US Election 2024

So Musk is about to become the Doge?

Are we about to see the Kansas Experiment writ large?

Yeah. Up 250% in the past month.

The only hope is that these stupid fuckers do something stupid enough to get themselves locked up and their assets seized and given back to the people

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Sadly, in MAGAland pardons are sold to the highest, scratch that, any bidder.

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Iā€™ve long given up hope on anything like that.

DOGE is a brilliant idea, bang on:

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1856636962645401627

Once Muskā€™s fixed the US government, can we have him please? Of course those who hate him will continue their epic levels of scorn and derision but this marks the end of things like this:

https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1856567877479854429

https://x.com/beinlibertarian/status/1854246494804590798

Wow. The city of Cologne has like a yearly budget of 5.8 billion and weā€™re hardly a megacity. You could find thousands and thousands of these small projects and it would hardly make a difference in the grand scheme of the US budget. Nothing that tax cut for billionaires and bad economic policies canā€™t burn in a day.

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Thousands and thousands of million dollar projects will add up very quickly. Cue the calls that it will increase unemployment. Well, there are certainly better ways to spend money than on cat treadmills in Russia. What it will do is start to set a prescedent that insane governmental waste will be identified, shamed and shut down. Brilliant.

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Rand Paul was in government for decades and did absolutely nothing except put forward ā€œEnd the Fedā€ bills every few years which never received any support (because it would be a ridiculously stupid thing to do).

The Sunfish story - obviously the research isnā€™t about the Sunfish. They donā€™t care if Sunfish become more aggressive after drinking alcohol, they were studying the cognitive effect of alcohol on the brain activity of the fish - because you canā€™t force feed alcohol to humans until they die and then study their brains they have laws about that.

The Japanese Quail/cocaine story - heā€™s exaggerating the total it was part of a $1m research grant but NIDA did not spend all of it on that study. The study was to investigate the relationship between drug use and behaviour such as sexual activity. It was deemed an important part of research into drug addiction and recovery.

$2m to the University of Maine for a Kelp nursery is an absolute no-brainer. That nursery helps research growth and sustainable cultivation techniques of Maineā€™s kelp, as well as provide seeds for new plantings. That grant has more than earned itā€™s money back with Maine Kelp farming being a growth industry that is already worth well in excess of several million dollars per year.

Encouraging the expansion of the video game industry in New York - canā€™t find exactly what he is talking about, and he says ā€œto encourage video gamingā€ which especially isnā€™t true, but Iā€™m confident he is refering to Tax Credits which were put in place to encourage video game companies to move to New York. A pretty common method of growing an industry in a specific location.

$388,000 to Columbia University was to launch and fund a mentorship program to support first-generation university students and low the attrition rate among less wealthy families. Do I wish Universities would pay for stuff like this themselves? Sure. But I agree the Universities should be funding this stuff themselves. However its also worth noting that Columbia University is a not-for-profit University, and their endowment is invested in low-yield long term stocks and bonds that helps to maintain the stock market with its consistency.

Anyway, point is Rand Paul is a fucking fraud who has zero interest in anything other than his little libertarian dream. He did no research at all into why the government spends money, he just wants tax to be lowered so he doesnā€™t care. Criticizing the government for spending and insignificant amount on things like a Kelp Nursery which is helping to support the dying Lobster finishing industry in Maine is ridiculously lazy and stupid. Rand Paul is and always has been a moron.

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And so, unfortunately, are his supporters on here. All the idiots have decided they can speak up because of Trump.

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As a wise man once saidā€¦

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Zinger post that.

Could the US and other governments get value from a spending / waste review thingy. Yeah, I think most people woukd be on board with that but when its fronted by a ā€œmake me richerā€ President and associates then its alao right to question the motivation.

Gutting the Civil Service or whatever the US equivalent is called is never going to end well.

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Iā€™d be shocked if Muskā€™s role is anything other than recommending Tesla are given more government contracts - and a few culture war stuff as well of course to keep his twitter fanboys fawning over him.

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https://x.com/m1sspowers/status/1856524938942755030

I think he has his eyes on NASA and that nice juicy budget.

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Taxation and regulations are essential to a functional society.

Oh NASA will be absolutely shitting themselves. SLS should be chopped immidiately. Boeing will equally be sweating. Putting the man who owns the worldā€™s leading rocket buisness in charge of looking for wastage in the government with the highest spending on space (possibly second behind China) might be slightly problematic. The word slightly there is about 90m tall in flaming letters.

Just like to add in here for the sake of it, trading on his fatherā€™s name at that.

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Customary FIFY.

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I could see that happening at the cost of effectively handing the advantage of the moon to China. But i doubt Trump thinks beyond his next tound of golf.

As far as the rest, Muskā€™s view on research will be fascinating which is a massive proportion of what NASA does.