Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[PhaelixWW]

Hence why you can expect guns to be taken away before they get Luigied.

Can't possibly happen.

[SAY HER NAME]

I didnt have time to read up on it but apparently the Eric Adams thing is much worse than I thought somehow.

So, Trump is dismissing the charges without prejudice until November 2025 so he can carry out his legislative agenda.

Note the highlighted part. Without Prejudice means they can bring back the charges whenever they want to. And November is the month of the elections.

This is the most quid pro quo shit Ive seen. For as long as Eric Adams is able to do as a mayor what Trump tells him to, he will be without prosecution. The moment he steps out of line or loses his mayoral race, the charges can be brought back and he either be put in line or simply disposed of when his usefulness expires

[Kaleredar]

The public focus has been on the price of eggs. But it's not a good metric on inflation, since there are unique factors impacting egg prices right now. If a farm gets 1 chicken with bird flu in the US, every chicken at the farm is culled. So supply and demand, that's lead to higher egg prices. The concern shouldn't be $11 eggs (because it's not due to normal inflation), it should be *why* eggs are $11, as in what happens if that jumps to humans especially with the CDC, etc. gutted. I'd be cautious about getting distracted by the lesser concern on eggs. So unless RFK Jr.'s homeopathic remedies can cure bird flu in chickens, eggs aren't going to get cheaper in the US anytime soon.

It’s more a matter of throwing a very easy, very sound bite back in the GOP’s face. One they simply have no retort to, because they don’t actually understand how any of it works.

If their whole schtick is supposedly “republicans save you money,” this is an easy takedown of exactly that. And like… what else do they have to supposedly boast about after that? Certainly not stability, or law and order, or intelligence.

[SAY HER NAME]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/n...imes&smtyp=cur

The agency’s justification for dropping the case was explicitly political; Mr. Bove had argued that the investigation would prevent Mr. Adams from fully cooperating with Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown. Mr. Bove made a point of saying that Washington officials had not evaluated the strength of the evidence or the legal theory behind the case.

[Xyonai]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/n...imes&smtyp=cur

Yeh I posted a bit about this earlier. I'm kind of disappointed, yet not very surprise, that the only publication that seems to be carrying this story is the NY Times. I also haven't heard a peep from any elected official about this one way or another and that's also disappointing / not surprising.

[Breccia]

Judge orders Trump to stop destroying evidence.

He was caught ordering the Jan 6 murderous insurrection video footage destroyed.

[SAY HER NAME]

Yeh I posted a bit about this earlier. I'm kind of disappointed, yet not very surprise, that the only publication that seems to be carrying this story is the NY Times. I also haven't heard a peep from any elected official about this one way or another and that's also disappointing / not surprising.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...ges-rcna192030

NBC news also covered it. Its actually a pretty big deal, multiple top prosecutors resigning over it.

These are the people that would be making significantly more as lawyers in the private sector but choose to stay as prosecutors bc they believe in the duty. And Trump is burning all of that and changing the way prosecution works just so that one person can do his bidding.

This is uncharted territory. The executive refusing to do their duty to further their political goals.

[Bakis]

This is the US.

As someone who wants to portray himself as the ultimate businessman and global politician, it's odd for Trump to show his hand before talks even begin.

• Ukraine is not included in the discussions.

• The EU, which shoulders the majority of the financial burden to keep Ukraine running—and which Trump insists must step up to cover the costs of rebuilding—is also excluded.

The long-term lack of seriousness is striking.

Should we also address the future implications of U.S. arms deals with the EU (15–20 years ahead)? Trump is essentially telling Europe:

Increase your NATO defense spending (to 5%, we the US is at 3,4% and has stockpiled production to cope).
Spend that increase on American suppliers.
Meanwhile, we'll undermine you, but still expect you to buy from us.
Even as better options emerge within Europe, the U.S. is already lagging behind in key area of importance.

Europe are still desperately relaint on the US within some areas:
Technology and hardware in select areas.
Manufacturing capacity across nearly all defense areas.
Beyond that, the U.S. is merely the missing child that we still need and hope will end up on the right side of the path.
Europe’s reliance on the U.S. shouldn’t be understated, and I don’t intend to downplay it. But Americans must also recognize:

Being a global superpower has a cost.
Stagnation within military supremacy on a global level has limited use for partners.
Bullying the foundation of your own security and trade will not serve you well.



