Labels

We had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen...






“We had finished dinner, we were now having dessert, and we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it, and I was given the message from the generals that the ships are locked and loaded,” said Trump.


DAILY SPECIALS






Trump Pushes Another Bailout for ‘Patriot Farmers’ Hurt by His Trade War

As he escalates his trade war with China, President Trump is pushing to provide some additional bailout funds to placate the U.S. farmers being hurt by his tariffs.
“Out of the billions of dollars that we’re taking in [from tariffs], a small portion of that will be going to our farmers,” Trump said Monday. “We’re going to take the highest year — the biggest purchase that China has ever made with our farmers, which is about $15 billion — and do something reciprocal to our farmers.”
The president tweeted a similar pledge on Tuesday: “Hopefully China will do us the honor of continuing to buy our great farm product, the best, but if not your Country will be making up the difference based on a very high China buy,” he wrote. “This money will come from the massive Tariffs being paid to the United States for allowing China, and others, to do business with us.”
The tweet underscores again Trump’s misunderstanding of how tariffs work. They are paid by U.S. importers, and ultimately passed on to U.S. consumers.
The background: The Trump administration last week raised tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and threatened to extend the tariffs to an additional $300 billion in imports. China responded in part by announcing that, as of June 1, it would impose tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods.
Farmers feeling the pain: Farmers are feeling the impact of the trade war and, while many still stand by Trump, some are growing weary of his trade policy. "Farmers have been patient and willing to let negotiations play out, but with each passing day, patience is wearing thin," said National Corn Growers Association President Lynn Chrisp in a statement last week, according to CNN. "Agriculture needs certainty, not more tariffs."
Net farm income dropped by $12 billion, or 16%, in 2018. The $15 billion in aid Trump has suggested would be on top of $12 billion he directed the Department of Agriculture to provide last year. That first farm-support program has reportedly paid out more than $8.5 billion thus far, with producers of soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton and sorghum getting much of the money.
The latest bailout is still being devised, Trump said Monday, and it’s not yet clear who would be eligible for the aid. “The question of how this would be done, whether it would apply to wheat and corn and other crops and not just soybeans, is going to be a question that’s going to have to be answered,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said, according to The Washington Post.
Perhaps a bigger long-term question for farmers is whether an important market for their products has been destroyed.
Consumers are getting hit too: Here’s one way to look at Trump’s proposed aid to farmers, The Washington Post’s Philip Bump: “Trump is taxing consumers to bolster farmers, a core part of his political base.” One estimate Bump cites puts the additional cost to consumers at $8.8 billion a month. Since November, the total estimated cost is $22.4 billion in tariffs and $21.6 billion in higher costs resulting from related supply-chain changes.
The politics: The new tariffs have drawn criticism and concern from both Democrats and Republicans. “The American worker is getting killed by this," former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Monday on a New Hampshire radio station. "The American farmers are getting killed.” And the additional bailout being proposed has once again raised cries of Trumpian hypocrisy — that the president is looking to protect his voter base at the expense of the broader public. “During the administration of Barack Obama, Trump and his party regularly excoriated Obama as ‘picking winners and losers,’ shunting government resources to programs that he supported at the expense of the free market,” The Washington Post’s Bump notes. [The Fiscal Times, May 14, 2019]

San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Technology


The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a landmark ordinance, banning city departments from using facial recognition technology and calling for oversight for city departments that wish to use surveillance technology. 

The ordinance would require that city departments seeking to acquire surveillance technology with city funds to submit a policy plan to supervisors as well as a surveillance impact report. 

For departments that already use it, those departments would be required to submit a surveillance technology policy ordinance, outlining the use of the technology. In addition, the city's controller would be required to audit the use of the technology on a yearly basis and produce a report for supervisors. 

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who introduced the ordinance, said, "This is not really the top secret surveillance ordinance, it's really an ordinance that is about having accountability around surveillance technology. And with the narrow exception of the facial recognition technology, this is actually not designed to stop the use of any technologies that we currently employ or may use in the future." 

Instead, he said, the ordinance is simply to "ensure the safe and responsible use of surveillance technology," by city departments. [SFGATE. Wednesday Morning News Roundup, May 15, 2019]




2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES


The Democratic Race: Taking a hard look at electability

Bill Weld officially announces he is challenging Trump for GOP nomination in 2020




PRETTY TRUMP, PRETTY TRUMP

President Trump Pardons a Former U.S. Soldier Convicted of Killing an Iraqi Prisoner

Trump’s China Brinksmanship OPINION

Trump square: Israeli city latest to announce plan to name site after president

Israel locates site on Golan to be named after President Trump



TRUMPARCANA

Trump Tax Returns Show Over $1 Billion in Losses: NYT

Trump Admits to Massive Tax Write Offs, Calling It 'Sport'

Trump’s Tax Leak Hints at Potential Fraud Investigations

Lawrence's Last Word: Was Trump joking about shooting?



THE RUSSIA THING

Trump campaign refuses to say whether it has a policy on foreign agents

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán Is Shunned By European Neighbors, Finds Love From Trump



PREVARICATOR TRUMP

Like father, like son: Trump claims ‘total exoneration’ for Don Jr.

NYT: White House asked Don McGahn to say Trump didn’t obstruct justice

Donald Trump Cheats...

Illinois farmer to Trump on China trade war: "Farmers are the ones that are taking it on the jaw"



TAKE A SWING

London mayor on state visit: UK 'shouldn't be rolling out the red carpet' for Trump

Trump Is a Warmonger Who’s Terrified of War

Trump Tower Is Now One of NYC’s Least-Desirable Luxury Buildings

 Howard Stern: Living Under Trump Presidency ‘Feels Like an Alternate Reality. I’m as Shocked as You Are’



MELANIA TRUMP

Ex-Melania Aide Hits Out: ‘I Was Thrown Under the Bus’

MELANIA WOWS IN WHITE SHEER LACE DRESS AT PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM CEREMONY

One year into Melania Trump’s Be Best program, she continues her miscalculation of the first lady role

Melania Trump looks less than enthused in White House birthday tweet



READ
A Life in Motion: A Memoir

At Hitler's Side: The Memoirs of Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant 1937–1945

Dreaming of Baghdad

The Eighth Sister FICTION

Lorraine's Journey Down Under FICTION

A Good Man: A Novel FICTION



SPEAKING OUT




[William Barr's handling of the Mueller report] has been catastrophic. Not in my memory has a sitting attorney general more diminished the credibility of his department on any subject."
May 2, 2019 | Benjamin Wittes, The Atlantic


“Marshaling a united front with allies toward Beijing would have been better, but Mr. Trump is a unilateralist and his household remedy is tariffs.”
[WSJ OPINION, May 6, 2019]

If you think playing hockey against Vladimir Putin is taking your life into your own hands, try playing golf with Donald Trump.  [Chris Hayes, MSNBC All In, May 10, 2019]


— James Baker, fmr. FBI General Counsel (video)

Rep. Jackie Speier —May.09.2019
Trump's still earning money from his company. We need to know if it's clean.










NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as  a "community service" announcement.  These again are shared for their varying perspectives.


Any commercial or business interest information shared is purely informational, not an endorsement.  I have no connection with any such commercial or business interest.

Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post.  Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse.  They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment