#151 2025-03-19 08:32:11
Yeah, these idiots are not worth voting for, and I'm not sure that I know how I feel discovering that Emmeran was right after all.
That fuckwad Charles Schumer needs to step down, preferably into an open grave. At least the Retardicans are doing exactly what they said they would do; if you're lucky enough to have a Democrat House Rep or Senator, can you trust them to do anything other than bow down to them? We have finally evolved into the One Party System except the blue ones tell different lies than the red ones.
And, because that is his single skill, Donald recognized this and exploited it. Fuck me.
The only silver lining to this, and it's an incredibly tarnished and corroded lining, is that this is likely to end (some day) in a complete collapse of our federal government leaving the states in charge. I think people here in Texas have started to sense this because according to U.S. Census Bureau data, in 2023, approximately 478,000 people moved out of Texas.
Last edited by Baywolfe (2025-03-19 08:34:20)
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#152 2025-03-19 16:47:59
Baywolfe wrote:
...if you're lucky enough to have a Democrat House Rep or Senator, can you trust them to do anything other than bow down to them?
Since BOTH of my senators (both Democrats) voted with Schumer, I'm gonna say.... no.
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#153 2025-03-20 08:38:35
Elon, meet the Jaguars, Jaguars, meet Elon's face.
The used Tesla market is crumbling
By Ramishah Maruf, Nicki Brown and Jason Carroll, CNN
Updated: 8:04 AM EDT, Thu March 20, 2025
Source: CNN
See Full Web Article
As Elon Musk continues to take an outsized and controversial role in the US government, reports of harassment of Tesla owners and vandalism of showrooms and vehicles are on rise. That may, in part, be contributing to plunging resale values and interest in used Teslas in the United States.
Though Tesla has enjoyed the attention of President Donald Trump, its stock price has erased all of its gains since Election Day. It reported its first-ever drop in global sales last year, and it faces stiff competition in China and slumping sales in Europe. In the United States, Musk, Tesla’s CEO, has faced blowback for his cost-cutting actions in the federal government.
Despite the record low prices for a Tesla on the used market and a prominent advertisement by the president of the United States, the cars have been having a tough time finding buyers, according to a March survey from Cars.com.
Searches for used Teslas decreased 16% over the past month, while demand for used non-Tesla electric vehicles has increased 28% over the past year.
And it’s not just internet searches. CarGurus, a car-buying site, found that used Tesla prices are falling at more than double the rate of the average used car price. The Cybertruck, the controversial steel-sided pickup, fared the worst of any Tesla vehicle, with a resale value 58% less than its original price, according to CarGurus.
Tesla owners who want to sell are also having a hard time finding buyers, much less ones that will buy for a decent price. Some Tesla owners say they have buyers’ remorse amid reports of vandalism and protests against Musk, as well as their personal feelings toward the CEO.
“I would sell it in a heartbeat if somebody offered me a decent price, but the chances of that happening probably not the case,” Pam Perkins, who’s from Northern California, told CNN this month.
Jennifer Trebb, from Ohio, traded in her Tesla Model Y a few weeks ago and took an $18,000 to $20,000 financial hit.
“It did lose a vast amount of value in the short two years that I had it. It only had 10,000 miles on it,” she said. But Musk’s role in the government “doesn’t fall in line with my morals, my beliefs, and every time I looked at the car, that’s what I thought of.”
Lose some, win some
It’s too soon to tell whether the politics of Musk, its CEO, have impacted new Tesla sales in the US, and there’s a lot of compounding reasons why customers could be turning away from even used, cheaper Teslas.
Outside of anecdotes, there hasn’t been a definite connection made between the string of attacks against Tesla vehicles and facilities and any potential loss of sales. The company was booted from a Vancouver auto show over safety concerns.
The S&P Global Index broke down sales data based on “red states” where Republicans won four straight presidential elections and “blue states” where Democrats did. It showed Tesla loyalty was waning in blue states – there, the percentage of repeat Tesla buyers fell from 72% in the last quarter of 2023 to 65% the next year. Repeat Tesla buyers in red states increased slightly, from 47.6% at the end of 2023 to 48.2% at the end of 2024.
Trump, Musk’s biggest political ally, and his administration seem to be taking it on themselves to protect the brand’s reputation.
Trump this month hosted a de-facto advertisement for Tesla on the White House South Lawn, where he said he would purchase a Tesla at full price. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the attacks on Tesla are “nothing short of domestic terrorism,” and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the “Democrats were big supporters of Tesla and of electric vehicles until Elon Musk decided to vote for Donald Trump.”