Sigh..... Trump has publicly stated that the purpose of NATO is still the same.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization - You, the other 31 members have no saying about the peace talks.
Its not doom and gloom, more intellectual forces in the US than that the orange monkey and a paper wealth billionair will come to it senses.
It is just sad that it had to go to these length, that the US president is repeating the stupidity of western Europe in the 1920-1930s and paving the way for what equals to what the Nazis did..

** for the fucking morons not knowing what im on about, google appeasement before ww2

[Logwyn]

Can't possibly happen.

They will try to figure out how to take them away from "those people" to keep the 2nd admendment crowd happy.

[Corvus]

Gonna be real hard to take away 3D printed ghost guns they have no idea exist, since that's what getting Luigied involves.

Also the republican party doing gun control? Yea, never gonna happen. Not only is a huge part of their voting base gun nuts but they get a significant amount of money from gun lobbyists.

Eh, if their lord and saviour Trump tells them he has biggly good reasons to do so, I'd expect a lot of magats to fall over themselves to hand them in.

[gondrin]

So, in a move that uses the Article 2 powers against the Executive, along with using Justice Thomas own word to prove that they are, they are basically calling what Elon Musk is doing unconstitutional because it violates the Appointments Clause.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...9bf82665&ei=46

'The Executive lacks the power to unilaterally create': Lawsuit takes aim at Elon Musk's DOGE using the same Justice Thomas argument that ended Jack Smith's special counsel career

The words of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have found their way into one of multiple lawsuits targeting the Elon Musk-helmed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Those words will likely prove familiar.

In a 64-page lawsuit filed by 14 states on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the plaintiffs attacked the basic constitutional legitimacy of the cost-cutting organization with an iteration of the exact same argument that spelled doom for onetime special counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

As readers will recall, last summer, Chief Justice John Roberts and a majority of the justices issued a broad grant of presidential immunity; then, two weeks later, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon used a concurrence to that opinion by Thomas to squelch Smith’s authority and dismiss the case against Trump with a novel reading of the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause.

Now, led by New Mexico, the latest anti-DOGE complaint uses an Appointments Clause argument of its own.

“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” the lawsuit begins. “President Trump has delegated virtually unchecked authority to Mr. Musk without proper legal authorization from Congress and without meaningful supervision of his activities. As a result, he has transformed a minor position that was formerly responsible for managing government websites into a designated agent of chaos without limitation and in violation of the separation of powers.”

The lawsuit, which names Musk, DOGE, and Trump as defendants, argues the executive branch lacks the authority to either unilaterally create or “dismantle” a federal agency.

“Framers of the Constitution crafted the Appointments Clause to protect against such tyranny in our system of government,” the lawsuit reads. “The Appointments Clause was designed to buttress the separation of powers in two ways: first by requiring that Congress create an office before the President can fill it, and second by requiring that the Senate confirm a nominee to an office created by law.”

To hear the plaintiffs tell it, Musk’s “significant and unprecedented” perch within the Trump administration has effectively rendered him an unappointed “principal officer” of the United States.

“Mr. Musk takes actions that can only be taken by a nominated and confirmed principal officer of the United States,” the lawsuit goes on. “But President Trump did not appoint Mr. Musk with the advice and consent of the Senate. Mr. Musk does not occupy an office created by law and has no authority to exercise the powers of a principal officer, or any other officer. Mr. Musk’s actions violate Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution.”

This framework is precisely how Cannon viewed Smith. And, like Cannon, the plaintiffs have cited Thomas to make their case.

From the lawsuit, at length:

Importantly, the Appointments Clause only grants the President the power to nominate officers to offices that Congress has already “established by Law.” U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2. “If Congress has not reached a consensus that a particular office should exist, the Executive lacks the power to unilaterally create and then fill that office.” Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593, 650 (2024) (Thomas, J., concurring). “By keeping the ability to create offices out of the President’s hands, the Founders ensured that no President could unilaterally create an army of officer positions to then fill with his supporters. Instead, our Constitution leaves it in the hands of the people’s elected representatives to determine whether new executive offices should exist.” Id. at 646 (Thomas, J., concurring).

The lawsuit, in a secondary argument, also says Musk and DOGE are acting beyond any statutory authority.

