment does not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens – so all persons in the US should be entitled to First Amendment protections,” McKanders told Zeteo.

While Kuck said it’s unlikely an immigration judge would go against Rubio’s determination, Khalil likely has a strong case in federal court.

“It seems to me constitutionally suspect to simply be able to deport someone who is protected by every right of the US constitution without due process,” Kuck said. “I do not believe that when Congress created that provision, it was thinking about a student protesting at a college, and how that could possibly impact the actual foreign policy of the United States. And I think that's a determination that is absolutely subject to judicial review,” he added. “I think the First Amendment absolutely trumps the Immigration Nationality Act.”

For his part, Rubio has said that “this is not about free speech. This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with.”

Yet, when asked about Khalil’s case on Wednesday, Trump border czar Tom Homan said that there are “limits” to free speech.

What happens next in Khalil’s case?

For now, Khalil remains detained in an ICE facility in Louisiana. A federal judge in New York has ordered the government not to deport Khalil while a challenge to his detention is pending. Khalil’s legal team has asked for their client to be moved to New York and released. The government has argued the case should be moved to New Jersey or Louisiana.

Separately, Khalil is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in Louisiana on March 27.

What could Khalil’s case mean for other green card holders or legal permanent residents? Or those with student visas?

Trump has said there are more arrests to come, and sources within the government told Zeteo there are “multiple targets” beyond Khalil who the administration plans to use the provision to deport. If the Trump administration successfully deports Khalil under the INA provision it is using, legal experts expect the government will continue to target immigrants over their speech.

“The Trump administration's message is clear that it will abuse the law in its racist targeting of immigrant Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and others,” said Laila Ayub, immigration attorney and director of Project ANAR, an Afghan community immigration justice organization.

Sophie Dalsimer, an immigration attorney and co-director of Health Justice at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, added: “The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil represents an extremely disturbing weaponizing of federal law enforcement to punish and silence free speech.”

But she warned that while it may be easier for the Trump administration “to target visa holders, and then [lawful permanent residents], … it is not likely to stop there.”

McKanders agreed. “The topline is that this appears to be a retaliatory deportation for exercising First Amendment rights,” she said.

“The impact expands broader than one case. It is the chilling effect this executive action will have on curtailing both citizen and noncitizens speech as both groups will be afraid that their actions, although protected under the First Amendment, will be criminalized.”

https://zeteo.com/p/can-trump-legall...m_medium=email

[bojancan]

Several Jewish organisations are protesting at Trump Tower in New York - in support of detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Police have arrested several protesters.
Dozens of Jewish demonstrators are inside the building - and chanting slogans in support of Palestine.
Mahmoud Khalil is a Columbia University student who remains in detention, as the US government tries to deport him, for his role in campus protests in support of Palestine.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey joins us live from New York to discuss the latest developments.


Protesters from Jewish group storm Trump Tower in NYC demanding release of Mahmoud Khalil

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-3MdAJ8efNw

[gini]

I understood that the case of mn Khalil is not about free speech but about' promoting terrorism' because Hamas is -rightly or not-branded as a terrorist organization.

If mr Khalil as a Syrian on a Foreign visa ,is openly calling for supporting Hamas he is expelled for pro terrorism & anti semitism (sedition) .
Sedition is a crime in the US and most countries.


Lets do our best to keep the debate clean from the mr Globals' disinformation campaign by double check if its really true what is suggested by some (anttiTrump?) videos & articles.

There is a lot of panic & anger in the mainstream media all over the western crounties which are governed by the globalists,and they will spend & do anything to stop the MAGA movement before its spreading all over the world.
In the Netherlands(and most european countries)they not only block the Russian news but also the MAGA /Trump info is suppressed & twisted.
( If i see the emotional reactions from many Canadians here on the forum looks like that in Canada its probably the same constant anti MAGA retorics whats been broadcasted. )

Here we are not interested in superficial,overemotional or cynical opinions but are looking for the truth,the facts and the well thought through analysis from reporters with integrity & intelligence. -
Quality is what sets Project Avalon apart,thats our job as members, to keep ithe level high as possible!

[Flash]

Posted by gini (here)
I understood that the case of mn Khalil is not about free speech but about' promoting terrorism' because Hamas is -rightly or not-branded as a terrorist organization.

If mr Khalil as a Syrian on a Foreign visa ,is openly calling for supporting Hamas he is expelled for pro terrorism & anti semitism (sedition) .
Sedition is a crime in the US and most countries.


Lets do our best to keep the debate clean from the mr Globals' disinformation campaign by double check if its really true what is suggested by some (anttiTrump?) videos & articles.

There is a lot of panic & anger in the mainstream media all over the western crounties which are governed by the globalists,and they will spend & do anything to stop the MAGA movement before its spreading all over the world.
In the Netherlands(and most european countries)they not only block the Russian news but also the MAGA /Trump info is suppressed & twisted.
( If i see the emotional reactions from many Canadians here on the forum looks like that in Canada its probably the same constant anti MAGA retorics whats been broadcasted. )

Here we are not interested in superficial,overemotional or cynical opinions but are looking for the truth,the facts and the well thought through analysis from reporters with integrity & intelligence. -
Quality is what sets Project Avalon apart,thats our job as members, to keep ithe level high as possible!

Lets the Netherland be threatened in a daily basis, being played like a ping pong ball back and forth with tarifs - all this without their own government votes - and all kinds of lies being spread and then be taken over by big brother 10 times stronger.

Lets say by Germany, Netherland taken by Germany or better more equivalent in power and size, by Russia, like in the last World War, instead of Germany would be Russia, like it happened to Poland then, but this time the Netherland to be scavenged to the bone, and then dare to talk about Canadians.

It is people like you that promotes dictatorship and is blind to reality.

I have nothing against cleaning up, but have a lot against the mafia type of cleaning up.

I would not want you as a neighbour in troubled times, you must be a chicken that will quack to any master

[gini]

"It is people like you that promotes dictatorship and is blind to reality."Flash post705

No thats untrue,thats a false judgement of someone who apparenty did not read my posts or who knows me personally because i will and never did promote dictatorship,but i am an advocate for free speech,non violent protests and for maximum democracy (-power to the people)-by swiss model of referenda about anything the peeople demand.

Trump is not a dictator but chosen by the majority ,i might not like him ,but he has a mandate from the people.

Thats what is US democracy and that must be respected ,same for Putin ,most russians i met are happy with Potin as their leader-
The International Election Guide says Putin had 77%(!)of the votes in 2024.

By respecting their chosen leaders i respect the choice of the Russian & American voters
In contrast i do not respect Ursula vonder Leyen as a democratic chosen leader because she no mandate of the Europeans.

The thread of war and the growing totaltarianism in Europe are bringing enough worries and anxiety to us here,dont worry about that,we all suffer from the global tensions!

[gini]

In 38 minute Trump speaks again about the absolute nessecity for denucleararisation.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RyM3uaymdW4

[jaybee]

*
*

Understanding the details of economics + taxation isn't really my thing - but I can see how revolutionary Trumps proposals are in this area regarding Federal Income Tax..... and how uncomfortable it makes the Democrats feel because one of their big talking points that they try to bang home over and over again - and Chuck Schumer repeated it yesterday when climbing down from Government shutdown.... is that Trump is for the rich and reducing taxes for the rich - and isn't for the ordinary working man and woman...

So when it emerges that Trump wants to eliminate Federal Income Tax for anyone earning less than $150,000 a year - and instead raise the money through tariffs - well the Democrats and their backers will not know what to do - how to respond....because it would automatically put more money in the hands of the working class and middle class - as RJ explains in the first 5 minutes of the video below...

Trump Reveals NEW Tax Plan as Gavin Newsom EXILED From Dem Party!! (14:01)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RF-Kk8MpESc

[SilentFeathers]

Trump is not trying to start a trade war, he is trying to create a better trade balance and bring more industry and manufacturing back to the United States.

If Trump would just stop acting like a buffoon and talking in such an arrogant way about what he's doing, many wouldn't even be paying much attention to it or talking about it.

But he is who he is and it is what it is.....and TES rules the day (Trump Emotional Syndrome).

The same goes for the ridiculous call for Canada to be the 51st State. As the UK and EU pound their chests and march towards WW3 with Russia, perhaps Trump is trying to get Canada to separate themselves more so from the UK/EU than he is trying to get them to be the 51st state???? To be more in line with the US rather than the insane globalists of the UK/EU?????? In my opinion Trump is trying to save Canada more than trying to destroy Canada, especially due to it being a US border country.

In my opinion we are closer to WW3 right now than we were, say a year ago. The insane psychopath globalists see war as their only way to maintaining power and relevance. Trump is trying to stop this or at the very least distancing the US from being involved in such a catastrophic war in hopes of preventing it from happening. Without the backing of the US, the UK and EU are basically toothless in such an assault against Russia, Trump knows this.

The times we are in it's wiser to think with a critical mind rather than an erratic emotional mind.........

[Flash]

Posted by SilentFeathers (here)
Trump is not trying to start a trade war, he is trying to create a better trade balance and bring more industry and manufacturing back to the United States.

If Trump would just stop acting like a buffoon and talking in such an arrogant way about what he's doing, many wouldn't even be paying much attention to it or talking about it.

But he is who he is and it is what it is.....and TES rules the day (Trump Emotional Syndrome).

The same goes for the ridiculous call for Canada to be the 51st State. As the UK and EU pound their chests and march towards WW3 with Russia, perhaps Trump is trying to get Canada to separate themselves more so from the UK/EU than he is trying to get them to be the 51st state???? To be more in line with the US rather than the insane globalists of the UK/EU?????? In my opinion Trump is trying to save Canada more than trying to destroy Canada, especially due to it being a US border country.

In my opinion we are closer to WW3 right now than we were, say a year ago. The insane psychopath globalists see war as their only way to maintaining power and relevance. Trump is trying to stop this or at the very least distancing the US from being involved in such a catastrophic war in hopes of preventing it from happening. Without the backing of the US, the UK and EU are basically toothless in such an assault against Russia, Trump knows this.

The times we are in it's wiser to think with a critical mind rather than an erratic emotional mind.........

Bon.... another blind forum member! open your eyes! you American have imposed on the whole world your war, you are rich because of taking from others and topling rightfully elected governments to do so, and the rest of the world was unfair to you!!!

F ck, you have never travel and talked to the rest of the 7 billions people that are not Americans.

This is a war, a trade war is a war. Trump is lying through his teeth, his whole mouth, daily. You will bite your fingers when Russia will take over most of the world or when you will receive bad news for your country, playing once again victim of the world.

Don't you know the DARVO method of pervert narcissists? Deny, argue, reverse victim and offender. This is precisely what he is doing.

Gosh, how can you tell Canada is with the EU. Trump is pushing us to be, thanks to Putin's influence most probably. We were your best and strongest allies and are now **** upon. Trump is not trying to stop ww3, he is pusing to have it. He is constantly threatening the world, changing his mind, threatening again,

You are soooooo blind that it is desperating. We have no choice, the rest of the world, but unite against you guys. And more when I see US population soooooooo uneducated, so closed minded to any fact that does not drive with their brainwashed paradigm.

The facts: USA is broke and will do anything to get the wealth and resources of other countries. Why broke? because of corruption and mismanagement, and it is still going on with the present administration.

[SilentFeathers]

Posted by Flash (here)

Posted by SilentFeathers (here)
Trump is not trying to start a trade war, he is trying to create a better trade balance and bring more industry and manufacturing back to the United States.

If Trump would just stop acting like a buffoon and talking in such an arrogant way about what he's doing, many wouldn't even be paying much attention to it or talking about it.

But he is who he is and it is what it is.....and TES rules the day (Trump Emotional Syndrome).

The same goes for the ridiculous call for Canada to be the 51st State. As the UK and EU pound their chests and march towards WW3 with Russia, perhaps Trump is trying to get Canada to separate themselves more so from the UK/EU than he is trying to get them to be the 51st state???? To be more in line with the US rather than the insane globalists of the UK/EU?????? In my opinion Trump is trying to save Canada more than trying to destroy Canada, especially due to it being a US border country.

In my opinion we are closer to WW3 right now than we were, say a year ago. The insane psychopath globalists see war as their only way to maintaining power and relevance. Trump is trying to stop this or at the very least distancing the US from being involved in such a catastrophic war in hopes of preventing it from happening. Without the backing of the US, the UK and EU are basically toothless in such an assault against Russia, Trump knows this.

The times we are in it's wiser to think with a critical mind rather than an erratic emotional mind.........

