Trump's Second Term

[Blue Mountain]

Trump Officials Withhold $1 Billion in Medicaid Funds From 2 States [The New York Times]

July 21: The Trump administration announced it was withholding an additional $1 billion in Medicaid funds from California and Minnesota, the second time it has targeted the two states with Democratic governors for suspected fraud in their public health insurance programs. Both governors criticized the Trump administration’s actions as politically motivated.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Continuing its assault on DEI, companies will no longer have to report the race and sex of their workers, a requirement that's been in place for sixty years.

July 21: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces laws banning workplace discrimination has ruled in a 2-1 vote to scrap an annual requirement that employers submit data on the race and sex of their workers. The rule (EEOC-1), which was adopted in the 1960s, has been a cornerstone of civil rights enforcement.

US anti-bias agency moves to end employer reporting of worker race, sex data [reuters.com]

 

[Blue Mountain]

Trump to impose 100% tariffs on imported generic drugs in 2028 and 200% in 2029, to encourage manufacturers to produce them in the US. (I suspect they will never be imposed, and the pharmaceutical companies are counting on it.)

July 22: President Donald Trump said generic drugs imported into the U.S. will face zero tariffs for two years starting August 1, before a 100% levy takes effect in August 2028 and rises to 200% a year later. The phased schedule is intended to push generic drugmakers to move production onshore. Nearly all prescriptions in the U.S. are filled with generic drugs that often come via overseas manufacturing and involve complex ownership structures. But building pharmaceutical production in the U.S. is complex and costly — and nearly all the inputs would still come from abroad, Elms (head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation) said, adding that “I am not sure that even a potential 200% tariff will change the fundamental math.”

Trump plans generic drug tariffs from 2028 with two-year delay testing U.S. onshoring push

The latest tariff salvo underscored Trump's goal of reshoring low-cost drug production, but displacing established suppliers like India won't be easy.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Blue Mountain]

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities [The New York Times]

July 22: Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser laid out the Trump administration's intention to overhaul its approach to scientific research, reiterating points from a report called "“Science: A New Golden Age.”, which was released last week. He said the administration would prioritize artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy while reducing the government’s focus on what he called “life sciences.” The report also proposes to reduce the role of universities and shift funding towards individual researchers and private companies.

 

[Blue Mountain]

The administration arrested over 43,000 immigrants in June.

July 22: An analysis by the Guardian shows that federal immigration agents arrested 43,138 people in June 2026. This is the highest number since Trump returned to the White House in January'25.

US immigration agents arrested a record number of people in June, data shows

Guardian analysis shows officers arrested 43,138 people as quiet and steady operations ramp up across the country

www.theguardian.com

 

[dudalb]

Trump accuses LeBron James of being a racist.
Damn there goes another Irony meter.
There is a old expression about one kitchen implement calling another kitchen implement a name, which I would use here except in this context it would be too easily misintrepreted.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Trump rails against Ossoff and ‘Democrat communists’ in Georgia speech [The Hill]

July 22: Trump during a speech in Georgia, attacked Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff,and repeatedly called the Democrats "communists". He said “Jon Ossoff and the Democrat communists want to let the Marxists into power, bankrupt your families, and leave you totally undefended with wide-open borders”

 

[Blue Mountain]

Government Overhauls Teen Pregnancy Program to Focus on Marriage and Starting Families [The New York Times]

July 22: Administration overhauls teen pregnancy prevention programme around conservative family ideology. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cancelled 53 of 67 federal teen-pregnancy-prevention grants and introduced new funding rules requiring programmes to promote abstinence, marriage, procreation and preservation of fertility, while largely excluding LGBT sexuality and giving little attention to STI prevention. The changes replace previously approved evidence-based curricula with requirements reflecting the administration's ideological priorities, using federal public-health funding to promote a particular model of sexuality and family life.

 

[Blue Mountain]

Persistent claims by ICE agents that immigrants have used their vehicles as weapons have consistently fallen apart when tested in court.

July 22: The Trump administration has repeatedly accused immigrants and protesters of “weaponizing” their vehicles to “assault” federal immigration agents, a claim used to justify arrests and deadly shootings by officers. But a Guardian review of 26 cases that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has promoted as evidence of a surge in “vehicular attacks” reveals most of those claims have fallen apart under scrutiny, with the accusations consistently disproven by evidence or rejected in court. Only one of the 26 cases has resulted in an assault conviction.

