The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Katheryne Helendale]

I'm waiting to see how much voter suppression they cook up for 2026 before I totally give up.... but it's not looking good.

I'm not overly optimistic that there will be any actual elections in 2026. At least, nothing we'd recognize as democracy in action. If there are, there will be so much suppression that it'll be nothing more than a sham. Kinda like Russia.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I'm not overly optimistic that there will be any actual elections in 2026. At least, nothing we'd recognize as democracy in action. If there are, there will be so much suppression that it'll be nothing more than a sham. Kinda like Russia.

I am certain there will be elections.... it would be too shocking to even too many Republicans to not have them. I'm sure there will also be lots of plausible deniability about what is really going on. I'm not sure what it will look like.... I'm certain we'll at least have some new voter ID's and some irregularities when counting.

...and of course... the more stringent the "anti fraud" and the more expensive the ID's the more of an effect it will have.... but I'm sure they'll still give normal Republicans a lot of room to be in denial of the true motive.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Not the onion: annexation expert Vladimir Putin warns that Trump's administration is dead serious about getting control over Greenland.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Actions of our current government brings this to mind. Specifically what they have done to Rumeysa Ozturk!
In fact, I cannot stop thinking about this quote.



Watch the video. Men in masks with ICE snatch her right off the street.

I fear it won't be long before they start snatching US citizens off the streets and disappearing them. Probably they'll start with naturalised citizens and the so-called birthright citizens whose parents were not US citizens, but I doubt anyone will be safe in a few years' time.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Difficult to imagine seeing this in a British newspaper even a few years ago

Link to Guardian article

Our Customs and Immigration have similar powers, and certainly do (ab)use them from time to time. But it always seems to be targeted -- whether or not they should be able to access the material on people's phones or laptops, be they Tommy Robinson or Muhammad Rabbani, you can see why they would be interested (and, of course, people do have recourse to the courts when this happens).

 

[Sid]

Difficult to imagine seeing this in a British newspaper even a few years ago

Link to Guardian article

Our Customs and Immigration have similar powers, and certainly do (ab)use them from time to time. But it always seems to be targeted -- whether or not they should be able to access the material on people's phones or laptops, be they Tommy Robinson or Muhammad Rabbani, you can see why they would be interested (and, of course, people do have recourse to the courts when this happens).

I would buy a 40 euro (of less) second phone and second number, with no data and a few basic apps for the occasion.
Only make a few phone calls before I would go to the US.
Not that I feel the need to be there in the near future.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I would buy a 40 euro (of less) second phone and second number, with no data and a few basic apps for the occasion.
Only make a few phone calls before I would go to the US.
Not that I feel the need to be there in the near future.

From the advice

However, like you, I feel no need to be there in the the near future. I've already turned down one invitation to attend a conference there, expenses paid, partly because I'm not sure my health is up to a transatlantic flight with a conference immediately afterwards and I'd rather attend remotely, via Zoom, and partly because I have no desire to visit the US under its current administration.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote Link

 

[Noodles]

I would buy a 40 euro (of less) second phone and second number, with no data and a few basic apps for the occasion.
Only make a few phone calls before I would go to the US.
Not that I feel the need to be there in the near future.

Save 478 photos of Opossums on it.

So they are just... Really confused.

If they ask about it, ask why they care about your "porn stash".

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Save 478 photos of Opossums on it.
If they ask about it, ask why they care about your "porn stash".

When did you see my phone?

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Not surprisingly American social security computer systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, one of the grand daddies of programming languages and not dying any time soon.

DOGE is assembling a team right now to rewrite these systems in a more modern programming language - within months. Normally it would take years.

What could possibly go wrong... American retirees are soon going to find out the hard way.

DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse

Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.

www.wired.com

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Evernote Link

I don't have a link handy, but I saw a story about this on ABC News earlier. Apparently, the Marmalade Menace threatened car company CEOs that, if they raise prices for the end consumers in the US, they won't like what will happen. This shit is really getting nuts!

 

[Dancien]

I feel like the standard response to the Orange Bozo In Chief should just be "Or what?"

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I don't have a link handy, but I saw a story about this on ABC News earlier. Apparently, the Marmalade Menace threatened car company CEOs that, if they raise prices for the end consumers in the US, they won't like what will happen. This shit is really getting nuts!

Trump warns U.S. carmakers not to take advantage of tariffs by hiking prices on consumers | Fortune

The Trump administration believes auto execs could be tempted to use the tariffs as cover to push through their own hefty price hikes without risking the competitiveness of their U.S. built vehicles.

fortune.com

 

[Noodles]

Not surprisingly American social security computer systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, one of the grand daddies of programming languages and not dying any time soon.

DOGE is assembling a team right now to rewrite these systems in a more modern programming language - within months. Normally it would take years.

What could possibly go wrong... American retirees are soon going to find out the hard way.

DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse

Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.

www.wired.com

Musk's Monkeys don't know enough about the system to hack it and steal data like he wants but they think they are smart enough to just rebuild it from scratch.

 

[Dancien]

At this point, I just want my money back.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

They can just get AI to do the coding.

 

[Free]

Well that's novel: Don't like how the courts rule? Get rid of the courts.

Republicans Want To Eliminate Federal Courts Because They're Checking And Balancing Donald Trump - Above the Law

The GOP's takeover of all aspects of American government reaches a new low.

abovethelaw.com

For a party that’s been absolutely obsessed with ruminating about every farting thing the founding fathers ever thought, Republicans in 2025 have spent an awful lot of time trying to destroy the system of government those same founding fathers created. Because foundational to the American system of government is the notion of three co-equal branches of government, and an intricate system of checks and balances to prevent any branch from making a power-play.

But when federal judges — ones appointed by Democrats and Republicans alike — have presented speed bumps to Donald Trump‘s authoritarian takeover, the GOP responded with name-calling and articles of impeachment. The latest option Republicans are considering in response to the impediment of federal judges is much more extreme.

Yesterday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson proposed eliminating federal courts because they’ve issued decisions that are in opposition to President Trump.

“We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things,” Johnson said. “But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.”

 

[Free]

Meanwhile, our Commander in Golf Shorts.

Trump Accidentally Reveals Just How Clueless He Is on Basic Intel

Looks like the war plans group chat isn’t the only intelligence being kept from Donald Trump.

newrepublic.com

The American public knew before Donald Trump that top administration officials had conducted airstrikes on Yemen via a Signal chat, and now it appears that the president has been left in the dark on other intelligence matters too.

At an Oval Office news briefing Wednesday evening, Trump casually admitted that he was not aware that several U.S. army members had gone missing during a training exercise in Lithuania.

“Have you been briefed about the soldiers in Lithuania who are missing?” a reporter asked.

“No, I haven’t,” Trump said.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Well that's novel: Don't like how the courts rule? Get rid of the courts.

Republicans Want To Eliminate Federal Courts Because They're Checking And Balancing Donald Trump - Above the Law

The GOP's takeover of all aspects of American government reaches a new low.

abovethelaw.com

That of course does not get rid of the judges, who have lifetime appointments. Combining circuits just shuffles existing judges.