Trump's Second Term

[kookbreaker]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

Afghanistan War: 20 years, 2,000 DEAD.
Iraq War: 9 years, 4,600 DEAD.
Vietnam War: 19 years and 5 months, 58,220 DEAD.
Korean War: 3 years and 1 month, 36,574 DEAD.
Venezuela War: 1 day, 0 DEAD.
Iran Military Conflict: 4 months, 18 DEAD.

All but those last two had boots on the ground. Everyone is worried Trump is so desperate to salvage Operation Epstein Fury that he will put boots on the ground.

Interesting that he admits it has been 4 months. Wasn't it just supposed to be a few weeks?

 

[Resume]

All Yanks I worked with when they visited here in Oz were very surprised we have separate leave and sick day entitlements by law.

Anyway, back to the fray!

Huh, like I said, I never experienced this in over 50 years of working in the U.S., and neither has my wife.

ETA: If for some reason I was ill beyond the sick time I accrued, I was allowed to use vacation time to cover, though I never had that problem. If for some reason I became ill in the course of a day, I could also use vacation time for the hours. When I was laid off after 30 years with my second to last firm, my six month's severance was augmented with 12 weeks vacation and the max carryover of 120 hours of sick time.

 

[Trebuchet]

https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3mr6kx6yn6i2t

She's just a mom in tennis shoes.
(A Republican when she first joined the Washington State Legislature._

 

[Trebuchet]

Number of manufacturing jobs have actually fallen since January 2025.

All Employees, Manufacturing

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Manufacturing (MANEMP) from Jan 1939 to Aug 2026 about headline figure, establishment survey, manufacturing, employment, and USA.

fred.stlouisfed.org

Wall Street and the Harvard Business School HATE manufacturing. They think it should be done only in third world countries by slave labor.

 

[PitPat]

She's just a mom in tennis shoes.
(A Republican when she first joined the Washington State Legislature._

Oh right, I do remember that. And Maria Cantwell was a Real Networks executive. Anybody remember Real Audio? Yeah me neither.

 

[Andy_Ross]

A judge in Florida has ruled President Donald Trump must hand over financial records sought by the BBC as it defends itself in his $10bn (£7.5bn) defamation lawsuit.

The order came during the first hearing in the case, in which the US president is suing the corporation over an episode of Panorama that edited together different sections of his speech on the day of the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021.

Judge Enjoliqué Lett granted a motion by the BBC's legal team to compel the release of financial records held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which he created to manage his businesses while he is president.

Judge rules Trump must hand over financial records sought by BBC in defamation case

The judge grants a motion to compel the release of files held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[esquel]

Well, Trump is ignoring the laws of the US. We'll see if Great Britain has more of an impact. The only thing that might annoy him is if they confiscate his golf course in Scotland.

 

[PitPat]

A judge in Florida has ruled President Donald Trump must hand over financial records sought by the BBC as it defends itself in his $10bn (£7.5bn) defamation lawsuit.

The order came during the first hearing in the case, in which the US president is suing the corporation over an episode of Panorama that edited together different sections of his speech on the day of the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021.

Judge Enjoliqué Lett granted a motion by the BBC's legal team to compel the release of financial records held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which he created to manage his businesses while he is president.

Judge rules Trump must hand over financial records sought by BBC in defamation case

The judge grants a motion to compel the release of files held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sure would be a damn shame if those documents ever got leaked, he said sarcastically.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Trump Administration to Impose New Tariffs on Brazil [The New York Times]

July 15: The Trump administration said it would impose a new 25 percent tariff on Brazil, arguing that the country had adopted a range of unfair trade practices against the United States, but will exempt several major categories of exports, including oil and gas, beef, coffee, oranges, and aircraft parts.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Major American networks decided not to broadcast a prime time speech by the President.

July 16: CNN, ABC and NBC chose not to air Trump's speech about election integrity live because of concerns it would be used to present misinformation about election integrity. CBS and MS Now cut into the speech to refute some of Trump's claims. Trump later called our ABC and NBC and suggested they should lose their broadcast licenses. “They and others in the media are part of a plot. They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason,” Trump said. “They want to protect the radical left.”

US TV networks split on broadcasting Trump’s election-focused speech

NBC and CNN stayed away from White House speech, while Fox News, MS Now, CBS and some ABC affiliates aired it

www.theguardian.com

 

[Blue Mountain]

USA may deny permanent residency to immigrants who ever used public benefits.