Bon.... another blind forum member! open your eyes! you American have imposed on the whole world your war, you are rich because of taking from others and topling rightfully elected governments to do so, and the rest of the world was unfair to you!!!

F ck, you have never travel and talked to the rest of the 7 billions people that are not Americans.

This is a war, a trade war is a war. Trump is lying through his teeth, his whole mouth, daily. You will bite your fingers when Russia will take over most of the world or when you will receive bad news for your country, playing once again victim of the world.

Don't you know the DARVO method of pervert narcissists? Deny, argue, reverse victim and offender. This is precisely what he is doing.

Gosh, how can you tell Canada is with the EU. Trump is pushing us to be, thanks to Putin's influence most probably. We were your best and strongest allies and are now **** upon. Trump is not trying to stop ww3, he is pusing to have it. He is constantly threatening the world, changing his mind, threatening again,

You are soooooo blind that it is desperating. We have no choice, the rest of the world, but unite against you guys. And more when I see US population soooooooo uneducated, so closed minded to any fact that does not drive with their brainwashed paradigm.

The facts: USA is broke and will do anything to get the wealth and resources of other countries. Why broke? because of corruption and mismanagement, and it is still going on with the present administration.

My eyes are wide open, obviously we see things differently. I didn't bash you, there's no need for you to bash me.

Time will tell how this will all play out.

[mountain_jim]

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1900587906042892429

Elon Musk

@elonmusk
·
1h
It was easy to predict. This is their standard playbook.

Look at what they did to President @realDonaldTrump. He was loved by democrats until he ran for president.

Now they call him Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc and try to kill him.



Western Lensman
@WesternLensman

2022: Elon predicts the left would launch a “dirty tricks campaign” once he decided to leave the party of “division and hate."

2025: Death threats, Tesla stores shot up, Superchargers firebombed, cyber attacks on 𝕏 and conservative 𝕏 users swatted.

They proved him right.

[mountain_jim]

So one member gets to repeatedly and personally insult other members in this thread ("brainwashed, blind, stupid, dictatorship-supporting"), with no ramifications?

I can recall in times past when such would generate a moderator response.

In any case, it's no way to win debates and change folks' points of view.

(and I agree the US has been historically responsible for great wrong in the world, but exposing and removing the corrupt globalists, warmongers in charge, going after the evil of human trafficking, exposing CIA MKUltra and Operation Mockingbird media operations, and fixing the spiraling debt in my country all have great appeal and that is what I voted for.)

These goals make one a dictator? - that's deep-state/DemoRat propaganda.

Tariffs to equal the economic playing field and trolling are not the same as war, and it was the corrupt Biden-supported US coup in 2014 in Ukraine that caused that war that our current president is trying to end.


(unverified by me, don't know source for this data)


https://x.com/WallStreetMav/status/1900622690718781831

Wall Street Mav
@WallStreetMav
·
7m
These are the tariffs Canada was charging the USA even BEFORE Trump.

All that Trump is doing is raising tariffs on Canada to match what they have been doing for many years.

Canada can't have it only their way, protecting their businesses. We want fair trade, not free trade.

[7he5ource]

they say when you die if honest you go to your honest ancestors
when ppl, talk of --- a speaCIAL place in hell they mean of course satan
who has no ancestors

trump betrayed his ancestors [extended family] when with drew protection from europe and canada
which upset king charles'

these arent just allies its one gene pool from north west Europe]\
its a family]\

if the queen were alive this news would kill her and the pope is dying cause he understands this is a prophesy

''he shall destroy many by peace''
''when they say peace the end shall come suddenly''

[SilentFeathers]

Posted by mountain_jim (here)
So one member gets to repeatedly and personally insult other members in this thread ("brainwashed, blind, stupid, dictatorship-supporting"), with no ramifications?

I can recall in times past when such would generate a moderator response.

In any case, it's no way to win debates and change folks' points of view.

(and I agree the US has been historically responsible for great wrong in the world, but exposing and removing the corrupt globalists, warmongers in charge, going after the evil of human trafficking, exposing CIA MKUltra and Operation Mockingbird media operations, and fixing the spiraling debt in my country all have great appeal and that is what I voted for.)

These goals make one a dictator? - that's deep-state/DemoRat propaganda.

Tariffs to equal the economic playing field and trolling are not the same as war, and it was the corrupt Biden-supported US coup in 2014 in Ukraine that caused that war that our current president is trying to end.

