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As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said. If Trump does make that change, it would mark a significant shift away from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them.

NATO countries agreed more than a decade ago to set the spending goal for each of them at 2% of GDP. But Trump has pushed to increase that percentage. Most recently he said NATO members should spend 5% of their GDPs on defense, though the U.S. does not currently do that.

According to NATO’s most recent statistics, last year 23 NATO members’ defense spending exceeded 2% of their GDP. Five of those nations — Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Poland and the U.S. — spent more than 3% on defense. Poland spent the greatest percentage, dedicating 4.12% of its GDP to defense.

“I was contacted by several European ambassadors concerned about rumors that Trump might make some negative announcement about NATO,” Coons told NBC News in an interview on Wednesday. Trump didn’t announce anything at the joint address, but Coons said, “If you’re not given pause by everything about President Trump’s statements and actions on foreign policy, you’re not paying attention.”


Trump threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NATO during his first term and has questioned the merits of Article 5 for the country. Article 5 was designed to protect European nations from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It has been triggered just once, after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.

Ukraine has sought NATO membership, but the Trump administration has said that would not be part of any negotiated peace deal.

From the comments:
Does anyone in NATO still believe that Trump would come to the defense of ANY country in NATO, regardless of their defense spending?

If it quacks like a Russian asset, If walks like a Russian asset and if flies like a Russian asset it a Russian asset. Eisenhower, Nixon, Regan and both Bushes I am sure would be and are appalled at this action.

The dictator is putting a Price on Defending Freedom.

The US is the biggest contributor to NATO, that's because we have the greatest military industrial complex. Do we really need to spend that much on defense? What we spend on defense isn't to defend, it's a financial decision to support a runaway industry.
 

In 2017, President Donald Trump passed a series of tax cuts that netted major corporations and the ultra wealthy billions in savings - while producing barely noticeable gains for working-class Americans.

Now, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republicans look to extend and expand Trump's 2017 tax cuts - and further redirect wealth upwards - they're preparing to gut Medicaid and rob the poor of their health care.

The committee's largest fiscal charge, by far, is the budget for Medicaid, which provides government-funded health insurance to over 70 million Americans.

Republicans are openly conceding that the health care program is in their crosshairs, but if the goal of Trump's second administration is the elimination of fraud and waste in favor of "efficiency," targeting Medicaid betrays their true intentions.

Medicaid, which finances roughly 4 in 10 births in the U.S., provides comprehensive health coverage to low-income Americans and the disabled. The program is unusually efficient and has lower per-capita costs than private health insurers or even Medicare.

"The money spent on Medicaid is less than the money spent on Medicare, or that private insurers themselves spend on health care," says Brandon Novick of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

"If you wanted to address the actual reasons why health care costs are high, well then you're going to have to actually tackle the monied interests, the pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, the hospitals that cause costs to be high," Novick explains. "It's like an octopus with all the tentacles screwing people in some way. They're not going to touch any of that, but they're going to say that the one program that actually spends the least on the same services, we're just going to boot people off it, and that's going to do anything."

Georgia rejected the option to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, instead implementing its own program - called Pathways to Coverage - that allowed the state to provide Medicaid to low-income Georgians who reported working or volunteering 80 hours as a condition of their continued coverage.

So far, the results have been abysmal. The Georgia program managed to enroll fewer than 10,000 participants in over a year, a fraction of the estimated 240,000 eligible. The cost of care for patients was eclipsed by the volume of bureaucratic and administrative costs - including from tracking the monthly work requirements.
"Work requirements are literally the embodiment of bureaucratic waste and inefficiency that Republicans decry,"

Deep cuts to Medicaid would only be the tip of the spear in a Republican economic agenda that promises to deal critical blows to the American working class and poor while further enriching the ultra-wealthy.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are firing tens of thousands of federal employees, leaving the essential programs they managed in peril. The president has openly celebrated Musk at every turn, and has essentially transformed him into an unelected co-president. On Wednesday, Trump lauded the steps Musk has taken to gut the government. "We're just getting started," Trump told Congress of his administration's actions.

What's next for Trump and Musk seems to be a mass purge of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will reportedly lay off over 80,000 employees, many of whom are veterans themselves. The cuts will likely have disastrous effects on the department's ability to manage veterans' benefits, health care, education, and crisis resources.

It's bad, and the GOP knows it. Republican leaders are now advising lawmakers to avoid face-to-face interactions with their increasingly angry constituents.

They're also planning an extension and expansion of tax cuts that will largely benefit the richest Americans. According to an analysis of the proposed extension by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "households with incomes in the top 1 percent (who make more than roughly $743,000 per year) would get tax cuts averaging $62,000 a year, compared to only about $400 a year for households with incomes in the bottom 60 percent (who make roughly $96,000 or less)."

In addition, the "richest 0.1 percent of taxpayers, those with incomes over $3.5 million a year, would receive an average annual tax cut of $314,000. These 200,000 multi-millionaires would receive more total dollars in tax cuts than the 187 million families with incomes in the bottom 60 percent."

Like the 2017 tax cuts, the extension proposed by Republicans would not cut into the national debt, but expand it.

"It's like $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in spending cuts," says Novick. "They do this thing every time where the spending doesn't match the tax cuts, so they have a provision that says the tax cuts will spur such economic growth, so tax revenues will actually go up. What this is basically saying is: We think you're all stupid, because we've done this several times before, and this has never happened."

"That kind of makes the situation worse," he adds, "because it's almost like they're gutting part of Medicaid and other programs to pay for tax cuts - but just kidding, they actually don't really pay for them. We're still gonna get a bigger debt and deficit."
 
Wow. Watching this all fall apart is incredible.

MAGA must have a special kinda feeling right now.


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Sad.

But this is what happens with cults. Cult leaders inspire madness with their followers. Trump gives his followers permission to act their worst selves. There’s “freedom” and “excitement” in being racist, misogynistic, and all around deplorable. Wish I would’ve been there to defend this poor family against this loser: also, a lesson for Latinos, MAGA doesn’t care whether you’re legal or not. If you’re brown or speak Spanish, they’re going to hate you all the same. For these Nazis, it’s never been about legal status. It’s always been about race. They believe you’re from a ******** country and that you’re poisoning the nation’s blood (all are quotes from Donald).

www.ksl.com

Utah family says they were targeted in racially-motivated verbal assault

A Utah father is speaking out after a stranger verbally attacked his family. Mario Garcia feels the aggressor's actions were racially motivated.
www.ksl.com www.ksl.com

MURRAY — A Utah dad is speaking out after a stranger verbally attacked his family. Mario Garcia feels the aggressor's actions were racially motivated.

About 6 p.m. Saturday, Mario Garcia and his family were at Fashion Place Mall and heading to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert when Garcia said a stranger came up from behind the family, verbally attacked them with swear words and derogatory terms.

"He caught up to us and then he started saying, 'The cops are coming, they are going to take you,'" Garcia said.

The family was caught off guard by the man, whom they described as Caucasian and between the ages of 35 and 40, and who looked like "your next-door neighbor."

"He called me a rapist as many times as you can imagine," Garcia said. "One of my nieces heard him saying, 'They're going to take you back to Mexico.'"

Garcia said the man did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and feels the verbal assault was racially motivated and emboldened by the changes in immigration policy.

"To attack us for no reason," Garcia said. "If this guy felt that he can target us because we speak Spanish or we look different. I mean when he started calling us rapists, I totally knew where that is coming from."

According to Garcia, several bystanders witnessed the incident but no one stepped in to help.

"As a community, you expect some support when this discrimination happens and nobody said anything," Garcia said.

KSL legal analyst Greg Skordas said if you witness a similar incident, you can intervene to help the victim or call police, but he cautioned against getting physically involved.

"You can support the person or tell the other individual to stop, 'You need to stop this.' Or videotape them, everyone has a camera nowadays," Skordas said.

If someone is approached in a violent or threatening manner, Skordas said Utah law allows them to defend themselves and their family, and "they don't have to wait until they actually strike you."