The plaintiffs are asking the court for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that directs Musk to disclose how any government data obtained by DOGE has been used so far, that orders Musk to destroy any copies of such data in his possession, and that broadly bars him and DOGE from acting on any such data. The lawsuit contains a laundry list of 10 would-be prohibited actions.

New Mexico and the other states, in often bombastic terms, are also asking the judge to echo some of their legal conclusions and rhetoric by issuing declaratory relief that “Musk’s officer-level governmental actions to date, including those of his subordinates and designees, are ultra vires and shall have no legal effect” and “declare that any future orders or directions by Mr. Musk or DOGE” are similarly unlawful.

So, if this actually gets voted on favorably by SCOTUS, this would mean that DOGE would be dissolved as it wasn't Congressional approved. And Thomas will have to come to terms with overturning the exact thing he rendered judgement on.

[Edge-]

https://www.sfgate.com/california-pa...s-20163260.php

Yosemite National Park is in trouble. Hamstrung by President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze, hundreds of rescinded job offers and the threat of coming layoffs, the park is poised to enter its busiest months of the year severely short-staffed. Not only that, but the park’s day-use reservation system — created to protect park resources and improve the visitor experience by reducing crowding — appears unlikely to return this year.

In addition, Yosemite Superintendent Cicely Muldoon is about to retire.

Worst of it all, say current and former National Park Service employees, nonprofit leaders and other Yosemite experts interviewed by SFGATE, is that decades of efforts to protect the park’s ecosystems for future generations are being derailed.

On lovely summer days, as many as 20,000 visitors show up to the park. “Catastrophic” is the word former Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher used to describe the looming staffing situation to SFGATE.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 55 years,” says Beth Pratt, a regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, who lives near Yosemite and is working on a book called “Yosemite Wildlife.” “Just to want to gut the Park Service? I don’t understand it.”

“This is honestly terrifying,” says Elisabeth Barton, a founding member of Echo Adventure Cooperative, a tour operator near the park. “We’re deeply concerned about the long-term health of Yosemite National Park under the current administration.”

If you want to visit Yosemite while it's still in all its glory you may not have that long, unfortunately.

Between asshole tourists who have no respect for our incredible state and national parks and our responsibility to protect them for future generations and Donald's policies hamstringing the park by gutting its staffing ahead of the busiest season, it's set up to be absolute chaos.

The trouble began Jan. 20, when Trump issued an executive order that froze hiring across the federal government. Three days later, thousands of employees in the process of onboarding for federal agencies, including the Park Service, received emails stating that their job offers had been rescinded.

They included rangers and fee technicians — the people who collect money at park entrances and campgrounds — who were two months into the hiring process. The move created chaos at Yosemite, particularly because it seemed that the hiring freeze had been incorrectly applied to the seasonal staff.

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which is effectively the government’s human resources agency, issued a memorandum outlining exemptions to the hiring freeze. It specifically noted that “seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads” should not be included.

But as days ticked by, no corrective measures were taken. Then, on Jan. 28, the Trump administration sent emails offering resignation options to millions of federal employees, including those who work at Yosemite. The emails also discussed future cuts to the federal workforce, warning that “we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity.”

Because the seasonal staff who were not supposed to be fired have been fired. The people who were supposed to do things like "collect money from entry and overnight stays to generate revenue".

On Feb. 6, the Trump administration sent yet another round of emails rescinding job offers to still more seasonal Park Service employees, including law enforcement rangers, wildland firefighters and EMTs — all positions explicitly related to public safety, which were also supposedly exempt from Trump’s Jan. 20 order for a hiring freeze. The Washington Post reported on Feb. 11 that some rescinded job offers were eventually re-extended to law enforcement rangers and public safety dispatchers, but how many is unclear.

And many emergency services and rescue personnel have had offers rescinded as well. So definitely don't go if you aren't confident you won't need rescue.

The Yosemite employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity says reservations are seeming unlikely. “Those of us left are being told to be prepared for chaos and having to cover,” the employee said.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Yosemite is forced to operate with a skeleton staff and no restrictions on visitors. In December 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and Congress reached an impasse over funding to build a wall on the Mexican border. A partial government shutdown left many federal employees, including most of the park’s staff, furloughed. Yosemite remained open through the 35-day shutdown and staff from Aramark, the private company that runs the park’s concessions, stayed on the job.

