Baffled European

Category: Plain stupidity

  • Tariff updates

    A few months ago, the president decided he would apply tariffs to movies. This is illegal and impractical, and was ignored. Until now. He’s decided he wants a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the USA. There’s no idea of how to even try to apply this, but he’s the president. The establishment of the USA is still very much in thrall to their senile dictator and his acolytes who are destroying the country.

    It was a busy day for tariffs. He’s also decided to impose tariffs on any country which does not buy its furniture from the USA. National security, apparently. There’s a full schedule, dealing with upholstered furniture, kitchen furniture, etc.

    This seems to be a response to a spate of closures of furniture manufacturers in the USA, who are dealing with enormous and unpredictable tariffs from their supplier, as well as a collapse in domestic consumer confidence. Not to mention JD Vance’s sofa hobbies.

    Then there’s the new 25% on all truck imports. Or the 100% on all medication. The medication thing will be suspended if the countries start building factories in the US by the end of the week.

    These are going to make everything more expensive for people in the USA, with no benefit to their own industry. Most likely, they also break the “deals” that have been cobbled together over the last few months.

    How long can this go on?

  • I guess we’re not in Arkansas anymore

    Here’s a heartwarming story. Voting makes a difference. It’s nice to see democracy in action.

    Over 64% of Arkansawyers voted Republican in the last election, with only 33% for Harris. State elections show a similar pattern. I think it is fair to say that a clear majority of voters are happy with these results and no doubt enthusiastically support the policies of the party they elected.

    So let’s have a look at how this is turning out. It seems the tariff policies have really hit Arkansas farmers. More than a third are expected to declare bankruptcy this year. This has a knock-on in other areas of the local economy, with crop-dusting, machinery dealers and maintenance, and even rural banks taking a hammering from loss of business. The agriculture sector is describing the situation as a disaster.

    There is only one course of action available for these proud, independent frontiersmen: to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and go to DC to beg for government money. Some people might call them welfare queens. Others say that this is basically communism. But they are wrong, because it’s different in this case.

    Unfortunately, they are dealing with a man who has extensive experience in bankruptcy and he considers it normal practice. Somebody will make money picking up all these businesses for buttons, and that’s what matters.

    I assume Arkansawyers will vote Republican next time as well. If they get the chance.

  • Nonsense summary

    There’s been an outbreak of e-coli in Florida caused by people drinking raw milk. More cancellations of vaccine and other medical research as well.

    Nebraska is suffering a deep recession, with a 6% contraction in the economy this year so far.

    The Ford Motor Company posted a loss in Q2 of this year. They blame the tariffs, which are expected to cost the company $2billion this year.

    The price of everything is going up, except for eggs. These tariffs are biting.

    Bad weather and people are losing their homes and livelihoods because of storm damage. FEMA shrugs and ignores this. People need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Small government is the future.

    Except when it comes to racism. The immigration mania continues, there’s no way to stop it now.

    Amazingly, the Epstein stuff is still going on. Epstein’s greatest friend has not been able to shake away the story and people are asking questions.

    I’ve been away from this blog for the last month. I simply haven’t had the patience or enthusiasm to follow the experiment going on over in the USA. It’s not that it takes that much time, just that it is greater than zero and therefore more than I’m prepared to waste on watching a convicted fraudster steal hundreds of millions from his adoring followers. It’s all variations on illegal and inhumane stuff. They are inventive, but it gets to be too much.

  • Buyer’s remorse

    There’s been quite a bit of regret among the faithful recently. It’s not just the Epstein files and the president calling everybody up to tell them to stop talking about Epstein. Actual maga are feeling financial effects of their policies and they don’t like it.

    AirBnb is one example. Bookings have dried up. Apartments which have been fully booked in the last few years are empty. Reports in the last few days describe an Irish man who spent 100 days in the ICE detention system for a minor infringement, despite agreeing immediately to deport. There are many stories of Canadians with green cards being refused entry or deported. People are afraid to travel to the country, of course they won’t go there on holiday.

    There’s a wave of bankruptcies among farmers. Much of this can be put to the mad trade war, with Mid-West farmers being a favourite target for retaliation tariffs. They almost all vote Republican, and they are all losing money with this government.

    Then there’s the cuts to Medicaid and food stamps. Some of them are getting desperate. They send their tweets to the president himself, imploring him to help them, surely he wouldn’t allow this to happen, if only he knew.

    No idea how this will run, but it is the first time I’ve seen any doubt among maga. Will this dissatisfaction develop? Will they see how they have been duped? Or will they fall into line?

  • Health don’t care

    The Big Beautiful Bill for the US budget is making its way through committee. The latest indicators suggest a $1trillion cut to Medicaid and Medicare. There’s going to be an awful lot of people who suddenly find themselves without healthcare.

    It’s needed to pay for the even bigger tax cut for billionaires, naturally, and also for the estimated $170billion they want to waste on their immigration policy.

    Where will the remains of the money for healthcare go? RFK has given us a couple of pointers.

    He wants people to have “wearables”, that is smart monitors to record exercise and heart rate etc. His dream is that every USAian will carry a wearable for their health. As a bonus, these devices will record all sorts of personal information and act as a marker for the precise location of the wearer. I guess you either submit to government surveillance, or no healthcare.

    He’s been shipping out Medicare functions to a company called United Healthcare, which is currently under investigation for fraudulent use of such funds. All the anti-corruption agencies will be gone soon, so that won’t be a problem any more.

    And to no surprise, no money will be spent on vaccines. But we know this and the whole charade of the anti-vaxxers. RFK believes stuff that is 100% not true. Unfortunately, he is the one in charge, and there is nothing that can shift him.

