Summary

California officials warned that Trump’s order to release massive amounts of water nearly caused severe flooding for farmers.

Trump boasted about the move, claiming it would help fight wildfires, but experts said the water couldn’t reach affected areas, which are over 200 miles away.

The Army Corps of Engineers initially planned to release water at maximum capacity but scaled back after urgent pushback.

Experts warned the water could have been better used months later for irrigation.

  • shish_mish@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    I think he has no idea what he is doing, and he has dismantled all the guardrails. According to project 2025 the entire country needs to be razed and dismantled. So they can rebuild it as Musk/Trump’s techno fascist state.That’s why Musk wants access to social security numbers, health data and addresses. Musk now knows where you live, what colour your skin is, your gender, your income and debt, and all your weak points. The Nazis did this, it helps with identifying perceived enemies of the state, deportation of immigrants and jailing or execution of political rivals. I am so sorry for those of you in the states who didn’t vote for this monster.

    • azertyfun@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      Side-note but this is exactly the reason why my country never asked for my ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation (and AFAIK is not legally allowed to do so). We learned from WWII that this is too great of a liability to entrust to future, potentially hostile governments. The Nazis poured over every written registry of Jewish population census to make a handy murder list, maybe we shouldn’t facilitate their job next time?

      (Side-side note: because of what I just said it is very surprising that Germany keeps a registry of everyone’s religion for tax purposes, like maybe just find any other way to allocate subsidies?)

      (Side³ note: I’m going to guess unfortunately my government does have “legally trans” people in a database due to the logistics of changing legal gender)

    • thefluffiest@feddit.nl
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      16 hours ago

      I think he has no idea what he is doing, and he has dismantled all the guardrails.

      He knows exactly what he’s doing, or at least, someone else proposed this and explained it to him. What he is doing is: ruin Californias agriculture. This water would’ve been needed in summer, when the place runs dry.

      So come August, chances are, California agriculture is withering on the vine with no way to water it. At which point Orange Führer will blame the state government, just like he did with the wildfires. CA will suffer politically and economically, which is the real goal here.

      • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Which in turn we devastate all the red states because California is largest tax payers in the country. Those taxes help the red states. So by destroying California economy he fucks over all of America. Well they voted for it so let them suffer. Just wish rest of us didn’t have to suffer too.

        • Pollo_Jack@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          They’ll just up the debt and blame dems again or say we have to implement austerity for the good of the country.

        • thefluffiest@feddit.nl
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          16 hours ago

          Sure, but as long as he and his oligarch bros get away with blaming Dems, DEI, China or whatever, it’s just another piece of red meat for the gullible

        • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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          14 hours ago

          The American government is not funded by taxes. It spends new money, then it collects taxes to stave off inflation. Trump doesn’t need a single cent from California to shower red states with dollars if and when he wants to. If you think California failing would hurt red states in some way, it has to be a real, non-financial effect. E.g. of red states important Californian food which can’t be grown because of X or Y.

            • yeather@lemmy.ca
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              12 hours ago

              The treasury prints money, backed primarily by treasury bonds and the faith in the US government. Fiat currency is a government backed scam, just like bitcoin is a techbro backed scam.

              • shplane@lemmy.world
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                11 hours ago

                So you’re saying the government prints enough new money each year to cover its expenses and then collects taxes to stave off inflation? Do you have a source for this?

                • yeather@lemmy.ca
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                  7 hours ago

                  According to the US Government Accountability Office, “the federal government borrows money straight from the public. The government issues securities like bills, notes, and bonds through the U.S. Treasury… Individual and institutional investors can back the government by investing in these types of securities and many choose to do so.”

                  USD is backed by your faith in the US government to exist and not prints giant amounts of money. Taxes are another way of raising money, it helps to stave off inflation rising since the gov considers it better to have small amounts of inflation then deflation.

    • Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works
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      17 hours ago

      2025 is right in that it’s existence and the ability of the current president to implement it tell us that we have erred in the amount of power we place in the president(s). Constitutionally he has the full power to do what he is doing, or at least he mostly does, the problem is that the constitution was written centuries before FDR expanded the power of the executive in a major and possibly anti constitutional way (as many of his contemporaries suggested).

      The Founding Fathers left us a great system, impervious to tyranny and the sort of populism that Trump represents, and we ruined it.

      • Zexks@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        “Impervious” yet FFR was able to break it. Do you not hear yourself. Maybe people 300 fuckin years ago didn’t quite understand everything yet.

        • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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          10 hours ago

          He phrased it wrong but he’s sort of right. If Americans knew how to leverage their own policies system , as designed by the founding fathers, to their advantage in a focused and rational way, we wouldn’t be here. Could it have been better? Sure, but ultimately there is no democratic system that can protect voters from themselves. Democracies grsnt the people immense power, including the power to destroy their own democracy. That’s what Americans have chosen.

      • protist@mander.xyz
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        17 hours ago

        Constitutionally he absolutely does not have the power to do what he’s doing. Our system of checks and balances is failing because the Supreme Court and the Legislature have both all but fully ceded their authority to the Executive. Constitutionally, the job of the Executive is to implement the laws created by the Legislature and abide by rulings from the judiciary, not to do whatever they want with no basis in law or procedure.

      • Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net
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        16 hours ago

        The Founding Fathers left us a great system, impervious to tyranny and the sort of populism that Trump represents, and we ruined it.

        It’s not looking impervious in the slightest right now. We’re living in the consequences of their actions, and one of the consequences being tyranny.

        And it’s always been tyrannical, regardless of the year you pick. This country has always been enslaving, discriminating, disenfranchisng, warring, killing innocents, or otherwise robbing workers/indiginous peoples. And always done the majority of this all at the same time.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          They left us a system that was easily abused and hard to change. What’s not great about that?! /s

        • Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works
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          15 hours ago

          FDR kind of fucked it up, and from then on every subsequent president added to the enshitification of the office by expanding its powers. But yes it is inherently an oligarchy, but I do not think that is inherently a bad thing. The intentions were good.

          • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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            4 hours ago

            Were they? Initially only white land owners were allowed to vote. Seems like they created a system that was great for people just like them.

          • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            And all those mechanisms were designed into the Constitution. You can’t keep defending it as perfect if its very structure allowed this to happen.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        “The Ford Pinto is the greatest car ever made. Yes, it blows up and breaks down and is uncomfortable but it’s the best”

        That’s what you sound like.