Without park rangers to guide and monitor their behavior, visitors left garbage at scenic viewpoints, brought dogs to ecologically sensitive meadows and other areas where pets were prohibited, drove over curbs, and even defecated on the ground next to locked restrooms, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. When temperatures dropped, the garbage and human waste froze to the ground.

Because, unsupervised, Americans are an ecological fucking disaster.

“The trash cans weren’t getting emptied. There was so much garbage, and everything was getting overrun,” remembers Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association and founder of Yosemite Facelift, a yearly volunteer trash cleanup.

And you can't exactly host people camping if there's nobody to dump all the trash. People aren't gonna pack out their trash.

“There’s nothing worse for the bears than to be eating people food,” Yager says. “Doesn’t matter what kind of garbage or food you leave out, they’ll eat it, and it’s bad for them. They eat it packaging and all.” Bears that develop a taste for human food may also start breaking into cars, Yager adds, and will teach other bears how to do it. When bears are desensitized to humans, they also tend to find themselves in mortal danger.

Which may generate more encounters with bears, which rarely goes well for humans.

“From my years at Yosemite, I believe the park will have to stop specific functions (like no Half Dome cables can be installed) and close park areas,” Neubacher wrote in an email. “There is no way they can accommodate current visitation levels without additional staff support during the peak season.”

He worries that park employees and management will be put in an impossible position.

“This is one of America's greatest treasures,” he wrote, “and these reckless actions jeopardize its future.”

Donald, Doug Burgum, and Republicans hate our incredible national wonders.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/nx-s1...tion-trade-war

Donald is threatening another round of tariff taxes on American consumers, again.

[Tech614]

Eh, if their lord and saviour Trump tells them he has biggly good reasons to do so, I'd expect a lot of magats to fall over themselves to hand them in.

Doubt. That is one of the few things they would absolutely not fall in line with Trump for.

[gondrin]

https://www.sfgate.com/california-pa...s-20163260.php



If you want to visit Yosemite while it's still in all its glory you may not have that long, unfortunately.

Well, don't worry. If nature has anything to say to it, the people who cause issues will be summarily dismissed by the bison and bears that are there.

[Xyonai]

Doubt. That is one of the few things they would absolutely not fall in line with Trump for.

Suburban Republicans could probably get behind it because they honestly don't care. But try telling a Rural American he's not allowed to own an AR15 anymore and see how that goes.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

As I watched the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne, I really enjoyed seeing the revolution's work with the nobles. America could use it right now.

[Edge-]

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/nx-s1...gle-app-stores

Tiktok is back.

Why am I posting that here?

But on Thursday, Apple and Google received a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi informing the companies that the Trump administration will not prosecute them for supporting TikTok, according to sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The assurance from Bondi that President Trump would not fine the companies was enough for Apple and Google to bring the app back.

So...basically the exact same assurances the Biden DoJ gave them before they decided to shut down anyways.

Honestly, fuck all these fucking companies.

[TACOshake]

Hey kids, still thinking about how Trump crash airplanes, Trump crash huge airplane boat? Hold that thought in your head....

Donald Trump is firing 300 people of the 1800 in the National Nuclear Security Administration. This is not good?



NNSA's primary missions is to maintain the safety, security and effectiveness of the United States' nuclear weapons stockpile.NNSA manages the nuclear weapons complex. That includes Los Alamos, Livermore, and Sandia National Laboratories, the Pantex assembly plant, the Nevada National Security Site, and, I think, a few other sites having to do with weapons component manufacture.

The ancestry of the organization, going back to the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission.


Ya'll have a good nights sleep.
God Bless.

[PACOX]

There's no major opposition media in this country. Lil X clearly told Trump to STFU (well to shush which stings even more). Fox News would have been playing it 24/7 if it happened to a Democrat.

[SAY HER NAME]

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/nx-s1...gle-app-stores

Tiktok is back.

Why am I posting that here?



So...basically the exact same assurances the Biden DoJ gave them before they decided to shut down anyways.

Honestly, fuck all these fucking companies.

I am starting to suspect this is what Trump is going to do. Instead of negotiating a deal he will simply refuse to enforce the law, basically rendering congress and the senate even more useless. Centralize all that power into one person. This is obviously the basis of 249 years of republic.