I'm honestly more disturbed by Flash's perspective of things rather than the insults hurled at me.

No one really knows what is exactly happening or exactly how things are going to end up (myself included). I just post things how I see it may be, I don't claim to be right or to know exactly what's truly going on.

I do think I'm more on target than Flash though (and less angry and hateful).

I do see Trump doing more positive than negative for the time being and am glad to see it. Those that disagree with me, so be it.

[bojancan]

It's a long and very very interesting article...

The Dark MAGA Gov-Corp Technate — Part 2

In continuing to unpack the ideologies of the oligarchs who are part of the new Trump administration, Iain Davis examines how their ideas are being translated into policy. He considers the consequent infrastructure rollout that is preparing the US and the world for an imminent Gov-corp Technate within a multipolar world.

In Part 1 of this series, we explored the political philosophies that have long been adopted and promoted by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and considered the implications, given both men’s obvious influence on the Trump administration. Musk is a high-profile advocate of Technocracy, and Peter Thiel is an accelerationist neoreactionary who favours, in particular, the Dark Enlightenment. Before you read this article (Part 2), I urge you to familiarise yourself with the explanations of Technocracy and the NRx (the neoreactionary movement) provided in Part 1. Otherwise, many of the references here will lack context.

As we noted in Part 1, Thiel and Musk are part of the oligarchic class by virtue of being invited to join a network led by other oligarchs whose stratospheric wealth far surpasses that of the names published on the “richest people in the world” lists. Welcomed into their exclusive club, Thiel and Musk are made men. In Part 2, we will explore how the political philosophies and the associated economic theories of Thiel and Musk are shaping public policy. Keep in mind that these two men are far from alone in attempting to create an American gov-corp Technate.

Libertarian Technocrats?

Although they borrow some libertarian ideas, there is nothing truly “libertarian” about either technocrats or accelerationist neoreactionaries. Their convoluted theories, once applied, could not be more authoritarian, more anti-liberty. Just as it is an oxymoron to describe Musk as a “libertarian technocrat,” so is it absurd to think of Peter Thiel as an “anarcho-capitalist.” Yet propagandists persist in encouraging us to see them in these terms. Witness a 2014 article in The Atlantic titled “The Libertarian Capitalist’s Case for State Power and Making No Money.”

It is possible that people like Thiel and Musk self-identify as libertarians because they think “liberty” means freedom granted by — and to — the oligarchy.

In Part 1, we referenced the Venetian Republic. The Doge of Venice was the ruler of the banking, finance, and commercial empire of the Venetian Republic. That is to say, the Doge was given the liberty to rule by the oligarchs of the day. We might wonder if the naming of the Department of Government Efficiency (the DOGE) that Musk leads deliberately references the Venetian magistrate. Some say it does, while others suggest another possibility.

Created as a joke in 2013 by cryptographers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, the Dogecoin, a memecoin, has seen its price and market cap soar and fluctuate wildly thanks in no small measure to Elon Musk’s comments about it. Much of Musk’s talk about Dogecoin has been deliberately provocative. For example, in 2019 he declared himself the “former CEO of Dogecoin,” though that was never the case. His social media posts alone have provoked major changes in the price of Dogecoin. Musk has also aggressively hiked its value by, for instance, hinting it might become the basis of the proposed “X pay” payment system on his newly acquired ‘X’ platform — formerly Twitter.

Musk encouraged bullish investment in Dogecoin. Of course, just because someone encourages you to do something that doesn’t negate your personal responsibility to conduct due diligence. When some investors lost their shirts, as Dogecoin prices tumbled, they tried to sue Musk in 2022 with a potential $258 billion class action lawsuit. The case was dismissed last year. The judge ruled that Musk’s comments were just “aspirational and puffery, not factual and susceptible to being falsified.” Though it is worth noting the offhand comments of one man took the Dogecoin from a literal joke — a crypto parody — to achieving a market capitalisation of $14.5 billion in 2021.

If there is an in-joke to the naming of the DOGE, nominally led by Elon Musk, some argue it is Musk’s fondness for the Dogecoin that is reflected in the D.O.G.E acronym. Yet, the symbolism of “the Doge ”— one who is granted the liberty to rule by oligarchs — is perhaps more conspicuous. Just as with the term “Accelerator” — meaning high-impact investment to accelerate the growth of a startup — an obvious underpinning ideology is implied, even if rarely discussed.

