Amerika du hast es besser

[Typee]

Die Grenze zu Mexico schließen, ich hab meinen Augen nicht getraut. Mexico ist dem Volumen nach zusammen mit Brasilien der wichtigste Stahllieferant der USA, von hier kommen einfache Stähle, wie sie vor allem in der Bauwirtschaft massenhaft verwendet werden. Und das hilft der metallverarbeitenden Industrie von US-amerikanischem Zuschnitt ganz besonders, wenn man ihr so die Beine weghaut.

Ceterum censeo: das wird eine lustige Mauer werden, aus unbewehrtem Beton.

[Scipio]

Und trotzdem wird er wiedergewählt werden, prophezeie ich mal.

[Peiresc]

Und trotzdem wird er wiedergewählt werden, prophezeie ich mal.

Eine solche Prognose ist quasi umsonst zu haben.

----

American farmers are facing the "imminent collapse" of key markets and fear uneven trade playing fields as Australian, Canadian and other rival nations take advantage of the soon-to-be implemented Trans-Pacific Partnership.

After President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the TPP on just his third day in the White House in 2017, the States will be left on the sidelines when the re-shaped TPP-11 comes into effect 12am on Sunday AEDT.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-farmers-helpless-as-tpp-boosts-aust

Tja. Wer das eine will, muss das andere mögen. Doch es gibt so etwas wie ausgleichende Gerechtigkeit, es kommt nur auf die Perspektive an:

David Frum
Trump's been pretty rude to allies, but he's making up for it by delivering up Japanese markets for wheat and beef to Canadian and Australian farmers and ranchers. G'day, Bruce!

[sailor]

"Grenze schliessen" bedeutet für Trump doch nur: Keine Fußgänger mehr reinzulassen. Die LKWs und Schiffe (gibts da eigentlich Schwerlastzugstrecken?) werden weiterhin kommen. Es geht niemals nicht um die Wirtschaft an sich, sondern reine Symbolpolitik für seine Stammwähler oder das was er dafür hält... Denn eines ist derzeit sehr klar erkennbar: Es gibt keine (höheren) Werte für Trump, es ist eine affektgetriebene adhoc-Show. Er repräsentiert weder "rechtskonservative" Werte, noch extrem nationalistische. Es ist immer Drama mit heißer Luft dahinter, keine Strategie, kein Managementprozess, sondern idR "Politik" durch Erpressung (siehe shutdown). Der Mann ist kein Präsident, er ist halbseidener Gebrauchthaushändler im Dauerwahlkampf.

[Lt.Havoc]

Interessanter Artikel über die Militär ausgaben unter Trump und wie da getrickst wurde: https://www.zeit.de/2018/53/verteidigungsetat-usa-politisches-druckmittel-europa

Der angeblich höchste Verteidigungsetat der USA basiert auf allerlei Rechentricks. Dem Präsidenten dient er als politisches Druckmittel gegen die Europäer.

[Peiresc]

Ich mach mal ein Vollzitat. Es ist düster lakonisch (ein Haufen Links drunter, falls jemand mehr Einzelheiten braucht):
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/423132-predictions-trump-goes-unexpected-candidate-emerges-in-2019

As a new chapter in American history unfolds with the start of another year, here are some predictions for the political scene in 2019:

Donald J. Trump's presidency will not survive 2019;

The downward trajectory of every aspect of his tenure indicates we are headed for a spectacular political crash-and-burn — and fairly soon;

His increasingly erratic and angry behavior, his self-imposed isolation, his inability and refusal to listen to smart advisers that he hired, all are leading him to a precipice;

Meanwhile, the global and U.S. economies are softening in great part because of the unnecessary and ill-conceived trade war he launched against Canada and our European allies; if he wanted to conduct a legitimate trade war against China, wouldn't it have made more sense to have trading allies such as Canada and Europe with us, instead of making them our adversaries?

