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[Duuvian]

Microsoft's "Free" Plan to Upgrade Government Cybersecurity Was Designed to Box Out Competitors and Drive Profits, Insiders Say

https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-white-house-offer-cybersecurity-biden-nadella

For more reading, check this one out. It has lots of blue hyperlinks to click on.

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/25/whoops-white-house-microsoft-cybersecurity-partnership-gave-company-an-illegal-de-facto-monopoly-on-government-services/


So, I'd like to point out the factions in charge of the Democratic party have recently received $1billion in shadow money. I think this is now being used in a media campaign to influence people towards these factions and away from liberalism. I think $1billion in shadow money buys a lot of consultants who aren't good for much else. I think this shadow money is being used to further oligarchic policy by an unresponsive cadre of elites who dominate this party.

I think I would prefer to see the left organize against this. I think such things should occur now, because the factions running the party seem to be falling more and more out of the cooperation zone. I think victory is, as always, a bit much to achieve. I do think opposing corruption in the party, including by leaving it or refusing votes if necessary, is becoming the only way to not be treated as a complicit mule waiting to be blamed.

[martinuzz]

Canada is shocked with Trump's annoucement it will get 25% tariff rates at the first day of his presidency.

[ZBridges]

How will this affect the US economy? I'm assuming probably not for the better.

[McTraveller]

No assumptions necessary. Tariffs are idiotic in the way Trump is proposing to use them.

The Schadenfreude is palpable.

I'd laugh even harder, if it didn't have such a detrimental impact on basically everyone. Basically there is no solace in the "I told you so" in this one...

[Jopax]

Doubly so because an "I told you so" requires the one at fault to actually own up to the fuck up. And we all know the shitters will do anything but that.

[pisskop]

Domestic Stocks will go up short term.  Like they have done this weekish, the DOW has seen influx

[Telgin]

Does the president have unilateral authority to apply tariffs or does it have to go through legislation?

[Duuvian]

At the bottom are previous articles in this series.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/drugs-fentanyl-china/

From that article, it's suggested that the US under Trump might declare a special military operation in Mexico against cartels. I think this could but not neccessarily will be used to destabilize the country and as a result of that, to try to place US conservate affiliated politicians into power.

About the laundering, here is a story of interest:

https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2024/10/td-bank-fined-record-3-billion-for.html

Also I just found the site above but that article was on reuters and CNN's website as well. However, if this site's main page is to be believed, there appears to be a gang war going on that I hadn't read much about in news articles. Here is the main page, it has articles on it:

https://www.borderlandbeat.com/

It does reflect what I've read in news articles that the government, after the bloodbath of the Fox/Bush and following era, is not actively engaging the cartels except when lines are crossed. GenZ, I know this sounds crazy, but you would not believe the headlines coming out of Mexico for a long time. Normally I might be like "wtf" but after seeing that, I am not so sure. In addition the US government has in the past supported one cartel over the other and done bad things that make the public angry. As a long-time Democrat, I remember being angry about Fast and Furious, for example. Also, stuff like this:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/operation-mayan-jaguar-ice-sting-operation-1235107846/

That's like the most legit source I found for that. I wasn't sure if it was a wacky conspiracy theory since the search mostly showed results for... websites I'd have to double check the veracity of.

So I guess the point would be that sometimes the call is coming from inside the house as well as from down the street, so to speak, and that's something I wish the US government were able to handle better and to keep an eye on what team are doing too.

[wobbly]

I doubt Trump will actually try and do anything about the Cartel's other than talk tough, but Trump is a loose cannon so he may prove me wrong. The Cartel's buy US guns, sell drugs to the US, and traffic a drug invented by US pharmaceutical companies, If the US genuinely wanted to fix the problem it'd be fixing its side of the border, instead of blaming Mexico (or China of all places), but that's never going to happen.

[Lord Shonus]

Cartels using US guns is a popular talking point, but one without much evidence. Nearly all of the loudly trumpeted American Guns siezed in Mexico stem from a joint US-Mexican sting operation that involved trafficking guns into the country with the intent of tracing them through intermediaries, thus allowing law enforcement to roll up the entire network. None of them made it to the cartels, and about half just vanished into the underground.

The international black market (fueled primarily from stuff skimmed from government arsenals across the world) and theft from the Mexican government is a far better source in every way - cheaper, able to handle more volume (the much-claimed straw purchasing system is illegal under US Federal law, and would have to be kept to an extremely low level in order to not result in the sellers getting life in prison), and produces much more capable weaponry (you can't actually get a true machine gun in the US as a civilian easily, and the handful you can get cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars and are extremely closely tracked).

The main way in which the US drives crime in Mexico is that the illicit drug trade is incredibly profitable.

[wobbly]

Cartels using US guns is a popular talking point, but one without much evidence.

US is the largest gun manufacturer in the world. If you are you saying there is no evidence give me some evidence they are using more Chinese or Russian manufactured guns.

[Lord Shonus]

A significant number are US manufactured, sold to the Mexican government and subsequently stolen.


The much-cited 90% figure comes from 2009, when the ATF stated that somewhere between 40% and 89% of submitted serial numbers (depending on the submission batch) originated with the US civilian market. The Mexican government submitted 69,808 in that year. In 2009, the Mexican government reported that they had 305,424 confiscated firearms in inventory. ATF officials later testified before Congress that they had a policy of not attempting to trace a gun unless they believed there was a high probability of a US civilian origin, specifically so that they could present a high number for domestic political purposes.

[wobbly]

Ok, so I suspect our disagreement is a misunderstanding about what I'm saying. Ultimately the guns are flowing from the US manufacturers to the Cartels, no matter what the specific mechanism is in between.

[Lord Shonus]

I thought you were referring to the smuggling trade, which does exist but is far, far smaller than most people present it as. It is a bigger issue in Canada because Canada doesn't have nearly as much criminal demand for guns, so the black market doesn't have much presence there.

[Strongpoint]

Canada is shocked with Trump's annoucement it will get 25% tariff rates at the first day of his presidency.

I wonder if Canada (and Mexico) will have balls to respond with simmilar tarrifs.