Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup

Subject: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thre
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 25 - 11:31 AM

The threads have merged to do with the US 2024 presidential election and the conviction of Donald J. Trump. Musk and many of his team are not elected and some not eligible to ever be president, but there are suggestions that for a while we may see a co-presidency between Trump and Musk. This is troublesome and people may find interesting articles that clarify or alert us to problems going forward.

This doesn't mean that every weird thing that pops into Don and Dick's heads should be printed here. If it gets too out of control you have advance warning that odd stuff will be culled. If you feel like you're being trolled don't post normal stuff and insults in the same post because both parts will disappear. If too many insults are posted you may disappear for a while. The other threads are going to close because we've tried to keep it to one UK and one US political thread. An exception was made mostly because we couldn't stop it. Now we can.

Looking for a news page that everyone should be able to open and read, here is a story that CNN may update:
https://www.cnn.com/politics/president-donald-trump-47 Donald J. Trump
News on former President Donald Trump and the Trump administration

Meanwhile, here is his claim that he will hand over his private businesses during the presidency:

Trump Organization’s new ethics plan pledges Donald Trump will separate himself from his private business interests

(CNN) — The Trump Organization on Friday announced that President-elect Donald Trump will not have any involvement in managing his real estate and branding empire during his second term and appointed an outside ethics adviser to monitor major company actions – part of several measures the organization said it was taking to avoid conflicts of interest as Trump prepares to return to the White House later this month.

The provisions, for the most part, mirror steps announced during the first Trump administration.

Under its plan, the company pledged not to enter into any new deals with foreign governments and voluntarily donate to the US Treasury any profits from foreign governments that it can identify flowing into its hotels and other properties.

The ethics pledge, however, is silent on how the company will handle overseas business deals. And Trump’s son Eric Trump, the company’s executive vice president, has previously said that the firm will continue to pursue foreign business during his father’s second term, relaxing a self-imposed restriction that the company has said was in place during the first term.

In a statement, the Trump Organization noted that the incoming president is not required either by federal law or the US Constitution to remove himself from his business interests. Even so, Eric Trump said, the company “is dedicated to not just meeting but vastly exceeding its legal and ethical obligations during my father’s Presidency.”

He called the ethical standards announced Friday “robust.”

The younger Trump, who essentially guides the company day-to-day, also announced that prominent Republican lawyer William Burck will serve as an outside adviser to review major transactions to avoid ethics problems.

The plan unveiled Friday pledges that Donald Trump will have “limited access” to the company’s financial information. Additionally, his businesses will remain in a trust, managed by his children, and his investments will be overseen by outside financial institutions that will “neither solicit nor accept input” from Trump.

Although Trump is not required to take these steps, previous presidents have moved more aggressively to divest themselves of their businesses or place their holdings in blind trusts to avoid the appearance of self-dealing – a distinction often noted by ethics watchdogs during Trump’s political career.

And, as CNN has previously reported, the incoming president has pursued new business deals in recent months – including joining his family in a cryptocurrency venture and promoting new merchandise touting his electoral victory.

Another thing I'm curious about but haven't bothered to look up is where are Jared and Ivanka this time around? They were front and center in the last administration, but have pulled away from a lot of his activity once he was indicted. Are they completely out of the picture, or are they doing more behind the scenes money-making on the family name? Managing the crypto fund?

The Democrats are working to elect a new party leader. Whoever is put in that role has the job of trying to flip the House and the Senate in two years to hobble Trump's ability to do more damage (he's already considered a "lame duck" and that may result in some surprising pushback by his own party.) Getting past the lies told to people who have no connection with their local politics is the biggest challenge. (A side issue is that many US newspapers have closed so the only source of info about elections for people in small communities is on the national level.) We need to rediscover the meaning of "loyal opposition."

Participants here may want to pick up a couple of small books: The U.S. Constitution (ACLU asks you for money, but skip past and read it), and Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

Snyder's first lesson: Do not obey in advance. (Clearly many of the big names in corporate America including oligarchs like Bezos and Zuckerberg did not read this book.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 11 Jan 25 - 01:31 PM

I'll restrict myself to a "hear, hear" on "We need to rediscover the meaning of "loyal opposition" and Snyder's First Lesson, and throwing in the expression "government by brain fart".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jan 25 - 04:32 PM

Forbes magazine just pointed something out: international travel as a felon.
Twenty-two countries, it states, have "laws that allow them to kick out any visitors once their [criminal] record is discovered."
Canada, the U.K., Israel, Japan, China, India, and Argentina are among the countries with
"strict requirements for visitors with criminal histories, if they're allowed in at all."

Forbes goes on to say that another president before Trump had problems:
George W. Bush had a misdemeanor drunk driving conviction on this record,
and had to "apply for a special waiver to enter Canada."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 11 Jan 25 - 10:28 PM

Trump prosecutor Jack Smith resigns after submitting DOJ report

"In short: Special Counsel Jack Smith has resigned days before Donald Trump's inauguration.

"Mr Smith led the first federal indictments against a former president in US history.

"Trump said he would fire Mr Smith immediately after gaining office, claiming the cases were politically motivated."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 05:23 AM

Huston, you have a problem.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 11:32 AM

There were lots of photos of all five living presidents at the Carter funeral. This photo released by the Carter Center is composed beautifully.
Never did a pillar do such good work.

The photos of the coffin passing, coming and going for the funeral, show everyone with their hands on their hearts - except the Trumps. Photos posted on Bluesky by the Washington Post

It takes so little to be kind. This man works at avoiding all of those gestures. He complained about the flags being at half-mast for 30 days for Carter landing during his inauguration. I would put money on his calling to have that rescinded the moment he's in office. Because it suits him.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 12:34 PM

video - Dubya greeting Trump at Carter's funeral just in case you haven't seen it (:-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 02:10 PM

Except that he would expect flags to be at half-mast when he shuffles off his own mortal coil.

Did you see halfway down the page of the Photos posted on Bluesky by the Washington Post, a photo of Mark Zuckerberg with headline and text? My Hubby sent me that image. It was generated immediately after Zuckerberg announced that Meta will no longer fact-check posts on Facebook. Someone jumped in with a post about Zuckerberg which needs to be fact-checked. LOL

Subject: RE: New Rules
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Jan 25 - 06:55 AM

"If it gets too out of control you have advance warning that odd stuff will be culled."

the problem is...

More 'odd stuff' is coming true. https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/fartcoin/
Will Trump repeat anti protest policy? https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/donald-trump-george-floyd-protest-military/index.html

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Jan 25 - 05:02 PM

The reason autocrats arrest journalists is to hide odd secrets.
These are odd days indeed, but nuclear destruction seems less critical than decades ago unless Hegseth obeys his master's sudden wrath. There will be deja vu to come like 'crowd size' and the greatest Presidential advances the universe has ever seen.

Right now the odd secrets are more like open secrets.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jan 25 - 11:16 AM

The parade of horribles begins today with Hegseth going before the senate, though it seems the FBI is already carrying water for Trump and didn't investigate the crimes and complaints against the man. No interviews with those who he abused and the organizations he mismanaged.

Subject: RE: Spot the anachronism
From: gillymor
Date: 14 Jan 25 - 12:44 PM

Speaking of Trump anachronisms there were a couple of doozies during this July 4th Speech where he referenced airports during the Revolutionary War.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Jan 25 - 02:41 PM

"We need to tear out root and branch weak woke DEI liberal CRT leftists in our military and replace them with patriots who love America" Pete Hegseth.

A partisan military is Trump's desire and Pete will seek it out.
Pete is also critical of women in combat and veterans who milk the VA system for all sorts of gifts.

Democratic Senators were all denied any interview with Hegseth or an FBI investigation report into Hegseth. Only the Republican chairman was allowed to see the FBI report.f

Pete does not know the meaning of anonymous when witnesses to his drunkenness have given their names addresses and phone numbers including his mom. Republicans claim that Hegseth's staff will do the real work and that Senators get drunk too.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jan 25 - 03:43 PM

From Slate, so there is a paywall, but the browser extension "JustRead" lets you see the article.

Aileen Cannon's final gift to Trump: The Jack Smith report DOA.

And yet: It feels as though Cannon’s conduct in recent days marked a departure, even for her. Among other things, last week she reached out and meddled in a case over which she had no jurisdiction, plucking the matter back from the appeals court where it was properly pending. She attempted to quash a report on a case that was wholly unconnected to the Mar-a-Lago case that was being litigated before a different judge in D.C. Amid the chaotic filings and deadlines and decisions issued over the past few days, lawyers attempted to parse what she was doing and why she believed she could do it as we waited with bated breath to figure out who would stop her. When it became clear on Monday that in fact nobody was going to stop her, Cannon took her own win by keeping the Mar-a-Lago report under wraps and begrudgingly letting the Justice Department release the Jan. 6 volume (after the 11th Circuit indicated that it would do so for her if she didn’t backtrack quickly). This seems a moment worth naming and marking.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 14 Jan 25 - 06:27 PM

My post of 12:44 was moved here from up top and so appears to be a non sequitur.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 12:08 AM

Trump is a non sequitur, it fits right in!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 06:03 AM

Lyrics
If you wake up and don't want to smile
or it takes just a little while
Open your eyes and look at the day
You'll see things in a different way
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be better than before
Yesterday's lie, will eventually die.
Why not think about times to come?
And not about the things that hate has done
If your life was bad to you
Just think what tomorrow will do
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be better than before
Yesterday's lie, will eventually die
All I want is to see you smile
If it takes just a little while
I know you don't believe that it's true
There are folks who meant harm to you
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be better than before
Yesterday's lie will eventually die
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be better than before
Yesterday's lie will eventually die
We won't go back
(Ooh)
We won't go back
(Ooh)
We won't go back

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 07:32 AM

I hope he's a non sequitur and not the end of our "more perfect union". I guess the best we can do is to be good citizens and fight to preserve what we've created over these last 2 1/2 centuries. It sounds dramatic but a decent way of life is in the balance for the common man and it's not inconceivable that Trump and his billionaire friends could destroy it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 08:04 AM

The balance of a decent middle-class life has been attacked since the death of FDR. Billionaire-owned government has expanded since the 50's when taxes on the wealthy was as high as 90%. Now it's 16% if income is claimed. It's less if it is called capital gains. Our tax code has grown by 3,000 more pages, all to take from the middle class and poor to give to the rich. Of course, the rules were written by the rich.

South Korea has more respect for the law than the US. Today the police arrested the impeached President who declared martial law.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 08:16 AM

There certainly has been a significant transfer of wealth over the last half century and more, but at some point we have to stop bending over for the graspers. Perhaps it's going to take a period of abject misery for that to come about.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 10:45 AM

If we can't get the representation back where it belongs, in non-gerrymandered districts, and can't get the big money out of politics, we are sunk.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 12:03 PM

‘Twas ever thus…

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 12:50 PM

The states will have to take the lead on this. I should have completed the thought.

The money is the biggest problem by far, with billionaires throwing it at anyone who threatens to not toe the line. "You'll be primaried" means they'll support someone in the party to run against them the next time around. Only a couple of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump survived the process.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 08:32 AM

"The money is the biggest problem by far"

This is how it will end: The bankruptcy king, Donald Trump, will explode a 46 trillion-dollar debt until the bond market will no longer buy federal bonds. Game over. The bank is empty. Billionaires will scatter with their share of the loot to other markets and countries.

Desperate measures will be tried with unknown results. Besieged by climate disasters the hardships will be catastrophic.
No, Stilly, it will not end well for anyone but the top 3% and their loyal servants. I suspect that people as clever and pioneering as Stilly will find ways to live and eat in a destroyed economy, but as Elon has already suggested, most people will suffer desperation.

Yes income disparity has grown to 46% for the 1% and 3% for the bottom 50%. A couple decades ago the rich only had a 10% advantage but now the race to survive a collapse has reached levels that this next tax cut for the oligarchs will not sustain.
This doom and gloom is my opinion and can be ignored with or without certain peril.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 10:18 AM

The amount of billionaire money rolling in to the Kleptocracy for the inauguration is obscene, and while last time Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (another one to add to Biden's preemptive pardon list) wrote a book about how the dollars were taken from her 2017 inauguration management by Trump's family and a allies with no accountability, this time they'll hide the records much deeper. Or keep no records at all.

No more legal fees for the time being (he probably won't pay the ones he has left, telling them to brag about defending him for their promotional benefit.) It's gravy from here on out for the convicted felon.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 11:22 AM

Biden offered a warning about the American oligarchy in his last speech to the nation. He offered a lot of interesting material in his last major interview with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Biden shares 'serious concern' for U.S. democracy in Oval Office interview with Lawrence O'Donnell

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 12:33 PM

Great McDonnel interview. The average American does not understand what has happened.
THE EASIEST way for Joe Sixpack to understand what has happened is remind them of every villain James Bond ever faced.
Every villain was a corporate monopolist with dire plans financed by their extreme wealth. The entire US government is now bought and paid for by a cabal of the wealthiest people on Earth. Greed at any expense is now standard operating procedure.

10,000 James bonds won't be able to turn the tables this time.
Besides, the last Bond movie I saw. it looked like James Bond was killed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 02:42 PM

There is going to be a lot of this in the next 4 years.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 10:41 AM

Given the hoped for "sees fire" (s)

What do we think are the chances the the Orange Jesus will be awarded the Nobel Peace gong?

There is a precedent................

Kissinger

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 11:32 AM

As Biden rides east into the sunset on old paint with his 36% approval rating, the NYT has a front-page story about the cover-up of his diminished capacity by his staff.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 19 Jan 25 - 07:07 AM

Donuel, not understanding what has happened is a symptom of populism where populations take more credence from slogans than from critical thought and analysis. They are too lazy to think for themselves or understand what is going on around them and accept whatever they are spoon fed without question.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 19 Jan 25 - 07:09 AM

If they are told that a perceived enemy is going to suffer as a result, they would willingly cut off their own leg.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Jan 25 - 07:10 AM

Amen to that, SPB. It’s what the Trumps and Farages of this world know only too well, and use very much to their own advantage.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Jan 25 - 10:01 AM

Around town the hotels are charging fortunes for inauguration suites.
Watergate is charging $75,000 but the Willard and 4 Seasons aren't saying. A third of DC is closed entirely or under strict security.
Crowd size won't be an issue, but having a ticket is no guarantee of getting in since the shindig has moved indoors. After the oath ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, a MAGA rally will be at the basketball Capitol One arena, featuring Elon Musk and Donald.
This event will separate the billionaire boys from the millionaire men. ;^/

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Jan 25 - 11:19 AM

'Strongman' Lindsey Graham just announced on Face the Nation that he will demand that Trump attack Iran to eliminate their nuclear program.
He also said that it was only Turmp's threat that all hell will break loose and not the State Dept. and diplomatic core of Biden that has led to a Gaza war ceasefire.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Jan 25 - 12:13 PM

Diplomatic Corps...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 04:54 AM

Well the big day has arrived for the inauguration of President-by-Proxy Musk. Up to two hundred Executive Orders threatened to be signed on his first day in office, including the deportation of up to ten million undocumented ‘aliens’ (how I HATE that f***ing word!).

GOD HELP AMERICA!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 06:24 AM

America did not give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!
John Belushi

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 06:35 AM

Manners are morals, not empty gestures. Despite our many mistakes, the US respects morality, accountability, and sensibility.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 11:25 AM

Is that why Trump won by a landslide?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 12:38 PM

He had less than 50% of total votes. Not even a mandate, let alone a landslide.

I didn't listen to the swearing in, though I did play a little of the car radio version of "drop the needle." I clicked onto MSNBC at about 10:40 our time and heard Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic senator from Minnesota, speaking about government and the three co-equal branches. She was offering a very clear warning to Trump and his allies that the government will hold. Now we all need to work on that.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 01:18 PM

Joe Biden pardons Dr Anthony Fauci to guard against Trump 'revenge'

"In short: Joe Biden has pardoned Dr Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

"The decision by Biden comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically.

"What's next? President Biden has promised a smooth transition to the next administration."

....

"'The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offence,' Mr Biden said in a statement.

"'Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.'

"The decision by Biden comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically."               

...

"Mr Biden is also extending pardons to members and staff of the January 6 committee, including Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both Republicans, as well as the US Capitol and DC Metropolitan police officers who testified before the committee."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 01:44 PM

The only song that comes to mind at the moment is Poor Unfortunate Souls (for all of us).

Gift article from the New York Times Biden in Final Hours Pardons Relatives and Others to Thwart Trump Reprisals
President Biden used his executive clemency power to protect people targeted by Donald J. Trump, including five members of his family as well as Liz Cheney, Anthony S. Fauci and Mark A. Milley.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 02:53 PM

Sorry Stilly, but it was what everyone else calls a landslide. Majority of both electoral college and popular vote as well as his supporters winning both houses. We had the same in this country with the last general election. Labour gained 412 of the 650 seats available and that was also a landslide win. Yet they only had 34% of the vote. That is just the way first past the post democracy works.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 03:01 PM

He won the election, but it wasn't an outright majority. Look at the numbers. Yes, the house and senate flipped. The house is so close it could flip again before the term it out if anyone else is ejected or dies or quits in the GOP side. It's close, it wasn't a landslide.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 03:54 PM

A landslide does not mean an outright majority. It means that the candidate or party won by an overwhelming margin. In your election there were 538 votes to be counted. Trump 312 while Harris got got 226 which is an overwhelming margin by anyone's standards. Yes, I know it is the electoral college and, yes, I know it is stupid but it is, sadly, the system at the moment.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 04:41 PM

What's done is done and not worth quibbling about. Let's look to what needs to be done now to try to turn back this tide.

I still have a glimmer of hope that Trump's Republican "supporters" are working behind the scenes to prevent some of his society-breaking projects and to try to bring civilised society back to where it belongs. Sometimes catastrophe brings about revelations for right-minded people of what society should look like and what needs to be done to bring about that change. Sometimes we need to look into the abyss to be able to look up again at the sky.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 05:03 PM

Winning margin does not equal "overwhelming margin" just because it sounds good. I don't thing the International Bureau of Standards defines "overwhelming". It's just a subjective, personal idea.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 05:48 PM

How do I know that it definitely wasn't a landslide? Trump said it was a landslide.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 05:51 PM

Electoral votes are part of the problem. The actual population vote is what I was talking about.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 06:31 PM

90 million Americans did not vote in 2024.
During the upcoming 'final financial squeeze', involvement may increase after the experience of what big controlling government really feels like.
If people are honest in their answer to the question, "are you better off than you were 4 years ago?", they may see through the fog of billionaire BS.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 06:55 PM

Gillymor - best answer yet :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 08:09 PM

Popular vote totals in the 2024 presidential election:

Harris 75,017,626 (48.33%)

Trump 77,301,997 (49.8%)

The electoral college is broken; it was put in place to bring the southern states into the US as the nation was forming - they wanted to keep owning slaves but not count them because they weren't able to vote.

From Wikipedia:

Supporters argue that it requires presidential candidates to have broad appeal across the country to win, while critics argue that it is not representative of the popular will of the nation.[a] Winner-take-all systems, especially with representation not proportional to population, do not align with the principle of "one person, one vote".[b][9] Critics object to the inequity that, due to the distribution of electors, individual citizens in states with smaller populations have more voting power than those in larger states. Because the number of electors each state appoints is equal to the size of its congressional delegation, each state is entitled to at least three electors regardless of its population, and the apportionment of the statutorily fixed number of the rest is only roughly proportional. This allocation has contributed to runners-up of the nationwide popular vote being elected president in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016.[10][11] In addition, faithless electors may not vote in accord with their pledge.[12][c] A further objection is that swing states receive the most attention from candidates.[14] By the end of the 20th century, electoral colleges had been abandoned by all other democracies around the world in favor of direct elections for an executive president.[15][16]:215

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 08:40 PM

This video is good for a laugh:

Melania HUMILIATES Trump At His INAUGURATION Ceremony

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 02:31 AM

I picked this up from a FB Friend’s ‘Share’ of a piece from the Page ‘Jeremy Corbyn and Socialist News’. Seems par for the Trump course - lies, more lies, misinformation, ignoring facts, distortions, and fear-mongering.

The emboldening of a section is mine…

”Trump’s Inauguration Speech: A Catalogue of Falsehoods and Misleading Claims

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president, and true to form, his inauguration speech was riddled with falsehoods, exaggerations, and outright lies. Below, we break down the key claims and the facts that expose the truth behind his statements.

1. Claim: Ending “Catch and Release”

What Trump said:
Trump declared he would issue an executive order to end “catch and release,” describing it as a policy that releases immigrants into the country while awaiting court proceedings. He framed it as a failure of past administrations.

The Facts:
“Catch and release” is a pejorative term referring to various policies used under multiple administrations, often due to insufficient detention facilities. Immigration experts note that the practice is largely outdated, and it is unclear how Trump plans to enforce his so-called ban. The rhetoric here is more about stirring fear than implementing functional policy.

2. Claim: Taking Back the Panama Canal

What Trump said:
Trump claimed that 38,000 Americans died during the construction of the Panama Canal and alleged that China now operates it, vowing to take it back.

The Facts:
The official death toll during the construction of the Panama Canal under U.S. oversight was about 5,600, with most deaths involving Caribbean workers, not Americans. Additionally, the Panama Canal is operated by Panama, not China. While a Hong Kong-based consortium won a port operation bid in 1997, U.S. and Taiwanese companies also manage ports along the canal. Trump’s claims are grossly inaccurate.

3. Claim: Inflation at Record Highs

What Trump said:
Trump blamed “massive overspending” for what he called “record inflation” in the U.S.

The Facts:
Inflation in the U.S. peaked at 9.1% in mid-2022, far from the record high of 23.7% in June 1920. By December 2024, inflation had dropped to 2.9%. Trump’s narrative conveniently ignores historical context and recent improvements in inflation rates.

4. Claim: U.S. Outspends Everyone on Healthcare

What Trump said:
Trump correctly stated that the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other country but failed to acknowledge why.

The Facts:
While the U.S. does spend more on healthcare per capita, this is not a point of pride—it’s an indicator of inefficiency, privatized costs, and a lack of universal coverage. Trump used this fact without addressing the systemic issues causing these costs to spiral.

5. Claim: Incompetence During Emergencies

What Trump said:
Trump criticized emergency responses, alleging that hurricanes in North Carolina and wildfires in California were poorly handled due to government failure.

The Facts:
Trump’s claims about Hurricane Helene and California wildfires are misleading. He has previously spread unfounded conspiracy theories, such as suggesting the U.S. government manipulates weather or withholds aid. Experts in California clarified that water availability was not the issue during the fires, but Trump ignored these facts to launch political attacks.

6. Claim: Immigrants and Crime

What Trump said:
Trump claimed the U.S. provides sanctuary to “dangerous criminals” from prisons and mental institutions abroad, painting immigrants as a major threat.

The Facts:
There is no evidence to support Trump’s assertion that immigrants entering the U.S. are predominantly criminals. Studies, including from conservative think tanks like the Cato Institute, consistently show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. Trump’s inflammatory language fuels xenophobia without factual basis.

Trump’s inauguration speech was a masterclass in fearmongering and misinformation. His repeated lies and distortions serve to distract from real issues, focusing instead on scapegoating and divisive rhetoric. As we embark on this new chapter, the public must stay vigilant against the dangers of misinformation from the highest office in the land.

"I'm posting this, already knowing that anyone with any objective reasoning skills, knows trump is largely full of shit. The rest who were cheering on, they knew as well, but the sad thing is, that people are so desperate for hope, that they are willing to believe in the lies, because living in denial is kinder than the real world".

"You can't solve a problem if you refuse to admit it exists." And living in denial IS NOT BLISS!!!”

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 07:30 AM

So Trump has pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters, which means that if he doesn't like the outcome of the midterm elections or doesn't care to leave office when his term is up he can call on his violent, knuckle-dragging constituents to storm the Capitol again, this time with impunity. Welcome to the third world.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 07:43 AM

Glossary:
Blissinformation-noun-Telling people what they want to hear

DOGEd - verb - Being fired by an unelected board of billionaires so the wealthy can thrive,

Cryptocurrency - when created and sustained by Trump Republicans will replace Bond investments. such as: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268759/donald-trump-melania-cryptocurrency-meme-coins
and Musk Doge coins

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 08:30 AM

Their pardons must be revoked and 4 years added to their sentences, even if it is unconstitutional to do so by the next president, or 8,12 etc added on if it takes 2 or more future presidential elections, The rioters MUST be punished for the turnips abuse of power.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 08:44 AM

na gonna appen

What is a Trump American?
They love: Pro Wrestling, Reality TV, Casinos and gambling, Celebrity culture, Social Media, fake religion, PT Barnum stuff, crime, bigot, sexploitation, and street cred when shot.

TRUMP has mastered all of these things. !!!!

Trump is more than a Joe 'sixpack' Rogan.
He is the entire enchilada.
He is what America has become. He is America as seen on TV.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 08:46 AM

Presidential pardons can't be revoked.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 11:06 AM

Presidential pardons are on the federal level, but that said, I doubt any states are going to try to pursue charges based upon their laws, but that is the only way it could happen (re: the January 6 pardons).

Trump is throwing everything at the wall now, partly a huge distraction. Leaving the World Health Organization, leaving the Paris Climate Accords, sheer lunacy. Keep your eyes on NATO.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 12:45 PM

Maybe they can't be revoked constitutionally, but there is nothing to stop a president ignoring the constitution even if it would result in serious repercussions: eg ordering internment outside due legal process, and the total breakdown of aw and order, where someone pardoned with just cause can be rearrested. Doing the right thing does border upon fascism, but if Americans don't want to live in a fascist state, they should have thought about the consequences before voting for trump.

regarding pulling out of the Paris accord, the rest of the world MUST take measures to mitigate US's additional carbon footprint, even if it means rationing energy.

Regarding WHO, if Americans do not want to be prepared for the next pandemic, that is their problem.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 01:41 PM

If anyone had any doubt as to what the new order in the USA is going to be you need to see what Trump's puppet master is doing

Musk's Nazi salute

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 07:18 PM

"if Americans don't want to live in a fascist state, they should have thought about the consequences before voting for trump"

I have posted warnings here of a growing fascist wave for 15 years as a patriotic American. I am not alone, or a Trump voter. Not even Hitler succeeded in his early years. Populism grows like a slow cancer.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 07:36 PM

Mexican police have been known to sell out to the Cartels. Likewise in the US the Fraternal Order of the Police supported Trump and is silent about pardoning 1,500 insurrectionists who attacked police.
Lines have been crossed and there is no line in Congress, the Supreme Court, or Police except a loyalty to total obedience for the leader.
I believe only one Republican Senator was upset by the pardon.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 07:45 PM

Then the police are disrespectful in term for the destroyed lives of their fellow officers who were holding the front line against the rioters. everyone watched the witness testimonies, even here in UK.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Neil D
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 04:23 AM

SRS said "The only song that comes to mind at the moment is Poor Unfortunate Souls (for all of us).
I was actually thinking about a couple verses from "Mercy Now" by Mary Gauthier:
My church and my country could use a little mercy now
As they sink into a poisoned pit, it's going to take forever to climb out
They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down
I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now

Every living thing could use a little mercy now
Only the hand of grace can end the race towards another mushroom cloud
People in power, they'll do anything to keep their crown
I love life and life itself could use some mercy now

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 04:31 AM

Good one, Neil D!

The song I was thinking of today was I'm an Asshole, by Dennis Leary and then I was thinking of the documentary and book by Aaron James called, Assholes: A Theory. I watched the doco and then bought the book and read it very soon after. Very enlightening.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 05:09 AM

Some years back a fellow mudcatter from Germany stayed with us and we got round to discussing the dark days of the third reich. He commented that a lot of Germans referred to those times as "the madness". I hope that in 4 years time the majority of US folk will use the same term to describe what is currently happening.

In the meanwhile, I hope anyone over there who is non-binary is safe. The man gets more despicable by the minute. If anyone feels a need to escape the madness for a while, get in touch. We have plenty of space at Gnome Towers :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 06:10 AM

What I find so depressing, Dave, is that 74 million Americans voted for him. 74 million citizens of the country I’ve admired for most of my 77 years either couldn’t or wouldn’t see through him, couldn’t or wouldn’t recognise his malevolence, couldn’t or wouldn’t understand that he is not the ‘Christian’, nor the ‘man of the people’, he pretends to be, couldn’t or wouldn’t see how they were being duped by Trump, Musk, Vance, et al in exactly the same way, and for the same reasons as the people of Germany were duped in the ‘30s.

Remember them saying, back in the late ‘40s/early ‘50s that “It could never happen here!”? Guess what - it’s happening in the US right now. And my fear is that it’s happening in many other countries, including the UK, too.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 06:41 AM

It mystifies me as well and the only thing I can come up with is that he starred in a network TV show, which is a pretty sad commentary.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 06:43 AM

At least they get chance to rectify their mistake in 4 years BWM. We are stuck with the Brexit madness for the forseeable future :-(

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 06:53 AM

I have said this before but it is worth repeating, One of my lads was into WWE westling and I was happy to join in with the nonsense occasionaly. There was a whole plotline where Trump was pitted against Vince McMahon that ended up with a 'wrestling' match between them. While watching any of the nonsense and this bit in particular I always had that little seed of doubt that some people believed that it was actually real. Have I been proven right? I hope not! Still, maybe wrestling matches between world leaders could be the way forward... :-D

Battle of the billionaires

Subject: RE: Crypto criminal US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 07:33 AM

I never had the imagination that the President and family would have their own cryptocurrency that would generate billions of untraceable dollars so that foreign bribery would be as easy as pie.
In many ways, the Trump meme coin is like Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

There are different ways to bribe the President like Pam Bondi buying 3 million dollars of Trurh Social stock. The bankruptcy king, Donald Trump, will explode a 46 trillion-dollar debt until the bond market will no longer buy federal bonds. Game over. The deficit now stands at 36 trillion.
Do your due diligence before buying Elon's DogeCoin as a hedge against a great depression.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 08:50 AM

”At least they get chance to rectify their mistake in 4 years BWM. We are stuck with the Brexit madness for the forseeable future :-(“

Good point Dave.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 09:13 AM

Anyway, let’s have a giggle to lighten the mood…

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1155891432929511?fs=e&fs=e

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 09:57 AM

There are things that Trump does that is remarkable...
for example few men can man spread and man splain at the same time.
He dances from the elbows down
He can appear to have no idea regarding something he has spent months conspiring.
He can defame and dismember an associate while he promotes them.
He can appear to weigh 70 pounds more than he weighs.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 11:36 AM

In this digital 'inkubator' on the web nothing here is ever going to go viral. There have possibly been malevolent intrusions here but it seems safe from the intimidation of the extreme fascist right. I wonder if an AI web crawling bot could disrupt anti Trump text on the web. Is there a safety net for free speech on the webs? Or am I just being naive or paranoid
.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 11:55 AM

Convicted Capitol rioter turns down Trump pardon. She says, “We were wrong that day”. Now THAT is the understatement of the century!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 12:31 PM

Trump is still a puppet, all of those who are behind him are pulling the strings. He just thinks the pen in his hand is scissors and keeps him free of their influence. But whoever is the last person who spoke to Trump is the one who has the most influence - it's laughable how gullible he is.

Will our income tax refunds be issued in Trump's currency?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 02:01 PM

*Agree*, Stilly. The person marching in front of a zombie army isn't necessarily leading it: he's at least as likely to just be the one who worked out which way the zombies were marching in any case, and nipped round to the front. Stumbling, however, is distinctly contraindicated ....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 02:26 PM

I just watched the Oz TV show, Planet America, and one comment was that the tech billionaires i.e. Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg in the front row at the inauguration earn more than about 70 million low income Americans, combined.

And as for Elon Musk, two thoughts:

* Does Barron Trump look more like Musk than Donald Trump?

Musk should be the person given the honour to plant the flag on Mars
(because the chances of anyone returning alive from that trip are nil, in my inexpert opinion, and because he was happy to find people to volunteer for his do-or-die Mars expedition but not to do it himself.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Jan 25 - 07:07 PM

A narcissist like Trump will become sadistic when he feels wronged.
Most of his retribution orders come from him and not ancillary puppet masters. I was flummoxed to hear he pardoned the Silk Road Dark Webmaster. Considering who he made that promise to makes sadistic sense. At first, I thought he would want to use the dark web for his own anonymous criminal hiring.

To fly two years into the future, Trump's Supreme Court will have to decide if Trump's official act to cancel part of the 14th Amendment is legal, constitutional, or amendable. There will be lots of foot-dragging to allow a maximum period of time to ignore the Constitution..

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Neil D
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 01:31 AM

Someone earlier said we'd have a chance to rectify the situation in four years and I hear that a lot, "We just have to survive four years of Trump." But I believe the worst will be over in less than two years. Historically, when one party wins big in a presidential election year they inevitably lose big in the following mid-term. The Republican majorities in both the senate and house are razor thin so it will only take a modicum of buyer's remorse for Democrats to retake both bodies. By then Trump will have shot his wad when it comes to executive orders so, with the entire congress arrayed against him, his capability of further damage to this nation and its people will be held in check.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 02:32 AM

But he’ll still be able to use his big, vicious mouth to influence the easily-persuaded. It worked for him in November - 74 million listened.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 04:51 AM

...land of the free and the
home of the brave.

There are the most brave immigrants who faced dangers and death to find a new home. I HAVE BEEN TOLD HARROWING STORIES BY IMMIGRANTS of their entry and journey to the US.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:18 AM

A bad defense...

"Your honor the defendant broke into his ex wife and family's home and beat up the police who responded to the wife's 911 call but
we are looking ahead - not behind."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:16 AM

Big caesars and little caesars how they rise and how they fall from Julius Caesar to Boris Johnson by Ferdinand Mount, Bloomsbury 2024

Big Caesars and Little Caesars by Ferdinand Mount review – a wonderfully wry field guide to autocrats With tremendous wit and wisdom, the former head of Margaret Thatcher’s policy unit identifies the qualities particular to dictators – and warns against consigning such people to history

How to deal, psychologically speaking, with Boris Johnson and Donald Trump? For obvious reasons, many of us have spent the past several years telling ourselves that these (insert your own insult here) politicians are outrageous anomalies, mere boils on the otherwise unblemished face of the body politic. Of course boils are nasty, their suppurating eruptions highly unpleasant for anyone who happens to be in the vicinity. We all know this. But we take comfort in the fact that they may also be treated. The condition, ultimately, is curable. The state – I won’t say deep state – will carefully apply its very own brand of topical antibiotics, and the inflammation will eventually disappear, smoothness restored at last (read on)

The October 2024 issue of UK journal "History Today" has an article American Caesars - American democracy has been haunted by the spectre of a Caesar-type figure since the birth of the republic. Have such fears ever been justified? by Iain McDaniel.
The prospect of a second Donald Trump victory in November’s US election has widely been seen – at least by liberal commentators –as an apocalyptic threat to democracy. Indeed, the coming election is sometimes framed as a binary clash between democracy and autocracy. Some have even cast Trump as a new Julius Caesar, whose re-election would strike a fatal blow to America’s republican institutions just as Caesar’s dictatorship paved the way for the autocracy of the emperors. As the Financial Times put it back in June: ‘Trump would resume office as an American Caesar with a ready-made toolkit of executive actions.’ Unfortunately it's behind a paywall, but it would be in many libraries, certainly in UK & Australia! Large libraries in US could have it too, especially university libraries with History departments.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:24 AM

Part of me feels that the turnip should be allowed to do his worst and mankind suffer the impact for the next generation or two - just to teach humanity a little humility. When they realise what they have done to their childrens' and grandchildrens' lives then the punishment would fit the crime.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 08:25 AM

correction: The largest police union in the U.S. has condemned President Donald Trump for his sweeping pardons of those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021.

better late than never

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 08:44 AM

For those of us who lived through WWII, no matter how bad Trump gets, we've seen worse.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 08:52 AM

WWII? How old are you, Don?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 10:02 AM

What is your name, birthday, SS number, address, phone, and mother's maiden name?

I look about 60 which is good since my wife is 13 years younger.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 10:14 AM

I guess a better question would be did you actually live through WW II and were you old enough that you can remember it? Just curious.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 10:20 AM

I don't think the 2025 Trump administration is as smart or evil as we generally give them credit for. Cruel, vindictive, and criminal yes but not final solution evil.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 10:30 AM

I wouldn't go as far as evil, yet, but we are yet to see what evil deeds will arise in the next 4 years - also for good measure add: sociopathic, self-entitled, nasty, vindictive, elitist and egotistic.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 10:31 AM

I'm hoping they're just a less lovable version of the Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight and that they prove to be so embarrassing that the rest of the GOP won't get behind some of their whackier plans. This is a possibilty considering some of the incompetent
bozos Trump's aligned himself with in the past.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 11:51 AM

The cost of ignoring climate change and promoting for-profit-only AI is unknown but will be unrecoverable and catastrophic with great uncertainty on a global scale. That kind of evil could be worse than we imagine, such as the burning of great cities.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 12:18 PM

This gang is largely a rabble in the background who have attached themselves to Trump because they can hate and act against those they hate. Think Steven Miller. The immigration situation - it isn't just to remove a criminal element, it is to try to remove brown non-English-speaking refugees and immigrants in the most painful way possible. If they were political prisoners this would be cruel and unusual punishment. I think "evil" is a good description of those people. And Trump because he makes it so.

So many similar words describe him and his behavior. Vile and bellicose, for starters.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 02:13 PM

Stolen from Faceache and not fact checked but, even if the source is incorrect, the priciple is still good -

BREAKING: Democratic star Congressman Jamie Raskin delivers a show-stopping takedown of Donald Trump's lawless mass pardon of violent January 6th insurrectionists.

This is exactly what all of us are thinking right now...

"The chairman began by saying that the point here is to restore the rule of law... restore the rule of law... Can you even pretend to do that if you stand by and support Donald Trump who on day one — as the chairman of the committee just said — day one of his presidency, pardoned fifteen hundred insurrectionists including hundreds of people who violently assaulted and attacked American police officers?" said Raskin during a hearing of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.

"Let's just take one person who is free today, Julian Khater, who had been convicted after having every due process protection, the right to counsel, the right to cross-examine witnesses, the right to introduce evidence, but they had him completely," said Raskin.

"They knew exactly what happened. Most of this was videotaped so the whole world could see it," he continued. "Well, Julian Khater repeatedly violently assaulted our officer protecting us in Congress, Officer Brian Sicknick, who then proceeded to have several strokes and died on January the 7th, 2021, the next day."

"The family of Officer Sicknick is absolutely devastated and demolished by what's just happened," Raskin went on. "I invite any of my colleagues, including the members new to this committee who maybe weren't here on January 6th and didn't experience the trauma of that violent insurrection when we saw a mob marauding through here yelling 'Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!' and looking to assassinate Nancy Pelosi."

"And now you have the temerity to come forward and say this is about public safety? How much safer are we now with these fifteen hundred criminals at large in Washington D.C. and going out into the country?" asked Raskin.

"Are you vouching that these people are not going to be attacking any other police officers?" he added. "Are you vouching that they're no longer a threat to public safety? What an outrage! What a scandal!"

The truth is that there is no defending Trump's pardons on anything other than purely partisan grounds. He released these criminals because they support him. He doesn't care that they attacked police officers. He doesn't care that they might do it again. All that matters is that they're in his MAGA cult.

Please like and share!

And,unless someone else nipped in, 100!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 03:30 PM

re: Stephen Miller...

I can barely stand to think about him. When I do I 'see' him in a Nazi uniform. In my not-so-humble opinion, he is one of the most hateful, dangerous people ever to have serious influence in government.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 03:46 PM

John Pavlovitz on his Substack page. I’ve linked to it rather than copy/paste, as it’s a rather long piece. He expresses very eloquently the idea I’ve had for a long time about MAGA ‘Christians’ - that their actions are in direct opposition to the claims they make about their ‘faith’, and that MAGA ‘Christianity’ is, in fact, anti-Jesus.

Well worth a read, IMHO.

Subject: Who could be deported due to parents or grandpa
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 04:39 PM

It will take a while for the Supreme Court to reinterpret the 14th amendment but how far back will the ruling apply to naturalized parents or grandparents?

Hitler laws went back 3 generations to search for any Jewish blood that would ban an SS wedding.

I have step grandparents that were never naturalized after being processed at Ellis Island. My wife has a grandmother never naturalized who came from Canada. Her grandfather was naturalized because he signed up for WWI in the US. Many Irish men gained citizenship that way.

So depending upon a Court ruling more people could face technical deportation than first imagined.

Who knows all the unlikely people who may be interpreted as illegal?
It could be you.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 04:50 PM

Steven Miller has devised a no hearing or due process deportation.
It is already challenged in Court.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:14 PM

Because Trump pardoned 1,500 insurrectionists without 'prejudice' the DOJ has informed the 135 capitol police that they are no longer 'victims'.

That sounds as Orwellian as it gets.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:32 PM

Like many government agencies, the NIH is under a gag order in which it is illegal to disclose the gag order. This post needs the help of a moderator to be removed by end of day,

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 02:35 AM

A ‘gag order’? WT Actual F? What happened to you ‘Murricans’ much-worshipped free speech?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 04:22 AM

I’ll try that again, in a way that I hope makes better sense!

A gag order? WTAF? What happened to the American Holy Cow of ‘free speech’?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 05:50 AM

Even the VA had a hiring freeze, banned all travel, and a gag order but word got out so the ban on new doctors and nurses was canceled.
They want to privatize the VA. The NIH is ordered not to communicate anything about bird flu even to fellow scientists, no travel, and no new hires.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 09:27 AM

This is from the Occupy Democrats Facebook froup in February 2019.Just as valid today, if not more so.

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"
Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:
"A few things spring to mind.
Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.
For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.
I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.
And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.
Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.
He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.
He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.
That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.
God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.
He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.
In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:
'My God… what… have… I… created?
If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 10:38 AM

It's getting closer. The former boss is fired and the new boss is under the gun.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 threads.
From: robomatic
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 01:19 PM

I think of Trump as the "shoot the moon" of character flaws. Not unlike that well-written post transmitted by DtG. Just a briefer way of description.

But he is the one in the White House for the present and next four years.

