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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#248776: Jul 10th 2018 at 6:37:12 AM

As much as it pains me to say it, at least we didn't get Judge Roy Moore.
Thanks, I needed a nightmare to start off my day.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#248777: Jul 10th 2018 at 6:42:12 AM

I doubt the GOP in Congress would have tolerated that, there are others who would rule similarly to Moore but don't have his mountains of dirty laundry.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#248778: Jul 10th 2018 at 6:49:18 AM

I dunno if this was discussed, but apparently the tariffs on Chinese-made goods won't affect Ivanka Trump's products.

Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods won't touch Ivanka Trump's foreign-made products for her fashion line.

While Trump rails at Harley-Davidson motorcycles for moving some production to Europe to dodge EU tariffs, the first daughter and senior White House adviser has never manufactured a single product for her Ivanka Trump brand on American soil.

Trump enacted tariffs Friday morning on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, affecting hundreds of products from boats to medical devices and auto parts. Products spared include those manufactured by his daughter.

That means Chengdu Kameido Shoes in Sichuan province can continue to supply shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand as it has in the past. It's currently bidding for a new contract to manufacture 140,000 pairs of shoes for Trump's company, a spokesman told The South China Morning Post.

Hangzhou HS Fashion in Zhejiang province also said it's filling orders for orders for the G-III Apparel Group, which supplies shoes to Trump's brand.

At this point I'm convinced Trump knows how terrible these tariffs are and has only enacted them to screw over people he doesn't like because he can.

Edited by PhysicalStamina on Jul 10th 2018 at 9:51:58 AM

i'm tired, my friend
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#248779: Jul 10th 2018 at 6:51:16 AM

Same. As much as it pains me to say it, at least we didn't get Judge Roy Moore.
Or Judge Arpaio.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#248780: Jul 10th 2018 at 7:04:25 AM

I doubt the GOP in Congress would have tolerated that, there are others who would rule similarly to Moore but don't have his mountains of dirty laundry.
Yeah, they're shitty not insane.

And there's no particular reason for Moore to have any favor with Trump, while horrifying the idea of his nomination to the Supreme Court was more or less impossible (or so implausible to have no functional difference).

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TroperOnAStickV2 Call me Stick from Redneck country Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
Call me Stick
#248781: Jul 10th 2018 at 7:55:44 AM

Semi-crossing topics with the net neutrality thread: Kavanaugh is a big net neutrality opponent (and also a privacy opponent). Could this provide ammunition against him?

Hopefully I'll feel confident to change my avatar off this scumbag soon. Apologies to any scumbags I insulted.
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#248782: Jul 10th 2018 at 8:01:33 AM

[up]Probably not. Net neutrality isn't something enough senators and their most vocal constituents understand, care enough about, and in the former case, are willing to stake their careers on.

"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."
Wariolander Since: Nov, 2017
#248783: Jul 10th 2018 at 8:20:00 AM

[up][up] Nobody even talks about Net Neutrality anymore. Even if he is against it and didn't get confirmed because of that, it's still already gone regardless until the Democrats retake the House/Senate.

Edited by Wariolander on Jul 10th 2018 at 8:25:26 AM

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#248784: Jul 10th 2018 at 8:28:53 AM

[up] Net Neutrality is still talked about pretty frequently in the news, if only because the efforts to fight its rollback are continuing in places like California.

They should have sent a poet.
bitemytail Since: Dec, 2011
#248785: Jul 10th 2018 at 8:43:49 AM

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oregon-standoff-trump/trump-pardons-oregon-ranchers-whose-case-led-to-refuge-occupation-idUSKBN1K021Q

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Oregon cattle ranchers Dwight Hammond and his son after both were convicted on arson charges, sparking the 2016 occupation of a wildlife refuge, according to a White House statement.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#248786: Jul 10th 2018 at 8:48:39 AM

Ahead of Trump's visit to the U.K., the song "American Idiot" has been topping UK charts.

Maybe we should try to do that here as well.

Edited by megaeliz on Jul 10th 2018 at 11:57:03 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#248787: Jul 10th 2018 at 8:50:19 AM

[up][up]I still remember that. At the time I was thinking "this does not bode well for this year".

And oh, how right I was.

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheWildWestPyro from Seattle, WA Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
#248788: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:07:14 AM

If we're looking for historical similarities to Trump, look no further than Theodore G. Bilbo, famed advocate for segregation and using very similar rhetoric.

