There is at least the potential of a public interest.

What would that be?

That seems overly simplistic, but tell me if you think the proposition ("The Public Weal Transcends the Interest of the Individual”) is intrinsically false - meaning that it's necessarily wrong in all respects and in all contexts.

There is no such thing as a “Public Weal”, just a bunch of people pretending they know what is and how to reach it. What they mean is their own interests transcend that of others, and that’s how it always turns out in practice.

There is a good book called The Three New Deals by Wolfgang Schivelbusch that details how similar the Fascist, National Socialist, and New deal programs were. Of course, to compare is not to equate, he writes, but all three of those leaders opposed liberalism, and desired a strong militarist and collectivist state.

Hitler told Ambassador William Dodd that he was “in accord with the President in the view that the virtue of duty, readiness for sacrifice, and discipline should dominate the entire people. These moral demands which the President places before every individual citizen of the United States are also the quintessence of the German state philosophy, which finds its expression in the slogan “The Public Weal Transcends the Interest of the Individual”’

That Nazi slogan “The Public Weal Transcends the Interest of the Individual” is the crux of fascism, found not only in Fascist iconography, but in Mussolini’s writings. I’ve heard variations of it uttered on this forum.

C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/us/politics/cia-covid-lab-leak.html

Narratives are turning.

The looming fascism game is a trend that also happened during Trump’s first term, and it’s a rather clever racket. Pundits, activists, and experts predict a looming fascism and play live-action-roleplay for a few years. But, when it never arrives, instead of admitting their predictions were wrong they credit themselves, their friends, and their brilliant foresight for having stifled it from happening.

Took so long into the Trump presidency? I guess how this discourse will go: remember FDR! The 22nd amendment is so new, just given in 1951.

They have to put that through likely before the midterms, as likely then the honeymoon is likely over.

Plenty Democratic members of Congress have introduced legislation to repeal 22nd Amendment, like Rep. Serrano, Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Howard Berman and Senator Harry Reid. Therefor, fascism has been in America since at least the early 2000’s.

Actions alone can be judged as moral or immoral, morality is tied to what we do, not necessarily what we think or feel.

This is a very important point. The idea of immoral thoughts and feelings is quite pernicious, I think, and I believe a large subset of people take the opposite to be the case. Many governments go so far as to criminalize speech, for instance.

Yet, the voice, the mind, the feelings, release the least amount of kinetic energy, so little that neither could flit a feather, let alone cause pain or harm in other people. So there is still a moral superstition wherever thinking and speaking is concerned.

Oh dear. Standing by and doing nothing? Is that what you guys think?

The very first step to ending racism is to quit being racist. One cannot banish this demon by evoking it, institutionalizing it, and by teaching it in corporate board meetings. It’s why a couple years ago racial college admissions were roundly ruled unconstitutional: it violated the equal protections clause. Your interventions consisted in denying many people of Asian descent access to Harvard, not because they oppressed someone or did anything wrong, but because they had the wrong racial characteristics.

And that’s why claims of justice around this topic is a huge farce. You don’t in fact distinguish between the guilty and the innocent, the perpetrator or the victim, you distinguish only between so-called races, even where doing so is completely unjust and evil.

Ironically, those institutions that considered race in admissions were less diverse than those that didn’t.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/14/private-selective-colleges-are-most-likely-to-use-race-ethnicity-as-a-factor-in-admissions-decisions

Excited about this executive order.

DECLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS CONCERNING THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY, AND THE REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declassification-of-records-concerning-the-assassinations-of-president-john-f-kenned/

Using race as a factor in how to treat people or hire people or talk about people is racist, I’m afraid. You mentioned whites and assumed I was concerned about them, for example, even if I never mentioned nor even believe in such a grouping. This is how quickly your DEI training has morphed into routine racism and I am left to believe you employ the same logic to people you affiliate with any other race.

In anti-racist circles we don’t discriminate or even believe in such false demarcations.