There was a Presidential contest in the late 19th century where one of candidates had undeniably fathered an illegitimate child. One of the slogans of the anti crowd was: "Maw, Maw, where's my paw?"

To which the other side replied:

"Gone to the White House! Haw Haw Haw!"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 02:50 PM

> Large libraries in US could have it [the FT] too, especially
> university libraries with History departments.

Not for long, if history is any guide. Which reminds me: Does anybody here know if Fahrenheit 451 is on the list of books to burn?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 03:48 PM

The US.gov website has been cleansed of any mention of 1-6.
The victor can erase history.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 04:00 PM

Am I the only person who thinks Barron Trump looks more like Elon Musk than $Trump? Is that why Melanoma won't kiss her husband in public any more? :-D

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 04:23 PM

I've heard that one already.
Elon has a bizarre perverse creepy unkissable mouth.

There is a Trump doxxing campaign going on for suspected disloyal government employees and the removal of security details for folks like Pompeo and Bolton. If someone was in the outer circle of Fauci's labs they are getting the ax since Biden gave Tony a pardon which made Donald mad. That's as many as 200 people.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 05:09 PM

The shut down gag order OF THE HEALTH AGENCIES I've been talking about is being reported on MSNBC.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 11:19 PM

And Hegseth made it through the vote, though it was a squeaker. For once McConnell did the honorable thing and voted against the creep, but Vance broke the tie.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 07:10 AM

From the Occupy Democrats FB Page…absolutely spot-on as far as this Brit is concerned…

“Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"

Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

"A few things spring to mind.

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

'My God… what… have… I… created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 07:12 AM

Helen, re Melania not kissing her husband on camera: There's an ongoing debate in this house over whether we're seeing Melania or False Melania.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 09:57 AM

Some say Trump is more real life than other politicians.

Obama was all rainbows and unicorns but Trump is all forclose with a unicorn horn up our ass.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 10:10 AM

"Here I come to save the day!" that means that Donald Trump is on his way.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 01:33 PM

BWM, do you realise that DtG already posted that on Date: 24 Jan 25 - 09:27 AM. A good read, some excellent points, and much easier to read with the line breaks, so thanks.

And MaJoC, by "False Melania" do you mean she has been AI generated or maybe cloned? LOL

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 04:27 PM

Aaaaahh! When I read it on the FB Page I thought it seemed slightly familiar! Well something so spot-on is worth repeating IMHO! ;-) :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 04:54 PM

Well, I've now read it twice and it was worth it. LOL

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Hrothgar
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 04:23 AM

I am not sure whether this statistic is available - but how many of the members of Congress who fled before the approaching mob on 06 Jan 21 approved of the pardons?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: The Sandman
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 05:00 AM

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8057lnd997o link to the BBC

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 05:52 AM

> do you mean she has been AI generated or maybe cloned?

Nah, just from the same cookie-cutter. It's something I've noted many times over the years: once some female gets noticed enough to be (*akkh* *phht*) a Celebrity, instances of The Look appear all over the piece. It's especially noticeable when said Look is clearly manufactured, and thus more easily reproducible. Case in point: all those lookalike competitions masquerading as Real Housewives of Lesser Bitchington which infest daytime TV, whose primary function is to be low-cost infill to keep the adverts apart.

I shouldn't complain too much, though. I settled on my own Look in the late 1960s, so Herself has to sit in when I'm at the barber's to ensure I don't come back looking like a recycled hippie.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 07:12 AM

Fractal flaws ad infinitum...
The government-wide shutdown of hiring, purchasing, travel, is particularly hazardous to experiments and research. When you can't buy food for the animals more than the experiment is killed.

So far the bird flu has jumped from birds to cattle to cats. The cases of human infection is from raw milk. The 1917 flu pandemic was not a bird flu as first suspected but with the Trump NIH gag order work stoppage, the hazards are in the hands of viral mutation.

Hegseth now heads up the Pentagon. We have had heavy drinking Generals like Ulysses S Grant but Hegseth says he is not a General.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 09:37 AM

Agent Orange begins putting his plan to piss the rest of the world off into effect…

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 10:09 AM

Invading Greenland's 21,000 citizens might embolden China's invasion of Taiwan. Denmark has been in NATO since 1949. Invading NATO nations by the US would set quite a precedent.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 01:26 PM

Got it, MaJoC. Like the characters in the hilariously funny Oz parody show called We Interrupt This Broadcast especially when relating to the shows called Married at First Sight (MAFS) and Love Island, which they renamed Lip Island. The women in Lip Island had outlandishly outsized lips, i.e. big, shiny red plastic replicas.

However, I don't think Melanoma's cosmetic work is quite that bad. She does actually look like a real human, IMHO, although more like an automaton with her lack of human emotion.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 04:41 PM

Side thought: "OK, we'll give you Greenland, in exchange for California and Florida."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: robomatic
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 05:47 PM

I'm sure the war gaming communities both in the world's professional militaries and pundit gaming circles are working current politics into the prospects for Taiwan.
If China is going to seize Taiwan they're going to want to have a large installed second strike capability in place.
China is supposedly developing a nuclear capability to rival those of U.S.A. and Russia. Might be one reason they have not tried to suppress N. Korea's nuclear development.

On the "Past as Prologue" subject, I'm wondering if we can actually form a picture of TRMP activity based on his previous term:

?More and different varied chaos?
?More organized swing to the right?
?More divergence between American extremes?
?New political parties?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Jan 25 - 07:12 AM

Two consecutive items in RISKS Digest 34.53 just caused me to think "Surprise" ....

Entry dated Mon, 20 Jan 2025:

Subject: Strengthening and Promoting Innovation in the Nation's Cybersecurity (Uncle Sam)
[...]
In a nutshell, the U.S. government won't buy off-the-shelf software stacks or services unless the manufacturer/supplier demonstrates irrefutable proof -- attestation -- of Federal cybersecurity regulatory compliance. "Just trust us" won't fly any longer. "Trust but verify" lives, with a vengeance via procurement regulations on steroids.

The EO regulations require in-house adoption and audit of NIST 800-53 and other 'modest' process disciplines before foisting the next software toxic waste dump into the government's supply chain.

[US$5 says the EO is repealed by the incoming administration -- too expense for business to comply.]

Entry dated Fri, 24 Jan 2025:

Subject: White House Disbands Cyber Safety Review Board
(John Leyden)

The Trump administration has dismissed all members of the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), including those investigating the China-linked hacking group Salt Typhoon. The CSRB was established through an executive order by the previous administration and tasked with reviewing major cyber-incidents affecting the U.S. government.

For the record, there's an article in The Register, with the title "Trump 'waved a white flag to Chinese hackers' as Homeland Security axed cyber advisory boards".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Jan 25 - 08:04 AM

PS: It's worth reading the whole of that issue of RISKS. Many of the other articles concern the promotion of cryptocurrencies by the incoming maladministration.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Jan 25 - 10:36 AM

I just spent 4 hours listening to the Trump advisor on AI coding, DEI, censorship, and debanking. He worked for Twitter and META. He leaves me wondering if some of his issues are crazy shit or true. He also loves himself some Elon. Knowing where and from whom ideas come from is enlightening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHWnPOKh_S0

The crazy thing is not every issue is untrue.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jan 25 - 08:25 PM

This information has been posted on social media so people can do their own fact checking (should have been anyway, but now it is all the more important):

Politifact
https://www.politifact.com/

Factcheck.org
https://www.factcheck.org/

Washington Post Fact Checker
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fact-checker/

Snopes
https://www.snopes.com/

Duke Reporter’s Lab Fact Checker
https://reporterslab.org/fact-checking/

SciCheck
https://www.factcheck.org/scicheck/

FlackCheck
https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/

Media Bias Fact Check (MBFC)
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

NPR Fact Check
https://www.npr.org/sections/politics-fact-check

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 03:30 AM

January 6 rioter Matthew Huttle shot dead by police during traffic stop just days after Trump pardon

"In short: Police say that a January 6 rioter who had recently been pardoned by Donald Trump has been shot and killed by police at a traffic stop.

"Matthew Huttle, who agreed to a plea deal that gave him six months in jail in 2023, was in possession of a firearm during the traffic stop, state police said.

"What's next? The investigation is ongoing.

"An Indiana man who was recently pardoned by US President Donald Trump for his participation in the January 6 riots has been shot and killed by a deputy at a traffic stop.

"Matthew Huttle was shot by a Jasper County sheriff's deputy on Sunday morning, local time, after allegedly resisting arrest after an altercation took place with an officer, authorities said.

"The 42-year-old was in possession of a firearm during the traffic stop, state police said.

"Huttle was one of the almost 1,500 people pardoned by Mr Trump as one of his first acts upon his return to the White House.

"State police said that the deputy officer tried to arrest the man from Hobart, Indiana, when an altercation 'took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect'."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: The Sandman
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 04:02 AM

Stilly river sage, it is important to question all information, regardless of its source, with the exception of the weather reports

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 06:13 AM

Over here Trump has used his Sharpie to alter hurricane weather reports.

I intentionally read the opinions of those who have the ear of Trump.
Marc Andreessen is a hundred times more intelligent than Kash Patel.
Trump prefers stupid radical puppets over smart ones.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 07:28 AM

A poem by Michael Rosen…

Trump talked of
a million and a half people.
and he wondered aloud
what if
‘we just clean out that whole thing?’
He wondered aloud
what if we say
‘you know, it’s over.’?

What do you say
you people we vote for,
you who shroud your soft bodies in suits
and sit
enclosed in the safety of offices
in the towers of glass and steel
you who sit on TV panels
shaking your cheeks with horror
at outrages round the globe
what do you say
to the man who talks of
cleaning out people
like the people are unclean
what do you say to the man
who talks of people as
‘that whole thing’
like the people are a thing.

What do you say
to the President
who talks of the people of Gaza
as if they are an unclean thing?

What do you say to us?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 12:48 PM

This is when a percentage of people who voted for Trump start to rethink that decision:

Donald Trump to pause all federal grants and loans, memo reveals

"In short: The Trump administration has temporarily paused grant, loan and other financial assistance programs at the Office of Management and Budget.

"His administration made the request in a memo which referenced the executive orders including those seeking to dismantle programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

"What's next?

"According to the memo, the suspension begins on January 28 at 5pm EST (January 29, 8am AEST)."

....

"'The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,' Mr Vaeth added.

"According to the memo, the suspension begins on January 28 at 5pm EST (January 29, 8am AEST).

'The memo has prompted criticism from congressional Democrats, who have responded to reports of the memo by sending a letter demanding the OMB reverse its decision.

"'The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country,' Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro wrote.

"We write today to urge you in the strongest possible terms to uphold the law and the Constitution and ensure all federal resources are delivered in accordance with the law."

....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 12:56 PM

What is next is that all the money that was supposed to go help people will now stay in Washinton so that in a few months when Trump goes to lower taxes on billionaires he will show a huge amount of money available to do so.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 01:11 PM

In other words, if you were a bank robber you would not want any money transferred out of the bank you will rob.
Of the 300 executive orders, 95% of them are designed to create a diversion from the 'heist'.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 01:29 PM

An exception to this freeze of all payments is the third rail of Social Security, the majority of which ends up in the pockets of landlords.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 06:46 PM

The Trump emails have gone out to government workers stating "If you resign now we will be nice to you". The strategy is to destroy the government leaving an oligarchal monarchy.

Those employees weighing their options know the courts will take years while the President can act in 5 minutes.

We had a Republic if we could keep it. So far we can't if intimidation and blackmail works.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 08:14 PM

The Trump email came directly from OPM office of personnel management for the first time in history by bypassing the firewall security system. Everyone got the email saying if you don't resign now your benefits will disappear. This email strategy is similar to the Musk email that got most of Twitter to resign. Without a brave solidarity, this will destroy the Federal government's ability to survive.
This will be a week of profiling one's courage or cowardice.

Like climate change, the revolution is here and now.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 10:38 PM

There are protections in the law for federal employees. There are protections in the law for citizens that Trump is trying to do an end-run around.

Just tonight the White House reversed itself from some of the funding it blocked (for AIDS drugs, etc.) This funding freeze is illegal.

I've sent letters and messages via the various official sites for the two senators and the representative in my state. I'm going to be doing a lot of this. Now that I have it set up I hope to be able to dash off messages as often as needed. If we all do it, it gets noticed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 01:57 AM

When it comes to energy, Donald Trump is China’s useful idiot The US president’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ strategy ignores long-term global trends

Donald Trump is late to the shale party. The fracking boom of the last 15 years has largely run its course as the best seams are exploited and productivity declines.

Even if the geology holds up, the pace of drilling will be set by the global price of oil, the US price of gas, and the cost of capital – already higher on market fears of inflationary overheating and debt addiction.

“We will drill, baby, drill. We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it,” said the president at his Orwellian inaugural.

He was beaten to it by Barack Obama, Trump 1.0, and Joe Biden. America is already a rich nation and the world’s energy hegemon. The burning question now is whether Trump 2.0 will throw it away. (read on)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 07:03 AM

"There are protections in the law for federal employees. There are protections in the law for citizens that Trump is trying to do an end-run around."

When has federal law ever stopped Trump? When have impeachments worked? When have the courts truly prevailed?
It is possible that this is an overreach even for a master criminal.
If so the gears of justice grind slowly while Trump moves at the speed of tweet. Trump relies on committing the crime while the protections in law tread water for years until the victims slowly drown.

The Dem Senate will try a full court press of delaying Trump actions via every tool in the toolbox but will it be enough?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 08:08 AM

Lord, I was born a gamblin' man
Lyin' to make a livin' and doin' the scam I can
And when it's time for stealin
I know you'll understand
That I was born a gamblin' man
Well, my father was a gambler way up in Queens
And he wound up on the extreme right for the whites
And I was born into millions from shitty rentals
In courtrooms day and night
Lord, I was born a gamblin' man
Lyin' to make a livin' and doin' the scam I can
And when it's time for stealin'
I know you'll understand
That I was born a gamblin' man
Alright
I'm on my way to the White House this mornin'
Leaving on my jet, in Florida
They're always having a good time in Mara Lago
Lord, and hot porn women think the world of me
Lord, I was born a gamblin' man
Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the scam I can
And when it's time for stealin'
I know you'll understand
That I was born a gamblin' man

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 08:55 AM

An excellent piece by Charles Pierce, which pretty much sums up my lifetime views of US Presidents, and the current, revolting incumbent…

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

- Charles Pierce

God Help America (and the rest of the world).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 11:29 AM

Musk offered to give Twitter employees a payout if they would leave - they left, but never got the payout. He just tried the same thing with Federal employees. Didn't even change the wording on the stupid email that they sent out from OPM.

He must think we're stupid. But then, Trump was elected.

Don't fall for that shit, folks. I don't think I've ever seen a more accurate representation of the term "hot mess" than is going on right now in Washington, D.C.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 12:03 PM

> they left, but never got the payout.

Par for the course. Musk doesn't pay his bills either .... does that remind you of anybody?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 12:37 PM

"He must think we're stupid"

He thinks he gets more attention and his victims won't be heard.
Every single government employee is being asked to resign in less than a week.

This action will curtail all programs excluding supposingly 3 agencies. You would think this buy out of Americans who help Americans on such short notice would scare the shit out of the public.
The public either has not heard, do not believe, or believe life will go on as usual. I believe this action will reset America to zero and to start over from nothing would take many years or never.

Having the most incompetent appointees in charge will assure the end of the remaining competent employees that do not quit.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 02:07 PM

A bit of background from an article in The Register yesterday (overstrike in the original). This might explain how those msgs bypassed the firewall.

Two anonymous US government employees have sued Uncle Sam's HR department – the Office of Personnel Management – claiming the Trump administration's rapid roll out of a new federal email system broke the law.

The pair's complaint, filed Monday in a Washington DC district court, claims an effort to establish a single email address through which the OPM can communicate directly with all civilian federal employees – some presume to facilitate firing them – violated the E-Government Act of 2002.

[...]

The complaint goes on to cite an unattributed Reddit post from a purported OPM employee that claims Melvin Brown, CIO of the agency, was axed one week into the job because he refused to set up an email system capable of reaching all government employees at once, since as mentioned above managing workers is traditionally left to individual departments. With him out of the way, we're told, a single mail server was installed to run the centralized sitting duck [e-mail] address.

"An on-prem (on-site) email server was set up," the cited post says. "Someone literally walked into our building and plugged in an email server to our network to make it appear that emails were coming from OPM. It’s been the one sending those various 'test' messages you've all seen.

"We think they're building a massive list of all federal employees to generate massive RIF [reduction in force aka layoffs] notices down the road."

[ ...]

A lawyer acting for the plaintiffs, Kel McClanahan, told CNN, "Plugging in a new email server for the sole purpose of sending messages directly to every federal employee is an invitation to be hacked, and every employee out there needs to know how much of their data is at risk."

The entire article bears reading.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 02:33 PM

More snippage from that article:

"If you ever receive communications from this address, it can be considered trusted," the messages added.

This was the same OPM that got hacked in 2014, quite possibly by a Chinese crew, which is why the laws being flouted were put in place.

Let's see, from the POV of a systems administrator: Fresh server, not valeted by the security people, plonked inside the firewall; and an e-mail address which is eminently fakeable being declared to be trustworthy by definition. What could possibly go wrong?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 03:53 PM

Awwww MaJoC, you're such a cynic! LOL

Thanks for that article. My Hubby reads The Register too. Some interesting, readable content.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 07:08 PM

No he's not a cynic Helen. He just picked up on the truth that I reported. As an inside man, I see what's going on in the government.
Never before has OPM DIRECTLY contacted employees, instead it was disseminated by each sub-branch. The reason was accurately reported.

4 years ago fellow mudcatters argued that the US institutions would hold on. They did for a time but this is a battle to destroy them all.
With no Office of Government Ethics, criminals will have a clear path etc.

The report that the Trump freeze on spending is rescinded is inaccurate. Many parts of it continue behind the scenes until journalists expose the truth.
Some things Trump wants to hide like secret documents in the bathroom.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 10:00 PM

I was attempting to be ironic, Donuel. LOL

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 10:35 PM

AH crap,
often I am a literal nerd.
It depends on mood and word.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 10:49 PM

A plane collision with a helicopter, both crashing into the Potomac will divert attention from Trump for a news cycle. Let's hope he doesn't try to one-up that news, it could be catastrophic.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 06:58 AM

So mnny questions: why is a military aircraft even in cemercial aircraft approach and lnding airspace. Why didn't ARC spot he airspace encroachment? Why dud ATC nit assume first of all that the military heeicpter would be encroaching its airspace and order it to apport its take off/landing when the helicooter was at risk encroaching the airines fight path and divert the plane just in case

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 08:28 AM

lt's official, everyone at work now has Elon Musk's spyware on their computer. China already had our data but now they have an update.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 12:04 PM

Trump blamed the crash on Biden, Budajedge Bull Shit and DEI.
He intimated someone not white allowed the crash to happen, possibly an air traffic controller or pilot.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 01:11 PM

The idiot is just sick. The sooner the world stage is rid of it, the better

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 02:09 PM

Aw thanks, Helen (*blush*). For your (and Hubbie's) delight and delectation, there was a followup article the next day, which documents the trap being sprung. Read in full, but not on a full stomach .... it's the second article in a row that's got a picture of Agent X doing That Arm Gesture.

Oh, and I do accept the title of Cynic (in the sense of "what happens when an idealist becomes a realist") with a modicum of pride.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 02:36 PM

> someone not white

Not quite, Donuel. I made the mistake of staying in the room when the news was covering the Stable Genius's blatherings; what I heard was a sustained dribble about mental defectives (at which point I thought "Democrats"), and Herself heard mention of dwarves, as if being short of inches means being short of marbles, but it's difficult straining sense out of drivel.

The journalistic expression "using up all the oxygen in the room" seems to have fallen out of fashion. Mebbe we're now just used to a permanently anoxic environment, like yeast in wine-making.

I propose to now go and do something more constructive, like stroking the cat. Negative ions are good for you.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 02:45 PM

Trump is all about blame. Don, keep your head down. Until Musk is found to be so out of bounds that even Trump kicks him out you're stuck with keyloggers or whatever they put in the machinery. No Mudcat at work, please. We don't need that gaze directed to this little site. (This from a former state employee who ended up with a keylogger on her computer at work for six months after an old Mudcat troll created an email account and sent a complaint to the department management that I was badmouthing them blah blah blah; no truth to it, but he was trying to get me fired and making threats about going to the media. It resulted in a police report and stalking investigation but the IT department still put that stupid logger on. You can see when it goes in and again when it goes away.)

Federal employees: don't log your phone onto the building network or check your work email using it, use WiFi only if you use a VPN if you use your phone in that building. Don't log onto your work accounts from home unless you already work from home and have a separate machine for your personal accounts.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: robomatic
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 02:55 PM

It's pretty easy to use a microcosm of the web as a 'sampler' of internet issues:

This thread, for example. People write in with news items but mostly they are: "I heard" items.

If we care not to be misinformed, we need a filter for most things these days.

My filter is multiple sources. Among them, the New York Times, public broadcasting, the BBC, DW, and certain posts from certain people.

There are also negative filters. Some posters are reliable sources of misinformation.

THIS IS NOT NEW. It's just the most recent incarnation of same old same old.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 30 Jan 25 - 03:58 PM

I agree, robomatic. My filter of multiple sources includes ABC (Oz) News, Planet America (Oz TV show), SBS (Oz) News, PBS, ABC America, PBS Washington Week With The Atlantic, DW, and other reliable, trustworthy, factual and analytical news sources. I always post links and summaries of news articles when possible.

Stilly, thanks for the advice on staying digitally safe. Being now retired I only have to worry about the home network and Hubby, the IT coordinator fixes all that.

You have reminded me of when, in my last state government job, I began an email to a colleague thanking them for a compliment received by saying "Aw shucks". I almost immediately received notification from the IT Dept that I was using inappropriate language and my email was canned. I then immediately emailed a reply with a history of that phrase, including Disney and other animated shows from 50 years ago. That shut them up, quick-smart. (As I recall I had been stirring up trouble with management just prior to that, being a Union rep with a cause to fight for, so I think it wasn't random that my emails were being monitored. LOL)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Neil D
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 04:01 AM

Less than 2 weeks into his administration and Trunp already has a negative approval rating, but a stat like that just pisses me off. Because mathematics will tell you that that means people who voted for him now disapprove of him. He has only done what he said he would so why the shift. I can only think it is derangement.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 06:39 AM

This from someone called Mike Kemp (don’t know him, he just commented on a FB thread). It concerns Trump’s comments about the quality of recruitment in air traffic control:

“Hearing Trump's concern for people ending up in jobs despite psychological problems and ineptitude making them manifestly unsuitable was an irony too far.”

Trump really doesn’t get irony, does he?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 07:21 AM

There are meetings with many of Stilly's suggestions.

Trump does have commoner sense. He knows when he is responsible he needs to blame others when there is failure. He has not picked a director of the FAA. There is no director. The air traffic control were understaffed PERHAPS because of his DEI abolishment. The mid-air collision did happen on his watch. Time to blame others.

His genius idea to kill Covid with bleach was his first medical thought.
His first thought about air safety is to blame others, especially nonwhites, women or Democrats.

On an aside, I have heard the prior plane crash in the Potomac was blamed on ice which is not entirely true. The Pilots Never extended the flaps which is crucial for take off. The ice idea was merely the first speculation back in 1987. Funny how lies don't die.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 07:30 AM

good one Backwoodsman.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 10:53 AM

I refer the honourable gentleFOLK to a comment I made earlier in another place: - sarcasm fully intended.....

Trump, in his infinite wisdom (and unmatched qualifications from owning hotels, casinos, and golf resorts, not to mention his personal golf prowess), considers himself a forensic expert in air crash investigations. He can confidently determine the cause of a tragedy before any proper analysis even begins. Meanwhile, the grieving families of the victims should feel fortunate—after all, their loss has given Trump the perfect platform to spew his bile, instead of offering any semblance of leadership or empathy in the face of such profound suffering.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 10:57 AM

Now waiting for public condemnation by all of the other 192 UN states, starting with my Prime Minister and/or Foreign Secretary.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 12:52 PM

A giant eye-roll goes out to Trump for ordering historic black colleges to stop teaching black history. Also for federal agencies to not celebrate or recognize MLK Day, Juneteenth, or black history month.

In the document, there is an asterisk and small print "except federal holidays".

Its hard to parody this guy's bull shit so I won't.
*except in song

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 01:21 PM

So slavery never happened and voting equality was a generous gift by while supremacist elite. Oh, that's alright then.... (sarcasm)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 01:33 PM

I'm gonna pitch CBS a new Trump reality show called World's dumbest racists.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: gillymor
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 01:39 PM

I wonder what the young black males who went for Trump in 24 are feeling about him now. Reminds me of what Jeb Stuart said of his father in law who chose to stay in the Union at the outset of the Civil War, "He will regret it but once and that will be continually." That will be probably be true for a lot of people as this reign of hatred and stupidity proceeds.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 03:03 PM

Another popular show could be 'Stump the Trump' where audience members would ask him simple questions like "why do icebergs float" or why do the oceans have tides? What is a cochlear implant? Did Gary Bussy answer these questions correctly?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 03:10 PM

As for BWM's quote about "..an irony too far", it reminds me of a certain memorable (for all the wrong reasons) UK PM known as the Iron Lady, so is there an irony-related nickname for Trump?

In my head I had the name Iron Maiden, i.e. the rock band, so the first nickname I thought of was Irony MadeMe.

I've said this before - yes, I know, ad nauseum - but it would really make a difference if voting was compulsory. How are the people who didn't vote feeling right now? Remind me please: how many million people didn't vote?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 03:33 PM

... it would make a difference if voting was compulsory.

I always make the effort to vote as I consider it my civic duty but I reserve the right to abstain if none of the candidates meet my expectations. If voting was compulsary, I would strongly consider the Monster Raving Loony Party or similar, if available, as a protest vote. The danger is that one of these joke parties could end up in power.

DC

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 03:34 PM

To answer my own question, the U.S. News site says 89 million or 30% of eligible voters did not vote.

Or this Environmental Voter Project site

"Although Donald Trump only beat Kamala Harris by a razor thin 1.6% margin in the popular vote, the 2024 election was in many ways a blow-out if you consider all the ballots that could have been cast but weren't.

"Using data from the University of Florida Election Lab, a new analysis by the Environmental Voter Project shows that 85.9 million eligible voters skipped the 2024 general election, far surpassing the 76.8 million ballots cast for Donald Trump or the 74.3 million for Kamala Harris.

"If 'Did Not Vote' had been a presidential candidate, they would have beaten Donald Trump by 9.1 million votes, and they would have won 21 states, earning 265 electoral college votes to Trump's 175 and Harris's 98."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 03:52 PM

Worth the wait... upcoming Netflix movie:
The Prince of Dark Revenge
starring Kash Patelzebub.

Coming soon:
For Whom the Bell Trolls
starring Elon Trump

Trump threatened Spain with 100% tariffs because he thought the s in BRICS nations stood for Spain. It stands for South Africa.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 04:19 PM

Sorry, typo: I should have said 36% of eligible voters did not vote, as quoted from the U.S. News site.

Donuel, maybe someone clever could clone an Elon Trump (non-human) being. Ooooh! Scary!

Donald Trump to put US tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China from Saturday

"In short: Mexico, Canada and China will face tariffs on exports to the US from Saturday, the White House has confirmed.

"Despite earlier reports Donald Trump would wait until March 1, Mexico and Canada will be hit with tariffs of 25 per cent, and China a rate of 10 per cent, from Saturday February 1."

...


"Economists and business executives have warned that the tariffs would spark major increases in the prices of imports such as aluminium and lumber from Canada, fruits, vegetables, beer and electronics from Mexico and motor vehicles from both countries.

"Tariffs are paid by firms that import goods and pass the costs on to consumers or accept lower profits, economists say.

"'President Trump's tariffs will tax America first,' said Matthew Holmes, public policy chief at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 'From higher costs at the pumps, grocery stores and online checkout, tariffs cascade through the economy and end up hurting consumers and businesses on both sides of the border.'"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 04:29 PM

I wonder how many MAGA-Muppets think that Mexico, Canada, and China will pay for the tariffs?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 04:34 PM

Meanwhile at government agencies there's a man going around taking names...for real

… "And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying,
'Come and see.' and I saw, and behold a white horse"
… There's a man goin' 'round takin' names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reachin' down
When the man comes around
… The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup
Or disappear into the potter's ground?
When the man comes around
… Hear the trumpets hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singin'
Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettledrum
Voices callin', voices cryin'
Some are born and some are dyin'
It's alpha and omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
… Till armageddon no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around
… Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the man comes around
… Hear the trumpets hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singin'
Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettledrum
Voices callin', voices cryin'
Some are born and some are dyin'
It's alpha and omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn trees
It's hard for thee to kick against the prick
In measured hundredweight and penny pound
When the man comes around
… "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked, and behold a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him"

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Cash

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 04:46 PM

My Hubby sent me a clever cartoon by Riddell, with an added note in the top right corner, "with apologies to Grant Wood", the painter of the classic American Gothic artwork. It was on Farcebook, which I refuse to use.

The cartoon shows two clever/scary portrayals of Trump as the woman and Musk as the man. I can't find it in a search for Riddell's Trump cartoons but it would be good to be able to share it here.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 04:55 PM

So straight after I hit submit on my last post, Hubby comes and shows me how to do a reverse image search on the Google-devil site.

Chris Riddell on the new American Gothic, starring Donald Trump and Elon Musk – cartoon

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 11:55 PM

Straight out of The Handmaid's Tale: New DOT Memo Directs Funds To Communities With Higher ‘Marriage And Birth Rates’
The memo also said recipients of federal transportation dollars must cooperate with immigration enforcement, a hit to so-called sanctuary cities. Bizarre.

WASHINGTON - The federal Department of Transportation has issued a memo ordering programs supported by the agency to prioritize funding projects for communities with “marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.”

The unusual four-page memo also directs thousands of employees to give special priority to projects and activities that improve transportation for “families with young children.” The directive applies to all Transportation Department-supported grants, loans and contracts, including existing agreements.

“I’ve never seen a memo like this before,” said one congressional aide who works on transportation policy and requested anonymity to speak freely.

“Considering fertility rates when prioritizing federal grants? We obviously have no idea what the full impact of that will be,” said this aide. “It’s absolutely creepy. It’s a little ‘Chinese government.’ [The Trump administration] would hate that comparison, but I don’t know where else I’ve seen a policy of ‘we need to incentivize baby-making.’”

A Transportation Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 01:19 AM

I read The Handmaid's Tale when it was first published in 1985. It was chilling but I could never really believe that something like that could actually happen IRL. Now I am seriously re-thinking that evaluation.

Not only is Trump intent on accelerating climate change and other world-damaging events, but he is also intent on targeting women.

OMG. Sorry. I'm gobsmacked! I'll have to go off and totally re-evaluate my view of the world now.

Subject: RE: THE HEIST IS HERE
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 06:50 AM

The key holder of the US Treasury was visited by Elon's cadre TONIGHT and was demanded to hand over the keys of the Treasury. The Treasury director simply asked why and was immediately held to be counter to the Doge committee and was essentially fired to which he resigned rather than hand over the 6 trillion dollar checkbook. The keys to the treasury is a system which is has the highest secrecy.

Is it a heist or a takeover of the payment system for other reasons?
We don't know but I called it a bank robbery attempt last week.

It is unknown to me if MUSK currently has access to Treasury funds.
The ex director has said that without an explanation the motives of MUSK appear nefarious.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 07:33 AM

Musk thugs found an underling who gave them the keys. Game over for the heist along with 1,000 FBI agents fired illegally at the same time.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 08:07 AM

Trump is practiced at playing a role as President as he conceives it but meanwhile he has Musk's proud goys rob/control the Treasury.
Everything is broken

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 09:03 AM

My personal source is 2 steps removed from the JD and the only media I have seen cover the Treasury keys - Rachel Maddow.

Big media seems mired in plane crashes and the FBI firings.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 10:11 AM

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/musks-doge-clashes-with-treasury-over-access-to-payment-system-report-says/

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 10:23 AM

sounds like a human breeding programme is trumps workaround for the labour shortages his deportation pokily will cause

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 11:11 AM

Trump has to be impeached if the GOP wants to retain any power in their respective houses and get Musk out of the treasury.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 11:48 AM

Criminals don't leave the gang until the loot is split up.
Trump is actually considered to be gangsta and cool in the general hip hop culture.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 11:50 AM

sounds like a human breeding programme is trumps workaround for the labour shortages his deportation policy will cause

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 02:25 PM

I don't get the breeding program. He wants to clean out, eliminate, deport, or otherwise get rid of certain people.
This is his last chance to get rid of anyone who will prosecute or investigate him, in the near future. It's also his last chance to profit from his presidency.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: robomatic
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 02:32 PM

Helen: It's been said that few intellectuals' democratic principles survive a conversation with the average voter.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 02:34 PM

With no abortion, that would be the "breeding program."

I've looked around and found a source of 20" x 30" foam core for making signs. Office supply stores are expensive but Dollar Tree sells a pack of 20 for $25. Headed over there shortly. I also just joined the local branch of the League of Women Voters.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 05:38 PM

Thanks robomatic. I appreciate the reminder to be a better human.

I don't agree with the death penalty so I shouldn't have let my emotions take over. Reading The Handmaid's Tale 40 years ago was very confronting, scary, but I tried to convince myself that it could never happen in reality. Seeing Trump's moves towards taking away women's rights and seeing The Handmaid's Tale mentioned in this thread has triggered a lot of those past feelings, so that is my only explanation for losing my grip on balanced reality.

I promise to be more humane from now on, even when faced with some scary moments I thought could only happen in Sci-Fi dystopic novels and films. :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: robomatic
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 05:50 PM

I think Tom Clancy said, but he probably didn't invent the idea, that writing fiction was harder than fact, because fiction had to be believable.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Feb 25 - 07:33 PM

I'm literally rearranging my work schedule so in the evening I can step away from the computer and do something like sew or read or work a jigsaw and listen to an audiobook. Too much news now rots the mood, and self-medication works against us.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 06:56 AM

Helen, it is hard to hold a balanced view in an unbalanced world, and I an unashamed partisan in my views.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 09:02 AM

I can still amuse myself with ample footage of Trump signing over 300 crazy show-and-tell executive orders at high speed to a soundtrack of Yakkity Sax.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 09:49 AM

Not quite sure whether trump plans to deport non-Mexican nationals to. Claudia Sheinbaum has stared categorically this will not be Mexico'a responsivity.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 11:38 AM

> " [...] I don’t know where else I’ve seen a policy
> of ‘we need to incentivize baby-making.’”

"Mother of the Soviet Union." says I.

"Germany under the Nazis," says Herself.

Subsidiary thought: The only thing anybody ever learns from history is that nobody ever learns anything from history. Consider the economically-illiterate imposition of punative tarrifs: as Jonty Bloom points out in this week's New European, putting 25% tarrifs on steel and aluminium in 2018 simply caused local producers to jack their prices by 24%, in the sure and certain knowledge that they had their customers (car makers, machine manufacturers etc) over a barrel. That's Practical Capitalism 101, as well as happening on the Oik-in-Chief's own watch.

Further back, Senators Smoot and Hawley slapped on import tarrifs in 1930 in response to the Depression, and every other country did it straight back; the result was to intensify the Depression and all but wreck the world economy. Rebooting the world took a world war, and a carefully-thought-through post-war recovery programme.

I'll end it there. I need some cat therapy.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 11:59 AM

PS: Can anyone else remember those Physics classes involving static electricity? The teacher produced charges of one kind by rubbing a glass rod with (I *think*) silk, and of the other with an amber rod and cat fur (the cat of course long since departed); one charge was positive, and the other negative.

But which was which? Enquiring cat staff wish to know.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 01:22 PM

MaJoC, sadly cat therapy is no longer available to Hubby and I. All gone to cat heaven now.

I was reading the thread on the Vietnam Vet who contracted COVID-19 and I think it can be fairly attributed to Trump that the US had the worst rate of COVID infections and deaths in the world. If he wants to look at his accomplishments, he should not ignore that.


A graph showing the statistics:

Premature Mortality During COVID-19 in the U.S. and Peer Countries

And the article abstract:

Premature Mortality During COVID-19 in the U.S.

A note about the definition of excess deaths used in the study:

"Excess deaths are the number of deaths beyond what would have been expected in a typical year and can be due directly or indirectly to COVID-19, as well as other causes."

I look at that graph and see the influence of politics.

The US and UK had strong-willed COVID-denying and vaccine-denying politicians in power. Compare those stats with Japan and Australia, whose political leaders stepped up with every resource available to deal effectively with the problem. Both countries had less than the usual number of deaths, which I assume can be attributed to the vaccinations and other precautionary measures including social distancing, masks, handwashing, disinfecting etc.

I think Trump will go down in history for that "accomplishment".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 02:51 PM

DJT is our modern-day snake oil doctor when medicine was largely charismatic, biased, and rumor-based.
Modern medicine has been based on evidence peering ever more deeply into our cells, proteins, and DNA.
It looks like we are going back to old-fashioned best-guess medicine with RFK anti-vaccine and DJT's horse dewormer cure-alls.
DJT has the same approach to economics blended with blackmail, extortion, and theft.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 02:58 PM

Perhaps RFK should have tried DJT's dewormer to avoid brain worms.
Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a buried nut.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 03:35 PM

LOL Donuel. Too late now for RFK because that (brainworm) horse has already bolted.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 03:46 PM

I used to check this site regularly during the COVID period:

Worldometer Coronavirus Cases

Comparing developed countries, and not poor, under developed, under resourced countries, the US wins hands down.

Sort the columns by clicking the up-down arrow symbol next to the column name to compare different factors.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 threade
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 04:21 PM

When I was a student I rented a room just off campus from a lovely septuagenarion who let me share the kitchen and TV room. At the time the BBC was airing the "I Claudius" series based on two books by Robert Graves. Landlady had had some Latin education and read some of the Roman histories Graves had used in framing his narrative, and we watched the series together.

The series showed its meagre BBC 70s budget in its set construction but the actors from Derek Jacobi to Brian Blessed, Siân Phillips and John Hurt chewed that scenery in the best way possible.

One of my favorite quotes from the series was a Roman historian being judged by a dictatorial figure he had displeased (said figure being played by a rollicking young Patrick Stewart as Sejanus) that it was a danger when mankind had lost its "sense of smell".

The protagonist, Claudius, for most of the story, longs for the re-establishment of the Roman republic, but when he himself is installed as emperor, is unable to achieve it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 04:54 PM

robomatic, with reference to I, Claudius and Derek Jacobi, and totally off-topic for this thread - or maybe not, now that I think about the plot - if you watch the hilariously clever Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans in the first scene the Emperor Claudius is played by none other than Derek Jacobi. He then immediately gets bumped off by his scheming wife who thinks she can take over until their son comes of age.

And another thought has struck me about COVID-related deaths. To date there have been 1,219,487 COVID-related deaths in the US since COVID started. Assuming that a significant chunk of those people believed and trusted Trump's trumped up conspiracy theories and died as a result of that belief and trust, then Trump probably lost a significant percentage of his voters who supported him. He could have had a bigger victory in this last election if his voters had lived to vote again.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 05:01 PM

Helen: Considering the theme and especially the end of the series, I think it is horribly appropriate.

And to drag in a favorite radio reference (BBC) a quote from the Goon show that I've employed adapted to the States:


"Cheer up, dear listeners: Old England isn't finished yet-"

"It's finished-"

thunk

"NOW!"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 05:25 PM

Ah --- I CLAVDIVS. We've got the videotapes, and both the books (which get called "One Clavdivs" and "Two Clavdivs" in our house). That series is from the days when Them In Charge thought cardboard scenery wasn't as important as good scriptwriters and real actors, and it's all the better for it; even when I hear the low thrum of the studio air-extraction fans in the background in some of the quiet passages, it's more a side amusement than a distraction. And verily, watching the current hot mess going on behind the Graeco-Romanesque frontage of the White House, we both find it looks horribly familiar.

Meanwhile, back at the point: If the Stable Genius decides some of those in the air-traffic trade are mentally defective, would he replace them with people who have had bits of their brains eaten by a worm?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 08:19 PM

Indivisible and other groups meeting tonight; the Zoom meeting maxed out (I got in, amazingly) but it is also live-streaming on YouTube and they're recording to play later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55yf3AstpQI

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 08:56 PM

"Let all the evil in the mud Hatch Out!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 09:04 PM

The District court has ruled with vehemence to cease the freeze.
No waiting for evaluation and to apologize to every person you sent that email to.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Helen
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 09:06 PM

When I was searching for the file on my computer with the COVID stats I had compiled during the pandemic, I also found a photo of Trump and a photo of a Cane Toad which I had saved during his first Presidential term.

This front view shows a similar eye-popping characteristic to Trump.

The many facial expressions of Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Cane toads are an introduced, invasive species in Oz and this creates problems for the environment in a number of ways, making it difficult for diverse species to live a comfortable and healthy life in their natural habitat. (Irony intended)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 10:00 PM

There is going to be a "kit" of materials available (check on the YouTube video for stuff added to the page) that will give information on how to set up visits to the local office for your senators, etc.

It is clear that this isn't a Democratic or Republican issue - everyone is going to be hurt by this crap. I'm planning a trip to the nearests offices of both state US senators this week, once I read through the kit information.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 10:05 PM

A quote from Wired today (I had to join to read it, but the first year is $5 and they offer access to other journals for a good price if you're interested):

Already, Musk’s lackeys have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA), and have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, potentially allowing him access to a vast range of sensitive information about tens of millions of citizens, businesses, and more. On Sunday, CNN reported that DOGE personnel attempted to improperly access classified information and security systems at the US Agency for International Development and that top USAID security officials who thwarted the attempt were subsequently put on leave. The Associated Press reported that DOGE personnel had indeed accessed classified material.

“What we're seeing is unprecedented in that you have these actors who are not really public officials gaining access to the most sensitive data in government,” says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “We really have very little eyes on what's going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what's happening because these aren't really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world.”

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 07:28 AM

Musk goons have the data & key passwords of the Treasury. THE PERSON WHO GAVE THEM ACCESS WAS BELOW MY FRIEND'S PAYGRADE but was promised a Trump promotion.