"With assault, we usually think of someone punching someone but a threat accompanied by a show of force that causes someone to feel … threatened also constitutes an assault," Skordas said.

"If a person is legitimately in fear and they feel like they could potentially be hurt, they are allowed to defend themselves," Skordas said. "You can stop them, you can summon help, but you don't have to run away, Utah doesn't require that."

What's most unsettling for Garcia is that his children were also targeted and witnessed the incident.

"As an adult, I can deal with it but when you're out with your kids … to attack us and my kids in public, I feel unsafe," Garcia said. "Can I come back here and … not start looking over my shoulder if someone is following us."

Garcia is speaking out to raise community awareness.

"I have a lot of friends that … were in shock and said they didn't know this happened in Utah," Garcia said. "It's important that we as a community come together and understand that these types of events or these types of people have no space here."

Not that it matters, but Garcia's family has been in the United States for more than 20 years. Garcia is a legal immigrant and his children are U.S. citizens.

If you witnessed the incident and/or have videos of the incident, you can contact Murray police or email Garcia at eduardo.estrada.padron@gmail.com.
 
Of course this is wrong. But cruelty has always been one of the major motivating impulses behind MAGA. And it’s Musk’s style to not give a damn about human beings. Who needs human beings…..DOGE enthusiasts approve of this. DOGE supporters prefer not to think, it’s a foreign concept in cults.

apnews.com

Veterans fired from federal jobs say they feel betrayed, including some who voted for Trump

Veterans who have been abruptly fired from federal jobs say they feel betrayed by the Trump administration's dramatic downsizing of government.
apnews.com apnews.com

The mass firing of federal employees since Trump took office in January is pushing out veterans who make up 30% of the nation’s federal workforce. The exact number of veterans who have lost their job is unknown, although House Democrats last month estimated that it was potentially in the thousands.

More could be on the way. The Department of Veterans Affairs — a major employer of veterans — is planning a reorganization that includes cutting over 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. Veterans represent more than 25% of the VA’s workforce.

In interviews, several veterans who supported candidates of both parties described their recent job losses as a betrayal of their military service. They are particularly angered by how it happened: in an email that cited inadequate job performance — despite, they say, receiving positive reviews in their roles.

James Stancil, a 62-year-old Army veteran who was fired last month from his job as a supply technician at a VA hospital in Milwaukee, said it felt like he’d been shot and dumped out of a helicopter.

“And you just free fall and hit the ground — that’s it,” said Stancil, who supported Democrat Kamala Harris last year. “I’m not dead weight. You’re tossing off the wrong stuff.”

Stancil said the email he received telling him his performance wasn’t good enough came as “a complete shock” because he had previously received positive feedback. Hooven also said his performance was cited despite similarly positive feedback during his 11 months as a probationary employee.

“I’ve been blindsided,” Hooven said. “My life has been completely upended with zero chance to prepare. I was fired without notice, unjustly, based on a lie that I’m a subpar, poor performer at my job.”

Stancil said he believes Trump owes fired veterans an apology.
 
Where are our very principled non-maga conservatives? Why aren’t they up in arms over this outrageous racism and cruelty? How is any of this conservative?
 
DEI hire by trump lol. She wasn't a DEI hire as long as she was going along with trump rule but once she went against his rule she was suddenly a DEI hire: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...1&cvid=bd8e9b793b364bb683bd99bec9a8495d&ei=82

Some of President Donald Trump’s loudest supporters have a new diversity, equity and inclusion target: Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The reason?

Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts this week sided with the court’s three liberal justices in backing an order that the Trump administration has to pay foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government.

Although Roberts wasn’t targeted, Barrett faced some scathing criticism from the right.

Jack Posobiec, a senior editor at Human Events, a conservative political news and analysis site, called Barrett “a warning against the dangers of Republican DEI.”

And Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as a White House communications director during Trump’s first administration, said the attacks show that some of Trump’s supporters will look for any perceived disloyalty to declare someone a Republicans-in-name-only (RINO).

