The Trump 2nd Term

[Vlad Drkulec]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2696278.html

California for Greenland maybe?

[Bob Gillanders]

Well, 3 weeks now with Trump 2.0

Where do you start? I am wondering which Co-President is more dangerous, Donnie or Elon.

I can only laugh when Donnie says he'll refuse to defend Canada. The only country threatening Canada is the USA.
He sounds like a mob boss. Nice country you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

Hey, Maga people, are you tired of winning yet?

Buy Canadian.

[Bob Armstrong]

Republican Government Goal

Gut the operation of the federal bureaucracy - so King Donald can rule by fiat?

Use as a cover: "cutting federal costs" - achieve the main goal by the gutting of the Federal Bureaucracy & Associated Organizations


1. Attack on Federal Bureaucracy Generally

"The clock is ticking down for federal employees weighing whether to accept the Trump administration's so-called "buyout" offer to resign. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk aim to oust hundreds of thousands of workers in a move they say will help streamline America's federal agencies. Widespread layoffs are expected to begin soon after today's [Thurs., Feb. 6, 2025] 11:59 p.m. ET decision deadline set by the Office of Personnel Management. A White House official said at least 40,000 federal employees have accepted a separation agreement. That figure represents about 2% of the roughly 2 million workers who received the offer. The White House has said its target is for between 5% and 10% of employees to resign."

CNN - 5 Things am Newsletter - 25/2/6

Court Protection

"Judge Delays Federal Worker Resignation Plan

The judge suspended a deadline for federal workers to apply for a delayed resignation offer until at least Monday afternoon [Feb. 10, 2025], when a hearing will be held. The offer had been set to expire at 11:59 p.m. [on Thurs., Feb. 6, 2025.]"

The New York Times - Breaking News Newsletter - 25/2/6


2. Foreign Aid - Gut USAID

"USAID Workforce Slashed From 10,000 to Under 300 as Elon Musk’s DOGE Decimates Agency

The US government’s primary foreign aid organization is losing the vast majority of its staff, forcing the agency’s lifesaving work to screech to a halt."

Wired - Wired Daily Newsletter - 25/2/7
BY KATE KNIBBS | 2-MINUTE READ
https://link.wired.com/.../5cc9df993f92a477a0e65.../49e8ab7f

Court Protection

"On Friday [Feb. 7, 2025], U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols stated that he intends to issue a "very limited" temporary order to prevent President Donald Trump's administration from taking specific actions to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

This decision follows a lawsuit filed on Thursday [Feb. 6, 2025] by the largest U.S. government workers' union and an association of foreign service workers, who sought to halt the administration's efforts to disband the agency."

Newsweek - Breaking News Newsletter - 25/2/7


3. USA Treasury

Court Protection

"Judge Halts Access to Treasury Payment Systems by Elon Musk’s Team

The judge said there was a risk of “irreparable harm” in giving Mr. Musk and his team access to systems that included bank details and other sensitive material."

The New York Times - Breaking News Newsletter - 25/2/8


4. Attack on Agencies Administering Medicare & Medicaid

[Elon] Musk [& his new DOGE Department] (who the White House says is the sole arbiter of his own conflicts of interest) has moved on from USAID and the Treasury to agencies that administer Medicare and Medicaid benefits, upon which more than a third of all Americans depend.

Already the subject of litigation, Musk’s sprawling, chaotic effort to shutter agencies and cut Congressional funding was met today with protests all across the country. The South Africa native has inserted himself into various federal agencies while seeking to terminate or force out tens of thousands of workers with buyouts (which theoretically must be funded by Congress). But the Republican Party, which controls Congress, appears to be fully aligned with Trump’s attack on his own branch and hasn’t moved to defend its constitutional authority (Trump’s two impeachments took place while Democrats controlled the House of Representatives)."

