Trump+Musk; the DOGE and Pony show continues -Trump thread #140

[Spandauer]

Trump, as out of control as a faulty Tesla, takes an ICE pick to the Constitution.

Thanks to @AcrossthePond55 and @Jaichangecentfoisdenom for the thread title and sub-title 😊

Photocollage: Cold War Steve
Map illustration: Barry Blitt

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5286872-the-orange-man-and-the-state-of-his-union-trump-thread-139

Happy Liberation Day to all those who celebrate!!💃I hope Starmer doesn't forget to tweet about it.

By amusing coincidence, we have our bi-annual catchup with our financial advisor today. He's done very well for us over the past few years - I'll be curious to hear his thoughts.

Thrilled about Wisconsin, both for reasons of politics and democracy and for the pleasure of seeing Leon get a public smackdown. And very moved by Corey Booker. I hope the Dems can find a way to mobilise and capitalise on this.

Goldman Sachs has raised its recession estimate to 35 percent, up from a previous 20 percent prediction.

Happy Liberation day! Ye-ha!

iirc, many food imports from the US are not adhering to EU standards - US allows different food colouring for example. I think the raw materials like soy are different, but there is also different GMO regulation and other laws on pesticide use.
In the light of cutting the health and safety agencies, I would assume that standards on food safety and ingredients become even more non-EU compliant.

I'm in a EU country and on supermarket shelves there might be items like Californian almonds, but a lot of the US brands have manufacturing plants in the EU, so the food is not imported, for example the confectionary maker Mars has a location in Spain.
Genuine US food such as pop tarts with their DIN A 4 list of food additives are making up only a small sliver of the market.

Exactly, we don't want your Pop Tarts! They can't force pop tarts on us surely.

😁
Maybe it's a sneaky three-point-turn.
Make people unhealthy with an overdose of additives, have a bigger market for US pharma companies.

Yes, possibly, a captured market. I went around the states when I was very young in the 80s so I was about 6, despite going to all these amazing places over a period of about 2 months, my lasting memory was how fun the cereal was, all brightly coloured, I think if you can get to the children it is quite worrying.

That and how in New York, a man called my Dad a son of a B**ch! My siblings who were older and I had never heard that expression!

@Goldenbear Why am I thinking of E-numbers, and not in a good way? Orange food? Hyped up children?

Absolutely, this was the mid 80s, my mind was blown and seduced by the choice of rainbow coloured cereal. My Mum refused to buy me any of it, like back home in England- where she didn't let us have food with e-numbers in due to hyperactivity but oddly did let us have highly sugary Ribena-😂 The point is, no one is going to embrace that kind of food now In the UK as we are reminded about our nation's health problems, I have Danish family and they certainly won't be!

My parents did the same in the UK for my brother and me (Ribena included), but in the Sixties and Seventies, @Goldenbear. I have very fond memories of “Cranks" health food restaurants.

Shame.
Does anyone know where I can source the world's tiniest violin?

www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/02/tesla-sales-down-elon-musk

So excited! ONLY 4 HOURS TILL LIBERATION DAY!

I've been directed over here for some advice as to how to know if a person has recently died in New York city or the county of New York, possibly Jersey. Person is my sister and have a contact (helpful but obviously did not disclose information). Can't believe she is no contact as we never had any issues but I do and will always respect her decision, always helped her.

I think she has died, no longer living.

How do I proceed? I've looked up her name via a website suggested by search and AI. No record. Plus I really don't know where to start.

I'm fully aware that if there's no contact in the USA then that's it and they are very protective, she's bi-polar and has schizophrenia and receives help, mainly from nuns. She has a British passport and is from Northern Ireland. Apparently she may have moved back to Ireland but I don't believe that for one moment. She has a green card.

Much appreciated.

They’ve gutted the FDA. going to make it difficult for US big pharma to do much. Unless Leon and RFK have decided that drug approval & safety is an unnecessary tick box.

@placemats
I am in the same situation with my sister.

Your best bet is to work your way through the counties she lived in
(if the phone number is a landline the code will help)
Ask them to check if a death has been registered with her surname
The contact number for NYC is here
https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/birth-death-records.page
as an example.

I phone the one for where my sister lives every year or two to check if she has died.
They are very helpful and accepting of family estrangement.

Thank you @Talkinpeace that's so helpful xx

Politico reporting that Trump has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will be stepping back from his current role in the administration.

Strewth! Let's hope they now hate each other and are both bent on revenge.

@placemats Hope you're able to find out something. 💐

Because without Senate approval he has to go by the end of April

If Elon feels he's been pushed out X is going to be fun to watch.

@placemats I asked DH - who is from NJ and whose DF died fairly recently - but we are in the UK.

He said that any death has to be reported to the local municipal office/town clerk and it's called something like the Department of Vital Statistics. But he thought you would need to know the township and/or county that she lived in to get the correct office - if it's in NJ. The funeral directors organised the death certificate for DH's father so he doesn't remember much about it unfortunately.

There are others (US citizens) on the thread who are probably better placed to advise you so hopefully they will see your request.

If you know the Convent/nuns order that she was in contact with would that be a place to investigate?

He was doing that in May anyway, wasn't he?

Having to go early then!

I thought I’d read the other day he was going in May.

Still time for a massive bust up before then.