Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 11:08 AM

Meanwhile, here's what I dropped in to mention. Spot the ICE-related clause.

All your bots are belong to US if you don't play ball, DoD tells Anthropic

AI firm drops key safety pledge as Pentagon dispute drags on

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has made Anthropic an offer it may not be able to refuse. The Defense Department and the AI firm held a meeting at the Pentagon on Tuesday, where the government tried to compel the house of Claude to lift some restrictions on military use of its tech. However, recent changes to the company's safety policy suggest it may be willing to be more flexible than it's letting on.

The Pentagon's unhappiness with Anthropic has been in the news since the end of last month, when Reuters reported that the two were clashing over safeguards that would prevent the DoD from using Anthropic's AI to autonomously target weapons without human intervention and to conduct domestic surveillance within the United States. [...]

Worth reading in full.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 11:01 AM

Oops. Wrong thread.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 10:46 AM

Herself's first reaction to the Iran kerfuffle: "They must really be getting close to naming Trump in the Epstein files."

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 08:56 AM

And here is McClintock recorded in 1951 discussing his song:

https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197158/

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 08:30 AM

"The only argument that Trump could muster for why Iran’s nuclear ambitions pose a threat to the United States is that Tehran has “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

So the threat to America is a nuclear bomb that doesn’t exist, perched on an intercontinental ballistic missile that isn’t close to being built?"

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 05:10 AM

With no Iranian internet it is unclear if operation epic fury will last for months or years.

Diplomacy never had the US and Iran talk face to face.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 05:00 AM

And so it begins. US and Israel currently attacking Iran, and Iran retaliating with missile strikes on Israel and US bases in the region.

World War lll, anyone?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn5ge95q6y7t

Subject: RE:ITS FUCKING WAR AGAIN
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 04:57 AM

The US attacked Iran. Iran is retaliating. IRANIANS ARE DYING. TRUMP WARNS AMERICANS WILL DIE IN THIS ATTACK. Netanyahu is part of the debacle.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 09:00 PM

Friendly fire as the agencies run amok and don't communicate as they play with the toys they've been given. US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say

The military shot down a Border Patrol drone. Oops. In this environment incompetence is the standard.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Helen
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 08:40 PM

I just read a little blurb about this book in today's newspaper. I haven't seen the book IRL yet.

Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century by Laura Beers

"For the 75th anniversary of 1984 , Laura Beers explores George Orwell’s still-radical ideas and why they are critical today.
George Orwell devoted his career to exposing social injustice and political duplicity, urging his readers to face hard truths about Western society and politics. Now, the uncanny parallels between the interwar era and our own—rising inequality, censorship, and challenges to traditional social hierarchies—make his writing even more of the moment. In Orwell’s Ghosts , historian Laura Beers considers Orwell’s full body of work—his six novels, three nonfiction works, as well as his brilliant essays—to examine what “Orwellian” means and to take it out of the hands of political pundits. She explores how Orwell’s writing on free speech addresses the proliferation of 'fake news,' highlights his vivid critiques of capitalism, and, in contrast, analyzes his failure to understand feminism. Timely, wide-ranging, and thought-provoking, Orwell’s Ghosts investigates how the writings of a lionized champion of truth and freedom can help us face the crises of modernity."


BTW the blurb in the paper specifically mentioned tRump. And a reminder, when I mentioned the song called Uprising, sung by the band Muse I also referred to Orwell's 1984 novel and some other futuristic, dystopian TV shows etc so now we have people writing about the Orwellian imaginings compared with the current state of the world.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 04:38 PM

President Trump is not directly controlling CNN, CBS, or HBO, but is reportedly influencing the sale of their parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, through regulatory pressure and alliances with media buyers. Skydance/Paramount, led by allies David and super billionaire Larry Ellison, has a merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, which would bring CNN, HBO, and CBS under one roof, with reports suggesting this could lead to increased pro-Trump editorial oversight, and that is putting it mildly.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 12:40 PM

Stilly has a valid point about using ICE's dirty tricks against them.

The US has killed innocent civilians for a long time but not in broad daylight as a rule, JFK and others aside. J. Edgar Hoover had Coinintelpro and Patel has Operation Trumpscrub or some such mission.

Short of murder, we know many of ICE's dirty tricks like masks, showing up at legal proceedings, looking for a lost child, school pick-ups, etc.

There is such a thing as ICE fishing, where the loyal opposition drives around in a pickup truck with Spanish bumper stickers and in sthnic outfits. Once they attract the attention of ICE these white citizens drive out into east bumfuck. Distraction and delay are innocent enough tactics that have no connection to terrorism, like blocking the sewer pipe from detention camps.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Helen
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 11:55 AM

MaJoC, regarding that article my Hubby told me that ICE is also hacking into video doorbell systems. He also said that the people who are using the least IT technology which could be hacked are IT people, and he always worked in IT but is now retired. He said IT people are also more likely to use dumb phones instead of smart phones (although he has a smart one and I have a dumb one but we are in Oz so less of a threat than the US currently).

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 10:50 AM

Sounds like protesters need elaborate hats and makeup, or to start wearing their COVID masks and take Uber to the marches. Personally, I park blocks away from the downtown events on a campus lot where I have a parking permit.

We post so many photos of ourselves and others at these events that there are millions of people they're going to have to keep track of. On our side we have the tyranny of numbers, one hopes.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 10:46 AM

--- Ah! there it is:

ICE watchers say agents used software to threaten and follow them home

'This is a warning. We know you live right here'

Two US residents have sued several Homeland Security agencies and officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem, for allegedly using surveillance tools to harass them, branding them as "domestic terrorists," and even showing up at their homes based on license-plate recognition.

On Monday, the nonprofit Protect Democracy filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of two Mainers, Elinor Hilton and Colleen Fagan, and other unnamed plaintiffs over what they describe as unconstitutional surveillance designed to deter them from exercising their First Amendment rights. [...]

Follow the link for full details. Warning: It's rather longer than will fit in a BBC red-button article.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 10:21 AM

More serious point, in case this hasn't been belaboured before:

How ICE Knows Who Protesters Are (The NY Times)

Sheera Frenkel and Aaron Krolik, The New York Times (01/30/26), via ACM TechNews

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deployed an expansive surveillance arsenal in Minneapolis, using facial recognition, cellphone scanning, social media monitoring and data analytics to track undocumented immigrants as well as protesters. Agents have allegedly identified U.S. citizens without consent using two facial recognition programs in Minnesota. ICE agents also tap Palantir databases that merge government and commercial data for real-time tracking. Following a major budget increase, ICE has also acquired phone-hacking and social media scraping tools.

There's a related article, complete with a link to the NBC original, immediately after the above in RISKS (qv). There's also been coverage on the Beeb of a protestor who got followed home by ICE, and who may or may not now be on the terrorist watch list.

Now we know why DOGE syphoned off all that data during that smash-and-grab raid.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 09:58 AM

Waste of good eggs, Stilly, though a seriously interesting one would function as a grenade .... I was once given to understand that a music-hall singer doing The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery would have been singing for her life, as the oikerati up in the cheap seats came armed with rotten vegetables.

Oh, and s/Cultural/Creative/ surely :-) ?

---

Fixed the typo. ---mudelf

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 26 - 08:02 AM

In totalitarian rule, words become criminal offences, not just sandwiches and snowballs. Trump and Bondi are just warming up.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 26 - 06:59 PM

That sounds right - my daughter and daughter-in-law participate in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and the spoof names are part of the program.

The next ridiculous ammo that is going to bring up court cases are snowballs. An organized snowball fight in New York City's Washington Square Park was visited by police, some of whom were hit with snowballs. Subway sandwich, snowballs, what next? Eggs and tomatoes come to mind.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Helen
Date: 26 Feb 26 - 04:46 PM

Thanks for the link, SRS. Funny! I can't decide whether it was created to reference tRump, but it definitely describes him, IMO.

(Note: Hildegard von Blingin' is a play on the name of an amazingly clever woman called Hildegard von Bingen who composed so many beautiful hymns and other pieces of music in the 12th Century. Also, that video is part of the very funny Bardcore collection of music which has many musical artists re-working modern songs into Middle Ages format.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 26 - 03:36 PM

A timely song called Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter (sung by Whitney Avalon and Hildegard von Blingin') - not sure how many of the names are real, sounds like it's from an SCA group. Clever. About Richard, but really about Donald. :)

Subject: RE: SPATE OF THE UNION
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 08:21 PM

20,000 words in search of a coherent thought.

Here we go on another WMD hunt in the Middle East.
Please do not join in this time.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 04:43 PM

The usual meaningless word-salad from the Fat, Ugly, Orange Bastard.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 04:15 PM

What the hell was that state of the nation nonsense all about yesterday?

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 06:20 AM

Par for the course, Ray.* Just seen this in RISKS Digest 34:18 ....

DoT's vibe-regulate U.S. transport with Gemini (Pivot to AI)

Gabe Goldberg

The US Department of Transportation wants to “revolutionize the way we draft rulemakings.” This means they’re going to write the regulations with Google’s Gemini chatbot! [ProPublica]

This plan was dropped on DOT staff in December. President Donald Trump is reportedly “very excited about this initiative.”

You might think making rules requires knowledge, even expertise, and checking the facts on the ground. But the heads of the DOT don't have time for that nonsense:

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/02/13/lets-vibe-regulate-us-transport-with-gemini/

* Ahem.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 06:01 AM

It is the Spate of the Union.