ICE keeps accusing immigrants of ‘weaponizing’ vehicles. Most claims fall apart

Nearly all car ‘assault’ cases promoted by DHS in press releases have been disproven or dropped, a Guardian analysis of court records reveals

www.theguardian.com

 

[EHocking]

Not a cult

Burgum: Yes, President Trump has wisely understood that wind was unreliable, intermittent, dependent on the weather. Coal was the number one electric producer in the world 125 years ago. And it was for the last 125 years in a row and it will be again this year

Video in link

Whale oil was used for 300 years in lamps etc for lighting.

Just don’t let trump know this

 

[EHocking]

As I would and have defended the vast majority of the doctors and surgeons I've met and worked with/for.

I'm only saying that I've met and had to interact with a number of really very problematic individuals, who showed that being able to pass exams and get diplomas, or even being technically very competent, doesn't prevent consistently stupid, dangerous, and sometimes criminal decisions and actions.

You should try working inthe oil&gas sector sometime…

 

[EHocking]

In this case, the eggs are a voluntary preventative recall, nobody has gotten sick, and it affects a tiny fraction of eggs in a small area.
This is a situation where the system is working the way it's supposed to.

From Forbes,

Believe it or not, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) graded eggs would be illegal if sold in the UK, or indeed anywhere in the European Union (EU). It’s all to do with the fact that commercial American eggs are federally required to be washed and sanitized before they reach the consumer. EU egg marketing laws, on the other hand, state that Class A eggs – those found on supermarkets shelves, must not be washed, or cleaned in any way.

“In Europe, the understanding is that this mandate actually encourages good husbandry on farms. It’s in the farmers’ best interests then to produce to cleanest eggs possible, as no one is going to buy their eggs if they’re dirty, ” explained Mark Williams, Chief Executive, British Egg Industry Council in a phone interview.

 

[dudalb]

It is becoming clearer that Trump wants an America in which anybody who is not a White Christians Europeaen male has no political power or say in government whatsoever. And will not be surprised if the Christian gets narrowed to Protestent.

 

[dudalb]

You should try working inthe oil&gas sector sometime…

Tell me about it. I used work for the Bureau Of Land Managment, which handles all oil and gas programs on federal land, and you has some total iditos put in for oil and and gas leases on lands, which the actual oil and gas companies would not bother to bid on because they knew the chances of finding anything of value were almost nill.

 

[EHocking]

Tell me about it. I used work for the Bureau Of Land Managment, which handles all oil and gas programs on federal land, and you has some total iditos put in for oil and and gas leases on lands, which the actual oil and gas companies would not bother to bid on because they knew the chances of finding anything of value were almost nill.

I was talking about those in actual oil&gas companies!

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

It is becoming clearer that Trump wants an America in which anybody who is not a White Christians Europeaen male has no political power or say in government whatsoever. And will not be surprised if the Christian gets narrowed to Protestent.

Yes. The GOP never made a secret of this? Project 2025 was openly published.
But 'both sides are bad', 'but transsexuals', 'some Democrats do bad things too', 'taxing billionaires is communism' centrism nonsense kept 30% of the US population from voting, which is the same as voting for whomever wins.

 

[Flo]

You should try working inthe oil&gas sector sometime…

Oh, I've been working in the Swiss banking system before …

 

[jimbob]

Getting diplomas doesn't guarantee intelligence.
In French, we make a distinction between education (manners, social competency), instruction (schooling, training), and intelligence (being able to use the former two in a rational and useful way).

I'd say there is the raw intellectual aptitude, then there's the competence, and finally there is wisdom.

Trump is even more foolish than he is stupid, but his foolishness feeds his stupidity and gives it full rein.

 

[Planigale]

The problem is the tariffs don't come in until 2028, who knows what the next POTUS will do? Who knows what Tump will do about tariffs tomorrow? Manufacturing generics in the US isn't going to be cheap, and they aren't going to be competitive with generics manufactured in India for the rest of the world, and only competitive within the US market if the tariffs are legal and kept in place by the next administration. If I was Indian pharma I would offer commitments explore the options but spend minimal money until after November 2028.

 

[Planigale]

Government Overhauls Teen Pregnancy Program to Focus on Marriage and Starting Families [The New York Times]

So Trad Wives are now official policy?