Quote from: Lori Dee on June 17, 2025, 05:19:41 PMI have to question the timing of all of this. Why now?

Millions of people are in the streets celebrating Pride peacefully around the world. And there is nothing he can do about it. So, find an excuse to insert massive numbers of federal agents to target Democratic cities. The situation changed from celebrating Pride to protesting immigration raids. Orange Man never admits to any wrongdoing and instead will double down. Weaponize the militia and counter the Pride parades with a grand military parade (that no one wanted) to stroke an ego at the cost of $45 million.

The problem is that every time he has been found in the wrong, he doubles down. That is leading us in a scary direction.

I suspect because he doesn't like being outside the news. Iran and Israel are literally destroying each other with missile barrages. There's a real possibility that Threads could happen within the next year or two. Loads of people dying. The world is quite honestly on the brink of WW3. But Trump can't stand a world where the focus isn't on him. So he has to make everything about him. Because he knows that when it comes down to it... and I kind of feel bad for saying it, US folks are insular first. What happens there matters more than what happens in the rest of the world. And this clown knows that. He plays on it. If he can make everything all about him then who cares that other parts of the world are obliterating each other? If he isn't involved in the stuff going on in the wider world, he ignores it, and gets all you folks to ignore it. By doing really stupid stuff to keep you focused on your own country and just how much he's ruining it. No publicity is bad publicity.

That's why now. Because people different to his demographic are easy targets. To keep your attention away from what actually matters. And... a lot of folks lap it up.

Quote from: Sephirah on June 17, 2025, 06:05:24 PMI suspect because he doesn't like being outside the news.

THIS.

And yes, now we see him inserting himself into that world stage. At first, Marco Rubio clearly stated that the U.S. was not involved in any way, shape, or form. Then Trump implies that he knew about it all along. Then he states that he gave Iran 60 days to decide about the nuclear negotiations, and then it was day 61, implying that he had something to do with it. He likes to take credit for things that he had nothing to do with.

When Iran threatened to attack any country that is helping defend Israel, Trump's Administration then began a propaganda campaign informing the public that Americans live in Israel and there are American troops stationed throughout the area. He wants a war and will use any excuse to have one, in some foreign country or our own. He doesn't care.

Quote from: Lori Dee on June 17, 2025, 08:17:00 PMTHIS.

And yes, now we see him inserting himself into that world stage. At first, Marco Rubio clearly stated that the U.S. was not involved in any way, shape, or form. Then Trump implies that he knew about it all along. Then he states that he gave Iran 60 days to decide about the nuclear negotiations, and then it was day 61, implying that he had something to do with it. He likes to take credit for things that he had nothing to do with.

When Iran threatened to attack any country that is helping defend Israel, Trump's Administration then began a propaganda campaign informing the public that Americans live in Israel and there are American troops stationed throughout the area. He wants a war and will use any excuse to have one, in some foreign country or our own. He doesn't care.

He is all bark and no bite. He is quite happy to make himself as the king of the hill, threatening everyone but doing literally nothing. I am sorry, Lori, but it makes the US look a shadow of the powerhouse it used to be. You used to be the folks the world held in massive regard. Who would wade in and this kind of petty crap would just end. Trump just talks and everyone think's he's a joke. Because he likes to pretend that he's not a joke.

If you can... please come back to the US that had the special relationship with the UK. That everyone could count on. That you folks gave a damn about everything outside yourself without making it seem like a circus. That the folks people like Lori and Ash signed up for. And Devlyn. The world wants you to get back to that. To be the good folks again. To believe in the things your country was founded on. You can do it. You just need to cut out this orange rot.

Quote from: Sephirah on June 17, 2025, 08:29:30 PMThe world wants you to get back to that. To be the good folks again. To believe in the things your country was founded on. You can do it. You just need to cut out this orange rot.

