The Reign of Trump

[Ralin]

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.

To be clear I was making the point that it sounds like the participants consider it to be a peace talk

[Tribble]

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.

While top level Canadian units are indeed very badass (like JTF2), on the whole our army is woefully small, and under equipped and completely out of date. And barring some units, our military is not designed or equipped to mount an insurgent campaign against the US.

More importantly, though is that much (if not most) of the Canadian is not remotely prepared mentally for that kind of hardship; we haven’t had a major deployment since Korea (yes we were in Afghanistan for over a decade, but that was a couple thousand troops at most which we were barely able to do). Have you met Canadians these days? There’s a good chunk of Canada that doesn’t even want us to have a military at all (though since the reelection of Trump, that number seems to have shrunk), let alone equip the military well enough to actually stand up for itself (think of all the social services we could’ve been putting that money towards)! It really wouldn’t take that much for the US to seize control, we’re not gonna be fighting the Americans like the Vietnamese, the Taliban or the Iraqis did.

But that’s besides the point because I don’t think that’s what they would do if they wanted to take control of the country. Far more likely it’s going to be a series of “concessions” where we handover more and more economic and political control over to the US until we are a de facto territory. And whenever we don’t play ball? Slap on the tariffs and sanctions. That’s all the US really needs to do. We are so economically and politically dependent on them already we don’t have much of a choice in the matter.

[LadyTevar]

TRUMP CLAIMS US PAID INDIA $21MIL FOR ELECTION TURNOUT

Did USAID really donate $21m to India?
Despite widespread reports, neither Doge nor Trump has provided evidence that USAID gave India $21m for voter turnout.

India's poll panel has not responded, but former election chief SY Qureshi denied receiving such funding during his tenure, which ran from 2010 to 2012.

Earlier, Malviya claimed that in 2012, under Mr Qureshi, the panel signed an agreement with a group linked to George Soros' foundation - primarily funded by USAID - to support a voter turnout campaign.

Mr Qureshi dismissed the allegation as "malicious", stating that the agreement explicitly imposed "no financial or legal obligation on either side".

On Friday, the Indian Express newspaper said in an investigative report that the $21m was sanctioned for Bangladesh and not India.

It was meant to run for three years until July 2025 and that $13.4m had already been spent, according to records accessed by the newspaper.

[Elfdart]

I'm not worried that much. Surely the all-powerful Senate Parliamentarian can stop all this, right?

[Ralin]

1) What the fuck can India do to meaningfully affect US voter turnout?

2) Wouldn't the Indian government or other major Indian organization expect a lot more money for that if they could?

3) Isn't Trump actually really popular in India?

[LadyTevar]

1) What the fuck can India do to meaningfully affect US voter turnout?

2) Wouldn't the Indian government or other major Indian organization expect a lot more money for that if they could?

3) Isn't Trump actually really popular in India?

You misunderstand, honey.
They're claiming the US paid INDIAN VOTERS to VOTE IN INDIA ELECTIONS FOR THE CURRENT RULING GOVERNMENT.

[Ralin]

1) What the fuck can India do to meaningfully affect US voter turnout?

2) Wouldn't the Indian government or other major Indian organization expect a lot more money for that if they could?

3) Isn't Trump actually really popular in India?

You misunderstand, honey.
They're claiming the US paid INDIAN VOTERS to VOTE IN INDIA ELECTIONS FOR THE CURRENT RULING GOVERNMENT.

Ah, my bad

[EnterpriseSovereign]

India's population recently overtook China, so surely to have any meaningful effect on turnout it would actually cost considerably more than $21m? Or is there something else going on here?

[Lost Soal]

1) What the fuck can India do to meaningfully affect US voter turnout?

2) Wouldn't the Indian government or other major Indian organization expect a lot more money for that if they could?

3) Isn't Trump actually really popular in India?

You misunderstand, honey.
They're claiming the US paid INDIAN VOTERS to VOTE IN INDIA ELECTIONS FOR THE CURRENT RULING GOVERNMENT.

Well it must be true, they've linked it to the all powerful Soros.

[Gandalf]

India's population recently overtook China, so surely to have any meaningful effect on turnout it would actually cost considerably more than $21m? Or is there something else going on here?

Twenty million could pay for a few good subject matter experts to go over and help set up certain procedures, or institutional things. Then locals can scale it up as needed.

More nefariously, one could use this as a guise to raise turnout in specific areas that are more likely to break for someone who better serves US interests.

[Raw Shark]

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?

Tough talk for a schoolteacher who wants to pick a fight on the internet.

[Gandalf]

Tough talk for a schoolteacher who wants to pick a fight on the internet.

Again?

Do you require attention?

[bilateralrope]

Key US agencies refuse to comply with Musk's latest demand

4:20pm

Key US agencies, including the FBI, State Department and the Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk's latest demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished last week — or risk losing their job.