In the introduction to his 2012 treatise, “The Dark Enlightenment,” political philosopher Nick Land highlighted the importance of an article written three years earlier by oligarch Thiel.

Land wrote:


One milestone was the April 2009 discussion hosted at Cato Unbound among libertarian thinkers (including Patri Friedman and Peter Thiel) in which disillusionment with the direction and possibilities of democratic politics was expressed with unusual forthrightness. Thiel summarized the trend bluntly: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
In a related article Thiel penned, titled “The Education of a Libertarian,” he was describing himself, and yet the personal philosophy he outlined in it was pure accelerationist neoreactionism.

Thiel opined that “the prospects for a libertarian politics appear grim indeed,” given that the government’s response to every crisis was “more government.” He also claimed that the post-WWI deflationary depression in Western nations was the last “sharp but short” shock to have allowed the alleged advantages of Schumpeterian “creative destruction” to flourish. After that depression, he said, so-called “democratic” politics had stifled the opportunities to capitalise on crises. As a result, Thiel said he no longer believed “that politics encompasses all possible futures of our world.”

Asserting, in so many words, that democracies were useless, Thiel announced he had found a new life goal:

In our time, the great task for libertarians is to find an escape from politics in all its forms — from the totalitarian and fundamentalist catastrophes to the unthinking demos that guides so-called “social democracy.” The critical question then becomes one of means, of how to escape not via politics but beyond it.
For Thiel, the “unthinking demos” is us: the holders of the “neo-puritan faith” in progressive “social democracy” — the acolytes of the Cathedral (and the people whom Nick Land considers “inarticulate proles”). In Thiel’s view, we must embrace our “technoplastic” future, become intelligible, move beyond politics, and liberate capitalist innovation by swearing fealty to the gov-corp model.

To this end, Thiel identified three “technological frontiers” upon which he could construct his darkly enlightened aristocracy.

[1] Cyberspace was the first frontier he identified. There, Thiel focused on creating “a new world currency, free from all government control and dilution.” Cyberspace would enable “new modes of dissent and new ways to form communities not bounded by historical nation-states” — and would result in a new world that would “force change on the existing social and political order.”
[2] Outer space would be another Thiel frontier, where the “libertarian future of classic science fiction” could be built.
[3] Seasteading would be his interim frontier, where the unclaimed oceans could be settled by humans. He called seasteading “more tentative than the Internet, but much more realistic than space travel.” Seasteading would at least give us the time to develop the outer-space ideas on earth, prior to colonising the stars.
These frontiers are necessary, Thiel insisted, because “we are in a deadly race between politics and technology.” He concluded:

We do not know exactly how close this race is, but I suspect that it may be very close, even down to the wire. Unlike the world of politics, in the world of technology the choices of individuals may still be paramount. The fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person [Trump?] who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism. [Emphasis added.]
Between 2006 and 2012, Thiel was instrumental in organising the Singularity Summits convened by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute — originally the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) — in partnership with Stanford University. Thiel provided much of the funding.

Thiel cannot be both an advocate of accelerationist neoreaction and simultaneously an anarcho-capitalist — a libertarian. The two philosophies are mutually exclusive.

In Part 1, we noted the technocrats’ rejection of the notion that “all men are created equal.” In a similar vein, Land, Yarvin, Fisher, and other accelerationists consider it essential to have a ruling entity, which can only be comprised of a few human beings exercising an unequal, additional right to rule. Both the technocrats and the accelerationists fundamentally misunderstand, or misinterpret, what the Preamble to The Declaration of Independence means. They completely ignore the second clause of the relevant declaration — namely, “that they [human beings] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

“Equality,” in real libertarian thinking, does not infer a held belief that everyone is the same — though that is certainly how technocrats interpret the word.

Libertarian “equality” doesn’t deny that people have relative strengths and weaknesses. It is not a rejection of either leadership or possible forms of meritocracy. It self-evidently means that every human being has an equal right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” These rights are unalienable — or inalienable. Our rights are not decided for us by others or limited by others, and no one on earth has any more or any fewer “equal rights” than anyone else.