  • Police ICE

    There is a law enforcement problem in the USA. Last week in Pasadena, a man left his car and pointed a gun at pedestrians. After a short time, he got back in his car and drove away. The police are trying to find out if he was a federal agent of some sort, or a criminal. Nobody can tell the difference.

    A man who claimed to be an ICE agent harassed workers at a car repair garage and stole $1000. Again, nobody knows who is real and who is not.

    The police have started alerting ICE to people who call them out, for instance in cases of domestic violence. As such, people are afraid to call the real police.

    If anybody was in any doubt, this is the reason why police and other government agents are supposed to identify themselves. It is worse when the behaviour of agents is exactly the same as that of criminals.

    As a response, somebody has set up a website that will identify any police officer. You upload a photo and it will tell you their name and number. This is legal because of the useless data protection laws in the US. I can’t imagine the police are too happy about such tools, but it exists for a reason.

    This situation did not exist a few months ago. The new regime has created a serious problem out of thin air. It seems their only response is to escalate further.

  • Great victory

    It sounds like Iran and Israel have announced a ceasefire for the time being. If anything, this will strengthen the position of the warmongers in the USA. A rash and pointless bombing mission, then “peace”. They will paint it as a stroke of genius by the master strategist in charge.

    Newspaper gossip suggests he decided to get involved because he saw the pictures of Israel shooting missiles and wanted to get in on the action. Maybe. It’s plausible.

    Rather more concerning is that he is now openly wondering if he is imagining things. Specifically things about nuclear weapons. Even he seems to recognise his mind is failing.

    What excuse do his supporters have? All those politicians who make excuses for his behaviour? The press sanitises all of his rubbish and then discusses this version as if it is desirable or even coherent.

    There are a lot of very serious people who have been taken in by a conman, a conman who is quite clearly demented. They indulge his every whim, allow him to start wars, kidnap and torture people, personally enrich himself, while destroying the government and its institutions.

    Have they invested so much into this man that they can no longer admit that he is a senile criminal, because they themselves would look extremely foolish? What is the hold he has on them? The whole country is on a complete flight from reality and everybody is cheering along. There’s no sign of them stopping.

  • Keystone Kops

    I don’t know how else to put this, but US cops are not very good.

    They went in all gung-ho in the first wave of unrest in LA. I sort of got that, they wanted to show who was boss and don’t mess with us. However, the way they kept getting surrounded by protesters and then having to fight their way out with plastic bullets and tear gas, that shouldn’t happen at all.

    For all the criticisms you might level against European police, they do seem to have some idea of strategy and tactics. They are the ones doing the surrounding and they stay in charge. The USAians appear poorly trained and incompetent by comparison. Not to mention the hyper-aggressive attitude, like berserkers. It’s as if they did a couple of lines before heading out.

    The NoKings demonstrations were peaceful, amazingly so considering the vast numbers of people present. An MSNBC reporter was present, broadcasting about how there was no trouble, when the police suddenly, for no apparent reason, began firing at the crowd, causing the reporter and everybody else to scatter.

    Then there was the time when the LAPD and the LASD decided to corral a group of demonstrators. But without any coordination. This resulted in the sheriffs opening fire on the police with rubber bullets. The police responded with tear gas against the unmasked sheriffs.

    One thing was certain. The demonstrators were to blame for the injuries to all these officers.

  • The idiot box

    There is a debate across Europe about allowing children to use mobile phones. Banning them from schools is the demand, or one demand at least. I don’t know enough about the issues and it doesn’t apply to me. I’m quite happy for others to do what they think best.

    However, I do remember a similar moral panic in the 1980s. People were concerned about children watching television. What they watch. How often. Parents were advised to monitor their children’s viewing habits. It rots the brain, you see.

    The only source of information that the president of the USA understands is television. As a former game show host, this is only natural. He has appointed dozens of Fox News presenters to important positions in the government. Daily security briefings in the White House are performed in Fox News style, with advisers pretending to be TV presenters. And now we have the LA disturbances – great television.

    So should we ban children from using mobiles? Should we ban them from watching television? I think the evidence shows that the overwhelming majority of people are fine. They understand the difference between the real world and what they see on a screen, and they behave accordingly.

    Unfortunately, there are those who become addicted, and are unable to function normally, as a result of the distorted view they have of the world. I don’t know what to do in such cases, but they should never, ever, be allowed to become president.

  • More trade wars

    Last week, the Court of International Trade in the USA ruled that the Liberty Day tariffs were illegal. The government immediately announced it would appeal to the Supreme Court, and is keeping the tariffs in place until the case is heard.

    Not just keeping them in place, but expanding them. Steel and aluminium is not included in the ruling. As such, the president impulsively decided to raise tariffs to 50%. Just like that.

    There was a big splash last month, as the USA announced a trade deal with the UK. Whether this is still valid, or whether the USA is already reneging on an agreement is not clear.

    What the Supreme Court will do is anybody’s guess. On the one hand, they allow the government to do virtually anything on procedural grounds. On the other, this policy is extremely damaging.

    They recently ruled that the president could sack basically anybody, but not the Chair of the Federal Reserve. There was no particularly good reason for this, but they know that sacking this person on a whim will cause economic armageddon. They know they are dealing with a bad man and will take the necessary steps to stop him from making too much of a mess.

    In this sense, the Supreme Court is doing an excellent job of protecting capital and property, while doing nothing to protect humans from the ravages of the villains in charge. I think this might be the root of the problem in the country.