The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Innula Zenovka]

Starmer told to accept Trump ‘free speech’ agenda to win trade deal

‘Good chance’ of agreement, says JD Vance – but a source close to the administration says his concerns over Britain’s hate speech laws ‘are still a red line’

www.independent.co.uk

By free speech they mean open hate speech against gay people. ...that's enough news for one day for me.

The article, however, goes on to say

Labour has made it clear it is not prepared to go that far. A Downing Street source said the subject “is not a feature of the talks”.

I think I've read similar assurances from unnamed UK government figures close to the talks that, along with relaxing food standards, it's off the table.

Since Trump, Vance and Musk are all three pretty much loathed here by the general public, whatever their political sympathies, I can't see Starmer being willing to change the Online Safety Act to placate them, even for the sake of a trade deal, particularly since Trump has just demonstrated to Mexico and Canada how little a trade deal with the US is worth.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

The article, however, goes on to say
I think I've read similar assurances from unnamed UK government figures close to the talks that, along with relaxing food standards, it's off the table.

Since Trump, Vance and Musk are all three pretty much loathed here by the general public, whatever their political sympathies, I can't see Starmer being willing to change the Online Safety Act to placate them, even for the sake of a trade deal, particularly since Trump has just demonstrated to Mexico and Canada how little a trade deal with the US is worth.

Yeah... I think the best hope some countries will resist this demand is because they don't want to appear weak to the US, even if they don't like gay people themselves.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Yeah... I think the best hope some countries will resist this demand is because they don't want to appear weak to the US, even if they don't like gay people themselves.

Opinion polls regularly report very large majorities in favour of same sex marriage and gay rights in general in the UK, regardless of political affiliation. It's not an issue here, any more than are abortion or gun control.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Opinion polls regularly report very large majorities in favour of same sex marriage and gay rights in general in the UK, regardless of political affiliation. It's not an issue here, any more than are abortion or gun control.

I know that, but I wasn't just talking about the UK in my post....

 

[Free]

Well well well.

Entire Pentagon defense tech unit to leave by May

The entire staff of the Defense Digital Service (DDS), the Pentagon’s decade-old technology development office, is leaving by the start of May, with nearly all individuals resigning, a current member of the office confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.

The mass exodus, first reported by Politico, means the service will effectively shutter in less than a month.

Of the 14 members of the office, a dozen, including Director Jennifer Hay, have requested the Trump administration’s deferred resignation option and plan to leave by May 1. Two other staffers are also leaving in that time frame.

“Although DDS was excited to support DoD’s efforts to improve efficiencies and champion software modernization initiatives, the Administration was not leveraging DDS and hiring freezes, rescinding remote work, and travel restrictions were making us non-mission capable,” the current office member told The Hill. “As a result, most of the team elected to resign.”

 

[Free]

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Time for another crackpot random tin-hat theory:

Governor Trump and Elon are so thoroughly bought and paid for by Putin that they're basically his lackies. Elon has helped handed Russia critical federal&private data, Trump is rolling out Putin's anti-LGBTQ policies. El Salvador is the western hemisphere's Syberia.

Putin doesn't need to destroy us, he -owns- us. And he's cementing his hold on power here by putting "MAGA" loyalists into all branches of government at every level. All the bald faced lies, flagrant disrespect for the constitution, shit-headed policies and platform issues... they're all mercilessly pushed by people who have accepted that the balance of power has shifted so far that they either stay on message no matter how stupid that message is... or they'll be buried under this new world order.

They're wrecking our economy with Trumps RectalVisionary tariffs and idiot executive orders because it's going to destabilize the EU, making it easier for Putin to dig his fingers into their government as well.

We're not a sovereign nation anymore, we're a vassal state of Russia, and to prevent Putin from launching our own nukes against us (because he probably can by now), our republican party will do literally anything to keep Putin happy. Trump is just a side-show distraction.

 

[Free]

Trump administration sues Maine over participation of transgender athletes in girls sports

The Trump administration is suing Maine’s education department for not complying with its push to ban transgender athletes in girls and women's sports.

apnews.com

The Trump administration on Wednesday sued Maine for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.

The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that has led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told President Donald Trump: “We’ll see you in court.”

I guess States Rights is not real a concern any more, wouldn't you say?

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Donald Trump’s gay niece explains how his childhood led to the “profoundly stupid” tariff debacle

Donald Trump’s lesbian niece, clinical psychologist Mary Trump, has accused her uncle of being a “f**king loser” as a result of last week’s tariff debacle, which she said might have been the market manipulation and a “disastrous, ignorant, and quite frankly idiotic” trade war that has pushed the country to the brink of economic collapse. She also explained why her uncle is so irresponsible with financial issues, something that she said was rooted in his childhood.

The president recently announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for every country except China after the many he implemented sent the global markets into chaos. His across-the-board 10% tariff is still in place.

The man is a menace because he is at the end of the day so profoundly stupid, weak, and degraded,” Mary Trump wrote her blog. “He knows it, too, in the terrifying depths of his unconscious, because, in order to save face and trick people into thinking he’s a tough guy, he worsened an already very bad situation by allowing the 125% tariff against Chinese goods to stand. This is yet more ostensibly inexplicable economic suicide.”