You identified no lie. I referred to "apparent logic' - I drew an inference. An incorrect inference is not a lie. If you think my inference was indeed incorrect, then explain Trump's negative reaction to the Bishop's comments - specifically her statement that the vast majority of them are 'not criminals' but rather “good neighbors," (which is absolutely true) - which tacitly acknowledges that there are some criminals. Is it reasonable to expect a Christian bishop to focus on the minority that are criminals to a man that routinely overstates the situation and almost never demonstrates empathy? Is there something wrong with preaching a value consistent with her faith?

Well shoot, I still can’t find the phrase “illegal” in your quote or in the one you cited, even though that’s the word he used. Maybe you can bold it for me:

“She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart," said Trump, adding that Budde didn’t mention that some migrants have come to the United States and killed people.”

His apparent logic: because some immigrants have killed people, no immigrants (nor LGBTQ) are worthy of empathy.

I agree. Typically nations that are in peace might be vulnerable to sanctions, but a country that is transforming to a wartime economy doesn't care so much about it. They are already playing that game at a totally different cost level.

60 million deaths in WW2? I thought it was more like 20-30 million.

The difference is, it appears it won’t be filled with the typical symbolic crap, like when Biden violated the agreement with the Taliban by wanting to pull out of Afghanistan on September 11th, the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. And all that other cheapened rhetoric which serves only to further divide the people in that Slavic conflict.

No, whatever you were quoting lied, you were just happy enough to repeat it uncritically. Will you not even correct yourself and say he was speaking about illegal immigrants?

Illegal immigration is a crime punishable by law in the United States. If one doesn’t want to be called a criminal, there are legal means through which to immigrate to a country. The anti-immigrant sentiment is that which conflates the two.

The pandemic has already revealed that most of the so-called “liberal democracies” are at best illiberal, but at worst they’re fascist and totalitarian. In Australia they literally put people into camps for testing positive for COVID-19, for example. In Canada you had to show a vax pass to go to a restaurant. In the UK they’ll jail you for a tweet. It’s already here, it’s been here for a while, and we have a long way to go before we’re rid of any of it.

How so? Remember that I asked specifically about all aspects of DEI, not affirmative action.

It requires you to factor in people’s race or gender or sexuality as a factor in how you treat people. Do you do that?

"She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart," said Trump, adding that Budde didn’t mention that some migrants have come to the United States and killed people.

His apparent logic: because some immigrants have killed people, no immigrants (nor LGBTQ) are worthy of empathy.

Versus what he actually said:

She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people.

So we’re back to straight up lying.

Is every aspect of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion bad? Could you please explain how it's been a failure?

It’s racist and sexist.

Are you able to quote something that indicates any of that? I couldn't care less for the guy, but he's been pretty clearly interested in illegal immigrants, no? As for LGBT...when has he said he has lack of empathy? I'm genuinely interested. These are fairly specific claims.

Of course, they’re lies. Get ready for 4 more years of them.

I’m referring to the so-called George Floyd protests.

Well, Trump has thrown down the gauntlet regarding Russia and Ukraine, threatening Russia with economic force if they do not stop.

@realDonaldTrump
I’m not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin - and this despite the Radical Left’s Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process. All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113872782548137314

I personally doubt this will work, since such actions have already been tried, but Trump appears to be coming at it from a place of respect as opposed to that deep-state, media-derived hostility that’s been so common for years. We’ll see if it leads to more fruitful conversations.

And like that, racist affirmative action and DEI was ended in America. Another pernicious failure ended with the stroke of a pen.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/

5 protesters died on January 6th. One, an unarmed woman, was ambushed and shot in the neck. Some have been languishing in prison for 4 years for what should have been simple misdemeanors. That’s not enough punishment for the anti-Trumpers, all of whom sang a different tune when entire cities were razed to the ground in 2020.

Contrary to the lies, no cops were murdered on J6. More evidence that the proverbial maggots have burrowed too far into the brain.

