The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Here's a whistleblower story about the shady work DOGE does: the whistleblower Daniel Barulis worked for the National Labor Relations Bord and was an eye witness how DOGE arrived. His report has been shared with Congress and other federal overseers.

DOGE wanted to get exempt from technical logging and demanded root access. And quite soon after they started their work a spike in data usage leaving the agency was monitored. So it is possible that sensitive data about unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets was copied to unknown destinations.

Overall DOGE behaved like criminals or state-sponsored hackers. Worse:

Within minutes after DOGE accessed the NLRB's systems, someone with an IP address in Russia started trying to log in, according to Berulis' disclosure. The attempts were "near real-time," according to the disclosure. Those attempts were blocked, but they were especially alarming. Whoever was attempting to log in was using one of the newly created DOGE accounts — and the person had the correct username and password, according to Berulis. While it's possible the user was disguising their location, it's highly unlikely they'd appear to be coming from Russia if they wanted to avoid suspicion, cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR explained.

So only minutes after DOGE created new accounts they got hacking attempts from Russia with data for these accounts. So either DOGE's devices were hacked, or some have connections to Russia...

Also this is not the only place events like this have heppened. Also keep on mind this is one whistleblower so far, but still highly likely DOGE is doing similar things at similar places all over America.

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security

Here's also a very interesting and even more disturbing thread about it on Bluesky.

Matt Johansen (@mattjay.com)

🧵 THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read. He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:

bsky.app

 

[Noodles]

DOGE wanted to get exempt from technical logging and demanded root access. And quite soon after they started their work a spike in data usage leaving the agency was monitored. So it is possible that sensitive data about unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets was copied to unknown destinations.

Overall DOGE behaved like criminals or state-sponsored hackers. Worse:

Yeah, I can't imagine what actual Cybersecurity people are feeling about all of this. As someone who has literally only "dabbled in Cybersecurity" through like, some work training and consideration for making an eventual career pivot, everything about the way DOGE seems to be operating throws out red flags. And I don't even know what I am really doing, just kind of.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Jerry Rubin
18h ·
A report on a recent meeting between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, by a WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, someone who was present in the room, quoted below:

From a WH Reporter:

“ I’ve covered a lot of Donald Trump's press conferences over the years. I’ve seen him lie, deflect, and embarrass himself in countless ways. But what I just witnessed in the Oval Office may have been the most off-the-rails, unhinged display yet.

Trump sat down with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte — a serious figure there to talk about security and alliance unity — but Trump wasn’t interested in that. No, Trump used the opportunity to fantasize about annexing Canada. He actually said, “Canada only works as a state,” and gushed about how the U.S. would look on a map if we just erased the border and took Canada as our own. This wasn’t satire. This wasn’t a joke. This was the president rambling about absorbing another sovereign nation — while the NATO secretary general sat there watching this clown show unfold.

And it didn’t stop there. Trump started pushing the idea of conquering Greenland too, saying NATO might need to get involved in helping the U.S. take it over — as if it’s a game of Risk. He literally said we "need it for international security" and tried to rope NATO into his imperial fever dream. The look on Rutte’s face said it all.
Then, Trump pivoted to his usual bigotry. Instead of talking about defense cooperation or global security, Trump bragged about how he uses transgender people as political pawns to rile up his base before elections — saying Republicans should “bring it up a week before the election” to win votes. In other words, he openly admitted he sees cruelty and manufactured culture war nonsense as a campaign strategy. Despicable.

When asked about American small businesses hurting from tariffs, Trump did what he always does: lie and bluster. “You’re going to be so much richer,” he said. Meanwhile, Medicaid is being gutted, Social Security is under threat, and Trump’s billionaire cronies are cheering as the safety net burns.
Oh, and then Trump suggested we start sending drug dealers to the Netherlands — yes, you read that right — in a bizarre attempt at humor that landed more like a diplomatic insult, especially considering the NATO secretary general used to be the prime minister of the Netherlands.

He kept rambling about how the U.S. doesn’t need anything from Canada, said the European Union is “very nasty,” claimed we can’t sell cars in Europe (not true), and then told an utterly deranged story about how he “invaded Los Angeles” to turn on the water — another lie pulled from his fantasyland. What actually happened was that he diverted water from Northern California, destroying farmland and hurting his own voters in the process.

To top it off, he said our allies shouldn’t worry about Putin, brushing off any concerns about Russian aggression with a shrug.

Let me be blunt: This is not normal. This is not politics-as-usual. This is a dangerous, unstable person with authoritarian fantasies, spewing nonsense in front of our closest allies while the world watches.”

Keep speaking up. Don’t accept any of this as normal.
Ben Meiselas

 

[Cristiano]

This is bad

 

[Beebo Brink]

This is bad
View attachment 813

Do I understand this correctly? Everyone rushed in orders to try to get product imported before the tariffs, and then they just... stopped.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

That's the pattern. With just a few weeks data it's hard to tell if the dip is just from people rushing orders that they would usually make, and orders will pick up in 4-6 weeks, or if they are stocking up with the intent of getting a last call and will not order again, in which case the number of vessels will not rebound any time soon.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Do I understand this correctly? Everyone rushed in orders to try to get product imported before the tariffs, and then they just... stopped.

I have read at least one story of a business that already knows they're doomed. It is a small start-up selling stuff they have manufactured in China.

As is often the case with new companies, they're leveraged to the max; arguably, beyond the max. They dared not order goods for which they might have to pay 100%+ tariffs, so even if the China tariffs disappeared today, they still would not have the inventory to sell to service their debt. They're a zombie company.

