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Trump's Second Term

dirtywick said:
amp.cnn.com

El Salvador offers to house violent US criminals and deportees of any nationality in unprecedented deal with Trump administration | CNN

El Salvador has agreed to house violent US criminals and receive deportees of any nationality, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday, in an unprecedented – and legally problematic deal – that has alarmed critics and rights groups.
amp.cnn.com amp.cnn.com

trump strikes deal to sell american prisoners and immigrants with no where else to go to be detained in el salvador
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No doubt the Conditions in El Salvador will NOT be up to even the most minimal USA standards. There will be minimal oversight from the USA of Conditions. Since El Salvador will be paid to house such inmates there will be a powerful incentive to show a profit, by spending less than what they get from the USA. Oh and lots of room for corruption etc.

I doubt there will be much concern for the living conditions etc., of such prisoners by a Trump administration. Although to me the most obvious reason to send US citizens to El Salvador to serve their sentences is that once they serve their sentences all sorts of excuses can be made to not not allow them back in the USA, probably on the grounds they are convicted criminals. I sort of wonder about the constitutional validity of doing that.

And no I don't think I'm scare mongering.

And of course sending immigrants with no place to go to be detained in El Salvador sort of violates several UN Conventions.

Given that Trump has withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council we can be assured that he knows what he is doing and intends to violate International Human Rights norms.
 
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Planigale said:
Certainly one of our own posters has mentioned this very thing. The idea of displacing the population of Gaza into the Sinai peninsula (Egypt) allowing Israel to resettle Gaza has certainly been mooted. I link below to a translation of an Israel document from October 2023 suggesting this.
www.scribd.com

Israeli Intelligence Ministry Policy Paper On Gaza's Civilian Population, October 2023 | PDF | Gaza Strip | Hamas

The document presents three options for Israel's policy regarding Gaza's civilian population after the recent conflict with Hamas: 1. Option A is for the population to remain under Palestinian Authority rule, but this could lead to further conflict and does not ensure long-term security or...
www.scribd.com www.scribd.com
"Option C: The evacuation of the civilian population from Gaza to Sinai"

The novelty is that it becomes US? property (or perhaps Trumps personal fiefdom?). Previously the opinion has been that israel would annex Gaza.

The view from the right wing of Israeli politics is that after evacuating Gaza, the majority of Palestinians would then be evacuated from the West Bank to Jordan with annexation of the West Bank. This would also provide real estate development opportunities.

I think we can assume the peace process in Gaza is not going to be extended by Israel. Expect Egypt to increase its military presence on its border with Gaza to prevent the mass deportation of Palestinians by Israel.

Expect Trump to threaten to cut aid to Egypt and introduce tariffs and sanctions on Egypt unless they agree to resettle Palestinians in Gaza.

ETA
Expect that in these circumstances ICC would consider this met the definition of genocide. Trump will shortly announce sanctions and threaten members of the ICC.
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True. But again, this is all in line with the authors of Project 2025. Trump himself has no clue about that, nor any care. He is, as you correctly point out, is in it for his own real estate opportunities. Your predictions seem feasible.
 
The POSOTUS wants to kick everybody out of the Gaza Strip, take it over, and build hotels. And he says he left instructions that if anything happens to him Iran will be wiped off the face of the Earth.
"Left instructions"? Is a post-mortem Executive Order even possible?
 
Resume said:
Nah, not buying into it. Trump caved almost immediately on the border thing, Trudeau and Sheinbaum flattering him up and telling him what he wanted to hear. The Gaza thing is purely transactional and has nothing to do with triggering Armageddon as per the fundie dreams. Trump dreams of cheap, gaudy hotels on the beach; crazy xtians dream of rapture and the annihilation of the rest. Trump is in no way a xtian of any kind, and has no interests in the nutty fantasies of fundamentalists.
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He thinks he won on the border. Trudeau and Sheinbaum let him think that.

And yes, Gaza is, to Trump, just and solely a "Palm Beach real estate" opportunity. As mentioned above, he has not the slightest clue about the fundie rapture fantasies, nor would he care if he did know.
Resume said:
While I understand to goals of the 2025 lunatics, and how they'd like to steer him towards those ends, I don't think for now at least, they have enough sway to completely lead the Diapered Dictator around on a leash; he does have an agenda of retribution and remuneration, and is much too recalcitrant at this point.
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They created the retribution and remuneration program deliberately, because it plays right into Trump's mindset. So they are saying stuff he likes to hear, making him compliant. That can lead to making him order stuff that they want that he would not have thought of.

Ask yourself: Why did Elon infiltrate various departments and databases? Would you expect that to be bone-brain IT-clueless Trump's idea? Or could it be that someone whispered in his ear: "Let Elon handle this - it's IT stuff..."
 
Andy_Ross said:
Steve Witkoff, Trumps Special Envoy to the Middle East says on Gaza: "When the president talks about 'cleaning it out,' he talks about making it habitable, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That's just preposterous."

So if the Palestinians are being cleaned out, who is going to live there if they aren't going back?

Why is he talking like Trump is in charge of Gaza reconstruction?

Trump has already said he want's things changed so there are some nice waterfront properties.
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I don't think the Special Envoy knew anything about this. That's not what Trump said.
 
This is him bragging about US contractors guarding posts in Gaza.
No chance he will send the manpower required to the forcibly empty Gaza.
 
Pacal said:
Given that Trump has withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council we can be assured that he knows what he is doing and intends to violate International Human Rights norms.
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He's withdrawn from, or planning to withdraw from, practically every significant international agreement the US is party to. I doubt he's cognisant of the ramifications of any of them.
 
I'm not sure this one has been mentioned yet in this thread; I don't recall it being discussed:

Executive order 14190: Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling

The part I find particularly objectionable:

EO 14140 said:
“Discriminatory equity ideology” means an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations, including that:
(some actually decent points snipped)
(vii) Virtues such as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another race, color, sex, or national origin [I think this is a strawman, but it's possible some people believe and promote this idea]; or
(viii) the United States is fundamentally racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory. [If you go back to the USA's foundations, both the Puritans and the Founding Fathers had racist, sexist, and otherwise discriminatory beliefs.]
(d) “Patriotic education” means a presentation of the history of America grounded in:
(i) an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles;
(ii) a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history;
(iii) the concept that commitment to America’s aspirations is beneficial and justified; and
(iv) the concept that celebration of America’s greatness and history is proper.
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The order requires the government to come up with a strategy to eliminate federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including teachings based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; end the Indoctrination Strategy (as defined earlier in the memo); and rescind funding to any educational institution promoting these ideologies.

The order also resistates the 1776 commission.
 
Executive Order 14191: Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families

I don't want to repost the entire text, but here are a few snippets:
EO 14191 said:
According to this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math. Moreover, geographically based school assignments exacerbate the cost of housing in districts with preferred schools, straining the finances of millions of American families sacrificing for their children’s futures.
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… more than a dozen States have enacted universal K-12 scholarship programs, allowing families — rather than the government — to choose the best educational setting for their children. These States have highlighted the most promising avenue for education reform: educational choice for families and competition for residentially assigned, government-run public schools.
The growing body of rigorous research demonstrates that well-designed education-freedom programs improve student achievement and cause nearby public schools to improve their performance.
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My question: what research?
Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue guidance regarding whether and how States receiving block grants for families and children from the Department, including the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDGB), can use them to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options.
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I have provisionally scored this as 0 (neither positive or negative) since I haven't taken the time to look carefully at the claim that "education-freedom programs … cause nearby public schools to improve their performance." My initial take is such programs actually starve the public school systems of much needed funding.
 
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As of the close of the day on February 4, the +/- score stands at -66.

