T is for Tuesday, and Trump
There’s always so much to work from… the man does make our job so much easier. Where to start?
How about bird flu? H5N1 is the one we are looking at now. The only realistic way to deal with it is slaughtering the birds – not the infected ones only, but the entire farm/flock/whatever. Most countries we export to will not allow the entry of vaccinated birds, so we can’t just vaccinate ’em. And in this day of mega-poultry operations, we’re not talking a few hundred family owned birds. Try more like 148,000,000 so far. Lot of USDA cluckers there, for you C.W. McCall fans.
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore lack of egg supply, which is leading to a shortage.”
But per Jodi Rollins, a professor at Emory:
“But it is, and always has been a policy across administrations, with the USDA, that this is how they handle infections like this among poultry. And as we’ve seen bird flu move [across] species, it becomes even more important to try to contain that infection in the flocks that it’s in, so that we don’t continue to see spread.” CBS News
SOP to kill off the birds…and was in the previous Trump administration. Trying to hang on your predecessors what your prior administration did too? Reminds me of the Clintons blaming Bush for everything, and who wants to be compared to them?
And as long as consumers are feeling the pain, how about them tariffs? 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports, 10% on Chinese. (Thought China was our big worry?) Seems to have had a salutary effect on Mexico as of Monday, but Canada is jumping right on the retaliatory tariff bandwagon.
“If prices go up, it’s because of other people’s reactions to America’s laws,” his homeland secretary, Kristi Noem, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Pretty simple here – if Canadian companies are forced to incur a 25% tariff, they up their prices to reflect increased costs, right? Same as any company would do. (If you do know of a company which would just grin and suck it up, do let me know.)
“WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump said in a social media post. “BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”
Translated: It’s for your own good.
Pull the other one.
Luckily it’s only 10% on oil and energy imports – since 60% of the crude, and 25% of our oil consumed daily comes from Canada. Remember Trump’s last administration when gas reached below $2.00/gallon? I wouldn’t hold your breath looking for that again any time soon.
Canada does have a $75,000,000,000 trade surplus with the US, prompting:
Trump contended that without that surplus, “Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State.AP
One state, across 6 times zones, with as many leftist voters as California, many of them beholden mostly to France, not England or the US, probably at least 50 electoral votes. Sounds like a GREAT plan. Bring that baby in!
Do we mention the Gulf of America? About 3540 miles of shoreline, of which about 1631 are US. Both numbers are a lot higher if you count coves, inlets, etc. but the proportions are about right. It has been called the Gulf of Mexico since about 1550, The Gulf of America about two weeks since the Inauguration. Seriously?
How about DEI practices he blames for the tragic crash last week?
While reading through a Fox News article on live television, Trump listed conditions that he implied would disqualify people from being air traffic controllers: “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.” Jalopnik
Moreover, the FAA under Trump in 2019 launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference.
“FAA Provides Aviation Careers to People with Disabilities,” the agency announced on April 11, 2019. The pilot program, the announcement said, would “identify specific opportunities for people with targeted disabilities, empower them and facilitate their entry into a more diverse and inclusive workforce.” Washington Post
The program sets quotas and according to many, one of the factors in the ATC shortage is that so many slots were set aside for DEI hires that many less challenged folks couldn’t get in.
But Trump, in his first term, left the policy in place, leading to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 by Mountain States Legal Foundation. The case was due to go to trial this year.Washington Post
So his administration not only left the policy in place, in 2019 they DEFEND it.
Been a long column…the next one is just tacky. After the aforementioned crash, Trump was asked whether he would visit the crash site (as I recall, probably 15 minutes from the White House?)
When asked about his plans to visit the crash site, he replied: “I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because you tell me, what’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?” The Independent
Just stupid, insensitive, and more stupid.
Category: 2024 Election, Trump!
One small update David, apparently Canukistan has now decided to play ball, and tariffs are on hold there as well.
“SOP to kill off the birds…and was in the previous Trump administration. Trying to hang on your predecessors what your prior administration did too? “
No, that wasn’t an attempt to “hang” anything on Biden, that was explaining to the idiot reporter that Trump can’t magically make egg prices go down three weeks after taking office. She was just pointing out the cause of the price increases, that it occurred before Trump took office and that the implication that prices should have come down by now is ridiculous.
Tariffs:
If you haven’t figured out by now that this is a bargaining tactic by Trump and that it would result in concessions from the involved countries, perhaps you aren’t the right person to be opining on the subject. You should pay more attention.
DEI:
He said DEI COULD be a contributor to the crash. Granted, he wasn’t very clear initially, but in response to follow up questions from reporters he made that clear.
And he’s 100% correct. Both the FAA and the military have placed DEI initiatives over and above quality in hiring decisions. An article on this very site last summer lamented the FAA advertising that they would be prioritizing disabled persons for hiring into even critical positions. There is currently a lawsuit against the FAA for refusing to hire qualified white men for positions because of their race…while staffing levels at the Reagan tower were such that a single controller was performing the functions normally overseen by two.
Meanwhile both pilots of the helicopter that obviously bares the majority of the responsibility for this tragedy were women. That is not to say they weren’t qualified or competent, but in light of the military’s determination to increase the numbers of “underrepresented” people in high visibility roles like Pilots does tend to raise some eyebrows.
…continued
Part 2
In light of those unassailable facts, I’d say believing that DEI may well have played a role in this tragedy is perfectly logical and it’s refreshing to have a leader speak clearly and plainly about it rather than deflect and dither.
The fact that the FAA policy went into effect during his first term…while he was constantly battling disloyalty and outright defiance within the ranks of his own executive agencies…including the DOJ that was actively seeking to undermine his presidency, while defending woke initiatives in contravention to Trump’s stated policies…is flatly irrelevant.
And finally:
It’s “Tacky” to snap back at a “gotcha” question by a hostile reporter? Personally, I’m happy to see our elected leaders smack down those smug self-righteous purveyors of fake news and misinformation from time to time. It’s good to have a leader with a little backbone, even if it does make soy-boys and Karens cry about how “tactless” and “mean” he is.
I’m not a Trump sycophant but your apparent reflexive opposition to everything he does and says is just as bad as reflexively supporting everything he does and says.
Slight correction:
“Trump can’t magically make egg prices go down
threetwo weeks after taking office.”Seems longer than that. Trump’s had more real, measurable accomplishments in two weeks that Biden did in four years.
Just the fact he’s available for comment — and comments openly and plainly, is more than Biden did in 4 years. Same for JD Vance when compared to the Queen of Skin Floutists.
Well, we did beat Medicare so there was that.
“Queen of Skin Floutists” …….. FUCK YOU!!!! 😀
not that I don’t agree but I just blew snot on my desk….*looks for a paper towel*…..
That’s not what he said, he said prices would go down on day one. Of course it was a lie, but he said it. There’s a butt ton of video recording it too.
I realize that sailors can sometimes think a lamp post is a woman after they’re at sea a while, but despite calling this an ‘unassailable fact’, only one of the pilots was a woman.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-hawk-helicopter-american-airlines-pilot-dc-plane-crash-b2690976.html
Not only that but the IP is actually the one responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft. Otherwise what is he doing there?
I don’t think it’s clear who was the pilot in command. The senior in rank was the female who was a Captain. The Junior in rank was the male, a CWO2, but from what I found today they were both qualified as “Pilot in command” so who was actually in the Pilot seat is unclear.
The question is which of them was on the controls. That is the one primarily at fault for failing to fly below two hundred feet in the TCA on the assigned corridor.
Yea, where did that idiot read that both of the pilots were women?
Complains about fake news while spreading fake news. Fucking amazing.
Contrary to popular belief (at least on the internet) idiocy is not required to make a mistake.
I read it from an early source that I thought credible. I was wrong. I imagine these types of things even happen to persons of obviously superior intellect like yourself from time to time.
And my overall point stands.
Mea Culpa. I was operating off bad info. My apologies for the error and a correction was appended above.
And another correction: Both pilots weren’t women, the senior pilot by rank was a woman…a Captain, the other pilot was a male CWO2. They were both apparently qualified pilots so who was the Pilot in Command is unclear from what I could find.
My apologies for the fake news.
We haven’t had a different big business man in office since I don’t know when. Those that have never worked in big business making large deals are very confused by what Trump is doing. Just read his book and it will all become crystal clear.
Then there are those who know what he is doing but frame it differently. They don’t realize but they are actually helping.
Why are eggs higher than they used to be? let me tell you…
A chicken can lay roughly 1 egg a day, but we’ll be conservative and say .75 eggs. So, take 148million chickens times .75 eggs p/day equals 111 million eggs a day OUT of circulation. I only found data for 2023 in which the yearly egg production is 110 billion eggs or 301.369 million eggs per day. We can deduce that with 111 millions eggs per day lost is a reduction of 36.8% of eggs available per day. If you apply a little Supply & Demand for Microeconomics 101, we understand if the demand remains constant, and the supply decreases then prices must increase to reach equilibrium. This does not figure in for seasonality, weather, overhead costs, fuel and labor. So when some Diddycrat asks why the price of eggs didn’t go down immediately when Trump took over you can tell them that Trump is pretty amazing, but he can’t whip up 148,000,000 birds just like that.
This is going to get nasty.
The biggest part of an egg McMuffin is the egg.
Then you have that slab of “Canadian” bacon topped with a
slice of “American” cheese.
Not sure why Trump should take responsibility for chickens killed under Biden but it’s your column. I don’t think they were trying to shift blame either. The media had suddenly discovered that things like eggs cost more but for some reason had no idea why. So it was explained to them in simple English.
I wouldn’t expect any solution to a problem to be done in two weeks…but when asked about the high egg prices, Trump’s spox blamed (correctly) the government mandated flock slaughters. But specifically under Biden as if it was uniquely Biden’s solution, when in fact his administration (and others before) did exactly the same. And tariffs are having positive effects? Seem to, but one of his campaign pledges was to drive prices DOWN, not up 25%.
Are we still pretending we give a shit about the cost of groceries when we really just elected Trump to go after DEI and trans people?
Do you try to be that big of an idiot, or does it come to you naturally?
From the 1870s to the 19teens, our government was almost entirely financed via tariffs. There were committees to find ways to spend the excess.
Then we passed that idiot income tax “just on the super wealthy”, and created permanent inflation via the “Fed”.
We built a world spanning -battleship- fleet, without income tax or Fed.
Trump has a good point that taxing foreigners beats taxing Americans. It’s why Florida taxes tourists instead of income. Yup, hotels and theme parks cost lots more there. I very much put to good use 20 years of untaxed income.
Yes, the adjustment period can be rough. Since we are the ones with the trade imbalanced against us, we do better when folks switch to US sources.
That is why so many other places fold so quickly. If we -sustain- tariffs, and get accustomed to them, we might not -want- to switch back.
Trump is weilding tariffs like a sledgehammer to break up “how it has always been” (lately).
Imagine 40 years of zero income tax. It is replaced by tariffs on foreign goods, which you can avoid. Now we just need sound dollars to make borrowing unpleasant again.
By 1900 the US produced 60% of the steel in the world in addition to large market shares in just about everything.
In 1913 Democrats got rid of tariffs and replaced it with… Your answer must be in the form of a question…
What is “income tax”?
The board is yours rgr1480.
And Marx promised that the Bourgeois (“middle class”, non commies, !!ENEMY!!) must be ground away by the twin millstones of taxation and inflation.
Some cartels have declared open season on Border Patrol agents. If there were any doubts and the mission they just proved it a thousand times over.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexican-cartels-targeting-border-patrol-agents-kamikaze-drones-explosives-trump-crackdown-report
I’m glad to see all the anti-war pacifist pussies on this website are finally accepting that military action against Mexico is not only necessary, but well overdue.
As a huge anti-war pussy I didn’t read that anywhere in the post or article. In fact it doesn’t even talk much about Mexico at all but about the cartels. These are alleged non-state actors.
One of Trump’s campaign promises was using our military to fight Mexican cartels. I’m glad he’s upholding his promise.
You finish AIT yet?
28 years ago. I achieved your rank 21 years ago.
Where, in High School JROTC?
Or in your Halloween costume you wore in third grade?
And yet you still sound like an ignorant teen. Congratulations.
Politics 101.
Been happening since the beginning of time.
Thought that Chief of Staff of his was on him a little better this go around.
Attacking the food supply is a very good way to subjugate people…despots (read grubermints) have done that for since EVAH. ‘cump used that plan to great effect in Mississippi, Georgia, The Carolinas, and then some more on The Great Plains. Some of the egg producers had an independent testing group check their flocks for the Bird Coff and found no evidence of it after the feds had said there was. Make of that what you will.
A primary cause of Secession was the tariffs collected from the Southern States (80% of Fed Revenue) and then it being spent on Northern Infrastructure (80% of what was collected). At the end of the day (sale) a tariff or a tax is paid by the end user (read consumer). When Ol’ Abe asked his SecTreas if he could afford a war, SecTreas informed him that 80% of his revenue had left.
No we do not want Canada as a 51st state. Commiefornia, Noo Yawk, Massivegiveatwoshits, Commienekidcunt, and others on steroids.
How about calling it “The Gulf of The Americas” after all, the Official Name of Mexico IS The United States of Mexico. The are where The Canal sits is called “Central America”, and the adjoining land mass is called “South America”. I still prefer the suggestion of “The Robert E. Lee Memorial Gulf”.
Good luck on finding out exactly what happened in the jet/whirlybird crash. Some theories out there suggest that CPT Ms Thang may have been the actual target because of what she amy and/or may not have seen in the WH social circle duty. Where was Bitcherly and what does she know?
This isn’t true.
The pre-civil war tariffs were the same everywhere but protected the Northern industrial complex because Southerners mostly imported finished goods and machinery. If they bought from the North then there were zero tariffs, which was the point. The bigger problem was that the South sold a lot of cotton to Europe tariff free but when they bought things on trade the prices were steep.
I could care less what we call the Gulf. The next time you talk to a Gulf State Arab ask him about the Persian Gulf. He will get a confused look on his face and then ask if you are talking about the Gulf of Arabia? That is how it looks on his map.
Not sure what part you’re saying is not true. Hard to discuss a complex subject like tariffs before the war in a limited character comment. Concede the point that interstate commerce between North and South had no tariffs, not the point I was making. Without a tariff on a bale of cotton shipped to England, and then turned into a bale of cloth (with another tariff) the end result product would have been cheaper to the ultimate consumer than the cost of shipping that same cotton to a Northern mill to be turned into cloth and shipped back South.
We’re on agreement of the rest of your comment(s).
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/the-truth-about-tariffs/
Dr. Clyde Wilson’s research on pre war tariffs. Abbeville Institute..
“In the antebellum era, Matthew Carey, Philadelphia publisher and journalist, was the most zealous and articulate advocate of a protective tariff to raise the price of imported goods so high that American manufacturers would be guaranteed a closed internal market that would provide them with growth and profits. He believed fervently that this was necessary to build a strong country. Being a refugee Irishman, he wanted the United States to have powerful industry supported by a powerful navy that could compete with the hated Great Britain for the world market in manufactured goods.
In 1834 Carey was an unhappy man. As a result of South Carolina’s stand against the protective tariffs of 1828 and 1832, Congress had just passed a compromise measure that would lower the tariff by stages over the next ten years until it reached a revenue-only level. Carey penned an editorial warning the South that if it did not submit to future increases in the tariff, it would face the righteous fury of the North. He reminded Southerners that the North was superior in manpower and warships and that the long undefended Southern coastline could easily be invaded.
This is exactly what Lincoln’s armies were to do less than three decades later. Note that Carey has nothing to say about slavery and that he aggressively wishes to punish the South simply because by defending its own interests it was thwarting his agenda. His son Henry carried on his mission. After the war of 1861-1865 Henry Carey was to blame the war on free trade. If there had been a consistently high tariff, he said, the South would either have been impoverished or else forced to become like the North and there would have been no war.”
Again…the end user is who pays the final cost…tax (tariff), title, drive out…”what will it take to do business today?” Short term? The end user will feel the pain. Long term? MAGA!
The election of a Republican, on an explicitly Abolitionist platform, drove the Democrats of the South to seceed rather than face eventual Abolition of that obscene practice. The Dinks have shame-faced tried to cover that up ever since with “lost cause bullwash” and “tarriffswah” retcon.
The so called Confederate Constitution made clear what they would preserve. They proceeded tobviolate every preservation for the war, except Slavery.
The signing letters that accompanied secession declarations are often instructive where the main document is obscure.
The one thing that could have saved the Southetn cause was freeing and enlisting 2-5 million able bodied black men. Had they done that prior to 1864, they win outright.
But strangely, those folks who certainly could count the value of the labor of a man, would not count those folks. Because it was the whole reason. Why succeed just to self free them?
Nope. They earned what they got, playing “not my president”.
I love how folks badmouth Sherman, for fighting War by the then Laws and Customs of War, but give him no credit for post-surrender fighting for very gentle terms, indeed, for the conquered insurrection. His work, on -behalf- of his former foes, far exceeded Grant’s.
No argument here. I agree. I say again…The primary cause of that war, just like most other wars, was the politicians, for the most part, didn’t have to do the fighting. Can you say “Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight”? I knew you could.
Not sure where to post this, but, “ can I get a YEHAWWWWW!!!!”
“District Attorney Matthew Barton introduced the newly proposed Mississippi Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program (House Bill 1484),…. designed to allow certified bounty hunters to assist in identifying and reporting illegal aliens, ultimately helping to accelerate deportation efforts in line with the Trump Administration’s immigration priorities.
The proposed bill would offer a $1,000 reward to registered bounty hunters for each successful deportation they help facilitate.
I think we missed our chance renaming the Gulf. It should have been renamed to the Gulf of Big @ss Hurricanes or something badass like that.
David, you did forget one point to mention. The President recently lamented the “terrible trade deals” negotiated between the US, Canada and Mexico and how “unfair” they were. You know, the trade agreements his administration renegotiated with both countries in 2018 after he cancelled NAFTA. The terrible, unfair trade agreement he signed on a stage with the other two leaders. So terrible and unfair.