Goons were denied access to USAID passwords to move money. THE EXTRACTION OF MONEY PASSWORDS are not all in one basket. Access passwords are really entire systems and not a matter of a code or a birthday. Trump continues to ignore court rulings although they have complied with ordered emails, big deal.

MUSK & GOONS HAVE NOT FAKEN AN OATH TO THE CONSTITUTION NOR ARE THEY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

USAID people had more courage and ethics than the coward at the Treasury. WILL CONGRESS ASSIST THE GOONS OR EXPRESS THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL POWER?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 09:35 AM

Just heard on BBC News 24:

Presidential decree to hit the EU with tarrifs. One chap's reaction: The EU should impose punitive tarrifs on companies personally owned by the Oik-in-Chief, for example "his orange juice company".

Excuse me a moment, please. My ironyometer's just exploded.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 10:16 AM

Heard on the Beeb again, summarised by Herself (prob misheard by me):

"Ontario has forbidden bidding by US firms for Government contracts, and they've ripped up a contract with Elon Musk." [Verification and details, anybody?]

Her verdict: "Canada's got more balls than the UK."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 10:26 AM

This just seen in The Register:

US datacenters in for shock as Canada mulls cutting the juice over Trump tariffs

[...]

These tariffs have widely been met with dismay, with tech industry groups within the US saying they are not a good idea and stock markets in Europe and Asia declining amid threats of a widespread trade war.

In Canada, it is being suggested the country should go further in retaliation than merely imposing its own tariffs on US-made goods, and withhold the supply of key items to America including energy resources.

One group making this suggestions is the Canadian Labour Congress, to which most Canuck unions are affiliated. It labeled the US tariffs "an attack on Canadian workers and our economy," and called for "cutting off US access to critical Canadian resources – including electricity, lumber, critical minerals, oil, and gas – until the tariffs are lifted."

I'll leave it there awhile.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 10:37 AM

From the FB Page ‘Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail’…

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0JAxQzFDix32vsGX2Y5eyi3icagxmHZXbEjJHGMsMWva7EbnsfxZvBiZh6sNtD5ybl&id=100079779344617

”It started with a whisper—an eerie shuffling of feet in the halls of the Hoover Building, the kind of sound you hear when the executioner is sharpening his axe. By the time the Friday news cycle hit, it was a goddamn bloodbath.

Donald Trump, back in power like some bloated resurrection of a Roman emperor who refuses to die, has begun his most unhinged crusade yet: a mass purge of the FBI, the Justice Department, and anyone else who ever had the gall to investigate him. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect in some banana republic where the dictator wears aviators and gold epaulets while drinking rum out of a skull. But no, it’s happening here—right in the United States, land of the free (terms and conditions apply).

The order came down like a thunderclap from the Mouth of Madness itself. The Justice Department is demanding a list—a blacklist—of every single FBI agent who worked on the January 6 insurrection or any Trump-related investigation. Thousands of names. Careers on the chopping block.

This isn’t just your standard Nixonian revenge fantasy—it’s full-blown Stalinist paranoia with a golf handicap. Trump, a man who treats the rule of law like it’s an expired Burger King coupon, is now gutting federal law enforcement with the precision of a maniac wielding a rusty chainsaw.

At least five top FBI officials in Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, and Las Vegas were ordered to resign or be fired. Gone. Erased. Wiped clean like a casino ledger after a Mob hit. But it doesn’t stop with the bigwigs—this is a scorched-earth campaign against the entire bureau.

And just to drive the knife in deeper, Trump’s minions are now firing prosecutors—specifically those who worked on the January 6 cases. More than a dozen already gone. More to come. This is the guy who pardoned every single Capitol rioter on Day One of his second term, and now he’s making sure their prosecutors never work again.

It’s not just about loyalty—it’s about total submission. The Justice Department is being purged like it’s a goddamn witch trial. Trump and his goons don’t just want control; they want retribution. If you so much as touched the January 6 case, even by accident, you’re marked.

And let’s not kid ourselves about what comes next. If you can erase entire swaths of the FBI overnight, what’s stopping you from moving down the food chain? Journalists. Professors. Judges. Regular citizens who ever said a bad word about Trump on Twitter.

This isn’t a government anymore. This is a gangland purge. The Sopranos with a nuclear arsenal.

You have to appreciate the tragic irony. For years, Trump and his lackeys screamed about how the FBI was a rogue, deep-state cabal plotting against him. And now? He’s turned it into his own private mafia. A new political police force that operates only at his pleasure, with Kash Patel—his glorified attack dog—waiting in the wings to take over the whole thing.

The FBI Agents Association is screaming into the void, warning that this mass extermination of law enforcement is going to cripple national security. But Trump doesn’t care about national security. His idea of national security is making sure he is secure from ever facing justice again.

The message is loud and clear: investigate Trump, and you will be ruined. No trial, no due process. You will be fired, humiliated, and possibly prosecuted yourself. It doesn’t matter if you were just some poor desk jockey who handled the paperwork—you are an enemy now.

And when the FBI stops investigating Trump and his allies? What do you think they’ll start investigating instead?

It’s a goddamn Nacht der langen Messer—the Night of the Long Knives, except instead of storming hotels with pistols, they’re storming federal agencies with pink slips. We are watching a purge in real time.

People in power are always dangerous, but Trump has a special kind of danger about him—one that is equal parts stupid and terrifying. A creature of pure vengeance, unburdened by ethics, law, or even the most basic understanding of governance.

You don’t need to work at the FBI to be a target. This is just the beginning.

Think about it—if he’s willing to dismantle entire institutions that protected the country just to save his own bloated hide, what do you think he’ll do to regular citizens who stand in his way? You don’t have to be a federal agent to get on the wrong list. Maybe you were at a protest. Maybe you wrote a mean Facebook post. Maybe you just looked at him funny.

The real horror here isn’t just what’s happening—it’s how little anyone is stopping it. The Republican Party isn’t just silent; they’re cheering this on. The same people who spent years screeching about the "weaponization of government" are now actively encouraging it, because it’s their guy holding the axe.

And the Democrats? Well, they’ll probably send out some strongly worded tweets. Maybe a fundraising email. That’ll show him.

Meanwhile, Trump’s supporters are foaming at the mouth, cheering for the dismantling of the same institutions that kept them safe from things like, oh, I don’t know, terrorists. Organized crime. Corrupt politicians. Who needs an independent FBI when you can have a Trump Bureau of Investigation that only investigates his enemies?

This is how it starts. The moment when a republic stops being a republic and becomes a crime syndicate with a flag.

Nobody should be sleeping easy right now. Because if Trump can erase entire sections of the FBI without consequence, then nothing is stopping him from coming for everyone else.

This isn’t a government anymore. It’s a hit list. And we’re all on it.”

Be afraid, be very afraid - shades of 1930s Germany, and look how well that turned out.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 11:08 AM

I was busy watching a Zoom meeting about political action, I didn't watch the Grammy's last night. Did anyone say anything about Trump and Project 2025 in their speeches? Because I feel like the whole world needs to just stop whatever else they're doing and address this Vought/Musk/Trump disaster.

This is from Indivisible:

Because he’s serious about implementing Project 2025, Trump has nominated its ‘chief architect’ Russ Vought (pronounced like “Vote”) to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB is possibly the most powerful federal agency you rarely, if ever, hear about; it oversees the implementation of the President’s vision for the whole Executive Branch, crafting budgets, managing operations, and reviewing draft regulations and policies to make sure agencies are complying with the President’s priorities. Under Trump 2.0, OMB will essentially be the top enforcer of Project 2025 - and he’s nominated one of its authors and top MAGA strategist, Russ Vought, to be OMB Director.

Vought held this same role at OMB in Trump’s first term, so we don’t have to guess how much damage he’ll do if he gets a chance at round two. He’ll double down on concentrating unprecedented executive power and transforming the federal government into a tool of white Christian nationalism and political revenge. He’ll orchestrate budgets that slash funding for vital programs and direct spending in violation of congressional authority, like when he held up aid to Ukraine as part of Trump’s attempted extortion scheme. He’ll implement the personnel policy Trump has vowed to reinstate on day one that will enable mass firings across the federal government to make way for loyal MAGA operatives. And he’s reportedly been secretly drafting a first 180 days playbook filled with executive orders, policies, and other plans so Trump 2.0 can hit the ground running with maximum damage.

Demand your Senators vote NO on Vought (pronounced like “Vote”) to be Director of OMB. Trump may have tried to distance himself from Project 2025 on the campaign trail to get elected, but nominating Russ Vought proves he’s putting those plans into overdrive.

It came with a form to fill out to be put in contact with senators. I plan to drive over to the local offices this week to pay the staff of each a call.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: meself
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 11:18 AM

'"Ontario has forbidden bidding by US firms for Government contracts, and they've ripped up a contract with Elon Musk." [Verification and details, anybody?]'

Yes, on both counts. It's a 'Starlink' contract.

Tariffs will hit the auto industry particularly hard - on both sides of the border. That industry is a big element of both Ontario's and Michigan's economies, and is inextricably linked across the border: the parts of a vehicle and the incomplete vehicle itself may cross the border any number of times before the vehicle is ready for market. A 25% tariff every time makes the system unworkable. Predictions from those in the know are that the North American auto industry could be shut down within a week after tariffs are instituted.

Doug Ford, Ontario's Conservative Premier, came out swinging at the first mention of tariffs, and has continued his aggressive defence of his province's economy. There may well be a dose of political opportunism in what is otherwise, I think, genuine distress, and determination to defend his bailiwick. Before this American attack popped up out of nowhere, Ford had been under attack for some questionable moves, and he recently called an election, ostensibly to shore up support for his fight on tariffs; the Opposition accuses him of exploiting this situation to gain more political power, and to have it for an extra couple of years.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: meself
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 11:34 AM

The idea that Canada could just turn off the energy tap is not as simple as it might appear.

For one thing, there are deep stresses between Alberta, the big oil-producing province, and the Federal government, and the eastern half of the country generally (there is a strong sense in Alberta that it collectively has been, and is being, robbed by the eastern provinces). Alberta is governed by far-right ideologues with separatist leanings (think: MAGA north), and the feds feel they have to step gingerly when it comes to anything that could interfere with Alberta's oil revenue.

The other big factor, is that the pipeline that carries oil to central/eastern Canada, passes through the States, so is vulnerable to being shut down by the Americans.

And another thing: given the madness of King trump, and moreso, nearly half the populace of the USA, it would not be a good idea to hand him a pretext for a Special Military Operation, by, for example, cutting off the flow of hydro-electricity to the northern states ....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 12:42 PM

Interesting piece from Robert Reich on Substack…

It seems to me that it’s high time for the rest of the world to get together and punch the bastard down to the ground.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 01:21 PM

From Bloomberg (via Robert Hubbell's newsletter):

Musk Says DOGE Halting Treasury Payments to US Contractors

Elon Musk said his “DOGE team” of government efficiency enforcers is shutting down some payments to federal contractors, suggesting that the world’s richest man may have access to sensitive systems used at the US Treasury Department.

“The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted on X, saying officials reporting to his so-called Department of Government Efficiency are “rapidly shutting down” payments to a Lutheran charity.

The Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to questions about the extent of Musk’s access. President Donald Trump has put the Tesla CEO — and largest donor to his election effort — in charge of an effort to modernize federal information technology.

But Musk seems to be expanding that mandate to include control over financial flows in other parts of the federal government. Top security officials at USAID were placed on leave Saturday after refusing to allow DOGE staffers access to systems at the foreign assistance agency, saying they lacked the required security clearances.

Musk on Sunday called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die.”

Musk is targeting systems that process tens of billions of dollars a day in payments for US government agencies and the officials that oversee them. Musk’s statements on Sunday follow last week’s departure of David Lebryk, the Treasury Department’s most senior career official, who had been in charge of payment systems at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Trump gave Musk’s efforts his seal of approval Sunday night. “Elon’s doing a good job,” Trump said to reporters.

“He’s a big cost cutter,” Trump said. “Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go, but I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy, very smart, and he’s very much into cutting the budget of our federal government.”

Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday that he’s been told that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has granted DOGE full access to Treasury’s payment systems.

“Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies,” Wyden said on BlueSky, a social media rival to Musk’s X. “All of it.”

Treasury officials have long maintained that its role is to serve as the federal government’s checkbook — and that the decision about whether to approve or deny payment belongs to individual agencies based on funds appropriated by Congress.

“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once,” Musk wrote on X, without providing evidence.

The Treasury has a Do-Not-Pay system in place designed to prevent such payments.

Musk said DOGE was shutting down payments by the US Department of Health and Human Services to Lutheran Family Services, a faith-based charity that has been providing social services to refugees. HHS and Lutheran Family Services didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk thinks money is going to terrorists groups so he's taking over the entire US government finances? Really? No evidence, just his opinion, mind you.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President 1 thread
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 01:43 PM

I've just remembered where I've heard this kind of one-upmanship before ....

Once upon a time (late 1960s iirc), two bands were playing in London. The leaders of said bands, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, got into a competition to see which of them could get away with doing the most bizarre outrageosity, live on stage, without getting thrown off. Near the start, I heard, Zappa was shouting four-letter words over the footlights, eg "WITH" and "FROM" .... the later stages were Not Nice.

Now we've got Agent Orange and Agent X taking turns, to see which of them gets away with the most gratuitous and stupid act of performative cruelty before the other one gets properly spanked. But who's playing Nanny? --- Vlad? At least the antics of Zappa and Beefheart had a limited blast radius.

Now I really am depressed. *Protest*: I want the inside of my head back.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 01:46 PM

> “He’s a big cost cutter,” Trump said.

Reminds me of that old Athena poster, popular in academic circles:

If you think education's expensive, try ignorance.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: meself
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 01:56 PM

[Thread drift, but: "The leaders of said bands, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart ... " - any reliable source?]

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 01:57 PM

Taking over the entire money thing, personally:

Command economies are inherently fragile, and about as stable as a fighter jet without computer assistance. If you control everything, you *have* to control *everything*.

--- Enough. I've a Zoom session to join, which may or may not help calm me down. See you on the flip side.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 02:05 PM

This is a gift article from the Wall Street Journal Musk Moves with Lightning Speed to Exert Control Over the Government

I just tried to tell my next door neighbor about this; it hasn't been in any news stories. "What Biden did in the last four years was terrible" was her answer. My retort - but Biden and Trump are elected officials. Musk is the richest man in the world taking over the finances of the richest country in the world.

Crickets.

I fear these folks are going to find out the hard way what Musk is doing. We all are.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 05:08 PM

My posts only give a 2 to 6-day preview of what will be found by reliable journalists online. It's time to go dark for a while. Who really needs bad news early anyway?

We are not in a Mussolini fascist dictatorship, it is very much like a Banana Republic enforced by the wealthy cartels who operate outside the Constitution.
As for tariffs: Produce prices will quickly rise by 3%, then 7%.
Other goods will take a little longer to spike.

President Jackson spit in the face of the courts and so far, so is DJT.
Musk thugs have reached way down the ranks to gain access from traitors and cowards to their oath to gain access to US funds.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 05:21 PM

Stay safe while you're at it, Don.

TikTok video by Branding Democrats. The media seems to have rolled over, it's happening without their protest or covering it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 06:27 PM

It's good that DJT now CANCELED the tariff war. Well, for 30 days anyway. The WSJ called the tariff war the most stupid move.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 05:35 AM

It is par fr the course for the turnip to screw over his contractors and if murk is going to sing from the same hymnbook who in their right mind would want to risk bidding for federal infrastructure contracts?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 09:30 AM

DJT loves President Jackson who fired all the civil servants and replaced them with know nothing loyalists. That system lasted from 1829 to 1883 until there was a presidential assasination by a disgruntled job seeker and the first civil service exams began.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 01:06 PM

This morning I heard that Secy of State Rubio has negotiated that El Salvador would take all deportees (whatever their nationality) and will take the "worst US felons" from prison. US citizens. It's mind boggling - and remember when Trump accused Mexico of opening their prisons? He telegraphs everything he's thinking, and you know he's going to try himself.

There are no brakes on that clown car and no filter on the mouth.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 09:32 PM

Any US citizen who has ever filed taxes, received Social Security, etc., can (and should) file a Civil Liberties Complaint. Elizabeth Booker Houston has offered a template.

There is more pushback happening in DC. I'm still uncertain about the backing of the 50 demonstrations at 50 capitols supposedly midday tomorrow. There are some kind of light-weight accounts behind it, that makes me think it's a gimmick to set people up. But we'll see tomorrow. (It's that whole "have the Army shoot them in the legs" thing that Trump wanted before that has me worried.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 12:57 AM

The proposed 50 marches in 50 capitals was sounding awfully sketchy for a couple of days - you don't usually see a huge protest coming from a no-name Reddit account. But it seems that enough people have pulled together to make some of these happen.

Rebecca Solnit on Facebook has gotten enough information from various sponsors of the marches tomorrow to conclude that maybe it isn't a setup by MAGA folks to shoot down Democrats in the streets.

Meanwhile, from The Guardian, How the world’s richest man laid waste to the US government

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 04:10 AM

Just found this in a pile of papers I'm using to light the fire. I think it's the perfect metaphor for the state of the world (and of the inside of my head) at the moment:

Illustration from a BBC News article

.... two lads not letting the fact that the pub is flooded get in the way of their game of pool. We make 'em tough round 'yere.

Warning re warnings: my browser complained about redirections when attempting to first access the picture.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 04:31 AM

Just for a laugh. Look at the images of Trump and the cane toads which are threatening Oz's native environment, especially the diversity of our native environment. I posted the links on 02 Feb 25 - 09:06 PM

Now read the news article I read today in which I saw a lot of similarities to the Trump problem, especially in relation to how much he reminds me of a cane toad.

Local ecological defenders tackle the rising tide of invasive species

If you read the first two sections and substitute "Trump" for "cane toad" it creates some really apt parallels, IMHO.

It is an especially interesting parallel that women are at the forefront of tackling the cane toad problem.

Well, it made me laugh anyway. :-D

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 06:22 AM

They’re calling him ‘The Mango Mussolini” on FB this morning.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 08:29 AM

I like the change of thread title :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 11:24 AM

I guess the White House decided we needed a big distraction away from Musk's mischief so Trump has suggested the US take over, clean up, and build condos in Gaza. Pushing 2M people into surrounding countries. And Netanyahu standing there beside him, as an MSNBC commentator reported, "looking like the cat that just swallowed the canary."

This is as stupid an idea as injecting bleach.

Now pay attention to what Musk is doing.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 02:59 PM

Stilly, I think you are right

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 04:23 PM

Among the things happening are RFK and Gabbard all but reaching confirmation including the supposed responsible Replicants (Republicans) who acted like they had standards of rectitude/ behavior.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 06:39 PM

Not just condos but an 'American Riviera' in the words of Trump.
This is not an instant Trump invention like injecting bleach but more like a hallucinatory AI creation after scouring Trump's history.
It could be a new Atlantic City, with Casinos, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, surf and turf menus all under golden Trump signs.
Will Muslims flock to New Vegas or attack it?

As long as troops can move out 2.23 million Palestinians, all will be hunky dory. Not even the mafia had US troops to protect their casinos in Cuba. If this really is Trump's idea, and not just flooding the zone, we are witnessing a psychotic break and not just thinking big.

Meanwhile, I hope it doesn't stymie the ceasefire and hostage exchange.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 07:01 PM

Come to think of it, he may be experimenting to see what pronouncements affect his cryptocurrency investments.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 08:56 PM

It’s nonsense, a distraction tactic to draw attention away from what’s really going on - the gutting of the governmental machine and the pillaging of the treasury.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 06:11 AM

maybe a practice run for Panama?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 11:13 AM

Distraction is a tried and trusted tactic. Compare:

In 1973, it was proposed to build an airport for London at Maplin Sands. The conservationists promptly exploded, as it was (and is) a wildlife sanctuary. The government backed down, saving face by pointing to the oil crisis, but there were two outcomes:

* The extra runway at Heathrow or Gatwick (I forget which) that Them In Power wanted in the first place, but couldn't mention to start with for fear of public outrage;

* Maplin Electronics, a seller-by-post of electronic components, whose first catalogue featured a picture of a Concorde taking off from an unnamed runway.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 12:17 PM

One small part of what they're distracting from:

Democrats demand to know WTF is up with that DOGE server on OPM's network

.... Read in full, please. Highlights include:

The Democrats also want to know what role the DOGE team and its server played, if any, in the reported spamming of US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration staff by outsiders.

Tin hats, people.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 01:49 PM

Musk owns Starlink, a whole bunch of satellites, and I'm willing to bet he wants to put NOAA out of the weather business so he can step in. And USAID was investigating how Starlink was gouging in Ukraine. I need sources for these, but the conjecture is out there.

Two weeks ago I heard Margaret Hoover, on her program Firing Line, interview Mike Murphy (conservative/former GOP) and James Carville, liberal Democrat. As the program progressed I could hear her trying to get them to identify or step up as the loyal opposition. It seems all of the prodding by the public and by more independent journalists has finally started working.

Democrats lost in 2024 and the "normal" routine would be to work on the 2026 campaigns. Everyone went home when their chambers were in recess. But it became clear they had to come back and fight now, and now they're doing it.

At a recent GSA (General Services Administration) Zoom meeting in which a Musk puppet tried to convince them all to pay attention to the "Fork in the Road" memo and resign, the employees pushed back, making it clear they weren't having that nonsense. And they set up a graphic of spoons cascading down the screen in response to the fork references. Good for them!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 05:13 PM

Hubby sent me this. It's probably from Farcebook or similar.

Trump to Musk: Canada is mining and selling too many minerals.
Musk: What are you going to do?
Trump: Order tariffs to make them mine less.
Musk: Mine fewer.
Trump: Shhh, don't call me that yet.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 05:37 PM

Its good you have verified what the frick has been going on but paramount to the day are the actions that Stilly has suggested far below.
She is not sitting by while millions are about to suffer.
The optics of thousands of people protesting in 40 cities and call in shows with your opinions is edifying but energizing Congress by every means possible is important.

The blitzkrieg of State Change can remove the tools of resistance before they can be employed. Time is of the essence.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 05:41 PM

Lol, Helen.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 10:18 PM

Saw that same interview in the 'new' Firing Line. Didn't get in at the beginning of the broadcast. A lot of stuff went by real fast and I didn't absorb all of it. An episode or two ago she had on Newt Gingrich.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 10:23 PM

I watched a YouTube 'expert' but one I take seriously, review the Congressional oversight quizzing of Tulsi Gabbard. Said expert took some time and had some extended questioning of Gabbard by Dems and Reps on the board. I was impressed by the level and specificity of questions and answers, but not about the result that Gabbard appeared to be headed for a pass.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 08:08 AM

The Super Trump Bowl will be the first one attended by a president.
Will he stay for the halftime rap concert? Will Taylor Swift or Trump get more air time? Will he want an applause moment?
Will the loud boos' audio be turned off when Donnie is introduced?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 08:40 AM

Tesla car sales in Europe have dropped about 50%
Musk US approval rating went from 47% in Nov.
to 25% in February.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 09:45 AM

Considering all the booing that welcomed Trump at the 2019 World Series he might want to keep a low profile at this event to protect his fragile ego.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 10:27 AM

From a post of gillymor's, apparentlhy misposted to the UK politics thread:

> [tRump is] living in a reality show gone wrong and he
> has to be the star.

There's a name for that: the poor manbaby's suffering from Headline Attention Deficit Disorder, as is his competitor (Agent X).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 12:27 PM

Donuel, the Tesla sales in Australia have dropped significantly too.

Tesla sales slump worldwide off the back of Elon Musk's political actions

"Questionable hand gestures, antisemitic tweets, and linking arms with President Donald Trump; Elon Musk has become a master at alienating his audience.

"Now it's showing up on his company's bottom line.

"Tesla sales have slumped around the world, including by a third in January in Australia compared to the same time a year ago.

"According to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) EV sales were just 4.4 per cent of the Australian market in January, down from 5.5 per cent in January last year.

"Giles Parkinson, founder of The Driven, said Mr Musk's 'extraordinary' actions had contributed to Tesla falling out of the top five best-selling car brands in European markets, and now Australia was following suit.

"'That really has been attributed a lot to the impact of Musk on his brand,' he told The Business.

"'We're hearing that people are walking into other car makers and saying, I want to buy an electric car but I don't want to buy Tesla anymore.'

"'We're also hearing that people who own Teslas are feeling uncomfortable and are looking to see if they can sell and shift to another brand.'

"'It's an extraordinary situation, because the Tesla products are really quite admired because of their quality, but some people are just finding it really difficult to either buy or retain those those cars.'"

Other sections of the article are: "Owners 'don't want to be attached' to Musk", "Musk, competition from China turning away customers", and sections on Hybrids remaining popular option in Australia, the Chinese brand BYD, and tax exemptions on more environmentally friendly vehicles.


I keep telling my Hubby that I want to make an FEM (F*ck Elon Musk) car sticker to put on any Tesla cars I see. He just rolls his eyes. I probably won't but I still say it out loud every time I see a Tesla.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 03:43 PM

There is a treatment for the twisted twins.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 05:42 PM

I just looked at the title of this thread and did a double take.

After posting about how tempted I am to create an "F Elon Musk" car sticker, the words "convicted felon" created F-Elon in my brain.

There is a good probability, IMHO, that Elon will join Trump in the felon category at some point in the not-too-distant future. He already has 80% of that word in his name and BTW 80% of Trump's name is rump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 05:55 PM

Now that Trump and his minions have "won", you can bet that they dread the very idea of *losing* in 2026 & 2028, as a sane DOJ would have many new felons along with the old ones to prosecute. Thus, ANY means, illegal or not to avoid this will be used.
"Hmm.. why let our enemies ever get to vote against us?"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 06:59 PM

India is outraged that the deportation of Indian natives from the US
was accomplished with a military aircraft
and with shackling of the passengers.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 09:12 AM

Helen, such a deicious idea - please send me one!!!!!! Of course we may have to wait until he is convicted of something or until the turnip throws his under a bus to save his neck - thugh I wouldn't be surpised if it happens the other way round as the turnip is a useful mindless mouthpiece thatsuits musk's purposes fr the present.
.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 09:25 AM

Violence and final solutions are eventually found to be cheaper and more permanent in dictatorships.
I can imagine that shackling is crucial for step three final deportations. With rear door cargo planes one can have a 2 ton weight parachute out the back with a chain connected to the shackles. All those shackled will go deep into the ocean. Industrial elimination of people without a trace can become more simple and easy than the WWII holocaust.

Of course a neutron bomb can accomplish a final solution over a large camp/prison without any damage to the infrastructure however removing the remains that will not rot* is unimaginable.

*inability to decompose is due to the unique effects of a sterilizing neutron bomb.

It's been said before "it can't happen here".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 09:27 AM

I prefer

Elon Musk says
FUCK YOU

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 09:37 AM

The Super Bowl has caved in to Trump.

The WORDS removed from the endzone that said "END RACISM"
were offensive to Trump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 10:05 AM

It does run counter to his "Revive Jim Crow" agenda, maybe that will be the slogan in the end zone next Super Bowl.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 10:54 AM

This was posted by Rebecca Solnit on FB overnight:

Crucial advice and insight from my very smart strategist friend Brian, an actual expert on government payment systems:

On Musk and his take over of the US Treasury payment systems:
First, I believe taking action every day is absolutely critical. My goal in making my phone calls is to keep Congressional leaders focused on the issue and ensure it remains top of mind until Musk/DOGE is kicked out.

So my advice is prioritize calling, even if your script is imperfect. You can just say: "it's unacceptable to have Elon Musk and his staff in charge of federal payments. It's illegal." You don't need to give a speech or say everything exactly technically right.

Second, and this is harder - I am really trying not to get too emotionally invested in this, mainly because I am pretty confident Musk will not get away with this.

The situation is urgent in the sense that every day Musk is left with access, the harder it will be to undo any code changes his staff have made, and the more data he will have stolen. So that's why I'm calling every day.

I have read and heard a lot of panic and doomsaying on this, with people claiming that Musk has installed malicious code, including keyboard tracking, backdoors, and the ability to remotely control the systems.

Without control of the payment systems, the doomsaying goes, Congress will no longer control spending, rendering them impotent, and creating a dictatorship with Musk/Trump at the helm.

This where I am taking a breath. My entire career has been spent implementing complex payment systems for governmental organizations, so I would ask everyone to consider a few points:

(1) All payment systems have secure backups, including physical copies. At the absolute worst, post Musk/cronies, OPM can restore systems from back-up.

(2) the US government, notably our security agencies, have entire divisions devoted to cybercrime and counterintrusion. I really don't think a few 20 year old twits could install software that couldn't be detected and deleted by veteran programmers.

(3) There have to be contingency plans for paying out funds in the case the Treasury can't operate. My company has helped 6 person pension funds figure out how to pay 5000 retirees if the payroll file fails. I'm pretty confident we can get federal payments out through other means while Treasury's systems are being restored.

Over the last 12 hours, Trump has said he will scale back Musk's access, and a judge has apparently issued some kind of ruling also limiting Musk's access. The Courts will not allow this to continue, and we can put enough pressure on congress for them to finally put an end to this.

This is terrible and scary, but remember fear gets in the way of focus and action, so please try to limit your doomsaying and focus on making your calls today.

I am so heartened by how active so many of you are. It's keep me going. This is a time for patriots, and you are earning the title.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 12:53 PM

Getting locked out of a system with new teenage encryption codes is a problem.
I foresee the shit eventually hitting the fan inside the Musk gang so that a NO LOOSE THREAD order goes down and his kids start to disappear. Chaotic missions have chaotic endings. It could depend on a rogue band of FBI agents putting their lives on the line for the Constitution. They are not all fascist patriots.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 01:52 PM

US judge temporarily blocks Elon Musk's DOGE from accessing payment systems

"In short: A US District Court judge has put a temporary block on Elon Musk and employees of his Department of Government Efficience (DOGE) accessing the US Treasury Department's payment and data systems.

"The ruling was issued in response to a lawsuit from 19 states filed on Friday, alleging Mr Musk and his cost-cutting team could disrupt a number of vital government services and access sensitive data.
What's next?

"The judge's order is only temporary — a further hearing before another judge is scheduled for next Friday, February 14."

...

"The lawsuit said Mr Musk and his team could disrupt federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and other programs, and that President Donald Trump, a Republican, could use the information to further his political agenda.

"DOGE's access to the systems also 'poses huge cybersecurity risks that put vast amounts of funding for the States and their residents in peril,' the state attorneys-general said, seeking a temporary restraining order preventing Mr Musk's team from accessing the systems."

...

"His order bars political appointees, special government employees [e,g, Elon Musk] and government employees detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department from being granted access to the department's payment and data systems.

"The judge also directed anyone prohibited under his order from accessing those systems to immediately destroy anything they had previously copied or downloaded."

...

"Judge Engelmayer's ruling came a day after another federal judge, this time a Trump appointee, paused Mr Musk's plans to place 2,200 USAID employees on leave.

The White House and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from news agency Reuters.

Mr Trump deputised Mr Musk to lead DOGE to identify fraud and waste in the government, however Mr Musk's efforts have alarmed Democrats and advocacy groups who say he is overstepping his authority by seeking to dismantle agencies responsible for critical government programs and fire federal workers en masse."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 04:38 PM

The court does not have its own enforcement. The DOJ would refer to the FBI. Would Bondi and Patel give orders to enforce the court order?
I think not.

The young Musk gang would have members who would try to get a little something for themselves. This is common among thieves. Things will go sideways in a hurry once private heists occur. Envy and greed will take over and lead to the no-loose-thread order. The Musk gang is not a democracy and would probably seek a solution with extreme prejudice to restore discipline.

Stay tuned for season 1 episode 4.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 09:50 AM

Who are the millions of people who are harmed or killed by the fabulous fascist twins?
People who have lost their jobs
Farmers who won't be paid for the 3 billion dollars of grain that went to USAID
Farmers who have no migrant workers to harvest crops
Shoppers who may pay double for the smaller food supply
Children with disabilities who lost programs for special education
School lunch programs
Meals on wheels for shut-ins
VA benefits
People who no longer get PETFAR HIV medicine
Children who die because of starvation without USAID

These people were first to come to my mind BUT
who else is being harmed in your observation?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 10:53 AM

The real test will be if any of these cases make it to the supreme court. Will these acts be a bridge too far for Gorsuch, Coney Barrett, and the rapist Kavanaugh. I have no hope for good decisions from Alito or Thomas. Odd. Really odd.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 02:15 PM

George Conway explains How the Stop the Dismantling of Our Government on The Bulwark.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 02:47 PM

SRS, thanks for the link to the George Conway video. He raises some very important and worrying points.

Psychopathocracy. Hmmm!! Very apt terminology and very worrying consequences.

And the comparison between normal political leaders who use proper strategic processes, including analysing the facts and considering the likely outcomes and consequences of proposed actions compared with Trump and his evil cronies who shoot first and ask questions later.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 02:54 PM

If the International Criminal Court files an arrest warrant against Trump, then if he goes to a member country they could arrest him. It would be messy, but it would be one way to put him out of commission for a while.

What other world-wide methods are out there to physically remove him from the office?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 03:16 PM

I'm wondering if the decision by Trump & his evil twin F-Elon to stop USAID will have a consequence they haven't considered.

The people who call themselves Christians can justify some of Trump's edicts, e.g. stopping abortion, deporting illegal aliens, but can they live with their own conscience knowing that children will die of starvation without USAID, people will suffer or die from health problems which were being relieved by USAID, a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering will occur.

Regarding the Supreme Court's role in the recent decisions by Judges to temporarily restrict actions based on decisions made by Trump and his F-Elonious friend, will Amy Coney-Barrett, who as I recall claims to live by her Christian standards, go along with his edicts in the face of the resulting suffering and death or will she have a moral about-face? Will she re-evaluate what it really means to follow her Christian faith?

It would be poetic justice if she did get closer to her Christian ethics and morality and no longer blindly align herself with Trump, IMHO.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 03:22 PM

I spent an increasingly depressing hour listening to a discussion with George Conway on The Bulwark. The Justice Department answers to Trump now and they will order US Marshals not to arrest anyone held in contempt or enforce rulings by federal judges.

Until the Senate and House grow a spine and stand up to Trump nothing will happen.

There is a third rail: the moment they stop social security or any federal accounts there will be riots in the streets, and then the house and senate will have to act. And hope the army disobeys Trump's orders to shoot protestors.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 04:12 PM

SRS, a couple of days ago when I was looking for a specific quote about F-Elon, I saw an image of a poster at a political protest. I think it had an image of a jellyfish, maybe, and the caption read "Democrats - spineless, brainless, heartless".

I think that applies not just to the Democrats but as you said, to the whole House and Senate.

"Until the Senate and House grow a spine and stand up to Trump nothing will happen."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 06:32 PM

I've sent another message to both senators and to my representative. I've posted a blog entry to give guidance on how to contact these representatives and why it doesn't help to contact senators or reps who don't represent you. (PM for information about that blog if you want to subscribe, it's free. You may need a Wordpress account to respond or subscribe, but those are also free. And it isn't just politics.)

Doing the things I know how to do every day. Tomorrow is Monday, time to get on the phone and make some calls to these same folks. If you're on social media, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has some great instructive videos that have appeared on Instagram and Bluesky, and probably others (and I love that she is knitting while she does it.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 06:52 AM

The next step for the courts to enforce their ruling that is being ignored is to issue a contempt order and call up the federal Marshalls. Will Bondi follow that court order?
The rule of law depends on a spirit to follow the law. Does Trump have that spirit? Will the Supreme Court?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 06:56 AM

300!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 07:09 AM

The best you have ever said, good job dave.


The founding fathers knew the evil and frail minds of some men and devised a system to balance goodness with other equal powers.
Republicans have control of every branch of government and intentionally are destroying the balance of our original Constitution.
They are saying this is their best and only chance to gain and keep control.

This is not the time to tune out

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 08:47 AM

caption for my cartoon; "The barbarians have hacked the gates..."
image; teenage slob at a laptop with a line into Treasury Dept. computers while eating hot pockets.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 09:32 AM

That's also good, almost as good as DtG's "300" post.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 09:52 AM

> "Hmm.. why let our enemies ever get to vote
> against us?"

I can't remember where I've seen this meme, but, to paraphrase:

The Gruesome Twosome's end game is to stir up an insurrection against themselves. Once that happens, ManBaby can declare martial law.

And *that* is where "just one more push" came from. All he need do then is keep the Praetorian Guard onside.

This is the Republic of Gilead, and you're welcome to it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 10:19 AM

Yes MaJoC, ‘The Gulf of Gilead’ has a ring to it, doesn’t it?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 10:33 AM

If the Preatorian guard are caught between Musk, Trump, and the people, Shakespeare has several versions of that scenario.

US founding fathers tried to devise a system to avoid a Giliad.
They knew it wasn't perfect.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 12:28 PM

.... And, as someone has pointed out in the Comments on an ElReg article (which I can't locate atm):

Add in replacing the humans in their Praetorian Guards with gun-bearing robots, and you can see why fürers the world over are showing interest in AI.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 02:16 PM

NOW is the time our younger selves can be proud of who we have become.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 02:45 PM

the word CONTRA above picture of Trump
the word DICTION below

the wordS LIAR ABOUT EVERYTHING above picture of Trump
the wordS EXCEPT HATE & GREED below

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 04:33 PM

Two ghosts could be heard when Donald Trump announced his Gaza 'plan' Donald Trump's plan to turn Gaza into "the Riviera of the Middle East" is one of the most radical ideas from the White House for many years.

To understand how it came about, it's worth considering some comments made to a forum at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States in February last year.

It was to academics and students of Harvard's Kennedy School in Massachusetts that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, took part in a discussion about international events.

But what he did, in fact, was float the very idea that Trump has presented in recent days as his new policy for Gaza. Both Kushner and Trump have had careers as property developers, which may well explain the real estate element to this attempt at a shift in foreign policy. (read on)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 04:52 PM

Oops there goes; the Consumer Protection Agency, the dept of ejakashun, USAID, NIH, Treasury, FBI, the Kennedy Center, etc.



Next time you're found
With your chin on the ground
There a lot to be learned
So look around
… Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant can't
Move a rubber tree plant
… But he's got high hopes
He's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie
In the sky hopes
So any time you're gettin' low
'Stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant
… Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
… When troubles call
And your back's to the wall
There a lot to be learned
That wall could fall
… Once there was a silly old ram
Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam
No one could make that ram scram
He kept buttin' that dam
… 'Cause he had high hopes
He had high hopes
He had high apple pie
In the sky hopes
So any time you're feelin' bad
When shit hits the fan
Just remember that ram
… Oops, there goes a billion kilowatt dam
Oops, there goes a billion kilowatt dam
Oops, there goes a billion kilowatt dam
… All problems just a toy balloon
They'll be bursted soon
They're just bound to go pop
… Oops, there goes another agency, plop
Oops, there goes another agency, plop
Oops, there goes another agency, plop
Kerplop

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 05:32 PM

And in case you are wondering who the other ghost is, referred to in the article which Sandra linked to:

"While Kushner was Trump's ghost, Netanyahu's ghost was Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism Party and Israel's finance minister. Smotrich and his bloc of support keep Netanyahu in power and Smotrich, who controls the country's budget, is able to ensure the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, widely regarded under international law as illegal, are well funded.

"Without Smotrich, Netanyahu does not have the numbers to remain prime minister. This wouldn't just mean a loss of power but it would open him to the full suite of legal pain awaiting him over criminal charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust."

The article was written by John Lyons whose factual and strategic analysis is always worth reading or watching on Oz TV.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 12:29 AM

For those who will not be part of the resistance, they will have to learn they are not a citizen but are subjects instead. They will have to learn new censorship as well as self-censorship. Unlike big tech, big pharma, bank, and oil Billionaires there will be no profit in compliance and bending the knee. Instead, there will be the threat of violence or incarceration.
I know my posts seem odd since I simplify and contextualize what is happening. Journalists do not man the ramparts but try to inform people of various actions by authorities, soon that will become very dangerous.

All the reforms and agencies that provided more safety to our food, air, jobs and medicine will be gone and the harm will be incalculable.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 02:28 PM

Pete McMartin in the Vancouver Sun, 3rd February 2025…

”With the shocking messages about his plans for Gaza and the Palestinians, coupled with his ongoing threats of tarrifs and threats to making Canada the 51st state, Pete McMartin of the Vancouver Sun captures what most Canadians are feeling right now. Farewall “My American Cousin”.

“Goodbye, America.

It’s been nice knowing you.
Goodbye New York, and your Jewish delicatessens with corned beef sandwiches stacked as high as your skyline.

Goodbye Detroit, my boyhood neighbour, and so long to Tiger Stadium, the Detroit Institute of Arts and Motown.

Goodbye Bellingham, Seattle and Portland — how I’ll miss my Cascadian cousins with our shared Pacific sensibilities. And while I’m at it, goodbye to the cheap gas and shoreline cottages of Point Roberts, America’s appendix dangling just below the border not a mile from me. What was once so close has never been so far.

Goodbye Stag Leap’s Pinot Noir, Maker’s Mark bourbon, and Hebrew National hotdogs. My tastebuds mourn.

Goodbye to the cowards on both sides of the border who have demonstrated that whatever fidelity to democratic ideals they profess to have extends only so far as their self-interest. They should get a real job, say, in a chain gang.

Goodbye to anyone, again on both sides of the border, who bends the knee to Trump, rather than standing up to him, as any self-respecting person would and should, and telling him to piss off.

Goodbye to a culture that demands we bend the knee.

Goodbye languid vacations in Maui and Palm Springs. My next winter vacation will be in a sunny climate other than any America can offer, and preferably in a country the U.S. has treated as disdainfully as mine. I’ll have more than a few to pick from.

Most painful of all, goodbye to my American friends, some of whom I have known all my life, and some of whom I’ve collected along the way. I can cross your border but no longer wish to: Your Narcissist-in-Chief has decreed that my countrymen and I have the choice of becoming destitute, vassals or enemies. I’m choosing the latter

Meanwhile, your silence and the silence of all Americans in response to this aggression leaves me disheartened. That silence speaks volumes. I — we — have heard you loud and clear how little our friendship as a country means to you.

