The Reign of Trump

[The Infidel]

Trump says in the meantime, the US is "successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia".

Well that certainly sounds like a peace talk to me.

Yup, there will be no peace treaty without Ukraine. Anything Trump and Putin cooks up is worth nothing to Ukraine without Ukraine being a part of it. Zelensky has said so much.

[Raw Shark]

PROBABLY MORE APPROPRIATE FOR PROFESSIONAL FRONT LINES, BUT TOPICAL:

MAGA HAT: [paraphrase]: Bread and eggs cost too much!

ME: They're about to cost a lot more, now that we've elected the guy who wants to throw the bread-basket of Europe under the bus.

MAGA HAT: But we were giving them suitcases of money!

ME: No, we were giving them weapons destined for the scrap-heap. And now all that grain will go to Russia, driving the price YOU pay up even more because there's less on the world market.

MAGA HAT: That's just not true! Donald Trump has done more for America than any president in my lifetime!

ME: I give up. I honestly give up. Believe whatever you want, I don't care anymore.

[Tribble]

PROBABLY MORE APPROPRIATE FOR PROFESSIONAL FRONT LINES, BUT TOPICAL:

MAGA HAT: [paraphrase]: Bread and eggs cost too much!

ME: They're about to cost a lot more, now that we've elected the guy who wants to throw the bread-basket of Europe under the bus.

MAGA HAT: But we were giving them suitcases of money!

ME: No, we were giving them weapons destined for the scrap-heap. And now all that grain will go to Russia, driving the price YOU pay up even more because there's less on the world market.

MAGA HAT: That's just not true! Donald Trump has done more for America than any president in my lifetime!

ME: I give up. I honestly give up. Believe whatever you want, I don't care anymore.

I hear that all the time, but I’m not surprised. People wholeheartedly devote themselves to things like religion, why not devote themselves to a living person too while they’re at it?

Trump = good
Democrats = evilz

It’s a pretty simple set of beliefs to follow.

These people WILL blame Biden, Obama and the Democrats when prices go up, as part of some kind of conspiracy to destroy America from within.

Or if Trump says the price increases are the “price we must pay to restore freedom to America” they’ll smile and cheer and cry and clap over how great a job he’s doing.

What also disturbing to me is the number of Canadians I’ve run into who want Trump to invade and conquer Canada, by force if necessary. Trump cultism is alive and well up here too.

[RogueIce]

The White House has declared, in a court filing, that Musk and DOGE don't have any authority to make their own decisions.

That's not going to be an easy thing for Trump to walk back.

He's not going to walk it back. On the contrary, he's going to outright contradict this legal declaration made under penalty of perjury.

"I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge," Trump told an audience of investors and company executives in Miami.

In a nationally - if not internationally - broadcast address to however many people were in the audience at that conference. Which was done after this court filing was made, no less!

[Raw Shark]

What the fuck makes us think Canada would welcome an armed invasion? Things are better there. And the Canadian army is not exactly a pushover. They had our back in WW1 and WW11. The Canada army is not somebody's bitch. I'm just fully upset about this; this is some bullshit.

[bilateralrope]

The White House has declared, in a court filing, that Musk and DOGE don't have any authority to make their own decisions.

That's not going to be an easy thing for Trump to walk back.

He's not going to walk it back. On the contrary, he's going to outright contradict this legal declaration made under penalty of perjury.

"I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge," Trump told an audience of investors and company executives in Miami.

In a nationally - if not internationally - broadcast address to however many people were in the audience at that conference. Which was done after this court filing was made, no less!

Trump saying one thing in public and another when he's under penalty of perjury is nothing new. The courts aren't going to care about that until the court filings start contradicting each other.

[Tribble]

What the fuck makes us think Canada would welcome an armed invasion? Things are better there. And the Canadian army is not exactly a pushover. They had our back in WW1 and WW11. The Canada army is not somebody's bitch. I'm just fully upset about this; this is some bullshit.

Canada does not currently have a military worth speaking about, nor does it have nuclear weapons as a deterrent, so it would be a walk over if the US actually military invaded.

Not that they need to though; Canada is economically dependent enough on the US for everything that it would eventually cave if the US went all out in a trade war / embargo war.

