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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The first EU retaliatory tariffs against the US will go into effect on Friday.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/20/news/economy/europe-tariffs-us-goods/index.html
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Funnily enough, I once had a History teacher back in college who told everyone that Caesar was a misunderstood hero framed by his contemporaries as a tyrant who deserved to be looked at in a more favorable light. Not sure how accurate that is, but he was certainly passionate about it.
edited 20th Jun '18 5:56:04 AM by kkhohoho
ICE Can't Be Compared To Nazis Since We're Just Following Orders
Here's the "defense" the ICE director used in case anyone was wondering. I have no idea if he actually believes this or is just spouting what he's been told to, but this situation really needs to get solved and if ICE can't be fixed, disband it (I was against it before but things changed).
edited 20th Jun '18 6:07:37 AM by Grafite
Life is unfair...![]()
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There's actually still some debate over Caesar's motivations; it's important to remember that he was a member of the Populares - a pro-plebeian political faction - while his assassins were safeguarding the interests of the Roman elites.
So there's some serious doubt over the whole "Caesar was killed because he's a tyrant" thing - it was probably more because he wasn't acting in the interests of the Senate which - as you might remember - was basically bunch of rich old men trying to keep the plebs down.
edited 20th Jun '18 6:09:37 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history"There's actually still some debate over Caesar's motivations; it's important to remember that he was a member of the Populares - a pro-plebeian political faction - while his assassins were safeguarding the interests of the Roman elites.
So there's some serious doubt over the whole "Caesar was killed because he's a tyrant" thing - it was probably more because he wasn't acting in the interests of the Senate which - as you might remember - was basically bunch of rich old men trying to keep the plebs down."
The Populares weren't "pro-plebeian" in the sense you're thinking. It was a huge faction. Most were Trump-like rich men who used demagoguery to gain advancement. The perhaps only examples of the sincere progressives among them were the Gracchi, but even then, they made the Tribunate of the Plebs an office that was asking to be abused, since it gave an ambitious politician license to gather a mob and attack any law they didn't personally like. Most populares weren't principled reformers — Clodius, Catiline, Dolabella, and Mark Antony were little more than thugs.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."![]()
They haven't gone the Steamroller route yet, though keep an eye on China. So far the proposed counters are targeted to pressure certain politicians and defend attacked industries. And they are dollar for dollar in response to Trump.
Sanctioning the Trump organization might be harder to justify than simple retaliatory tariffs as well, as laws in some countries require some solid evidence to sanction someone. And I doubt most foreign powers are willing to outright call Trump/his Organization criminal before the authorities in his own country do.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Trump's voters know goddamn well what kind of person he is. It's why they voted for him.
One of Trump's former campaign managers was asked how he reacted about an undocumented immigrant being forcibly separated from her daughter, who has Downs syndrome.
His reaction: "Womp, womp".
I think I hate these people.
Now that is the kind of reaction I'm willing to accept from former Republicans; put your money and your votes where your mouth is.
edited 20th Jun '18 7:30:55 AM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
x9
I know at least two people who are stocking up on American booze before it gets return-tariffed, since most of the Scottish stuff is a bit more expensive.
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Well done that man, although possibly a bit late. I was JUST thinking that if Eisenhower saw what was going on in the GOP right now he'd run a mile leftward and go stand on the left-wing of the Democratic Party. Flicking through British and American history and watching the Overton Window slide rightward is rather sobering, especially since it's accompanied neatly by an exponential rise in private debt as a substitute for actual growth.
That's a rather...unwise...statement to make given that such a defense is often referred to as a "Nuremberg Defense", as the Nazis used it frequently.
Though to be fair, the Nuremberg Trials ironically subverted the Nuremberg defense for the most part. The Nazis claimed they were just following orders, but such claims were seldom actually true. The people working in death camps usually got the job by being very enthusiastic.
Leviticus 19:34Michael Cohen is frustrated Trump has not offered to pay his legal bills
For your daily bit of Schadenfreude.
Probably also the reason Cohen might flip.
edited 20th Jun '18 7:42:33 AM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"

"Certainly, Brutus' killing Caesar arguably made it certain a tyrant would take over the Republic."
Brutus's mistake was that the Liberatores didn't go far enough. Killing Caesar himself was never going to finish the job while Caesarians like Mark Antony lived. As late as a year following Caesar's death, there was an anti-Caesarian ruling coalition in the Senate, but the real end came when both anti-Caesarian consuls died at Mutina, Mark Antony withdrew to the Alps, and Octavian defected from the Republic, allied with Antony, and marched on Rome, leaving a power vacuum Cicero was never able to fill before the Triumvirate killed him. Caesar absolutely had to die, though. His policies were transparently monarchical, eroded republican constitutionality, and would have become further entrenched had his campaign against Parthia actually happened and was successful. His assassination isn't really a lesson in how assassination doesn't prevent tyranny, but about how poorly planned actions come back to haunt you. It's also a lesson in appreciating institutional entrenchment — that cutting off the head will never be sufficient if the roots remain.
Trump isn't a Caesar, though. He's the very image of an American Crassus: rich, sleazy, and incompetent. He's also profoundly unpopular, which makes far less in danger than the Roman Republic was in with Caesar.
edited 20th Jun '18 5:39:37 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."