Goodbye to the image of America I once held dear — the America of Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley and James Brown, of George Gershwin and Aaron Copeland, of Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain, of Martin Luther King and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Goodbye to what I envied as the country that prided itself on encouraging unparalleled innovation in science, art and business. Any good that remains of it has been overshadowed by rapacity, cheap commercialism and egotism.

Goodbye to that ever-present sense of inferiority I once had when considering the relationship between Canada and America. What doubt I had of our own greatness is gone, and in its place is a certitude that Canada is superior to the U.S. in all the ways that matter. I look across the border now and see a violent, burgeoning autocracy now ever on the edge of civil war, and a population that is either cheering on this new brutalism or quaking in fear from it.

Goodbye to tepid patriotism. If Trump has done us any favour, it is awakening us to the fact that we can no longer take Canada’s existence for granted, that the bad actors in the world have begun to look covetously upon our improbably vast land that is laden with riches, that they want those riches and that niceness as a national character is not enough to dissuade them from taking them. Schoolyard bullies don’t want to be buddies. They want your lunch.

And after a long era of living a geopolitical life of convenient economic and military subservience, we’ve awakened to the fact that we are going to have to relearn our independence and fight any way we can to keep it.

Goodbye to living under the American nuclear umbrella, or any form of American hegemony. Goodbye to negotiation, wheedling, genuflecting or feel-good hands-across-the-border fairy tales. The American government has shown that established alliances mean nothing to it now, and so cannot be trusted. In Trump’s new world order, all the old verities are off the table, so let us make new ones.

Do levy tariffs, as we have promised to do, and do grit our way through the inevitable economic pain that will come. Re-arm as if we were on a war footing, because we are on a war footing. Conduct the mother of all public relation campaigns that let Americans know how badly they are perceived in the world, that they’ve gone from the shining city on the hill to just another empire with the same tired territorial ambitions as Russia or China. Do anything to impress upon Americans that their government is without real friends or allies, and that they, in essence, are alone.

So, goodbye America, it’s been nice knowing you, but I don’t know you anymore. I’ve reached that point in our relationship where any admiration I have had for you has been replaced by a new, angry resolve, which is: I won’t consort with the enemy”

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 02:49 PM

BWM, thanks for posting that article. It says a lot about what I have been thinking and feeling about Trump and the cowards who either stand by him, or the cowards who refuse to take a stand against him.

And the Christians who voted for him, what are they thinking and feeling right now? Vindication or a sense of horror about what they have helped to bring about?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 04:42 PM

Helen, I think many, perhaps most, of the ‘Christians’ who voted for the Mango Mussolini couldn’t care less - they are so spellbound by him.

Says a lot about ‘Christians’ AFAIC.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 05:09 PM

There has been much parboiling anger distributed throughout the population since well before TRMP. TRMP is an effect, not a cause.

It's a worldwide phenomenon. Think of all the Russian tanks with Zs on them.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 08:15 PM

"54 40 or fight" was the last provocation, now the pathologic president says you can be a US subsidiary. What next, will he send the Palestinians to eastern Greenland? Big Daddy wants all the attention all the time.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 12 Feb 25 - 01:15 AM

Mrs Backwoodsperson and I were discussing the change of name of the Gulf of Mexico last night, and I suggested that ‘Gulf of New Gilead’ would be more appropriate. Quick as a flash (she’s sharp like that), she replied, “In which case, tRump would no longer be the POTUS, he’d be the PONG. Very appropriate!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Feb 25 - 01:55 PM

Trump has his own cryptocurrency which is about one in 10,000 cryptocurrencies out there. More bizarre is Melania who sold her eyes
as an NFT.

Subject: Don't Look Up
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Feb 25 - 02:26 PM

Whoever is President after Trump will have to deal with the space rock formally named 2024 YR4. Scientists say it currently carries a 2% risk of making contact with Earth when it eventually reaches this part of the solar system on Dec. 22, 2032

Too bad the Earth Defense Agency was canceled

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Feb 25 - 08:33 PM

Trump has purged the artists who were on the board of the Kennedy Center and replaced them with his cronies. The only culture that will come out of there for the next four years will be mold and fungus.

The Great Kennedy Center Purge of 2025. This is from a Substack account called Closer to the Edge.

For years, Trump steered clear of the Kennedy Center like a vampire avoiding a crucifix. The annual Kennedy Center Honors, the Mark Twain Prize—those events were not his scene. Too much culture, too many people who could read without moving their lips. He was a man who thought steak should be well-done and that "Citizen Kane" was about having a really big house. High art and Trump mixed about as well as bath salts and a Florida Wal-Mart.

But now? Now he owns the place.

In a move so brazen it would make a banana republic dictator blush, Trump has appointed himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That’s right—America’s supposed “cultural beacon” is now officially a stage for Trump’s vanity projects, a golden toilet for the arts. If there was ever a symbol for America’s rapid descent into an intellectually malnourished hellscape, this is it.

Read the rest at the link.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Feb 25 - 12:28 PM

Mr. Trump has never been to the Kennedy Center. (FACT)

He was told there were gay and trans performers not to mention blacks and jews on stage. (assumption)
Now that he has elected himself chairman of the Kennedy Center he can veto any artists he finds unacceptable. (FACT)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 13 Feb 25 - 01:36 PM

He probably thinks he is qualified because he had "The ART of the deal" written for him.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Feb 25 - 01:42 PM

The man dressed
for grand theft
and left wreaked
family services.
His hand crept
his heart lept
guards didn't expect
any disturbances
The keys were his
the vault was open
he was as clever
as CIA's Snowden
Freezing cash in air
it all was lost
so it would defrost
free of cost
for billionaires

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Feb 25 - 01:52 PM

Google reclassifies U.S. as ‘sensitive country’ alongside China, Russia after Trump’s ‘Gulf of America’ comments = "snowflake country." This because of the Gulf of Mexico editing.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 07:08 AM

Trump's Bobby Brainworm can now let bird flu, measles, polio and, and a new Covid to have a good run again.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 07:28 AM

Donuel - wouldn't be surprised if his ban would extend to those who dare to be critical of him, refuse to sing his praises, or those who refuse to participate in fundraising event sofr his campaigns. Can seen a new HUAC emerging, possible: for Unamerican read Untrump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 10:43 AM

On the right side, The Kennedy Center will now have lots of junior miss, high school miss, and miss Amerika pageants, not to mention porn star of the month.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 10:56 AM

Although Trump still wants a Roy Cohn, he has HUAC power by tweet on steroids/meth.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 10:58 AM

On the (possible) plus side for Trump's Bobby Brainworm, he says he is going to ban ultra processed foods for children at school.

Kennedy's views on health, drugs and food

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 11:30 AM

> he says he is going to ban ultra processed foods for
> children at school.

Not for the manbaby? ah, I forgot: he's ineducable.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER: Convicted felon US 47th President/
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:06 PM

In the US the flu epidemic has topped Covid hospitalizations.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:10 PM

Helen the US is now experiencing a mystery regarding its highest rate ever of digestive tract cancer. If I had 3 guesses one would be pesticides.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:17 PM

What would Trump need to learn if he was educable?
Remember he's never been wrong or asked for forgiveness.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:30 PM

From The Daily Boulder, DOGE Website Hacked and Defaced — Internet Laughs at Musk: ‘These Experts Left Their Database Open’.

This publication seems to be a sarcastic bordering on sarcastic site, so fact check, but a quick look at their articles shows they're true, just written to be in the face of conservative readers. I see a lot of other articles out there from regular news sources that the site was hacked. From Mashable. Newsweek.

Good for them. He is an egotistical fool, so make him look like it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:33 PM

The invisible President always says "I am totally transparent" and his sidekick Sergent Shultz Trump always says "I know nothing, I've never heard anything about it". Both seem to be supreme prevaricators.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:37 PM

MaJoC, the health of children is important. The manbaby's health - not so much, IMHO. And he is (supposedly) an adult making (supposedly) adult choices about his diet - or lack thereof. (Speaking of the manbaby, I watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit? again this week. Does Baby Herman remind you of anyone?)

Earlier this week I watched a TV documentary presented by Dr Chris Van Tulleken

That BBC article raises similar issues to those raised in that documentary and another one called What are we Feeding our Kids? which is referred to in the article.

There are a lot of chemicals and compounds in ultra processed food and a lot of the key people in the food production industry are in the business of making as much money as possible and are doing everything they can to avoid being regulated, very much like the resistance of the tobacco industry.

Donuel, pesticides are probably a big part of the problem, but ultra processed foods might be the elephant in the room.

So, RFK Jr may actually make a positive difference to the health of children. But then again, it depends how focused he remains on that issue and whether he can in fact make a positive difference or whether it just gets lost in the rest of his noise.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 12:42 PM

I think this is the documentary I watched:

BBC Factual announces new documentary, Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Eating (W/T), with Dr Chris van Tulleken

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 08:43 PM

I was in the test audience for Roger Rabbitt before it was released to theatres. It has held up well.

big musk announcement tonight at 9PM to avoid the news.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 09:04 PM

Roger Rabbit is one of my all-time favourite movies. I noticed it was on TV this week so that is the first time I've seen it for a couple of decades. If Herman the Baby didn't have a cigar he would look exactly like Trump but he definitely has the same pushy personality.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Hrothgar
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 05:28 AM

So on one hand we are going to keep highly processed foods away from kids - while on the other hand it seems any regulation of the processing of food is going to be eliminated.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 06:46 AM

This is not the first time questionable and illegal closures of gov. agencies have occurred. It happened on Nixon's watch. The right has always had a wishlist to eliminate all regulatory laws and agencies that are watchdogs against inhumanity, corruption, and crime.
They say they want a government so small they can drown it in a bathtub. Trump says he wants America to return to 1870. THIS WAS THE GILDED AGE. There were 3 to six billionaires back then. You have heard of Carnegie, Rockafeller, Gould, etc.

The unlimited freedom for wealthy criminals to pursue any corruption for profit is indeed - limitless. With the precedent of WWII it is possible while unbelievable that dehumanization and eradication of expendable citizens for slavery or slaughter could rise again.

Corporations are part of the process. Remember the German Farber corp was only four miles away from Auschwitz. Tesla, Meta, and Amazon have already fallen into line. The stakes are higher than you would want to believe. Yet here we are again.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 01:37 PM

Yes, Hrothgar. The chances are very slim for RFK Jr to manage to prioritise the health of children over the profits of the wealthy food production people. We all know whose side Trump is on in that fight.

Donuel, I've been comparing the Russian takeover of their country to Trump's efforts. (Note: I haven't studied that history in depth so most of my comments are my own observations.)

The Russians did not have a democracy and their revolution, although it had good intentions, was taken over by a different set of oligarchs who then suppressed their people and focused on their own power and money-making aims. Russian people have limited access to facts and information and anyone who tries to rebel against the people in power are suppressed by whatever means available.

The US is still a democratic country with a long history of democracy and the political and social structures to reinforce that. American people have access to facts and information, and the right to choose which information they want to follow, hence this blip in history where people chose to follow Trump and his hype.

It would be a lot more difficult to stage an American coup than it was to stage and then redirect the Russian revolution towards a different and equally dangerous oligarchy.

I think there is hope for the US, but people need to stand up for their country and defend their democratic rights.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 02:01 PM

The trouble with Kennedy is that the good ideas are entangled with lunacy. In recent months I've researched sugar and wheat and processed foods and the history behind them - these troubles started a long time ago. But Kennedy seems to be like Trump - whatever someone tells him he goes with, so the vaccine fear is something that was whispered in his ear and it lodged (in the hole left behind by the worm). Fluoride is another one of those topics; dentists across America will be tending a lot more children with cavities as their parents continue to feed sugary foods and the fluoride that strengthens tooth enamel goes away.

They're gutting the NPS park rangers right now. There is a group preparing to sue on behalf of the probationary jobs (two years in or less) but I don't know if there is anyone for the full-time vested staff yet.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 03:23 PM

Bernie Sanders telling it like it is a few days ago. Yet the US, from Congress down, seems paralysed from acting to stop this fascist Trump Regime.

Oh America, what have you done, and continue to do?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 04:08 PM

Oligarcha in Russia had to win an auction for the various means of production be it mining, energy, defense etc. Basically Putin still held the lease and had the power to fire/imprison or worse.
Likewise, Tesla was the highest bidder in the Trump oligarch auction so Helen's analogy is very good.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 05:37 PM

Wow! BWM that Bernie Sanders speech is worth listening to, for the whole 20 minutes. That speech should go down in history.

Just wow!!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 15 Feb 25 - 09:27 PM

I agree Helen. When the whole shit-show blows up in the US’s face, at least no-one will be able to say, “Nobody told me”!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 06:40 AM

Nobody told me!

Meanwhile ignoring climate change is a force multiplier of catastrophe

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 07:03 AM

A piece from Michael James on Facebook, which is well worth a read. I’ve C&P’d it because I know we have members who won’t go to FB…

”OK, HELLO WORLD...

For most of my adult life, I worked as a journalist in this country and credibly, factually, told the public thousands of stories at the Detroit News, New York Daily News and as head writer for a TV show on ESPN. None of the stories I have ever written is more important than the one I am writing now.

If you will indulge me a lack of brevity this one time, I will explain.

It begins with the three times I realized that the safety and security we so prize here in the United States of America is an illusion. It's not and never was true. It doesn't exist. We only believed it did.

The first time I realized it was in the aftermath of 9/11. After I witnessed the World Trade Center towers crumble before my eyes little more than a mile from my New York City apartment, authorities posted police with automatic weapons and huge American flags at the entrance to every bridge and tunnel in the city.

We felt safe seeing those images, but each time I ventured through those tunnels and over those bridges, I had a question:

"What's stopping that truck in front of me from being laden down with fertilizer and explosives? Who knows what's in the trunk of every car in front and back of me?"

We weren't safe at all. Terrorists just didn't decide to blow us all to hell.

The second time I realized there is no such thing as safety and security came when Donald Trump promised building a wall at the Southern border to keep illegals out.

I thought, "Mexicans are renowned for building tunnels from Mexico directly to homes on the U.S. side in Texas and California to smuggle in people and drugs. How can a wall prevent that?"

A wall could not make us safe at all. We only believed it could.

The third time I realized safety and security is an illusion was on January 6th, 2021, when Donald Trump's MAGA supporters overran the United States Capitol - the seat of power of the US government - injuring law enforcement officers and defacing the offices of cowering, terrified duly elected lawmakers.

The ease with which they penetrated our most sacred symbols of the rule of law and order in America showed me that if this could be done by only a few thousand mostly-unarmed citizens, there really is no such thing as safety and security in this country.

We only believed there was.

The final time I realized there is no safety and security in the United States of America has come in the last three weeks, or rather, since Donald Trump returned to The White House.

Under the guise of weeding out corruption and with South African-born Elon Musk as the tip of the spear, Donald Trump and his Republican confederates have turned every facet of American government upside down, installed inexperienced and unqualified loyalists in positions of power in every sector of government and thrown thousands of hard-working Americans - many of whom voted for him - out into the streets.

While stunned, outnumbered Democrats were frozen to inaction, Trump, through executive order, made laws, changed laws and ignored orders from courts to stop in his tracks.

While those of us who opposed him screamed that his actions and those of Elon Musk were tantamount to creating a fascist government and a dictatorship, we were only partially right.

See, people, Trump's dictatorship has already begun. It is HERE. It is NOW.

For those who don't believe this is true, what we all missed while focusing on the flood of executive orders and bizarre musings of taking over the Gaza Strip, annexing Canada as the 51st state against their will, purchasing Greenland to rename it Red, White and Blueland and taking over the Panama Canal is this:

Trump was merely testing the waters to see how much power and authority he truly had. The final step in his plan will be to ignore any and all court challenges aimed at stopping him.

What should be clear to you now is that there was really only one barrier to Donald Trump taking over this country and remaking it in his image:

The fact that the only thing that has kept our democracy in place since it was written in 1787 is a piece of paper called the U.S. constitution.

That constitution only works if our politicians RESPECT the power within, the rule of law.

Donald Trump clearly does not respect the constitution as have all other United States presidents before him.

Worse, without respect for the constitution and our laws, THERE IS NO AUTHORITY LEFT TO STOP HIM.

There is no police force who can reign Trump in.

There is no military to reign Trump in.

There are no lawmakers or judges to reign Trump in.

And soon, as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer declared recently during a speech at Miami Dade College, Donald Trump will refuse to comply with all orders of the court - and his takeover will be complete - for there is no authority remaining to police him.

Like Sotomayer, the American Bar Association just released a statement declaring that, “Trump is not following the rule of law.”

Now, the reason why the ABA sounds like a kid screaming, “Charlie hit me!” is because they’ve reached the conclusion that there is nothing they can do about Trump not following the rule of law. This has never happened before in the history of this country, but it IS happening now.

Hey, America, hey World, you can call it a monarchy, or fascism or a totalitarian government or a dictatorship, but whatever you call it, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are the law of the land now.

Don't believe me?

The 1,500 January 6th rioters who were tried and convicted in federal courts?

Trump freed them. On Day 1.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was brought up on corruption charges after a decade-long investigation?

He cozied up to Trump, who ordered his Department of Justice to drop the charges.

If that's not enough, I think Donald Trump has one more trick up his sleeve, as I predict he is being lobbied at this very moment to grant clemency to an old friend who has been accused of pedophilia, drugging and raping male and female victims, physically assaulting others and possibly sanctioning numerous murders over the past 30 years.

So what, pray tell, will you say when Donald Trump pardons Sean Diddy Combs?

The lyrics to that song you sang in grade school has changed, folks:

This land is NOT your land.
This land is NOT my land.
NOT from California.
NOT to the New York Islands.
NOT from the Redwood Forest
NOR to the Gulf of America waters
This land belongs to Trump and E.

In less than a month back in office, all of the checks and balances have been removed. Republicans control the house and the senate. Every cabinet pick Trump proposes will be confirmed. No decision he makes, whether it's instructing the Treasury Department to stop making the penny or bringing back the plastic straw, is being denied.

While his supporters cheer his every move, they have yet to see the cost cuts Elon Musk and his team of hackers make under cover of darkness are hurting American farmers, American workers and those in the poorest red states in the country who voted for him.

For them, and us, it's already too late to realize it's too late.

If you saw Musk recently in the oval office with his young son holding court while Trump sat idly by, you should have realized the richest man in the world controls the supposed most powerful man in the world.

Only Elon Musk is holding Elon Musk accountable and Trump - who is likely paying Musk back for whatever he did to help him take the 2024 election - is allowing it to happen.

As you read these words, it is likely that Elon Musk has already had his hackers place back doors into every major computer system across the US government, which gives him the power to shut down any program he chooses at any time on an app while sitting in the driver's seat of his Tesla.

For those in the back or in the nosebleed section or under a rock, let me say it again:

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are the law of the land. Today. Right now.

The United States of America is no longer a democracy. We are now a dictatorship.

In closing, let me say that I don't believe in presenting problems without offering solutions. There IS something we can do to fight this takeover and resist this bloodless coup that has stripped away the sense of freedom we have known all of our lives - but it will require of us a resolve and action most of us have never known or shown.

It will require us to unite, fight, stand up, risk our lives and our liberty - because one thing dictators have never fully understood is that THE PEOPLE truly are the power.

Think of it this way: if we don't want the price of an automobile in America to be $50,000, well, if nobody buys those cars, there won't be a $50,000 car in America.

With that in mind, should Elon Musk and Donald Trump try to dump hundreds of thousands of federal employees out into the streets, simply refuse to leave. If forced from your offices, show up to work en masse the next day - and every day after - and make sure NOBODY goes into those offices.

If Trump's new Department of Defense head Pete Hegseth makes a demand of the 3.5 million workers he now oversees, what can he possibly do if they disobey in the name of American democracy?

The same goes for new national security director Tulsi Gabbard, who has never worked in security or run a department of ANY kind. The same goes for new secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, new Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - or any other Trump appointee.

None of these figureheads - not even Trump himself - can do anything without our complicity.

Lastly, this battle is only just beginning. You must protect your physical and mental well-being.

You don't have the time or energy to fight meaningless squabbles on social media against Trump's MAGA sycophants who believe every narrative they sell.

No matter if they are friends or family or casual acquaintances on social media, SILENCE THEIR VOICES and influence. Block, snooze, delete or ignore them.

For me, the purge begins TODAY! I’d love to tell the people going away that it isn’t personal, but their blind belief system is a direct threat to me, my friends, family, neighbors, fellow Americans, Canadians, Palestinians, and, well, you get the picture.

Trust what your eyes and ears are telling you. Hope that they will catch up and join our fight against this power virus threatening our country and the world.

Lastly, remember the words of philosopher Bertrand Russell, who said roughly this of how fascism begins:

"First they fascinate the fools. Then they muzzle the intelligent."

If you've gotten this far, it's because you're not a fool.

We got here because all of our lives we believed in that concept devised by our founding fathers of "We The People."

Well, the only way out from under the megalomania of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their collaborators is to make every day January 6th.

If you feel so moved, please share my post. If not, please act in some way. We need all hands on deck.

If we want our democracy back, starting today, starting now, we must BE THE PEOPLE.”

BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID, AMERICA.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 07:04 AM

And you’ve been told, Don.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 07:05 AM

It has already been established in court that the president cannot commit a crime in the execution of his duties. What make everyone think that he will not use that ruling to change deny any future election results or even alter the constitution so he can stand again and never be ousted?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 08:49 AM

And verily Trump said "I am the Messiah and landlord"
The crowd shouted in unison "You are the Messiah oh lord"
One lone voice cried "No he's not"
The crowd murmured 'who was that?'
"It's me Elon MUSK, I am the Messiah".
"I shall resurrect apartheid, fascism, and oligarchy for eternity"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 10:15 AM

The Supreme Court left themselves the task of sorting of issues, if they are in the executive job or not. But you'll notice that none of these acts have had Trump insist that they be taken to that court. There is still a mystery, as to weather that court will decide they are completely irrelevant or not.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 10:22 AM

He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 10:25 AM

Columnist Sheila Kennedy posted this editorial on Saturday:

On February 13th, Robert Hubbell’s daily letter included a (partial) list of what Trump/Musk had done in the first days of the administration.

Pardoned 1,500 insurrectionists who assisted Trump in his first attempted coup.

Converted the DOJ into his political hit squad by opening investigations into members of the DOJ, FBI, Congress, and state prosecutors’ offices who attempted to hold Trump to account for his crimes.

Fired a dozen inspectors general, whose job it is to identify fraud and corruption and to serve as a check on abuses of power by the president.

Fired dozens of prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on criminal cases relating to Trump

Fired dozens of prosecutors who worked on criminal cases against January 6 insurrectionists

Opened investigations into thousands of FBI agents who worked on cases against January 6 insurrectionists

Disbanded the FBI the group of agents designed to prevent foreign election interference in the US

Disbanded the DOJ group of prosecutors targeting Russian oligarchs’ criminal activity affecting the US

Fired the chairs and members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, and the Federal Election Commission and refused to replace them, effectively shutting down those independent boards in violation of statute

Shut down and defunded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Shut down and defunded USAID by placing virtually the entire staff of the agency on leave

Impounded billions of dollars of grants appropriated by Congress to USAID, National Institutes of Health, Department of Education, and the EPA, all in violation of Article I of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power to make appropriations

Allowed a group of hackers to seize control of large swaths of the federal government’s computer network by attaching unauthorized servers, changing and creating new computer code outside of federal security protocols, creating “backdoors” in secure systems, installing unsanctioned “AI” software to scrape federal data (including personal identification information), and installing “spyware” to monitor email of federal employees

Disobeyed multiple court orders to release frozen federal funds (an ongoing violation; see the NYTimes on Wednesday)
Granted a corrupt pardon to the Mayor of New York in exchange for his promise to cooperate in Trump’s immigration crackdown

The occasional trolls who visit this site to register their approval of these illegal and unconstitutional measures discount their illegality, confirming disdain for what is a significant protection of individual liberty–the insistence that the ends cannot justify the means. The entire Bill of Rights is founded on that premise, which is central to the rule of law.

It requires a total lack of civic literacy and historic understanding to look at that list and approve of those actions–to fail to see that they are fundamentally contrary to sound policy, to the rule of law, and to America’s global interests and stature.

Members of Congress should be the first line of defense against this coup. Most of these arbitrary actions can only be properly and constitutionally taken by Congress, and the actions comprising the Trump/Musk coup send an unmistakable message that our co-Presidents find Congress irrelevant and expendable. One might expect even MAGA Senators and Representatives to object to their political castration, but–as James Baldwin once noted–in order for evil to flourish, “it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

Unfortunately, MAGA Senators and Representatives only come in two flavors: Christian Nationalist (in Indiana, think Jim Banks) and spineless (in Indiana, think Todd Young). The Christian Nationalists are profoundly, if ignorantly, anti-American; the spineless are interested only in retaining their positions–positions that their meek obedience has divested of any significance other than the right to retain a title and receive a paycheck.

America’s government has three branches (someone needs to explain them to Tommy Tuberville), so in the absence of a live and breathing Congress, it is falling to the courts to restrain our would-be co-Kings. However, it looks all too likely that our would-be monarchs will ignore the courts–echoing Jackson’s infamous statement that “the courts have issued their decision, now let them enforce it.”

If that happens, it will be left up to We the People to counter this coup, and we can’t wait until the midterm elections, by which time our overlords may have put even more vote suppression laws on the books. We must participate in protests, in general strikes, in civic resistance of all kinds. Jessica Craven has posted about several:—a nationwide protest on February 17, a one-day general strike on February 28, and a “total shutdown” on March 15.

Studies have determined that participation in non-violent protest by only 3.5% of a population forces political change. We the People can do this.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 10:48 AM

”Studies have determined that participation in non-violent protest by only 3.5% of a population forces political change. We the People can do this.”

But what’s the likelihood that 3.5% of ‘We the People’ will do this? Judging by the lack of interest/action so far, it will be closer to 0% than 3.5% who will have the cojones to get involved in trying to put the brakes on the Mango Mussolini and President-by-Proxy Musk.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 11:12 AM

Copied/vPasted from BBC Red Button (apologies for tyops):

The US government is trying to rehire nuclear safety employees it had fired on Thursday, after concerns grew that their dismissal could jeopardise national security.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) workers were among hundreds of employees in the energy department who received termination letters.

The Department is responsible for designing, building and overseeing the US nuclear weapons stockpile.

That needs no comment from me whatsoever.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 11:26 AM

Dave, that was the very naughty scene I pictured.

Elon Musk needs to make surgery more efficient so he is deleting scalpels and substituting machetes.

The Supreme Court has already ruled that any official act of the President is legal. Like Nixon said "If the President does it, its legal" If the Democrats advance their case to the Supreme Court they have an uphill fight to declare unconstitutional executive orders illegal and not official. A normal court would find anti-constitutional orders to be open and shut illegal.
This court however is not normal.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 12:15 PM

Machetes? nope: dwarf axes.

A traditional Dwarf axe is on one side a pickaxe, to extract interesting minerals. The other side is a war axe, to deal with the sometimes very unreasonable people who own the land with the interesting minerals in it.

            -- from L-Space's entry for Dwarfs

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 12:31 PM

.... Mind you, with a Dwarf axe sharp enough to be grave goods* and a steady hand, you could shave the hoar frost off a judge's disapproval.

* Only DEATH's scythe is sharper.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 01:59 PM

It's a mattock, MaJoC. As in "Dwarves weilding double-handed battle mattocks" (Battle of the five armies (I think))

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 02:44 PM

Another way to fight back is to hit them where it hurts: the hip pocket nerve.

This article is from the Snopes fact-checking site:

Tesla Made More Cars Than It Sold in Q1 2024, Some of Which Were Visible from Space


"Claim:

"As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, nearly 50,000 unsold Tesla vehicles were sitting in parking lots across the U.S. and visible from space.


"What's True

"Tesla produced almost 50,000 more vehicles in the first quarter of 2024 than it delivered to customers. At least some of these unsold vehicles were visible from space, as seen in reports and images from the time. Subsequent financial reports indicated the overstock was likely reduced by some amount over the course of the year.
What's Undetermined

"We have not been able to determine whether all the nearly 50,000 unsold vehicles from the first quarter of 2024 were located in the U.S. (for example, we found reports of unsold Teslas being stored in Germany)."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Justa Picker
Date: 16 Feb 25 - 07:33 PM

This article reprinted from Nov 6th, 2024, exquisitely sums up the CDN perspective by journalist Andrew Coyne.

Andrew Coyne is a highly respected Canadian columnist with the Globe and Mail and a regular panelist on CBC's The National, who has previously worked with Macleans Magazine (Senior Editor) and the National Post.
.....

“Nothing mattered, in the end. Not the probable dementia, the unfathomable ignorance, the emotional incontinence; not, certainly, the shambling, hate-filled campaign, or the ludicrously unworkable anti-policies.

The candidate out on bail in four jurisdictions, the convicted fraud artist, the adjudicated rapist and serial sexual predator, the habitual bankrupt, the stooge of Vladimir Putin, the man who tried to overturn the last election and all of his creepy retinue of crooks, ideologues and lunatics: Americans took a long look at all this and said, yes please.

There is no sense in understating the depth of the disaster. This is a crisis like no other in our lifetimes. The government of the United States has been delivered into the hands of a gangster, whose sole purpose in running, besides staying out of jail, is to seek revenge on his enemies. The damage Donald Trump and his nihilist cronies can do – to America, but also to its democratic allies, and to the peace and security of the world – is incalculable. We are living in the time of Nero.

The first six months will be a time of maximum peril. NATO must from this moment be considered effectively obsolete, without the American security guarantee that has always been its bedrock. We may see new incursions by Russia into Europe – the poor Ukrainians are probably done for, but now it is the Baltics and the Poles who must worry – before the Europeans have time to organize an alternative. China may also accelerate its Taiwanese ambitions.

At home, Mr. Trump will be moving swiftly to consolidate his power. Some of this will be institutional – the replacement of tens of thousands of career civil servants with Trumpian loyalists. But some of it will be … atmospheric.

At some point someone – a company whose chief executive has displeased him, a media critic who has gotten under his skin – will find themselves the subject of unwanted attention from the Trump administration. It might not be so crude as a police arrest. It might just be a little regulatory matter, a tax audit, something like that. They will seek the protection of the courts, and find it is not there.

The judges are also Trump loyalists, perhaps, or too scared to confront him. Or they might issue a ruling, and find it has no effect – that the administration has called the basic bluff of liberal democracy: the idea that, in the crunch, people in power agree to be bound by the law, and by its instruments the courts, the same as everyone else. Then everyone will take their cue. Executives will line up to court him. Media organizations, the large ones anyway, will find reasons to be cheerful.

Of course, in reality things will start to fall apart fairly quickly. The huge across-the-board tariffs he imposes will tank the world economy. The massive deficits, fuelled by his ill-judged tax policies – he won’t replace the income tax, as he promised, but will fill it with holes – and monetized, at his direction, by the Federal Reserve, will ignite a new round of inflation.

Most of all, the insane project of deporting 12 million undocumented immigrants – finding them, rounding them up and detaining them in hundreds of internment camps around the country, probably for years, before doing so – will consume his administration. But by then it will be too late.

We should not count upon the majority of Americans coming to their senses in any event. They were not able to see Mr. Trump for what he was before: why should that change? Would they not, rather, be further coarsened by the experience of seeing their neighbours dragged off by the police, or the military, further steeled to the necessity of doing “tough things” to “restore order?”

Some won’t, of course. But they will find in time that the democratic levers they might once have pulled to demand change are no longer attached to anything. There are still elections, but the rules have been altered: there are certain obstacles, certain disadvantages if you are not with the party of power. It will seem easier at first to try to change things from within. Then it will be easier not to change things.

All of this will wash over Canada in various ways – some predictable, like the flood of refugees seeking escape from the camps; some less so, like the coarsening of our own politics, the debasement of morals and norms by politicians who have discovered there is no political price to be paid for it. And who will have the backing of their patron in Washington.

All my life I have been an admirer of the United States and its people. But I am frightened of it now, and I am even more frightened of them.”

Written by Andrew Coyne.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 12:16 AM

I assume that this is an "oh $h1t, what have we done?" moment:

Trump administration tries to rehire fired nuclear weapons workers in DOGE reversal

"In short: The Trump administration has halted the firing of hundreds of workers in nuclear weapons programs.

"It comes after 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were abruptly laid off last week.

"The Pantex Plant was one of the hardest offices hit, seeing about 30 per cent of the cuts.

"The Trump administration has halted the firings of hundreds of workers in nuclear weapons programs, with experts cautioning that a new cost-cutting task force will put communities at risk.

"US officials said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off on Thursday.

"According to the officials, some employees lost access to their email before they had learnt that they were fired and were locked out of their offices on Friday morning."

....

"While some of the Energy Department employees who were fired dealt with energy efficiency and the effects of climate change, many others dealt with nuclear issues.

"This included managing massive radioactive waste sites and ensuring the material does not further contaminate nearby communities.

"Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, both Democrats, called the firings last week 'utterly callous and dangerous.'"

....

"Nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists director Edwin Lyman said the firings could disrupt the day-to-day workings of the agency and create a sense of instability over the nuclear program both at home and abroad.

"'I think the signal to US adversaries is pretty clear: throw a monkey wrench in the whole national security apparatus and cause disarray,'" he said.

"'That can only benefit the adversaries of this country.'

"Many federal employees who had worked on the nation's nuclear programs had spent their entire careers there and there was a wave of retirements in recent years that cost the agency years of institutional knowledge."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 12:39 AM

On second thoughts, this will probably be a Trump statement, "oh $h1t Elon, what have YOU done?". (Friends until they become enemies.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 07:11 AM

I can imagine how busy the Chinese State hackers are with following the emails to all the US nuke bomb employees. No time for lunch, maybe they're eating hot pockets too.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 08:53 AM

In Russia, there are 2 cities that no longer appear on maps after a relaxation of nuclear weapon security and safety. I would not expect Elon to know this or if he did, give a crap.
In Trump's first term our nuke facility at Hanford in Washington state had an accident. His selected energy dept head Rick Perry was out of his depth.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 10:41 AM

Elon got Donald to order $400 million dollars of Tesla vehicles on the taxpayer's backs. They will all be those hideous pick ups. How is that for government efficiency?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 03:55 PM

Trump has completed 1/48th of his term so far. 47 to go.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 05:32 PM

BOOOOOOO BOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOO

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 05:44 PM

Hey Donuel, do you need to write a parody of Star Spangled Banner? :-)

Hockey fans in Montreal loudly boo American anthem at Canada-U.S. 4 Nations matchup

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 09:08 PM

Looking at the lyrics of Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key makes me see that it could be a rallying cry for the Anti-Trump and Anti-Musk brigade, for example these four lines:

"When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!"


Maybe it's time for all of the true Americans to start fighting back. Like SRS, hitting the politicians with wave after wave of motivating information.


Star Spangled Banner

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Wh?re the foe's haughty host in dr?ad silence reposes
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained, who our birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave
See pop shows near Sydney
Get tickets as low as $139

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Feb 25 - 11:31 PM

Musk is moving in on Social Security. I wonder if the idiot has ever been in a subway, if he knows what the term "third rail" means. If he actually wants to see the public completely explode, just try it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 02:22 AM

I didn't know but do now - The third rail of a nation's politics is a metaphor for any issue so controversial that it is "charged" and "untouchable" to the extent that any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically. (wikipedia)

speaking of wikipedia as we were! - Wikipedia Prepares for 'Increase in Threats' to US Editors From Musk and His Allies The Wikimedia Foundation is building new tools that it hopes will help Wikipedia editors stay anonymous in part to avoid harassment and legal threats as Elon Musk and the Heritage Foundation ramp up their attacks on people who edit Wikipedia. Some of the tactics have been pioneered by Wikimedia in countries with authoritarian governments and where editing Wikipedia is illegal or extremely dangerous.

Last month, Forward obtained a document created by the Heritage Foundation called “Wikipedia Editor Targeting,” which set a goal to “identify and target Wikipedia editors abusing their position by analyzing text patterns, usernames, and technical data through data breach analysis, fingerprinting, HUMINT (human intelligence), and technical targeting.” (read on)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 07:00 AM

> Elon got Donald to order $400 million dollars of
> Tesla vehicles on the taxpayer's backs.

Are those the stainless-steel ones that rust?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 07:36 AM

”When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a sultan.
The palace becomes a circus.”

Ancient Turkish proverb…

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 09:12 AM

Thanks for the Turkish proverb, BwM. Number Ten Downing Street, under de Pfeffel's misrule, deteriorated into the sort of eternal piss-up that'd shame a US frat house. And the bar steward still protests he was hard done by.

Meanwhile, back at the point, last week's New European featured an article by Matthew D'Ancona under the headling American Caesar. I've been thinking awhile that we've been through the reigns of Caligula and Claudius, and are now starting that of Nero. The entirety of the Old Man Log poem bears reading, including the sub-refrain "It was an emergency measure only" tolling like a funeral bell, but it ends:

Yet I am, I must remember, Old King Log.
I shall lie inertly in the stagnant pool.
Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud catch out.

       -- Robert Graves: Claudius the God

But I may be wrong: we may all be in for a time of Domitian.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 12:20 PM

Found the article I referenced a while back - from Elon Musk’s Enemy, USAID, Was Investigating Starlink’s Contracts in Ukraine
The agency was in the midst of a probe into the billionaire's equipment at the time of Musk's assault.

Since coming into power, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has barraged USAID, the international aid agency that dispenses food and supplies to nations all over the world. It is likely that the agency will soon be shuttered and could be subsumed into the U.S. State Department. Now, new reporting shows USAID was actually investigating equipment from one of Musk’s companies at the time that he attacked the agency.

The Lever reported Tuesday that USAID’s inspector general was in the process of investigating its own public-private partnership between Musk’s Starlink and the Ukrainian government at the time that the billionaire’s DOGE crippled the agency. Publicly available information about that probe is still online. An announcement from last May reads: “The USAID Office of Inspector General, Inspections and Evaluations Division, is initiating an inspection of USAID’s oversight of Starlink satellite terminals provided to the Government of Ukraine. Our objectives are to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals.”

Musk has called the agency “evil” and a “criminal organization,” though the fact that USAID was investigating the Starlink activities may suggest ulterior motivations for the billionaire’s vitriol. It’s unclear what the Starlink probe’s status is right now.

He's clearing out all of his critics, plain and simple.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 12:52 PM

Trump thinks he is a business man, he appears to be pragmatic, I agree he has an unpleasant bullying personality, and he is not a successful business man, companies associated with him have failed 6 times, I think his China import tax policy will fail.
But I am not in a position to bring about his Presidential downfall, so I am not going to waste too much mental energy on him

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 01:18 PM

Let all the evil in the mud hatch out
is one of my favorite quotes of revenge. thanks MaJoC

I did not know the Star Spangled Banner had the word 'Birthright' which is was Trump wants destroyed. I believe I have never used the word spangled in a sentence before now. Helen stay tuned for the Reality Star Strangled Banner headlines.

According to its former director, Social Security is very fragile and likely to have failures in a skeleton crew scenario.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 01:51 PM

Donuel, I don't think I have ever heard the full lyrics of Star Spangled Banner. I know I have heard the word "spangled" to describe drag queens' outfits, if that helps. :-D

"Reality Star Strangled Banner" is funny. I had been thinking about words rhyming with the song title. Spar, czar, scar, bizarre, tangled, mangled, jangled, spanner, hammer, etc and found a website for rhyming words.

Words That Rhyme With STAR

SRS, that article finally makes sense of why Musk, wearing his SuperDOGE cloak, targeted USAID from the start. No hesitation, just go for the jugular. He was covering his own back.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 02:58 PM

Another Musk coup for his company, leading (he hopes) to a lucrative government contract: Musk helped fire hundreds of FAA workers. Now, his SpaceX employees could fill the void
The move to bring in more experts within Musk’s circle follows the Trump administration’s decision to fire hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration personnel

A team from Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been drafted in to help overhaul the U.S. air traffic control systems.

The move to bring in more experts within Musk’s circle follows the Trump administration’s decision to fire hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration personnel.

SpaceX already holds billions in government contracts. Its staff visited Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia Monday, according to Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, who said that President Donald Trump has “ordered” him to “deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world.”

“Tomorrow, members of @elonmusk’s SpaceX team will be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in VA to get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system,” Duffy said in a post on X Sunday.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 03:06 PM

Stephan 'Goebbels' Millar rudely went on CNN and accused the host and CNN of subterfuge and deliberate support of crimes and government waste when asked what Elon and Doge was doing. He actually began yelling and sounded more Hitleresque than usual.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 03:17 PM

> Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out
> is one of my favorite quotes of revenge. thanks MaJoC

FTFY.* Oh, and it wasn't revenge that Claudius had in mind, but a purging of the body politic to make room for a return of the Republic. Sadly, "making room" doesn't work in real life, and history is littered with counterexamples.

.... And here I was, about to suggest that Isildur is turning into a pale imitation of Mordor before our eyes .... Aside: One of the big spytech firms is called Palantir, presumably for a nontrivial reason.

* I used to get that wrong too, till I looked it up recently.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 04:08 PM

That is a great quote, one that somehow I missed over the years of watching the old Claudius programs. I finally found the whole thing:

The frog-pool wanted a king.
Jove sent them Old King Log.
I have been as deaf and blind and wooden as a log.
The frog-pool wanted a king.
Let Jove now send them Young King Stork.
Caligula's chief fault: his stork-reign was too brief.
My chief fault: I have been far too benevolent.
I repaired the ruin my predecessors spread.
I reconciled Rome and the world to monarchy again.
Rome is fated to bow to another Caesar.
Let him be mad, bloody, capricious, wasteful, lustful.
King Stork shall prove again the nature of kings.
By dulling the blade of tyranny I fell into great error.
By whetting the same blade I might redeem that error.
Violent disorders call for violent remedies.
Yet I am, I must remember, Old King Log.
I shall float inertly in the stagnant pool.
Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 04:26 PM

And at risk of turning this into a poetry thread, but a friend reminded me of Yeats recently.

