What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Syt]

https://apnews.com/article/social-security-fraud-waste-doge-elon-musk-212e3089951f731fd3f83443e104b315

Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.

Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency's "my Social Security" online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.

The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.

Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.

The plan also comes as the agency plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices throughout the country and has already laid out plans to lay off thousands of workers.

In addition to the identity verification change, the agency announced that it plans to expedite processing of recipients' direct deposit change requests – both in person and online – to one business day. Previously, online direct deposit changes were held for 30 days.

"The Social Security Administration is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud," Leland Dudek, the agency's acting commissioner, said on a Tuesday evening call with reporters — his first call with the media. "Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service."

He said a problem with eliminating fraudulent claims is that "the information that we use through knowledge-based authentication is already in the public domain."

"This is a common sense measure," Dudek added.

More than 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive retirement and disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.

Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that "by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system."

The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended. However, Dudek downplayed the impact of its offices shuttering, saying many were small remote hearing sites that served few members of the public.

Many Americans have been concerned that SSA office closures and massive layoffs of federal workers — part of an effort by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the size of the federal government — will make getting benefits even more difficult.

Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and described the federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, and called it a "Ponzi scheme" suggesting the program will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.

Voters have flooded town halls across the country to question Republican lawmakers about the Trump administration's cuts, including its plans for the old-age benefits program.

In addition a group of labor unions last week sued and asked a federal court for an emergency order to stop DOGE from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.

[Solmyr]

Where are the protests that should be involving 100s of thousands* of American at a time?



*Serbs managed 300 thousand the other day, protesting against their 'Kremlin friendly' president.

Hell, even thousands of Israelis are protesting Netanyahu's resumed strikes on Gaza.

[Syt]

Can't protest if you're working subsistence jobs.

[Josquius]

Pretty good read, writeup by that Canadian woman ice randomly decided to lock away.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney

[Neil]

I wonder why she tried to go in from Mexico?  At any rate, don't go to the US. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yeah, pretty much my conclusion.

[Grey Fox]

My kid has a class trip in late may to Boston. I'm hoping they cancel it so I can get my money back. All those kids born outside of Canada might not have a fun time at the crossing.

[crazy canuck]

I wonder why she tried to go in from Mexico?  At any rate, don't go to the US. 

She explains why

I started working in California and travelled back and forth between Canada and the US multiple times without any complications – until one day, upon returning to the US, a border officer questioned me about my initial visa denial and subsequent visa approval. He asked why I had gone to the San Diego border the second time to apply. I explained that that was where my lawyer's offices were, and that he had wanted to accompany me to ensure there were no issues.

[viper37]

Can't protest if you're working subsistence jobs.

There were a lot of protests for Gaza.

[Zoupa]

My kid has a class trip in late may to Boston. I'm hoping they cancel it so I can get my money back. All those kids born outside of Canada might not have a fun time at the crossing.

We had planned a vacation in Seattle for April. We canceled that pretty fast after January 20th. I don't mind at all. The prices were pretty stupid. I don't know how anyone affords anything down there.

[Tamas]

Can't protest if you're working subsistence jobs.

There were a lot of protests for Gaza.

Matter of priorities I guess.

[Syt]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/jackie-robinson-army-history-dei-military-department-defense-rcna197067

Jackie Robinson's Army career wiped from military website in DEI purge
Robinson trained as an officer and was assigned to a tank regiment during World War II.

The military story of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball after serving as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army, no longer exists on the Department of Defense's website as part of the Trump administration's wiping out of diversity, equity and inclusion within the federal government.

The Pentagon was ordered by Trump to scan federal websites for articles, social media posts, photos, news articles and videos to remove any web pages that "promote diversity, equity and inclusion."

Robinson trained as an officer and was assigned to a tank regiment, but he still had to deal with harassment and the overall policy of segregation in the U.S. military. He faced a court-martial for refusing to sit in the back of a bus while at Fort Hood in Texas, according to Military.com. Though he was found not guilty of the six counts, including insubordination, the court-martial prevented him from deploying to fight in Europe with his battalion.

"As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department," Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot said Wednesday in a statement to NBC News. "Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services' core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed -- either deliberately or by mistake -- that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content accordingly."

Robinson, whose military service was highlighted on the Army and the Air Forces' websites, is the latest known Black icon to be included in the purge of websites overseen by the Pentagon.

A webpage about Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist and World War II veteran, was erased from Arlington Cemetery's website.

Trump called Evers, who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year, a "great American hero" at the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in 2017.

"In Arlington, he lies beside men and women of all races, backgrounds and walks of life who have served and sacrificed for our country," Trump said. "Their headstones do not mark the color of their skin, but immortalize the courage of their deeds."

Likewise, last month, Trump announced that Robinson and other Black figures would be honored in a planned National Garden of Heroes.

Since Trump's executive order on DEI last month, thousands of acknowledgements of contributions by women and minority groups have been taken down, an effort that Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell supported at a briefing Monday.

"I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this — that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, frankly, incorrect," Parnell said. "Our shared purpose and unity are our strength. And I say this as somebody who led a combat platoon in Afghanistan that was probably the most diverse platoon that you could possibly imagine."

[Syt]

Le Monde reports that a French scientist who was to attend a conference near Houston was denied entry to the US because his phone had conversations with colleagues that criticized the Trump administration's science policies. Supposedly those messages showed a hatred of Trump and could be described as terrorism.

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/03/19/etats-unis-un-chercheur-francais-refoule-pour-avoir-exprime-une-opinion-personnelle-sur-la-politique-menee-par-l-administration-trump_6583618_3210.html

[...]

According to a diplomatic source to AFP, the incident occurred on March 9. The space researcher was reportedly subjected to a random check upon arrival, during which his work computer and personal phone were searched. The same source also reported that messages discussing the Trump administration's treatment of scientists were found. He was reportedly accused of messages "that reflect hatred toward Trump and can be described as terrorism ." His professional and personal equipment was reportedly confiscated, and the researcher was sent back to Europe the next day.

[...]

(translated by Chrome )

[dist]

Translation is alright.

This is really appaling, and expected, and depressing. Like all the other stories. Only think I could think of was: "He is lucky he was sent back the next day."

[The Brain]

There's a reason no one travels to the US anymore.