The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2)

[Smapti]

It’s also censoring the word “Epstein”.

[Cervaise]

It says a lot that undermining free speech and destroying democracy is a higher priority for them than managing a functional and profitable business.

[Smapti]

My “I don’t have Alzheimer’s” shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt.

“[My father] had one problem,” Trump said. “At a certain age, about 86, 87, he started getting, what do they call it?”

According to the reporter, Ben Terris, Trump pointed to his forehead and looked towards White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“Alzheimer’s,” she said.

“Like an Alzheimer’s thing,” Trump continued. “Well, I don’t have it.”

Trump forgets the word for "Alzheimer's" as he claims he doesn't have it -...

[yendis]

Its a good thing that tik-tok users are completely incapable of getting around censorship by using alternative words or phrases.

[Monty]

Every day is May 35th!

[Broomstick]

@Cervaise

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/26/tech/tiktok-ice-censorship-glitch-cec

Color me shocked! The new ownership took control of the split-off American TikTok a few days ago, and now anti-ICE videos won’t load. Who would have predicted!

“Glitch” my ass.

We are now living in a world where the US is exerting more censorship on social media in the US than Chinese ownership ever did.

(What China may or may not be doing in China is a different question)

[Buck_Godot]

These should be really easy to check. If you can upload cute cat videos but not ICE videos, then its not a glitch.

[Horatius]

@Monty

In the latest back-and-forth between the U.S. and Canada over the deal, Ambassador Pete Hoekstra cautioned that if Canada purchased fewer fighter jets, the U.S. would “fill those gaps” in security concerns.

That could mean the U.S. would need to purchase more F-35 fighter jets for its own use and use them to intervene in Canadian airspace more frequently.

Aren’t these the same guys who whined about Canada not doing enough to defend itself?

“Spend more money, or we’ll spend it for you!!!” No. Stop. Don’t.

[Broomstick]

I can not independently verify it, but several people I follow are now reporting (on a different platform) that that is more or less the case.

Also that nothing with “Epstein” is being let through the censor filter.

Again - I can not confirm that but some are certainly claiming that.

[doomtastic]

@Smapti

Trump now wants to send ICE to (checks notes) Italy.

This actually seems to be normal thing?

It involves the much more professional HSI branch (i.e. real trained agents like the FBI has), and is there for its expertise on transnational criminal organizations. But it’s getting blowback from the fact that it’s still a branch of ICE… So it’s now associated with brownshirts and murder.

Yet another example of how all of this bullshit is making us less safe.

[Gyrate]

@Smapti

The former head of FIFA is calling for a World Cup boycott now.

Sepp Blatter figured it out? Sepp Blatter?

[Folacin]

@Great_Antibob

The majority of cases, many severe, were in kids who hadn’t reached their teen years yet. To the extent improved sanitation made a difference, it was to limit exposure to the virus in the first place, not to build resistance (see also: current polio outbreaks not just in the US but abroad). This ‘resistance’ thing sounds adjacent to some anti-vax talking points about how it was improved sanitation, not vaccines, that led to the near eradication of the disease.

Made me actually research my memory. Here’s a hopefully good source. Not an anti-vax theory, btw, but turns out it was wrong

Many scientists concluded that it was the sanitation that expanded infection. Before the sanitation improvement, wild poliovirus was everywhere, and most people caught the disease as young children. They became immune.

“The thing about getting the infection in infancy is we get maternal antibodies that protect against paralytic polio,” Martinez-Bakker said. People might get sick, but they would not get the paralytic form of the disease.

This was not where I had originally heard this hypothesis, but there was a Michigan study that disproved it (from the linked article).

The Michigan researchers, using huge amounts of health data from the 48 U.S. states that existed before the development of the Salk vaccine, concluded that the evidence doesn’t support the theory. The expansion of the disease is nothing more than the result of a burgeoning population that grew particularly rapidly after World War II and the baby boom. More people was the problem, not more virus.

What the hygiene hypothesis ignored was that fact that unlike smallpox, where every infection leads to symptoms, more than 90 percent of people infected with the polio virus show no symptoms. The “silent infections” don’t show up in the data.

Thanks for making me chase that - always nice to remove a bit of false info from my brain.

[Spoons]

@Horatius

Aren’t these the same guys who whined about Canada not doing enough to defend itself?

“Spend more money, or we’ll spend it for you!!!” No. Stop. Don’t.

I’ve seen a hypothesis that suggests that the reason that the US was always pushing Canada to spend more on defense was not for North American security, but instead to benefit the US economy. It goes something like this:

US: Spend more on your military!

Canada: We’re going to do just that. We’re talking with Sweden about buying their fighter aircraft. They work really well in cold conditions, so they’re perfect for the Arctic, and they’ll be made here in Canada by Canadian workers. Win-win!

US: No! You have to buy American aircraft made in the USA by American workers! Otherwise, we might have to do something …

[Der_Trihs]

@Horatius

Aren’t these the same guys who whined about Canada not doing enough to defend itself?

@Spoons

I’ve seen a hypothesis that suggests that the reason that the US was always pushing Canada to spend more on defense was not for North American security, but instead to benefit the US economy.

There’s likely some truth to that.

On top of that, the Right likes to portray other people & nations as weak, cowardly and/or parasites. They’ve said much the same about Europe.

[Smapti]

“You can’t have guns”

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)

[Q.Q.Switcheroo]

Well, you can’t have the duck!

L.A. Story (1991) - Patrick Stewart Clip

[Mundane_Super_Hero]

@Smapti

“You can’t have guns”

I saw this… I heard him say it.

Q: Is this the end of 2-A? Does this mean all hunters better get good with bow and arrow in all 50 states real quick? Does this just mean the end of handguns? Does this mean the end of ammo sales? Does this mean the end of CCW and or Open Carry?

Does this mean that the NRA supports this?

Look, I know that I have no dog in this fight, but a lot of people do… and this would be a major shift in US policy. We have had literally hundreds of mass shooting deaths in the US since Charles Whitman climbed the tower in Texas… and I’m all for keeping children safe… but This is what kills 2-A…?

[Jack_Batty]

The only thing it means is Trump puked out the first thing his atrophied brain could muster and he’ll deny he said it later. Most likely he won’t even remember he said it.

[Great_Antibob]

What he really meant is what many Americans already (not so) secretly believe: guns (or rights or speech or whatever) for me but not for thee

[Mundane_Super_Hero]

@Jack_Batty

The only thing it means is Trump puked out the first thing his atrophied brain could muster and he’ll deny he said it later. Most likely he won’t even remember he said it.

TrumpVoice\] “Sorry, Jr… no more Africa Safaris for you…” \[/TrumpVoice