Examples:

In 1934, Bilbo defeated Stephens to win a seat in the United States Senate. There he spoke against “farmer murderers,” “poor-folks haters,” “shooters of widows and orphans,” “international well-poisoners,” “charity hospital destroyers,” “spitters on our heroic veterans,” “rich enemies of our public schools,” “private bankers ‘who ought to come out in the open and let folks see what they're doing’,” “European debt-cancelers,” “unemployment makers,” pacifists, Communists, munitions manufacturers, and “skunks who steal Gideon Bibles from hotel rooms.”

He was a prominent participant in the lengthy southern Democratic filibuster of the Costigan-Walker anti-lynching bill before the Senate in 1938. Bilbo said: “If you succeed in the passage of this bill, you will open the floodgates of hell in the South. Raping, mobbing, lynching, race riots, and crime will be increased a thousandfold; and upon your garments and the garments of those who are responsible for the passage of the measure will be the blood of the raped and outraged daughters of Dixie, as well as the blood of the perpetrators of these crimes that the red-blooded Anglo-Saxon White Southern men will not tolerate."

Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Jul 10th 2018 at 9:15:38 AM

DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#248789: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:42:26 AM

There's a thing that slightly confuses me. If I understand the financial contributions to NATO correctly, making all the member states increase their military budget wouldn't actually be of any aid to the USA's finances unless Americans used it as incentive to lower their own military spending in turn. We all know suggesting cuts to military spending is basically blasphemy to the GOP, so... in concrete terms, what exactly does Trump expect to gain from making the NATO countries increase military spending?

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#248791: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:50:10 AM

[up][up] He's making that argument out of a sort of misplaced "we shouldn't be paying for other countries" logic. Of course it's ridiculous, but that's Trump for you.

There are actual arguments to be made for NATO countries increasing spending, but they're completely detached from anything Trump has said on the subject.

They should have sent a poet.
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#248792: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:53:24 AM

With a smart president you could also assume he'd expect them to buy US Military gear

"You can reply to this Message!"
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#248793: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:53:59 AM

I'm behind the curve, but that news story from a few pages ago about the Trump Administration halting billions in Obamacare payments to the insurance companies...how stupid are these people? That one move took a massive chunk out of the profits of those companies and it's likely to get the companies to, at the very least, suddenly get a lot less helpful to the Republicans. That is, the ones that weren't smart enough to realize that Obamancare was actually a really good deal for them.

TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#248794: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:54:38 AM

[up]x3

Most of the time it seems to be a matter of mismanaged funds (Germany confuses me), and in the case of some of the smaller countries, 2% of a GDP the fraction of anyone elses, would result in diminishing returns.

Edited by TerminusEst on Jul 10th 2018 at 9:54:50 AM

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#248795: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:54:50 AM

Nm.

Edited by TerminusEst on Jul 10th 2018 at 9:56:25 AM

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#248796: Jul 10th 2018 at 9:55:38 AM

[up][up][up][up]But they do that anyway. And one of the reasons they do is NATO itself.

Edited by M84 on Jul 11th 2018 at 12:55:32 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#248797: Jul 10th 2018 at 10:03:31 AM

[up]Unless after German Cars Trump next rants about German Tankstongue

"You can reply to this Message!"
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#248798: Jul 10th 2018 at 10:13:21 AM

[up]x4 Ideally contributions would be measured on a different metric than %GDP, but that seems to be the easiest way to do it.

Countries like Germany just need to sort out their military issues and they'll be fine, they don't necessarily need to spend more.

They should have sent a poet.
nightwyrm_zero Since: Apr, 2010
#248799: Jul 10th 2018 at 10:46:12 AM

Trump expects other NATO countries to pay America. As in, write a check and put money into US's bank account. Coz he has no idea how NATO works and his closest mental model is paying membership fees in a club (or a protection racket, take your pick).

His line to Merkel about her owing him a trillion dollars makes perfect sense in this context.

Edited by nightwyrm_zero on Jul 10th 2018 at 1:49:23 PM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#248800: Jul 10th 2018 at 11:02:01 AM

https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1016642192616706050?s=19

Source familiar tells NBC that Justice Kennedy had been in negotiations with the Trump team for months over Kennedy’s replacement. Once Kennedy received assurances that it would be Kavanaugh (his former law clerk) Kennedy felt comfortable retiring - @LACaldwellDC & @frankthorp


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