It’s important to emphasize that Musk and Trump killed these people and not for any particular benefit, but because breaking something that helps people provided a fleeting thrill in their empty lives

No protection or justice for American citizens, but taking the full force of federal law enforcement to protect Elon's cars for him. Treating Americans like we're conquered territory.

a portrait of Tenochtitlan a 3D reconstruction of the capital of the Aztec Empire

making my first bleet(?) to amplify A Portrait of Tenochtitlan, which is one of the most impressive 3d modeling projects I have ever seen and a visceral reminder of the complexity of mesoamerican society tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl

Hail to the thief. Using the money they stole from us by illegally cancelling government programs to pump cryptocurrency

Again, the richest man in human history personally individually directed this

there is virtually no one in charge of anything in the Trump administration who has ever in their lives had a job where they were obligated to be responsive to public opinion

i don’t even mean to beat up on jain specifically here, it’s just that there does not exist a center, really, and there has not existed one for some time, and the way in which we talk about politics hasn’t reflected that.

February 24, 2025 Comments from survey respondents These comments are from respondents’ completed surveys and have been edited for publication. Chemical manufacturing The dynamic tariff situation is one for us to follow and seek to understand. The approach to improve export tariffs for U.S. companies seeking to deliver goods in foreign countries is good, and we believe the current tactic of reciprocal tariffs could drive improvement for U.S. export competitiveness. Tariff threats and uncertainty are extremely disruptive. Computer and electronic product manufacturing Keep lowering interest rates, please. The overall effects of administrative change have stalled consumer and customer spending. We are uncertain as to the full impact of tariffs related to our business. We procure parts from overseas. We have lost business opportunities for production of goods that goes to other countries as a result of tariffs. We may see new opportunities for products built elsewhere for companies who wish to shift manufacturing to the U.S. to avoid tariffs. There is much uncertainty at the moment as to how this will shake out. With some of the new Buy America changes and tariffs incoming, we are looking at closing the business. We are seeing broad signals of demand cyclically recovering. Personal electronics, communications equipment and enterprise business are now several quarters into a cyclical recovery. We are seeing industrial and automotive inventories cleaned out, and our revenues are returning to consumption. Fabricated metal product manufacturing We are starting to see old requests for quotations starting to receive purchase orders. We are still having issues filling positions. We are still in a low-volume period but are holding steady as we’ve flexed down capacity and costs accordingly. Food manufacturing President Trump’s freeze on government contracts has had a dramatic impact on us. USAID [United States Agency for International Development] is our major customer. That as…

Miscellaneous manufacturing Sales volumes have been trending downward in the last 28 months. We have cut hours to 36 per week, and it is not enough to get profitable. Next week, we are cutting further to 32 hours and laying off three people. The uncertainty in tariff threats and general chaos of another Trump presidency is weighing heavy on our business. All customers are decreasing or pushing out orders—taking a wait-and-see posture. Automotive OEM [original equipment manufacturer] and aftermarket represents 72 percent of our sales. The outlook from automotive OEM is that production should begin to pick up in second quarter 2025, but no firm increases have been promised. The outlook is bleak. Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing It is very hard to plan. Interest rates? Tariffs? Wow. Paper manufacturing Currently it is very slow, and we started reduced production hours in the plant. Orders are also very slow. A price increase in the industry has been delayed 30 days due to softness. Plastics and rubber products manufacturing Customers, vendors and ourselves are all trying to get ahead of anticipated global trade challenges. It is stressing capacities, especially with production personnel. Primary metal manufacturing The proposed 25 percent tariffs on steel imports will directly and favorably improve the bottom line as a domestic steel manufacturer. However, uncertainty is sky high. It is A Tale of Two Cities. February was down compared with January, but our outlook remains positive due to the 25 percent Section 232 tariff on aluminum. This tariff is expected to slow the influx of foreign aluminum from Mexico and other countries. Currently, a significant amount of aluminum is being dumped into the U.S. market, with many countries subsidizing their exports to gain a competitive edge. The bottom line: If the tariffs remain in place, they will benefit our industry. However, if they are reversed, many companies in our sector will struggle to survive. Production impr…

The Dallas Fed's Manufacturing Activity Index records comments every month from its respondents (factories in southern NM, TX, and northern LA). These typically run pretty far to the right of the WSJ Editorial page. Anyhow, here's what they're saying this month:
www.dallasfed.org/research/sur...

I think humanitarian aid as an extension of soft imperial power is good and "have free elections and we'll cure your tuberculosis" is the best game in town.

i think there should be a government official whose job is to cinch a black bag over a president's head and drag him in front of congress to beg for his life if he says this

It cannot be overstated the extent to which the lack of disaster in Trump's first term seems to have been the result of people who work for him simply ignoring him most of the time, nor the fact that there seems to be *literally nobody* in the current administration doing the same thing.

like civil servants are extremely limited in publicly expressing political opinions in a context where their identity can be tracked down - in practice, if not in the letter of the law - but now "political opinions" includes defending the notion that their jobs should exist at all.

I resonate with this thread - speaking as a municipal govt employee, not federal - but there is a very real tension between the need to maintain "detached subject matter expert" professionalism and the ongoing attack against the ideas of subject matter expertise and civil service in general

something i think musk and trump were too dumb to understand about the federal government is that it's not an affirmative action jobs program for blue-haired pronouns listers, but it IS actually an affirmative action jobs program for veterans.