Trump sees Canada as it currently is: a small (population wise) weak and divided country full of natural resources that is ripe for the pickings. Doesn’t matter that Canada has been a close US ally for over 100 years, why be friends with someone when Trump can just take them over by (economic, or military) force? Plus he’d get to claim that he was the president that finally took over Canada and added it onto the map. Because it would look good on a map, just like Greenland.

Again, there are surprising number of MAGA style Canadians who would be totally fine with this.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Are these Canadians actually living in Canada or the USA?

[Tribble]

Are these Canadians actually living in Canada or the USA?

Yes, I’ve into a fair number of Canadians living in Canada who quite earnestly believe that an American takeover is in their best interests. Mostly the anti-Trudeau crowd (whom I’m not a fan of, but the way to replace him is via vote rather than foreign invasion). Conservatives up here are constantly talking about Canada is broken so I guess some of them feel that they might as well have Trump invade.

Plus, the belief that if conservatives become convinced they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism, they will reject democracy may be equally applicable up here.

If Trump is serious (50/50 at this point, given his garbled state of mind who the hell knows?) there isn’t a whole lot we could do about it, unfortunately. We just don’t have the fire power and/or economy to withstand an all out hostile US takeover attempt.

That being stated he might just do it piece by piece like Hitler or Putin. Demand for concessions, then when we acquiesce demand more concessions and so on and so forth until we’re a de facto territory.

[bilateralrope]

What the fuck makes us think Canada would welcome an armed invasion? Things are better there. And the Canadian army is not exactly a pushover. They had our back in WW1 and WW11. The Canada army is not somebody's bitch. I'm just fully upset about this; this is some bullshit.

Canada does not currently have a military worth speaking about, nor does it have nuclear weapons as a deterrent, so it would be a walk over if the US actually military invaded.

But Canada is a member of NATO. That will complicate things.

[vakundok]

What does Trump's behavior mean to Taiwan?

"We are with you. I mean, till it becomes inconvenient. Then, we will charge you three times our support, payable immediately." Exaggerating, but this is how it feels.

[vakundok]

Double post

[Tribble]

What the fuck makes us think Canada would welcome an armed invasion? Things are better there. And the Canadian army is not exactly a pushover. They had our back in WW1 and WW11. The Canada army is not somebody's bitch. I'm just fully upset about this; this is some bullshit.

Canada does not currently have a military worth speaking about, nor does it have nuclear weapons as a deterrent, so it would be a walk over if the US actually military invaded.

But Canada is a member of NATO. That will complicate things.

No other NATO country is in a position where they can/would go so far as to contemplate using military force if the US were to actually invade. Protest and sanction the US, maybe. Kick the US out of NATO (if Trump didn’t already do it himself), sure. But actual military intervention? I don’t think so.

Not that I think it needs to go that far. Trump could just as easily demand concessions and put in tariffs and economic sanctions when we don’t comply, then demand more concessions whenever we agreed to the previous concessions, then demand more and more political and economic power over the country until we become a de facto territory. While putting maximum amount of pressure to infiltrate and/or replace Canadian politicians and bureaucrats at all levels with Trump supporters (of which we already have our fair share). And mount a 24/7 anti-Canada propaganda campaign (which he is pretty much already doing) for his supporters in both the US and Canada.

While that might complicate things with NATO it wouldn’t technically be an outright military invasion so the alliance wouldn’t be triggered. Again the rest of NATO might sanction the US for it, and might kick the US out, but I highly doubt they would actually send in military forces.


And what would happen if say our next (likely conservative) Prime Minister acquiesces to all of Trump’s demands, since he largely aligns with Trump’s views anyways?

If Trump actually is determined on taking us, I don’t see how we can stay independent long-term, barring perhaps getting a large enough nuclear arsenal that even Trump would think twice (which I don’t think we would have enough time for).

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Canada has the ability to create state-of-the-art nuclear weapons on very short notice. The CANDU nuclear reactor design (the Canadian standard nuclear power plant) can be converted to create weapons-grade material in short order, and Canada has both the parts and the know-how to create their own weapons in a pinch.

[Tribble]

Canada has the ability to create state-of-the-art nuclear weapons on very short notice. The CANDU nuclear reactor design (the Canadian standard nuclear power plant) can be converted to create weapons-grade material in short order, and Canada has both the parts and the know-how to create their own weapons in a pinch.