The pushback from appointees of President Donald Trump marked a new level of chaos and confusion within the beleaguered federal workforce, just a month after Trump returned to the White House and quickly began fulfilling campaign promises to shrink the government.

Administration officials scrambled throughout the weekend to interpret Musk's unusual mandate, which apparently has Trump's backing despite some lawmakers arguing it is illegal. Unions want the administration to rescind the request and are threatening to sue.

Some officials are resisting. Others are encouraging their workers to comply. At some agencies, there was conflicting guidance.

One message on Sunday morning (local time) from the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., instructed its roughly 80,000 employees to comply. That was shortly after the acting general counsel, Sean Keveney, had instructed some not to.

And by Sunday evening, agency leadership issued new instructions that employees should “pause activities" on the request until noon Monday (local time).

“I’ll be candid with you. Having put in over 70 hours of work last week advancing Administration’s priorities, I was personally insulted to receive the below email,” Keveney said in an email viewed by The Associated Press.

Keveney laid out security concerns and pointed out some of the work done by the agency’s employees may be protected by attorney-client privilege: “I have received no assurances that there are appropriate protections in place to safeguard responses to this email.”

Musk's team sent an email to federal employees on Saturday giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished last week.

In a separate message on X, Musk said any employee who failed to respond by the deadline — set in the email as 11:59pm Monday (4.59pm Monday NZ time) — would lose their job.

Pushback to Musk's demand

Democrats and even some Republicans were critical of Musk's ultimatum, which came just hours after Trump encouraged him on social media to “get more aggressive” in reducing the size of the government through his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Senator John Curtis, R-Utah, was among the members of Trump’s party who had concerns.

“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, please put a dose of compassion in this,” Curtis, whose state has 33,000 federal employees, said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

“These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. ... It's a false narrative to say we have to cut and you have to be cruel to do it as well.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., questioned the legal basis the Trump administration would have for dismissing tens of thousands of workers for refusing to heed Musk’s latest demand.

The email did not include the threat about workers losing their jobs.

For Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., there was no doubt: “The actions he’s taking are illegal," he said on Face the Nation.

Trump mocked the affected workers in a meme today on his social media network.

The post featured a cartoon character writing a list of accomplishments from the previous week led by, “Cried about Trump,” “Cried about Elon,” “Made it into the office for once,” and “Read some emails”.

Some federal agencies aren't complying

Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel, an outspoken Trump ally, instructed bureau employees to ignore Musk’s request, at least for now.

“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” Patel wrote in an email confirmed by the AP.

“When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”

Ed Martin, the interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, sent his staff a message today that may cause more confusion. Martin noted that he responded to Musk's order.

“Let me clarify: We will comply with this OPM request whether by replying or deciding not to reply,” Martin wrote in the email obtained by the AP, referring to the Office of Personnel Management.

“Please make a good faith effort to reply and list your activities (or not, as you prefer), and I will, as I mentioned, have your back regarding any confusion,” Martin continued.

“We can do this.”

The night before, Martin had instructed staff to comply. “DOGE and Elon are doing great work. Historic. We are happy to participate,” Martin wrote at that time.

Officials at the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security were more consistent. Tibor Nagy, acting undersecretary of state for management, told employees in an email that department leadership would respond on behalf of workers.

“No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” Nagy wrote in an email.

Pentagon leadership instructed employees to “pause” any response to Musk's team as well.

“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” according to an email from Jules Hurst, deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

“When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses.”

The Homeland Security Department told employees that “no reporting action from you is needed at this time” and that agency managers would respond, according to an email from R.D. Alles, deputy undersecretary for management.

Job cuts across the government

Everett Kelley, president of the 800,000-member American Federation of Government Employees, said in a letter today to the administration that it should rescind Musk's request and apologize to all federal workers by the end of the day.

"We believe that employees have no obligation to respond to this plainly unlawful email absent other lawful direction,” he wrote, describing Musk as “unelected and unhinged”.

Thousands of government employees have already been forced out of the federal workforce — either by being fired or through a “deferred resignation” offer.

There is no official figure available for the total firings or layoffs so far, but the AP has tallied hundreds of thousands of workers who are being affected.

Musk today called his latest request “a very basic pulse check”.

“The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!” Musk wrote on X.

“In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks. In other words, there is outright fraud.”

He has provided no evidence of such fraud.

Separately, Musk and Trump have falsely claimed in recent days that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments.

Meanwhile, thousands of other employees are preparing to leave the federal workforce this coming week, including probationary civilian workers at the Pentagon and all but a fraction of US Agency for International Development staffers through cuts or leave.

Musk finally goes far enough that people in the Trump administration are resisting him. Hopefully this is the start of some infighting.


