Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

Mild annoyance of the day is people freaking out about Google and Apple maps changing to "Gulf of America." They're just doing what they always do, following the official name given by the local government. They did it when Obama renamed Denali, too. They're not "taking sides," they're just reflecting government actions.

Just wait til their kids come home with geography worksheets ...

NB I'm NOT defending the idiotic name change. But it happened, at least to whatever minimal degree the U.S. government can control such things.

yeah of the long list of horrors this doesn't consume me

it’s funny because according to the approval polls the gulf decision has been by far his least popular so far

Yeah I posted something similar about the Google Maps thing a couple weeks ago, tipsy. They're changing it not (simply).because Trump said so, but because the executive order resulted in the US Board of Geographic Names updating their database:
https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/558730

Also it will still be Golfo de Mexico for users in Mexico.

here's something to actually get mad about:

A 71-year-old woman has died after her oxygen supply was cut off when the United States announced a freeze on aid funding.

Pe Kha Lau, a refugee from Myanmar living in a displacement camp in neighbouring Thailand, died four days after she was discharged from a USAID-funded healthcare facility operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

She is thought to be one of the first people to have died as a direct result of Washington’s decision to freeze all funding for aid projects for 90 days.

Her family told Reuters that she had frequently been sent to hospital in the last three years as she was dependent on a supply of oxygen, but was sent home after the IRC received a “stop-work” order in late January.

It doesn’t consume me because it will always be Gulf of Mexico, no matter what some fascist fuck says.

Yeah the name of the Sears Tower has been changed for years and only the dweebiest in Chicago call it the new name.

Mild annoyance of the day is people freaking out about Google and Apple maps changing to "Gulf of America."

Being in the UK I'm seeing 'Gulf Of Mexico (Gulf Of America)' which might be more annoying than just picking one or the other. Sheinbaum could've suggested the portmanteau 'Mexica' just to troll.

however, I do call a certain DC airport "Reagan" *shrug*

"Gulf of America previously known as Gulf of Mexico" has a nice ring to it.

Totally messes up the rhyme scheme of patriotic 1950s novelty hit "The Battle of New Orleans."

FKA Gulf of Mexico

Meaningless 5 second protest, but I googled "gulf of mexico" and when it came up as "gulf of america", I clicked the tree dots and reported it as incorrect information.

Pointless and petty, but hey, it took five seconds and anything that grinds the gears even the tiniest bit of these collaborating fucks.

but it's not incorrect information

But it is incorrect information.

OK, well, agree to disagree!

Gulf Of Drexciya

I’m reporting the “United States” when it should properly be “Bonerland”

who are you really sticking it to by reporting it to google

i know we all feel powerless here but

It took like 4 seconds and I don't think I'm "sticking it" to anyone, just a petty thing that made me feel a tiny bit better. Don't worry, it still left me with plenty of time for the other, more meaningful things I'm doing.

Christ.

oh that's nothing:

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) introduced a new bill this week aiming to rename Greenland to “Red, White, and Blueland,” as President Trump seeks to acquire the island territory.

The legislation, called the “Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025,” directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to oversee the implementation of the name change and to ensure official documentation and maps refer to Greenland by its updated name.

The legislation also authorizes Trump to enter into negotiations with Denmark “to purchase or otherwise acquire Greenland.”

“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a statement Tuesday, after introducing the legislation.

checked to see how my former employer is handling it:

"Britannica is retaining the name Gulf of Mexico in maps, while noting in articles that it can also be called the Gulf of America. This recognizes that the gulf is not U.S. territory and has been internationally known as the Gulf of Mexico since the 16th century."

interesting bc it usually adheres to the US Board on Geographic Names, but maybe they just don't want to change the maps if there's a chance the name will eventually be reverted

It's not easy being Red, White and Blue

why am I arguing with randos on Bluesky about this

I guess I'd wonder why you seem so invested in making sure people understand that 'Gulf of America' is "correct", but I'm past caring about the whole dumb thing and I regret even making my post earlier.

It was a tiny, petty thing on my part and never imagined it, of all things, would be something that got piled on but ilx is so weird these days so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

as a professional fact-checker, I guess I'm not ready to abandon the US Board on Geographic Names as an authoritative source

I guess if Trump signs an executive order saying that 3 comes after 1 then Google would be correct by telling Americans that the order of numbers is 1,3,2,4,5...

jon you're not getting piled on

i'm sorry for being kind of a dick? maybe? earlier. i just think we probably need to do things that are not focusing very hard on the very stupidest thing on earth rn

as a trans woman uniquely targeted by many executive orders in the past two weeks i do not give a fuck about what the gulf's name is. just my thing

Definitely, I've already made some calls and written some emails to reps this morning, just felt like one more tiny thing.