I rather doubt they are a unique case.

 

[Free]

Keep striking out on those big swings, Trump!

Judge orders Trump administration to restore Voice of America

A federal judge on Tuesday found the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Voice of America (VOA) and affiliated news services likely were unlawful, indefinitely blocking the shuttering of the government-funded news outlet and affiliated news services.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), to restore VOA and other outlets under the USAGM’s umbrella and barred the agency from preventing them from serving as “consistently reliable and authoritative” news sources, as is required by law.

He also directed the USAGM to restore employment to its workers placed on leave and not reduce its workforce while litigation continues, in addition to continuing funding for international broadcasting.

 

[Free]

Universities (finally) band together, fight “unprecedented government overreach”

New statement is weak—but a start.

arstechnica.com

It only took billions of dollars in vindictive cuts to make it happen, but higher education has finally 1) banded together to 2) resist coercive control over its core functions. More than 230 leaders, mostly college and university presidents, have so far signed an American Association of Colleges and Universities statement that makes a thundering call gentle bleat for total resistance "constructive engagement" with the people currently trying to cripple, shutter, and/or dominate them. Clearly, 3) temperamental caution remains the watchword. Still, progress! (Even Columbia University, which has already capitulated to Trump administration pressure, signed on.)

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I am shocked - Shocked! I tell you - to find that the "leader" of THE Ohio State University is not a signatory.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Fattening up those leopards, eating all those faces.

Sanders says Arkansas in 'dire need of federal assistance,' but Trump says no - Arkansas Times

Gov. Sarah Sanders said Arkansas is in “dire need of federal assistance” in an appeal letter last week after the federal government denied help after last month’s damaging storms.

Fourteen tornadoes touched down in Arkansas on March 14 and 15, leaving three dead and dozens injured.

The next week, Sanders asked President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration, the first step in securing federal funds and other help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Sanders specifically requested help in the form of small business loans and individual assistance for people in Greene, Hot Spring, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, Sharp and Stone counties.

But the Trump administration declined to declare a disaster, meaning no federal assistance would be heading our way.

In their rejection note to Sanders’ March 21 request, the federal government said the damage wasn’t anything state and local folks couldn’t handle.

 

[detrius]

Fattening up those leopards, eating all those faces.

Sanders says Arkansas in 'dire need of federal assistance,' but Trump says no - Arkansas Times

Has she considered selling her $19K lectern in a fundraising event?

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Trump is still obsessed with Joe Biden...

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

JD Vance visited India, and during this visit one of the larger terrorist attacks of the last years against civilians happened.

Dozens of tourists killed in terror attack during JD Vance visit to India

"This attack is much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years," said the region's top elected official.

www.newsweek.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote Link

 

[Free]

Corruption as a way of politics.

Trump Tower Moscow, Rare Earths and Geopolitical Perks: How the Kremlin Plans to Bait Trump Into a Grand Bargain - The Moscow Times

As Moscow prepares for possible negotiations with Washington aimed at ending its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is seeking a far more ambitious outcome than a mere ceasefire: a global reordering of spheres of influence.

www.themoscowtimes.com

As Moscow prepares for possible negotiations with Washington aimed at ending its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is seeking a far more ambitious outcome than a mere ceasefire: a global reordering of spheres of influence.

In the Kremlin’s view, such an agreement would effectively mean U.S. recognition of Russian dominance in the post-Soviet space — including Ukraine — and, to some extent, an acknowledgment of its influence in Europe.

To secure that goal, the Kremlin is now scouring for incentives it believes can catch and hold President Donald Trump’s attention, ranging from rare earths deals and geopolitical leverage in Iran and North Korea to a long-dreamed-of Trump Tower in Moscow.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Ivan Krastev on American Decline

Yascha Mounk and Ivan Krastev also discuss whether Europe has a future.

yaschamounk.substack.com

Interesting and (I think) free to read discussion about the similarities and differences between Trump's USA and Gorbachev's 1990s USSR.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Corruption as a way of politics.

Trump Tower Moscow, Rare Earths and Geopolitical Perks: How the Kremlin Plans to Bait Trump Into a Grand Bargain - The Moscow Times

As Moscow prepares for possible negotiations with Washington aimed at ending its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is seeking a far more ambitious outcome than a mere ceasefire: a global reordering of spheres of influence.

www.themoscowtimes.com

... Because appeasement and non-involvement worked out so well for England under Chamberlain? Hmmmm.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Trump is still obsessed with Joe Biden...

How many Jan6ers had prior criminal records and have been re-arrested or shot dead in police conflicts since they were pardoned?

Also, where are the rapist/sex traffickers Trump extradited from Turkish prison? Still at large in the U.S. somewhere?

 

[Isabeau]

Nancy Levine Stearns (@nancylevinestearns.bsky.social)

💥 BREAKING: Levi Strauss shareholders voted today to reject a proposal calling on the company to cease / abolish all DEI efforts (tally TBD). LEVI Board: “Diversity and inclusion principles are critical in ensuring that our products reflect and are relevant to our diverse global consumer base.”

bsky.app

Nancy Levine Stearns (@nancylevinestearns.bsky.social)

The NCPPR's Free Enterprise Project has lost its anti-DEI proposals in 2025 shareholder votes at Costco, Apple, John Deere, Disney, Goldman Sachs and Levi Strauss. Free Enterprise Project says it's the "premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life and defender of true capitalism"

bsky.app