Convicted felon US 47th President/ Musk Coup

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.