“I just didn’t think I would live to see the day that Amy Coney Barrett was declared a RINO by MAGA,” Griffin said. “This is just wild to me.”
 
fishonjazz said:
DEI hire by trump lol. She wasn't a DEI hire as long as she was going along with trump rule but once she went against his rule she was suddenly a DEI hire: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...1&cvid=bd8e9b793b364bb683bd99bec9a8495d&ei=82

Some of President Donald Trump’s loudest supporters have a new diversity, equity and inclusion target: Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The reason?

Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts this week sided with the court’s three liberal justices in backing an order that the Trump administration has to pay foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government.

Although Roberts wasn’t targeted, Barrett faced some scathing criticism from the right.

Jack Posobiec, a senior editor at Human Events, a conservative political news and analysis site, called Barrett “a warning against the dangers of Republican DEI.”

And Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as a White House communications director during Trump’s first administration, said the attacks show that some of Trump’s supporters will look for any perceived disloyalty to declare someone a Republicans-in-name-only (RINO).

“I just didn’t think I would live to see the day that Amy Coney Barrett was declared a RINO by MAGA,” Griffin said. “This is just wild to me.”
Click to expand...
They must follow the cult leader or be punished. We can only hope that the walls that separate and protect the different powers of government are not so easily breached to impeach or otherwise remove the ones targeted by the maga cult. The ones who, you know, actually upheld their oath to protect the Constitution. Heaven forbid they put the Constitution and the sanctity of our Republic ahead of their cult party leader.
 
Some dissension.


Marco Rubio was incensed. Here he was in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the secretary of state, seated beside the president and listening to a litany of attacks from the richest man in the world.

Seated diagonally opposite, across the elliptical mahogany table, Elon Musk was letting Mr. Rubio have it, accusing him of failing to slash his staff.

You have fired “nobody,” Mr. Musk told Mr. Rubio, then scornfully added that perhaps the only person he had fired was a staff member from his Department of Government Efficiency.

Mr. Musk was not being truthful, Mr. Rubio said. What about the more than 1,500 State Department officials who took early retirement in buyouts? Didn’t they count as layoffs? He asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Musk wanted him to rehire all those people just so he could make a show of firing them again. Then he laid out his detailed plans for reorganizing the State Department.

Mr. Musk was unimpressed. He told Mr. Rubio he was “good on TV,” with the clear subtext being that he wasn’t good for much else. Throughout all of this, the president sat back in his chair, arms folded, as if he were watching a tennis match…..

……But if nothing else, the session laid bare the tensions within Mr. Trump’s team, and news of the sharp clashes spread quickly through senior ranks of cabinet agencies after it was over. This account is based on interviews with five people with knowledge of the events.
 
Red said:
Some dissension.


Marco Rubio was incensed. Here he was in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the secretary of state, seated beside the president and listening to a litany of attacks from the richest man in the world.

Seated diagonally opposite, across the elliptical mahogany table, Elon Musk was letting Mr. Rubio have it, accusing him of failing to slash his staff.

You have fired “nobody,” Mr. Musk told Mr. Rubio, then scornfully added that perhaps the only person he had fired was a staff member from his Department of Government Efficiency.

Mr. Musk was not being truthful, Mr. Rubio said. What about the more than 1,500 State Department officials who took early retirement in buyouts? Didn’t they count as layoffs? He asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Musk wanted him to rehire all those people just so he could make a show of firing them again. Then he laid out his detailed plans for reorganizing the State Department.

Mr. Musk was unimpressed. He told Mr. Rubio he was “good on TV,” with the clear subtext being that he wasn’t good for much else. Throughout all of this, the president sat back in his chair, arms folded, as if he were watching a tennis match…..

……But if nothing else, the session laid bare the tensions within Mr. Trump’s team, and news of the sharp clashes spread quickly through senior ranks of cabinet agencies after it was over. This account is based on interviews with five people with knowledge of the events.
Click to expand...
**** show
 
I heard today that trump plans to implement a 250% percent tariff on dairy from canada lol. What D bag.
 
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