This idea is not difficult to grasp. It is central to the political philosophy of anarcho-capitalism, as clearly enunciated by Murray Rothbard (1926–1995):

[N]o man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else. This may be called the “nonaggression axiom.” “Aggression” is defined as the initiation of the use or threat of physical violence against the person or property of anyone else.
Anarcho-capitalism wholeheartedly rejects the initiation of the use of force — the aggressive imposition of claimed authority — by the state to coerce individual persons or seize their property. An example is the threat of fining or imprisoning someone who hasn’t paid taxes to the “proper” authorities. Anarcho-capitalism resoundingly rejects the state and all its dictatorial demands.

By contrast, the proponents of Technocracy and the proponents of the Dark Enlightenment, such as Musk and Thiel, are not interested in restricting state power, though they may say otherwise. Instead they wish to move the state from the public to the private sector and expand its power once sufficiently privatized. True, they oppose “representative democracy” and characterise it as both a “democracy” (which it isn’t) and a bureaucratic system riddled with problems (which it is), but the solutions they offer, to all intents and purposes, magnify the power of the very state they supposedly condemn.

What the believers in Technocracy and the believers in the Dark Enlightenment both propose are compartmentalised, hierarchical sociopolitical power structures that couldn’t be more state-like or more authoritarian. They seek to expand and maximise the power of the state, though in slightly different ways. Calling their new model of the state either a Technate (as technocrats do) or a gov-corp (as accelerationist neoreactionaries do) doesn’t change the nature of the tyrannical statism they desire to foist on the rest of us.

The Technopopulist Myth

The term “technopopulism,” coined by political theorists Christopher Bickerton and Carlo Accetti, has increasingly been bandied about. While the US voters who elected Trump were offered technopopulist promises, this was clearly a sales pitch to entice them to support a gov-corp Technate.

“Populism” can be broadly defined as a political attempt to “appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” “Technocracy” is commonly said to mean “a government or social system that is controlled or influenced by experts in science or technology.”

Neither left-wing nor right-wing, technopopulism promises a new kind of politics based on the belief that the more limited role of elected politicians is to put the appropriate teams of experts together to guide policy and to find technological solutions to social and economic problems, thereby benefiting “ordinary people.” But the apparent technopopulist offer to retain democratic accountability in the US is a deceit.

The technopopulists say they want to unleash “technocracy” — with a small “t” — for the public good. But the new government system they propose is constructing “Technocracy” — with a big “T” — to serve the interests of the “American elites.”

This is evident from The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 (aka The 2025 Presidential Transition Project), Promise to America. It claims its purpose is to “defang and defund the woke culture warriors who have infiltrated every last institution in America.” While defanging and defunding woke warriors holds allure for American voters, the Project 2025 methodology actually subverts US “representative democracy.”

The Trump administration is evidently closely allied with Project 2025 — denials notwithstanding. One such obvious tie: Trump has nominated Russell Vought to return to the post of director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and, by no coincidence, Vought was a key figure in convening the Project 2025 initiative. Project 2025 contributors were influential in Trump’s first administration and are no less conspicuous in his current picks for office.

Project 2025 sets a presidential agenda for the first 180 days in office that seeks to empower the executive branch to meet these key goals: dramatically reduce the size of the public sector bureaucracy; privatise and deregulate the functions of the state; and liberate American technological innovation by “shuttering” it off from the China tech sector’s alleged infiltration.

Thus, according to Project 2025, US technology can, if applied properly, be used to resolve all manner of social problems—from anti-American inequality of opportunity in the education system to woke propaganda infesting the media. In other words, American technology produced by Americans and for Americans can supply every long-sought answer to America’s ills. The power of American AI can be set free to, for example, police social media and tackle abuses such as Medicare fraud. Project 2025 offers the additional justification that the US is in an AI arms race with China and, therefore, must invest in AI accordingly.

Trump issued a slew of executive orders following his inauguration. These days, this is not an unusual practice for an incoming US president. However, Trump’s EOs were clearly heavily influenced by Project 2025.

Ironically, The Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 are bankrolled by some of the “elites” the project accuses of betraying Americans. The Coors, Koch, Uihlein, Barre Seid, Bradley, and Scaiffe families are among the financial backers of both the Foundation and Project 2025.

