The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Noodles]

Uh oh....

Financial Times: US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe (Evernote Link because paywall)

Oh boy, now we get to be the Russian Troll Farms ruining the world.

 

[Tigger]

We need to ban foreign payments for political purposes. Or just criminalise working with foreign entities to influence domestic politics

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

We need to ban foreign payments for political purposes. Or just criminalise working with foreign entities to influence domestic politics

I'd take it a step further. If you aren't able to vote in that election, you shouldn't be able to spend money on that election. For example, I'm in Missouri, I shouldn't even have the option to donate to a senator running for office in Mississippi or whatever.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

We need to ban foreign payments for political purposes. Or just criminalise working with foreign entities to influence domestic politics

Direct foreign funding is already banned. It's indirect funding that's the problem.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/foreign-political-donations-in-the-uk/

Following the sentencing of Nathan Gill, sometime leader of Reform in Wales, for accepting bribes from Russia when he was an MEP, the government announced back in December that they've commissioned an urgent review of the rules, to be completed by the end of March

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-12-16/hcws1186

This article explores some of the issues the review will likely need to consider.

Protecting democracy

The UK government has proposed legislation to close loopholes in political finance rules and prevent the influx of dirty money and undue foreign influence.

www.ibanet.org

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

 

[Free]

From the conservative, Republican-leaning Rasmussen Reports.

Nelson-Muntz-haw-haw.jpeg

 

[Free]

Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social)

Rep Mark Alford (R-MO) says House Rs are "investigating" Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show & talking with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Alford says he didn't watch the whole thing & also doesn't know Spanish but suspects it might have been "much worse than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction"

bsky.app

I guess there's nothing else going on in Congress right now to busy themselves with.

(Just can't allow Spanish-speaking people to speak Spanish on TV! Surely he used a bad word we couldn't understand, and it's not like we can just translate it or anything!)

 

[Free]

Evan Blass of @evleaks got a look at the Trump Phone.

The Trump Phone Looks as Bad as It Sounds

The first real glimpse of the Trump phone confirms what we already suspected.

gizmodo.com

 

[Noodles]

Loading…

xcancel.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Not The Onion

RFK Jr's Nutrition Chatbot Recommends Best Foods to Insert Into Your Rectum

 

[Free]

Bananas only if you keep the skin on.

 

[Free]

Annual governors' gathering with White House unraveling after Trump excludes Democrats

The National Governors Association annual conference is unraveling after President Donald Trump did not invite some Democrats to events.

apnews.com

An annual meeting of the nation’s governors that has long served as a rare bipartisan gathering is unraveling after President Donald Trump excluded Democratic governors from White House events.

The National Governors Association said it will no longer hold a formal meeting with Trump when governors are scheduled to convene in Washington later this month, after the White House planned to invite only Republican governors. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors also announced they would boycott a traditional dinner at the White House.

“If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year,” the Democrats wrote. “Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life better for people in our states.”

 

[Free]

The man exists in the 19th century. His obsession with "reviving" coal...

Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal to revive industry, Bloomberg News says

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to direct the Pentagon to use government funding and Pentagon contracts to sustain U.S. coal-fired power plants, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a White House official.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report. The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment outside of regular business hours, while the Pentagon deferred to the White House for comment.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Yeah.... there is a long, funny history of crooked congress people using the military to buy shit from their districts. The GOP in particular seems to prefer doing their pork though the military since that's a sacred cow to them they are never allowed to cut.

There's also a lot of out of work coal miners refusing to find other professions. I'm sure Trump is trying to appease them.

 

[Casey Pelous]

The man exists in the 19th century. His obsession with "reviving" coal...

Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal to revive industry, Bloomberg News says

There are a lot of people who are very valuable political symbols in coal country. These people, apparently, enjoy a Constitutionally guaranteed right to work (or not work) in the coal industry, no matter what. They are not to be inconvenienced by learning a new trade or moving to a more prosperous place as the rest of us might be when there's a recession or the dotcom bubble bursts, or car manufacturing moves to Canada. The Evil Gummint has tried repeatedly to offer them a chance force them to learn something supposedly "useful" but these brave patriots have refused this socialism so they can continue to not work at jobs that no longer exist in a dying industry.

These courageous Coal Miner martyrs are even more holy than Farmers who definitely are not Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Bayer, etc.

Now ..... WTF is the Pentagon supposed to do with coal?

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

There are a lot of people who are very valuable political symbols in coal country. These people, apparently, enjoy a Constitutionally guaranteed right to work (or not work) in the coal industry, no matter what. They are not to be inconvenienced by learning a new trade or moving to a more prosperous place as the rest of us might be when there's a recession or the dotcom bubble bursts, or car manufacturing moves to Canada. The Evil Gummint has tried repeatedly to offer them a chance force them to learn something supposedly "useful" but these brave patriots have refused this socialism so they can continue to not work at jobs that no longer exist in a dying industry.

These courageous Coal Miner martyrs are even more holy than Farmers who definitely are not Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Bayer, etc.

Now ..... WTF is the Pentagon supposed to do with coal?

You said what I was saying but way more bluntly, haha. And yes... there are a lot of small towns that just don't still have any good reason to exist. There is no reason any business would want to go there. We do these people a disservice by pretending we'll ever revitalize them. Mainstream politicians are too scared to tell them the truth so we just keep subsidizing them.

 

[Free]

Now ..... WTF is the Pentagon supposed to do with coal?

Steampunk space lasers?

 

[Free]

This is going to get tiring, but got to keep on keeping on.

White House promptly fires new interim U.S. attorney in New York

The White House on Wednesday evening fired a new interim U.S. attorney in New York’s Northern District less than five hours after a panel of federal judges had appointed Donald T. Kinsella to the position.

The swift termination of Kinsella, a former longtime federal prosecutor, underscored the ongoing tensions in federal districts where the administration of President Donald J. Trump has clashed with judges who have declined to appoint his interim appointments of U.S. attorneys who have not been confirmed by the Senate.

Under federal statutes, Kinsella would have served as interim U.S. attorney until the vacancy was filled by Trump. It’s unclear if the White House’s prompt firing of Kinsella will face any legal challenge.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Financial Times: Donald Trump plans to roll back tariffs on metal and aluminium goods (Evernote link because FT paywall)

TACO.

 

[Free]

This is just so precious, and astounding.

Kristi Noem ‘fired pilot for forgetting her blanket’

The homeland security secretary was said to have had her aide Corey Lewandowski sack the pilot only to rehire them when they realised they needed to fly home

www.thetimes.com

Kristi Noem’s right-hand man was said to have fired a US Coast Guard pilot after her blanket was left behind on a plane, only to reinstate them when nobody was available to fly them home, according to a report.

The homeland security secretary and her top adviser Corey Lewandowski switched planes after a maintenance issue and, on discovering that her blanket had not been transferred to the second plane, the pilot was fired and told to take a commercial flight home, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The pilot was rehired when it became clear that nobody else could fly the pair home.

So Kristi Noem and (boyfriend Corey Lewandowski) fired a pilot for losing track of her binkie...err, I mean her blanket - which isn't a typical pilot's job I dare say, then realized they actually needed the PILOT to FLY THEM HOME. If they were characters in a work of fiction, imagine how awful the reviews for it would be.