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst   
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   
The darkness drops again; but now I know   
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

There's nothing better than a really good poet to find a way to express righteous anger.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 05:04 PM

Wrong or right is not the issue but merely my perspective. Your research does go deeper.
If 'let all...' were the last words of Claudius as he lay poisoned or stabbed or both, it was not a living revenge he was stating but rather a vengeful curse that the State and murderous personal vendettas deserved.

Stephen Miller on CNN was repeatedly asked to calm down but could not set aside his 3rd Reich style rhetoric.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 05:47 PM

Neither can you, apparently.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 06:28 PM

With the firing of all the scientists under the claim that fraud and cost-cutting is the issue, science itself is being claimed as a fraud.
Scientists in the NIH, CDC, FDA, VA who save lives in a variety of ways are deemed frauds. Well, my friend, disease is not a fraud. Botulism and Listeria are not a fraud. Musk's teenage and 20-something hackers are not looking for fraud, do not know how to, and have purposely not found any.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 06:43 PM

Apparently, there is no proof that "let all the poisons in the mud hatch out" were I CLAUDIUS' last words but rather a theatrical addition in the broadcast spoken of earlier.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 07:06 PM

There's no proof of any of that, it is a literary work by Robert Graves. This is a non-issue.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Feb 25 - 11:39 PM

Trump has fired all the employees of the JFK Presidential Library so the library is now closed. However, the Reagan and Nixon Libraries are untouched.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Richard Atkins
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 12:58 AM

Shame on the USA for voting for this president in the first place. He and Putin think It's fine to reap gains taking over other countries as Hitler did. God help Ukraine and not America under this convicted liar

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 02:35 AM

The Mango Mussolini now saying that Ukraine ‘should not have started the war’.

WTF?

Ukraine is fucked, and so is the US.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 04:32 AM

I wonder how history will view Trump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 05:29 AM

Just as you thought he couldn't sink any lower

Here’s Why Trump May View Andrew Tate As An Ally

I suppose criminals and sexual predators need to stick togther

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 05:30 AM

and 399

Someone else can have 400 :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 05:37 AM

Aaaaww, go on then Dave - 400! ;-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 07:02 AM

That's only the final part of that poem, Stilly, and misses the three-line paragraph breaks ("like the 'tercets' of the British Druids"). It begins:

I love liberty; I detest tyranny.
I have always been a patriotic Roman.
The Roman genius is Republican.

I am now, paradoxically, an Emperor.
As such, I exercise monarchical power.
The Republic has been suspended for three generations.

The Republic was torn by Civil War.
Augustus instituted the monarchical power.
It was an emergency measure only.

.... that may help searching. You got the core of it, but read both books for the context and the full flavour.

Hope that helps.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 10:03 AM

I wouldn't call this work a non issue. I wonder how dear it was to Senator Byrd who often compared the US to ancient Rome.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 10:11 AM

Apologies, Stilly, if that came over as abrupt. Firing off one's mouth from the hip is so terribly contageous; and Herself insists on not muting Burger Disgustus when he fails to resist the lure of the open mike, citing "know thine enemy".

I'll mention what de Pfeffel said about this once I remember what it was, unless someone else can remind us all first (possibly in the Ukraine thread). All I can now remember is that I was happily surprised.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 10:50 AM

Oligarchs sometimes make highly publicized donations to make up for lost agencies or government funding to look as though they care.
Walmart did such things after the Katrina disaster.
I believe a billionaire's handout will never account for what government funding can do. People will learn this in a hurry while some will remain duped.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 10:56 AM

Hoooo .... Just been reading Nero's wikipedia entry, to see if the revisionist historians have decided that contemporary documentation was unduly harsh, and they haven't. It's all horribly resonant of today's hot mess: just as a taster, his first speech before the Senate (ghost-written by Seneca) included "eliminating the ills of the previous regime".

I'll leave it at that, and go wash my mind out.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 11:29 AM

To whoever Richard Atkins is, Trump didn't get 50% of the vote. Unfortunately, so many people decided that "staying home" was the answer that by not voting, they voted.

This is what Putin wanted and this is what Netanyahu wanted. Why start to agree to a peace treaty and hostage exchange after the election? Because his work here is done. Irritate enough voters in Michigan and that state is lost (Biden should have thrown Israel under the bus, but for whatever reason, decided to stick with the old "Israel is our ally" policy). And the amount of social media meddling by Putin hasn't been revealed in this current administration because they don't care. Musk seems to have had access to voting systems and states are starting now to try to find out how, but GOP legislatures are pushing back.

It's depressing. We're working on it. Now go solve the problems from Brexit.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 04:44 PM

Musk hacked the election? Stilly say it ain't so

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 05:58 PM

Blame Ukraine and say they are a pain
Take the cash and leave the poor some ash
Build grand camps and take away their land
Its Trump and Elon's Nazi master plan

Fire everyone and hire cousin Bob
You know he's dumb and dresses like a slob
Deport all color and creed enemies
You know it is a final remedy

Its Trump and Musk's Nazi Fascist Deed

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Feb 25 - 09:36 PM

Good newa: The Senate chairman of the defense committee has found his spine after Trump switched to support Russia and stand against NATO.

Hopefully more republicans will claim their spines which were checked in the cloakroom and forgotten for months on end.

The Republican Senator believes Putin should be jailed for life if not executed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 01:35 AM

”Good newa: The Senate chairman of the defense committee has found his spine after Trump switched to support Russia and stand against NATO.”

Can we have a link to that?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 07:15 AM

Evidence that Trumpers are completely insane…Carla Sands on BBC Newsnight, claiming, in all seriousness, that “there are more people in jail in the U.K. for speaking their minds than in the whole of Russia”.

more people in jail in the UK for speaking their minds than in the whole of Russia!

WTF are those numb-nuts on?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 07:32 AM

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker sounds the alarm - are any Trump-voters listening? C&P here from FB as I’m aware that some of our members are reluctant to use FB…

"As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next?

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.”

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most."

Be afraid, America. Be very afraid.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 07:39 AM

It is pretty obvious to anyone who can see past the end of their nose what is going to happen in 2 years and 4 years. The election results will either be tampered with by Musk's team of hackers or Trump will declare the elections null and void. Either way, I'm afraid you will be stuck with Trump or someone else like him for good. Hopefully public opinion will be that far against him by that time that there will be mass insurrection. Trump will call on the armed forces to restore order and, hopefully, the leaders of said forces will refuse to fire on the very people that they are there to protect. Sorry to be a doom monger. What you want to do about it is up to you folks over there but you need to be prepared for the worst case :-(

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Hrothgar
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 07:56 AM

When do we burn down the Reichstag?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 11:13 AM

> When do they burn down the Reichstag?

FTFY, Hrothgar.

.... Hm: Is this nonsense the USA's version of the Cultural Revolution?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 11:33 AM

The quote that Putin should go to jail if not executed is by Mississippi Senator Wicker Republican, this should be enough for you to track any way you wish.


The Art of Extortion is the way Trump deals are made.
It is based on using either lies or legends to defame or harm others.
Media is anxious to usually print the legend.
Back in the J.Edgar Hoover days extortion based on secret information was his modus operendie. Dirt is Donald's favorite info but lies work just as well.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 01:16 PM

The American election system is at present too widely distributed and too primitive to jury rig a country wide election. I hear you all shouting, so let me quickly add: Not everywhere, and of course we have to watch certain municipal areas and due to the 'setup' the U.S. Constitution did with the Electoral College, those States that swing.

I recommend the works of Anne Applebaum, She has made the recent worldwide attacks on democracy into a running subject with such readable works as:

Red Famine - Stalin's War on Ukraine
Twilight of Democracy
Gulag
and most recently:
Autocracy, Inc.

She was interviewed yesterday (Wednesday 19Feb2025) by.... Terry Gross, America's National Resource and current primary host of the public radio program Fresh Air.

One of the points I took to heart is that the techniques being used to undermine and eliminate democratic institutions are available and being used by both wings of political approach. From the right, Viktor Orban over Hungary, from the left, Hugo Chavez and Venezuela.

Pay attention to anything Masha Gessen writes or says. She is currently with the New Yorker but I believe she was originally from Ukraine. I might have written this elsewhere, but I had a long time Ukrainian friend who married and lived in the States; I used to do Winter camping and hiking, and she was one of my instructors. She was well read, had a great depth of history, and I waited too long to ask her opinion of the events of the last few years, only to find she had passed away.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 02:14 PM

Another poem that speaks to our times (what goes around does come around!)

The Mask of Anarchy:
Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester It's long, but read it all.

For more about it from Wikipedia.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 02:33 PM

Damn. They just approved Patel. Now real carnage will begin as far as the intelligence activities in the US and the ability of terrorists to come ashore and do their dirty work.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 04:59 PM

Dave, how does one prepare for the worst case?
I saw this doom coming for 15 years. Being accused of being a doom monger is something one need not apologize when it becomes clear to you. The UK has a 3% inflation right now and is now allied with an Axis bad guy called the USA.

Resistence will take the form of field hearings, litigation, and spine finding moments inside the cage of fools.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 05:11 PM

Stalin's Famine War in Ukraine, the Chernobyl disaster and
Putin's invasion of Ukraine using troops in black uniforms with no insignia are just some of the gifts that Russia has given them.

Don't forget the einstatgruppen of the German SS.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 05:27 PM

Stephan Miller is an old school Nazi, Trump is a useful idiot Nazi, and Elon Musk is a kinder gentler SS Cyber Nazi.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 05:59 PM

I just watched ZERO DAY with DeNiro. Its pretty good but our current politics are worse.
Also the CONCLAVE is very good with the biggest surprise ending ever.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 07:56 AM

> From the right, Viktor Orban over Hungary, from
> the left, Hugo Chavez and Venezuela.

Fascist left or fascist right, they're still fascists: different excuses background theory, same modus operandi, appeals to the same "hang 'em and flog 'em" constituency.

Fritz Zwicky, the astrophysicist, was well known for referring to his colleagues as being like neutron stars: "Spherical Bastards". When asked why, he said: "Whichever side you look at them from, they're still bastards."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 08:01 AM

I see that Musk is now joining in the crowd throwing Zelenskyy to the wolves. Sickening bunch of arseholes.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 08:20 AM

Courtesy last week's Linux Weekly News:

From a Linux-related e-mail list:

I *am* very wary of Benevolent Entities, because we have too many very recent examples of companies "realigning priorities" when political winds shift. Programs and initiatives that have until recently been poster board examples of progress and benevolence are shuttered and defunded. I am concerned that we're only a couple of mood swings away from someone deciding that free
software should not be allowed to exist because it benefits America's foes. Many of us remember all too well when large tech giants treated Linux as a "cancer" to be opposed, and I can certainly see that idea easily re-entering some Big Brain in Charge.

It's started. From the Codeberg development forge blog:

Extreme right forces actively target members of our communities and discriminate based on ethnicity and gender, political background, sexual orientation, disabilities, nationality and faith. However diversity is an important asset in free/libre software communities and it is what makes our software great and development productive.

By targetting some of our most active translators, nicest designers, best developers and all other motivated contributors, they are hurting the free/libre software ecosystem as a whole.

Spherical bastards ....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 09:58 AM

This is probably repeating something said above, but, from The Register:

National Science Foundation staff axed by Trump fear for US scientific future

An inside tale: Probation extended, tenure revoked, a scramble to merge research portfolios, and more

With the National Science Foundation cutting staff to comply with President Trump's order for sweeping federal government layoffs, concerns are growing over the impact on America's role in scientific and technological research.

And it's not just outside observers raising the alarm - both former and remaining NSF employees we spoke to expressed deep concerns following Tuesday's terminations. The cuts affected about 10 percent of the agency's workforce, with many blindsided by the move, which some say may have violated federal regulations.

The blessed Liz Truss (remember her?) was said to had a mantra, which she said she'd got from a businessman: Whenever entering a new job in charge of anybody, 10% of the staff are deadwood, and can be fired. That, and her total inability to realise she needed to learn what she was doing, worked out well for the UK when she became PM.

"And so it begins," said Ambassador Kosh.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 04:25 PM

”THOUGHTS ON UKRAINE

I always hesitate to bring my political beliefs into this space. I don’t think my listeners would expect that from me and some of you will find it disappointing: not what you were looking for... But the recent reversal of our support for the Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s invasion motivates me to cross that line.

Were we wrong about Zelensky, the hero of Ukraine?

Were we wrong to feel the brotherhood of freedom in their struggle to resist the unprovoked attack upon their young nation?

When they fought the bully Putin to a standstill with righteous resistance.

When they stood up to the tyrant and stoically paid the price in patriots’ blood, were we not thrilled at their courage?

How do we now turn away? To stand by, mute and cowed, as the men who would be king: Putin, Trump and Musk, huddle in their fortress and decide the fate of nations, shutting out the people they betray?

Is this what has become of the cradle of liberty, …and the home of the brave..? That we slide the hidden dagger in the back of those who were our champions? While our allies in the defeat of Hitler and Stalin witness our betrayal in disbelief…"

~ James Taylor: singer, songwriter, musician. On his FB Page today.

Wise words, and well spoken.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 05:39 PM

stirring speech from Illinois

Fritz makes laugh. I laugh even harder that he was right in his science and personal opinions.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Feb 25 - 06:49 PM

How Trump resembles Nero

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Feb 25 - 06:41 AM

As many of you on here know, I am a fan of superhero films. Just seen a recent DC animated TV show called "Creature Commandos". In it there is a character called GI Robot that is an android built to fight Nazis in WW2. Programmed into him was the intelligence to recognise Nazis and Nazi actions.

They decided he had gone rogue and locked him up when he went of a spree killing recognisable Nazis at a right wing rally in the fictional US "Hub City".

Art reflecting reality of vice-versa? :-D

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Hrothgar
Date: 22 Feb 25 - 07:17 AM

If the Ukraine has to surrender territory to Russia, can Mexico take back California and Texas?

Arizona and New Mexico would be minor bargaining points.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 22 Feb 25 - 08:29 AM

Posted this is the wrong thread... Interesting that someone said on any questions that trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize,

Subject: RE: BS: Long Night in Ukraine - Feb. 23, 2022
From: SPB-Cooperator - PM
Date: 20 Feb 25 - 01:37 PM

How much of pressurising Ukraine to capitulate to Putin so he can broker 'that deal' is a kickback as a result of the turnip having been previously overlooked for the Nobel Peace prize which it feels it is entitled to.

---

Tidied up the other thread. ---mudelf

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Feb 25 - 03:33 PM

The turnip's blethering on at length at some extremist rally, and being carried live on both 24h news channels in the UK, when Herself wants to see news about the Pope's declining health. She keeps asking "Is he winding down yet?" "No," says I, "he's winding up; it's all he ever does."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Feb 25 - 05:16 PM

King Trump's luck will run out as sure as the price of eggs shall rise


Lord, I was born a gamblin' man
Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can
And when it's time for stealin
I know you'll understand
That I was born a gamblin' man
Well, my father was a gambler way up in Queens
And he wound up on the extreme right for the whites
And I was born into millions from shitty rentals
In courtrooms day and night
Lord, I was born a gamblin' man
Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can
And when it's time for stealin'
I know you are a fan
That I was born a gamblin' man
Alright
I'm on my way to the White House this mornin'
Leaving on my jet, in Florida
They're always having a good time in Mara Lago
Lord, and hot porn women think the world of me
Lord, I was born a gamblin' man
Tryin' to make a livin' and stealin' the best I can
And when it's time for stealin'
I know you are a fan
That I was born a gamblin' man

Until my god damn luck runs out

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 12:37 AM

Musk sent out a post telling all federal employees to write to their supervisor and CC to OPM by midnight Monday. They're to send a bulleted list of five things they did last week. Send it to [e-mail].

There are a lot of people sending OPM a list of what they did last week. I sent one (pulled out my really old Yahoo email, I figure they are such yahoos I might as well make a statement that way as well.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 01:00 AM

What I did last week: did the weekly shopping, washed the floors, did the laundry, cooked a few dinners, played some music.

I'm sure some of the respondents will introduce a bit of wry humour, especially if the question is not very specific. :-D

Or how about: woke up early, drove to work, had a coffee, checked emails, processed some work files.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 11:04 AM

The email stunt is something Musk apparently did to the Twitter folks also. I've seen reference to it but haven't read about it in detail.

When I came into the office to work the dogs followed me, and one of them just farted. It occurs to me that Trump and Musk are like a huge fart lobbed at the nation - it stinks, it lingers, and it changes in the smell and intensity.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 01:04 PM

That's a funny coincidence, SRS, because I watched a segment of an Oz political analysis TV show on the weekend where they talk about political cartoons in newspapers during the week and two of them referred to Trump farting, in a political sense.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 03:20 PM

I watched that TV show segment again. The trumpet reference is to a very rich, very annoying political idiot called Clive Palmer who has decided to reinvent his very annoying political party and he has named it Trumpet of Patriots, and his slogan is Make Australia Great Again.

He is also trying to convince another very annoying politician, Pauline Hanson, from another very annoying political party to join forces with him. That is just sad because the reasoning behind joining forces with each other is that neither party has had very much success over the years in getting many candidates elected. BooHoo!! :-(

One of the cartoons is by Warren Brown and it shows Trump on the left, then Palmer blowing a trumpet, and then the word trumpette to indicate Clive Palmer farting.

The other cartoon by Stilgherian looks like a straight copy of an old Mediaeval image: a man with a very long trumpet coming out of his backside and a flag - I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent - hanging from the trumpet.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 03:36 PM

Helen, that last image reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch,
probably an image of hell.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 04:11 PM

Yes, keb, it could be Hieronymous Bosch. He certainly created weird, disturbing images which are probably increasingly relevant in today's weird, disturbing world. :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Feb 25 - 04:45 PM

Clive tells enough lies to stretch to Uranus and back.

We are advised not to respond to the absurd email that would be judged by AI.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 06:15 AM

MAGA bomb threats hit a Republican alternative convention in DC with speakers like Christy and Bolton.

If every single government worker were fired, the saving would be 3.3%
but at what cost?
People with 30 years of experience and expertise hold things together.
Without them starting over would take many years. Doing without S.S. or the IRS alone would be a disaster for the nation and the debt.

Losing the database for research can actually set back science a generation or more.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 07:41 AM

how would HR feel when they get detailed descriptions encounters with the HR director's spouse? (stop it SPB you are just being mischievous!).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 08:11 AM

on a serious note, this takes on the appearance of trying to decimate public services to such an extent that they are no longer viable and ripe for farming out to corporations.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 10:56 AM

15 years ago I brought my satirical protest sign to a DC protest event.
It said 'Cut out the middleman-elect corporations'.


Kash Patel promised he would appoint an existing FBI agent as deputy director.
Today he appointed Dan Bongino a pod casting shock jock for the extreme right as deputy director. Bongino was never with the FBI.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 10:59 AM

https://www.mediamatters.org/dan-bongino/dan-bongino-praises-and-promotes-qanon-influencer

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 12:21 PM

--- Ah! thanks, SPB: now I know where They got that "sack 10%" figure from. People almost invariably get decimation wrong, and think it means only one in ten is left afterwards; sadly, the oikerati seem to be applying this erroneous meaning.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 12:29 PM

Donuel you believe too much propaganda that is disguised as news.I bet you never listen to Chinese or Russian news
Hardly surprising you have your views, HARDLY SURPRISING TRUMP IS IN POWER you are insular in your outlook, and just spout whatever you see in USA NEWS
or what you want to believe on internet media, like a lot of USA voters

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 01:12 PM

The Sandman, I think you are barking up the wrong tree.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 02:14 PM

Instagram link with a TikTok video about what this scientist thinks Musk is doing with all of the federal data they want to hoover up.

It's downright scary.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 02:43 PM

Yes, scary! George Orwell's 1984 on AI generated steroids.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 03:25 PM

Save America! Join DOGE! Cash goes straight to Prez !

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-selling-official-doge-membership-182037002.html

The best forty-seven clams you'll ever spend for America! Act Now Before They're Gone!!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 06:48 PM

I restate opinions of the actual scientists involved as well as the popular news which is usually dumbed down.
I have hope that Sandman learns to listen. Ego is not our amigo.

Tech billionaires are the ruling elite. I have been leaving AI breadcrumb warnings for a decade or more but it is the powerful immortal corporations that are seeking power and tax free status at any cost.
They are not the disrupters or reformers as much as they are the ultimate greed machine. Corporate Monarchy is the new improved fascism.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 06:57 PM

The philosopher king of Elon Musk is Curtis Yarvin. Look him up.
The New York Times has the best recent interview but any info should be illuminating.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Richard Atkins
Date: 24 Feb 25 - 10:00 PM

As the Trump now want's reparations for USA high cost's compared to Europe with a grab of Ukraine minerals. These are perhaps another lie as he joins the Putin club. European countries have provided €132 billion in aid (military, financial and humanitarian) as of December 2024, and the United States has provided €114 billion. Most of the US funding supports American industries who produce weapons and military equipment. In previous wars the agressor pays and not to the liar who perhaps has agreed the carve up of an invaded country before legitimate negotiation. I hope politican's don't join the Trump brown nose club ??

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 01:04 AM

Talking Points Memo discussed a Politico article and offered commentary:

Over recent weeks I’ve told you several times that while Democrats are shut out of power in Washington and few means of arresting the Trump-Musk spree of criminal conduct across the executive branch they do have two points of leverage: the need for a new “continuing resolution” to keep the government funded by March 14th and the need to raise the debt ceiling at some point in the coming months – the exact date on that isn’t clear. At present Republicans are on course to shut down the government on March 14th. Essentially the Freedom Caucus is holding them hostage demanding not the draconian budget cuts favored by most of the GOP caucus but draconian-plus cuts, the kind that they fear will get their members in swing districts defeated. So they’re coming to Democrats, hat in hand, asking for help. I’ve explained in probably a dozen posts over the last month that this is the line not just on policy and anti-constitutional actions but also a key moment in the drama of performative power between President Trump and the opposition that will have repercussions and reverberations for months and perhaps years to come. There are already plenty of signs the public is turning against Musk’s wilding spree of criminal conduct through the federal government. To put it in the vulgar and rapacious terms that are the only ones that do it justice, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have spent the last month slapping around like bitches the Constitution, federal workers, the Democrats and really the sovereignty of the American people. Democrats have this moment to decide whether they’ll not only arrest the damage but change the tone through the idiom of power.

Well, now we appear to be at the crunch moment.

Politico released a short piece this evening under the headline “Government funding deal ‘very close’ as negotiations hinge on Trump power struggle”. In other words, they’re on the verge of an agreement right now. Patty Murray says, “we’re making good progress.” Democrats, according to Politico, want to “curb[] the president’s ability to withhold federal money.” Later the article makes clear that this is about “impoundment.” That’s kinda sorta what this is all about: whether the President can unilaterally decide to ignore the federal budget and simply not spend the money the budget says he has to spend. But in itself it certainly sounds like a thin version of the demand, which really needs to be an end to all the criminal conduct. Maybe they’re driving a harder line than this Politico article suggests. But hope is not a plan.

Republicans are coming to the Democrats hat in hand: We’re about to shut down the government. Help us prevent our extremists from doing that. Dems have to name their price. That’s presumably or should be no help until the criminal conduct stops. But according to Politico the Republicans are saying something like, ‘Be reasonable. Trump will never agree to that.’

Others may differ but I think the only reasonable position is “no help with your problem unless and until the criminal conduct stops.” And any deal needs to be enforceable.

I want to keep this brief. If you want your voice to be part of this negotiation the time to make your voice heard is tomorrow morning. It may be the last chance you have.

Josh Marshall

We all have our assignment, it's crystal clear.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 03:29 AM

If a deal is struck, what makes you think that trumuski will keep it?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 03:35 AM

Ukraine’s rare earth mineral wealth? It barely exists What we are seeing is ill-informed fools arguing over nothing

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 04:06 AM

I think he might be the next president to be assassinated
He is lining up China to be his next enemy.
His China tariff policy is likely to be a failure.
His foreign policy IMO seems to be an attempt to split Russia and China as allies.
He does not generally seem to be concerned with stopping wars

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 05:20 AM

> I think he might be the next president to be
> assassinated

To use a Billy Connolly punchline: Och, 's too late noo.

> He does not generally seem to be concerned
> with stopping wars

Suspect the runt's thinking: If Henry Kissinger can bomb Cambodia and get the Nobel Peace Prize ....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 05:49 AM

On a lighter note, somebody appears to have taken appropriate action, as documented in The Register:

US Dept of Housing screens sabotaged to show deepfake of Trump sucking Elon's toes

Visitors to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's headquarters in the capital got some unpleasant viewing on Monday morning after TV screens across the building began showing a deepfake video of President Trump kissing and sucking Elon Musk's toes.

The AI-generated footage had been circulating online over the weekend on social media, but the video was displayed on monitors at HUD on Monday morning, along with the message: "Long live the real king."

(For those who don't know, that's a reference to Republican President Trump yelling on state social media the other day "long live the king," referring to himself as a monarch. Elon, meanwhile, was recruited by Trump to, under the DOGE project, run through federal organizations to cut programs, contracts, and thousands of staff the Tesla tycoon doesn't approve of, and thus has been likened by some as the real president of the United States, especially given this earlier baffling press conference in the Oval Office.)

HUD staff reportedly resorted to unplugging the screens after failing to get the video removed from sight, and the agency is investigating.

"Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources," HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett told The Register. "Appropriate action will be taken for all involved."

The video is a pretty bad deepfake - Musk has two left feet for example, something not seen outside of comedy classic Best In Show. We've asked HUD for an explanation of how the video was spammed out to appear on the monitors, and will update as more information comes in.

[...]

Late Sunday, the SpaceX supremo shed some light on the alleged reasoning behind sending that demand, as push-back from officials grew and workers refused to participate or were ordered not to: Musk asked for the lists of accomplishments from millions of people because he wanted to see "who had a pulse and two working neurons." The billionaire seems to be under the impression fraudsters are collecting paychecks from the federal coffers for dead or ex-employees, and that some people aren't even checking their email.

Asking more than a million people, some handling sensitive subjects, to reply to an email about their past week might also be seen as not a particularly productive use of time.

[...]

I'm not at all sure whether "two left feet" shows that the deepfake is poor, or that it's an implied suggestion that he's too clumsy to dance.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 08:48 AM

The bromance with Putin is heating up. What does Russia have that the US does not? Trump is certainly more cruel to the US than he is to Russia. Donnie will break up with Elon before he has a lovers quarrel with Vlad. Even Canada feels spurned and is seriously pissed off at Trump for blowing them off with tariff threats.

Trump's second favorite president after Jackson is President McKinley. Let's hope Trump's term resembles his.

Subject: RE: MOAB's Daughter (of all BS) part 3
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 09:03 AM

Like his trading cards, the fake magazine cover has him wearing a golden crown. It appears to be gilded crap.
He has put himself on fake magazine covers before.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 09:54 AM

Bewildered liberals are trying to define this Trump presidency as fascist, authoritarian, bromockracy, and patriocracy.

His criminal loyalty thing is just straight-up mafia rule.
He doesn't want records and bureaucracy like the Germans.
He wants to be the King Godfather with the power to fire/execute.
Everyone loyal to Trump does not have to be Sicilian but they do have to be white and male. He also wants law enforcement destroyed.

Trump rubbed shoulders with the mob in NY and NJ. Once upon a time, even I delivered a million-dollar van deal for Gambino in NY.
I lived one town over from Apalachin NY known for a historic summit of the American Mafia held at the home of mobster "Joe the Barber".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 08:21 PM

Americans lost a trillion dollars of medicare tonight by a republican vote of 217 to 215

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 25 - 09:35 PM

Unless the Senate drinks spine growing juice.

Subject: RE: MOAB's Daughter (of all BS) part 3
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 06:52 AM

The first wealth of a nation is health.
The spending freeze and firings have jeopardized American health.
The new budget proposal will deeply wound Medicare.

The most simple way to see the American budget is that it is primarily a military budget with a health insurance policy including social security. Everything else is a skinny slice of the pie so small it is only seen by colorizing it.

Ending research in Alzheimers for example means losing the collected brain tissue which is an organic database. Turning off the freezer is a hell of a way to freeze spending.

Subject: RE: Trump has crossed the Rubicon
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 08:20 AM

Now that Trump has eliminated law enforcement by firing watchdogs/inspector generals, investigations/FBI-CIA, and courts up to the supposedly nonpartisan Supreme Court. He has now removed law enforcement from the military by firing JAG officers and military judges.

He has crossed the Rubicon but has not yet unleashed the military from law to do despicable acts or attack Americans on American soil.
The racist right have dreamed of having a race war with the assistance of the military as they did in the Civil War. Already, there have been racist marches around black neighborhoods, hoping that they could instigate retaliation.

In his first term his orders to shoot black lives matter protesters were rebuffed. This time there may not be resistance to illegal orders.

Members of Congress are now being removed from the chamber by the Sgt at Arms if they accuse the President of wrongdoing, like selling his own cryptocurrency to foreigners, grift, or extortion. One can not criticize Trump in any way.

The liklihood of civil violence basically enacted by Trump is now considered to be 50 50 with the assistance of the military.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 11:27 AM

5calls.org. In the US? Go there, put in your zip code, get your reps names and a list of talking points to choose from so you can present facts in your call.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 03:39 PM

Christ with a migraine! Prez Cheeto just made immigration easy with a permanent green card that he calls the gold card. The gold card costs 5 million dollars.

GOOD LINK Stilly

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 04:02 PM

Donuel, I think Billie Holiday says it best:

God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 08:59 PM

From a blog or site called "The Handbasket"

The full force of this administration’s destruction is about to hit
Once social security checks stop showing up, millions of Americans will finally understand the scope.

I recently told someone that being a journalist right now is like standing on the edge of a beach and watching a tsunami approaching. Other journalists, government workers and activists are on the shoreline with me, and we can all see it clear as day. And we agree we need to warn the others inland.

So we start making calls and telling people this catastrophic wave is about to hit, but the people inland still can’t see it and don’t believe us. Everything looks fine where they are; it’s dry and comfortable. “Let us know when it gets closer,” they say. We try to communicate that every moment of preparation counts, but it’s no use. They’ll only believe it when it’s crashing on their heads.

This week feels like the wave is about to crash.

Find the rest at the link.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 09:18 PM

I also read in a news article today that the TrumpMusk team is deciding which media outlets will have access to their press conferences.

Maybe the team should be called the TrumpPutinMusk team.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Hrothgar
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 10:02 PM

Two things:
If there are savings of x trillion dollars in government expenditure, has anyone (on either side of politics) suggested that instead of giving tax cuts, the money should be used to reduce the national debt?

The greatest disrupter to the established order before Trump was probably Andrew Jackson, who introduces the "spoils system". The damage it did to the US civil service wasn't repaired until the 1880s when they introduced some form of examination for prospective civil servants.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 12:37 AM

Trump is all about the "spoils" system right now. And he's a great admirer of Jackson.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 02:16 AM

Ok I had to look up the "spoils" reference but my guess was correct: "to the victor go the spoils".

And all those extremely expensive yachts confiscated from Russian oligarchs. Do you think Trump will start sharing those around to his broligarch buddies? Now *that* would upset Putin and his buddies.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 04:04 PM

Out of a fever dream of a Trump 'lawyer' comes the idea of paying $5,000 to US citizens from Elon who will claim he is sharing the savings from mass firings and freezes. This will really help people look the other way from the 20 grand they will lose in programs and federal assistance. It is a cute Ponzi scheme in that the 5 grand people might get is just more borrowed money since the 36 trillion dollar debt is not repaid.

States are being told they will have to make up for the assistance the federal programs that used to do the heavy lifting. The States will of course, be unable to afford even half of that money. Perhaps some southern MAGA States will get some federal cash under the table.
Who really knows what direction chaos goes?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 06:02 AM

I think the underlying problem is the US constitution. The president has huge personal power, and cannot be removed even if he is mentally ill or suffering from dementia.
Or is there a mechanism?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 07:09 AM

I see that even after both Macron and Starmer corrected trumuski in public about Ukrainian assistance from Europe, he went on to repeat exactly the same lie immediately after.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 07:44 AM

The 25th Amendment allows for the removal of the president if mentally incapacitated, but the process is extremely cumbersome:

https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv

As to presidential powers, they are theoretically limited by the Constitution itself and by actions of Congress and/or the Judiciary.

Without such actions, the system fails and the president is effectively unrestrained.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 08:41 AM

Our system of checks and balances is nearly defunct. It's stating the obvious but if our system of government and way of life is to survive Trump we'll have to get into a position where we can limit the power of of the executive. Hopefully Trump's over reach, incompetence, and all around nincompoopery will help get us there.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 11:48 AM

The Congress has to revoke that executive order putting DOGE in place and Musk as its unvetted/un-approved by the senate head. Then impounded funds need to be restored, fired employees returned. The OPM has no standing to fire employees throughout the government, a district judge made that crystal clear in a hearing I read about today. Trump needs to be impeached, and Vance will also need to be impeached. Hopefully by the time this is over a couple of house seats will have flipped and the next person in line will be Jeffries. It's a tall order . . .

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 02:33 PM

I just watched Trump and Vance shouting down Zelensky. in an interview that "all americans should see" (Trumps words)

Americans should hang their heads in shame.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 04:22 PM

Does that include all Americans, Aethelric, even Americans who dedicated time and money trying to stop Trump?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 04:25 PM

From an ABC (Oz) News article:

'Two cowardly puppets and a hero'

"Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton has reacted to the explosive Oval Office spat, describing the Ukrainian president as a "hero".

"    'The President of the United States is a coward who is Vladimir Putin's puppet. The Vice President of the United States is a pogue and a coward who is Donald Trump's puppet,' Mr Moulton told CNN.

"    'What we just witnessed was a meeting in the Oval Office between two cowardly puppets and a hero.

"    'And whether you voted for these puppets or not, just as an American, as a fellow American, it's just embarrassing that the only hero in the Oval Office, the only decent human being for that matter, is the Ukrainian.

"    'I mean, this administration is going to go down as an embarrassment to American history.'"

[Note: I'm assuming that the term "pogue" refers to the Irish Gaelic phrase póg mo thóin (anglicised to pogue mahone) meaning "kiss my arse" and from which Irish punk band The Pogues took their name. So, I'm assuming that Congressman Seth Moulton is calling JD Vance an arse kisser, but is JD smart enough to figure that out, or true-minded enough to take a hint from it?]

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 04:38 PM

From the FB Page ‘Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge’ today, their commentary on Trump’s and Vance’s loathsome betrayal and public humiliation of Volodymir Zelenskyy in The White House. The link to the Page is at the end for those who care to read it on FB, but I’ve C&P’d it for those who prefer to avoid FB…

”There are moments in history where you can feel the tectonic plates of power shifting under your feet, the precise seconds when empires declare themselves rotten and ready to collapse. February 28, 2025, was one of those moments—a grotesque display of unchecked narcissism, geopolitical idiocy, and the full-throttle transformation of American foreign policy into a goddamn mafia shakedown.
Donald Trump, the world’s loudest and dumbest charlatan, decided to hold a public execution of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not with bullets, but with bullying. This was not diplomacy. This was not strategy. This was the kind of goonish humiliation typically reserved for reality television, except now the stakes were measured in millions of lives and the looming specter of World War III.

“YOU’RE GAMBLING WITH WORLD WAR III”
Trump—flanked by his yes-man JD Vance and an eerily silent Marco Rubio—welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office only to berate, belittle, and ultimately dismiss him like a waiter who forgot to refill his Diet Coke. The Ukrainian president had made the grave mistake of advocating for his people, for his country, for his soldiers dying daily on the front lines against Russian invaders. But in Trump’s world, there is no room for dignity or resistance—only total submission to the Don.
"You’re gambling with World War III," Trump barked at Zelenskyy, acting like a discount Tony Soprano shaking down a local shopkeeper. "You either make a deal, or we are out." The message was crystal clear: Surrender to Putin, or America lets you rot.
When Zelenskyy pushed back—trying to explain, like a rational human being, that diplomacy requires more than rolling over and exposing your belly to a psychotic autocrat like Vladimir Putin—Vance chimed in, whining that it was "disrespectful" to discuss such things in front of the American media. Disrespectful! As if the real problem here was the optics, not the grotesque moral betrayal unfolding in real time.

TRUMP’S FIXATION WITH GRATITUDE: A MOB BOSS DEMANDING TRIBUTE
"Have you ever said thank you once?" Vance sneered at Zelenskyy, echoing his master’s worldview that all human interactions are transactional. "You have to be thankful," Trump added, "you don’t have the cards. You’re buried there."
This is what American diplomacy has become: an extortion racket.
Forget alliances, forget history, forget standing up to despots—Trump views everything through the lens of a cheap con artist running a rigged casino. Ukraine, in his mind, is a desperate gambler, and Trump is the pit boss deciding whether to extend another round of credit.
If Zelenskyy had gotten on his knees and kissed Trump’s golden slippers, maybe he’d have left with something. But instead, he left with nothing, because he had the audacity to act like the elected leader of a sovereign nation, rather than a groveling servant.
THE CANCELED PRESS CONFERENCE: WHEN THE HUMILIATION IS TOO MUCH TO SPIN
After the carnage, Trump did what he always does: He took to Truth Social to declare victory.
"I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace," he wrote, as if the real issue is Ukraine’s unwillingness to surrender, rather than Russia’s ongoing campaign of war crimes and territorial theft.
The joint press conference was canceled—which in diplomatic terms is the equivalent of overturning the table and storming out of the restaurant. Zelenskyy was seen leaving the White House, no deal signed, no support secured. Just the bitter taste of betrayal in his mouth.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ambassador literally facepalmed in the middle of the meeting. She couldn’t even hide her disgust. This was the international equivalent of watching your boss drunkenly scream at a client in a meeting while you rub your temples and quietly plan your resignation.

TRUMP’S ‘PEACE’ PLAN IS A SURRENDER PLAN
This is all part of a deliberate pivot in American foreign policy. Trump has always sided with Russia, whether it’s calling Putin "a very smart guy," ignoring his war crimes, or pretending Ukraine started the war. Now, his administration is pushing a so-called "peace plan" that amounts to a glorified land grab for Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal has already reported that Trump’s advisers are split on how exactly to force Ukraine to submit. Some want a "frozen conflict"—which translates to "Russia keeps what it stole"—while others are pushing for a formal deal that outright cedes Ukrainian land and resources to Putin. Either way, the outcome is the same: Ukraine loses, Russia wins, and Trump gets to preen about his ‘deal-making.’

THE DEATH OF AMERICA’S WORD
The entire world saw this Oval Office debacle. If you’re an ally of the United States, you just learned a very clear lesson: You cannot trust America under Donald Trump. Your security, your sovereignty, and your survival are all secondary to whether Trump personally feels flattered. If you are not groveling at his feet, you’re expendable.
Meanwhile, Putin is watching. And he’s grinning. Because now he knows that Trump will do his dirty work for him.
Zelenskyy was just the first ally to be fed to the wolves. He won’t be the last.
Welcome to America, 2025. This is what losing looks like.”

The stench coming from the west side of the Atlantic Ocean is becoming unbearable.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0WMn5rfyS4ho9KMAsf3g5kAjNGJCtVQAM7GXmJ6Zy4LPqwS2ocZoeXGL5gdUGnPfYl&id=100079779344617

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 04:57 PM

That was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Trump has completely lost his marbles and Vance is a playground bully.

I was hoping that Zelenskyy would stand and walk out of the room, but he took the high road all the way and stood his ground.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 05:25 PM

Trump's lust for revenge against Zelenski is due to Volodemer refusing to perger himself by accusing Biden of crimes in Ukraine when Trump demanded. This led to Trump's impeachment.

Trump's vengeful revenge is not limited to people but nations including the USA. If America was attacked and trillions of dollars of damage was inflicted upon vital US institutions similar to the damage Trump/Elon have done, America would be reeling and deeply wounded.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 05:48 PM

I was going to comment further on this over on the Ukraine thread, but the 'Cat went for a nap, and I've little to add now, other than it all seems to have kicked off when a MAGAnaut pressman accused Zelenskyy of disrespecting President Tantrum by not wearing a suit. Oh, and I've observed before that certain people tend to project their own sins onto their opponents, because they're the sins they're most familiar with. This is Looking-Glass Land, and you're welcome to it.

This still leaves a question or two, eg:

* How can the King withdraw the invitation which Starmer just handed over?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 06:49 PM

... and:

* Will Vlad want Alaska back?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Hrothgar
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 12:34 AM

The 25th Amendment, as I understand it, has to be triggered by the Cabinet.

Can you see this lot being honest enough or brave enough to even suggest that it be considered?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Richard Atkins
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 02:48 AM

From this side of the pond. What Trump says and does demeanes the respect I had for America

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 03:47 AM

”it all seems to have kicked off when a MAGAnaut pressman accused Zelenskyy of disrespecting President Tantrum by not wearing a suit.”

No matter what Pres. Zelenskyy wears, at least he takes care of himself and looks fit and well, and he always looks a hundred percent better than Trump with the theatrical-looking comb-over, fake tan, ridiculous long ties, and baggy suits that look as though they were made for someone else even fatter than him.

”From this side of the pond. What Trump says and does demeans the respect I had for America”

Whilst I understand that sentiment, I still respect the nation of the USA. What I have absolutely zero respect for is the POTUS, his VP and his wider entourage, the entire GOP, and every individual American who elected him/them.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 04:02 AM

I’ve also posted this piece to the ‘Long Night in Ukraine’ thread, but I think it’s worth having it here too..

From ‘Occupy Democrats ‘ FB Page today. (BTW, I quote sources such as OD because they express my views far more eloquently than I am able myself). The emboldening is mine…

BREAKING: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy breaks his silence on Donald Trump's disastrous Oval Office outburst with stunning grace and class — but refuses to apologize to Trump as demanded by MAGA.

And the best part? He did it on Fox News.

This is what a real world leader sounds like...

"President Trump said after your meeting that you disrespected him and the vice president and all of America in the Oval Office," said Fox News' Bret Baier when Zelenskyy appeared on his show. "Do you think you did? And do you think you owe an apology to President Trump?"