It may be easy to look at public outrage and say the brand is weakening, Ike Silver, assistant professor of marketing at University of Southern California told CNN, but the reality is more complicated: As it’s losing followers in one demographic, it could pick up fans in another.
“The noise, the protests, make it seem as if the brand is sort of dropping, but the brand is strengthening among a different target audience, which is people on the right,” Silver said. “The question is will the number of new customers being brought in on the right outweigh the number of angry customers who are leaving on the left.”
Prices don’t tell a simple story
Demand for used Teslas has been falling since last summer after peak interest hit the brand in May 2024, because of more inventory and Cybertrucks hit the used market, David Greene, Cars.com analyst told CNN.
One major reason the Tesla hype has faded isn’t because of politics at all, but rather because of more competition. Cars.com counted 76 used EV models on the market in February, compared to 58 the year prior.
“Tesla has to compete with all of those cars in a marketplace that they basically helped to define,” Brian Moody, executive editor of car marketplace Autotrader, told CNN.
The used car market follows the new market, where Tesla has also initiated price cuts to better compete. If a car dealer is “sitting on your lot of used EVs, you can’t sell it at the same high price you could have last week when you know all the brands just cut their prices on the new cars.” Greene said.
Greene also said about 70% of used EVs were leased, which could mean a bunch of used Teslas are hitting the market around the same time.
And as far as price goes, electric vehicles tend to depreciate in value 11% more rapidly than a gasoline-powered car, Moody said. That’s because customers tend to think of EVs more as technology than simple transportation, and they’re more worried about battery health and whether they’ll miss out on the latest updates.
“There’s a lot of things happening at once (for Tesla) that it’s difficult to point to any one cause,” Moody said.
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#154 2025-03-20 09:45:15
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#155 2025-03-22 01:52:24
Pariah State:
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#156 2025-03-22 07:08:56
Now we're that country. ARE WE GREAT AGAIN, YET?!
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#157 2025-03-22 09:05:57
This is some serious full-on dictator shit:
CNN wrote:
President Donald Trump on Friday night ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the conduct of lawyers and law firms the administration considers to have filed frivolous lawsuits against the Trump administration or attempted to block immigration initiatives, broadening the president’s crackdown on the legal community in the United States.
In a late-night memorandum, Trump revisited past grudges against lawyers who have opposed him and vowed to punish lawyers and law firms by rescinding security clearances and canceling federal contracts they hold.
The memo directs Bondi “to seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States.”
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#158 2025-03-22 12:12:26
"The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
--Dick the Butcher
--Act IV, Scene II of William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part II
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#159 2025-03-23 21:42:19
Sunday is funday for news. All in the family.
Tiger Woods has confirmed he is in a relationship with Donald Trump’s former daughter-in-law, Vanessa Trump.
Woods announced the news on Sunday. “Love is in the air and life is better with you by my side! We look forward to our journey through life together,” Woods wrote on X to his 6.4 millions followers … At this time we would appreciate privacy for all those close to our hearts.”
Vanessa was married to Donald Trump Jr from 2005 to 2018. They have five children together,
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#160 2025-03-24 00:35:06
"Guess who's coming to dinner..."
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#161 2025-03-24 08:09:42
I'm sure he appreciates how well she can grip a shaft.
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#162 2025-03-24 13:29:54
The son he never had.
Does Donnie JR even swing a golf club? Has he ever been seen doing a round with dear old Dad?
Maybe she finally figured the way to give Don Jr his comeuppance. A simmering dish served oh so cold.
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#163 2025-03-26 10:25:22
it was worrying that someone who provided services to EGodly only two years ago was part of a group that has gained wide access to government networks.
“This stuff was not in the distant past,” he said. “The recency of the activity and the types of groups he was associated would definitely be concerning.”
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#164 2025-03-26 20:59:02
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#165 2025-03-27 12:01:09
Trump: "We're gonna have tremendous goodies in the bag for women too. The women, between the fertilization and all the other things we're talking about, it's gonna be great. Fertilization. I'm still very proud of it, I don't care. I'll be known as the fertilization president and that's okay."
Trump: "We're gonna have tremendous goodies in the bag for women too. The women, between the fertilization and all the other things we're talking about, it's gonna be great. Fertilization. I'm still very proud of it, I don't care. I'll be known as the fertilization president and that's okay."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
[image or embed]
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#166 2025-03-27 13:53:53
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#167 2025-03-27 16:40:27
Johnny_Rotten wrote:
Trump: "We're gonna have tremendous goodies in the bag for women too. The women, between the fertilization and all the other things we're talking about, it's gonna be great. Fertilization. I'm still very proud of it, I don't care. I'll be known as the fertilization president and that's okay."
I can't tell if they're laughing with or at him...
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#168 2025-03-29 12:48:03
"Denmark does a lot of business in the United States, and I think they want to see- I think everybody wants to see that work out. We need Greenland, very importantly, for international security. We have to have Greenland. It's not a question of 'do you think we can do without it', we can't. If you look at Greenland right now, if you look at the waterways, you have Chinese and Russian ships all over the place, and we're not gonna be able to do that- we're not relying on Denmark or anybody else to take care of that situation. And we're not talking about peace for the United States, we're talking about world peace. We're talking about international security."
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#169 2025-03-30 09:59:37
With one side of his mouth he says, "You don't deserve America's protection unless you pay for it.", on the other side he says, "We need Greenland because we're talking about international security." You tell 'em Donnie! How dare those Russian and Chinese ships sail where they're legally allowed to without American guns pointing at them.
And I love the flip-flop on Russia. Right out of the 1984 textbook.
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#170 2025-03-30 17:14:16
I suspect that none of this Greenland takeover has anything to do with National Security at all. There is nothing needing expansion there that requires anything outside current framework with our allies. We won't be putting in a port or sub base or sending troops to keep the scourge of Chinese spy boats at bay. Nor is there any grand development of "Minerals" harvesting in the plan to pay for Trump's scheme.
Maybe it's all a pie in the sky plan to use a uniquely unpopulated place to create a new territory with a separate governance model? Allowing for something akin to the charter city model of special economic zones. A Dubai of the arctic for chosen oligarchs. Except here the control of land ownership is less important for a return. The value could be in corporate governance of finance and taxes. All protected from interference in a Special Economic Zone outside current structures of US regulation. You don't even have to incur the expenses of building the charter cities and providing much public services, since the population is less than a small town. It's a win-win.
Welcome to the Dark Enlightenment. The mistakes of the past should not be used as predictors of future performance. Evolve and adapt.
Crypto Bros Are Trying to Bankrupt Honduras for Scuttling Their Private Cities
A Libertarian Island Dream in Honduras Is Now an $11 Billion Nightmare
Let's take a look inside the pro view of the old real estate model -
Ciudad Morazán: A Libertarian City Without Any Libertarians
I for one will not be hopping the train out for the Greenland boomtown. Rather, greener pastures lie in Slowjamastan, where a man can find the elbow room his sovereign autonomy requires.
Last edited by Johnny_Rotten (2025-03-31 00:49:28)
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#171 2025-03-31 07:59:53
No Crocs? Sign me up!
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#172 2025-03-31 17:54:15
#173 2025-03-31 19:07:53
This is not going to end well; they act like nobody on the left is going to become violent. This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around.
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#174 2025-03-31 20:01:22
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#175 2025-03-31 20:09:49
#176 2025-04-01 18:51:40
No Shit Sherlock!
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#177 2025-04-02 07:56:17
Following the logical conclusion of "The Chicago Way", they kill thousands of us by pulling funding from health and safety programs, we send all of them to their graves. I used to wonder what the motivation was for the 09/11 terrorists to fly jets into buildings. I'm not wondering anymore, just comes down to "us" and "them".
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#178 2025-04-02 13:21:40
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#179 2025-04-02 13:23:22
#180 2025-04-02 17:03:26
Trump just massively escalated his trade war. Here’s what he announced
By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN
Updated: 4:50 PM EDT, Wed April 2, 2025
Source: CNN
See Full Web Article
President Donald Trump is stepping up his massive global trade war, a move that’s certain to weigh on Americans’ wallets and could push the US economy into a painful recession.
On Wednesday, Trump declared a national economic emergency and announced tariffs of at least 10% across all countries, with rates going even higher for countries deemed the “worst offenders,” according to White House officials.
One of the highest tariff rates of 49% will be levied on all Cambodian imports, according to a poster Trump displayed at a Rose Garden event Wednesday. Among the other newly announced tariff rates are 46% for Vietnam, 34% for China and 20% for the European Union.
In most cases, Trump said the rates are “half” the tariff rate that the other countries and trading blocs charge the US when factoring in currency manipulation and other trade barriers. It’s unclear precisely how the administration arrived at those numbers.
The tariffs, Trump said, “are going to give us growth.” The president has repeatedly touted tariffs as a way to help the US government rely less on income taxes as a main form of revenue. He’s even gone as far to say that tariff revenue could replace income taxes entirely. But economists are largely in agreement that tariffs are paid by the country importing the goods, and have historically led to higher prices for consumers.
