***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[leavemeglazzies]

The anthem of the Trump presidency:

 

[milestailsprowe]

GREATEST AD EVER (apologies to Herman Cain's "I am America" epic masterpiece):



I want to commend @aepps20 for putting together this advertisement for Don Blackenship, a former coal executive running for the West Virginia Senate.

His name was officially changed from Dan Whiteboat to Don Blackenlungs at the 2018 Coal Gang Convention of America, held deep underground in the Coal Mines of Manhattan. He was conferred this HONORIFIC for his ROLL in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, in which 31 coal miners acquired the BLACK LUNG due to Blackenlungs amazing work. However, only 2 miners survived because 29 of them were full of TOO MUCH LIBBIE CONJECTURE AND INNUENDO and thus are no longer with us.

#cocainemitchmustgo
#swampcaptainmitchmcconnellismentallyill
#chinapeoplegotourjobs
#forthesakeofthekids

We really need to stop giving everyone's racist Grandpa a job in government

China-people?

 

[IATT]

 

[getback]

 

[130122]

Football is a dying sport too

 

[Belgium]

Another one to throw on the pile. Must be nice to use a government agency to live out your personal travel wishes on the taxpayer's dime. Here's a list of travel destinations, go find some reasons to rationalize them. Easy.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...list-and-asked-staff-to-find-official-reasons
Pruitt had travel wishlist and asked staff to find ‘official’ reasons to go: report

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, when he joined the EPA, drew up a list of his preferred travel destinations and told his staff to find official reasons for him to travel to those countries, according to The Washington Post.

Four EPA officials familiar with Pruitt's travel arrangements tell the newspaper that Pruitt created the list shortly after taking office last year and directed aides to plan visits to countries on the list while finding official EPA business to rationalize the travel.



In some cases, those trips were planned for months with the help of influential Washington, D.C., lobbyists, the Post reports, raising further questions about Pruitt's use of taxpayer funds and proximity to lobbyists who may have business before the agency.

In the case of one canceled trip to Israel, the trip was reportedly organized by Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. Two Democratic senators sent a letter on Thursday to Pruitt demanding information about “the role Mr. Adelson or other non-governmental officials played" in planning that trip, the Post said.

Pruitt would later meet with executives from an Israel-based water purification company in Washington, a meeting that occurred “as a request of Sheldon Adelson," according to an official note in Pruitt's calendar.

Another incident in Morocco also showed Pruitt's tendency to let high-profile friends in on EPA business. A trip to Morocco, planned by longtime Pruitt friend and lobbyist Richard Smotkin, resulted in Smotkin joining Pruitt for "multiple" events, including a meeting with one of Morocco's business leaders.

Smotkin would later go on to sign a lobbying agreement with Morocco's government. Critics point to this as blatant evidence of Pruitt using his office to promote his friends' business interests.

“This is the problem with Pruitt,” Virginia Canter of the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told the Post. “He’s basically acting as a lobbyist for all of his friends.”

Pruitt has weathered a number of stories revolving around his ethical conduct in the past few months, including revelations that he approved raises for top aides while circumventing the White House and accepted a living arrangement in Washington from the wife of a top energy lobbyist.

President Trump, however, has maintained public support for Pruitt.

 

[Cashflow]

Pruitt trying to get these stamps

 

[dwalk31]

In news that most people care about

 

[Belgium]

Pruitt makes the crooks in our politics look like amateurs. On one hand I'm somewhat impressed by the sheer quantity and scale of Pruitt's questionable conduct.
Here we usually have some politicians skimming thousands of euros from non-profit organizations or politicians with multiple mandates collecting tens of thousands in consulting fees from major corporations without actually doing anything. In some cases the politicians didn't even show up to the alleged consulting meetings they were handsomely paid for.
But never in my life have I seen something as brazen as Pruitt. His tenure seems more like what I'd expect from an oligarch in a corrupt regime.

 

[biggie62]

But he said real unemployment was 25% so not sure what figures to believe.

 

[dwalk31]

But he said real unemployment was 25% so not sure what figures to believe.

Cheeky

 

[dreamer23]

"Don't believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent."

—Donald Trump on Tuesday, February 9th, 2016 in a victory speech after the New Hampshire primary


was he lying then or lying now...

 

[dwalk31]

"Don't believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent."

—Donald Trump on Tuesday, February 9th, 2016 in a victory speech after the New Hampshire primary


was he lying then or lying now...

Was he referencing now (May 18, 2018 ), or then (February 9, 2016), when he made those statements? I mean really... These numbers and that statement are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Belgium]

Trump extended the EU's exemption earlier this week but also postponed a decision by 30 days to grant the EU a permanent exemption from the US steel and aluminum tariffs. The EU is now reiterating its threat to retaliate as they have no interest in negotiating under threat.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ountermeasures-threat-over-u-s-metals-tariffs
EU Reiterates Threat to Retaliate Against U.S. Tariffs

The European Union reiterated its threat to impose countermeasures if the U.S. doesn’t grant the bloc a permanent exemption from American steel and aluminum tariffs, a decision the Trump administration postponed for 30 days earlier this week.

While repeating that the EU won’t negotiate “under threat,” a spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said “we keep having contact at all levels” over the U.S. levies of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum announced in March on national-security grounds. President Donald Trump on Monday granted another month for the EU, Canada and Mexico to continue negotiations for permanent exemptions from the duties.

“The discussion between the EU and the U.S. continues following the announcement of the extension of the EU exemption,” the commission spokesman, Enrico Brivio, told reporters in Brussels on Friday. However, “we are not negotiating under threat.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday that the waiver for the EU “should be unconditional and permanent.” He warned the Trump administration against trying to dictate terms of trans-Atlantic trade relations.

“The EU is convinced that we should receive a full and unconditional exemption from the announced steel and aluminum tariffs. For the commission, that remains the main goal of these discussions,” the commission spokesman said on Friday. “At the same time, we are preparing a triple WTO-compatible reaction in case the EU is not permanently exempted.”

EU leaders plan to discuss trade and the U.S. during a dinner session at an informal summit in Sofia, Bulgaria on May 16, according to an EU diplomat.

And China has moved to target US farmers very specifically.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ed-buying-u-s-soybean-supplies-bunge-ceo-says
China Shunning U.S. Soybeans on Trade Tensions, Bunge CEO Says

The world’s biggest oilseed processor just confirmed one of the soybean market’s biggest fears: China has essentially stopped buying U.S. supplies amid the brewing trade war.

“Whatever they’re buying is non-U.S.,” Bunge Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Soren Schroder said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “They’re buying beans in Canada, in Brazil, mostly Brazil, but very deliberately not buying anything from the U.S.”

In a move that caught many in U.S. agriculture by surprise, China last month announced planned tariffs on American shipments of soybeans. As the market waited for the measure to take effect, there was some hope among traders and shippers alike that relations between the nations could ease in the meantime and the trade flow would continue. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least for now, according to Bunge.

It’s “very clear” that the trade tensions have already stopped China from buying U.S. supplies, Schroder said. “How long that will last, who knows? But so long as there is this big cloud of uncertainty, that’s likely to continue.”

Price volatility in farm goods has picked up in recent weeks as the saber-rattling between the U.S. and China intensifies. Other agricultural products caught up in the dispute include corn, pork and sorghum. Soybeans are the second-largest American crop and prices are heavily dependent on trade with the Asian nation, the world’s top importer.

In the two weeks ended April 19, China canceled a net 62,690 metric tons of U.S. soybean purchases for the marketing year that ends Aug. 31, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. At this time of year, South American countries typically complete their harvests and become the dominant shippers for several months. Brazil’s lead on global exports is expected to widen to a record in the 2017-2018 season as it sells 73.1 million tons abroad versus 56.2 million from the U.S., the USDA estimates.

Bunge has still been able to meet Chinese demand by filling shipments with supplies from outside the U.S., Schroder said. The White Plains, New York-based company has a large presence in South America.

“I would rather say that we would prefer that free trade and no disruptions take place because it’s not good for anyone,” Schroder said. “We are, by virtue of our footprint, in a very good position to deal with” the situation, he said.

 

[biggie62]

Well sorry but you can’t change your rhetoric. By his logic unemployment is at 25% maybe or even 40 since it only went down 2%.

But defend him all you want. As long as it fits your thinking you’ll agree with anything. No better than a sheep.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Was he referencing now (May 18, 2018 ), or then (February 9, 2016), when he made those statements? I mean really... These numbers and that statement are not mutually exclusive.

His comments in 2016 were patently false. Anyone could have checked the BLS and found out.

Hell the chart you God damn posted to gloat he shows that he is was full of ****.

So Trump being right then, and the info in your chart are mutually exclusive.

Troll better, because your own evidence shuts down your argument.

 

[IATT]

 

[dwalk31]

Well sorry but you can’t change your rhetoric. By his logic unemployment is at 25% maybe or even 40 since it only went down 2%.

But defend him all you want. As long as it fits your thinking you’ll agree with anything. No better than a sheep.

I'm not sure what you mean. I posted a NYT article about unemployment rates and then you started talking about Donald Trump. I didn't. Perhaps you are the one that chooses to push a narrative, not me.

Either you accept the numbers, or you don't.

 

[dwalk31]

His comments in 2016 were patently false. Anyone could have checked the BLS and found out.

Hell the chart you God damn posted to gloat he shows that he is was full of ****.

So Trump being right then, and the info in your chart are mutually exclusive.

Troll better, because your own evidence shuts down your argument.

What does Trump being wrong have to do with what I posted? Did I say he was right or something?

 

[RustyShackleford]

For so mnay reasons, Mitt Romney is trash

 

[Mark Antony]

Maryland's seafood industry is in crisis: Nearly half of the Eastern Shore’s crab houses have no workers to pick the meat sold in restaurants and supermarkets.

They failed to get visas for their mostly Mexican workforce, including many women who have been coming north to Maryland for crab season for as long as two decades. The Trump administration for the first time awarded them this year in a lottery, instead of on a first-come, first-served basis.

“This is going to cause the price of crab meat to go out of sight,” said Harry Phillips, owner of Russell Hall Seafood on Hoopers Island. “There’s not going to be hardly any Maryland crab meat.

“It looks like it’s a matter of time before they’re going to shut all of us down.”

Crab crisis: Maryland seafood industry loses 40 percent of work force in visa lottery - Baltimore Sun http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-crab-visa-shortage-20180502-story.html

Welp, industries are starting to die.

 

[Belgium]

I'm not sure what you mean. I posted a NYT article about unemployment rates and then you started talking about Donald Trump. I didn't. Perhaps you are the one that chooses to push a narrative, not me.

Either you accept the numbers, or you don't.

I don't think anyone isn't accepting the numbers. But the president has demonstrated in the past that he does not understand unemployment rates, hence why it was brought up I assume.

 

[Belgium]

Welp, industries are starting to die.

Good, no offense. If Trump won't see the value in maintaining good relations with its biggest allies and doesn't grand the EU a permanent exemption from his stupid steel and aluminum tariffs, we should follow in China's footsteps and impose strong tariffs to specifically cripple rural America. If Trump won't listen to common and economic sense, perhaps the only way to show him is through strength.
I'd prefer it doesn't have to go that far but I feel like financially crippling his base is the only way to knock some sense into the people surrounding him. I don't expect Trump to care or understand what tariffs do but his fellow Republicans will.

 

[RustyShackleford]

What does Trump being wrong have to do with what I posted? Did I say he was right or something?

You said the past comments are current figures are not mutually exclusive.

They are though.

Measureable economic activity and observable reality tells us that we didn't cut our employment levels that much and such small increases in GDP growth and inflation.

He was lying in 2016 and you just refuse to admit it.

 

[getback]

In news that most people care about

“Wage growth is just not picking up as would have expected at this point,” said Matthew Luzzetti, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank. As a result, he said, the Fed “to continue moving gradually.”

One mystery of the American economy is this: How can employers can continue to raise pay so gradually, when the labor market keeps getting tighter? In the 1990s and early 2000s, the last time the job market looked like this, wages for rank-and-file workers rose at an annual rate of around 4 percent.

For some groups, the market has been tougher. The unemployment rate for black workers, for example, has consistently hovered well above the rate for white workers, even as employers complain loudly about a labor shortage in sectors like construction and trucking. The job market has improved for black workers in recent years — they still faced a jobless rate of 6.6 percent in April, the lowest level on record. But it was still much higher than the 3.6 percent for whites.

If the numbers were reversed, “the country would be up in arms,” said Andre Perry of the Brookings Institution, whose research focuses on race and structural inequality. Differences in education or degrees don’t explain that gaping disparity, according to federal data.

The data also from what I saw didn't account for part time, per diem, etc. I always take those unemployment numbers with a grain of salt since they're easy to manipulate to make everything seem lovely.