Making weapons grade material via Candu reactors is easy enough (that’s how Indian Pakistan got their nukes after all), and technically, we have plenty of nuclear waste to use as dirty bombs as well. I was assuming the main issue is that it would take quite a long time to be able to independently develop an ICBM system capable of carrying that payload and build enough of them to make a credible deterrent. Though I suppose if the goal is too specifically deter American aggression, the range of the missiles can be considerably shorter.

We’re talking about a country where it can take 10+ years just to build a single ship.

[Dark Hellion]

Guys, remember that war isn't a video game. In order to invade Canada, the US would need to organize tens of thousands of troops, tens of billions of dollars of equipment, and would need to actually go through the process of invading, holding territory, etc. etc. This isn't easy, as a number of different excursions by various superpowers over the last half century have demonstrated (including the US). And this isn't even beginning to get into how difficult it would be to do COIN against a group that is ethnically and culturally similar enough to blend in and have a reputation for being some of the most vicious fucking fighters in the world...

[Solauren]

Canada has the ability to create state-of-the-art nuclear weapons on very short notice. The CANDU nuclear reactor design (the Canadian standard nuclear power plant) can be converted to create weapons-grade material in short order, and Canada has both the parts and the know-how to create their own weapons in a pinch.

Making weapons grade material via Candu reactors is easy enough (that’s how Indian Pakistan got their nukes after all), and technically, we have plenty of nuclear waste to use as dirty bombs as well. I was assuming the main issue is that it would take quite a long time to be able to independently develop an ICBM system capable of carrying that payload and build enough of them to make a credible deterrent. Though I suppose if the goal is too specifically deter American aggression, the range of the missiles can be considerably shorter.

We’re talking about a country where it can take 10+ years just to build a single ship.

Citizens that easily blend in with the invaders.
Lead shield around the device, load it into the trunk, drive it into US territory, take it out, flip the switch.

Range is anywhere in the Continental US.

[Rogue 9]

SO someone explain to me why the US and Russia are having a Peace Talk in Saudi Arabia over Ukraine, but NOONE FROM UKRAINE was invited to the Meeting?

US Russia in Ukraine Peace Talks

The US and Russia are holding talks in Saudi Arabia about the war in Ukraine - it's the most significant high-level meeting since Moscow's full-scale invasion three years ago

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is speaking to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Neither Ukraine nor Europe are invited - so who's at the table?

The Kremlin says Vladimir Putin is prepared to speak to Volodymyr Zelensky "if necessary"; Zelensky has repeatedly said he won't recognise a peace deal negotiated without Ukraine

The US says today's talks are a first step to see if Russia is "serious" about ending the war, while Russia says it hopes to normalise relations with America

Because Putin wants to return to the pre-20th century idea of spheres of influence rather than the rules-based international order we've had since World War 2, and Trump thinks anything Putin tells him is a nifty idea.

[Batman]

Of course, the rules-based order would likely have been a lot more popular if the western players had actually ABIDED by those rules.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Canada has the ability to create state-of-the-art nuclear weapons on very short notice. The CANDU nuclear reactor design (the Canadian standard nuclear power plant) can be converted to create weapons-grade material in short order, and Canada has both the parts and the know-how to create their own weapons in a pinch.

Making weapons grade material via Candu reactors is easy enough (that’s how Indian Pakistan got their nukes after all), and technically, we have plenty of nuclear waste to use as dirty bombs as well. I was assuming the main issue is that it would take quite a long time to be able to independently develop an ICBM system capable of carrying that payload and build enough of them to make a credible deterrent. Though I suppose if the goal is too specifically deter American aggression, the range of the missiles can be considerably shorter.

We’re talking about a country where it can take 10+ years just to build a single ship.

Citizens that easily blend in with the invaders.
Lead shield around the device, load it into the trunk, drive it into US territory, take it out, flip the switch.

Range is anywhere in the Continental US.

Canada is also really, really big, meaning that no invasion force could muster the logistics to occupy the whole country

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Guys, remember that war isn't a video game. In order to invade Canada, the US would need to organize tens of thousands of troops, tens of billions of dollars of equipment, and would need to actually go through the process of invading, holding territory, etc. etc. This isn't easy, as a number of different excursions by various superpowers over the last half century have demonstrated (including the US). And this isn't even beginning to get into how difficult it would be to do COIN against a group that is ethnically and culturally similar enough to blend in and have a reputation for being some of the most vicious fucking fighters in the world...

Yeah they are During World War I on the Western Front, German soldiers were so terrified of Canadian soldiers, that they coined a new word to describe them: Sturmtruppen, AKA Storm Troopers. They knew from experience that wherever the Canadian troops were, it was expected there would be an offensive attack.

In World War II, the Canucks certainly proved their mettle storming Juno Beach on D-Day, the second most difficult landing of Operation Overlord behind that of Omaha Beach. By the end of the first day, the Canadians had penetrated further into France than the rest of the Allied forces.

[RogueIce]

Guys, remember that war isn't a video game. In order to invade Canada, the US would need to organize tens of thousands of troops, tens of billions of dollars of equipment, and would need to actually go through the process of invading, holding territory, etc. etc. This isn't easy, as a number of different excursions by various superpowers over the last half century have demonstrated (including the US). And this isn't even beginning to get into how difficult it would be to do COIN against a group that is ethnically and culturally similar enough to blend in and have a reputation for being some of the most vicious fucking fighters in the world...

And seeing as how Hesgeth is trying to totally gut the DOD's budget the ability of the US to muster such an invasion force is...increasingly unlikely.

Unless he just torpedoes the Navy (heh) and takes down anything in the Air Force that isn't the ANG and nukes and shoves it all into the Army, I guess. But I don't think he or anyone else in this Admin are that capable of advance planning. They only know how to destroy government institutions.

[bilateralrope]

Migrants, Deported to Panama Under Trump Plan, Detained in Remote Jungle Camp

The group of unauthorized migrants, which includes children, were bused to the camp late Tuesday night. “It looks like a zoo, there are fenced cages,” said one of the detainees.

By Julie TurkewitzFarnaz FassihiHamed Aleaziz and Annie Correal
Julie Turkewitz reported from Bogotá, Colombia, Farnaz Fassihi from New York, Hamed Aleaziz from Washington and Annie Correal from Mexico City.

Feb. 19, 2025

Nearly 100 migrants, recently deported by the United States to Panama where they had been locked in a hotel, were loaded onto buses Tuesday night and moved to a detention camp on the outskirts of the jungle, several of the migrants said.

It is unclear how long the group, which was deported under the Trump administration’s sweeping effort to expel unauthorized migrants, will be detained at the jungle camp.

Conditions at the site are primitive, the detainees said. Diseases, including dengue are endemic to the region, and the government has denied access to journalists and aid organizations.

“It looks like a zoo, there are fenced cages,” said one deportee, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old migrant from Iran, after arriving at the camp following a four-hour drive from Panama City. “They gave us a stale piece of bread. We are sitting on the floor.”

The group includes eight children, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak on the record. Lawyers have said it is illegal to detain people in Panama for more than 24 hours without a court order.

Panama’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Ruiz-Hernández, confirmed that 97 people had been transferred to the camp. “They are not detainees,’’ he said. “It’s a migrant camp where they will be taken care off — not a detention camp.”

Mr. Ruiz-Hernández said the camp was the best option available to the government for housing migrants and noted that the migrants had food, water and access to medical and psychological care. He said there were no cages.

In a broadcast interview on Wednesday with the news program Panamá En Directo, the country’s security minister, Frank Ábrego, said that migrants were being held by Panama “for their own protection” and because officials “need to verify who they are.”

The transfer is the latest move in a weeklong saga for a group of about 300 migrants who arrived in the United States hoping to to seek asylum. The group was sent to Panama, which has agreed to aid President Trump in his plan to deport millions of undocumented migrants.

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The agreement is part of a larger strategy by the Trump administration to export some of its most difficult migration challenges to other nations. The United States, for varying reasons, cannot easily deport people to countries like Afghanistan, Iran and China, but by applying intense pressure it has managed to convince Panama to take some of them.

Last week, Mr. Ruiz-Hernández, the deputy foreign minister, said Panama was complying with a direct request from the Trump administration to accept the migrants.

Analysts say Panama is also under intense pressure from Mr. Trump, who has threatened to seize the Panama Canal over what he believes is Chinese influence in the waterway, a claim that Panama’s president has repeatedly refuted.

After being sent to Panama, the deported migrants are no longer subject to United States law.

Costa Rica is also taking some deportees, including migrants originally from Central Asia and India, and has said it plans to repatriate them. A flight from the United States was expected to arrive in Costa Rica on Thursday.

Upon arrival in Panama City last week, the 300 or so migrants were taken to a downtown hotel, called the Decapolis, and barred from leaving, several of them told The New York Times in calls and text messages.

A lawyer seeking to represent many of them, Jenny Soto Fernández, was blocked at least four times from visiting them in the hotel, she said. At the hotel, the United Nations International Organization for Migration has been speaking with migrants about their options, according to the government, and offering flights to their home countries to those who want them.

Some, including a group of Iranian Christians and a man from China, told The New York Times that they risk reprisals if returned to their native countries, and have refused to sign documents that would pave the way for their repatriation.

Under Iranian law, converting from Islam is considered apostasy and is a crime punishable by death.

On Tuesday morning, an article published by The Times attracted enormous attention to the migrants’ situation, and members of the Panamanian news media began surrounding the hotel.

That night, guards at the hotel told people to pack their bags, said Ms. Ghasemzadeh, one of the Christian converts from Iran. Several buses arrived and guards led them aboard, as witnessed by a reporter working for The New York Times.

The migrants were initially told they would be taken to another hotel, Ms. Ghasemzadeh said, and some feared they were really being deported back to Iran.

Instead, the buses passed the airport and then snaked their way to a highway, traveling out of Panama City, east and then farther east, to the province of Darién.

Two migrants used their cellphones to share their real-time location with The Times, allowing reporters to track their movements.

The camp where the 100 or so migrants will stay is called San Vicente, and sits at the end of a jungle, also called the Darién, which links Panama to Colombia. The camp was built years ago as a stopover point for migrants coming north from Colombia through the Darién jungle and into Panama, a harrowing part of the journey north to the United States.

Now, the Panamanian government is using it for deportees.

One Iranian woman, the mother of an 8-year-old, cried during the bus ride. Her child had been sick with a sore throat for days, she said, and the uncertainty and constant displacement was taking a toll on her.

Upon arrival, Ms. Ghasemzadeh said she could see large containers that appeared to be the migrants’ new homes. Officials instructed them to fill out forms with their names, and asked for fingerprints, she said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Ábrego told reporters at a news conference that 170 of the 300 or so migrants had volunteered to be sent back to their countries of origin, journeys that would be arranged by the International Organization for Migration. He described the decision to hold the migrants as part of an accord with the United States.

“What we agreed with the United States government is that they remain and are in our temporary custody for their protection,” he said.

Responding to migrants’ accounts that many people’s cellphones and documents, including passports, had been confiscated, Mr. Ábrego said that those items had been taken while the migrants were in U.S. custody.

On Wednesday he said that 12 people from Uzbekistan and India had been repatriated with the help of the International Organization for Migration.

Officials also said on Wednesday that one of the migrants in their custody, a woman from China, had escaped from the hotel, where dozens of migrants remain.

In a message posted to X, the country’s migration service asked for help in finding her, saying the authorities feared she would fall into the hands of human traffickers.

“As a State security entity,” authorities wrote on X, “our commitment is to combat illegal migration,” while complying with “national and international principles and regulations on human rights.”

The Panamanian government has previously said the migrants had no criminal records.

Many migrants who remain in the hotel — including some from India and Eastern Europe — have signed documents authorizing their deportation and are expected to be sent to their countries of origin in the coming days.

On Wednesday morning, from the Darién region, Ms. Ghasemzadeh described a sweltering encampment, overrun with cats and dogs.

Then, she sent a text message saying that she feared authorities would soon take her phone. “Please try to help us,” she said.

I wonder if this is why Trump has stopped talking about seizing the canal.

[Raw Shark]

Speaking as a natural-born citizen of the USA who owns a firearm that I like to use, I don't think the Canadian army is something to fuck with. Those guys were in WWI and WWII before we were, and had our backs all the time since then. They're our brother: Yeah, you fight sometimes, but when the enemy attacks the home you stand together.

This shit is just stupid.

[Ralin]

Oh my god we've established that the Canadian army did well in World War 2. Can we just pretend everyone has gotten their cool one liner in on that and stop acting it has any bearing on their military now?