But she doesn’t think her uncle’s abrupt flip-flop was an accident. “I think I have enough of a grasp of basic economic principles to recognize market manipulation when I see it,” she said. “From where I’m standing, Donald Trump just manipulated the markets–and he did so by caving, by giving in, by being the abject loser he has always tried to pretend he is not.”

 

[Khamon]

since Trump has just demonstrated to Mexico and Canada how little a trade deal with the US is worth.

This and Totally This and

The only trust you can place in Donald Trump is that you cannot trust anything he says, commits to, or even signs. His word, his signature, his loyalty, are a galactic void. Every person on the planet knows this now beyond a shadow of a doubt. Some still choose to not understand the implications and results of it. But those responsible for their country's foreign relations cannot afford to ignore it.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

We're not a sovereign nation anymore, we're a vassal state of Russia, and to prevent Putin from launching our own nukes against us (because he probably can by now), our republican party will do literally anything to keep Putin happy. Trump is just a side-show distraction.

Why would Putin need to launch nukes against America when he's got his good boy Trump? Aside nothing ignites American patriotism more than an outside threat and enemy, even with Trump telling all Americans how nice Putin is.

 

[Khamon]

GOP Senator Says 'We Are All Afraid' Of Retaliation By Donald Trump

"I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right," the Alaska Republican senator said this week.

www.huffpost.com

This is true for most of the Democrat Representatives and Senators as well. We not only need a blue wave next year to replace the Pugs in both houses. We need to replace several of the Democrats who are only equipped to govern through compromise and ill prepared to fight Fascism.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Why would Putin need to launch nukes against America when he's got his good boy Trump? Aside nothing ignites American patriotism more than an outside threat and enemy, even with Trump telling all Americans how nice Putin is.

I suspect because Trump is a pathetic negotiator and without some externally terrifying threat backing him up he wouldn't have gotten a fraction of the unfailingly loyal ass-leeches clamped onto his soiled backside.

Look at Lindsey Graham or Marco Rubio over the last few years. They seemed happy, then they went through this sweaty terrified looking phase and now they just seem resigned to their fate.

 

[Free]

‘We are all afraid’: Murkowski says fear of retaliation from Trump administration is ‘real’

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said a fear of retaliation under President Donald Trump’s administration is rising to levels she’s not seen before, acknowledging this week that it is so pervasive that even the outspoken senator is “oftentimes very anxious” to speak up out of fear of recrimination.

The Alaska senator, who has been among Trump’s most prominent critics in the Republican Party, made the startling admission at a conference of nonprofit and tribal leaders in Anchorage on Monday. Addressing a question about how to respond to people who are afraid in the current political climate, Murkowski responded: “We are all afraid.”

“It’s quite a statement,” she continued after a long pause, in remarks first reported by the Anchorage Daily News. “We’re in a time and place where — I don’t know, I certainly have not — I have not been here before. And I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right. But that’s what you’ve asked me to do and so I’m going to use my voice to the best of my ability.”

Retaliation is real? You bet your ass it is.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Trump is continuing his Gleichschaltung of important American institutions.

At the moment he's installing Blockwarts, so inofficial overseers that universities and alike do align with the Federal administration's biddings. If a university refuses the federal funding will be frozen.

Columbia University is battling with Trump, as is Harvard University. Trump has frozen $2bn in funding, and threatens them to jettison the tax-exempt status.

Trump threatens Harvard's tax-exempt status after freezing $2bn funding

Universities, as well as many charities and religious groups, are exempted from paying federal income taxes.

www.bbc.com

Of course Harvard being Harvard, and having one of the most respected law schools wants to go before court. But they also do recognize the problem at hand, namely that Trump gives a damn about SCOTUS rulings and nobody is willing to enforce them.

Here's what his propaganda speaker has to say about it.

And this is what one of Harvard's law professors has to say about it. Could some will be moving over to Oxford and Cambridge soon, who knows.

 

[Free]

As Garber Stands Against Trump, Money From Harvard Donors Pours In | News | The Harvard Crimson

After Harvard publicly rejected the Trump administration’s demands, a wave of support — and money — has come rushing in.

www.thecrimson.com

After Harvard publicly rejected the Trump administration’s demands, a wave of support — and money — has come rushing in.

In the 24 hours after Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced that he would not comply with the White House, the University received more than 3,800 online donations totaling more than $1 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The surge — more than 40 times Harvard’s average daily intake in April — was a striking show of support for Garber’s forceful stance, drawing praise from alumni, faculty, and even some non-Harvard affiliates.

 

[Free]

This is really how bad Trump 2.0 is.

 

[Free]

Jesus Fucking Christ. This is the OFFICIAL White House twitter account. They won't be happy until they've pwned every person in the world.

https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1913241658579440126

 

[Free]

A moment of candor. He even embarrasses other fascists.

Watch: Italian reporter asks Donald Trump if he called Europeans 'parasites'; Giorgia Meloni reacts - The Times of India

US News: During a White House press conference, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended US President Donald Trump against a journalist's question about

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Homeland Security wrote a letter to natural born citizen Nicole Micheroni, telling her to leave within 7 days. Plot twist: she's an immigration attorney.