Because Trump 2.0

[Sinistar]

1 hour ago, urbanoid said:

Do 'internal matters' even exist anymore in practice? Biden's administration was subverting right-wing governments in Europe, Trump is supporting the European right, some European right-wingers are involved in the US campaigning on Trump's side, left-wingers on the D side.

I don't think a split is going to happen, Trump couldn't care less what others are saying about him, but judging by the newly published NSS it does seem that he basically declared war on 'euroshitlibs', especially in Western Europe.

 

maybe they do not

 

i think trump is however giving signals about pivoting away from europe towards other areas despite that

 

if the leadership and the public in the big eu framework of western europe- particularly in the uk, france, germany and belgium perceive trump as a problem for them then he may as well

 

 

[Murph]

And so, did anything Trump say about Europe offend?  Sorry, it is the truth, we no longer need nor should carry old Europe, let those ingrates put on their big girl panties, and handle their own mess.  

[seahawk]

Talk is cheap.... I am waiting since the day he took office that he does something. 

[Sinistar]

a big news item from the eu going after these rich targets

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/eu-fines-x-140-mln-breaching-online-content-rules-tiktok-settles-with-2025-12-05/

 

whatever you think of social media or big tech i think the eu is rigging the game here

it goes beyond just punitive actions and censorship when the eu does not like it when users communicate ideas against their narratives and self image

it would also be a way of essentially raising revenue by taxing these platforms and it conceivably it is baked into their strategy for raising revenue when you see these eu states looking for cash or else go into austerity mode

they have to either reduce public doles or raise taxes or print money because their debt loads are out of control

or look for other sources of revenue to strong arm

so this also presents a dilemma

in this atmosphere of resorting to tax their way out of economic problems who will want to do business with them

 

 

[Murph]

Some French dude is offended and tired of Americans.  Sorry dude, we don't think about you at all.  Europe is just irrelevant to us, you leech off us, condescend to us, tell us how superior you are, and really your opinion of us matters only to Ivy League educated morons.  

https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2025/12/06/julien-hoez-french-dispatch-europe-is-sick-of-america-n2422526

[Murph]

Trump vs those who squat to pee.  Although Michelle might not have to....

 

 

[Josh]

…

Edited December 6, 2025 by Josh

[Ivanhoe]

Good ol' Ursula, picking up where Klaus left off;

https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/stronger-measures-protect-our-democracy-and-civil-society-2025-11-12_en

Quote

 

The Democracy Shield’s measures will focus on three key areas: 

• safeguarding the integrity of the information space by preparing an incidents and crisis protocol under the Digital Services Act to facilitate coordination and to ensure swift reactions   
• setting up an independent European Network of Fact-Checkers  
• supporting the European Digital Media Observatory. 

 

The latter thing is apparently modeled on Stanford U.'s Internet Observatory, which played a substantial part in free speech involving the 2020 election as well as the COVID-19 debacle. 

Amusing that a centralized governmental body wants to set up an "independent network." 

Orwell's corpse must be spinning at relativistic speeds*. 

* 𝑣 = 𝜔 𝑟, though I have no firsthand knowledge what the mean radius of Orwell's corpse is, not about which axis it would rotate in times of distress. 
 

 

[urbanoid]

16 hours ago, Sinistar said:

maybe they do not

 

i think trump is however giving signals about pivoting away from europe towards other areas despite that

 

if the leadership and the public in the big eu framework of western europe- particularly in the uk, france, germany and belgium perceive trump as a problem for them then he may as well

Well, that has been happening since... Obama.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from the the NSS:

Quote

Yet Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States. Transatlantic trade remains one of the pillars of the global economy and of American prosperity. European sectors from manufacturing to technology to energy remain among the world’s most robust. Europe is home to cutting-edge scientific research and world-leading cultural institutions. Not only can we not afford to write Europe off—doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy aims to achieve.

American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.

Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe.

America is, understandably, sentimentally attached to the European continent— and, of course, to Britain and Ireland. The character of these countries is also strategically important because we count upon creative, capable, confident, democratic allies to establish conditions of stability and security. We want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness. 

Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European. As such, it is an open question whether they will view their place in the world, or their alliance with the United States, in the same way as those who signed the NATO charter. Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:

• Reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia;

• Enabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own defense, without being dominated by any adversarial power;

• Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations;

• Opening European markets to U.S. goods and services and ensuring fair treatment of U.S. workers and businesses;

• Building up the healthy nations of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe through commercial ties, weapons sales, political collaboration, and cultural and educational exchanges;

• Ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance; and

• Encouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity, technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices.

The last bolded part implies this 'war on Western European shitlibs' I mentioned. 

These sentences though, they leave little room for interpretation:

Quote

Yet Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States.

...

Not only can we not afford to write Europe off—doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy aims to achieve.

...

Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe.

Sure, there is this last underlined part about potential future (lack of) usefulness of Europe (including for the Europeans) if demographic changes continue, but the same is true for the US, numbers wise the US is even further away in this process. 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Id argue its been going on since the 'Old Europe' crack in January 2003. Thens when they started drawing down forces for the gloriously successful war on terror. Because nothing says you know what you are doing like expanding then NATO catchment area, then drawing down the forces to respond to its problems.

https://www.rferl.org/a/1102012.html

 

[Ivanhoe]

[seahawk]

Trump bringing democracy to the Ukraine

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/09/zelenskyy-ready-for-elections-after-trump-questions-ukrainian-democracy

Great interview

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/09/trump-dasha-burns-interview-europe-immigration-ukraine-00682016

[Ivanhoe]

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/12/marco-rubio-makes-times-new-roman-font-great-again/

Quote

Marco Rubio and the State Department have nuked the Biden-era use of Calibri, and have restored Times New Roman to State Department glory.

Obligatory "I voted for this" refrain...

Quote

Then-Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken ordered the 2023 typeface shift on the recommendation of the State Department’s office of diversity and inclusion, which Mr. Rubio has since abolished. The change was meant to improve accessibility for readers with disabilities, such as low vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers….

Having worked in the federal zoo, and borne the brunt of Typeface Supremacy, count me skeptical that Calibri is any better for OCR than TNR. The OCR coders had decades to sort that out. 

And back in the 90s I was responsible for a 600+ page report, which my colleagues and I had to pore over repeatedly over a 6 month period to approach perfection. We established early on that TNR was far better for the eyes than newer fonts, plus with "modern" fonts there are screwy things like lower case L and the number 1 being indistinguishable on a subscript in a diagram or graph.

[seahawk]

https://busys.ca/blog/optimal-fonts-for-ocr-recognition/

Calibri works better at smaller than 11pts. 

[Ivanhoe]

There's quite a conflict between claiming to act on behalf of the vision-impaired, and use of fonts smaller than 12 point. 

But this was never about the vision-impaired. 

Aforesaid federal agency I supported chose Helvetica to be used for all publications and presentations, without exception, because it looked modern. That particular agency has a half-century track record of prioritizing marketing over proficiency or effectiveness. 

 

[seahawk]

Well then Trump needs to order them which font type to use. It should be conservative and masculine. 

[Mr King]

[Ivanhoe]

[Ivanhoe]

[seahawk]

Fact:

 

[urbanoid]

14 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

Should have worn a wife beater, would make it even funnier. 

As far as memes are concerned he's great, he really 'can into internet'.

[17thfabn]

22 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

Is this supposed to be real or AI?

[Ivanhoe]

Photoshopped, in all likelihood.

 

[Ivanhoe]

The libs are blowing up social media with this pic of Trump, claiming it was taken at Pedo Island. 

 

[Murph]

This: