Politics

sgt_zim · Feb 10, 2020

tigris115 said:
No idea tbh. Bernie and Yang seem like nice PEOPLE and I like the latter's dismissal of the media circus but they're quite radical for my tastes. I abhor Biden as I want new blood in politics. My big hope is that the Democrats get good because I dont want Republicans running everything with no competition because then they'll stop caring. Ideally, parties outside the big 2 would spring up but even now with the DNC pissing in the collective cornflakes of their bases, it's not likely to happen.

Also, the wall is a moronic idea and comes across to me as a visual display of might rather than meaningful border security. Even the Berlin Wall in it's day would have seen frequent escapees. What you really need is to create stronger networks with Mexico to reduce illegal immigration.

Finally, the war on drugs is a load. I don't like to use literally to much but it's literally a repeat of the 1920's with cartels having replaced the Mafiosa and millions being poured into a figurative Sarlacc pit and most of it being taken out on poor families and not the preppy rich kids who show off their parents money by buying this stuff to show how cool they are (can you tell I'm a Long Islander yet?) I think weed will be fine with the same sorts of regulations as we impose on alcohol and for the rest, copy and paste what Portugal did. I'm very much someone who cares about getting results so whatever reduces the US drug epidemic, especially the recent plague of opioids, is to be implemented.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...licy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it

Sanders isn't the nice guy you think he is. Marxists never are. Sanders may be the most disgusting and cynical of all the current crop of dem candidates, and that's saying something. In error as she is on almost everything, at least Gabbard is honest. Sanders is a deceitful, power-grabbing tyrant wannabe. Who honeymooned in the USSR, in case you weren't aware.

tigris115 · Feb 10, 2020

Well don't I feel like an absolute doofus. I should have known something was up when Sanders immediately went to promote Clinton but alas, I got the memory of a goldfish with these things.

sgt_zim said:
Sanders isn't the nice guy you think he is. Marxists never are. Sanders may be the most disgusting and cynical of all the current crop of dem candidates, and that's saying something. In error as she is on almost everything, at least Gabbard is honest. Sanders is a deceitful, power-grabbing tyrant wannabe. Who honeymooned in the USSR, in case you weren't aware.

Hogpatrol · Feb 11, 2020

Question : When is the use of "@#$%" or "@#$%ing" acceptable?

Answer: There are only 10 times throughout history where the "F" word
has been considered acceptable for use.

In DESCENDING order, those exclamations were:

10. "What the @#$% do you mean, we’re sinking?"

~ Capt. E. J. Smith of RMS Titanic, 1912.

9. "What the @#$% was that?"

~ Mayor Of Hiroshima , 1945

8. " Where did all those @#$%ing Indians come from?"

~ George Custer, 1877

7. "Any @#$%ing idiot could understand that."

~ Albert Einstein, 1938.

6. "It does so @#$%ing look like her!"

~ Picasso, 1926

5. "How the @#$% did you work that out?"

~ Pythagoras, 126 BC.

4. "Where the @#$% are we?"

~ Amelia Earhart, 1937

3. "Scattered @#$%ing showers, my ass!"

~ Noah, 4314 BC

2. "Aw, come on Monica. Who the @#$% is going to find out?"

~ Bill Clinton, 1998

AND THE WINNER IS ....

1. "There is no @#$%ing way Trump will ever become President"

~ Hillary Clinton, 2016

BeeMaa · Feb 11, 2020

Hogpatrol said:
1. "There is no @#$%ing way Trump will ever become President"

~ Hillary Clinton, 2016

Like to see that number one repeated by the Dems this November.

Ed Lally · Feb 12, 2020

EricB · Feb 12, 2020

https://babylonbee.com/news/80s-mov...ie-sanders-keeps-rooting-for-all-the-villains

Hogpatrol · Feb 12, 2020

Tobacco Smoke Enema Kit (1750s – 1810s).
The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient's rectum for various medical purposes, but primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims.
A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke into the rectum. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration.
Doubts about the credibility of tobacco enemas led to the popular phrase "blowing smoke up your ass."
As you are most likely aware, this odd tool is still heavily used by all levels of government.

Wheels · Feb 12, 2020

Looks like the remnants of the Marshall Plan may be ending. Germany will be getting squeezed from America while at the same time see less exports to China due to China having less hard currency to work with due to the restructure of trade with America.

WED FEB 12, 2020 / 7:31 AM EST
'Germany is not safe' despite smaller trade surplus with U.S.: trade experts
Michael Nienaber and Rene Wagner

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel pose for the family photo during the annual NATO heads of government summit at the Grove Hotel in Watford, Britain December 4, 2019.
REUTERS/PETER NICHOLLS/POOL/FILE PHOTO

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel for bilateral talks during the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, August 26, 2019.
REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA/FILE PHOTO

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's trade surplus with the United States narrowed slightly last year, data showed on Wednesday, but that is unlikely to assuage U.S. President Donald Trump who has stepped up his attacks on the European Union over trade.

German exports of goods to the United States in 2019 hit an all-time high, the Federal Statistics Office data showed, even though Germany also bought more U.S. vehicles, animal feed and pharmaceuticals in a modest rebalancing of trade.

Trump, long critical of Germany's big surpluses, signaled on Monday that he wanted to restructure the more than $1 trillion U.S. trade relationship with the EU, raising the specter of another major tariff war as the global economy slows and he seeks re-election.

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"Germany is not safe," Gabriel Felbermayr, president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, told Reuters.