Bloomberg Media - Evening Briefing Newsletter - 25/2/5


5. Environmental Protection Agency

Attack by internally re-organizing the power structure in the bureaucracy

"E.P.A. Demotes Career Employees Overseeing Science, Enforcement and More

A spokeswoman for the agency said the change was “common practice.” Others said it injects partisanship into jobs that have always been neutral."

The New York Times - Climate Forward Newsletter - 25/2/9



Helms Deep USA 25/2/9 Update

Bob A

[Vlad Drkulec]

Sid, I have never been very impressed with Maxime Bernier. I find his position against Trump tariffs a little too soft.
I much prefer NDP Charlie Angus and the average Canadian.

Trump has the support on a minority of Americans, and his support is eroding fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X4...ccupyDemocrats

Join the boycott against American products.

Quite frankly I am very irritated by these tariffs. The pretext for the tariffs is questionable. By claiming an emergency he can suspend the USMCA free trade deal. The lesson is that the U.S. is not an entity that you can make an agreement with and expect them to abide by the terms of that agreement.

Fentanyl from Canada is a tiny problem relative to the drugs flowing from the southern border. Illegal immigration from Canada is also tiny compared to the southern border.

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/01/il...hwest-borders/

Starting a trade war with the U.S. is a self-inflicted gunshot to the Canadian economy. Canada should send someone that Trump likes and ask him what he wants us to do beyond becoming the 51st state to solve this problem. Mexico is sending 10,000 troops and their tariffs are suspended for a month.

The idiotic rush to kill pipelines east and west has put us in this situation so this is a lesson. Understand that everything is now on the table. The collapse of a resource based economy puts everything at risk particularly equalization payments, our welfare state, our farm marketing agencies, everything.

So we can go down that road. The leftists might want us to go down that path as the collapse of Canada gives them opportunities for their Marxist revolution. Alternatively, take a look at what Columbia and Mexico just did and get rid of the tariffs at least for a month or two by then Trump will have moved on to his next shiny object.

[Tom O'Donnell]

I see Mexico has agreed to put 10K troops on the border to stem the flow of invaders and fentanyl. Looks like playing hardball leads to concessions. Well played by the Trump team.

[Sid Belzberg]

Sid, I have never been very impressed with Maxime Bernier. I find his position against Trump tariffs a little too soft.
I much prefer NDP Charlie Angus and the average Canadian.

Trump has the support on a minority of Americans, and his support is eroding fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X4...ccupyDemocrats

Join the boycott against American products.

I dare say closing the borders and stopping Fentanyl exportation a simpler and less painful plan to excecute. Also transparency regarding the Chinese Communist Parties infiltration into the Canadian electoral system is critical to allay fears that Canada presents as a security threat to the USA.

[Bob Gillanders]

Sid, I have never been very impressed with Maxime Bernier. I find his position against Trump tariffs a little too soft.
I much prefer NDP Charlie Angus and the average Canadian.

Trump has the support on a minority of Americans, and his support is eroding fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X4...ccupyDemocrats

Join the boycott against American products.

[Sid Belzberg]

Unwanted governmental meddling into citizens' affairs, which is what tariffs are, is bad. It is very anti-Libertarian. Trudeau did the right thing by not responding to a big wrong by committing another big wrong: he has put tariffs on only about 5% of imports from US starting this Tuesday (with a plan to put similar tariffs on about another 25% of imports 3 weeks later).

