The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Salem Tesla dealership struck by gunfire; police investigating with FBI

Police have not made any arrests in connection with the incident.

www.oregonlive.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Blair Hopkins (@hopkinsmsb.bsky.social)

Here’s a cybertruck getting booed at Orpheus to brighten your Lundi Gras:

bsky.app

Bluesky

bsky.app

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta predicts a decrease of America's GDP by 2.8% in Q1/2025.

Must be these tarriffs Trump is always talking about finally done right! I really wonder how the dumb MAGAists will fail to understand what is going on this time.

GDPNow

GDPNow forecasting model provides a "nowcast" of the official estimate prior to its release by estimating GDP growth using a methodology similar to the one used by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

www.atlantafed.org

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Guardian (@theguardian.com)

‘Like a horror movie’: Ice detaining German tourist in California indefinitely https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/ice-german-tourist-detained-immigration?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu

bsky.app

Jessica Brösche, a 26-year-old German tattoo artist, is being indefinitely detained by US Customs and Border Protection after she tried to enter San Diego on 25 January from Tijuana, Mexico, with her American best friend, Amelia Lofving. The two were traveling with tattoo equipment.


“I just want to get home, you know? I’m really desperate,” Brösche told ABC News 10News in a phone interview from a detention facility.

Lofving, a designer, had just moved to Los Angeles when she met up with Brösche in Tijuana with plans to cross the border together and travel to Los Angeles, but Brösche never made it to the city.

Brösche had her German passport, confirmation of her visa waiver to enter the country, and a copy of her return ticket back to Berlin, Lofving said. But she was still pulled aside for a secondary inspection by a US Customs and Border Protection agent.

Brösche said she then spent days detained in a cell at the San Diego border before being taken into custody by Ice. The agency brought her to the Otay Mesa detention center, where she’s now been for more than a month.

 

[Noodles]

View attachment 754

I love how Crypto scams are so common that there is a special term for it but these crypto dumbasses JUST KEEP COMING BACK FOR MORE.

 

[Noodles]

Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social)

I think DOGE is actually, in it's own way, going to prove the exact opposite thing it wants to. Elon and co. are saving almost no money and breaking everything. If anything, this little experiment is proving how good a steward the government is of tax dollars.

bsky.app

It doesn't matter. They claim they are finding "tons of corruption." And I see this claim parroted back constantly by MAGA idiots.

 

[Casey Pelous]

It doesn't matter. They claim they are finding "tons of corruption." And I see this claim parroted back constantly by MAGA idiots.

"eLEVemdee BIILLION GAJillion doLLarses ALREADY!!"

It is really a shame that our abjectly incompetent press keeps reporting on "dollars cut" and not on "X billion dollars of government services cut."

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

America might soon turn from a land of immigration to a country of emmigration: Fed up! 2 in 5 Americans say living in US no longer enjoyable according to a recent study done by Talker Research.

17% of American adults want to move internationally within the next 5 years. 5% of Americans are planning to take actual stept toward living abroad in the next 5 years, while 2% have already started the process. This is around 6.8 million Americans going to leave soon.

The preferred country to move is... *drumroll* Canada. 19% of potential expatriates want to move there.

Italy is the 2nd spot on the list with 11% of respondents, and the UK 3rd with 10%.

The survey examined the key reasons driving Americans to consider moving abroad. The findings show significant concerns about both American society and the challenges of building financial security.

Almost seven in ten respondents (69%) worried about the direction the United States is heading, while a majority (65%) described American society as having become “toxic.”

Money worries were a major factor. More than half of respondents (54%) said living in the U.S. is no longer affordable, while 55% believed the gap between rich and poor limits their opportunities. Nearly four in ten (39%) thought improving their finances and quality of life would be easier in another country.

Work-life balance was another concern, with 57% of respondents calling America’s approach inadequate. Even more troubling were views on essential systems, with strong majorities agreeing that American healthcare (65%) and education (66%) systems are broken.

These negative views have changed how many see life in America compared to other countries, with 40% saying living in the U.S. is no longer enjoyable or preferable to other nations.

Fed up: 2 in 5 Americans say living in U.S. no longer enjoyable

According to a recent survey, 17% of American adults want to move internationally within the next five years, potentially signaling a significant shift in the country's population.

studyfinds.org

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Finally coming to America: Freedom of Speech, the North Korean flavor!

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Finally coming to America: Freedom of Speech, the North Korean flavor!

Obviously this MFer thinks "illegal protests" refers to protests he doesn't like. ...since no protests are actually illegal in this country.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Correct, hence why "North Korean flavor!"

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

A major rant from Jonathan Pie about Zelensky's visit in Washington, D.C.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Obviously this MFer thinks "illegal protests" refers to protests he doesn't like. ...since no protests are actually illegal in this country.

And drop your twitter.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump tariffs could be good for some countries, including the UK

Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China have turned back the clock 70 years, erasing decades of globalisation.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Trump has officially banned words like "gender", "diversity", "trans", "race", ... so I would imagine that any protest supporting those things would be "Illegal" for anyone in government to attend, and if there's some people there illegally than the entire protest would be 'illegal'. And the supreme court would just nod and say "Yup, that was an official act of a president. Nothing to see here."

 

[Isabeau]

Trump tariffs could be good for some countries, including the UK

Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China have turned back the clock 70 years, erasing decades of globalisation.

www.bbc.co.uk

Threats of annexation of Canada is good business.

Countries like the UK could also benefit from a furthering of such trade diversion, more access to cheaper goods - something that could keep our own inflation down.

If the UK continues to escape the wrath of President Trump, we could actually benefit from closer trading links with his country and indeed from greater foreign investment, if we looked to be a more certain environment than some of our competitors. But of course, our fate remains unclear.

 

[Myradyl Muse]

Threats of annexation of Canada is good business.

It smacks of sharks feeding on minnows. Dreamer that I am, I would have hoped that world democracies would stand together against aggressors, not only against physical wars but also financial strongarm wars like this against Canada. Call me naive. I too am incensed by this move. We are under dire threat by an obnoxious greedy dictator wannabe, who now aligns with the world's autocrats, to annex our sovereignty. Not having it.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Hearing from a friend rn about a US Navy vet mutual with stage 4 cancer basically having treatment cut off.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Trump Suddenly Reverses Order on Mass Firing of Federal Employees

The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal workforce, issued a memo Tuesday to all federal agency heads saying that they don’t have to comply with previous instructions to fire employees who have held their jobs for one year or less. The memo states that instead, federal offices now have until September 13 to determine how to reduce staff.

The surprise shift comes only a few days after a federal judge ruled that OPM’s instructions to federal agencies to fire probationary employees was illegal, stating on Friday that “[t]he Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees within another agency.”

What this means to the many federal workers who have already been axed is unclear, although several federal agencies have scrambled to rehire workers working in critical areas since last week’s court ruling. These employees include bird flu experts and people working with nuclear weapons.

Federal workers have been put through the wringer ever since Trump was sworn in, being subject to ultimatums from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which now plans to track them. Even with this latest reversal, many of them may still get axed in “large-scale” reductions. But now, at least some of them will get to keep their jobs.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Trump Suddenly Reverses Order on Mass Firing of Federal Employees

Stupid, misleading headline.

It's NOT a reversal, it's just a change of tactics. Instead of the OPM firing employees, which was patently illegal and without any authority, they will put that responsibility back on the individual departments and agencies.