[Lord Dave]

There are light-skinned black people.  I feel like there are two separate issues at play. On the one hand, calling someone an ape, who has pretty strong features of a sub-Saharan African is not cool. The other issue is that there is no good definition as to what constitutes a “race” and those definitions have been politically malleable for as long as they have existed. So in an America with any sense of justice, it would be just as bad to say Trump looks like an orangutan as saying Valerie’s Jarrett looks like a half ape, because are just petty attempts at making someone seem like “less than”.

This is the most convincing analysis so far, from my perspective. Vastly preferable to the alternative of "one is racist and the other is not because DUH obviously have they are"

Isn't that the whole point to insulting someone?  To make them "less than"?

Yes. Is that some sort of justification for pettiness?

No, more like asking why some insults are inherently worse than others and why this is somehow a big deal.

[Rama Set]

Insults are incredibly subjective so it’s almost impossible to say which is worse. It’s important because we have enough problems to deal with without this stupid shit. Conversely, it’s important cuz the media said so.

[Lord Dave]

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/06/617513060/president-trump-commutes-sentence-of-grandmother-serving-life-in-prison
While I'm no Trump fan, I can see nothing wrong with this.  Good for him. He should do this for a lot of others.

[Lord Dave]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-floats-end-to-all-tariffs-threatens-major-penalties-for-countries-that-dont-agree/2018/06/09/a06350be-6bf1-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bd35c88c9cf3


Summary:


Trump to G7: You should remove all tarrifs from US and we'll do the same.  Also, let Russia back in.


Everyone else: Uhhhh.....


Trump to reporters: They told me they were scrwwing the US so I was right and all.

[Lord Dave]

And it got worse....

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/09/618534987/trump-leaves-g-7-with-a-call-to-end-unfair-trade
Trump: I have instructed the US to not endorse what the G7 leaders have all said.

G7: We support "free, fair, and mutually beneficial trade."
All because Canada said that the idea of tariffs from America was insulting.
So... Trade War.

[Lord Dave]

And worse...


https://www.npr.org/2018/06/10/618677974/white-house-economic-adviser-canadas-trudeau-stabbed-us-in-the-back

[Tom Bishop]

After Kudlow's comments, Trump added to his string of criticisms against Canada in a series of tweets on Sunday night.

"Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal," he tweeted. "According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!). Minimum is 17B. Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then Justin acts hurt when called out!"

He also asked why he should allow countries to amass "Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades, while our Farmers, Workers & Taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay? Not fair to the PEOPLE of America!"

He cited "a $800 Billion Trade Deficit" for the U.S., a number he's touted several times.

Trump says the U.S. "protects Europe" and "pays close to the entire cost of NATO."

The president concluded his tweetstorm by saying, "Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!"

All of this sounds pretty reasonable to me.

[Lord Dave]

I have no idea what the 17B means.  17 B of what?  What is that minimum of?  Trade with Canada?  Thst they get 17B minimum a year, what?

[Rama Set]

After Kudlow's comments, Trump added to his string of criticisms against Canada in a series of tweets on Sunday night.

"Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal," he tweeted. "According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!).

I dont know what he is referring to.  The US had a trade surplus with Canada in 2016 and regardless, trade surplusses are not inherently negative. 

Minimum is 17B.

??

Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then Justin acts hurt when called out!"

We dont tax all dairy, and in fact, the dairy product that sparked this issue, ultra-filtered milk, is tariff-free in Canada.  We started making a competitive product, brought the price down to match, and, just as Americans would do at home, we started buying local.  To boot, Canada grants the US 10% of our domestic market, while the US only gives us 3%, and the US has a trade surplus in dairy.  Basically Trump is posturing to make some other play, not unlike the idiotic positions he takes on the coal industry at home.

He also asked why he should allow countries to amass "Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades, while our Farmers, Workers & Taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay? Not fair to the PEOPLE of America!"

As mentioned earlier, there has not been a trade surplus for Canada recently, and trade surplusses are not inherently bad.  Trump behaves as if Americans must be winning in all categories in order for it to be fair.  He is like an SJW in that regard and should fuck off. 

He cited "a $800 Billion Trade Deficit" for the U.S., a number he's touted several times.

YAWN.

Trump says the U.S. "protects Europe" and "pays close to the entire cost of NATO."