Interesting post by Canada PPC leader Maxime Bernier


Maxime Bernier

@MaximeBernier




It’s important to understand that the 25% tariffs announced by President Trump today are NOT imposed on Canada — they will be paid by American consumers and businesses who buy goods imported from Canada. Tariffs are a tax, and Americans who will have to pay more or go without our products will be the first to suffer. Of course, Canadian exporters of these goods will as a consequence lose clients, contracts and sales, and will be forced to cut down on production and lay off workers. Or they will lower their prices to keep market shares and will see their profits diminish. Because 75% of our exports go south of the border, our economy will for sure be very negatively impacted by this. The stupidest thing our government can do however to deal with this crisis is to impose the same kind of tariffs “dollar for dollar” against US imports. The US economy is ten times bigger than ours, much less reliant on trade than ours, and much less dependent on our market than we are on theirs. Not only would retaliatory tariffs have much less impact on American exporters, they would immediately impoverish Canadian consumers forced to pay more for imported goods, as well as destabilize Canadian businesses that need inputs from the US in their production processes. It would more than double the harm of the US tariffs to our economy. Trade wars are bad for everyone, but they are much worse for a small country with fewer options. We simply cannot win a trade war with the US. It’s very unlikely that Trump will back down. All we will do is provoke a massive economic crisis in Canada, until we are forced to capitulate. Another self-destructive thing to do would be to set up giant “pandemic-level” bailout plans to support everyone affected by this trade war. This will simply bankrupt our governments even more than they already are and make us even weaker. So what should we do? 1. Double down on efforts to control our border, crack down on fentanyl dealers, deport all illegals, and impose a complete moratorium on immigration, to answer Trump’s immediate concerns about Canada. 2. Tell the US administration that we are ready to renegotiate North American free trade and put dairy supply management and other contentious issues on the table. 3. Wait and see to what extent Trump is willing to keep tariffs in place despite the harm it does to the US economy. Despite his pretenses that Americans don’t need our stuff, the reality is that on the contrary they have few other options for crucial resources like oil, lumber, uranium and other minerals, etc. He will stop acting like a bully when he sees that he can get more results by sitting down and negotiating. 3. To reduce our dependence on the US market, immediately implement an ambitious plan to tear down interprovincial trade barriers and help our impacted exporting industries find alternative markets in other countries. 4. Immediately implement a series of bold reforms to make our economy more productive, including: reduce corporate and personal taxes, abolish the capital gains tax, abolish all corporate subsidies, get rid of excessive regulation, remove impediments to the exploitation and export of natural resources, drastically cut government spending, mandate the Bank of Canada to stop printing money and start accumulating a gold reserve to prepare for the global monetary reset (which is likely part of Trump’s plan). In short, instead of adopting a suicidal strategy to confront Trump, we must do what we should have done a long time ago to strengthen our economy and our bargaining position. The transition will be rough, but not as much as complete bankruptcy and disintegration.

[Dilip Panjwani]

Unwanted governmental meddling into citizens' affairs, which is what tariffs are, is bad. It is very anti-Libertarian. Trudeau did the right thing by not responding to a big wrong by committing another big wrong: he has put tariffs on only about 5% of imports from US starting this Tuesday (with a plan to put similar tariffs on about another 25% of imports 3 weeks later).

[Bob Armstrong]

Trump's Tariffs

Canada

Effective Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.



Helms Deep Canadian 25/2/1 Update

Bob A

[Vlad Drkulec]

Good morning Bob A.

Donnie sure was busy his first week back in the oval office. No way whatsoever to cover everything, and I see you picked birthright citizenship to comment. A bedrock constitutional guarantee, but apparently not so much in MAGA world.

One of his royal decrees was to reverse Biden's initiative to lower prescription drug prices. The initiative was too little too late, but at least it did lower insulin prices for some. So why would Donnie scrap that? Is he going to replace it with something better, or just out of spite, or a request from one his new billionaire friends?

Fake news. Trump did not rescind the insulin price cut. Trump was actually the person who first introduced the idea of $35 insulin. The following leftie somewhat anti-Trump sites admit that.

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/i...ts-2025-01-28/

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/artic...-prices-false/

It does not help when the media and Democratic powerless brokers media complex sets its hair on fire and lies like that and some gullible people believe them.

Trump has certain issues from the point of view of Canadians that really need to get out of his cross-hairs but these are not them. You lose credibility when you repeat media lies.

Rachel Maddow had to start working again and take a pay cut.
Jim Acosta was given the bums rush by CNN.
They follow Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and other high profile departures.
Many more will be following suit as lying about Trump has consequences for mainstream media, in loss of credibility and loss of viewership and influence on the public. Lets not even get started in the lawsuits.