The escalation risks alienating the US further with foes and all the more so with key allies who have been long-time trading partners.
“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” Trump said Wednesday. “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already.”
The universal 10% rate will go into effect on April 5, while the customized rates will take effect on April 9, suggesting there could be more room for countries with rates higher than 10% to negotiate.
Countries with higher tariff rates are ones with what Trump referred to as “non-monetary barriers” and “monetary barriers” to trade in addition to tariffs they impose on American good.
“As bad as the higher tariffs are that the rest of the world punishes us with, the higher non-tariff barriers are far worse,” a senior White House official told reporters.
Among an extensive list of non-tariff trade Trump laid out were currency manipulation, tax policies viewed as unfair and the use of sweatshop labor.
“It’s all detailed in a very big report by the US Trade Representative on foreign trade barriers,” Trump said, holding up to the audience.
For the time being, the only exception to tariffs will be goods coming from Canada and Mexico that comply with the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement signed under Trump’s first term.
Wednesday’s announcement is a far cry from the certainty on tariffs businesses have been craving since Trump’s November victory. Rather, it will open a whole new can of worms as countries respond to new tariffs with countermeasures on American goods, setting the stage for a new phase of negotiations that could escalate an already bitter trade war.
The tariffs that were already in place prior to Wednesday’s announcement — and the ongoing threat of heftier tariffs — have already dragged down the US economy at a precarious time, when a growing share of consumers are struggling financially.
His latest round of tariffs is the most substantial package in decades. Consumers are still reeling from the highest inflation levels in 40 years and feeling crunched by high interest rates.
This story is developing and will be updated.
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#181 2025-04-02 17:16:40
I'm almost impressed with his commitment to destroying our economy. I'll bet Putin's jealous.
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#182 2025-04-02 17:54:38
He's so committed, he's destroying his own wealth as well.
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#183 2025-04-02 21:02:27
From an hour ago: "Stable Genius"
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#184 Yesterday 03:25:55
Where on earth did Trump get his tariff data from?
When Trump unveiled his tariffs on various countries, I focused heavily on one question: where in the **** did he get the values in the blue and white column? None of the values seem to align with actual tariffs. I’ll use Japan as an example. You can see the full list at the bottom of this article.
Did ChatGPT come up with Trump’s tariff rate formula?
Journal of Public Economics editor Wojtek Kopczuk also experimented with ChatGPT, which generated the same results. “I think they asked ChatGPT to calculate the tariffs from other countries, which is why the tariffs make absolutely no fucking sense,” he said.
Author Krishnan Rohit postulated on X that this “might be the first large-scale application of AI technology to geopolitics.” ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok all give the same answer to the question on how to impose tariffs easily, he observed. 
“I was able to duplicate it in ChatGPT,” NFT collector DCinvestor told his 260,000 followers on X following the Donald Trump announcement of reciprocal tariffs on 185 countries on April 2.
“It also told me that this idea hadn’t been formalized anywhere before, and that it was something it came up with,” he added, referring to the chatbot’s ability to calculate the tariff rates. “FFS. Trump admin is using ChatGPT to determine trade policy,” he added.
Last edited by Johnny_Rotten (Yesterday 12:38:55)
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#185 Yesterday 09:32:33
I don't know what shocks me more; that they used a dubious financial mathematical formula or they actually used one at all.
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#186 Yesterday 13:19:37
Nowhere on Earth is safe
In 2023, Norfolk Island exported US$655,000 (A$1.04m) worth of goods to the US, with its main export being US$413,000 (A$658,000) worth of leather footwear, according to Observatory of Economic Complexity data.
But George Plant, the administrator of Norfolk Island, disputed the data. He told the Guardian: “There are no known exports from Norfolk Island to the United States and no tariffs or known non-tariff trade barriers on goods coming to Norfolk Island.”
Albanese said on Thursday: “Norfolk Island has got a 29% tariff. I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States, but that just shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on Earth is safe from this.”
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#187 Today 04:59:20
Not that Norfolk! Mislabelled shipments led to Trump tariffs on uninhabited islands and remote outposts with no US trade
Exclusive: Aquarium systems, Timberland boots and recycling plant parts were mislabelled as coming from remote Norfolk Island or Heard and McDonald islands
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#188 Today 06:53:08
You mean the Trump administration did something in the most incompetent fashion possible? I think I might have a heart attack and die from not surprise...
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