Are We Feeling Liberated Yet? - Trump thread #141

[Spandauer]

King Donald has bigly new tariffs, First Lady Elmo turns out to be ballot box poison and 'Pick Me Girl' Vance is a meanie to the EU.

(But at least the penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands are wearing suits)

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5297058-trumpmusk-the-doge-and-pony-show-continues-trump-thread-140

Tariffs are applied at the moment the goods enter the charging nation.

I wonder what would happen if Trump just told the US equivalent of HMRC not to bother collecting the tariffs ?

Owners of bonded warehouses must be making a killing as importers stash stuff to wait out a tariff change.

Hopefully someone would lock him up at that point. 😬

Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” is still on U.S. Naval Academy shelves. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “Memorializing the Holocaust” are not.

An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office led to a purge of books that are critical of racism — but preserved volumes defending white power.

https://bsky.app/profile/nytimes.com/post/3lmkpngw2i22n

I saw that. Incredible. It's almost like they don't even really mean this 🙄

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/g-s1-45468/trump-antisemitism-executive-order-protests-deport-hamas

And so it begins....
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-12/us-tariffs-war-with-china-australian-beef-exports-up/105166632?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

You gotta know when to hold, know when to fold down, know when to walk away, know when to run.... An anthem for the Trump era?

https://open.spotify.com/track/5KqldkCunQ2rWxruMEtGh0?si=cad4a014b2594b23

A-one, you say?

https://www.businessinsider.com/a1-steak-sauce-linda-mcmahon-ai-gaffe-marketing-instagram-2025-4

Well done Tom Swarbrick of LBC for terminating an interview with the revolting Sebastian Gorka who is always so rude. I think Gorka imagined he wouldn't. But he did.

twitter.com/LBC/status/1910769850160496780

Donald Trump plans to stockpile deep sea critical metals to counter China

https://www.ft.com/content/2205fc9a-67b5-4112-9b7f-cd89d011f5bb

Do they even have the infrastructure to ramp that up? I mean, you can't exactly send down a diver with a bucket. Either way it's going to be an ecological disaster.

Maybe they are planning to use Elon's submarine?

It's probably just as likely as drilling on Mars

Rights are another obstacle

Thank you for the link, it was interesting. Unfortunately, reading the comments about it also reminded me of why I have been avoiding X since before Trump was re-elected - it is such a huge cesspool of ignorant hatred, I can’t read it any longer. Though on the other hand, Blue Sky Social is an echo-chamber for me, and there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to go now where you can get a reasoned discussion without exchanging insults. Welcome to Trump World. It’s Hell on Earth.

Jai Totally agree. I'm encouraged with BSkyB now but as you say it is a bit of an echo chamber.
I'm still registered on Twitter because I like to see what's going on, but my god it's frustrating

On another note, why is world peace being single handedly negotiated by a real estate agent?

This was back in the Iraq War days, but my son and his friend were 'scolded' a few times after being overheard speaking (American) English when they were in Austria. They ended up speaking Spanish to each other when out in public.

I think if I were to travel outside the US these days I'd carry a backpack with a Canadian Flag on it. Yes, I know it's flying false colours, but needs must when Scrotus the devil drives.

Trump is excluding smart phones, routers and selected computers from his reciprocal tariffs

I heard this on the news yesterday and found it very worrying. If the US goes ahead, it will be the start of a wild west race to exploit international waters.

I can see transferable HPHT deep water drilling tech/expertise being utilised in the mining. The result will be ocean pollution and the exploitation of small nations with these metals & minerals in their territorial waters.

My head is exploding with how it could all go wrong. The following report is based on industrial trials performed in the 70's, but tech has since moved on.

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/new-study-reveals-long-term-effects-of-deep-sea-mining-and-first-signs-of-biological-recovery/

I think if I were to travel outside the US these days I'd carry a backpack with a Canadian Flag on it.

I was amused in my trips to France at how attuned Parisian ears are to flavours of English. Certainly people I knew had no problems telling Australians from New Zealanders, and Welsh and Scots from English. This was even funnier when one of my Scottish friends was able to gabble away in French as she went around, whilst my English friends almost always were replied to in English. No matter how fluent their French.

And (of course) when I was going around the US, it was evens as to whether people picked me out as British or Australian for the first week. Then my sponge ear kicked in. (One reason why I can't spend too long in Liverpool 😀)

Anyway, I imagine quite a few French folk won't be fooled by a flag.

Customs Clearance has always involved that.
Every consignment comes with its own paperwork.
The ship comes into port.
The containers are landed uncleared.
Once the contents of each container have cleared customs and any import fees paid, it leaves the port and the consignments go to their final destination.

We are very obviously American, living in the UK and have just recently travelled to France and Italy, and have actually found people very eager to commiserate with us on how awful it all is.

The best account on Facebook right now is the Alt National Parks Service.
This post is chilling

www.facebook.com/AltUSNationalParkService/posts/pfbid0DkEwjhmY5Fz9uwnAez6y6q2J4L97ocfjyEGqBK42DWy1ENk2VGSFcD7iWVw1rr6il

It is distressing, and this won't be comforting, but I wouldn't put this at the top of your worry list. There are about 10,000 things more likely to go explosively wrong before they even get their toes wet on this.

Oh look, Trump blinked 😎
https://x.com/nicktolhurst/status/1911065687604293778

What a loser!