[Bob Gillanders]

Americas - USA

Citizenship

"A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional."

Good morning Bob A.

Donnie sure was busy his first week back in the oval office. No way whatsoever to cover everything, and I see you picked birthright citizenship to comment. A bedrock constitutional guarantee, but apparently not so much in MAGA world.

One of his royal decrees was to reverse Biden's initiative to lower prescription drug prices. The initiative was too little too late, but at least it did lower insulin prices for some. So why would Donnie scrap that? Is he going to replace it with something better, or just out of spite, or a request from one his new billionaire friends?

[Bob Armstrong]

Americas - USA

Citizenship

What are the rules??

Birthright Citizenship?

"A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional."

Several Democratic-led states are seeking a temporary restraining order as they argue that Trump's action violates the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to all children born on US soil "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof."

The Trump administration has vowed to fight the decision, arguing that that clause "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" allows the president to exclude the children of undocumented immigrants and even children whose parents are lawfully present but lack permanent legal status."

CNN - 5 Things am Newsletter - 25/1/24

https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/mes...=1737718611104



25/1/27 Helms Deep USA Update

Bob A

[Bob Armstrong]

Americas - USA

Republican Party Government

Policies

9 Initiatives for Day 1 of the new Republican Government

1. Mass deportation of undocumented immigrants - Are all terrorists and criminals? Do some have circumstances that make a humanitarian application for temporary residence legitimate?

2. Sweeping tariffs - numbers of economists have warned they could have drastic and harmful effects on the U.S. economy.

3. Pardons - defendants charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Should they not go to trial first and be convicted? If already convicted, does the situation of the conviction not matter? What about democracy? What about rule of law (Vs Right of Kings)?

4. Foreign policy

Ending the war in Ukraine - with Russia keeping all the Ukraine territory it has stolen??

5. Climate Change

a. Cancel the electric vehicle 'mandate' - are we to wean ourselves off the suicidal fossil fuels ever?

b. Increase oil drilling in the United States - just what the climate needs!!

7. An America 1st Economy

Auto industry - to be “fueled by American energy,” “sourced by American suppliers” and built by American laborers.

Works in the "short" run; but fails in the long-run when the American market is saturated, and USA needs foreign markets to continue (Which have just been shafted for years by USA tariffs???)

8. Human Rights

Transgender rights

a. Military & Women's Sports - Limit participation by transgender women.

This is a complicated area - I wouldn't think this headache is needed on Day !???

b. Gender Identity - resources and guidance are currently provided to ensure accessibility and information about the "gender-affirming care" options, including hormone therapy.

The Republican government will revoke this program.

NBC News - 25/1/16

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...x-newtab-en-us

9. Social Media

Chinese TikTok, owned by Chinese ByteDance - recently SCOTUS upheld the current Democratic Party ban on TikTok, if not sold by ByteDance.....the issue is one of national security.

Republicans will stop this federal ban.

The New York Times - Breaking News Newsletter - 25/1/19

https://messaging-custom-newsletters...d396a4debfd6ce




25/1/19 Helms Deep USA Update

Bob A

[Dilip Panjwani]

Sid has raised some important issues regarding Big Pharma. One needs to realize that most vital research leading to useful drugs occurs in Universities, Big Pharma then pays a pittance to 'buy' this research and then patents it, making incredible profits out of these patents. Patents also lead to dishonest marketing. This makes no ethical or business sense at all. The society (government using tax dollars) needs to reward those who do all the valuable research and ban patents on them. Only then will the drug prices become reasonable.

The interaction between the doctor and the patient is pivotal to the health of the patient, and has to be guided by the doctor's knowledge, wisdom, empathy and respect for the patient; this can happen better in a 'private' set-up than in a 'public' system, because in the latter, factors other than the highlighted four often ruin the sacred doctor-patient relationship... Sid has referred to some aspects of this ruining in some of his posts on chesstalk.