Rather than technopopulists it is the “TechnoKings” (see Part 1) who have been “assisting” Trumps selection of his administration’s personnel. Musk’s influence is well known but Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, is another influencer. Andreessen has not just been involved in making Trump’s picks for technology and economic related positions — areas where he perhaps has some expertise — but also for US defense and intelligence posts.

Andreessen’s Machiavellian reasons for supporting Trump are obvious. As reported by the Verge, in July 2024 Andreessen spelled out that he and his partners were backing Trump, not because they shared any of the concerns voiced by Republican voters, but because they could use the Trump administration to deliver the regulatory environment they wanted for their project to succeed.

That project is a gov-corp Technate. Not technopopulism but Techno-Optimism.

In 2023, Marc Andreessen published The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. He explained precisely why he and his TechKing partners have seized their opportunity:

We can advance to a far superior way of living, and of being. [. . .] We believe that there is no material problem – whether created by nature or by technology – that cannot be solved with more technology. [. . .] We have a problem of poverty, so we invent technology to create abundance. Give us a real world problem, and we can invent technology that will solve it.

[. . .] Combine technology and markets and you get what Nick Land has termed the techno-capital machine, the engine of perpetual material creation, growth, and abundance.[. . .] We believe in accelerationism – the conscious and deliberate propulsion of technological development – to [. . .] ensure the techno-capital upward spiral continues forever. [. . .]
We believe intelligence is in an upward spiral, [. . .] as people form symbiotic relationships with machines into new cybernetic systems. [. . .] We believe Artificial Intelligence is our alchemy, our Philosopher’s Stone. [. . .] We believe in Augmented Intelligence just as much as we believe in Artificial Intelligence. Intelligent machines augment intelligent humans, driving a geometric expansion of what humans can do. ....../continued/

MORE BELLOW:

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2025/03...chnate-part-2/

[bojancan]

Here is ZETEO ... interesting talk!!!

https://zeteo.com/p/musk-vs-trump-te...dRedirect=true

Musk vs Trump Team: Who Will Come Out On Top?
Tara Palmeri, author of 'The Red Letter,' gives Mehdi the inside scoop on how the White House is handling Musk's abrasive takeover.

Tensions in the White House are growing between billionaire Elon Musk and Trump’s cabinet, as Musk not only continues to fire thousands of federal employees, but also continues to treat the cabinet, “like messenger boys.”

That’s according to investigative political journalist Tara Palmeri, who recently launched her own Substack, ‘The Red Letter’. Palmeri joined Mehdi for a Substack Live to discuss President Donald Trump and Musk’s unusual relationship, as well as the cabinet’s tense relationship with the billionaire.

Palmeri tells Mehdi that there is a “myriad of feelings towards Elon Musk. They hate him, they loathe him, they think he’s a weirdo… and they’re also terrified of him.”

Watch the full conversation to hear Mehdi and Palmeri talk about Musk and Trump’s unusual relationship, how Musk’s cutting of government agencies is wreaking havoc, and whether or not Musk and Trump are bound to have a falling out.

Video below:

https://zeteo.com/p/musk-vs-trump-te...dRedirect=true

[East Sun]

When you say TODAY all the time what DATE are you talking about???

[onawah]

INSIDE THREAT! Congressional Leader Drops DIRE Warning! Insiders Hiding Something w/BAD Consequences
Lisa Haven
504K subscribers
Mar 14, 2025

(The issue is the actual incapacity of many members of Congress to do their job due to advanced years, poor health and just plain mental ineptitude.
It's an incredibly important issue that has been ignored or put on the back burner far too much and for far too long.
It's unclear whether Trump becoming POTUS again is related to the issue coming to the fore now, but according to this story there is a lot of infighting presently in Congress over the issue.
It probably does lead back to Trump since his tendency is to stir things up so much, but he could also be impacted unfavorably himself due to his age.
In many cases the problems related to senility, poor health and advanced age have been blatantly obvious, such as with Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi.
In other cases the problems are just as bad but not as obvious, though it seems the number of incapacitated members has generally been greatly underestimated.
In any case, it's way past time to do something about it, and hopefully now something will.)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=olLI6S_9uEE

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by mountain_jim (here)
I can recall in times past when such would generate a moderator response.

Sometimes it's best to let each reader of a thread come to their own conclusions, rather than leaning in any more heavily than any other member might with our own views.