July 16: The Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning to revive a rule that could deny permanent residency to immigrants who use public benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid. The rule is coming into effect September 18,2026. It was originally adopted by the first Trump administration, but abandoned under Biden.

US to revive rule that could deny green cards to immigrants using public benefits

The original rule was heavily criticized by ⁠immigrant advocates who said it unfairly targeted poor people.

www.reuters.com

 

[Blue Mountain]

USA moves to limit cultural exchange visas to eight months (three months for the Chinese.)

July 16: The Trump administration has tightened rules which allow international students, journalists and others in cultural exchange programs, to work in the US. Under the new regulations, the student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years. The visa for journalists - which currently can last years - would be up to 240 days or, in the case of Chinese nationals, 90 days.

US to tighten visa regulations for foreign students, journalists

Under the new regulations, the student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years.

www.reuters.com

 

[PitPat]

Trump Administration to Impose New Tariffs on Brazil [The New York Times]

Just because they convicted his corrupt buddy Bolsonaro for plotting a coup.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Just where is all this far-left political violence happening? Inquiring people want to know.

July 16: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday convened officials from more than 60 countries to raise alarm over what the State Department is warning is a resurgence of far-left political violence globally.

Rubio rallies countries to confront ‘resurgence’ of far-left political violence [The Hill]

 

[Blue Mountain]

Texas ICE facility detainees beaten, abused: Rights groups [The Hill]

July 16: Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday released a report accusing the Army’s immigration detention camp at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, of beating, abusing and neglecting detained migrants.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Again, just where is all this "far left violence" happening?

July 16: The Trump administration convened representatives from more than 60 countries to promote a new counterterrorism focus on “far-left political violence.” Officials linked domestic political opponents to foreign extremist networks without publicly providing clear evidence of the scale or nature of those links, using international security cooperation and terrorism framing to portray left-wing movements in the U.S. as a security threat. This risks expanding state powers designed for counterterrorism into tools for delegitimising political opposition and civil society groups.

Trump team seeks global help targeting left-wing 'political terrorists'

The daylong gathering was meant to escalate the administration's campaign against a growing transnational 'far left' threat that many experts say doesn't exist.

eu.usatoday.com

 

[Blue Mountain]

Filling the swamp, one secretary at a time.

July 16: Vice President JD Vance sought to use a military helicopter to ferry himself and his son across Washington for a golf lesson, one of a number of allegedly unusual travel requests that has left the Republican’s security detail “fed up,” MS Now reports.

Vance wanted military helicopter to fly his son to a golf lesson: report

The Vice President’s family’s travel requests are reportedly irking the Secret Service

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Blue Mountain]

USA moves to limit visas for foreign students to four years, shorter than is necessary for many to complete a Master's or Doctorate program.

July 16: The Trump administration has given final notice of plans to implement stricter rules on foreign students, including preventing them from staying in the US for more than four years unless they get permission from the federal government. The ability to switch programmes and transfer between universities and colleges will also be restricted. Until now, higher education institutions had the power to grant visa extensions. The Association of International Educators described the new rules as "misguided and unnecessary".

Trump administration tightens visa rules for foreign students

Students will need federal permission to stay longer than four years in the US and universities will lose the power to extend visas.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Blue Mountain]

More administration interference in the agencies designed to ensure fair elections.

July 17: According to Reuters, the Trump's administration spent more than a year scrutinizing the Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan federal agency that oversees U.S. voting systems, questioning its handling of the 2020 presidential election and vetting potential new leaders before he fired its commissioners last week.

Trump team scrutinized election agency over 2020 vote before firing its leaders

The effort sheds light on his push to exert greater influence over federal elections.

www.reuters.com

 

[Blue Mountain]

Markwayne Mullin threatens state election officials with jail time unless they follow the administration's practives for running their elections.

July 17: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened state officials with fines and criminal charges for non-compliance with election security measures, which include securing voting machines and reviewing voter registration lists to verify citizenship status. If states do not follow the instructions, Mullin said, the federal government will look at who voted in those states and hold election officials accountable.

DHS threatens states with fines, charges over election measures

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened state officials with fines and criminal charges ‌on Friday if they do not comply with election security measures, as President Donald Trump renewed false claims of past election fraud.

www.reuters.com