Donald Trump Has Already Spent $10.7 Million Of Taxpayer Money Playing Golf

Somehow, the expense has flown under the radar of the waste, fraud and abuse experts at DOGE.
By S.V. Date
Feb 18, 2025, 07:33 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has already spent $10.7 million of taxpayer money to play golf since retaking the White House last month, an expense that appears to have escaped the attention of his “Department of Government Efficiency” waste, fraud and abuse hunters.

The golf-related expenses — which are likely to recur most weekends while Trump is in office — have somehow flown below the radar of Elon Musk and his “high-IQ” team, as Trump calls them, of programmers who are ransacking their way through the federal budget and labeling items they do not like or appear not to understand as “fraud.”

Even as they point out five- and six-figure contracts and grants as wasteful, they have ignored each of Trump’s seven-figure golf trips to date. A search of posts by DOGE on Musk’s social media website once known as Twitter found zero mentions of the word “golf.”

A senior White House official directed questions about DOGE — which Trump created by executive order on his first day in office — to the White House press office. Neither that office, however, nor multiple officials in the Trump White House responded to HuffPost’s queries about the four golf trips.

There has been a golf trip each of the four weekends since Trump came back to the presidency on Jan. 20, and he has now played golf at his own properties on nine of his first 30 days in office.

“It’s clear that when the Trump administration considers the definition of corruption and wasteful spending, it doesn’t count spending that ends up in the president’s pockets,” said Jordan Libowitz of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “By visiting his for-profit businesses roughly a third of his days in office, Trump is directing government spending to follow him there, and profiting off the trip.”

HuffPost’s $10.7 million tally is based on a 2019 report by the Government Accountability Office breaking down the costs of Trump’s first trips to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, country club, during his first term. The GAO calculated a total cost of $3,383,250 for each trip. About one-third of that was the flight cost of Air Force One for the round trip, with additional expenses for flying down vehicles, including two presidential limousines, for Trump’s motorcade and reimbursing the Coast Guard for stationing a gunship in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast and heavily armed boats in the Intracoastal Waterway.

Those costs are based on 2017 dollars and are likely somewhat higher today.

HuffPost was then able to extrapolate those figures to derive totals for his other golf destinations, including courses he owns in Doral, Florida; Palos Verdes, California; Bedminster, New Jersey; and his courses in Ireland and Scotland.

In Trump’s first term, his golf expenses totaled $152 million over four years, for a total of 293 golf days at his own resorts.

Thus far in his second term, Trump has played golf at his own resorts each of the four weekends he has been in office. Three of the four have been at his course in West Palm Beach during his Mar-a-Lago visits, although the golf-related total for one of the trips is reduced by about $546,000 because the trip included a leg to New Orleans to participate in the Super Bowl. The total for the first trip, to Doral, is also less than a pure golf vacation would have cost because it included a segment out to Los Angeles and Las Vegas on official White House business. HuffPost is not counting those flight costs toward his golf total.

“It would be one thing if he went to Camp David every few days to hit golf balls. It’s hard to see this as anything other than using the presidency to prop up his businesses,” Libowitz said.

Trump allies spent former President Joe Biden’s term criticizing him for spending most of his weekends at his Delaware homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach and complaining about the taxpayer expenses.

Those travel costs, however, were a fraction of those that Trump was and is incurring. Most of the time, Biden traveled back and forth via Marine 1, with the helicopter trip costing about $150,000. When he used the smaller Air Force One, a modified Boeing 757, the trip expenses totaled about $500,000.

Wasteful spending that DOGE is unable to see.

[RogueIce]

"Officials at the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security were more consistent."

I wouldn't say that, at least not for us.

While DHS did indeed eventually come out and say not to respond, they did so pretty late in the day on Sunday. By then, TSA leadership at least, had apparently tried the "we will respond for the agency" but got shut down - it was not clear by whom - and originally instructed personnel to respond, which many did before DHS countermanded that directive. This I have seen firsthand, via shared communications and direct response from my local leadership; I saw on Reddit other DHS components were similar at the start of the day, having been directed to respond before the Department itself said not to.

Frankly, this just goes to show the arbitrary and frankly capricious nature of this latest move by Musk and his stooges at OPM. Nobody in the agencies had any idea this was coming and as a result, initial response and internal communications and instructions were confused, to say the least. It took quite a while before upper leadership started giving firm directions one way or another - some went straight to "you are to comply" while others went the "await further direction, we're checking in to this" path and still others, as in my agency's case, straight up pulled a 180.

[wautd]

Wasteful spending that DOGE is unable to see.

With its massive conflicts of interest and its current wrecking of federal agencies, I seriously doubt that finding wasteful spending is DOGE's real goal, just a smokescreen.

[LadyTevar]

Well, Ukraine blinked.

