The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Free]

Good to know the best people were hired by Trump.

Trump official tasked with defending DOGE cuts posted fashion influencer videos from her office

As the Office of Personnel Management oversaw the layoffs of thousands of federal workers and pressed others to justify their positions, the agency’s chief spokesperson repeatedly used her office for a side hustle: aspiring Instagram fashion influencer.

In at least a dozen videos filmed in her OPM office, political appointee McLaurine Pinover modeled her outfit choices for the day, while directing followers from her Instagram account to a website that could earn her commissions on clothing sales.

On the same day OPM sent a government-wide memo pressing federal officials to identify barriers they faced in their work to “swiftly terminate poor performing employees,” Pinover posted a video blowing a kiss to the camera with the caption “work look” and the hashtag #dcinfluencer. Her Instagram account linked to a site where viewers could buy the $475 purple skirt she wore in the video.

She's apparently earning commissions on those sales.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I'm not sure if there's a paywall or not. There wasn't for me.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/trump-tariffs-house-gop-vote.html

One more step closer to an autocracy.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News (@froomkin.bsky.social)

Great. Columbia J-school students from abroad are being told to obey in advance by their dean. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/nyregion/columbia-university-trump-protests.html?smid=bs-share

bsky.app

I think the criticism that they're being told to obey in advance is misguided. Unfortunately, if they displease the US government, they risk being hauled off to a detention facility hundreds of miles away and being stuck there, even if they then want to leave the country rather than fight the attempt to deport them. That's an appalling state of affairs, but it's how it is, and their college can't protect them from this grim reality.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News (@froomkin.bsky.social)

Great. Columbia J-school students from abroad are being told to obey in advance by their dean. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/nyregion/columbia-university-trump-protests.html?smid=bs-share

bsky.app

I think the criticism that they're being told to obey in advance is misguided. Unfortunately, if they displease the US government, they risk being hauled off to a detention facility hundreds of miles away and being stuck there, even if they then want to leave the country rather than fight the attempt to deport them. That's an appalling state of affairs, but it's how it is, and their college can't protect them from this grim reality.

The stakes are way too high for these students to do anything but be very cautious. And given that the Trump administration has already detained a man with a green card, I'd say we're beyond the "in advance" stage already.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

GOP assholery: a change on the rules of House of Congress which they passed. It says:

"Provides that each day for the remainder of the first session of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1, 2."

In other words they declared the rest of the year as one day. Why? Because the national emergency law has a fast-track process for Congress to consider a resolution ending a presidential emergency, requiring committee considerting within 15 calender days after one is introduced and a floor vote within 3 days after that.

So since by this change the rest of 2025 counts as just one day that fast-track process has been disabled. For now.

https://rules.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/rules.house.gov/files/documents/rule_hj-res-25_hr1156_hr1968.pdf

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump official tasked with defending DOGE cuts posted fashion influencer videos from her office

As the Office of Personnel Management oversaw the layoffs of thousands of federal workers and pressed others to justify their positions, the agency’s chief spokesperson repeatedly used her office for a side hustle: aspiring Instagram fashion influencer.

In at least a dozen videos filmed in her OPM office, political appointee McLaurine Pinover modeled her outfit choices for the day, while directing followers from her Instagram account to a website that could earn her commissions on clothing sales.

 

[Dancien]

It's giving "McCall's 2000 Patterns"

 

[Innula Zenovka]

NASA, Yale, and Stanford Scientists Consider 'Scientific Exile,' French University Says

Last week, Aix Marseille University, France’s largest university, invited American scientists who believe their work is at risk of being censored by Donald Trump administration’s anti-science policies to continue their research in France. Today, the university announced that it is already seeing great interest from scientists at NASA, Yale, Stanford, and other American schools and government agencies, and that it wants to expand the program to other schools and European countries to absorb all the researchers who want to leave the United States.

“We are witnessing a new brain drain,” Éric Berton, Aix Marseille University’s president, said in a press release. “We will do everything in our power to help as many scientists as possible continue their research. However, we cannot meet all demands on our own. The Ministry of Education and Research is fully supporting and assisting us in this effort, which is intended to expand at both national and European levels.”

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

NASA, Yale, and Stanford Scientists Consider 'Scientific Exile,' French University Says

I'm seriously worried about brain drain from our country. We've long benefited from the fact that the best and brightest in many countries wanted to come here for more opportunity. That won't always be the case.

 

[Beebo Brink]

NASA, Yale, and Stanford Scientists Consider 'Scientific Exile,' French University Says

Excellent news for their ability to continue their careers and produce good science.

I was thinking about this just the other day, from a slightly different perspective, while watching a PBS series about how DNA research is transforming paleontology. All the genetic breakthroughs that were highlighted were centered in Europe (with the majority of scientists incredibly fluent in English). Scientific fields will continue to flourish there and hopefully there's room to absorb the top tier of American scientists, too.

As for the U.S., it would take decades to build back what Trump has torn down in a matter of weeks. I'm not sure that this country, in its present incarnation, has any interest in restoring those capabilities, even after Trump is gone. The money is flowing elsewhere, either into the pockets of the oligarchs or into damage control as more and more domestic climate disasters whittle away our infrastructure.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

As for the U.S., it would take decades to build back what Trump has torn down in a matter of weeks. I'm not sure that this country, in its present incarnation, has any interest in restoring those capabilities, even after Trump is gone. The money is flowing elsewhere, either into the pockets of the oligarchs or into damage control as more and more domestic climate disasters whittle away our infrastructure.

I agree. The USA is clearly just a bad place now for pure science research. We still have tremendous funding for specific fields that are obviously exploitable to corporations. However, too many anti intellectuals wrongly think there is a huge barrier between what is "useful" and what is just bullshit. It's understandable why corporations don't like to invest in something that wont' earn a return, but that's why public funding of science is so important.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Anti-intellectualism is reaching a fever peak in the U.S. Not entirely surprising, since it's been a hallmark of this country since its founding.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Anti-intellectualism is reaching a fever peak in the U.S. Not entirely surprising, since it's been a hallmark of this country since its founding.

TRUE! But when Russia launched Sputnik it scared some powerful people into funding science for a while.... that has worn off now.

 

[Casey Pelous]

TRUE! But when Russia launched Sputnik it scared some powerful people into funding science for a while.... that has worn off now.

As I look back on it, I think it was pretty limited science: good science = space program science.

Somehow, Sputnik also launched a concerted nationwide physical fitness program; The President's Council on Physical Fitness. It seems 18-year-old American kids were so woefully out of shape that they couldn't be turned into cannon fodder heroically serve their country in the armed forces.

Our school didn't have a track but we all had to run "from here to the fence and back" which was about 1/4 mile. I was very close to perishing by the time I got about 50 yards from the start. I made it to the fence and back, but I sure as heck didn't run. I got all fired up about fitness and took to running and later cycling. It wasn't long before I could run to the fence and back pretty easily, so I guess at least one kid got healthier from the program. Older folks went on 50-mile hikes. You were supposed to do 50 miles in 20 hours, or something similar.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Trump is expected to invoke the Alien Enemies Act as part of the efforts to carry out mass deportations, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Trump to invoke wartime Alien Enemies Act to carry out mass deportations: Sources

Trump is expected to invoke the Alien Enemies Act as part of the efforts to carry out mass deportations, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

abc30.com

via ABC30 App

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social)

…this is insane???? [contains quote post or other embedded content]

bsky.app

 

[Free]

It's self evident. To us. No need to prove anything. GUILTY AS WE CHARGE.

 

[Free]

Hoorah...

Social Security backtracks on DOGE phone service cuts after media report

SSA officials were weighing eliminating telephone support for claims processing and direct-deposit account transactions.

www.newsweek.com

The Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering making significant reductions to its phone services amid pressure from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to crack down on purported fraud, waste and abuse, The Washington Post reported, citing two sources familiar with internal discussions and records the paper obtained.

The agency walked back its plans hours later, after the Post's report, and decided to move ahead with a narrower revision barring direct-deposit changes via phone.

They wanted to force elderly folk, who may not be able to drive or travel without difficulties, who may not be internet savvy, to file claims online or in person.

GENIUS! A brilliant idea that is, shit brains. Now they've narrowed the focus to stopping direct-deposit changes via phone. Following identical fraud protections of most banks. Real money-saving dumbasses, we got here.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social)

…this is insane???? [contains quote post or other embedded content]

bsky.app

Idiots like Edgar can never explain their reasoning. They just have feelings about the truth.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Idiots like Edgar can never explain their reasoning. They just have feelings about the truth.

To quote the piece on "Knowingness" that I posted about earlier today

Knowingness is a term coined by another Jonathan, the philosopher Jonathan Lear. It’s defined by a relationship to knowledge in which we always believe that we already know the answer—even before the question is asked. It’s a lack of intellectual curiosity, in which the purpose of knowledge is to reaffirm prior beliefs rather than to be a journey of discovery and awe. As Malesic puts it:

In 21st-century culture, knowingness is rampant. You see it in the conspiracy theorist who dismisses contrary evidence as a ‘false flag’ and in the podcaster for whom ‘late capitalism’ explains all social woes. It’s the ideologue who knows the media has a liberal bias – or, alternatively, a corporate one. It’s the above-it-all political centrist, confident that the truth is necessarily found between the extremes of ‘both sides’. It’s the former US president Donald Trump, who claimed, over and over, that ‘everybody knows’ things that were, in fact, unknown, unproven or untrue.