Lets have some fun going back in time ... starting in February when I first made remarks about Obama spying / wiretapping Trump, before Trump even mentioned it.
Let's have some fun travelling forward in time to the present where the DOJ unequivocally said that Trump was not wiretapped.
While Trump calls for firing NFL players for exercising their rights, People in Puerto Rico can't even get electricity, water, food and the basic necessities of life. How fucked up.
Bastiat was right about many things, but he was wrong about the pacifying power of trade. France's biggest trading partner before WW1? Germany. Before WW2? Germany. Trade is not magic; it won't turn rivals into allies. It will, however, undermine authoritarian regimes.
Look what it has done for China, Vietnam, Malaysia. Look what it could do for Cuba. Look at what it could do for North Korea.
i'm alluding to the old trade versus raid debate
i think there's enough good data out there to easily persuade one to fall on the side of trade
is it immune to rulers making foolish decisions?
nope, but let's hope that these two blowhards have enough intelligent people around them to prevent a catastrophic blunder
i also think the benefits of freed markets/trade are mostly positive all the way down to the local level
mutually beneficial voluntary agreements help dispel all kinds of ignorance and prejudice
in my own case i'm working with everyone under the sun and my experiences are very positive
regards
kurtster wrote:
We / Trump have been leaning hard on China. Trump even went as far (last week) as to suggest stopping all USA trade with any country that does business with NK, which includes China. That got their attention, but has yet to have any resulting action on China's part other than to call that idea outrageous. It also got a reaction from our political establishment which was basically Trump is nutz, again. So while the threat was made, it was deflected immediately as undoable.
No one wants to do the hard thing, except Trump. That is the problem. Russia and China created this monster by using it as a proxy during and after the Korean Conflict. It was never officially called a war and it has never ended. All we have is a truce / cease fire declared in 1953, IIRC. Russia has not been involved since the 50's. Its all about China and has been since the 50's. And the SK's are not innocent in this either. . If we stop doing business with China, its economy would collapse overnight. That result is self explanatory. China needs us more than we need them, So while we wait for China to shit or get off the pot, Chubby Cheeks could launch a fully loaded nuclear missile at us, and that result is self explanatory.
Quite frankly, if we did a military attack on NK, it would begin and end there, imo. It would not lead to a world war, imo. Yes plenty of people would die in both NK and SK. But that would be the extent of it. I also see this as unavoidable regardless of any diplomatic efforts as long as Un is in power. We have seen him do whatever it takes to maintain his power. He will not go peacefully. I fully expect him to do what he says he will do and attack the USA. There is no endgame where he can win anything. He has nothing left. He has painted himself into a corner. Better to die in a military attack than at the hands of the peasants.
Meanwhile, China has another reason to intervene. The mountain under which CC is doing all his nuclear testing is about to collapse which would release a tremendous amount of radiation which would have a devastating and lasting impact on adjacent Mainland China.
So like I said a few weeks ago, all roads to NK go through China. Unless CC does something really stupid first. And the longer this current situation exists, the more likely that is.
Sadly, both sides deserve what they will eventually get to resolve this conflict that is the result of their forebears actions. It is their destiny which was determined over 60 years ago.
aggressive political posturing isn't going to produce any desirable results
i recommend folk call and write reps and say no to war, tariffs, sanctions, etc.
as far as i'm concerned it is their job to negotiate
military engagement with nk is the worst possible scenario (clearly a lose/lose situation)
So, didn't we just recently hear something about this? I think I heard it was bad?
Not at all the same situation, right? I mean HRC didn't use software that automatically deleted emails, in violation of federal law, but lock her up anyway.
"I just want to thank everybody, the first responders, on behalf of myself, our Vice President—Melania really wanted to be with us," Trump said, somehow forgetting that the Slovenian former model was standing directly to his left in a green shirt and white baseball cap. What?
I'm not a proponent of violence, but I want someone to dump a bucket of water on his head in public so all that long flowing comb-over hangs down to his shoulder. Those over-ear things are just flipping strange. Yes, he did the ice bucket challenge, but it was a straight on shot from far away. Staged and fake, like him.
On Monday, we’ll do a full update tallying up all of his false claims from the last week. 604.Counting the rally alone, though, the president has now made 604 false claims over 246 days in office — an average of 2.5 false claims per day.
Trump has proven uniquely willing to lie, exaggerate and mislead. By all expert accounts, he is more frequently inaccurate than any of his predecessors. (...)
people from Puerto Rico have brown skin