4 February 2024
0: First flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants (0 for unable to determine +/-)
-1: El Salvador offers to house US criminals (even US citizens) in its huge max-security prison (immoral and maybe illegal)
-1: Trump falsely claims American banks can't do business in Canada (they can, but regulations make it tough)
-1: Trump suggests resettling Palestinians out of Gaza because it's unlivable [12]
-1: Trump claims he wants the US to own Gaza and redevelop it [13]
-1: Musk claims a poster on X committed a crime when the poster named people working in the DOGE office
-1: A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System (wired.com)
-1: Musk: ONE CHANCE to return POWER to the PEOPLE from an unelected BUREAUcracy back to DEMOcracy!! (says an unelected billionaire who just shut down USAID)
-1: Trump's acting CFPB director (Scott Bessent) stopped the agency's work (Robert Reich on threads.net) [14]

Footnotes:

12. "You can't live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that's going to make people happy. You look over the decades, it's all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It's all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what's happening in Gaza."

13. "The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip. And we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land."

14. Robert Reich on threads.net: "Trump's acting CFPB director (Scott Bessent) stopped the agency's work, which includes: capping credit card rates and excessive fees; penalizing banks for ripping off consumers; and preventing politically-motivated debanking. It's a victory for Wall Street at your expense."


3 February 2024
0: Trump pauses unilateral tariffs after Mexico and Canada agree to increased border patrols
I reduced the score on pausing the tariffs from +1 to 0. Making it a +1 in effect nullifies the fact the tariffs were imposed in the first place, which has caused a rift in Canada/US relations (and probably US/Mexico relations as well.)

0: Executive order: A Plan For Establishing A United States Sovereign Wealth Fund
Initial score 0. Usually a sovereign wealth fund is set up by a country making a huge amount of money on one or more natural resources, and the windfall is used feed the fund. the USA, however, is running huge budget deficits.

31 January 2025
0: Memo: Limiting Lame-Duck Collective Bargaining Agreements That Improperly Attempt to Constrain the New President
I've scored this as zero because I haven't had time to fact check it. It will remain at 0 unless more knowledgeable posters comment on it.

-1: Executive Order: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation. The requirement is to remove ten existing regulations for every new proposed one.
I scored this as -1. At times reducing regulation can improve things, but regulations were usually put into place to prevent a recurrence of an actual harm.
 
Andy_Ross said:
Steve Witkoff, Trumps Special Envoy to the Middle East says on Gaza: "When the president talks about 'cleaning it out,' he talks about making it habitable, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That's just preposterous."

So if the Palestinians are being cleaned out, who is going to live there if they aren't going back?

Why is he talking like Trump is in charge of Gaza reconstruction?

Trump has already said he want's things changed so there are some nice waterfront properties.
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The Palestinians are going to be "moved elsewhere". We all know this euphemism, Trampy has found his first gas chamber victims.
 
And the protests in all major cities in the US is:

Basically zero.

US citizens don't seem to care watching their country getting ripped away under their feet. Let's be honest, they love the show, right? The drama, the egregious lunacy. Finally something is happening. They were all getting bored. The is the ◊◊◊◊ show of our lives.
 
Andy_Ross said:
Trump: "The real question is, how much of a kickback has there been? And one of the things I want to investigate rapidly is the train that's being build between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst managed project that I think I've ever seen."

Reporter: Who is going to investigate the train? DOGE?
Trump: No, I'm doing that myself.
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That's Galaxy Brain Musk talking, he's hopping mad that the high speed train is gettin built and exposing his hyperloop and boring companies as frauds.
 
A simple Google search turned up a nationwide plan of protests today in every state capital. Did you look?
carlosy said:
And the protests in all major cities in the US is:

Basically zero.

US citizens don't seem to care watching their country getting ripped away under their feet. Let's be honest, they love the show, right? The drama, the egregious lunacy. Finally something is happening. They were all getting bored. The is the ◊◊◊◊ show of our lives.
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Edit: LA alone has seen massive protests about the crackdown on illegal immigrants. Why is it so important to you to think that USians are doing nothing while our country burns?
 
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