What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[celedhring]

The US Embassy sent a letter to the Stockholm City Planning Department demanding they sign a contract about not hiring women or black people. Obviously the contract won't be signed. Apparently the embassy doesn't foresee needing any building permits or similar in the future.

Yeah, the US embassy/consulates have been trying the same shenanigans here, trying to get their providers to sign "NO DEI!!!!!" contracts. Problem is that diversity programs are mandatory under Spanish law. I guess they'll have to clean their own litter.

[Sheilbh]

Trump supposedly plans to announce that the US will start calling the Persian Gulf the Arab Gulf during his trip to the region.

We're ever more living in different realities.

In fairness I think that one is a genuine naming dispute - I think all Arab states (but especially the Gulf states) call it the Arabian Gulf. I think basically everyone else calls it the Persian Gulf.

I think this was a minor controversy in the first Gulf War because the international coalition would use Persian Gulf while the Kuwaitis (and Saudis) wouldn't.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

It's a stupid naming dispute. It's been Persian gulf for longer than people have been talking about arabs.

[Sheilbh]

Is there a naming dispute in the world that isn't basically pretty stupid? (Serious question - they all seem a bit mad to me.)

Edit: Staring particularly at Greece/Macedonia - I have a friend who worked in the Balkans and I think he said the UN diplomat who'd been working that had proposed North Macedonia over twenty years ago as one of the first suggestions, after two decades of rows and ICJ cases the parties ended up agreeing to North Macedonia

[Duque de Bragança]

Trump supposedly plans to announce that the US will start calling the Persian Gulf the Arab Gulf during his trip to the region.

We're ever more living in different realities.

In fairness I think that one is a genuine naming dispute - I think all Arab states (but especially the Gulf states) call it the Arabian Gulf. I think basically everyone else calls it the Persian Gulf.

I think this was a minor controversy in the first Gulf War because the international coalition would use Persian Gulf while the Kuwaitis (and Saudis) wouldn't.

I have seen Golfe arabo-persique in some instances for political reasons but it has not caught on.
Adding -ique or íco as in Golfo Persíco or Oceano Indíco does not imply ownership but more geographic proximity since those forms are relatively old-fashioned and not used for the country. That would be Persan for Perse (Persia) or Indien (Inde).

[crazy canuck]

Trump supposedly plans to announce that the US will start calling the Persian Gulf the Arab Gulf during his trip to the region.

We're ever more living in different realities.

In fairness I think that one is a genuine naming dispute - I think all Arab states (but especially the Gulf states) call it the Arabian Gulf. I think basically everyone else calls it the Persian Gulf.

I think this was a minor controversy in the first Gulf War because the international coalition would use Persian Gulf while the Kuwaitis (and Saudis) wouldn't.

The US was calling it the Arabian Gulf before then.  In the mid to late 80s during the Iran Iraq conflict Pentagon officials referred to it as that.

I'm with the wit who said that if we really want to be neutral, we should use the Sumerian name for that body of water : A-ab-ba

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Now that's a name for all those dancing queens

[viper37]

Trump supposedly plans to announce that the US will start calling the Persian Gulf the Arab Gulf during his trip to the region.

We're ever more living in different realities.

That's the big-huge announcement that was maybe about trade, maybe not he was touting earlier this week.
Trump Teases 'As Big As It Gets' Announcement Ahead of Mideast Trip

Surprise!!!

[crazy canuck]

Now that's a name for all those dancing queens

 

[Syt]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/05/07/oan-voice-of-america-one-america-news-kari-lake/

Voice of America will carry One America News programming

Staffers at the government-funded broadcaster condemned the announcement from Kari Lake, given OAN's right-wing slant and support of President Donald Trump.

Voice of America will carry programming from the right-wing TV network One America News, according to a post on X from Kari Lake on Tuesday night.

Lake, a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government body that oversees Voice of America, announced that the agency agreed to provide "news feed services" to Voice of America, as well as to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Martí, which distribute news into Cuba.

"In my current role as Senior Advisor to USAGM, I don't have editorial control over the content of VOA and OCB programming, but I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs," Lake wrote in a post on X announcing the agreement. "And every day I look for ways to save American taxpayers money. Bringing in OAN as a video/news source does both. OAN is one of the few family-owned American media networks left in the United States. We are grateful for their generosity."

In the statement, Lake said that she reached out to OAN to supply news to U.S. broadcasts to Cuba. OAN in return offered its news and video services "free-of-charge."

Charles Herring, president of OAN, confirmed to The Washington Post that the programming is free. "OAN will be supplying an extensive amount of programming, including 'Hungry Heroes,' a series that highlights the incredible work performed by our first responders and military," Herring wrote in a text message Wednesday morning.

