After this's all over, I hope the U.S. gov't bills Trump for the damage he's done to our reputation

[Gone Fission]

Never mind. D.E. Shaw and another institution both bought over a million shares each and are driving the price up.

Bought 2 million shares after previously dumping a 2.7 million share holding or Swasticar stock in January.

The value temporarily going higher makes the short sweeter--you want the delta between selling high and buying back low. Small risk that Shaw might bump the price back up buying back some of its stake, but it probably won't be so many shares that would be bought back that would screw up the delta on the short.

[univalve]

Shit is going down.

I‘m really speechless about the White House Show today with Selenskyj.

[dubkitty]

i've been actively avoiding news to the best of my ability, but i saw a clip and am absolutely astounded by how Trump and Vance tried to bully Zelensky as if he was Edvard Beneš. they really aren't trying to avoid looking like literal Nazis.

[univalve]

Exactly.
Give ressources without Security. Who is crazy like that to say „yes“ to this?!

[Chankgeez]

Trump has learned nothing from his previous 4 year stint as POTUS.

[dubkitty]

it doesn’t help that Vance is ten times more of an arrogant twat than Pence. they reinforce each other’s worst qualities.

[Pepe]

What a scripted theatric performance! "You're fired! - Negotiations have got me nowhere, although I promised to end the Ukrainian war on Day One of my presidency. But now that I have severely humiliated the leader of a country that was invaded by a wonderful president who constantly compliments my HUGE talents, the American people will finally have confidence in me again. Together with Russia and China with their splendid leaders we are going to save our country!"

[Gone Fission]

If President Krasnov weren’t a Russian asset, what would he do differently? (Not just today.)

[Lurker13]

It is un-fucking-believable that this happened! I really can't believe this shitshow took place in front of the cameras in the Oval Office of the United States of America. J.D. Vance is just as big a piece of shit as Trump. And "Little Marco" put out a tweet saying {paraphrasing from memory} "Thank you President Trump for standing up for America." Standing up for America? How? By insulting a head of state whose country has been ravaged by an unjust, unprovoked war for 3 years? Give me a fucking break! I'm surprised Little Marco doesn't just get under the table and give Trump a blow job while he's at it.

[Chankgeez]

Apparently, John Bolton has called for Rubio's resignation. Before he further damages his reputation? (I think it may be a little late for that.)

[Lurker13]

Apparently, John Bolton has called for Rubio's resignation. Before he further damages his reputation? (I think it may be a little late for that.)

I never thought I would agree with John Bolton, but Rubio should resign, he's a disgrace. Unfortunately, at this point it's obvious that Rubio has neither a conscience nor one shred of honor. All he cares about is power, and he gets that by being Trump's sycophant.

[Chankgeez]

The entire administration is a disgrace. I haven't seen anything from anybody there that's remotely "good" for the country.

[Seance]

The entire administration is a disgrace.

Agreed.

I haven't seen anything from anybody there that's remotely "good" for the country.

"'good' for the country"?

Unfortunately the days where people can get away with thinking so small are over and long gone. The actions and inactions of the US don't just stay within the invisible boundaries recorded on Google Maps (or on paper maps—even those that have been defaced by a sharpie with a Sharpie).

The entire administration is dismantling global infrastructure—things like human efforts to fight climate change and to address the various catastrophes resulting therefrom, such as pandemics, famine, drought, global economic instability—and are dismantling alliances that have protected America and furthered its economic interests globally since the end of WWII.

Fwapper Don has been repeatedly floating the idea of a soft coup (no, I didn't say "soft poo") and annexing America's neighbor and largest trading partner.

Will Wayne Gretzky ever snap out of the cult-coma Donny has him in? Or will that only happen after Donny Dipshit has promised to install Gretzky as the puppet "governator" of "America North" if he will just participate in an inauguration ceremony and military parade in which, as a favor to the "Dear Leader," Gretzky will intentionally lose in several one-on-one hockey games versus Putin?

[Chankgeez]

Well, apparently, Ovechkin will soon surpass Gretzky in goals scored.

[K2000]

Marcy Wheeler (empty wheel.net) described the Elon Musk/DOGE escapades as the biggest espionage heist in history. The world's (2nd) richest man gets access to the entire database of millions of federal workers, the social security numbers and tax (income) information of every American, etc etc. I can't even comprehend the potential fuckery that could be used for.

I worked with a guy who likes Trump last week. I didn't try to change his mind (no time, wrong time/place) but I told him some of the 'big picture' reasons I thought Trump was incredibly bad for America. His biggest issue seemed to be illegal immigration (they come here for free stuff and then complain about the free stuff, they don't pay taxes). Just a very superficial take on the immigration issue (I told him that these people add to the economy and do indeed pay taxes for services that they cannot receive, like social security). But he saw a TikTok video where this undocumented guy bragged about free blah blah blah... Overall, a very superficial take on politics (he's busy with a small business and his family, and he's not a political junkie). I mentioned something about AOC and he said "which one is she"? I blame the FoxNews/talk radio/social media landscape for leading so many people astray. Even the mainstream media (NY Times, WaPo) are pretty terrible. When people talk about "well, this (terrible outcome) is what they voted for" (FAFO) I would point out that most of these people seem to be incredibly low information voters. I don't think they are unpersuadable, but I have no idea how they will change their minds about anything, short of a major catastrophic event. They are literally in their own world with their own facts. There are millions of people people who have been watching FoxNews for 30 years. This guy told me that he had previously voted for Obama. So there are Trump voters who just wanted to get something different. I don't think they understand what they have unleashed, at least not yet.

/bloviate