Want to understand what Trump is doing? Part 3

I think I saw somewhere that donations were up for Harvard. It has been around longer than Trump, it will survive him.

Trump days the ATC system is ancient and he is correct. However, we did not have near as many near misses or crashes before Musk "cleaned up".

He wants his Starlink to be used, so he is in it for the money. And anything g bad that happens will push Trump and MAGA to agree with him vs. Doing things the right way.

Thank you for the information. I'll try and check them out more - want to see where things lead as regards any similar policies in UK...

I saw a headline that the UK and US have agreed to a trade deal, but haven't seen anything on it yet this morning. It is still early here though.

Its due to be announced about 3pm here this afternoon.

Adfontesmedia has charts which could be very useful for those looking at an article in an unfamiliar publication, and not knowing the degree and direction of bias that they habitually exhibit. They say "Our methodology requires that each article is rated by three trained analysts: one left-leaning, one right-leaning, and one center. A random sample of articles from a particular source is analyzed, and the weighted average of those articles determines where the source falls on the Media Bias Chart®" One pic is the May edition, on news outlets. Another is on podcasts. They came from www.facebook.com/adfontesmedia/ I tried to save these two and upload them to the post, but failed.

DEI is an essential part of a meritocracy.

Think about it - when public-school educated young white men comprised a huge majority of those in professions like politics and law, was this a meritocracy (ie the best person for the job regardless of background, religion,sex,race)?

I don't think so.

Thank you for keeping us informed, imaround.
I loved the " corrections " in the letter that Harvard returned to the administration!

Elegran thanks for your link to Adsfontmedia, I was unaware of it but interested to see three of the media I subscribe to in the green box!

foxie48

Elegran thanks for your link to Adsfontmedia, I was unaware of it but interested to see three of the media I subscribe to in the green box!

Thanks from me, too, Elegran. The site looks really useful.

Bill Gates speaks up. they are calling it a Billionaires feud in the Financial Times front page story:

Gates accuses rival Musk of “killing worlds poorest children” with aid cuts.

Keep speaking up, Gates.

imaround

I saw a headline that the UK and US have agreed to a trade deal, but haven't seen anything on it yet this morning. It is still early here though.

Trump has called it both a Trade Deal and a Trade Agreement and apparently they do differ.

This seems to be a simple Trade/Tariff Reduction Deal at this point which allows us to save jobs. Would love to know more about this if anyone has that knowledge (or knows where to find it

Thank you Elegran for the link to Adfontesmedia - fascinating!

I'm glad it seems useful, as there is a distinct shortage of neutral reporting.

I've had no chance to really investigate which media Adfontes found most biased (and how much so and in which directions). Just after finding and succeeding in posting it I had to go out for a booster vaccination, which involved a long walk, rush hour buses and finding my way round a vast shopping mall on three floors. When I got home all I wanted was something to eat and drink and an early night.

Back to the legal processes. "Jefferson Griffin concedes after federal judge rules to certify Allison Riggs’ election victory."

At the heart of Griffin’s lawsuit was a challenge to 65,000 lawfully cast ballots that he believed should be tossed out, because of errors made by the state elections board. The board counted some 60,000 ballots cast by voters with allegedly incomplete registration.

Griffin also challenged several thousand other ballots cast by military and overseas voters who didn’t provide their photo ID — because state law didn’t require them to when they registered to vote. The lawsuit also challenged the ballots of several hundred “never resident” voters: overseas voters who were registered in North Carolina but never resided in the state.

Democracy Docket has more on this.

I am glad they finally settled that Supreme Court case. That guy just would not give up!

Things notched up today when the Mayor of Newark, NJ was arrested by ICE. I think trespassing was the charge, but I am not 100% sure. Every official they arrest increases the likelihood that violence will increase.

We aren't going to make it to midterms IMO.

I found this fascinating. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC7bCrZSZ6w

It analyses Carney's visit to the Whitehouse and, I felt gave insight into Starmer's similar tactics. Only Trump needs them to be a sideshow, everyone else would probably like boring and workman like

imaround

I am glad they finally settled that Supreme Court case. That guy just would not give up!

Things notched up today when the Mayor of Newark, NJ was arrested by ICE. I think trespassing was the charge, but I am not 100% sure. Every official they arrest increases the likelihood that violence will increase.

We aren't going to make it to midterms IMO.

Decided to read further

www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/newark-mayor-ras-baraka-arrested-ice-detention-facility-new-jersey-rcna205949

Baraka the Mayor has been very vocal about opposing some of Trumps deportation methods and is also a candidate for the Democrats going forward. The occasion was a visit by congressmen and women to the facility but the Mayor was outside it.

"Linda Baraka, the mayor’s wife, accused the federal government of targeting her husband.

"They didn’t arrest anyone else. They didn’t ask anyone else to leave They wanted to make an example out of the mayor," she said, adding that she had not been allowed to see him.

It could be a landmark case.

Report in the BBC -

Donald Trump's administration is "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus - the right of a person to challenge their detention in court - one of the US president's top aides has said

(Habeas corpus is a legal procedure by which a report can be made to a court alleging the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and requesting that the court order the individual's custodian to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether their detention is lawful.)

"Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters on Friday that the US Constitution allowed for the legal liberty to be suspended in times of "rebellion or invasion

This attacks the very foundation of a democracy, of course, what I'd like to know is whether Congress or the Supreme Court have the power to challenge an administration using this excuse?

Oh my! This is ... I can't think of an appropriate phrase.

So it really is a coup by someone wanting the powers of a King ... ... ....

So Musk has hide-tailed it back to running his business which has lost untold billions since his little incursion into the Trump government.

DOGE cuts have impacted extremely seriously in untold areas and apparently without any monetary advantage at all.

The economic impact has been entirely net, but the social impacts have been disastrous. Including hospitals closing, national parks being closed right down to individual level.

PoliticsNerd

Oh my! This is ... I can't think of an appropriate phrase.

So it really is a coup by someone wanting the powers of a King ... ... ....

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Lord Acton

The US administration has not yet carried out its threat to suspend habeas corpus. The outcry from the judiciary and democrats has been substantial: the Republicans have been rather silent on it.

Currently it is being used as a threat to bring judges in line with Trump policies, to far for their jobs and well being, despite the Supreme Court ruling 7-2 a while back of the right to habeas Corpus.

The principle of Habeus corpus was established in the UK in 1679, 5 years before the founding of Pennsylvania. None of Trump's ancestors would emigrate to the USA for centuries, & the "Great America" of oil, steel & autos that Trump wants to resurrect was far in the future.
It's an under-pinning of the traditions that he thinks he's protecting.

I don't think he thinks he's protecting anything, basically it would be a way of suppressing those who disagree with him. I remember him leading chants of "lock her up" when Hilary Clinton was found to have sometimes used a private server for official emails, yet when his people used Signal to discuss secret military plans he was completely unfazed.
He wants to accept a 400 million dollar plane from the Qataris but look what he said in 2016.
“It’s a criminal enterprise. Saudi Arabia giving $25 million, Qatar — all of these countries,” Trump said at an October 2016 debate with Clinton. “You talk about women and women’s rights? So these are people that push gays off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money.”
He has absolutely no moral compass! Jared Kushner's business was funded by the Saudis and Trump is hoping to get a plane off Qatar. The man is a complete disgrace!

edition.cnn.com/2025/05/14/politics/video/trump-middle-east-businesses-have-tripled-since-first-term

A short video