stopdropandprole

your observations are spot on. these Randroid tech weirdos are actually trying to make Galts Gulch a reality in America, and will burn down every institution standing between them and their "charter cities" ancap fantasies.

we need to vigorously demonstrate to these Curtis Yarvin inspired delusional motherfuckers that The Fountainhead is a work of fiction, and we're not going to let them sacrifice our children's future so they can cosplay as John Galt.

this makes me so fucking angry... and exhausted.

please, everyone reading this:

consider ways to protest what's happening to biodiversity and climate right now as a result of the Musk/Trump administration.

even if you can't participate in actions directly in person, find ways to materially support those who are putting themselves on the line. (eg, cover their shift at work, give them a ride, babysit their kids while they are involved in actions, etc). even a simple 'thank you for fighting' goes a long way.

we can't let this constant string of bad news grind us down into apathy. consider participating in nationwide protest April 19th. hope to see you there.

This isn't about anyone but Trump.

💯 everything you said up to that last point...

I think Peter Thiel and Dark MAGA billionaires are also pretty interested in what's going on... they literally installed JD Vance as VP to guarantee inside influence over policies which serve their long term anarcho-capitalist fantasies.

as others have said. it's both. you don't have to be an employee, you just need advance access to privileged knowledge that no one else has. an unfair advantage granted to you by proximity to the decision makers who cause the market to react.

if a Senator is on a committee that meets behind closed doors to vote on whether a bill will move forward or die in committee, and he tells his wife to go buy/sell certain stocks (before the vote is publicly announced)... pretty sure most people would call that insider trading.

whether Musktrump alerted their own wealth manager or their private equity and oligarch buddies about the exact timing of certain key decisions which would impact stock valuations or securities, is a matter to be investigated. but it seems pretty fucking likely.

besides, it's irrelevant what the law defines at this point... no one in the administration will face an inquiry or be held accountable for this.

an oversimplification of the world into "natural laws" that are poorly understood, usually surrounding a shallow understanding of survival of the fittest and hierarchical structures in animal behavior.

well put. this is why lobster discourse inexplicably drew national media coverage ~5-6 years ago.

for those dumb enough to fall hook line and sinker for the Naturalistic Fallacy and apply lobster behavior as prescriptions for how to organize human societies, it's an easy jump to look at historical conquests/subjugation and proclaim "it's natural for some groups to dominate others, see, it happened in the past so it must be an innate characteristic!"

for a succinct (and entertaining) analysis along these lines of pseudo-intellectual justifications for fascism, i highly recommend Some More News' takedown of Canada's stupidest pundit

precisely, the rich are not a monolith. they compete with each other all the way up to the highest levels. what Musktrump is doing is providing insider advantages to the Dark MAGA inner circle. they'll gladly destroy those poor multimillionaires and non-maga aligned ultra oligarchs (Soros, Gates, Buffet, etc) in the process.

It is becoming clearer by the day [...] Trump’s minions really are prepared to take down whole economic sectors—the very summits of neoliberal capitalism—to elevate their own faction of private investment partners, company founders, and controlling shareholders. [...] How far the war on “woke capitalism” can be pursued without provoking an all-out recession (or intra-capitalist revolt) remains to be seen. What we can be sure of, however, is that Trump’s business allies will be spared the DOGE austerity treatment.

this is truly the 1% of the 1%, looting the entire country before our eyes and clearing the board of competition, even if it means a couple thousand millionaires get upset.

pro maga oligarchs have positioned themselves to be directly in control of the levers of power, they are completely free of regulators or the constraints of laws to do whatever they want. the Trump inner circle will use their new superpowers to make money all the way down as they crash various sectors of the economy. then in the aftermath of each crisis, they will consistently have more buying power to capture markets and snatch up wealth generating capital (real estate in particular) or get priority when deals are struck to privatize vital services and agencies. this is why Thiel and the wealthiest men on earth were at the inauguration, and why they bank rolled maga candidates. (YouTube, 'How Tech Billionaires Plan to Destroy America'

this is actually a very good sign.

the rich are finally starting to realize that if the distribution of wealth (inequality) is not addressed voluntarily, then the poor will begin taking it by force.

on the present, unmitigated trajectory, we are looking at sporadic looting at best, fomenting into widespread violence, crackdowns, and civil unrest the likes of which this nation hasn't seen in over a century.

I hope it's not too late to reign in the ultra wealthy using taxes. it's the only legal method we have to claw back everything the oligarchs have taken from us.

noone actually wants the police and especially the army to ever have to use violence.

maybe no one on Lemmy wants this...

when I look around the world and it's pretty clear that right wing political movements are ascendant and in our mainstream discourse. empathy is being redefined by fascists as 'weakness'. police and military operations are ramping up across the planet, and certainly some of it is being cheered for by a non trivial number of people.

IDK what your experience has been but "restoring law and order" and "securing the borders against immigrants" and "maybe they deserve to die" rhetoric is more common nowadays than any time in my life.

but yeah I agree, no one - with functional values and ethics - wants this.

.... there's some limitations but nobody enforces penalties and the consequences are pathetically small:

Members of Congress are allowed to buy and sell stocks, but lawmakers, their spouses and dependents must publicly disclose any transactions over $1,000 within 30 days or within 45 days of receiving notice of the transaction if it has been made on their behalf, under the 2012 STOCK Act (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act), which also banned insider trading. Members do not need to report the value of their transactions but must provide a broad numerical range in the periodic transaction reports (PTRs).

If a Congress member discloses their trade after the deadline, they must pay a fine of at least $200 or apply for a waiver to appeal the penalty. Repeat offenders can face increasingly higher fines. The House and Senate ethics committees enforce these fines.

"The fact that lawmakers routinely violate the STOCK Act without consequence is a clear demonstration of why stronger legislation is needed to curb congressional stock trading,"

be warned this guy does almost nothing whatsoever on Lemmy except scream at Americans (on Lemmy, of all places, where virtually no one voted for or supports Trump and is actively engaged with resistance politics)

to him , it's always the fault of Americans specifically for oligarchs capturing domestic and global politics and empowering dictators. meanwhile in his country, Canada, the exact same shit is happening, right wing radicals and corps taking over. but he blames Americans, regardless. it's an easy excuse for him to think this is a uniquely US problem.

punching sideways is at least half the basis of why he has an account.

people keep using this 'interrupting your enemy' phrase incorrectly and it's really tiresome.

it's like, "hey, your enemy is destroying your country, do something!" and braindead meme junkies are like "well actually, don't interrupt your enemy..." smh

ig it gives them permission to do nothing... it grants validation for passivity.