The Trump administration is fighting in court to defend a March executive order dismantling the USAGM. The order led to more than 1,000 Voice of America staffers being placed on paid administrative leave, and broadcasting has stopped for the first time in the organization's history. Voice of America began broadcasting in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda during World War II.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction April 22 blocking the executive order from taking effect — a move that would have sent most VOA staffers back to work this week. But on Saturday, a three-judge federal appeals court panel in Washington that included two Trump appointees stayed parts of the injunction, including the part that sent staffers back to work. The injunction still requires VOA to fulfill its statutory mandate.

Some Voice of America staffers returned to work Tuesday — fewer than 20 out of more than 1,300 staffers — according to three people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for retaliation and given the pending litigation.

Lake's announcement was met with outrage from Voice of America staffers, who pointed to OAN's right-wing slant and support of President Donald Trump.

"VOA is not to be the voice of left America nor the voice of right America," said Steve Herman, chief national correspondent for VOA.

"USAGM cannot dictate [that] VOA run OAN content. It would be a violation of our fire wall and our charter, which are laws," he said.

VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara and press freedom editor Jessica Jerreat, plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits against the government over the executive order, said this agreement violates the congressional mandate of VOA.

"Congress mandated VOA to report reliable and authoritative news, not to outsource its journalism to outlets aligned with the president's agenda," they wrote in a statement. "VOA already has talented and professional journalists ready to tell America's story in line with the VOA Charter, but we are blocked from our own newsroom. That is why we will continue fighting for our rights in court."

David Seide, senior counsel for the Government Accountability Project, which is representing plaintiffs in litigation against the government, called the announcement "shocking and illegal" and said it will be challenged in court.

Lake did not respond to The Post's request for comment Tuesday night after sources told The Post of the deal, and she later posted her statement on X announcing the news. The White House and the USAGM did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year, OAN settled a defamation lawsuit with Smartmatic, the voting technology company, over its coverage of the 2020 election. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

In the first Trump administration, a federal district judge found that the then-CEO of the USAGM violated the "fire wall" that ensures that the agency's networks aren't mouthpieces of the government and effectively barred the president from interfering with the networks' content.

[The Minsky Moment]

Now that's a name for all those dancing queens

Using the Sumerian name is a great idea. For the Sumerians access to sea was the name of the game.  When their ports began silting up, it was an SOS for the regional economy. Then the Sumerians met their Waterloo fighting the super troopers of Sargon, with their final outpost falling on a dark summer night in the city. Mamma mia what a shock! But though the Akkadian winner takes it all, cultural pre-eminence remained the name of the game, and so the Akkadian asked for the Sumerians to gimme, gimme that millenial-old cultural heritage. Eventually the Sumerians would take a chance on them, and come to see the invaders as one of us, and with peace and overseas commercial ties restored, so resumed the flow of money, money, money.

[viper37]

Secretary of Education sends a letter to Harvard.

They sent it back to her...

[Savonarola]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/05/07/oan-voice-of-america-one-america-news-kari-lake/

Voice of America will carry One America News programming

I read that this morning and thought that Putin will probably stop trying to jam the signal now.   

How do radio licenses work in Europe?  Here they have to be renewed every five years.  Could (and would) European nations deny the licenses for the RFE/RL stations operating there?

(VOA and RFE/RL operate on Shortwave (3-30 MHz).  Shortwave can travel well beyond the horizon because the waves are both reflected and refracted by the ionosphere.  So even if the European stations were shut down European listeners could still receive transmission from the United States, though not as consistently as they would with domestic broadcasters.)

[crazy canuck]

Now that's a name for all those dancing queens

Using the Sumerian name is a great idea. For the Sumerians access to sea was the name of the game.  When their ports began silting up, it was an SOS for the regional economy. Then the Sumerians met their Waterloo fighting the super troopers of Sargon, with their final outpost falling on a dark summer night in the city. Mamma mia what a shock! But though the Akkadian winner takes it all, cultural pre-eminence remained the name of the game, and so the Akkadian asked for the Sumerians to gimme, gimme that millenial-old cultural heritage. Eventually the Sumerians would take a chance on them, and come to see the invaders as one of us, and with peace and overseas commercial ties restored, so resumed the flow of money, money, money.

Solid Gold, I am glad you are one of us. You get all the little things right.

[Zanza]

Congress is doing valuable work at least:

H.R.1161 - Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025

A bill that wants to rename Greenland into Red, White and Blueland.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1161

Cringe.