It is a silly tradition that Thomas Jefferson ignored.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: r.padgett
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 04:45 AM

State of the Union full of error spin and ill though plans

Ray

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Helen
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 02:20 AM

Sorry (not sorry!). I just saw an article in our local paper about the invasive and poisonous cane toad species which has just been found in our area. Normally they live farther north but they do creep down south a bit now and then until they are tracked down and exterminated.

Every time I see a picture of a cane toad I see how much they look like tRump:

Donald Trump as a poisonous, invasive cane toad

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Helen
Date: 25 Feb 26 - 02:10 AM

"Bloviating" - I had to look it up, but my guestimation of its meaning was very close. (Note: Putting it in a sentence about tRump made it easy to guess.)

Funny!

A 108 minute speech - not funny, especially when it was delivered by that thing.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 26 - 10:29 PM

An alternative to the Trump bloviating is The People's State of the Union. I'm listening to it now, set up by MoveOn and Meidastouch, hosted by Katie Phang.

(I switched off PBS as the spectacle started - and noted that the orange makeup was particularly thick this evening.)

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 24 Feb 26 - 01:00 PM

> The ship is said to be able to stop in Greenland
> because it is on its way to its final destination.

Perhaps it's hoping to pick up some health on the way, so it's got some to deliver.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Feb 26 - 08:12 AM

The ship is said to be able to stop in Greenland because it is on its way to its final destination. I guess the destination is probably near Iran.

Trump has abolished limits on toxins like mercury, glycophosphate and insecticides along with air pollution standards. RFK is ignored even on his pithy limits on food colors, which is now reversed by Trump.

I used to joke about upcoming wars with fake sweepstake bets. Now Kalshi and other prediction markets are taking bets on the date of the next Iran war.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Feb 26 - 04:45 AM

I believe Greenland are responding by sending a ship full of psychiatric staff to the US

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 03:22 PM

On a lighter, erm, note:

Greenland says 'no thanks' to Trump US hospital boat

Greenland's prime minister has asked US president Donald Trump to talk to him instead of making "random outbursts on social media", after Trump said he was sending a US hospital boat to "take care" of people on the island.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was going to send a boat filled with medical supplies, alleging "many people" on the island are sick and "not being taken care of". Jens-Frederik Nielsen responded: "It's going to be a no thanks from us," and said that Greenland provides free healthcare for all citizens, unlike the US. [...]

       -- BBC Red Button

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: r.padgett
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 01:40 PM

Lol yep but it does sort of fit

Ray

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 01:06 PM

> they EXPECTED the people to throw off unjust rule.

I've read the denunciations in the Declaration of Independence, Patty: they apply just as much to Bog T* as they did to George III.

As for echoes of 1984, methinks the potential for that sort of dystopia is always present, because humans will insist on being human. The punchline of a programme about the Bund on PBS comes to mind:

Fascism is always home-grown.

* Thanks for the tyop, Ray. Herself was amused as well.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: pattyClink
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 11:00 AM

"Could USA become split up with certain states moving away from centralised control? "

The standard answer is 'we tried that in 1860s, result was The Civil War' and at least 620,000 lives lost.

That said, times change. Since the federal government has become an expensive and irrational loose cannon in the nuclear age, perhaps there is a scenario where the 50 governors (well 52, let's pull in poor DC and Puerto Rico) have a confab. Say they agree to cut the US into 4-6 new countries, see if the state legislatures will go along. They could all spend a hot summer in Philly working out the details of who keeps what in the divorce.

The nation only exists as 'a sacred union' as long as everyone is willing to play along. I don't think in these times that anyone sane and under 30 wants to march to war to stay wedded to Oklahoma, and few in Oklahoma will be sad to see California go.

As far as preserving the union at all costs, the founders made it abundantly clear they EXPECTED the people to throw off unjust rule.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 04:25 AM

So UK starts to feel the effects of Big T's Tariffs ~ shortages in pharmacies of specific drugs in UK

How does that work? Surely, if items imported into the US cost more, their sales will drop, prompting a glut on the world market, not a shortage.

DC

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: r.padgett
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 02:43 AM

So UK starts to feel the effects of Big T's Tariffs ~ shortages in pharmacies of specific drugs in UK

The world wide repercussions of these taxes will need drastic and probably permanent changes in what we in UK will try to make, buy from China and other countries

USA has not worked out that the world is a huge place and they are still a big island

Could USA become split up with certain states moving away from centralised control? Or is that the purpose of the ICE mercenaries who are a private Big army?

