Trump's Second Term

[Andy_Ross]

Trump is apparently backing off of his demands for 20% of cargo for using the Strait. Turns out the world doesn't like shakedowns, who knew?

Anyway its TACO Tuesday

Trump reverses course on a 20% fee on Strait of Hormuz cargo after pushback

Trump wrote that he would replace the 20% fee with "trade and investment deals." Global shipping companies had pushed back on the cargo fee.

www.businessinsider.com

Because shipping companies are well known for making international trade deals between countries.

 

[LDE1976]

Ummm, the bottom of the reflection pool is looking pretty Grey. Is it just a trick of the light? is there ANY of the blue liner left? Or do they have to start from scratch?

They started with a scratch. Then it became a rip, a tear, a slash, a gash, a laceration, a fissure, a ravine and finally, a canyon.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Billions!

Q: Can you explain your change in thinking on the Strait of Hormuz on the 20% fee?

Trump: I was called by different people, different countries, kings and emirs and all of the people that we all love and they said we'd love to do it a different way—we'd love to invest in the United States with billions as opposed to charging a fee, and I like that actually because I don't think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait

video in link

Trump: I don't like the concept of a fee, but at the same time it's not fair that we're protecting this strait for the entire world but it's unfair that we're not in somehow compensated, and we've been doing this for many years. It's bothered me 25 years ago.

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump on Thursday night address: It's really, really big news. It doesn't get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump: I just came back from NATO. It was a lovefest. They love the United States. They even like me, but they love the United States and we're gonna cut costs there by hundreds of billions of dollars maybe

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

Not a cult

Trump Coins

Bessent finds a workaround to get Trump on currency: "There cannot be an image of a living person, but we have the president's signature [on bills], which I think is appropriate for the 250th ... we can put living people's images on a coin. The president is also going to have a coin coming out with his image on it"

video in link

 

[Resume]

Trump on Thursday night address: It's really, really big news. It doesn't get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country

video in link

Is he gonna declare a State of Emergency and suspend the mid-terms now, or wait?

You know, so we can have a country.

 

[alfaniner]

Trump on Thursday night address: It's really, really big news. It doesn't get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country

video in link

I just hope he looks as hale and hearty as Lindsay Graham did in his speech last Saturday.

 

[Helen]

Mike Johnson on the midterms: "The election will be over whether we're gonna maintain our freedom in a constitutional republic ... that is the question on the ballot this fall"

video in link

Mike Johnson: "Even the journalists who don't agree with our policies all the time -- you better agree on these principles. Because that's what keeps you free."

video in link

He's right, though, in the "every accusation" sense.

 

[Resume]

This is bad. Very bad. Habitat loss is a major driver of the decline and eventual extinction of species.

Trump administration rule weakens protections for threatened species

The Trump administration finalized a major change on Friday to how threatened species are considered in agency actions, removing regulatory language aimed at ‌preventing damage to wildlife habitats and drawing a legal challenge.

www.reuters.com

More habitat loss.

President Donald Trump announced a sweeping reduction to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, slashing the size of each protected area by an additional one million acres.

The move revisits contentious environmental rollbacks from his first term that were subsequently reversed by the Biden administration. It directly challenges proclamations by his predecessors, who deemed these sites worthy of preservation under the 1906 Antiquities Act, a law granting presidents power to protect areas of cultural, historic or scientific interest.

The ongoing dispute over these protected lands reflects how national monuments have become a central battleground in the management of public lands.

 

[grunion]

Good!

Good news indeed, so nice to see justice prevail occassionally. But it doesn't undo the utter disgust I feel at what he did to her. 5 mil doesn't come close. He should have to make a sincere public apology. He would drop dead first.

I felt similarly about Giuliani settling with Ruby Freeman. The disgusting behavior, dehumanizing an old lady like that, just can't be forgiven in exchange for cash. There needs to be a dose of court-ordered public humiliation as part of the judgement.

 

[alfaniner]

Good news indeed, so nice to see justice prevail occassionally. But it doesn't undo the utter disgust I feel at what he did to her. 5 mil doesn't come close. He should have to make a sincere public apology. He would drop dead first.

I felt similarly about Giuliani settling with Ruby Freeman. The disgusting behavior, dehumanizing an old lady like that, just can't be forgiven in exchange for cash.
There needs to be a dose of court-ordered public humiliation as part of the judgement.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for a "Shame! Shame!" scene involving him...

 

[Helen]

Considering the rumours about what he is going to tell us on Thursday, perhaps someone should tell him that ending Warnock will not get him any closer to being awarded the peace prize?

 

[Andy_Ross]

 

[Andy_Ross]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

Oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military.
A special salute to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, and Commander of the United States Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper.
Because of them, and all members of the Most Powerful Military anywhere in the World, BY FAR, the Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION.
We will therefore have a FULL Blockade, but only on Ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything have to do with Iranian cargo.
Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.
Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.
As everyone is aware, we have the largest Dollar Investment into the United States, of any Country in History, but these new Investments will make that Number even larger, and we will see Factories, Plants, and Equipment pour into the United States at Historic levels, which will create additional millions of High Paying AMERICAN Jobs!
America is WINNING again, winning like never before.
The days of Iran killing hundreds of thousands of people, including 52,000 protestors, are OVER and, most importantly, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
President DONALD J. TRUMP

 

[Andy_Ross]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

 

[Resume]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
View attachment 73494

Sure Gramps, sure.

 

[Resume]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2077069383097070025

Great King God bull ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊.

 

[Aridas]

True enough, not implementing security measures isn't reducing cybersecurity. It's just failing to keep up with the ongoing race. Hegseth is in too much of a rush to look for Chinese infiltration of US defence suppliers. Nothing bad could possibly happen as a result of Hegseth ignoring security.

Based on the wordings, I took that more as them getting rid of the red tape that requires appropriate cybersecurity. Hence, it's not them getting rid of the cybersecurity, it's letting others get rid of the cybersecurity without penalty. All they did was change the rules to allow that to happen, which gives them an easy way to push the blame for the problems that arise onto others after paving the way for the problems to happen.

Doing it that way is very Republican Party of them, of course.

Mike Johnson on the midterms: "The election will be over whether we're gonna maintain our freedom in a constitutional republic ... that is the question on the ballot this fall"

video in link

Mike Johnson: "Even the journalists who don't agree with our policies all the time -- you better agree on these principles. Because that's what keeps you free."

video in link

And Mike Johnson is firmly and obviously on the side of not supporting such freedom, yes.

 

[Mojo]

To be fair, I hv3 seen the sane claim come from other MAGAchud-oriented sources.

Nah, MAGA doesn't do sane claims in case they contradict the Donald.