I would venture a guess that the majority of Americans are just what you describe. Most are good people who are helpful, friendly, and courteous. Their main concern is not "men" in women's sports, but how they will make next month's mortgage payment. Many on the far right allowed their extremist views to fuel the election in the wrong direction. They used social media, chatbots, and foreign agents to spread their message of hate and make it seem like that is the majority consensus. Many are waking up and saying, "This is not what we voted for!" Many of those I have talked to said they were voting for reduced taxes and lower egg prices, not the anti-trans issues. Even politicians within the GOP are beginning to see their party platform as a bit extreme.

So, how did this happen? As I stated in an earlier post here, I have seen evidence that EVERY election is rigged. It is specifically designed so that top government positions are awarded to the highest donor. There are ways to prevent that from happening, but no one who can stop it is willing to sacrifice their golden goose.

NBC News (DEC 5, 2024) - Elon Musk spent a quarter-billion dollars electing Trump, including financing mysterious 'RBG PAC'

BBC News (Jun 6, 2025) - Musk later went on to campaign for the president there and even gave away a few $1m cheques to voters.

CalMatters (Jun 17, 2025) - Elon Musk gave $1 million to Donald Trump voters. California lawmakers want to ban that

Musk gave out $1 million checks to swing state voters in the presidential election last year and then in Wisconsin a few months later.

It will take a major revolution to make it stop, and maybe another after that to repair the damage. Sometimes I doubt I will live long enough to see it happen.

Every American person I've ever met, Lori, is not the horrible demon the world is trying to make you out to be. And that's the point. The decent people got dragged along for the ride.

In a few years, Trump will be a stain on the White House carpet. He will be a giant Athlete's Foot stain in history.

I, as most of the people in the UK, still feel that bond with our American cousins across the pond. Nothing is kind of going to remove that because of the decades, nay centuries of history we have together. No blow hard mafia boss can lose that. In the UK we feel bad just because the great orange chimpanzee is trying to control the world.

Y'all will always be our cousins across the pond <3

Quote from: Sephirah on June 17, 2025, 09:19:34 PMY'all will always be our cousins across the pond <3

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language." (George Bernard Shaw)

 

Wildfires, flooding, storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

Wake up, people. Mother Nature is not happy.

Ice given access to Medicaid data in move critics call a privacy betrayal
Officials let ICE access health data to locate migrants, alarming experts who warn of civil rights and health risks
Link to Full Article
The Guardian - Jessica Glenza
Thu 17 Jul 2025 16.36 EDT

Medicaid officials have reportedly made an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to allow agents to examine a database of Americans' personal information – including home addresses, social security numbers and ethnicities.

The data sharing agreement will allow Ice to find "the location of aliens", according to an agreement obtained by the Associated Press. Medicaid is the nation's single largest health insurer, providing coverage for 79 million low-income, disabled and elderly people.

"This is about the weaponization of data, full stop," said Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic US representative from Washington state, who has worked extensively on US healthcare, in a statement on social media.

"Trump said he would go after the 'worst of the worst' immigrants, yet now is giving ICE EVERYONE's Medicaid data, even as ICE targets US citizens. Oh, and undocumented immigrants can't even enroll in Medicaid."

Trump administration officials reportedly overrode the warnings of career civil servants who said such a data sharing arrangement would violate multiple statutes at the insistence of top aides to the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

"Multiple federal statutory and regulatory authorities do not permit CMS to share this information with entities outside of CMS," Medicaid's deputy director, Sara Vitolo.

----------------------------------------

Ben D'Avanzo, a healthcare strategist at the National Immigration Law Center, posted on social media, "This is a privacy violation of unprecedented proportions and betrayal of trust, as the government has explicitly said, for decades, that this information will never be used for immigration enforcement."

That is because "undocumented immigrants can't even enroll in Medicaid."

And yet, here we are. The wealthy elite are breaking the law, targeting the lowest-income citizens. This is not about immigration.

Who will they target next?

"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth." - George Orwell.

That sums up Trump.