These current measures are to be feared and other countries retaliations will make a complete mess of the peaceful world order

Big T is a war monger and displays all the qualities of a Superstore manager with delusions of grandeur

Ray

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 09:45 PM

Mein Kampf was a rant compared to the step-by-step project 2025 playbook with detailed footnotes to transform democracy into a fascist state. Both ICE and the Gestapo are/were in charge of deporting certain immigrants. The primary focus of the Gestapo was to eliminate opposition, real or perceived. It always starts with a selected 'other'. Active opposition and then merely the disloyal are the eventual targets.

Trump claims he can do anything he wants as though he has passed Hitler's Enabling Act, but he has not. SOME of the courts still oppose him with the law if it can be enforced.

There is pushback on a select few of the detention camp conversions, but most of the camps are going forward. Ordinary people, as well as typical people in bureaucracy, can do great acts of opposition.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 03:34 PM

2 Australian stories - a very elderly man in a small village/town with a small nursing home where his brother had spent his life in an iron lung spoke on the radio. The home was closing (uneconomic) & residents were being transferred to a larger town/regional city. The brothers had no living relatives & there was no public transport. Perhaps someone/agency was later able to arrange transport, but daily?

Archival photo of a gi-normous barn-like room full of iron lungs with a nurse for each patient ...

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 02:50 PM

My uncle had polio as a child, and wore a calliper on his right leg until, after years of pain and suffering, he took his own life by swallowing Prussic acid at the age of 27, leaving his wife - my auntie - and his three year-old daughter.

I was one of the first children in the UK to be vaccinated with the Salk vaccine in 1956 (NB Donuel - it was administered by injection back then, the ‘sugar-lump’ method wasn’t introduced until a number of years later). I’m forever grateful that I was vaccinated.

I shudder to think what might happen in the US if the policy of anti-polio vaccination is abandoned. I guess Iron Lung manufacturers will be happy…

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 12:04 PM

I have many friends who experienced it, my age and older. They limped all of their lives (if they could walk without crutches, others were in wheelchairs most of their lives). That's just stupid. This is where grandparents need to stand up and describe the horror of polio and how it impacted them or their friends and family.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 09:31 AM

I am the last of the people with herd immunity to polio.
The new dumbed down director of the Trump Center for Disease Control says we do not need to be afraid to make the decision to go vaccine free for polio.

My last cello teacher had lifelong polio. Some of the kids were so paralyzed they could not breathe. The iron lung was a common device.

While polio rages on globally, America has herd immunity among adults but not children. The rise of religious ignorance regarding vaccines is an epidemic of the ignorant.

'Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down' was a song about the Salk vaccine.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 08:52 AM

UGH

Mass media and authorities are poo pooing this historical huge shitty problem. Yes you can smell IT from the bridges in the frozen winter air. Wait until a warm up.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-lashes-out-at-maryland-governors-over-potomac-river-sewage-spill-response

As the 250-million-gallon ongoing release continues, only 5,000 gallons has been redirected before it clogged up too.

Sorry, I did not find a video of Trump's absurd remarks at the Governors' meeting/

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 07:45 AM

The capital of the United States is a SEWER. No one is cleaning the swamp of Trump's shit.

The largest "spill" of raw sewerage in the history of the United States of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS GALLONS OF RAW SEWERAGE CONTINUES to go directly into the Potomac River past the Trump Kennedy Center and Monuments of the US.

Clean up is projected at 20 million amd up but it has not begun to stem the tide. FEMA WAS NOT CALLED for 3 weeks. Trump blamed a nearby State and did nothing. No Army of Engineers or National Guard but a Black governor of Maryland was blamed despite DC being a Federal District.

DEI- Disgusting Effluent Insideousness flows into the tidal basin and Chesapeake Bay. E. coli counts are hundreds of times higher than normal.

Trump is a shitty Nero of Modern times

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Feb 26 - 04:14 AM

Matt Bellamy is the guitarist, singer, and front-man of Muse. There’s also a great track on the ‘Resistance’ album called ‘United States of Eurasia’. Maybe he had a premonition?

‘United States of Eurasia’ live at Glastonbury2010

Muse are a fantastic live band, we have all their albums and we’ve seen them live a number of times.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Helen
Date: 21 Feb 26 - 11:16 PM

SRS, I did some more searches on the Muse album called Resistance and the songs were written by Matthew James Bellamy who was inspired by George Orwell's novel 1984. He has said that it was the love story in the novel which inspired the songs.

Dystopian, futuristic sci-fi - so my sense of two other similar TV shows was fairly close but 1984 is even more about people in powerful positions suppressing the rights of ordinary people.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 26 - 07:05 PM

That song is grim! And so applicable.

There is a months-old baby girl who was so sick she was hospitalized for a couple of weeks, then was sent back to Dilly and they didn't make her medication available to her.

Subject: RE: Convicted felon US Prez 47/Don't Say His Name
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Feb 26 - 05:05 PM

The very young (2-5) at the Texas Dilley detention prison are subject to extreme hardships as well.