"Thank you so much. First of all, thank you for the invitation, for this dialogue and good evening to all of your country, to all Americans," said Zelenskyy. "I'm very thankful to Americans for all your support. You did a lot. I'm thankful to President Trump and to Congress's bipartisan support and I was always very thankful from all of our people."

"You helped us a lot from the very beginning, here in three years of full scale invasion. You helped us to survive and anyway we are strategic partners," he continued.

"And even in such tough dialogue — and I think we have to be very honest and we have to be very direct to understand each other because it's for us very necessary," said Zelenskyy.

"To President Trump — and with all respect that he wants to finish this war — but nobody wants to finish more than we because we in Ukraine we are in this war, we are in this battle for freedom, for our lives," he went on.

"So I'm just telling that I think we have to be on the same side and I hope that the president on our side together with us and that is very important to stop Putin," continued Zelenskyy. "And I heard from President Trump a lot of times that he will stop the war and I hope he will. And we need to pressure him with Europe, with all the partners."

"And I think this dialogue had to be a little bit earlier to understand where we are," he continued. "Like you know, I don't remember exactly, but like President Reagan said that peace is not just the absence of war."

"Yes, we are speaking about just, lasting peace, about freedom, about justice, about human rights and that's why I said that 'I think so' to ceasefire," he went on. "And you know Putin, he's broken twenty-five times ceasefire during all these years, ten years."

"So I'm not hearing from you Mr. President a thought that you owe the president an apology," said Baier, clearly trying to pander to Trump who was almost certainly watching at home.

"No I respect the president and I respect the American people and if — I don't know, I think that we have to be very open and very honest and I'm not sure that we did something bad," replied Zelenskyy.

"I think maybe somethings we have to discuss out of media, with all respect to democracy and free media but there are things where we have to understand the position of Ukraine and Ukrainians," he added. "And I think that is the most important thing."

"We are partners. We are very close partners. We have to be fair. We have to be very free," said Zelenskyy, sounding far more like an American president than Donald Trump did today.

This is an astonishing display of statesmanship. Rather than give into ego or pettiness, Zelenskyy is rising above Donald Trump's childish bullying to serve his people.

Zelenskyy isn't interested in following Trump down into the gutter. He's interested in securing a lasting peace for his innocent embattled country, a task made all the more difficult by Trump's kowtowing to Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy is also correct that these conversations should take place behind closed doors instead of being exploited to create a media circus. Trump and Vance ambushed him in the Oval Office in front of reporters because they knew that it would make headlines and entertain their base.

They are not serious leaders. Zelenskyy is.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 04:28 AM

BWM, thanks for that copy of the FB post. I was surprised that Fox News seemed to be allowing President Zelenskyy to present his case without being misrepresented by the Fox journalists.

I am starting to think that Trump's large collection of machinations will start to pull him and his cronies into a whirlpool of their own making. Trump really wants to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but he is totally stuffing it up for himself. His appointment of Elon Musk seemed initially to be achieving the goals he wanted to achieve, but the consequences of Musk's decisions and actions are going to bite both of them on the rear, IMHO.

I see it as a whirlpool of a lot of different threads which will become more and more entangled until finally they will pull tight and drag them all down. Hoist by their own petards.

I really don't think that Trump and his cronies will come out of this unscathed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 05:54 AM

but how long will it take?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 06:46 AM

Trump is taking a 'REVENGE TOUR' of NYC, banning grants, trying to reverse NYC policies, and demanding that the charges against the Mayor be dropped.

If you put certifiable people in your Cabinet, they will not find you certifiably insane.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 08:26 AM

I'll say it here, rather than the Ukraine thread:

Has anyone used the expression "the shit that was heard around the world" yet? if not, feel free.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 08:55 AM

> I was surprised that Fox News seemed to be allowing
> President Zelenskyy to present his case without being
> misrepresented by the Fox journalists.

That was the live feed, Helen. Cthulhu alone knows what the edited (per)version does or does not contain.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 11:46 AM

THE SHIT HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD:

Ukraine started a war with Russia.
Zelenskyy has never entered talks to end the war.
Zelenskyy is a dictator.
He has never thanked America for 250 billion dollars of weapons.
Putin is not a war criminal.
Trump's plan for Ukraine is better than the Marshall Plan.
Trump is a great diplomat and negotiator.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 12:12 PM

I'll put this in both threads (delete as appropriate):

Just announced in the last hour: Zelenskyy is going to meet the King tomorrow, as part of his UK visit. Someone's got balls.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 01:11 PM

I wonder if Trump's allowed to visit his testicles in the Kremlin.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 02:00 PM

Moulton and Vance are both U.S. Marines. (There's "no such thing as a 'former' Marine.") "Pogue" is a well-established Army and Marine term for a rear-area person in a non-combat support position. "Pogues" are conceived of as comfortable, smug, arrogant, and incapable of fighting like real soldiers/marines. It is not complimentary.

Moulton led a platoon in battle in Iraq and was decorated for valor. Vance wrote articles and took photos as a journalist with the Marine Air Wing.

The Irish etymology makes a lot of sense. In recent years, the word has often been spelled "POG" and defined succinctly as "person other than grunt."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 02:25 PM

Today from Alt NPS:

Elon updated DOGE website, claiming to have fixed the mistakes we all pointed out—haha. But instead of correcting them, he just added more false claims. He even inflated his so-called “savings” total from $55 billion to $65 billion, when in reality, the actual increase is only from $2 billion to $2.3 billion.

Even better? He’s counting fully paid-out contracts as “savings.” Essentially, he’s saying: Here, take the money, but you don’t need to do the work. So now free handouts count as cost-cutting? Bold strategy.

Data Entry Errors and Quiet Revisions
- $8 billion typo – A contract worth $8 million was mistakenly reported as $8 billion in savings.
- Triple-counted project – A USAID project worth $655 million was counted three times. Initially reported as nearly $2 billion in savings, now corrected to $18 million.
- Social Security contract mistake – Originally claimed $250 million in savings for a contract that wasn’t even canceled; later revised to $560,000 for ending a “Gender X” marker initiative.

Misleading and Incorrect Data
- Contracts counted as savings, despite not being canceled:
- $4 billion from the initial batch is still included, even though those contracts remain active.
- A $1.9 billion IRS contract was canceled but is still included in misleading ways.
- Misuse of “indefinite delivery” contracts and blanket purchase agreements – These act as lines of credit rather than fixed spending, but they were counted as savings anyway.
- Projected savings will shrink over time due to termination costs.

Incorrect Contract Links and Mismatches
- Small Business Administration error – A contract for a “Shuttered Venue Program” was wrongly linked to an unrelated research support agreement that was never canceled.
- NIH contract misrepresentation – Claimed savings from a $99 million contract, but the actual canceled contract was only $9.9 million, with under $1 million in savings.
- Health and Human Services mix-up – A $150 million savings claim was actually linked to an active $119,000 contract for refrigerated liquid gases, instead of the correct $1.4 million administrative contract.

Auditing is so easy, even a park ranger can do it. Share this to stop the spread of misinformation!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 02:28 PM

Thanks for that clarification, Lighter. That makes sense, and makes me think the Irish word connection is possible.

(An aside: I was driving on a busy road between home and the next city and saw a very large truck coming towards me and laughed out loud when I saw a very large sign hand-painted above the cabin which read "Pogue Mahone". It still makes me laugh. Most people who read the sign would not have known what it meant.)

As for my feeling that Trump and his cronies are building their own downfall, I expect that their self-constructed entanglement will sneak up on them and take them by surprise. Everything will appear to be going according to plan and then they will be caught in a web of their own making, and the job of the right-minded people to clean up their mess will be a lot simpler, more easily accomplished. I think democracy and working for the good of the country will reassert itself more easily when people see this tangled mess of selfish COTUS (Centre Of The Universe Syndrome - my name for them) people caught in their own web.

I also keep thinking what Hollywood will make of this when it is all over.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 02:43 PM

Quote from Sir Walter Scott's poem, Marmion, usually wrongly attributed to Shakespeare:

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive"

An explanation from enotes:

"...and so the cycle continues. The "tangled web" metaphor refers to the act of a spider spinning its geometrical home: if it becomes tangled, the points do not intersect as they should, and the web becomes a mangled mess, much like the act of keeping up with one's own dishonesties."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 03:58 PM

From the FB Page of Mensa Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Chapter of Mensa, the international High IQ society. I have C&P’d the text here for the benefit of those who prefer not to interact with FB, and I link to the actual FB article below.

Some enlightenment on the values and sources of aid given to Ukraine in regard to its resistance to the invasion by Putin’s forces vs. Claims being bandied around by the Trump Regime…

”In the Constitution of Mensa, it says that Mensa is not allowed to take any political action and cannot hold political affiliations (though Members or groups of members may express opinions as members of Mensa, provided their opinions or actions are not expressed as being those of Mensa as an organization). So while I do have personal opinions on what happened between Trump, Vance, and Zelensky (????????? ??????????) during the session with the press at the White House today, I am keeping those to myself. I wanted to provide some fact checking on the numbers being thrown around though, as these numbers are not politics but verifiable numbers.

The USA has not spent $350 billion in Ukraine, nor even $300 billion. I have seen figures ranging anywhere from $119.7 billion (Kiel Institute for the World Economy) to $182.8 billion (U.S. Department of Defense), but the most consistent figure that I have seen is around $175 billion, and only $105.1 billion of that is to the Ukrainian government directly:
- $2 billion in humanitarian aid
- $33.3 billion in budget support
- $69.8 billion in weapons, equipment, and other military support
(Council on Foreign Relations, BBC News, Euronews, US Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve)

Most of the remainder is funding various U.S. activities associated with the war in Ukraine, and a small portion supports other affected countries in the region (the $182.8 billion figure includes US military training and replenishing US defence stocks, so it includes all spending on the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine). (Council on Foreign Relations, BBC News)

Of the $182.8 billion from the USA, only $83.4 billion has been sent, with the remaining $99.4 billion either not yet committed or not yet approved for payment. This is why Ukraine has received only $76 billion from the USA, and the $100 billion that people claim is missing is actually money that has not been sent. (Euronews, ?????????? ??????)

By comparison, the Kiel Institute calculates that, including military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the EU has spent $138.7 billion (compared to their calculation of $119.7 billion from the USA). Their calculations include only support directly given to Ukraine and exclude things like money used to replenish U.S. weapon stocks following donations to Kyiv, funds spent to help neighbouring countries welcome Ukrainian refugees, etc. However, using a broader definition, the European Union has committed $198 billion so far. (BBC News, Washington Post, Fox News)

Of all the funding Ukraine as received, NATO estimates that nearly 60% of the funding for Ukraine has come from across Europe and Canada. (ABC News and BBC News)

Canada has given $19.7 billion in aid to Ukraine:
- $12.4 billion in financial aid
- $4.5 billion in military assistance
The remaining funds are spread between humanitarian, development, stabilization, etc. aid funding. (THX News and Government of Canada)

Canada has also provided $5 billion to Ukraine from seized Russian assets, and the money will be repaid from interest earned on the held Russian assets (i.e., Russia will be bearing the burden of repayment). (Global News, National Post, CTV News, and Anadolu Agency)

In total, Ukraine has spent $120 billion of its own money, and Ukraine estimates that that total they have spent on the war is about $320 billion. (Voice of America)

If you're wondering, 35% of the funds going to Ukraine from Europe have been loans, and some of the repayment of those loans are coming from revenues from frozen and seized Russian assets and Ukraine isn't having to pay those portions of the loans, and the rest are really generous terms where Ukraine will be repaying less interest over lengthy repayment periods. The remaining 65% is grants an in-kind support. (Washington Post and BBC News)

***ETA: The actual value of the weapons and equipment sent to Ukraine by the USA is about 60% lower than they were priced because the price was for new stock. Much of the military equipment and ammunition sent to Ukraine is old and of limited combat effectiveness because it came from aging US stockpiles, some of the ammunition is expired, and a majority of the equipment isn't even used by the US military anymore (and therefore has an effective value of $0 to the USA). Normally, this stock would have to be disposed of, but giving it to Ukraine means there are effectively no disposal expenses. Furthermore, much of the funding for Ukraine is being spent in the USA, such as employing US workers to manufacture the replacement equipment and supplies for refilling US stockpiles. (Kyiv Post and AL24news - ???? ??????? ???????)

***ETA2: I am unable to share the links to the articles that I am using as sources, as there is an ongoing dispute between the Government of Canada and Facebook that prevents Canadian Facebook users from being able to share or even see news articles from any news agency. Someone shared with me a way to post the links, so I will try to do that later today.”

Link to Mensa Saskatchewan FB Article

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 05:03 PM

Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs deal with UK amid fallout from Donald Trump meeting In short:

In a series of posts on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says "tough dialogue" will be needed to reach an understanding over the war in Ukraine.

His posts came a day after US President Donald Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance confronted Mr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, accusing him of "gambling with World War III".
What's next?

Mr Zelenskyy has signed a new loan deal in London with UK PM Keir Starmer, and will meet with other European leaders on Sunday local time ...

... Meanwhile, Russia's government has reacted with approval of Mr Trump and Mr Vance's actions at the Oval Office.

In a statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described Mr Zelenskyy's behaviour as "outrageously boorish".

"The visit … to Washington on February 28 is a complete political and diplomatic failure by the Kyiv regime," she said.

    "For the sake of this, he has destroyed the opposition, built a totalitarian state and ruthlessly sends millions of citizens to their deaths." ...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 05:48 PM

.... I withdraw my last "you're welcome to it" comment: Looking-Glass Land was benign to a first order, and only dangerous by accident.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 06:42 PM

There is either a fine line between needing and wanting or an abyss.
I always wondered how the extreme right would feel if they got everything they wanted. I always expected they might hate it.
One of the most profound truths I’ve learned over the years is that wisdom is usually not found in the extremes, but somewhere in the middle is a more needful place.

Unfortunately, I’ve also learned that my pattern is usually to swing from one end of the spectrum to the other, before gradually settling into that wise middle way.

Lets hope the disenchantment with getting what the revenge-crazed right thought they wanted will find a middle ground. Since so many people will be hurt or killed by Trumpism its not possible to feel the schadenfreude I thought I would at the early dismay of the Trump voter with buyers' regret. I still feel a little though.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 02:20 AM

‘Bewildering’: US media and politicians react to Trump’s televised attack on Zelenskyy

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 02:26 AM

Since so many people will be hurt or killed by Trumpism. quote

He is trying to bring an end to a war.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 03:29 AM

Starting with COVID Coronavirus Cases::

Country USA         Total cases 111,820,082         Total deaths 1,219,487         Total recovered 109,814,428         Total cases per million population 333,985         Deaths per million population 3,642         Population 334,805,269

The USA had more total cases and more total deaths than any other country. The deaths per million population ranks at #14 out of 229 countries listed but the USA is probably the most economically developed of the countries listed, with a highly developed health system. [Note: the lists can be sorted according to the column of your choice on that page so that you can compare the statistics according to each category.]

Donald Trump deliberately defied scientific analysis to convince the people of the USA to not get vaccinated and not trust the scientific and medical experts. Interestingly, when he contracted COVID he was vaccinated. One rule for himself and one rule for everyone else.

Currently he has stopped USAID and how many millions of people including a significant proportion of children will die miserably of malnutrition and/or deprivation of medical aid.

Millions of children are expected to suffer and tens of thousands may die as a result of these actions. In the long run, without this essential aid, millions of children will die from causes that are easily preventable.

How many of the immigrants he has deported or will deport will die or suffer due to deprivation of medical and health assistance, social assistance, etc?   

How many people died or were injured, either physically or psychologically by the Jan 6 insurrection which Trump instigated?

And remember when he said he could go out into the street and shoot someone and no-one could stop him or hold him accountable?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 03:41 AM

The USA has army bases in BULGARIA GERMANY ITALY POLAND UK JAPAN

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 04:56 AM

I am in favour of stopping wars, and Trump may be doing this for the wrong reason, but when he does something I believe is right., THEN GIVE CREDIT AS YOU WOULD TO ANYBODY ELSE

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 05:49 AM

WHEN IT SUITS

You choose the bits that fit into your own corrupt agenda
Ignore those facts that contradict your blinkered propaganda
You don’t know the truth or what it constitutes
Everything is always when it suits

You attack a man and say his clothes show disrespect
In the presence of the White House, they’re not what you’d expect
But not so your rich buddy, with whom you’re in cahoots
Everything is always when it suits

He’s a chap with a baseball cap, a tee shirt and some shades
But you don’t mind because of all the billions he’s made
Just ignore that chainsaw and those dubious salutes
Everything is always when it suits

Surround yourself with lap dogs and yes men sycophants
Saying you have all the cards to deal peace a chance
Yet all your cards are marked to favour your disputes
Everything is always when it suits

You wildly claim that Volodymyr is Ukranian dictator
When it’s your mate Vladimir who’s that manipulator
We all know just whose side you’re on and how it all computes
Everything is always when it suits

Paul Cookson
Poem 1720
Sunday 2nd March 2025

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 08:27 AM

Trump is stopping a war is like someone stopping a brawl between a good guy and a bad guy by breaking the good guy's legs.

From a post on Facebook.

As I am in Ukraine at the moment, I would just like to correct a few lies from the Zelensky/Trump meeting based on my work here in Ukraine—Trump and Vance you are welcome to come visit although I doubt you have the courage to do so.

1) Zelensky showed up in military fatigues as he has done at every international meeting since day one of the 2022 Russian invasion—the second Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2014—to show his solidarity with the Ukrainian soldiers risking their lives to defend Ukraine, and to emphasize he is the leader of a country at war.
I didn’t see any similar objections to the non-elected immigrant racist white supremacist Elon Musk showing up repeatedly in the White House in a T-shirt and baseball cap which he didn’t even remove—it is a standard sign of respect to leadership to remove your hat—so don’t lecture Zelensky on how to dress.

2) Zelensky is not a dictator and he is not an unpopular leader who is unable to mobilize his people. I have spent many nights and days in the last few weeks with soldiers heading to the frontlines and talking to them, and none of them have tried to refuse to serve and they were heading into the battle with determination and courage—I salute them and respect them deeply.

3) Ukraine and Zelensky doesn’t have to thank the U.S. or Trump—the U.S. and Trump need to thank Ukraine and Zelensky. This is for two reasons.
First of all, Ukraine gave up the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world voluntarily at the end of the USSR under the Budapest accords guaranteed by the U.S., France, UK, and Russia, giving up several trillion of dollars of nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees for its territorial integrity which Russia has violated and the U.S., UK and France vowed to protect. If Ukraine had kept its nuclear weapons, it would have been one of the most nuclear armed countries in the world and Russia would have never invaded. We, the West, committed to defend Ukraine in exchange for its denuclearization so there is no need for Ukraine to thank the U.S. for keeping its promises. See https://www.armscontrol.org/.../ukraine-nuclear-weapons...
Secondly, Ukraine is defending not just its own territorial integrity but the future of Europe. I have been interviewing people from the Russian-occupied territories the last few weeks and they really do live in a Stalinist prison camp that is unbelievably oppressive. This is what Putin wants to bring to much of Europe and we need to stop him in Ukraine to save our own democratic future, at any price (respecting human rights).
In was in Chechnya 25 years ago documenting the same Russian abuses, together at the same hotel with the murdered Anna Polikovskaya, the murdered Natalia Estemirova, and Memorial’s Oleg Orlov who was imprisoned in February 2024 for “discrediting the Russian military” and later released in a prisoner exchange.
The difference in 1999-2000 is that we could operate in Russia, under the watchful eye of the FSB (the current KGB). The FSB were staying at the same hotel as us, the ACCA in Ingushetia, and one night I found a few cigarette butts on the floor of my room just to let me know they were watching us. Buy we could go to Moscow, Human Rights Watch had a staff and office in Moscow, and do our work despite the dangers.
Since the Russian invasion of 2022 (and long before that), that limited space for activism and civil society has closed down in Russia. There are no more independent journalists or human rights groups operating in Russia and the HRW office has long closed down, and Anna and Natalia and Nemtsov and so many others were simply murdered by Putin. Yet this is what Trump embraces instead of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people, and he has refrained of any criticism of the murderous dictator Putin, instead trying to humiliate the freedom-fighting Zelensky. But Zelensky isn’t humiliated, he stands proud and strong because you cannot be humiliated by people you don’t respect.

Shame on you, you twice impeached and felon convicted orange wanna be. You and your republican supplicants do not deserve our respect—I won’t even spell republicans with a capital R because they don’t deserve that honorific. Shame on you betrayers of our American Values.
Peter Bouckaert, Senior Director at Fortify Rights

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 10:51 AM

Since so many people will be hurt or killed by Trumpism. quote

He is trying to bring an end to a war.

and

I am in favour of stopping wars, and Trump may be doing this for the wrong reason, but when he does something I believe is right., THEN GIVE CREDIT AS YOU WOULD TO ANYBODY ELSE

Dick, Trump isn't ending a war, he's trying to 1) curry favor with Putin and 2) extort Ukraine to give him mineral rights, and in the end it looks like Trump and Putin are trying to carve up Ukraine. No props to anyone for that terrible move. No credit earned or deserved.

Athelric, on Mudcat we often quote from journal articles that are then linked to. Someone wrote something on Facebook that you did a very large copy/paste here. I did a search and found that Hugh Delehanty posted the remarks from Peter N. Bouckaert. You need to cite your sources.

We've gotten a bit sloppy here about following the unwritten (though it may be written, someone can check the FAQs) rule that posts should stick to one screen and should be linked and always attributed. When it comes to copyright material from publications a sample quote and a link to the original is the acceptable method of sharing. It keeps websites out of trouble by using the "fair use" approach.*

I will note to everyone here - we all need to pull back a bit on the lengthy posts. Read it yourself and quote the most important part, don't just dump the whole thing in here. We're not Facebook, we're a music site with a BS section and this is an important discussion but the long-form essays can stay on their own sites and be referred to here. What Aethelric should have done is go to the referring post (Delehanty) and click on the timestamp of that post; that will take you to the lone post and a heckuva long link. When we post links here we try not to fill the screen with them, but for those who only use the "blue clicky" or "blickfier" as some refer to it, it doesn't manage long links well. I like Bitly for shortening links that then can be posted here: for example, that Facebook post).


* The only exception to this is when sharing obituaries of musical folks that apply to Mudcat, because sometimes those sites disappear and we want to preserve the information.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 11:01 AM

Dick, Trump isn't ending a war, he's trying to 1) curry favor with Putin and 2) extort Ukraine to give him mineral rights, and in the end it looks like Trump and Putin are trying to carve up Ukraine. No props to anyone for that terrible move. No credit earned or deserved.quote
Where do you get your information from,or do you make it up

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 11:17 AM

Dick, do you read the news? Did you see that awful episode on the White House on Friday? Go inform yourself before you post anything else here.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:02 PM

I saw that episode, it proved to me that Zelensky is politically incompetent.
I will post what i like, regarddless of whether it is the same opinion as you, Trump was trying to persuade Zelensky to end the war with Putin You clearly think everyone has to have the same opinion as you, have you heard of free speech .

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:54 PM

Thanks Aethelric. That was truly worth reading.

SRS has a valid point about long posts so I always try to pick out the most relevant quotes and provide the link to allow people here to read the full article if they wish. Facebook is an issue for me because I refuse to sign up to it, but I can usually read enough of the post if I have the relevant link.

The Sandman, your posts are your opinion based on the media coverage you have seen or heard. Please stop shouting at us (i.e. using capitals) and please don't disallow our opinions because you disagree with them. This is a discussion thread, meaning we can discuss the issue and put forward our own opinions backed up if necessary by relevant facts, quotes from relevant media articles and other sources or commentary.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 12:59 PM

Meanwhile, back at the news (paraphrased from BBC Red Button): Pro-Ukraine protesters lined a road that JD Vance and family were due to drive along when they went on a weekend's skiing trip; the family has been moved to an undisclosed location. There's also been pro-Ukraine protests taking place in New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:19 PM

Thank You Stilly

I'll make a point of citing ny sources in future.

There my be the odd protest or two in the UK if trump ever takes up the offer of a visit. I suspect Starmer is regretting making the offer

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:29 PM

I suspect that some countries could block Trump's visits based on his conviction as a felon.

I'm hoping that is the case here in Oz, and I can place a fairly sure bet on lots of protests happening here if he does actually make it across the border legally. If he makes it across the border illegally we could deport him. That would be poetic justice, eh? LOL

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:39 PM

One does wonder what sort of hold Putin has over trump.
There is an interesting article on Politico:-

The most revealing section concerned kompromat.
The document asked for: “Compromising information about subject, including illegal acts in financial and commercial affairs, intrigues, speculation, bribes, graft … and exploitation of his position to enrich himself.” Plus “any other information” that would compromise the subject before “the country’s authorities and the general public.” Naturally the KGB could exploit this by threatening “disclosure.”
Finally, “his attitude towards women is also of interest.” The document wanted to know: “Is he in the habit of having affairs with women on the side?”

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-russia-the-hidden-history-of-trumps

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:42 PM

> the odd protest or two in the UK if trump ever takes up
> the offer of a visit

There will be, but they won't be visible from the grounds of Blenheim, and he'll be flown in and out by chopper. That's what was done last time, to ensure poor Diddums didn't get his ego bruised by seeing them.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 01:57 PM

But he loves to watch TV and see himself on the news. So that still might creep into his vision. And the angrier he gets the more mistakes he makes.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 02:35 PM

I cannot recall every seeing two so called "politicians and statesmen" acting in such a gross and undignified manner. Were I American I would be utterly ashamed that my nation had voted in two people who were acting like schoolroom bullies.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 03:00 PM

What's the point of shaming Americans. I didn't vote for him, I did what I could to support his opponent and to keep him from being elected. I feel sickened by him but don't feel at all ashamed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 03:00 PM

I am hoping that instead of Trump achieving the coveted Nobel Peace Prize, he is awarded the Ig Nobel War Prize, which if it doesn't exist already should be created in his (dis)honour.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 04:28 PM

There is such a thing, Helen. The Ig Nobel Prize.

Trump is still trying to erase Obama's accomplishments. Obama won that award mostly because he wasn't George W. Bush, so Biden should have the peace prize hands-down following the first Trump administration. Maybe the next Democratic president will get the same warm reception from the thinking world.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 05:15 PM

SRS, I know about the Ig Nobel Prize but I am wondering whether there is an Ig Nobel *War* Prize. LOL

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 07:01 PM

Ok, got it. I skipped over that word - at this rate, Trump is definitely trying for something that lets him "act presidential" - alas, war is one of those opportunities. At this point I'm hoping for a swift departure for our un-loved president. Before he has a chance to claim any victories or declare any wars. If the senate doesn't convict him in an impeachment, Jack Ruby in 1963 comes to mind.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 07:04 PM

Well, my bet is on the "choking on a cheeseburger" event.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 07:36 PM

Aethelric, I think that the Politico article about kompromat explains why Putin always has that cat who got the cream smirk on his face when he looks at Trump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 25 - 11:19 PM

Long time Republican conservative commentator David Brooks spoke on the PBS News Hour on the evening after the Trump/Vance ambush of Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Here are the remarks (from the program transcript). Scroll down for the entire discussion.

I was nauseated, just nauseated. All my life, I have had a certain idea of about America, that we're a flawed country, but we're fundamentally a force for good in the world, that we defeated Soviet Union, we defeated fascism, we did the Marshall Plan, we did PEPFAR to help people live in Africa. And we make mistakes, Iraq, Vietnam, but they're usually mistakes out of stupidity, naivete and arrogance.

They're not because we're ill-intentioned. What I have seen over the last six weeks is the United States behaving vilely, vilely to our friends in Canada and Mexico, vilely to our friends in Europe. And today was the bottom of the barrel, vilely to a man who is defending Western values, at great personal risk to him and his countrymen.

Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And, in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a world that's safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive. And we saw the product of that effort today in the Oval Office.

And I have — I first started thinking, is it — am I feeling grief? Am I feeling shock, like I'm in a hallucination? But I just think shame, moral shame. It's a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:10 AM

What is the name of that syndrome where the underlings don't question the person in charge? It related to President JFK making plans to invade Cuba.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 09:01 AM

A piece from Swedish psychologist, Wirsén Psykologi. Although SRS has asked that we don’t post long pieces from other sources, I’m very much aware that we have members here who don’t want to interact with FB, so I’m posting it in full. I hope this is OK, I haven’t linked to it because the original is in Dutch and readers must be logged in to FB for it to translate to English.

Putin- and Trump-apologists would do well to read carefully and think a bit…

”Today it became painfully clear how narcissistic display of power and psychopathology look like, when Trump openly humiliated Zelensky in the Oval Office. In the eyes of the accredited world press, he called Zelensky “disrespectful,” questioning his loyalty and insinuating that he did not deserve US support. As if that wasn't enough, he warned that Zelensky could cause a third world war - a classic psychopathological feature in which threats are used as a control tool.

This wasn’t just a display of poor diplomatic behavior – it was a demonstration of power, characterized by narcissism and psychopathy.

?? Grand self-esteem and need for submission
– Trump expected Zelensky to show gratitude and admiration. When that didn't happen, he punished him publicly. People with narcissistic personality disorder cannot tolerate their self-image challenged and use humiliation as a defense mechanism.

?? Manipulation and threats
– Blaming someone for a potential disaster is a classic psychopathic tactic. By saying that Zelensky is “playing with the Third World War,” he blames him, while positioning himself as the only one who can prevent the catastrophe.

?? Impulsive and emotionally driven power exercise
– When Trump felt challenged by Zelensky, he abruptly ended the meeting. A stable and strategic leader had addressed the situation diplomatically, but a person with psychopathic traits reacts instinctively from his own sense of loss of control.

But why did he do this in front of the press? This is exactly why narcissists and psychopaths love to display their power in public. By humiliating Zelensky in front of the world, he is sending a signal – not only to him, but to all leaders and nations: “I am the one who decides, and whoever does not obey will be destroyed.” ”

What we saw today was not just a president behaving inappropriate. It was a school example of how narcissistic and psychopathic leaders use humiliation, threats, and manipulation to assert their power. And just like in destructive relationships, it's never about building, it's about control.

And what happened to the agreement on minerals? What does it take to drive a Tesla? Narcissists, dictators, and psychopaths idealize each other and work together in unholy alliances.

Trump can no longer claim to be leader of the free world. His actions today do not place him among democratic statesmen but among the dictators of history. A true leader builds alliances based on respect and diplomacy – a dictator rules with threats, fear and humiliation. When the fate of the world is at stake, we must not close our eyes to this difference.

We did not see a president today, but a despot in real-time.”

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 11:08 AM

Dick, you're just being wilfully stupid for argument sake. I'm going to delete this crap. You want a little time out? Just keep pushing.

Trump is doing what Trump does best, distract from the damage he's doing to the US itself. Friday was a spectacular demonstration of that. Let's not stray into the minefield that Dick has tried to lay for us.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 11:38 AM

Some of the last few posts were deleted, others moved over to the Ukraine thread.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 01:00 PM

> I am wondering whether there is an Ig Nobel *War* Prize.

Given the nature of the Iggies, Helen, it'd be the IgNobel Peace prize. I'd much sooner see the wretched oik achieve a Darwin Award, but I doubt he'd get sufficient marks for creativity or style.

Side thought: Might the bugger have been deaf as a small child? I've only ever heard one other person with such a boring voice, and he said that was the cause.

.... Now to go back and read the rest of the thread.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 03:09 PM

Yes of course! Thanks for that MaJoC.

Now all we have to do is nominate Putin's puppet for the award.

BTW, there are lot of political cartoons on that idea if you do an internet image search for:

"cartoon Trump Putin puppet"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 04:27 PM

The Resident is doing a "state of the union" tomorrow - I don't think I'll be able to stand watching it, but watch it we must. Maybe he'll telegraph enough about his bad intentions to finally get movement from the GOP.

The Academy Awards were last night and you would barely know there is anything untoward going on in the world (with the exception of Gaza) for the attempts to interject political remarks by the presenters. They were pretty pathetic, and I realized a lot of them we usually see weren't in attendance. Maybe some of the pieces of personal jewelry were symbolic, but I didn't recognize any of them.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 08:32 PM

There once was a time when honor meant something to America.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 11:41 PM

He's insisting that tariffs will go into effect overnight and the projections of the market show a loss this quarter, and my latest mutual fund purchase is underwater from the original price. I guess we are approaching be the "buy low" period in my investing routine.

This is sparkly stuff still - the funding from USAID still hasn't been released, despite a court order to do so. He has the security agencies that watch Russia turn off the gaze that protects from cyber crap. He has illegally impounded all of the aid that is supposed to be sent to Ukraine from the 2024 budget.

This just keeps getting worse, and the GOP sit on their scaredy little hands. From The Guardian Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says:

Swalwell’s comments came in a webinar chaired by the journalist Sidney Blumenthal in response to a question on whether Republicans might be driven to rebel against or even impeach Trump.

“I have a lot of friends who are Republicans,” he said. “They are terrified of being the tallest poppy in the field, and it’s not as simple as being afraid of being primaried and losing their job. They know that that can happen.

“It’s more more personal. It’s their personal safety that they’re afraid of, and they have spouses and family members saying, ‘Do not do this, it’s not worth it, it will change our lives forever. We will have to hire around-the-clock security.’ Life can be very uncomfortable for your children.

“That is real, because when [Elon] Musk [Trump’s most powerful ally] tweets at somebody, or Trump tweets at somebody, or calls somebody out, their lives are turned upside down.

“When he tweets at you, people make threats, and you have to take people at their word. And so that is a real thing that my colleagues struggle with.

Trump and his family and friends regularly threaten and dox people they don't like, turning their rabble loose to threaten them.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 03:28 AM

Thanks for that piece SRS. I had to Google ‘dox’!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:09 AM

The buzz among people I talk with is "everything is broken".
This has been a long time coming, with the decades old stealing people's pensions by selling the corporation and then losing their homes in the default swap scandal.

This is Trump's 'honeymoon period'. There is a lot of fuckery going on. 54% think we're on the wrong track, but in Biden's last month 64% thought we were on the wrong track. Once the impact of the tariff trade war and loss of services really kick in, there will be serious talk of divorce.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:26 AM

Argh. There's two people in charge of TAFKATUS (the Traffic Accident Formerly Known As The United States): at home, Agent X; abroad, Agent Orange's controller. Meanwhile, Beijing is quietly delighted.

For light relief, this is copy/pasted (with apologies to Librarians everywhere) from the comments section of an ElReg article on US stocks slipping in response to the tarrifs:

This is the funniest bit. Trudeau was, electorally speaking, a dead man walking, together with his party.

The Canadian version of MAGA heads were looking at a cakewalk. Had Orange-Utan just waited a few months, he would have had a bunch of sycophants in power up north. They might have handed him the whole country on a platter.

FFS, he made the Quebecois feel Canadian! That takes some doing.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 08:00 AM

The more ridiculous his policies become, the more I wonder who is allowing them to pass. Here in the UK and, as far as I know, in many other countries, no single person has that type of power. The president or prime minister or leader of the party or whatever cannot enact laws or policies without the approval of government.

Just what is going on over there and who is going to stop it, when?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 08:21 AM

That was exactly my earlier question, Dave. What are the GOP doing, are they questioning his behaviour, or are they complicit in it? Are his unilateral actions even legal under that weird system of government they have in the US? He is behaving like the despotic dictator of some banana republic, seemingly unchallenged by those elected to government. WTAF??

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 10:33 AM

The problem for those attempting to handle the damage is the sheer speed and volume of it: think Gish Gallop applied to policy. Everybody knows the Oik-in-Chief should be taken both literally and seriously, but nobody knows from minute to minute quite which direction he'll actually take, and on which of his brain farts he'll follow through.*

Breath-taking, in a purely negative sense. I hereby donate the backronym "Unlimited States of Anoxia" to general use.

* I may or may not wish to rephrase that.

Subject: RE: What is Trump getting for his Russia deal?
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 10:51 AM

Regarding his reversible executive orders,
Trump is losing in Court more than he is winning BUT
he is ignoring and not complying with court orders.


Trump is transactional in life, so what is he getting in return
for his many sweet Russian deals he is giving Putin ?????????

Trump stopped all Ukrainian aid in money, weapons, and rebuilding their energy grid.

Trump has canceled all Russian kleptocracy actions in the US, like taking their yachts.

Trump has banned the dept of web cryptology that fought attacks of Russian ransomware and election interference.

Trump voted against Ukraine joining NATO

Trump wants Congress to remove ALL sanctions against Russia.

???? WHAT IS HE GETTING IN RETURN ????

8 years ago I suspected he was offered a large percentage of Russian OIL profits but I have no proof.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 11:15 AM

"What is he getting in return for his many sweet Russian deals he is giving Putin?"

A gigantic ego-massage. His favourite reward.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 11:20 AM

That's BS. Fun is fun but the deal is always about cash.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: meself
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 11:46 AM

Not necessarily. The deal could well be about Putin refraining from releasing the dirt he has on trump. Which would have to be pretty bad, to be worse than what has already been exposed about Epstein's old pal.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 11:48 AM

Well, he wants a share of the critical minerals in Ukraine, and the Gaza Riviera, and a Nobel Peace Prize, and...and...and...maybe a Russian oligarch's yacht when he defects to live over there with his broligarch buddy.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 11:49 AM

Woke up this morning feeling cheerful; spring is in the air; the temp is above freezing. Then started checking the internet - here and elsewhere. 15 minutes and - I am going out to the River for some fresh air and springtime cheer. Mind your mental health!!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 11:56 AM

I truly believe you are right meself. He would be ruined. It takes a certain type of man to sell his country and the free world to avoid that.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 12:30 PM

Meself has a good point but lacks a profit margin that is the point of the artful deal. Why else is Trump grifting with cryptocurrency of his own as well as a national cryptocurrency reserve?
Trump has had bad press and shameful behavior on camera before.
Of course, the gifts he is giving Putin aren't costing him anything, so the motivation is nonetheless a mystery to me.

Occams Razor favors the oil money guess.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 01:03 PM

btw...The top secret documents the FBI removed from Mara Lago are going back to Mara Lago bathrooms.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 03:44 PM

A sharp commentary on ABC (Oz) News site relating to Trump dropping DEI initiaves:

As Donald Trump and his 'broligarchs' take over, reality disappears from conversations on gender and diversity

By Annabel Crabb

(Note: Ms Crabb's articles are always worth reading, IMHO.)

"There are no rules — and should be no judgement — about how International Women's Day should be marked.

"Not everyone's a fan of pink cupcakes and special breakfasts full of women who are a little bit crying-on-the-inside from having to get it together even earlier than usual.

"Some ladies contain themselves to the quiet ritual of doing one and a half times as much housework as their husband, just like every other day.

"That said, I think we can agree that America's IWD 2025 game plan is a departure from form."

....

"Does the Trump ascendancy formally liberate the C-suite cavemen who were hiding under their desks this whole time?

"Or are these urgent new corporate hobbies (mixed martial arts, belchin', fartin', scratchin', hog-shootin') just the best roll of the dice for a broligarch all too whimperingly aware that his day job right now is to abase himself completely among the cheeseburger wrappers at the feet of a 78-year-old reality TV star?"

....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:56 PM

C-Street is where most of the lobbyists have offices in DC.

The twirling tornado of tumult will be celebrated by Trump tonight at the State of the Union Address. He says that "America is bloated, fat, and disgusting", which is far from a shining city on a hill with a thousand points of light that promise, Yes we can.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 08:14 PM

Narcissists lob insults at others in which they are really describing themselves.

Zelenskyy is a "dicator", "America is bloated, fat, and disgusting".

Both of those insults describe Trump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 08:24 PM

He always telegraphs what he is going to do by what he accuses others of doing.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 10:21 PM

I can't stand to listen to him, he's a manipulating sociopath; turning past the channel you hear him narrating the story of some poor crime victim, milking it for all it's worth and blaming others. Half of the room stands to applaud. I watched a couple of minutes of his entering the room, and I think it was Noem the Homeland Security twit who leaned over to give him a hug and his hand shot up to keep her hand and arm away from his hair.

I'll get some of the commentary after the spectacle. Alas, these are our monkeys and this is our circus. We need to do something about it.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 10:28 PM

Watching and listening to TRMP addressing Congress. Many thoughts, varied and centering around not having much of an appetite. He seems to be modelling his delivery off last night's Academy Awards.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 12:40 AM

Hubby sent me this but I don't have a link for it:

An interesting analysis made by ChatGPT regarding the psychological aspects of the meeting between Zelensky and Trump-Vance is circulating online.

From the analysis, we can conclude that we have witnessed a real master class in gaslighting, manipulation and coercion from Trump and his entourage.

Let's analyze the key points:

Blaming the victim for their own situation:
Trump literally tells Zelensky: "You allowed yourself to be in a very bad position." This is a classic abuser's technique - to blame the victim for their suffering. Like, it's your own fault that Russia occupied you and is killing your people.

Pressure and coercion to "gratitude":
Vance demands that Zelensky say "thank you." This is an extremely toxic technique - to force the victim to thank for the help that she vitally needs, and then accuse her of ingratitude if she tries to defend her rights.

Manipulation of the concept of "peace":
Trump claims that Zelensky is "not ready for peace." But by this he means the capitulation of Ukraine. This is typical manipulation - replacing the concept of "just peace" with the concept of "surrender."

Refusal to acknowledge the reality of war:
Trump constantly says that Zelensky "has no cards," that "without us, you have no cards." This is another technique of the abuser - to devalue the efforts of the victim, claiming that she is powerless without the mercy of the "savior."

Devaluation of the victims of war:
"If you have a ceasefire, you have to accept it so that the bullets stop flying and your people stop dying." But Trump ignores that a ceasefire without guarantees is just a breathing space for Russia to regroup and strike again.

Dominance tactics:
Trump constantly interrupts, does not let Zelensky speak. He says, "No, no, you've said enough," "You're in no position to dictate to us." This is a deliberate use of psychological pressure to establish a hierarchy where Zelensky is a subordinate.

Forcing capitulation under the guise of "diplomacy":
Vance claims that "the path to peace is through diplomacy." This is a classic tactic when the aggressor is allowed to continue his aggression without resistance.