Why is Ukraine negotiating a mineral rights deal with the US?

Kyiv and Washington are close to signing a deal over US access to Ukraine's mineral deposits, a Ukrainian minister says.

Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said on X that "negotiations have been very constructive, with nearly all key details finalised".

She added that "we are committed to completing this swiftly to proceed with its signature".

Ukraine has been facing growing pressure from the US administration to sign the deal, which has ended up in the centre of the growing rift between the US and Ukrainian presidents.

Zelensky first included the offer of an agreement on minerals in the so-called "victory plan" that he presented to Trump last September.

The idea was to offer the then presidential candidate a tangible reason for the US to continue supporting Ukraine.

On Monday former UK prime minister Boris Johnson told the BBC in Kyiv that such a deal was "the great prize" because it would secure "a United States commitment under Donald Trump to a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine".
(snip)

There's a lot more in the article, but yes, it's a bribe to get Trump on their side.
I really don't think it will work, because I'd fully expect Trump to sell them out to the Russians.

[LadyTevar]

Oh For Fuck's Sake What the Unholy Fuck

Trump Names podcaster Dan Bongino Dept FBI Director

WHAT THE UNHOLY FUCK DOES A SHITTY PODCASTER KNOW ABOUT THE FBI?!?!!?

[Gandalf]

There's a lot more in the article, but yes, it's a bribe to get Trump on their side.
I really don't think it will work, because I'd fully expect Trump to sell them out to the Russians.

It looks like Russia gets what they want, in that they reintegrate various eastern areas of Ukraine. The US gets what it wants, in that they get access to Ukrainian resources. Others get what they want in other smaller packages. Right now the only real bargaining chip Zelenskyy has is that he can step down.

Ukraine didn't have much choice, because their time is running out quickly. So they may have decided to just cave now with a mildly intact country than face a proper collapse of the front down the line.

[Raw Shark]

Tough talk for a schoolteacher who wants to pick a fight on the internet.

Again?

Do you require attention?

Okay, I'm sorry I've been kind of upset this week, but my country is acting the dick. I don't mean to take it out on you guys, it's just really distressing.

[Zaune]

This shitshow isn't good for anybody's nerves. Even the brighter and more perceptive fash must be getting a bit concerned about Musk's antics by now.

As to the question of the United States versus Canada, Mexico or any other country whose head of state didn't stroke Trump's ego to his personal satisfaction this week, the question is not really whether the United States could conquer the place but whether it could hold it. And I very much doubt it could, not unless the entire US armed forces suddenly start subscribing to the Tom Kratman school of counterinsurgency tactics.

[Solauren]

Musk is sending out more emails giving people a 'second chance' to justify his job.

Based on my job (Canadian Federal Government), this is how I would reply.

Mr. Musk.

To the best of my knowledge, you are not part of the organization I work for. Therefore, you are not in an organizational or legal position of authority over me. Therefore, I do not have to answer your questions.

Even elected officials have to follow channels to speak to me in an official capacity, or for me to speak to them, and you are not even that. Not even the head of the federal government has the right to do that, and vice versa.

You are, at best, an outside contractor, and therefore certainly can not do that.

Further, according to all the legal documentation, forums, and vetting I had to go through before I even started job training, I am not allowed to speak to you about my job in an official capacity, without risking violating several Federal Laws.

Therefore, until I see something from my Team Leader, Manager, their superior, etc, authorizing me to speak to you, that has been approved by the organizations legal council, which would also have to be similar vetted by my union.

I will be treating you, and the questionably-legal-at-best organization, as SPAM.

[Zaune]

You'll also probably be unsurprised to learn that Musk's grand plan to address the question of just how his team is supposed to read all the responses in a timely manner with AI.

Can't find a link to the article where I heard this, but do you really doubt my word on this one?

[bilateralrope]

You'll also probably be unsurprised to learn that Musk's grand plan to address the question of just how his team is supposed to read all the responses in a timely manner with AI.

Can't find a link to the article where I heard this, but do you really doubt my word on this one?

Hallucinations and nobody willing to say that they made the decision if someone got fired, which will make questions about why a specific employee was fired very difficult for DOGE to answer. That's going to be interesting when the firings get challenged through the legal process.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

You'll also probably be unsurprised to learn that Musk's grand plan to address the question of just how his team is supposed to read all the responses in a timely manner with AI.

Can't find a link to the article where I heard this, but do you really doubt my word on this one?

Any email addresses they use will be immediately drowned with spam

[bilateralrope]

You'll also probably be unsurprised to learn that Musk's grand plan to address the question of just how his team is supposed to read all the responses in a timely manner with AI.

Can't find a link to the article where I heard this, but do you really doubt my word on this one?

Any email addresses they use will be immediately drowned with spam

People are going to have fun with that. I wonder who they will get Musk to fire.