The president concluded his tweetstorm by saying, "Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!"

I mean NATO is more than just a financial arrangement, but whatever. 

All of this sounds pretty reasonable to me.

You don't have a strong history of interrogating positions you agree with very strongly, so it is not surprising you find it all to be reasonable.

[Lord Dave]

Rama is right.  Trump is doing this to show strength to Kim Jong Un.  So being an asshole is how he wil win the diplomacy.

[garygreen]

19th century trade and foreign policy sound pretty reasonable to me.

that isn't surprising. 

dude trade deficits are literally just the flip side of foreign investment.  hint: we use the goods we buy from other countries to make money.  it's would be like an uber driver getting mad about his "trade deficit" with his mechanic.  that's fucking stupid.

also we don't spend money on nato out of the goodness of our hearts.  protecting our allies in the region is basically incidental.  we pay more to be in charge of their militaries.  the 20th century taught us that europeans are savages who cannot be trusted to not start wars that cost tens of millions of lives for totally superfluous reasons.  you want france to be the de facto boss of nato?  or england?  or germany?

[Lord Dave]

Also:


https://politi.co/2LHfMfF

[Rushy]

"being in charge of their military" has basically resulted in enormous US government expenditure on "defense" while Europe gets to spend money on things like actually helping their citizens. Russia, a country with one of the smallest GDPs in Europe, has a larger conventional army than all NATO nations combined (minus the US). At this point NATO is really just a treaty that says the US will protect you. Our allies aren't actually capable of protecting us in return. It's a one way street.

Europe assumed that the US would always remain a Big Brother state that would help them regardless of the cost to its own citizens. Now they're finding out what happens when Big Brother goes from a kind, intelligent doormat to a blusterous bully, and it's all their own fault for putting themselves into that position in the first place.

[Lord Dave]

"being in charge of their military" has basically resulted in enormous US government expenditure on "defense" while Europe gets to spend money on things like actually helping their citizens. Russia, a country with one of the smallest GDPs in Europe, has a larger conventional army than all NATO nations combined (minus the US). At this point NATO is really just a treaty that says the US will protect you. Our allies aren't actually capable of protecting us in return. It's a one way street.

Europe assumed that the US would always remain a Big Brother state that would help them regardless of the cost to its own citizens. Now they're finding out what happens when Big Brother goes from a kind, intelligent doormat to a blusterous bully, and it's all their own fault for putting themselves into that position in the first place.

In fairness, Europe is really good at war.  They have a tendancy of rising armies super quick and marching on a giant ass kicking campaign.  This is not good if its done against Europe....


And America has been sticking its star spangled dick in Europe's affairs since the end of WW2 to stop communism.

[Rushy]

If you define "really good at war" as having protracted wars that last for years and years while killing enormous percentages of their own population. Both World Wars had to be ended by people who aren't even in Europe.

Europe has a long and storied history of being shit at war unless they're fighting other Europeans, so I don't know where you got "good at war" from, but it certainly isn't from reality.

[Lord Dave]

If you define "really good at war" as having protracted wars that last for years and years while killing enormous percentages of their own population. Both World Wars had to be ended by people who aren't even in Europe.

Europe has a long and storied history of being shit at war unless they're fighting other Europeans, so I don't know where you got "good at war" from, but it certainly isn't from reality.

"Good at War" meaning with each other.  They have this tendancy to fuck up when they attack Russia.  Or America.
But on the home front?  Top notch. 

[Lord Dave]

So apparently its been a few hours and hey're still talking.


Guess that means NK is gonna denuclearize 100%.  Unless Trump's feeling is wrong.




Also, yay peace!
Still don't like a US president having a "terriffic" relationship with a dictator who holds mandatory viewing public executions.

[AATW]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44450739

Maybe Trump is a genius after all. If so he hides it well, but if he's got the concessions it seems he has then credit where it's due, it's pretty impressive.

[Roundy]

Right now I'm wondering how MSNBC is covering this. They seem as unwilling to report when Trump does something right as Fox is when Trump does something wrong.

So far this is looking like a huge win for Trump.

[Rushy]

While the optics look good, I'm not going to hold my breath. Best Korea is well known for saying one thing and then doing the opposite. The chances of North Korea actually denuclearizing are still quite small, but I'll try to be hopeful.