Projection and substitution of concepts:
Trump says, "You are playing with the lives of millions of people." But this is exactly what he does by shifting responsibility to Zelensky.

Creating the illusion that Zelensky owes America something:
The United States does help Ukraine, but presenting this aid in the form of "you must obey, otherwise you will not get anything" is a form of financial and military coercion, not partnership.

Devaluing Ukrainian resistance:
Trump says that "if it were not for our weapons, this war would be over in two weeks." This is an attempt to completely erase the merits of Ukrainians and present them as completely dependent on the United States.

Conclusion:
Trump and his team used the full range of abusive tactics: gaslighting, blaming the victim, forcing gratitude, manipulating the concepts of "peace" and "diplomacy". These are not negotiations - this is an attempt to force Zelensky to accept conditions that are beneficial to the United States, but mortally dangerous for Ukraine.

- Tetyana Shippee, Professor of Sociology

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 05:59 AM

> Manipulation of the concept of "peace"

Thus has it always been:

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

(To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire, and where they make a desert, they call it peace.)
               -- Tacitus

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 07:20 AM

Would the threat of pulling out of NATO commitments be enough for Denmark to cede Greenland to the turnip or would he be counting on the rest of Europe pressurising Denmark to capitulate for the sake of safty and security across the continent?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 07:24 AM

Greenland is a barren place
Where the grows now green
But he minerals and oil, just beneath the soil
And the turnip can be seen.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 07:40 AM

Could Trump's ego be so malignant as to grovel at Putin's oligarchic feet?
I do not think so.
I believe he may have Putin envy as to his methods of dealing with his critics by murder.
When mob boss Trump finally makes his bones by killing an opponent, he will finally feel he is an equal among dictators. It will have to be obvious but with impunity. Like all serial killers, it won't stop with just one.

In the meantime, allowing any fraud, white collar crime, and tax cheating to be virtually legal will be his crowning achievement.

To respect law and hold honor above all is just boy scout delusions to Trump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 10:36 AM

Copy/pasted from ElReg comments (possibly copy/pasted from somewhere else):

"Franz Kafka for president!!"

"I guess we could do worse."

"Oh... we did already."

.... please move to the Jokes thread if necessary.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Aethelric
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 10:51 AM

It seems to me that, under trump, the USA has now become the Rogue State of America.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 12:44 PM

The directing power behind the thrown of Elon Musk in the DODGE buzzsaw of cruelty is none other than Stephan Miller. Miller's wife also has a role in the mass firings. This emerging story is new this week, and there will be more to come.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 01:28 PM

I don't know Bill King but this bit of writing is great. Shared on Facebook by a friend

"The State of Disunion
Adolph Trump Parties Like it's 1939
Bill King

I thought I could hang for the State of the Union, but who knew it would suddenly dissolve into the crime of the century? I’ve seen train wrecks with more dignity and bar fights with better choreography. This wasn’t just a speech—it was a séance summoning the ghosts of bad decisions past, present, and future.

Oh, please don’t rip the skin off transgender children. Please, men of no conscience or decency. Trump eats kids for lunch.

The worst vibe in a room? That’s an understatement. I’ve played dive bars at last call when the cash register came up short and seen less tension. The chamber had the energy of a family reunion where half the attendees are on speaking terms, and the other half are sharpening knives under the table. Even the network anchors—who usually coat these things in the language of "historic" and "monumental"—looked like they wanted to slip out for a smoke break.

And there, in the gallery, a vision of reluctant suffering: Melania Trump, digging through her purse like a woman searching for a last shred of patience, finally pulling out a travel-sized bottle of Pepto Bismol and taking a slow, contemplative swig. A metaphor so perfect it should be printed on the currency of whatever nation we become when this whole thing collapses.

The speech itself? A rambling odyssey of grievances and self-congratulations, punctuated by the kind of forced applause that makes hostage videos look cheerful. The camera panned the room, and you could see it: some folks were nodding, others were grinding their teeth, and a few just stared straight ahead, as if contemplating the life choices that led them here.

Growling like some Transylvanian vampire bat with the biblical undertones of Satan himself, Donald J. Trump stood at the podium, his jowls quivering, his hands—tiny, waxen, forever balled into impotent fists—gripping the edges of reality. It was a eulogy, they said, but for whom? The nation? Democracy? The last gasps of civility? Before he stood a congregation of the damned felons in flag pins, sycophants posing as statesmen, a parade of the morally bankrupt wrapped in star-spangled delusions.

To some, his voice was the fearsome roar of an apocalyptic beast; to others, a mere whimpering hedgehog, flattened and twitching under the weight of its own self-inflicted absurdities. On this very day, amidst the carnage of his own making, the bloated oracle of Mar-a-Lago slapped tariffs on Canada—America’s most loyal trade partner—because nothing says 'strong leadership' quite like gutting your neighbour’s pockets and setting your own house on fire. But did Canada kneel before the petulant man-child and his punitive fantasies? Not a chance. Instead, Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford laced up their gloves and sent the Clown Prince of Grift stumbling backward with a counterpunch so fierce even the ghost of Ali took notice. Reverse tariffs? Oh, Canada, you magnificent bastards.

And then there was Ford, never a man of eloquence, suddenly transformed into a folk hero on MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace. Who would have guessed that the Premier, usually built more for beer tents than battle rings, would deliver the most memorable moment of his political career? Canadians could only dream of the day when their scrappy prime minister, would step into the ring with America’s puffy pretender, a man assembled from sausage casings and long-expired steakhouse cuts, and lay him out cold. Lights out, Donnie. No more cheap bourbon, no more well-done Trump steaks drowning in ketchup. Just a cold Canadian night and a warm glass of Newfoundland Screech, served with a side of consequences.

As Trump continued to spew his funhouse-mirror vision of reality, the last remaining brain cells in his cranium seemed to abandon ship, splattering across the podium in some kind of primal rebellion. The words came slurred and jumbled, half-chewed like the Big Mac still wedged between his back molars. Dear Nancy Pelosi we needed you? To rip up the nonsense, scatter the pieces, and let Mike Johnson’s pencil neck quiver under the weight of its own irrelevance? But no, Johnson—paperboy of no fixed address—sat in place, wide-eyed and obedient, having taken a rare break from mopping the Yellow Brick driveway at Mar-a-Lago to watch his master’s downward spiral.

And so it went, the great American farce playing on a loop. The Emperor, naked but for his spray tan and grievance, preaching to the choir of the morally embalmed. The nation’s eulogy, written in crayon, smudged with Diet Coke, destined to be torn apart by history’s steady hands.

Sorry folks. I had to cut out. Surviving this debacle requires a stomach of cast iron."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 01:53 PM

Wow, DtG. Just seriously *wow*.

.... For the record, Herself turned over from Sky News, which was supposed to be carrying some babbling briefing by one of the flunkettes (I forget which one), and which appeared to be infinitely delayed. BBC News 24, she found, wasn't carrying it at all, as it had better things to do (eg sport).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 02:09 PM

BREAKING NEWS, from Pres Macron's live broadcast: He's just put France on a war footing. More later once it's been summarised elsewhere.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 05:04 PM

Get ready to embrace strange bedfellows in the rising anti Trump tsunami. 80,000 people are being fired from the Veterans Administration. They are already organizing against Trump. Some of the militia types with military experience will have to do a rethink.

Republican politicians have gotten the e-mail memo to stop having town halls with their constituents because it is making bad TV. The vehement angst regarding Trump/Musk is highly charged with near-hatred.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 05:32 PM

To answer a somewhat earlier question from DtG:

> The more ridiculous his policies become, the more
> I wonder who is allowing them to pass.

It's the boil-the-frog method. We suffered, and are still suffering, from that in the UK: the more rabid the right-wing papers made their headlines, the more everybody thought it had become normal. (Small boats, anyone?) It's *just* possible that this State of the Drivel farce may have woken some of them from their stupor, but I'll believe that when I see Capitol Hill raining jumping frogs.

There's historical precendents for this sort of thing. Cato the Elder, for example, ended every speech he made in the Roman Senate with Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ("Furthermore, I think that Carthage must be destroyed"), for so long that this eventually became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Mar 25 - 06:23 PM

MaJoc is the reincarnation of Senator Byrd.

Trump was handed a lukewarm defeat by SCOTUS today.
Cheeto monster has very few court wins of the 90 suits aligned against him. So far so good, but complying with the court orders is proving to be harder than pulling teeth with dental floss.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 12:05 PM

> MaJoC is the reincarnation of Senator Byrd.

.... Which one? there's seven, and five Senator Birds (Senators Bird?), known to Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, back at the point, something from the letters page of today's New European:

It is time for us Europeans to pay a lot more attention to the wisdom circulating among old-age psychiatrists. It is my experience (not being a qualified psychiatrist but an ordinary physician) that mental deterioration prior to full-blown Alzheimer's terrifies those with a Trump-Putin mindset and leads to unjustified aggressive behaviour in those already prone to aggression.

Trump is only a very few years younger than his father was when he developed Alzheimer's. Time for government to seek guidance from those with in-depth experience of this troubling consequence of extended lifespans. Please would our government consult meaningfully those, largely to be found in the Royal College of Psychiatrists, who can help them outmanoevre these ageing tyrants?

.... and from an article entitled The Abominable Showman in the same issue, reviewing "Michael Woolf's new book on Trump and his court":

Even after a bullet grazes him at Butler, he refuses a CT scan, fearful that it will show "plaque" and people will say he has Altzeimer's. Image is everything --- as he has just shown by pumping his fist in the air and shouting "fight!"

And there was me thinking it might be due to the Oik-in-Chief taking both amphetamines and barbiturates (downers make you stupid, uppers make you certain, and both together means everybody around you wears a tin hat at all times) .... But whatever it is, the results are still at best inexcusable, and ultimately his own fault.

Maybe now, Donuel, we can answer your question about what's in it for tRump: if you're marching in front of a zombie army, the one thing you cannot afford to do is stumble.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 01:02 PM

The military is something we also need to pay attention to. Trump has dismissed the adults in the room, nominated unqualified people to leadership positions, and got rid of the JAGs - the attorneys who pay attention to the orders given that they be Constitutional.

The disposal of trans members may get more attention right now, but it is Trump wants leadership in place to be paying attention to him, not the Constitution.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 01:30 PM

Hubby showed me an AI generated video on Farcebook where Zelenskyy punches tRump, who then cries like a baby having a tantrum. There are variations available online but I can't find the one with the baby tantrum (should that be spelled tanTrump?) ending. It is only a few seconds long. It's funny.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 01:33 PM

Often, the greatest lie ever told is "Everything will be OK."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: robomatic
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 03:39 PM

To quote George Costanza: "It's not a lie if you believe it."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 10:13 PM

Trying to stay on the topic includes removing some of the random brain droppings, especially those shared in sequences of posts. Don, put them all in one and park them in MOAB 3.

Judges are pushing back against the illegal stuff Trump is trying to do, but they're still managing to let through some of the high-level firings. I came in late on an interview Rachel Maddow was doing with a high level federal official, apparently an agency watchdog, who said this was his worst day and best day all in one: he managed to save the jobs of 5,000 of his agency's workers, but at the end of the day he lost his job. It should dawn on these Muskovites that they're firing some really smart people who will now have the time on their hands to fight back in court. And work out a communication system with former co-workers to stay informed about what is going on in each agency.

Of all of the recent Trump nonsense there is speculation that after he announced the Mexico and Canada tariffs his sons probably bought a lot of stock in automotive companies - and after he changed his mind - again - would have sold for huge profits. See how that works?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 03:38 AM

Just read a great comment along the lines of "The US has not just shot itself in the foot. It has sawn its leg off, refuses to call an ambulance and is celebrating its weight loss"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 08:24 AM

Regarding tariffs, we wrote the book. Remember Art of the Deal?
However, China wrote 'The Art of War'. Tariffs are supposed to be used only in the event of war. This is already more than Trump understands.

Tariffs generally worked before the Renaissance when country A made wine and country B made grain and they traded. If prices were not fair, they could be equalized. But today few things are made entirely in one country. Even Mexican beer is made with American barley.
It's called a global economy stupid.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 09:33 AM

Excerpt from an interesting article in The Register (Uncle Sam mulls policing social media of all would-be citizens):

[...] foreigners applying for immigration benefits in the US, when visiting the USCIS portal for applicants, were this week greeted with a friendly message that reads: "Making America safe again. America welcomes those who respect our laws. Follow the law and and you will find opportunity. Break it and you will find consequences."

The comments section is definitely worth reading; the first one saved me from having to make the same comment here. Lower down, one of the most notable is, in total:

card-carrying communists

What would Senator Joseph McCarthy have made of the bromance between Путін хуйло and The Orange One?

.... and I do now know what the Cyrillic means (Wikipedia is your friend).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 09:39 AM

BREAKING WIND NEWS: Diddums is "strongly considering" imposing banking sactions on Russia until a cease-fire is reached. The Russian ambassador to the UK is responding on Sky News as we speak, but needs to forcibly be reminded that Russia was historically a province of Ukraine, not the other way round.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 11:26 AM

‘Diddums’?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 11:42 AM

Diddums is a sooky cry-baby.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 11:42 AM

> ‘Diddums’?

As in "Poor diddums, he's thrown his rattle out of the pram, and is squalling until someone fetches it for him so he can throw it out again". (Wherefore else that sulky pout?) In this case, it's simple Headline Deprivation Syndrome.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 12:58 PM

Aaaaahh! Of course! ;-) :-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Lighter
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 01:27 PM

A note from history. This guy nails it:

https://theconversation.com/trump-is-the-kinglike-president-many-feared-when-arguing-over-the-us-constitution-in-1789-and-his-address-to-congress-showed-it-251294

---

Link fixed. If you used the Mudcat Blinkifier, it doesn't handle really long links well. ---mudelf

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 02:20 PM

Also, the exclamation "diddums" is always said with an initial high, then low pitch and emphasis on the second syllable - like an impending doom, extended low pitch. "O-o-o-h, Did-dummmmms!" [false sympathy]

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 05:25 PM

Executive orders are being aimed at lawfirms that ever defeated the orange man-child in Court, represented the DNC, Hillary, and democrats in general.
This shot across lawfirm bows is a warning to not represent anyone but Trump, or they will be barred from ever entering a federal building, trying a federal case, or ever getting a security clearance, and risk the usual bomb threats.

The lust for retribution will keep going until Donnie's imagination can no longer find a lurking enemy or, more likely, on his deathbed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Mar 25 - 05:37 PM

were gonna kick Canada's butt

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 05:59 AM

Refugees from Ukraine have lost their protective status thanks to the Commander and Revenge King.

Believe it or not, the latest victim of the DEI ban is the aircraft 'Enola Gay'.
Images of the airplane are to be removed from all government facilities because of the word Gay.

It's International Women's Day. The Pentagon, ironically, will remove pictures of women marines for breaking DEI policy.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 07:01 AM

A piece from the FB Page of Alan Wechsler, reporting the speech in the French Senate by M. Claude Malhureta couple of days ago - M. Claude Malhuret, speech to the Senate of France

As usual, to allow non-FB-ers of this forum to read this piece, I have C&Pd it below…apologies for its length, but I feel it is of such importance that it’s worth posting here.


”Transcript below of an incredibly powerful and deadly accurate speech in the French Senate two days ago by Mr. Claude Malhuret. This may some day take its rightful place alongside the best of Sir Winston Churchill and President John F Kennedy.
Brace yourself:

“President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.
The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.
Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.
I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.
Eight days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.
Tonight, he took another step into infamy by stopping the delivery of weapons that had been promised. What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it.
And first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.
The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it.
What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.
This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.
Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, you are Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, he is Taiwan and the China Sea.
At the parties of the oligarchs of the Gulf of Mar-a-Lago, this is called “diplomatic realism.”
So we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less populated.
Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of foreign exchange and gold reserves, the demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. The American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever made in a war.
The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.
Accelerate military aid to Ukraine to compensate for the American abandonment, so that it holds, and of course to impose its presence and that of Europe in any negotiation.
This will be expensive. It will be necessary to end the taboo of the use of frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow’s accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only the willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.
Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, prisoners and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.
Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the most time, we must build the neglected European defence, to the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It is a Herculean task, but it is on its success or failure that the leaders of today’s democratic Europe will be judged in the history books.
Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. This is to recognize that France has been right for decades in arguing for strategic autonomy.
It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, to strengthen the European Defence Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, to harmonize weapons and munitions systems, to accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, to rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, to relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.
The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And much more will be needed.
Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be implemented. For good.
But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament.
We must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear, and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left.
They argued again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defence.
They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin.
Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.
Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans react.
Polls are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.
The Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive, the Parliament, the Supreme Court and social networks.
But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.
The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means for their common defense, and to make Europe the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.
Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost.
The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.”

-Claude Malhuret speaking to the French Senate Tuesday March 4 2025. You have just read the transcript of a speech that will live forever in the history books.

Subject: RE: Orange Jesus for Peace Prize?
From: Mr Red
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 07:17 AM

I did post half in jest but half in dread in this parish. This thread

& Now there are videos mentioning Trump & Nobel in the same headline. Also half in............... & half .........

We are living in interesting times.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 12:02 PM

Those long posts aren't necessary. Capture the first sentence or two of the transcribed text (or the name of the speaker and date) then drop it in your search engine and nine times out of ten you'll land on a site with the transcript or the video (with subtitles) such as this.

That video has a link to the full transcript in a Google doc.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 12:16 PM

SRS, I usually pick out a paragraph here and there which gets to the heart of the article but I try to keep it brief and add the link for anyone who wants to read the whole article.

BWM, it was worth reading and the end of the speech was especially relevant, starting with:

"But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads...."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 03:28 PM

Is there a valid reason why the 538 Trump favorability polls website address reverts to the ABC News (US) site?

Or has it been hijacked by Trump's cyber cronies to stop people finding out how low his popularity rating is at present?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 08:04 PM

It took a little bit of searching, but it appears to be a Disney/ABC casualty. From The Guardian: Political poll news site 538 to close amid larger shuttering across ABC and Disney
Disney is reportedly cutting staff across ABC News Group and its entertainment network as media layoffs continue

The popular political poll news and analysis website, 538, is being shut down as part of a broader shuttering effort across ABC News and Disney Entertainment, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday night.

Disney is reportedly cutting 200 positions across ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, including shutting down the data-driven 538.

The ABC news magazine shows 20/20 and Nightline are to be consolidated into one program, resulting in further job cuts, sources told the Journal. The closing of 538 means an additional 15 employees will be let go.

You may recall that Disney paid a settlement to Trump for a Stephanopoulos interview and they must be feeling gun-shy. Trump is a litigious fellow. That's one way he earns his billions these days.

I was able to see past page captures on the Wayback Machine. The links are all pointed to a generic ABC page now.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 08 Mar 25 - 08:16 PM

Thanks SRS. Every way I tried to get into the 538 page took me back to the ABC page, with no explanation for the magical mystery tour.

I tried to find other reliable polling sites but at least one looked skewed in favour of Trump.

This article shows a popularity polling graph and provides some commentary:

Brookings: Trump’s first 5 weeks in the polls

Also I'm halfway through watching a documentary called Adolf Hitler: Decoding a Dictator

It is scarily similar to Trump's rise to power.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 04:28 AM

Trump is attempting to split Russia AND China, from USA point of view a smart move

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 07:20 AM

> Trump is attempting to split Russia AND China

.... and said leaders are laughing at the Dunning-Kruger sufferer behind his back.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 08:01 AM

Sandman sometimes says things that have no evidence. Guesswork is fine, but when Trump's brainstorms become policy without further thought, the cyclones can be disastrous.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 08:34 AM

Dunning Kruger is a theory based upon obvious observation and has obvious acceptance.
I have a sociological theory regarding a persistent observation of 20%
of a human population that is innately low in empathy and without the ability to think from someone else's perspective. What exacerbates the effect that leads to cruelty, narcissism, and criminal behavior is an early upbringing of physical and mental abuse. This combination of nature and nurture in creating individuals that range from psychopaths to those without the ability to fully empathize needs to be investigated further to determine if this effect can be mitigated,
If a name for this is required I would call it the Cruel index.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 09:03 AM

It is obvious that a person high on the cruelty index is less likely to enter nursing and might rather join the police or military
Exceptions do, fortunately, exist.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: gillymor
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 09:03 AM

If Trump did do something smart it was purely by accident.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 11:09 AM

My posts that do point out correct Trump/Elon accidental positives are removed by Stilly possibly out of knee jerk bias. They were not the brain droppings comparable to 'diddums', but that's just my POV.

Even a blind squirrel might find a nut or two.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 12:35 PM

Did you really just say "Sandman sometimes says things that have no evidence", Don?

Does a phrase involving kettles and pans spring to mind?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 12:53 PM

I thin out the worst of it, and some of the rest of you if you respond to either Don or Dick's droppings may find the responses disappear also. Consider me the person with the shovel and wheelbarrow following the parade. No one needs to step in that stuff. Just step past it and move on.

Right after Maine's governor pushed back at Trump publicly, he decided to play a dirty trick and cancel the contract in Maine (they exist in all 50 states) with the state agency that arranges for newborns to receive a Social Security number when they register for their child's birth certificate. It would have added a lot of work to the process when those numbers are needed soon for registering for services, for filing taxes (listing dependents), etc. They would have to travel with the child to one of the offices around the state to do the same thing. After a lot of complaining the feds reversed the order.

Trump is as malign (adjective, not verb) a character as could ever have ended up in a position that requires a huge amount of empathy and intellect.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 02:37 PM

”Trump is as malign (adjective, not verb) a character as could ever have ended up in a position that requires a huge amount of empathy and intellect.”

So, so true. He displays a child-like vindictiveness and vengefulness. He is repulsive in both his appearance and character, and I’ve never been able to figure how he attracts either voters or the opposite sex.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 04:14 PM

I’ve never been able to figure how he attracts either voters or the opposite sex. - Kissinger when asked if power is the ultimate aphrodisiac said yes

To make America great, Donald Trump is undoing its greatness as global stock markets fall ...Trump frequently talks about standing for a third term. But he'll be 82 in 2028, and while you can't count him out, he probably won't take on the constitution to that extent at that age.

But by then his administration should be in full control of the electoral machinery, as well as social media. So Trump will able to install a successor — maybe JD Vance, or perhaps start an imperial dynasty: Donald Trump Jnr, followed by the now 18-year-old Barron.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 05:06 PM

Trump Dynasty?

Apparently Homer Simpson was drawn with a "Ivanka 2028" badge in one short scene. Half in jest, half in dread - I posit.

There have been precedents - worldwide. Indira Gandhi and even the Italian born widow in the clan, Sandra Gandhi. Parties get desperate after they have run out of popularity. How else did a game show host become president?

And don't forget, all those government employees sacked then re-instated. Which ones were re-hired? Would it have been Card Carrying Members? Whiteish ones maybe? My understanding of the electoral system in the US is that a lot of people declare their allegiance in the primaries and "the party" has the list of CCMs? A recipe ripe for corruption IMNSHO.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 06:10 PM

Sandra, the second and third episodes of Adolf Hitler: Decoding a Dictator will be on SBS TV on Saturday and Sunday this week at 5.30 pm. The similarities to Trump are chilling. I think there might only be three episodes in the series but they are available to view online on SBS On Demand.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 07:16 PM

Mr. Red, we're hoping to get all of them reinstated eventually. Those that took the Musk offer of a buyout may have been at retirement age and hoping to get a bonus payment (chances are he will stiff them on that.)

We're still working on this. Pushing back, and it mostly seems to be through the courts.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 09:29 PM

I watched PBS Washington Week with the Atlantic yesterday. One of the commentators was speculating that Democrats and some Republicans may be building a counter-attack against Trump, or they may be sitting in the background waiting for him to shoot himself in the foot, politically and strategically, and then jump into the ring and take control.

I still believe that there are a lot of people working behind the scenes to restore democracy. I also don't think Trump's dictatorship has the same odds of being successful as those political situations in countries like Russia where the real people have less political power to create positive change.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Richard Atkins
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 10:50 PM

Good luck to Mark Carney as now president of Canada. At least there is one that's not head case the other side of the pond !

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 11:38 PM

Canada doesn’t have a President. Mark Carney will become the Prime Minister, apparently within the next few days.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 12:41 AM

Helen, they may be sitting in the background waiting for him to shoot himself in the foot, politically and strategically,

For any other American president many of the things Trump has already done would have gotten them impeached and out of office. The Teflon Don needs a different solution.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 12:55 AM

Yes, well, I'm not allowed to say what I *hope* the solution is, am I? I already got told off for saying it before. :-D Repeater round and not single shot next time, please.

I especially like some of the placards shown in the photos in this article:

Elon Musk's foray into politics met with protest that's hurting Tesla worldwide

The fourth photo - the one after the video - shows two that I like:

"Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds" then a photo of F*Elon Musk doing the Heil Hitler salute while standing up in the sun roof of a Tesla, then the words "Tesla Swasticar" below that.

And the other placard says, "Send Musk to Mars. Leave Washington DC".

When I saw F*Elon Musk on TV announcing that someone would plant a flag on Mars, my first thought was, "Well why don't you do it. You probably won't make it back alive". He's happy to send cannon fodder off to Mars and it is neither-here-nor-there to him whether they survive the trip because it's just another money-making stunt to him, but it would be very apt if he went to Mars and didn't come back.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 05:45 AM

It's sad that he wasn't on board his company's SpaceX rocket this week.

SpaceX again loses its Starship rocket on test flight after explosion during previous attempt

There was also an explosion in an attempted launch in mid-January.

"After SpaceX’s Starship megarocket exploded during a test flight in January, the company had hoped for a better outcome when it attempted a launch on Thursday.

"But once more, the mission was cut short after controllers lost contact with the upper-stage vehicle."

...

"After [the January] accident, the FAA launched an investigation. Although it subsequently cleared Starship for Thursday’s test flight, the investigation is ongoing.

"The FAA is one of many federal agencies the Trump administration has targeted for budget and personnel cuts. It’s unclear, though, whether workers with the Department of Government Efficiency, led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, have had a presence within the FAA’s commercial spaceflight division, which oversees private companies like SpaceX."

...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 12:13 PM

I really hope you're right, Helen. I saw this in Security Quote of the Week in the Feb 27th issue of Linux Weekly News, excerpted from an article in Techdirt about the acute paralysis in Congress:

[ ... ]

The supreme irony is that the pressure they're surrendering to isn't even real. These senators are abandoning witnessed truth about war crimes in response to artificially generated outrage. They're choosing bot approval over bomb evidence. The digital mob they fear is largely synthetic—but the consequences of their cowardice will be catastrophically real.

       -- Mike Brock on the US Senate

It reminds me of the old joke "Pro is to Con as Progress is to ...." Hopefully, they're taking the time to grind exceeding small.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 04:42 PM

Oh, Diddums! :-D

Elon Musk says X outages the result of a cyber attack and investigations are underway to determine who's behind it

"Elon Musk says there is a 'massive cyberattack' underway against his platform X, formerly Twitter.

"He posted on Monday, local time, that 'We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources.

"'Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved,' he wrote.

"He added that the company was 'tracing' who was behind the attack."
....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 04:47 PM

Maybe the cyber attacker is the young man who was fired when he was outed for racism after gathering the data from the IRS on behalf of DOGE. He would have the skills, I'm sure, and the motivation.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 05:13 PM

As we all cringe and remark on #47, remember that he and his cronies have committed themselves to becoming a multi-decade Reich.
*IF* they lose Congress in 2026, and/or the presidency in 2028, many of them will be liable for criminal prosecution. Therefore, one of their necessary goals must be to NOT have elections..or to have elections so tied up that they can't lose.
   Smarter people than me are thinking about how to avoid sliding into a dictatorship, and I certainly hope they have some good ideas.
   At my age, I'm not sure I'll see what happens by 2028, but I hate leaving my son and younger friends this situation.
   My current semi-concern is Musk now trying to take over Social Security-- my only income. I have some savings and a place to live... but...
We'll see.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 06:08 PM

Hans Frank instituted a legal system for the 3rd Reich that made all lawyers only advocate for the State, much like Trump, who singles out law firms that take a position antithetical to Trumpism or against a criminal act by Trump himself. Hans made it so that if a law firm argued against the State, the law firm would be guilty of treasonous acts. While Trump has not gone that far, he has chilled many law firms to risk taking certain cases.

Finding top lawyers has now become more problematic if advocacy for their client is detrimental for Trump or if their is a conflict of interests to a billionaire class client.

The legal system is drastically changed from what we had a couple months ago.


PS Braindroppings is the title of one of George Carlin's better books.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 06:23 PM

Wall Street appears to have taken a dive ("US shares fall sharply and uncertainty in American economy", saith the Sky News ticker), for some reason. Dow Jones is down 900 points, amongst other things.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 07:10 PM

Its a two year setback for the market but if tariffs really begin it will take at least 2 more years of market and public chaos for any benefits to appear with more new factories and other American based facilities.
That is IF any benefits do occur.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Mar 25 - 07:22 PM

I've noticed it took 5 years to build a Wegman's grocery store so building new factories for chip building and other things will probably take more than 5 years during a possible Trump recession.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 06:16 AM

In DC they are not just painting over 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' on the street but removing 8 inches of pavement and repaving the plaza to comply with anti DEI decrees. The 6 week project is demonstrably symbolic.

To silence university protests, Trump seized a Palestinian student at Columbia, canceled his visa, removed his legal green card and is deported to Louisiana so far. This is like practice at disappearing protestors and limiting free speech.

Elon has grabbed the 3rd rail in both hands and is destroying Social Security internally and calls it a Ponzi scheme. There is no evidence of waste fraud and abuse in SS so they will have to manufacture some.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 11:10 AM

From The Register:

Is NASA's science budget heading for a black hole?

Dare mighty things ... as long as we can afford it

COMMENT NASA could be in line for severe cuts to its science budget, with a 50 percent reduction floated by folk in the space industry. The consequences would, according to observers, be nothing less than catastrophic.

This comes shortly after the agency was told to get ready to lay off 1,000 employees. That threat was removed, possibly at the behest of the incoming Administrator Jared Isaacman. Still, according to The Planetary Society, budget belt-tightening would be "an extinction event for space science and exploration in the United States."

Dramatic? Not really. Should the cuts come to pass, NASA's science budget would fall off a cliff so steep that even a Tesla shareholder might say "steady on." Estimates from The Planetary Society show that funding could drop to levels not seen since 1985.

[ .... ]

Isaacman professed ignorance of the "supposed cuts," saying in a social media statement: "The President said he's targeting fraud, waste and abuse with a scalpel – not a hatchet."

[ .... ]

There seems to be a curious inability here to distinguish between scalpels and sledgehammers. (As usual, the Comments section is worth reading.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 12:53 PM

Oh, and about that alleged cyberattack on Xitter, here's something from a sidebar to a separate story in The Register:

X offline, Elon blames Ukrainian IPs

Gandi's not the only one having a bad day. Elon Musk's X, the site better known as Twitter, faced intermittent outages on Monday, which the billionaire blamed on a cyberattack.

There were four major spikes in complaints on Downdetector.com from netizens unable to access X over the past few hours. Dark Storm, a pro-Palestinian activist group, reportedly claimed responsibility, though Elon has his own theories.

"We're not sure exactly what happened but there was a massive cyberattack that tried to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area," he told Fox News on Monday. Uh-huh. Interesting timing right after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Musk clashed with Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski over the use of the SpaceX supremo's Starlink satellite broadband in Ukraine.

Normal services on the social media site have been resumed, the Tesla tycoon claimed.

That sounds like a Distributed Denial-Of-Service attack to me. There's multiple ways to cause Ukrainian IP addresses to be used, including using a botnet of compromised Ukranian systems, or a botnet where its bots are programmed to send packets with faked Ukrainian IP addresses; the location of the botnet controller remains hidden in either case. But that wouldn't be sufficiently newsworthy for Agent X, and digging further would require thought and nontrivial effort .... y'know, the sort of thing that was being done in hot pursuit of those active hostile incursions into the US govt's computers before the pursuers got abruptly DOGE'd.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 01:47 PM

MaJoC, I have heard Chinese names starting with "Xi" pronounced "Shi" so does that mean that "Xitter" is pronounced "Shi...."?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 02:37 PM

--- Ah! *that*'s why ElReg uses that nom de site. Thanks (rotfl).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 07:11 PM

There was a Tesla stunt at the White House today. As stock prices slump there were several vehicles pulled up in front for Trump to try out, he is supposedly going to buy one. Musk handed him notes about the prices and features. Daily Beast.

Donald Trump was quite literally handed a scripted sales pitch by Elon Musk during his Tesla-buying stunt Tuesday, part of a desperate attempt to boost the flagging electric car manufacturer as angry customers revolt against the CEO’s involvement in a chaotic restructuring of the federal government.

Photographers captured Trump holding note cards that listed the price and specs of each car in bullet points as he inspected a series of Teslas that had been brought to the White House.

But the president admitted they weren’t his own words.

“They gave me notes,” he said, fumbling with the papers as he prepared to get into one of the cars.

Photos of the document show phrases like “SAFEST car,” “state of the art,” and “affordable”—lines Musk apparently wanted Trump to use in his pitch.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 03:59 AM

Surely the Turnip would make a better used car salesman

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 07:16 AM

In the meantime Kleenex sales are up in DC. Some people go through a whole box some days because of crying.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 07:41 AM

Thankfully, Trump makes a pathetic Hitler. Trump has started his reign of terror by firing everyone. Hitler began his leadership career with the greatest hiring program, comparable to Roosevelt's CDC. The murders came later in earnest after the night of the long knives.

Trump will be known as the Bankruptcy King, you can Count on it.
Vun bankruptcy, do bankruptcy, tree bankruptcy...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 11:55 AM

With the tariffs imposed on imports including food, I'm wondering whether the political tipping point will be when the prices at McDonalds spiral upwards and start affecting everyday people, combined with the sharp rise in unemployment due to Trump's & Musk's job cuts.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 12:25 PM

If I was i US then I would be more concerned about Federal Aid budgets being cut to fund the efficiency dividend. Does that mean that when the next weather disinter happens the $5,000 will be enough to pay for any repairs or buy a new home?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 12:52 PM

Meanwhile, back at the sack-the-world desk, ElReg has two articles, the second demonstrating why the action detailed in the first is unwise. They're a bit long to include as-is (esp in one post), and mere extracts wouldn't do justice to them, so please read both in full; the Comments on the second are wonderfully appropriate.

CISA worker says 100-strong red team fired after DOGE cancelled contract

Election infosec advisory agency also shuttered

This is the FBI, open up. China's Volt Typhoon is on your network

Power utility GM talks to El Reg about getting that call [in 2023] and what happened next

MaJoC's €0.02: Anybody would think someone's as frightened about the possible discovery of electoral tampering as he is about the possible discovery of "platelets".

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 05:13 AM

Thank you sir, may we have another?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 06:03 AM

EPA to increase pollution

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 06:57 AM

Being reported on BBC News Channel this morning that Poland have requested the US to supply them with nuclear weapons to counter the threat from Russia.

Oh Donald, what have you started - WW3 looms ever closer thanks to your amateur meddling.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 10:20 AM

From The Bulwark (I subscribed because the NY Times and Washington Post are falling down on digging into Trump misbehavior): “Our Company Could Not Coexist” with Trump as a Partner
Will the Republican party ever learn the lesson that people in the business world learned long ago?

(Hopefully this is readable, I used their share link since this is a subscription site.)

Call it the boomerang presidency. Or the whiplash or rug-pull presidency. The bottom line is the same, whether we’re talking about tariffs, Ukraine, Social Security, immigration, or anything else: You cannot count on Trump. You cannot trust him. Also, he knows nothing about the economy.

“I don’t have a changed view of him,” Satre told me in a phone call this week—the first time we’d ever talked. “His whole approach during the periods that I was involved with him in a partnership were examples of somebody who talked a lot about himself with a great deal of bombast. And there was no regard to accuracy of what he said or truthfulness. And as a consequence, ultimately, our company could not coexist with him as a partner.”

Negotiating with Trump then sounds a lot like negotiating with him now. “What was negotiated in those days was his name and how valuable his name was. We had lots of disagreements about that,” Satre said, deadpan, and we both chuckled. Were they resolved? “No, they weren’t,” he said.

In a way, though, they were. Satre and the rest of the Harrah’s team decided to sell their half-interest in the project back to Trump. They didn’t lose any money in the transaction, Satre said, but Trump nevertheless claimed it was “a great deal for him.” . . . .And furthermore: “I am convinced he simply does not have the temperament to be president, or more importantly, commander in chief: His hair-trigger temper, bluster, racial rhetoric and divisive domestic and international views will endanger our democracy and risk permanent damage to our society.”

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 01:49 PM

When the tattered remains of what is left of necessary American institutions there will be a fire sale to the highest privatized bidder. Oligarchs have lusted after the Post Office for years.

UNLESS Courts, Congress or we the people prevent Trump from allowing his national and global meltdown to continue as the POTUS.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 03:00 PM

aka the COTUS-POTUS (Centre of the Universe Syndrome-Prez of the US).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 03:02 PM

Or should that be: COTUS-POTUS, hocus pocus, lack of focus. :-D

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 05:22 PM

The President is not constitutionally allowed to accuse, adjudicate and punish individuals or organizations. It goes against the freedom of speech and the freedom to associate, It goes against the separation of powers in the 5th amendment. To attack lawyers who he doesn't like with impunity would be the end of the rule of law. I can not imagine the SCOTUS ruling in favor of Trump.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 05:27 PM

Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.
John Locke

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 06:54 PM

Ok, I'll add to my list of rhyming words for the song or poetry writing challenge. Here are some rhyming words for inspiration:

POTUS, COTUS, SCOTUS, circus, very stable genius, minus (i.e. IQ score), not cautious, endless, vicious, worthless, bogus, cactus, no locus of control, notorious, outrageous, previous, suspicious, jealous, office, injustice, anti-justice, embarrass, hideous, no moral compass.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 07:06 PM

As long as he doesn't stop having cetre of the universe syndrome. That would be COTUS interuptus...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 07:09 PM

> The President is not constitutionally allowed to
> accuse, adjudicate and punish individuals or
> organizations.

But the President can do *anything* while in office, then say he's doing it in pursuit of said office, and the Supremes will say he's Diana Ross.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 07:12 PM

I have a feeling most of them are regretting that decision. A couple of them need to retire, but their replacements would be even worse.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 08:20 PM

That's for sure. Trump would install Alex Jones to replace Barrett.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 25 - 08:39 PM

It's an old saying but the President is throwing his dirty underwear against the wall in hopes some will stick.
Going after lawfirms however, is an all-time first by a POTUS.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 05:26 AM

Trump administration asked to explain after Australian universities told to justify US-funded research grants The federal government is asking the Trump administration for more information after Australian researchers were sent questionnaires asking them to justify American research grants.

The tertiary education union called it "blatant political interference" and the Group of Eight representative body said it was "extremely concerned".

Major research positions within the Trump administration are yet to be filled, but may be in a position to provide further clarity once installed ...

... Now researchers and academics at Australian universities and institutions working on projects jointly funded by American agencies have been swept up in the chaos.

Last week US agencies sent some of those Australian researchers what appears to be a global notice, asking them to justify their funding, as well as a questionnaire grilling them on a host of issues — including their links with China and the Trump administration's edicts recognising only two sexes.

The document also asks them to confirm if they've received "ANY funding from the PRC" or Chinese state actors, and asks what steps they've taken against "Christian persecution" or to "protect women and to defend against gender ideology." ...

... The Group of Eight, which represents Australia's major universities, said the freeze had already had a major impact, and the US had now "suspended or terminated research grants with six of the eight member universities." ...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 05:34 AM

Not sure about F*Elon Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ nonsense, but ‘Make America Respectable and Respected Again’ would be a far more appropriate and admirable ambition.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 06:36 AM

Trump is playing blackjack with the economy by doubling down on each hand, hoping for a five-card Charlie. This strategy is guaranteed to fail.
If he was serious about incentivising government workers to retire, he should not have wiped out their retirement portfolios with a stock market crash because of tariffs. 401 K mutual funds are down across the board no matter how diversified they are.

His coup is some dumb bumbling mess. I get the feeling that whoever laughed out loud regarding Trump's insurpassable ignorance and vanity he now seeks to punish. They could have been at his UN speech or on his European tour, but if they laughed at him, he can't forget it.
He was really damaged at the White House Correspondents' Dinner when Obama told a joke about Donald. He never attended again.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 07:21 AM

Bingo:

CISA: We didn't fire red teams, we just unhired a bunch of them

Agency tries to save face as it also pulls essential funding for election security initiatives

[ ... ]

Among the many cuts DOGE claims total around $20 billion are key information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs), some of which have operated for decades.

The Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) is one of these. Its website now states that the DHS pulled funding and the Center for Internet Security, which oversees the initiative, no longer supports it.

The EI-ISAC's role was to advise election officials and voting machine makers about cybersecurity risks that could impact the integrity of elections. It isn't the first move made by the current US administration to loosen oversight on election security.

Also confirmed this week to be shut down is the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which was similarly tasked with informing responses to threats against local and national elections.

It was reported by a few select media outlets, and CISA confirmed this week that the news was indeed true.

[ ... ]

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 07:57 AM

And for an encore:

Dems ask federal agencies for reassurance DOGE isn't feeding data into AI willy-nilly

Pouring sensitive info into unapproved, unaccountable, unsafe models would be a 'severe' cybersecurity fail

House Democrats have sent letters to 24 federal agencies asking for assurances that Elon Musk's DOGE team is not feeding sensitive government data into "unapproved and unaccountable" AI systems.

The letters [PDF], penned by Gerald Connolly (D-VA), the most senior Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, refer to several national newspaper reports claiming the Trump-blessed cost-trimming job-cutting DOGE unit has whipped out commercial AI tools at federal agencies to analyze projects, staffing, and other data without first carrying out appropriate safety and security reviews. The lawmakers say it would be inappropriate for the personal information of Americans to be sifted through by such systems.

[ ... ]

The first entries in the Comments section are appropriately hilarious.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 08:03 AM

Just spotted the PS to the above:

PS: A small bipartisan group of Congressfolk, including Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), has urged the UK not to, for the purposes of surveillance, force Apple to disable the end-to-end encryption of certain iCloud data stored at rest. This follows earlier political pressure from the group to change the minds of the British government.