Trump just pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was serving two life sentences for running a website. Huge.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/21/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-trump-pardon

Perhaps because perception and mobility are direct interactions with the environment? Unlike indirect interactions via computational or mental representations. One hardly needs a brain to be able to perceive things or move intentionally.

I'm not sure computational or mental representations are indirect interactions with anything other than the computational and mental organs themselves. If there were "representations", this would be a direct interaction, at least given any theory that supposes they occur in the brain. If there were no "representations", there is nothing to interact with.

.. because screw the environment!

More like "screw useless performative boondoggles".

Good. They’ve already been to around 1500 years in prison. I would wonder if we could compare that with the treatment of the arsonists and urine-chucking rioters of 2020.

The problem with the little J6 riot in comparison to the countless riots of the previous years was that J6 was imprinted on the anti-Trump psyche with record levels of propaganda, for instance the Hollywood-produced J6 inquiry. Hardly anyone remembers that rioters stormed the Whitehouse months earlier, indicted of crimes ranging from "attempted murder, assaulting a law enforcement officer, arson, burglary of a federally-licensed firearms dealer, damaging federal property, malicious destruction of property using fire or explosives, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, unlawful possession of a destructive device, inciting a riot, felony civil disorder, and others".

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/over-300-people-facing-federal-charges-crimes-committed-during-nationwide-demonstrations

Christoffer's posts are filled with anti-American bigotry and the hatred of others due to their political beliefs.

Some sweet justice on this one. Those 50 or so intelligence officials who lied about Hunter’s laptop in order to influence the 2020 election all just got their security clearances revoked. Oh, so did John R. Bolton.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/holding-former-government-officials-accountablefor-election-interference-and-improper-disclosure-of-sensitive-governmental-information/

Good riddance!

What is the Paris Agreement? Trump pulled the US out — again

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/climate/what-is-the-paris-agreement

Remember this when an anti-Trumper speaks of the “rule of law” or “democracy” in a somber tone.

I didn’t know that the country’s largest and most bloated employer, the US government, still had half of its workforce working from home. Working from home is fine, but it’s unbefitting for a government and bureaucracy still paying for empty offices with tax-payer funds. Trump ended that and froze the hiring of bureaucrats.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/20/donald-trump-inauguration-day-news-updates-analysis/a-government-hiring-freeze-and-end-to-remote-work-00199548

Sorry, pal, I already answered those questions in this thread. Go find them if you wish and then maybe find someone who cares. Enjoy the next 4 years!

And it’s done. With that, the worst administration in American history falls into the dustbin.

Nope. One more act of cowardice in the minutes before Biden leaves office, the pre-emptive pardons of the Biden crime family.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/money-report/biden-pardons-his-family-in-final-minutes-in-office/6114398/?amp=1

One more act of cowardice before Biden leaves office, the pre-emptive pardons of corrupt civil servants, something he said he’d never do.

Biden pardons Fauci, Milley and the Jan. 6 committee in effort to guard against ‘revenge’ by Trump

The pardons, announced with just hours left in Biden’s presidency, have been the subject of heated debate for months at the highest levels of the White House. It’s customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, but those acts of mercy are usually offered to Americans who have been convicted of crimes.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-fauci-milley-pardons-january-6-3cba287f89051513fb48d7ae700ae747

By The Don’s Early Light on this MLK day. We get to watch some astroturf protests, possibly some assassination attempts, the Euros froth at the mouth, and the second Trump administration take power while the Biden administration scuttles back into the cracks. So far, a great day.

A few more hours of the disastrous Biden/Harris administration. At least he still has time to accomplish his campaign promise of ending cancer.

The reason they banned TikTok: their sore narrative.

Well, let's all hope that Trump will actually get prices to go down because that's apparently the trade that alot of American voters have made for this.

They’d like him and thus the country to fail. Just watch how many times they refer to any of his successes.