President Keyes, that's not an equivalent example, unless there is a U.S. government agency on numerical order and Google has a longstanding policy of presenting information about numerical order in accordance with what that agency officially recognizes and approves.

“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a statement Tuesday, after introducing the legislation.

If we have to have fascism does it have to be so cringe?

On changing the name of the gulf back, I wouldn't expect that. Which Democrat is going to come into office and change it? I think this will be what the U.S. calls it from now on.

"President Keyes" going to need to rethink his entirely earnest example there...

xp I think you're probably right, I'm just trying to imagine Brit@nnica's rationale.

Trump may deprive us of life, liberty, and happiness, but he'll have to pry our pedantry out of our cold dead hands.

lol, of course, apparently Trump said "BIDEN INFLATION UP!" on truth in response to the news this morning. it would be laughable if so many idiots in this country weren't buying it hook, line and sinker.

I suspect Biden will be driving inflation way up over the next several years

middle schoolers with courage

BRUSSELS — Dozens of American students at a U.S. military installation in Germany walked out of their middle school on Tuesday as part of protests aimed at an official visit by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, underscoring the scope of disillusionment with the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

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The students attend Patch Middle School in Stuttgart, Germany, and peacefully walked out of class for nearly an hour, according to three people familiar with the matter and a letter sent to parents by a school administrator. Separately, a small group of adults dressed in civilian clothing — likely parents — gathered outside at Stuttgart and protested within view and earshot of Hegseth’s delegation, booing and chanting “DEI!”, according to video recorded by a reporter traveling with the secretary.

Sad, Hegseth was too late to save them from the woke mind virus. Re-education is only partly effective once it's reached this stage, we'll probably have to just cull them.

elon trump effectively running the us government seems like it's been well known for at least...a few weeks (jfc, it's only been a few weeks), but i think the reality is only hitting. here's josh marshall grappling with it this morning:

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These are wild times at TPM because they’re wild times in the American government. It’s hard to keep up with everything happening from one moment to the next. I had not had a chance to look at the new DOGE executive order the President signed this afternoon with Elon Musk standing beside him. I don’t think it’s too much to say that it puts Musk functionally in control of the U.S. government. I know that sounds pretty wild. And that may not apply to high-profile policy — two budget bills or one on Capitol Hill, plans for Gaza. But let me explain what it does.

A DOGE operative, called a “DOGE Team Lead,” will be assigned to every agency, department, etc., of the federal government. That team lead, who will presumably report to Elon Musk since Musk is the head of DOGE, will be in charge of all hiring and firing decisions at their particular department. The EO lays out a government downsizing plan in which only one new government employee can be hired for every four who leave service. It adds various new reasons for termination. And it puts the overall plan for the downsizing in the hands of DOGE, which is to say, Musk. And note here the relationship between the “DOGE Team Leads” and the heads of the various departments …

 (b)  Hiring Approval.  Each Agency Head shall develop a data-driven plan, in consultation with its DOGE Team Lead, to ensure new career appointment hires are in highest-need areas.  
          (i)    This hiring plan shall include that new career appointment hiring decisions shall be made in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, consistent with applicable law.  
          (ii)   The agency shall not fill any vacancies for career appointments that the DOGE Team Lead assesses should not be filled, unless the Agency Head determines the positions should be filled.  
          (iii)  Each DOGE Team Lead shall provide the United States DOGE Service (USDS) Administrator with a monthly hiring report for the agency.

I tell ya, I’m tryin’, dear friends. I’m struggling here not to engage in hyperbole. But I don’t know what else to call these people besides political commissars. And again, they report to Elon Musk. He’s already very clearly operating here as an independent actor whose actions the President blesses after he’s found out what’s happened. This is a parallel overlaying of authority over the entire structure of the U.S. government.

We’re in dystopian quasi-science fiction territory here.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/not-hyperbole-anymore-musk-is-in-charge-of-the-us-government

holy shit: elon *MUSK, not elon trump. no idea how that one happened, saddest lol

It's insane that this isn't a bigger deal, even after that presser yesterday. He's clearly running the government at this point.

still think we need some basics civics classes especially for journalists. EO's are not law. he can ask an agency to do this, but if a court says no, he's breaking the law. wish people would start listening to EO's and thinking of them as the press releases that they are--

he can say "i created DOGE" but eventually he's going to need money and staffing to run a department like that which he can't do w out congress

like do we think Congress is going to be ok with this

I gotta say, after seeing some more clips from yesterday's press conference... I'm starting to believe Elon did do some meddling in the election (whether it worked or not, or how much of a difference it made is another story) and Trump just has to sit there and take whatever Elon tells him to do or else he'll come clean about it. Just so weird to see him that subservient when half his image is projecting what a "big and strong man" he is. Kinda terrifying.

holy shit: elon *MUSK, not elon trump. no idea how that one happened, saddest lol

He always wanted to be a Tenenbaum Trump...