Consumer confidence is declining and the American economy will slow noticeably in 2019. A recession is right around the corner, heading into 2020;

The volatility in the stock markets threatens to weaken Trump's support among the GOP donor class, which will translate to GOP senators pulling away from Trump in short order;

Legally, Trump is in peril from not only from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation but also from separate investigations being conducted by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York into Trump's life and business dealings;

Fox News hosts are beginning to question the Trump administration's actions on air, showing cracks — albeit, small cracks at the moment — in Fox's heretofore 100 percent fealty to Trump;

These cracks will expand into chasms as news and entertainment mogul Rupert Murdoch calculates Trump's prognosis and decides he doesn't want his Fox News network to go down the drain with Trump;

Fox recently lost several days in a row to MSNBC in the ratings race — and Fox host Sean Hannity has lost 20 percent of his nightly audience since the midterm elections;

Without Fox approving Trump's agenda, his support will decline from the 40s into the upper 20s;

The Mueller investigation will come to an end in 2019;

Mueller will shock everyone with what he has discovered, and the result will be much worse for Trump than anyone has anticipated;

Yes, Trump indeed knew about the now-infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting — and he lied to the American people repeatedly about it;

Trump lied on Air Force One when he concocted a phony statement about "adoptions,"  because he knew the truth about the meeting;

The Mueller investigation will unveil evidence of Trump putting himself out to the highest bidder in return for campaign help and financing: Russians, Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris — there will be evidence that millions of foreign dollars illegally flowed into the Trump campaign coffers in 2016;

In other words, Trump basically said, "I'm for sale";

We may learn the source of the $66 million of his own money that Trump donated to his campaign in 2016. Was it a foreign entity who gave him the money as, in effect, an illegal pass-through?

Now that he has removed Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Trump can do what he tried in 2018: He will remove our troops from South Korea;

This is exactly what North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, and China and Russia want us to do;

Trump tried this last spring but Mattis and former chief of staff John Kelly talked him out of it; now, neither man remains to stop him;

This will provoke a crisis the likes of which we have never seen;

The GOP Senate will go nuts when this happens, as will the Pentagon and Japan;

This action may begin the breaking away of the 20 GOP senators it will take to remove Trump if the House impeaches, dooming the Trump presidency;

In June, the Democratic Party presidential race will begin to take shape when the first TV debates begin with perhaps two dozen candidates; no one yet can predict who will emerge as the 2020 nominee, but history is a guide here:

John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all won the Democratic nomination in great part as a result of the energy, shoe leather, devotion and passion of an army of young people in the primaries. That phenomenon almost propelled Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to an upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Who can harness the youth movement in 2020?

As of today, it looks like Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) has that energy behind him and incredible online fundraising abilities; if he runs, he will begin as a formidable candidate in a field of well-known, older candidates (Sanders, Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Michael Bloomberg). That army of young people will be tempted to leave Sanders for O'Rourke — or their loyalties will split between the two, and that may open the door for someone unexpected to step forth;

With Trump forced to exit the scene in 2019, the post-Trump GOP will devolve into all-out reshuffling. The Trump hangover will bedevil the party, just as the immediate post-Nixon era did to the GOP in 1974. The 2020 Republican nomination fight will be even more brutal than the Democratic one;

With Trump disgraced, both political parties will search for a message and a messenger;

An unexpected candidate will seize the political center in 2020.

Hat aktuell die meisten Leser bei TheHill.

[Peiresc]

Und weil wir gerade hier waren:

Trump putting himself out to the highest bidder in return for campaign help and financing: Russians, Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris — there will be evidence that millions of foreign dollars illegally flowed into the Trump campaign coffers in 2016;

In other words, Trump basically said, "I'm for sale";

Aber gigantische Korruption ist doch nichts Böses. Vielleicht haben ihm die Saudis versprochen, ja natürlich senken wir die Ölpreise, und so haben alle was davon (nachdem es mit den Börsenkursen grad nicht so klappt, muss man sich nach was Neuem umsehen):

Donald J. Trump
Verifizierter Account
@realDonaldTrump

Do you think it's just luck that gas prices are so low, and falling? Low gas prices are like another Tax Cut!

Demokratie ist lästig.

Demokratie ist nutzlos, genau wie die Künste. Man kann sie nicht essen, sie sorgt nicht für niedrige Benzinpreise. Stattdessen können die Schwulen die Toilette ihrer Wahl benutzen.
https://blog.psiram.com/2017/04/wissenschaft-verschwoerung-und-demokratie/

----

ALT- Immigration
Do you want to be part of the resistance? Here is your chance:

Download the @Xfinity remote app.
When you hit a waiting room with the tv tuned to @FoxNews, chance are the cable box is on the same@open WiFi Log in. Put parental lock on @FoxNews Channel.
You will feel good .

[Peiresc]

President Trump: "I think I would have been a good general, but who knows?"
https://twitter.com/joshscampbell/status/1080543530634772480

[Peiresc]

Trump: "Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan. Russia."

Trump then goes on to endorse the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Via Fox.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1080549357232025601

Mit kurzem Videoclip, sollte man nicht verpassen. Daraus:

The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They had a right to be there.

Da muss man erstmal drauf kommen. Vielleicht hat ihm das Putin eingeblasen.

Ein blutiger Politclown an der Spitze des mächtigsten Landes der Welt. No adult in the room.

[Peiresc]

Mitt Romney hat verkündet, dass er Trump furchtbar findet. Allgemein nimmt man an, dass er die Rolle von Flake oder Collins übernehmen wird: immer mal Unbehagen äußern, aber wenns drauf ankommt, dann doch mit/für Trump stimmen. Angry WH Staffer meint aber: Gib sie eine Chance. Er könnte der Kristallisationspunkt werden, um den sich die 20 republikanischen Senatoren scharen, die für ein Impeachment nötig sind.
http://angrystaffer.blogspot.com/2019/01/dont-count-romney-out-just-yet.html

Natürlich, Gift und Galle von den Trumpanzees.

shauna:
Watching her talk about her own uncle like this reminds me of how cults require followers to denounce non-believing family members.

Eine richtige Beobachtung. Das hat schon Jesus gefordert.

Früher, das heißt pre-Trump, nannte sie sich stolz "Ronna Romney McDaniel".

[Peiresc]

Trump hatte gejammert, dass er die ganze Zeit allein im Weißen Haus gesessen und auf die Demokraten gewartet hätte, dieweil sich Nancy Pelosi in Hawaii amüsiert hätte.

Pelosi on vacationing during shutdown. "The fact is we all stood ready and told our members we would give them 24 hours' notice to be where they need to be. The president may not know this but Hawaii is part of the United States. ... Maybe he does not know that," she said on NBC

Let's Roll.

[Peiresc]

Elijah Cummings told me his first priority to investigate as chairman will be over the citizenship question in the census.

He said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be called to the committee.

"He has to answer for something that he said that I don't think was accurate."

Let's Roll.

[Peiresc]

Zurück in die Gewöhnlichkeit.

As of Thursday, DOD will be run by a former senior Boeing executive. EPA is run by a former coal lobbyist. HHS is run by a former pharmaceutical lobbyist. And Interior will be run by a former oil-industry lobbyist. Welcome to 2019.

Der Herr über die schlagkräftigste Militärmaschine der Welt, der "former senior Boeing executive", ist übrigens 31 Jahre alt. Die Regierung ist jung und dynamisch.

---

Pelosi says the House will vote on legislation to reopen government. All the Dems start clapping.

Republican Mark Walker starts clapping for a moment, then realizes he's the only Republican. He transitions the applause into a phone check, looks around to see if anyone noticed.

Ups. Kann ja mal passieren.

[Peiresc]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hat den Reiz des Exotischen mit ihren linken Sprüchen (sie kommt auch definitiv besser rüber als Sarah Wagenknecht). Damit ist sie der Darling der Medien. Die Rechte sucht missgelaunt, ihr was am Zeug zu flicken, und ein Twitter-Troll hat ein Video ausgegraben, das sie als College-Girl tanzend zeigt.

Das Ding ist hundertfach im Netz, z. B. hier.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dance-video-gets-remixed.html
(ist übrigens ganz ansehnlich  )

Man lacht sich allgemein kaputt, was daran verwerflich sein soll. Ich sage nur: Streisand-Effekt, einer von der angenehmeren Sorte.

Eine besonders coole Antwort hier:

There are no videos of GOP members of Congress dancing in college. Probably because moving picture technology didn't exist yet.

[celsus]

Entspannt gekontert:

Olivia Beavers @Olivia_Beavers


Asked @AOC re this dancing video. She said:

"It is not normal for elected officials to have a reputation for dancing well and I'm happy to be one."

& "It is unsurprising to me that Republicans would think having fun should be disqualifying or illegal"