Blackmail, Bluster and Batshit Bonkers - Trump Thread #153

[Spandauer]

Enough already.

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5472639-who-are-they-kidding-its-oil-oil-oil-baby-trump-thread-152

Fair enough. Except I can't, because it's blocked where I am. And that is a consequence of a revolution.

:-)

TRIH blocked ?

It's easier to list what is not blocked. And even when sites are not blocked, the embedded stuff is.

Podcasts are blocked. Video streams are blocked. Only some vid is available on the few western news sites that are not blocked. And that is often geo restricted their end.

Coming to the USA soon under Trump.

With the caveat I haven't the faintest idea where on earth you are, have you looked into ways around it ?

You're not in China are you ?

I had assumed that Alan is either in China or one of the 'Stans
and this site being non images is less hungry with a VPN than many

I prefer not to say. This is the only UK forum not blocked. And once they notice it is not blocked, they will block it.

Ways around it are illegal.

In fact, as an amusing sort of thing, what state secrets are... is secret. And it's all a bit fuzzy. What am I blathering about ? Well, for example, the price of a Kg of tomatoes might or might not be an "economic data state secret". It depends.

All coming to the USA soon enough.

Wait till Fox news finds out the 2nd was not always universal.

Things have also gone a bit quiet on the Epstein Files and that video of the 'double tap' boat killing that was going to be released.

Funny, that.

Am I hearing right that MAGA farmers going bust are starting to circulate a conspiracy* theory that Trump is doing it to allow MegaCorps to buy up the farms on the cheap ?

*The irony being, it's not a conspiracy 😀

FFS. Are they farming MAGAs now ?

I suppose they are similar to turnips, so can't be that hard to farm.

Oh wait. I might have misread your post sorry.

Who needs murdering, gaslighting fascists in their lives when we have the release of the cinematic masterpiece that is "Melania" to look forward to on Thursday.

Watch and weep.

...in reality, you’ll probably end up skipping Melania to watch something less depressing, like Die My Love or a documentary about asbestos inhalation.

www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2026/jan/26/melania-amazon-authorised-documentary-white-house-premiere?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I was trying to find reviews on that earlier today. None yet. Apparently she is making $27 million from it.

All the countries Japan, Europe etc are now going to have to take back the trillions in loans to build their own Defence systems.

Re the ICE pay scale. As a former 'Fed' here's how it works. Everyone is on a 'G' pay scale (GS, GL, WG, SES etc). ICE agents are either GL (general law enforcement) or GS (general service).

ICE Agents are hired at the GL-7 or GL-9 level = $48,371 and $53,945 (base pay). Hiring grade depends on experience & education. There is also 'locality pay' for those living in expensive areas, this is common for all fed jobs. So for example, an employee who works in Kansas City would be paid less than one working in NYC once locality is taken into account. There are also 'steps' which are based on 'time in grade' and performance; ie GL7 step 1, step 2 etc. There are 10 steps in each pay grade and are usually 1 to 3 years apart.

They can progress to a GS pay grade of GS 11 and top out at GS 15 (up to $167,603+ with locality/overtime). But it looks like the 'normal' progression stops at the GS-13 (~$93,000.00). I expect that above GS13 are management positions.

Other pay that I can think of would be overtime, premium overtime, per diem, and 'awards' (aka bonuses). LEO may have things I wouldn't have known about.

So is a 'beginner' agent making 200k per year? I doubt it, 'extra' money was very regulated govt wide. But then again I've been retired since 2010, so things may have changed, especially under Scrotus.

Oh wait. I might have misread your post sorry.

It was worth the comic effect 😂

Seriously tho, farmers in the US.

Biggest pork producer in the US is.. Chinese owned. Smithfield food.

I have 'shirttail' farming (and MAGA) relatives in the Mid-West. This is nothing new. Every time there's an economic downturn in farming the big corporations swoop down with pennies on the dollar offers to buy farms.

Some of the downturns have been weather related, others are supply and demand. But this is the first I've heard of an 'engineered' downturn. Wouldn't surprise me if it were true.

Shirttail family is still waiting for the Trump Miracle that will restore them to 'prosperity'.

PS they're doing pretty well off of subsidies as it is.

I'm only on page 27, so apologies if this has been answered. This is the quote I saw:

Patel’s statements also drew immediate pushback from the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, which on Sunday joined several other gun rights advocacy groups in sounding the alarm.
Gun rights groups have long defended the right to openly carry firearms in public, a position that Trump and others on the right have championed over the years.
“This is completely incorrect on Minnesota law. There is no prohibition on a permit holder carrying a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines at a protest or rally in Minnesota,” the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus wrote on X in response to Patel’s comments.
A day earlier, Bill Essayli, a top prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, posted on X that “if you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Don’t do it!”
Those remarks drew swift condemnation from the National Rifle Association, the US’ leading gun lobby, which called them “dangerous and wrong” and urged officials to resist “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
Another prominent group, the Gun Owners of America, described Essayli’s comments as “untoward” and said the Second Amendment “protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting — a right the federal government must not infringe upon.”

Also thought this was interesting:
Walsh noted that the Trump administration’s rhetoric toward Pretti is out of step with its opposition to state firearms regulations. Just last week, the Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to strike down a Hawaii law that bans people from carrying guns onto private property without the explicit approval of the property owner, arguing it trampled on Second Amendment rights.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/us-gun-rights-groups-and-legal-experts-question-trump-administrations-stance-on-the-second-amendment-after-shooting/

Pork markets !

Paging Liz Truss.

They had Lionel Schreiber wringing her hands and sounding anguished on R4 The World at One this afternoon about the ICE shooting, all "it's the right policy but the wrong WAY".

They also had a crazy woman from US Republicans Abroad who started off by contextualising about "what particular video" might show what then seemingly was prodded into saying um if course it was a tragedy

Now you are playing games :-)

You know a picture needs to be posted now. And the comment:" different farm product".

"A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic"

Context for any non-British posters: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Truss_lettuce

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LRvmkqt9pws

Hence me disputing your mention of the Iranian revolution having more impact.

Mao holds the record for the biggest statistic.