.... never mind that decrypting the data at rest is actually impossible, unless the encryption has already been sabotaged.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 11:29 AM

Pushback:

Judge orders Feds rehire workers falsely fired for lousy performance

Veteran of Oracle vs Google Java trial fumes over 'gimmicks' and 'sham' arguments

I particularly liked the deadpan punchline:

[ .... ]

The Register contacted all six government agencies and the Department of Justice for comment. Defense, Veterans’ Affairs, and the Department of the Interior all said that they don't comment on pending litigation. The other three did not respond. Maybe they need more staff?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Mar 25 - 07:17 PM

The ruling by the 2 Maryland judges is good news.
OPM can not fire anyone. One judge even ruled from the bench and spelled out that the fired people must be rehired TODAY!
I have no word if there is a delay or not.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 15 Mar 25 - 01:51 PM

This is a fairly short article and it is worth reading, I think.

South African ambassador 'no longer welcome' in country, US Secretary of State says

"In short: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says South Africa's ambassador to the United States 'is no longer welcome' in the country, accusing him of hating US President Donald Trump.

"Both Mr Trump and his ally Elon Musk have criticised South Africa's Black-led government over a new land law they claim discriminates against white people.
What's next?

"Neither Mr Rubio nor the state department gave any immediate explanation for the decision."

...

"Marco Rubio, in a post on social media platform X, accused Ebrahim Rasool of being a 'race-baiting politician' who hates US President Donald Trump.

"Mr Rubio then declared the South African diplomat 'persona non grata'.

"Neither Mr Rubio, who posted as he was flying back to Washington from a Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, nor the state department gave any immediate explanation for the decision.

"But Mr Rubio linked his post to a story by a right-wing Breitbart news site about a talk Mr Rasool gave earlier Friday local time."

...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Mar 25 - 05:44 PM

How checking facts got political Fact checking has been described as cleaning up a sewage spill with a teaspoon. What happens to truth when someone takes the teaspoon away?

From Time magazine’s pioneering research department in the 1920s to the New Yorker’s renowned and rigorous fact-checking department, verifying facts is as old as journalism itself. The rise of the 24-hour news cycle, ubiquity of social media and subsequent spread of online misinformation and disinformation have since demanded more from journalists and editors. It has forced newsrooms to improve their internal verification processes but has also led to the proliferation of specialised fact-check outfits like AAP FactCheck in Australia or AFP Fact Check, which now has a network of 150 journalists across 26 languages publishing checks on everything from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to COVID-19. (read on)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Mar 25 - 07:33 AM

What Trump does is pretend it's wartime and declare an emergency that enables the president to exercise many wartime emergency powers. This is true for his tariffs and obscure, never-used-before deportation powers.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Mar 25 - 10:02 AM

Quoth Donuel (on the Weather thread):

> DOGE has shut down the AK volcano assessment office,
> but it might be re-funded after a big eruption like
> in 1992.

If they shut it down, how will they know? ah: if it's big enough, it could knock out one of SpaceX's satellites.

This all reminds me of one of the AI Koans, which ends (from memory):

The teacher closed his eyes.
"Why are you closing your eyes?" the student asked.
"So that the room will be empty," said the teacher.
The student was enlightened.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Mar 25 - 10:48 AM

There was a photo of Trump stumbling to the big helicopter with Musk's little X. Relegated to babysitter? I wouldn't trust him around my children if I still had little ones. (That said, they're adults in their 30s now and I'd love to hear them tell him what they think these days!)

A Saturday Executive Order to kill off a bunch of other agencies (worded to strip them down each to their most basic legal standing, and next week each head is to send a list of what they're cutting to the REAL boss - Russell Vought. Head of OMB. Writer of the 2025 plot against America.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 05:43 AM

Finger on the pulse, here’s Simon Tisdall in The Guardian, 15/3/25.

Much of this stuff was foreseeable by anyone with at least two working grey cells, yet the muppets still voted for the Orange Buffoon. And we thought that BrexShit was the biggest self-inflicted wound in living memory!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 07:12 AM

Six Trump commercials, made by Americans for Prosperity, are shown here. Their big brother themes are peace and strength, school choice, saving the tax cuts, etc.

Some Walmart prices have almost doubled on items such as Chinese shoes. Wegmans sells eggs for $5 dozen. Spending around here has dropped around 2%.

Trump personally tells the Justice Dept. that media is coordinated and illegal. I assume he does not mean his media snapshots.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 10:34 AM

Even with a judge's order to return the aircraft deporting a bunch of folks, they did it anyway. This is the constitutional crisis writ large today. Is a judge going to put the pilots and officials in jail for ignoring the order? Is King Donald going to give them immediate pardons?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 11:33 AM

Bingo (again): someone else has spotted it. Excerpted in RISKS Digest 34:58, from an AP News article:

Trump administration cuts $10M funding from CISA nonprofit Center for Internet Security (AP News)

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) budget cuts might give you the impression that the WH knows how to rig elections, and does not want any interference from the federal government.

Trump administration officials cut the $10 million in funding needed by the nonprofit Center for Internet Security, a unit of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that addressed election security. The future of two information sharing and analysis centers—the Elections ISAC and the Multi-State ISAC—is uncertain.

State elections officials have asked CISA for more information and sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging continued support for elections security.

The followup comment from PGN, the RISKS Digest moderator, is to the point:

RISKS readers have known since our very first issue in August 1985 that sanctioned commericial election systems have been fraught with easily exploited security flaws. This is not just the chickens or dogs running the chicken coop. It is more like the insane running the asylum.

.... the next five articles in that RISKS issue will be of interest to readers of this thread, too.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 11:58 AM

I know it is not what people want to hear but I said it very early on. This administration will be all about prearing the way to stay in power forever. It is all well and good saying it is only 2 years until the mid-terms but just you watch - The mid terms will result in a massive shift to the right wing. If not, they will be decalred null and void by king turnip and his not so merry men.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 12:07 PM

Surprise:

FCC stands up Council on National Security to fight China in ways that CISA used to

United States Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has unveiled plans to form a Council on National Security that will combat foreign threats to American tech and telecommunications infrastructure.

[ ... ]

Carr didn’t say how or if the new Council will work with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), whose Cyber Safety Review Board was already investigating Chinese cyber threats, including operations linked to the Salt Typhoon attacks on US telecoms infrastructure, before being disbanded by the incoming Trump administration.

.... Methinks there'll be an acute shortage of suitable applicants, but I can't for the life of me think why.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 05:10 AM

DODGE has begun using armed federal marshalls and armed FBI AGENTS TO GAIN ACCESS to non executive branch federal offices over the last two weeks. When these agencies call the DC police about this armed invasion of government offices the police have so far assisted the invasion. The use of arms to enter these small independent agencies is a sinister use of power that echoes the practices of the German SS.

Since the administration is not answering questions it is not verified if actual federal marshalls are being used.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 05:22 AM

I said it in 2016, in this parish:

"Be afraid America, be very afraid"

Mind you, what I saw was only a game show bufoon wanting the next game show gig. And I still think I was right. What I didn't see was the party he was s(h)itting on. Or their agenda. But in my defence, who could have predicted it?

Just a though but is Xitter pronounced Zhitter?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 05:34 AM

Mr Red. I said earlier that I have heard "Xi" pronounced "Shi" in Chinese, so maybe not Zhitter but Shitter?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 06:09 AM

So far DODGE has only used armed force when a CEO or lawyers have denied entrance to the Elon hackers and lock changers.
The next dire step would be arrests or deadly force if entry to private property is resisted.

Will Trump carry his deliberate ignoring of a judge's orders regarding deportations without any due process go all the way to the SCOTUS?

People see they are dealing with predators who don't care if people are in the houses that are being purposely set on fire.
I am only a messenger here but have been set upon by those with predator preferences for many years. I countered with two strategies, resist and persist. It is now up to most Americans to resist and persist.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 07:27 AM

First they came for the Democrats. I was not a politician, I kept quiet.
Next they came for Quango employees. I'm not employed, I kept quiet . . .

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 07:28 AM

I am only a messenger here but have been set upon by those with predator preferences for many years

You have been set upon by those with a preference for truth and common sense, Don. If you are a martyr at all it is to your own prediliction for talking in riddles and presenting your opinions as fact.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 07:45 AM

”If you are a martyr at all it is to your own prediliction for talking in riddles and presenting your opinions as fact.”

Never a truer word, Dave. TBH, I seldom read any of Don’s meaningless, meandering nonsense - it’s the best way to stay sane.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 11:14 AM

From the PS on an ElReg article (Amazon to kill off local Alexa processing, all voice requests shipped to the cloud):

Speaking of AI... Under the direction of President Donald Trump and his US government standards body NIST, scientists linked to the federally funded Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute have been told to talk less about “AI safety,” “responsible AI,” and “AI fairness,” and focus more on “reducing ideological bias, to enable human flourishing and economic competitiveness,” in machine-learning research, WiReD magazine reports.

Now even articial incompetence will be suspected of thought crime.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 11:48 AM

Here we go .... security sweep fails Security 101:

Court filing: DOGE aide broke Treasury policy by emailing unencrypted database

More light shed on what went down with Marko Elez, thanks to NY AG and co's lawsuit

A now-former DOGE aide violated US Treasury policy by emailing an unencrypted database containing people's private information to two Trump administration officials, according to a court document filed Friday.

That filing pertains to a February lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other state AGs challenging DOGE's access to the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS), which disburses trillions of dollars annually to US households, federal employees, and contractors including Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax credits, and grants and payments.

DOGE being the Trump-blessed unit, operated by the President's éminence grease Elon Musk, that has been going around the federal government looking for costs to trim, projects and programs to cancel, and thousands of civil servants to lay off. DOGE had been poking around inside the Treasury's systems ostensibly to find evidence of fraud and to flag up transactions the Tesla tycoon disapproved of, which New York et al in their lawsuit argue was digitally insecure and legally unsound.

The latest filing contains sworn testimony of David Ambrose, the chief security and privacy officer at the BFS, who told the court that then-DOGE operative Marko Elez violated Treasury rules by sending the unencrypted database including personally identifiable information and by not obtaining prior approval for the transmission.

[ ... ]

Read in full, please; the original is, as usual, full of links to supporting evidence elsewhere. It also appears there was less than full access given to the offender DOGE aide in question .... so there *were* grown-ups present in the room after all, trying to uphold the law by being sneakily careful.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 12:47 PM

Trump says he rules with common sense and goes with his gut.

The problem with artificial incompetence is that it is very real.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 01:07 PM

Donuel, I do read your posts. Sometimes I don't understand everything you are saying but most times I do and I appreciate your opinions and point of view.

My only suggestion is to provide links to facts or news articles to which you refer, and some explanation for non-experts in a field in which you have in-depth knowledge, just as a back up for your comments. (This advice is based on my previous experience as a teacher at adult colleges for many years and also a class tutor at university for a few years.)

My suggestion for others is to keep it civil, please. In-fighting among the allies does not contribute positively to the big fight against the enemy, i.e. Trump's attack on US democracy and the foundation of the country.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 05:29 PM

Trump continues to use war emergency power. He claims we are being invaded. What is missing is a declaration of war and a required due process hearing to determine if a person has allegiance to a foreign power like we did for Germans in the US during WWII.

Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Trump for calling for the removal of the judge who ordered Trump to bring back deportees suspected of being MS 13 because they had no due process.

My source is everywhere that is not in the MAGA ECHO CHAMBER.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 06:43 PM

The enormous mass street protests in Serbia and Hungary against their Putin puppet governments went completely under my radar until I saw them on the Rachel Maddow show. Hello US TV news, are you scared to cover this?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 06:54 PM

Being succinct and to the point is what I prefer. You can say what the point is in 10 seconds. I think economy in social media is a good thing. Most people won't fully appreciate superfluous detail unless they are sophisticated in the genre of knowledge.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 09:44 PM

That's ok DtG, I don't read what you write. I did read the quotes you posted which were written by journalists or other commentators.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 05:00 AM

I'm just following your advice: "I have said before, if you do not like my posts, don't read them."

I don't read what you write, but if someone copies and pastes an article or quotes from an article written by someone else then I read the C&P.

End of discussion. Don't read my posts.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 05:38 AM

I cannot help but read them, and reply, when they begin "Well, DtG..." but I give all posts a skim anyway.

However, if you do not read my posts, as you said, you are in no position to criticise them. How about you continue to ignore me and stop commenting on things you have not read? Best all round in my opinion.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 06:37 AM

The person who said staying in power is paramount to Trump is correct.
When Putin said "Elections are determined by those who count the votes, not the people who vote", Trump was listening carefully.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 07:00 AM

It was me on a number of occasions, Don. The latest being

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome - PM
Date: 17 Mar 25 - 11:58 AM

I know it is not what people want to hear but I said it very early on. This administration will be all about prearing the way to stay in power forever. It is all well and good saying it is only 2 years until the mid-terms but just you watch - The mid terms will result in a massive shift to the right wing. If not, they will be decalred null and void by king turnip and his not so merry men.

I and a number of others keep saying it but we get told that we are not helping or that we do not understand the situation.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 07:18 AM

Dave's concern is critical for Project 2025 to establish an ongoing dictatorship. One man one vote could become one man one joke.
DOGE has already hit the Federal Election Commission.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 07:34 AM

Real Estate vultures are lining up to take advantage of foreclosures of recently fired government workers in the DC area.
The MD Governor is proposing a way to give fired workers more time amid the rehiring chaos to satisfy mortgage payments.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 09:23 AM

Some of the strongest bonds in life happen when everything seems broken.
After a pandemic and now 2025 when our country is attempting to be dismantled, we have tomorrow so we march together. My deepest hope is that we bring the hope of democracy to everywhere we travel, to everything we do. We will serve as a reminder we do not walk this road alone. We're not expected to face down adversity by ourselves.

Just as the USA could not fully understand the trials of Brexit or Australian fires and floods I do not expect them to feel the damage being done to American families.

We look for the enemy but the hidden enemy is fear, fear of loss, fear of violence, and fear of the human perpetrators of chaos. Fear of undeserved punishment by a man-child and the crew that follows him is in the back of many minds. As President Delano Roosevelt said it is the fear of fear itself. That we can overcome.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 11:40 AM

OK, let's clear the air a bit. This could have gone in the Jokes thread, or under Ukraine, but here we are ....

Seen on the newsstand this morning, on the front cover of this week's Private Eye (from memory*):

Russia insists on retaining all captured territories

.... above a picture of Vlad on the phone saying "Including the White House".

* Corrections humbly invited.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 12:15 PM

I and a number of others keep saying it but we get told that we are not helping or that we do not understand the situation.

You are harping on one note and doing what a friend of mine would call "borrowing trouble." We all know this is a shit stew of a mess. You don't need to keep reminding us of it. It doesn't contribute to the conversation, it just annoys people. And much of the bickering and citations of bickering have been removed.

Someone pointed out recently that the only way to get the Project 2025 out of the White House is to get rid of Vance before getting rid of Trump; try for a more rational VP and then impeach Trump. Hey, it's a long shot, but it's looking at how the deck is stacked and how to knock down that house of cards (sorry about the mixed metaphors).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 02:31 PM

I think you will find that most of the posts on this thread and the previous ones are just pointing out what the idiot is doing and various opinions on his bad behaviour, Stilly. I admit that I have no idea what to do about it apart from offer respite and funds. Which I have done! I do know that saying nothing us not an option.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 03:11 PM

Discussing the current status of things is not the same as your "this isn't going to end well" pronouncements. There is a difference that those of us living through the middle of it can discern.

I think a lot of this is going to hinge on the Supreme Court coming to its senses. There was a hint of that earlier this week when Roberts told Trump that impeaching judges you disagree with is not the way to proceed.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 03:48 PM

Trump is having major effects on other countries.

The Australian Federal election is looming and global uncertainty is the catchphrase especially for the proposed national budget which will be revealed soon, as discussed by our very reliable political ABC (Oz) reporter, David Speers:

"The treasurer knows uncertainty is the only sure thing as budget day nears

"Geopolitics remain precarious

"Global uncertainty has only gone through the roof since the election to the White House of disrupter-in-chief Donald Trump. US allies and partners are struggling to keep up."

...

"And if two ongoing wars weren't enough, there's the uncertainty of the Trump administration's trade agenda.

"In two weeks, another round of tariffs will be announced. Australia still has no idea which exports will be hit, nor how hard they will be punished.

"Tuesday's budget will attempt to forecast the impact of these tariffs on the economy, but without the details, Treasury is largely taking a stab in the dark."

,,,

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 03:56 PM

There are also two other articles on the ABC (Oz) news site which are reporting on Trump's effects on Australia:

Australian universities losing US funding amid Donald Trump's 'America First' agenda

Australia defends Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme as US companies urge Trump to impose reciprocal tariffs

Explanation: "Under the PBS, the government negotiates prices directly with suppliers to make them cheaper for Australians."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 05:14 PM

Trump's threats to other countries show just how disruptive it is to have a spoiled angry despot in office in what was, until recently, "the most powerful nation in the world." The pleasure he gets from causing such fatal disruptions should result in a lethal injection in just about any other context. When the criminal class reaches this level, the usual responses and precautions don't seem to work.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 05:44 PM

> the usual responses and precautions don't seem to work

Hear hear, Stilly. As usual, Sir Pterry got in first, by remarking that simply having to live in slum housing was nigh-on a criminal offence in and of itself, but being a slum landlord elevated one to the highest of societies.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 06:26 PM

Here we go again ....

CISA fires, now rehires and immediately benches security crew on full pay

DOGE efficiency in action

Read the article for full gory details (and the Comments for further entertainment enlightenment), but the subhead says it all.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 06:51 PM

Now it gets more interesting ....

Trump fires Democrat FTC commissioners, presaging big tech policy shifts

Remaining Republicans don't like the right to repair, non-compete clause ban, or some social media moderation

.... What caught my eye was a couple of paragraphs near the end:

"I am a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. The President just illegally fired me. This is corruption plain and simple," wrote [Alvaro] Bedoya.

"The FTC is an independent agency founded 111 years ago to fight fraudsters and monopolists, our staff is unafraid of the Martin Shkrelis and Jeff Bezos of the world. They take them to court and they win. Now, the President wants the FTC to be a lap dog for his golfing buddies."

I'll leave it at that for tonight.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 07:37 PM

From Politico ‘Beyond My Wildest Dreams’: The Architect of Project 2025 Is Ready for His Victory Lap
Paul Dans, the ousted director of Project 2025, says he’s delighted that Trump is implementing his agenda after all.

I was going to quote from it, but there is so much to unpack here. So much malice toward the modern American government and population.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Mar 25 - 08:32 PM

Excellent Dans interview. At first, I wondered who hurt him then I realized drinking all that Kool Aid at the Heritage think tank hard-wired Dans to create the Ultimate Mien Kampf Manifesto. A Think Tank can become an incredible evil cult.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 11:33 AM

> A Think Tank can become an incredible evil cult.

*Agree*, Donuel: think tank as cess pit.

Meanwhile, in a country far, far away:

Time to ditch US tech for homegrown options, says Dutch parliament

Trump administration 'has made the call for tech sovereignty an urgent geopolitical issue'

Not content to wait for open letters to influence the European Commission, Dutch parliamentarians have taken matters into their own hands by passing eight motions urging the government to ditch US-made tech for homegrown alternatives.

The motions were submitted and all passed yesterday during a discussion in the Netherlands' House of Representatives on concerns about government data being shipped overseas. While varied, they all center on the theme of calling on the government to replace software and hardware made by US tech companies, acquire new contracts with Dutch companies who offer similar services, and generally safeguard the country's digital sovereignty.

"With each IT service our government moves to American tech giants, we become dumber and weaker," Dutch MP Barbara Kathmann, author of four of the motions, told The Register. "If we continue outsourcing all of our digital infrastructure to billionaires that would rather escape Earth by building space rockets, there will be no Dutch expertise left."

[ ... ]

Outsourcing is an organisation-level optimisation, and ....

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
                -- D. E. Knuth

I further contend that the Great Knuth was being excessively optimistic: in the long term, *every* optimisation is premature, and will become a pessimisation encrusted in duct tape. Were it not so, buggy-whip makers would still be in business.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 06:28 PM

Trump sez; "America is a fat dumb country". "Government workers are scum".
I'D SAY speak for yourself, and apparently he has.

Having a well versed expert in the high tech field is a great resource for Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 07:28 PM

This is the end of month two with 46 to go. The aid from the agriculture dept has already stopped, rendering the DC foodbank with only one palette of food.

If there are food riots will Trump use deadly force to put them down?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 07:44 PM

Protests at all of the food banks around the nation ought to get someone's attention. (Hoping not riots, those would give him an excuse to shoot people, and he probably wouldn't have the military "shoot them in the legs.")

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 08:26 PM

Trump signs order aimed at dismantling the US Department of Education

"In short: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the shutdown of the Education Department.

"The order would leave school policy almost entirely in the hands of states and local boards.
What's next?

"Democrats said the order will be fought in the courts and in Congress."


As an ex-teacher I am appalled. How low can this monster go?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 10:09 PM

Trump has hurt one of America’s most lucrative industries (originally published in The Telegraph, UK)
Donald Trump has inflicted enormous long-term damage on America’s defence export industry ...

... First in line for collective repudiation is Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet. Mark Carney ordered a review of Canada’s order for 72 of these advanced aircraft within hours of becoming prime minister. It will determine whether “other options could better meet Canada’s needs”. ...

... PNuno Melo, Portugal’s conservative defence minister, says the F-35 is no longer considered a safe choice to replace his country’s ageing F-16s. “We have to know that an ally will be on our side whatever the circumstances,” he told Publico.

“The world has changed. This ally of ours, so predictable over the decades, could limit the use, maintenance, components, and everything needed to ensure that the aircraft are operational in all scenarios,” he said. Portugal is looking at a European alternative. Germany may be next ...


... Europe does not strictly need the US Patriot missile defence system either. The upgraded Franco-Italian SAMP/T rival is more or less “equivalent” ...

... Europe should also move fast to escape the clutches of Elon Musk’s Starlink. Enders said Eutelsat’s OneWeb could do much of the job if buttressed by the medium-orbit satellites of SES ...

... There have always been restrictions on how US weapons exports can be deployed, but the rules were clear. Trump has turned every form of vulnerability into a means of extortion.

He has shown that he will not hesitate to cut rough with military kit to get his way – in Ukraine’s case to force capitulation on Kremlin terms – or “dividing up certain assets” as he put it.

Those terms will probably be close to the Istanbul Protocol: neutrality, a skeleton military like Germany in the 1920s, Russian control over four annexed (but unconquered) oblasts, cultural re-Russification of Ukraine, plus a Vidkun Quisling-like figure to replace Volodymyr Zelensky ...

... Two of the irresistible selling points of US arms exporters have long been that a) the dependency would not be abused and b) countries were implicitly coming under the US security umbrella by aligning their fortunes with America.

Neither has currency in Trump’s Hobbesian world. (The end, but there is a link to 202 comments on the page)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 10:27 PM

An F-35 aircraft costs about $100 million.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 25 - 11:53 PM

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets are built in Fort Worth, Texas. Let's see how fast Senators Cruz and Cornyn start trying to get those plane orders back into the queue while idiot governor Abbott points fingers at Washington. This is their GOP, they have stood back and watched the Trump chaos, but if it hits home they might decide to act? It's going to take a lot of states taking this kind of hit to get all of those senators to budge off of their hands.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 12:29 AM

As another example of Trump's strategies going pear-shaped through strengthening alliances elsewhere, I thought I had posted a link to an article on ABC (Oz) News about Australia selling some military tech to Canada instead of the US but I must have been side-tracked. The whole article is worth reading.

Australia's 'biggest defence export' was meant to go to the US first, but Canada snuck past Donald Trump

...

"With the United States continuing its campaign of tariffs on foreign nations, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was good for Australia to "diversify" its trade relationships.

"'[Mark Carney] certainly spoke to me about the over-the-horizon radar technology that Canada is interested in purchasing from Australia, it's important that we diversify our trade relationships,' Mr Albanese said.

"'It's important that we develop that diverse series of relationships and Canada is a very important one, we have so much in common.'"

...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 06:05 AM

More than half of all Tesla cars built globally are manufactured in Shanghai, with about a third of its volume destined for export. And according to the company's quarterly investor deck, Shanghai can build more than 950,000 units of the Model 3 and Model Y combined, or a monthly volume of roughly 80,000 vehicles.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 08:38 AM

Tourism affected too I guess

Germany and Britain issue warnings about traveling to America

So, come on, let's have a bit of positivity :-)

What is happening to rein him in at the moment?

What do you think will trip him up in the next few weeks?

What will be his ultimate downfall?

Don't need to be too specific as I probably would not understand US politics too well. Just some hope that things are happening now and will continue to happen to get back from 1984!

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 08:43 AM

Just seen on FarceBook - “The Gulf of America is the space between Trump’s ears”.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 10:50 AM

.... Variant on that, from Way Back: If nature abhors a vacuum, what keeps the Alleged Leader's ears apart? perhaps a wad of top-secret bog paper?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 11:05 AM

Dave, there was a long open letter from Rick Steves, a famous American travel writer and guide (and liberal proponent of many things, so this is no surprise).

This bit from the middle of the piece:

With all of this taken into consideration, if you feel strongly that, in good conscience, you can't continue to do business with a company that's based in the United States, we regretfully but respectfully accept that decision. Godspeed, keep on travelin’... and we hope our paths cross again when things get better.

But if you're looking for a reason to continue doing business with Rick Steves' Europe, let me offer this reassurance: While we, like you, are doing everything we can to push back against the dangerous and reckless actions of the US president, we also remain fully committed to our mission of teaching good travel, fostering people-to-people connections, and striving to create better citizens of the world... one trip at a time. If that's the version of "American values" that you support, we'd love for you to join us — and I believe you’ll find that the vast majority of your fellow tour members, regardless of nationality, share your values.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 08:27 AM

--- Ah! *this* is what I was going to add before I got distracted. This chap sounds like the perfect recruit for D*GE:

Dept of Defense engineer took home top-secret docs, booked a fishing trip to Mexico – then the FBI showed up

So much for that vacation

A US Department of Defense electrical engineer has turned his world upside down after printing 155 pages from 20 documents, all of which were marked top secret and classified, from his DoD workspace, brought them home with him – and was collared on his way to Mexico.

Gokhan Gun, 51, of Falls Church, Virginia, a dual citizen of the US and Turkey, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. Now jobless, he is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17 and faces up to five years in the clink.

As a civilian employee for the DoD, Gun had been granted a top-secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information (SCI). And as such, he had been trained on how to handle and store classified information, and was aware that secret and top-secret documents must "be stored in a [government-approved] security container" or a vault or storage area built to federal standards.

[ ... ]

Read in full; it's delightful (documents shouting TOP SECRET put in full view in a translucent backpack, for example). I won't spoil the punchline.

Subject: RE: WHO KILLED AMERICA ?
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 12:22 PM

We all suffer the slings and arrows of adversity and we all persevere.

But whoever killed America needed a motive and opportunity.
Rich people steal more money than anyone else so money is a motive.
Donald John Trump just happens to have the opportunity but has borrowed most of the strategies from others. He also believes he has a reason for great retribution. Missing 1/16th of an inch of his right ear has much to do with it. But I do not know that he is the real killer. So who is the real killer? Or I should say who ARE the real killers...
Was it suicide, accident, or murder? Well, it sure ain't an accident.
It looks like murder with a bit of suicide by the apathy of citizens.
A great detective is required. That great detective is all of us who have witnessed some small part of the murder. Together, the killers will be found.

Just like there was a primary suspect in the purchase of Clarence Thomas there are primary suspects in the murder of America.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 12:33 PM

Our planned trip to NYC this year has been called off, we’ll holiday in the (comparatively) civilised UK. Neither Mrs Backwoodsperson nor I have any interest in spending money to pass a week in a Latter-day Gilead, so the trip is on the back-burner for four years. I just hope I’m still around.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 01:14 PM

They may not let you in BWM. I was hoping to visit relatives in Florida this year but we have decided to meet somewhere instead.

Border Patrol Checking US Visitors' Phones

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 01:20 PM

...and thanks, Stilly. Good letter from a travel and tour point of view. Anything else that gives us hope will be much appreciated.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 03:55 PM

I don't know whether this belongs in the Jokes thread ....

NASA's inbox goes orbital after email mishap spams entire space industry

A lone voice cries out from reply-all chaos: 'Someone tell DOGE to rehire whoever maintains this email list'

Everybody loves a good email storm. But an insecure email distribution list accidental spamming space agencies across the planet is undoubtedly one for the record books.

[ ... ]

"The funny part was someone saying, 'Someone tell DOGE to rehire whoever maintains this email list.' Followed by other people saying stuff like, 'Just forward the entire email chain to DOGE.'"

[ ... ]

Reply-all storms are very nearly as good at taking down an entire campus network as Doom Classic. Doing this on a world-girding mailing list is the stuff of heroes.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 06:51 PM

If I were in the right district or State and Stilly or the Filk was running for Congress I would vote for them.
Think about it, wouldn't you?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Mar 25 - 06:58 PM

I worked for a medium size Federal agency & decades ago someone in Head Office with access to ALL STAFF lists told all staff across Australia about parking opportunities in Head Office ... oops. I was a Very Little Wig & the only lists I has access to had around 20 people in them.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 01:56 AM

What a surprise! And look at his smug little Trump-baby face in the first photo.

Donald Trump revokes security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and others

"in short: Donald Trump has revoked several former White House officials' access to US classified documents.

"Democrats Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton were among the individuals stripped of their security clearances.

"A presidential memorandum said it was "no longer in the national interest" for those listed to retain their accesses."

...

[Ironically...]

"Mr Trump was himself investigated for breaching security rules between his first and second term in office by storing classified White House documents in his Mar-a-Lago resort.

"The investigation was wound up after Mr Trump returned to office."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 03:32 AM

I haven't looked, Helen: I simply can't bear to look at that ugly mug. The only worse thing than him glowering is him smirking. Has the White House been fitted with specially-reinforced mirrors? I can hear it now ....

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the smartest one of all?

(*shatter*)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 03:43 AM

Yes, but MaJoC don't forget he is a very stable genius. :-D

It's worth looking at the photo because it is reminiscent of the Trump baby cartoons, and the stable genius cartoons, and all those other cartoons and jokes and comedy routines. For comedians and cartoonists, he is ripe for the picking.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 03:48 AM

We keep hearing about the bad things he is doing and it is right that these should be called out and highlighted but how about some good news for a change. Surely there must be some wins - even little ones! Mention has been made of the courts overruling the executive orders and the actions of Musk's motley crew. How does that work? Is it working? If either the turnip or (f)Elon carry on after a court rules that what they are doing is illegal, can they be held in contempt of court? Is there anything going on in the Senate or Congress that is going to curb the recent excesses?

Reporting on anything that gives us hope for the future rather than just how bad things are getting would be a welcome change:-)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 08:22 AM

Hope sellers like crooked preachers are hawking their wares.
If you go shopping for hope someone will sell you some.
Hope should be in the heart of the beholder, actions create results.
In the meantime, anything broken takes far more time to fix or replace.
Some things can not be fixed. Ancient ruins and junkyards can testify to that.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 09:30 AM

Domestic terrorism, doxing, and swatting are the tools of the right and should not be used by democracy advocates. Burning Teslas or gun violence is evil. I know a mudcatter who actually enjoyed doxing and was misguided. They have since smartened up.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 10:57 AM

Apologies, Helen, but "stable genius" always makes me think that a stable is where the Runt-in-Chief belongs. (Was he using that top-secret bog paper as bedding?) What I was attempting to convey was that any self-respecting mirror would spontaneously shatter in shame, but I was rushed.

And as it happens, Donuel, there's a full-length article in this week's New European, warning of the addictive properties of Copium: a pernicious substance which causes its addicts to sit back and wait, looking for signs and portents that the Horrible Thing will explode/implode all on its own.

.... I'll leave it there for now, and seek solace in the Jokes thread.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 12:53 PM

I don't think that there any crooked preachers on here, Don. There are a couple of Charlatans but I ignore their cod philosophy. I wouldn't have asked otherwise. Hopefully (pun intended) I will get (mainly) honest answers on here.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 02:05 PM

Well. MaJoC, this is exactly what I was thinking and found a cartoon to match when I did an image search using the search terms

donald trump stable genius cartoon

stable genius

There was also a mirror mirror cartoon but the mirror hasn't shattered.

(Is "shatter" the past tense of "shitter"?)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 05:25 PM

Apathesium and Copium create a highly addictive form of Hopium.

Some of us ordinary people will have to get on the ballot if change is desired.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 05:30 PM

It only seems hopeless to face an opponent who is given 163 million dollars to run against you which is why we have to flood the zone with candidates.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 05:51 PM

Don't understand either of those, Don. Sorry :-(

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 05:52 PM

> but the mirror hasn't shattered

But it's bent. (Take that in any sense you care to.)

> Is "shatter" the past tense of "shitter"?

As it happens, I saw a Mary Beard programme ("Meet the Emperor") on BBC2 last night, in which she said that Claudius's last words were alleged to have been "Oh dear, I've just shat myself". This may or may not have been due to the poisoned mushroom he'd just eaten, according to some sources, from the fork of his wife.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 06:07 PM

Oh, and here's wishing a happy and safe holiday to the Backwoodspersons.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 06:13 PM

If you read some of the regular commentary on Substack accounts, there are reports of progress, but for steps forward, there are also steps back. The trouble is that the Democrats are still playing by the rules but the GOP isn't. On Bluesky you'll find that Jess Craven gives help advice on things people can call representatives about and also gives news about the wins in court.

One of the groups she supports is Run For Something that helps fund young people (and others - even retirees) in running for grassroots offices in their communities that lead to bigger things. School districts, city council, etc., where the Xtian Nationalists in particular are trying to take a stranglehold on American education and services.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 06:24 PM

So...Melania at the dining table with a mushroom?

Bent: distorted, bent out of shape, corrupt, crooked, amoral.

"Immoral (from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language): Contrary to established moral principles. Not moral; inconsistent with rectitude, purity, or good morals; contrary to conscience or the divine law; wicked; unjust; dishonest; vicious; licentious."

Yep.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 11:32 PM

Blame DEI (song parody).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 22 Mar 25 - 11:57 PM

Funny!

The next one is too:

Another Brick in the Wall (Part DOGE) song parody

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 06:02 AM

You would expect oligarchs to know how to hide money by wire.
When courts have ordered DOGE to unfreeze money from various agencies they don't seem able to comply but say they have. So, where is the money? I'm just asking...The Panama Papers showed the myriad of hiding places for secret money. Maybe it's still in the US but encrypted.

The old saying 'follow the money' may not be as easy as it once was.
The first place to investigate is Elon's hackers.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 06:13 AM

Thanks for the Jess Craven link Stilly. It is good and very apt for me seeing as I live in South Craven :-D

It would be worth posting links to these little wins here for balance. IMO.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 08:02 AM

Could Dave be Marvel's antihero Kraven the hunter from South Craven, or Super Bob? He has proven he is a fun fantasy writer but does he have a secret super life?

We don't need no aberration
We don't need no King at all
All in all Trump's another prick,
with some gall

All he wants is retribution
and a lot of cash, he can haul
Hey Preacher!
He's no God at all.


One day we may look back at this mess and laugh
but why risk it, some of it we can laugh about now.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 08:04 AM

Not watched Kraven yet - Is it any good?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 08:27 AM

As anti heros go he is a dark good guy capable of killing his father by proxy. Africa figures heavily in the script. Elon reference??
He's no Batman since he has super power.
I'm a fan of fantasy more than I let on.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 09:07 AM

https://www.wtkr.com/news/former-federal-prosecutor-found-dead-in-virginia-home

This seems very odd to me.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 09:33 AM

Thanks Don. May watch it later

Further to my question on contempt of court, this is quite interesting

'Option on the table': Ex-prosecutor says judge might move to 'expose' Trump's DOJ

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 11:58 AM

Just this dinnertime, I saw part of a speech by Ed Davey (leader of the Lib Dems in the UK), where he said that supporting Ukraine militarily would also be defending Europe and the UK against Russian aggression. He clearly missed a trick there: if he'd added ".... and even the people of the United States", he'd have (a) been telling no less than the truth, and (b) got right up Agent Orange's left nostril. Let's hear it for malicious accuracy.

Separately, I saw coverage of the Pope being transferred back from hospital to the Vatican in his little white Fiat.* Comparing and contrasting that with the armoured vehicle known as The Beast used to move POTUS around, I was reminded of the old joke: At a wedding, the bride wears white to symbolise purity .... and the groom wears black.

* The Pope can't stand up, so the Popemobile is having a lie down.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 01:28 PM

Trump and his entire cabinet will probably avoid prosecution with a Texas 'Affluenza' defense. They all suffer from such affluence as to not know right from wrong.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 02:26 PM

I enjoyed Kraven, Don. Loved the Russian influences and music. The anti hero himself was good. The fight scenes were well choreographed. Poor ending though I thought. Tried to make it too tragic.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 08:45 PM

Sorry, Donuel.
That doesn't quite make it: (scansion problems|)
"We don't need no aberration
We don't need no King at all
All in all Trump's another prick,
with some gall

All he wants is retribution
and a lot of cash, he can haul
Hey Preacher!
He's no God at all."

How about:
"We don't need this aberration.
Trump is not a king at all.
(When) Said and done he's just another prick!
Line him up against the wall!"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 10:30 PM

US allies in Europe want answers over unspent USAID money


"In short: Three European nations have asked the Trump administration for their unspent USAID contributions to be refunded.

"Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands had been partnering with USAID on a project called Water and Energy for Food, or WE4F.

"What's next? The nations have asked for an explanation from the US government on whether the funds will be spent, or if they can be refunded.

"Three European nations are seeking a refund from the Trump administration for funds they contributed to USAID projects that have remained unspent.

"Government officials from Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands said a combined $US15 million ($24 million) they contributed for joint development work overseas had been parked at the US Agency for International Development for months.

"The three countries, allies of the United States, provided the funds for USAID to spend on low-income countries in a project called Water and Energy for Food, or WE4F.

With the Republican administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutting USAID's funding and the bulk of its programs, the Europeans have asked for a refund.

"They have not gotten a response."

....

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 03:49 AM

Trump is effectively undermining Europe, However Europe is in a weak position as it does not have Russian gas anymore, it has little in the way of energy supply, if Europe were to supply ireland with finance to develop kinetic energy, and to develop hydroelectricity, as to quote the song we are surrounded by water, Europe would more self reliant.
Trump like most politicians does not do much long term thinking, although he does realise as does China, that Russia has vast energy resources.
Russia has vast energy resources , Europe does not.Trump may be unpredictable and is rather like a clown in a circus but he realises something that europe does not.
Russia does not need to move further into mid europe for energy supply, Europe is protected in germany poland turkeyand elsewhere by US bases

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 06:07 AM

Canada has huge energy resources too :-)

Canada Could Displace Half of Russian Energy on Global Markets

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 07:25 AM

Elbows up Canada.

The future belongs to EUROPE because of their educated youth compared to US and the return of Turkey, Hungary and Germany to more democratic sanity.

The next 20 years have transition troubles but America will be in decline, especially after losing another stupid war be it domestic or foreign. Damn, my crystal ball is getting cloudy now.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 09:32 AM

Except for government workers and innocent deportees the American people have not begun to feel the destruction unleashed so far.
The inflation rise is minimal. The first wave of misery will occur in Medicaid and Social Security. The military is virtually untouched since DOGE only found 53 million in fraud from an 87 billion dollar budget. Veterans will feel their health care cuts fairly soon.
Basicly Trump voters would still vote for him if the election were today. The sword of Damocles will cut deeply with actual pain by July 4th.

If Courts are obeyed the damage will be lessened.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 09:55 AM

Donald Trump calls for removal of his portrait in Colorado's state capitol - In short:

Donald Trump took to Truth Social to call for the removal of his portrait in the Colorado State Capitol, claiming it is "purposefully distorted".

The oil painting, created by artist Sarah A Boardman, was funded by a GoFundMe campaign and has been displayed since 2019.

The Colorado governor expressed surprise at Mr Trump's interest in the artwork.

...

Governor Polis's office responded by issuing this statement to multiple outlets:

"Gov. Polis was surprised to learn the president of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado state capitol and its artwork," the statement said.

"The state capitol was completed in 1901, and features Rose Onyx and White Yule Marble mined in Colorado, and includes portraits of former presidents and former governors."

"We appreciate the president and everyone's interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 12:57 PM

The banality of evil is surprising to the average person, For example, when an obscure Congressman introduced a bill that would make Trump derangement syndrome an actual mental disease that infects people who find Trump distasteful, he was arrested later that week for soliciting sex from a minor.
Anti DEI laws/rules are absurdly extreme in the Pentagon.
Reshaping culture and entertainment at the Kennedy Center is reminiscent of the 3rd Reich.

Surprising as these are, perhaps there will be bigger surprises as time goes on. What comes to mind could be;
Banning any movie depicting conspiracies involving the assassination of Adolf Hitler,
Deportation of Trump critics to secret unknown camps,
Registration of voters is limited to Republicans only,
FCC eliminates NBC CBS, and
Final solutions/executions are known as reconciliation of the people.


Some people in post war Germany maintained their surprise at the actions of the SS. American MAGA may not become as extreme as my imagination but surprises are coming all the same.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 01:22 PM

Donuel, if you can find this documentary series I think you would find the parallels interesting:

Adolf Hitler: Decoding a Dictator

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 02:46 PM

Decoding MAGA is simply a normalization of lieing to each other and accept that their 'fearless' leader can deny giving an order or executive action by saying it was done with an auto pen or that he does not remember. The high ranking 'Magats' can then say the opposite of Trump while doing his exact bidding.


There is no record of Hitler giving the order for the holocaust while his underlings claimed they were following orders while logisticly creating the deportation and death camps. This lieing and denial is an old means of everyone involved claiming innocense.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup
From: Helen
Date: 24 Mar 25 - 03:15 PM

I mostly meant parallels in personality traits.