Trump Redux: The Death of Democracy, or Overblown Hyperbole?

[Buck_Mulligan]

Nine countries make it onto the list of top trading partner with at least one US state. Canada 23, Mexico 10, China 9. EU is represented by Germany and Ireland.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-top-import-partner-every-u-s-state/

[SGR]

Nine countries make it onto the list of top trading partner with at least one US state. Canada 23, Mexico 10, China 9. EU is represented by Germany and Ireland.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-top-import-partner-every-u-s-state/

What the hell is Idaho importing from Malaysia? 

Edit: Apparently semiconductors - Malaysia just stuck out like a sore thumb on the map - wouldn't have been in my top 10 of guesses for top trade partner with Idaho.

[Buck_Mulligan]

What the hell is Idaho importing from Malaysia? 

Edit: Apparently semiconductors - Malaysia just stuck out like a sore thumb on the map - wouldn't have been in my top 10 of guesses for top trade partner with Idaho.

What business has Idaho got with semiconductors?

[DJChameleon]

I'm not ignoring anything. How dare you call me a Zionist without any basis. And that when I've been patient with your bullshit too, given how obtuse it is. I'm not calling you an antisemite either. Also hypocritical since you tend to complain about other people's tone. Childish and dumb behaviour

I don't have time to be going around tone policing people. So I don't know what you are talking about but I do apologize for calling you a Zio. It's just that you were saying similar propaganda that they do so I just linked two and two. It made sense. You don't know how much the mainstream media news outlets in the states glaze Israel and any slightest thing that can be deemed antisemitic they make a big deal about it but Islamphobia attacks go under reported. It makes sense though because they are paid off by AIPAC.

[DJChameleon]

What business has Idaho got with semiconductors?

The help power all the tech on their potato farms maybe.

[Trollheart]

Can we all please agree to respect each other and let's have no more name calling, or I'm going to have to impose a 35% tariff on all posts in future. There'll be pain, and it will not be worth it.

[SGR]

What business has Idaho got with semiconductors?

I think it's largely due to Micron Technology, headquartered there in Boise. And from what I've read, they import other electronic components from Malaysia too. According to this wikipage, Micron is the only US-based manufacturer of computer RAM too (learn something new every day)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micron_Technology

But yeah, like probably all of you, I wasn't thinking of tech manufacturing when I think about Idaho

[SGR]

Can we all please agree to respect each other and let's have no more name calling, or I'm going to have to impose a 35% tariff on all posts in future. There'll be pain, and it will not be worth it.

How bout this, you delay the tariff for a month, and we'll promise to keep the name calling to a schoolyard level. No more 'Zionist' or 'antisemite', we'll keep it to 'poopyhead' and 'buttface' instead.

[degrassiknoll]

If we can't make judgements and assumptions about your political views based on the words you use being similar to the bad guy words we hear within our own bubble of existence is this even the hyperbole thread?

I go to protests!

[jimmy jazz]

I don't have time to be going around tone policing people. So I don't know what you are talking about but I do apologize for calling you a Zio. It's just that you were saying similar propaganda that they do so I just linked two and two. It made sense. You don't know how much the mainstream media news outlets in the states glaze Israel and any slightest thing that can be deemed antisemitic they make a big deal about it but Islamphobia attacks go under reported. It makes sense though because they are paid off by AIPAC.

Can we stop conflating criticism of Israel with Jew hatred, and also downplaying hatred against Jewish people with whataboutery. Also your last sentence is a bit dodgy.

[Marie Monday]

Yes. And calling my arguments propaganda in the same post where you try to apologise for similar name-calling. Is it really that hard to see that this 'putting two and two' is the exact same simplistic thinking as assuming someone is an antisemite just because they criticise Israel? And then the irony of complaining about so-called propaganda while being all too ready to accept propaganda of the opposite kind (assuming zionist funding/propaganda is behind every alarm about antisemitism. For the record, I'm very aware that pro-israel propaganda exists). Get real.

[Trollheart]

@degrassi.knoll : no, it's not the hyperbole thread. That's just in the title.

Speaking of which, same deal with the Canucks:

News Alert: Trump announces 30-day pause on US tariffs on Canada


Donald Trump is pausing the implementation of planned tariffs on imports from Canada for at least 30 days, the president said in a Truth Social post. Trump said the pause is to see "whether or not a final economic deal with Canada can be structured," according to the post.

(I assume "a final economic deal" is Trumpspeak for "you hand over your country, nice and easy like, there won't be no trouble".)

[SGR]

@degrassi.knoll : no, it's not the hyperbole thread. That's just in the title.

Speaking of which, same deal with the Canucks:

News Alert: Trump announces 30-day pause on US tariffs on Canada


Donald Trump is pausing the implementation of planned tariffs on imports from Canada for at least 30 days, the president said in a Truth Social post. Trump said the pause is to see "whether or not a final economic deal with Canada can be structured," according to the post.

(I assume "a final economic deal" is Trumpspeak for "you hand over your country, nice and easy like, there won't be no trouble".)

Called it. 

https://x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1886529228193022429

[Buck_Mulligan]

A couple of interesting Grafs from a longer newsletter.

Our Sovereign: Today Trump ordered the creation of a sovereign wealth fund. This is a government investment fund which can buy or take stakes in private business. The president said he'd like to use it to nationalize — I mean, purchase TikTok. (Digital state media?) For this announcement, Trump was joined in the Oval Office by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

Punching Down: Trump fired Rohit Chopra, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB is your — the consumer's — advocate inside the government. It helped stabilize the housing market after the Great Recession and has since recovered over $20 billion for consumers harmed by unfair corporate practices. Under Chopra, the CFPB limited junk bank fees and overdraft penalties, which could save people over $13 billion a year; it also removed billions in medical debt from credit ratings. It gets just 0.01% of the federal budget and is incredibly effective. Even the far-from-liberal Financial Times has spoken up in defense of the agency. CEOs tend to dislike it and the tech bros hate it; Mark Zuckerberg whined about it on Joe Rogan's podcast and Musk wants it eliminated altogether. A 2020 Supreme Court ruling removed the CFPB's independence, making Trump's firing legal.

Why the crackdown on "gender"? Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly set to make Darren Beattie his acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Beattie was fired from the first Trump administration in 2018 for attending a far-right conference; in October he claimed that "unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men," who he said "must be in charge if you want things to work." Beattie's role would grant him oversight of American international public diplomacy, among other things. And you wonder why they're trying to shutter programs that help with gender equality?

[SGR]

It looks like the Department of Education might be the next thing Trump is setting his sights on.

Trump administration finalizing plans to shutter Education Department