After Trump claimed trade policy victories against China, Korea, Japan, Mexico and Canada, it is likely that he will now turn his anger towards the euro zone, said Felbermayr. Germany is the EU's biggest economy and by far its biggest exporter.

"Even if the U.S. deficit with Germany has fallen a little bit, U.S. data suggest that the deficit with the euro zone has gone up quite substantially," Felbermayr said, adding that Germany still accounts for more than 40% of that imbalance.

The U.S. trade deficit with Germany edged down by 1.5 billion euros to some 47 billion euros last year, helped by a surge in German imports, the new data showed.

Excluding services, German goods exports to the United States rose by 4.7% in 2019 to a record high of nearly 119 billion euros ($130 billion), the data showed.

"WORSE THAN CHINA"

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Overall, German export growth slowed to 0.8% last year after 3.0% in 2018 and 6.2% in 2017, the data showed, as manufacturers faced weaker global demand and increased business uncertainty linked to trade disputes and Brexit.

Trump has said the EU is "worse than China" on trade and has repeatedly threatened to impose higher import tariffs on European cars, which would hit Germany especially hard. Germany narrowly avoided slipping into recession last year.

Jens Suedekum, a trade expert at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Duesseldorf, said the United States remained the top destination for German exports partly because Washington's major tariff disputes had so far been more with China.

"This alone boosts German exports, which become cheaper for American consumers when compared to Chinese goods on which they have to pay tariffs," Suedekum said.

Demand for German goods in the United States has also benefited from the robust state of the U.S. economy, buoyed by massive deficit spending and tax cuts, he added.

"The United States and China have reached a ceasefire at the moment, so Trump will shift his attention towards Europe, and Germany in particular," Suedekum cautioned.

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"The German export surplus is one of the major annoyances for him, and he might punish the entire EU for that."

France remains Germany's second-biggest export market, with foreign sales rising by 1.4% to nearly 107 billion euros.

China again came in third place last year, with German exports growing by 3.2% to 96 billion euros.

Combining exports and imports, China remained Germany's biggest trading partner, with a volume of 206 billion euros in 2019.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Hogpatrol · Feb 12, 2020

EU tariff on imported U.S. vehicles is 10%. U.S. tariff on EU cars imported in to the U.S. is 2.5%.

Long passed time to even the playing field and stop subsidizing the German autoworkers 32 hour work week.

Royal27 · Feb 12, 2020

Hogpatrol said:
EU tariff on imported U.S. vehicles is 10%. U.S. tariff on EU cars imported in to the U.S. is 2.5%.

Long passed time to even the playing field and stop subsidizing the German autoworkers 32 hour work week.

Funniest thing about that article from @Wheels is that if you take out all of the emotional words like "threatened," "anger", and "annoyance" the article is pretty much true. So funny how it makes Trump wanting a level playing field into a "Trump is evil" argument. LOL

mdwest · Feb 12, 2020

I think things might get interesting in Germany pretty soon with AKK resigning from the CDU..

AKK from what I could tell was a near mirror image of Merkel, albeit a lessor performing one (the Germans here on AH might have better insight on this than I do)..

But with Merkel leaving office soon, and no clear successor in sight, I'm interested to see not only how this impacts Germany, but also the EU.

cpr0312 · Feb 12, 2020

Timbo · Feb 13, 2020

Timbo · Feb 13, 2020

Ray B · Feb 13, 2020

I disagree with the pastor's video re ability of the black man to understand "the world". The reason nothing of significance was built in south Sahara Africa was more a function of lack of need than of any genetic structure. Otherwise those other areas of the world would have the same behavior. South Pacific Islanders, Central & South Americans. The answer lies not in the genetics of the various racial groups but in the reward system of the governments. If the government rewards people for counter-productive the people will provide more counter-productive behavior. If the government taxes productive behavior, less will be provided. It's not the people's fault- they are just doing what they are paid to do. If the government wanted change, they would change the tax/reward system- but it appears they don't want any change- at least not in the direction of corrective behavior.

tigris115 · Feb 13, 2020

Something that's been annoying me for the past few weeks is the constant ignoring of nuclear energy while people lionize either fossil fuels & fracking (pollution and other nasty crap) or wind & solar (too inefficient and lots of mining). My only good hypothesis for why we fear nuclear energy is the Cold War paranoia (A topic I can't comment on as I was still just an egg at the time) but with new advances, I think we can leave that behind. Here are 2 fairly basic videos that should explain my shtick a little better.

Ray B · Feb 13, 2020

Something the coal/petro enemies don't address is: Given the total possible output of socially acceptable forms of energy (solar/wind) it is clear that the people would no longer be able to consume energy at present levels. so the next question is: How will the available energy be allocated? Since the politicians have shown that they care much more about their own well-being than their constituents, my recommendation is to move to a state with moderate climate since you won't be given the electricity to heat or cool the house while living close to where your favored foods are grown since you may have to walk to the field and pick it yourself.

Hogpatrol · Feb 13, 2020

I have to laugh at these greenhead lunatics that want everyone driving electric cars. What or who is going to replace the billions of dollars of motor fuel tax to maintain highway infrastructure? I guess they think the "government" will make up the slack. Einstein had it right, human stupidity is infinite.

Brent in Az · Feb 13, 2020

I want a nuclear powered Lamborghini.

Hogpatrol · Feb 13, 2020

Every since TMI, nuclear is the boogeyman. The vegan version of the environmentalists is we should all be driving pedal cars with wooden wheels.

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