Message from Donald, I'm going to fuck Australia...not for any sensible reason but just because I can!
“Australia has disregarded its verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum exports to a reasonable level.”
The point being, yes Australia could have just refused to ship aluminium to the US once a certain level was reached, but then where do the factories go that are now short of aluminium and can no longer manufacture stuff? They just go broke right? I mean it's standard international trade, people order stuff they need, other people deliver stuff to them, if everyone just refused to deliver stuff due to some imagined limit then that just breaks the entire system.
“The volume of US imports of aluminum articles from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, EU countries, and the UK in 2024 was approximately 14 per cent higher than the average volume of such imports in 2015 through 2017,” the proclamation said.
“The volume of US imports of primary aluminum from Australia has also surged and in 2024 was approximately 103 per cent higher than the average volume for 2015 through 2017.
It's bizarre, factories in the US obviously need the aluminium, but countries should be refusing to send it to them according to some imagined limit. The US doesn't have enough aluminium, what is everyone supposed to do? You bet there are going to be tariffs on Australian aluminium, Trump's just building up to that.
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:06 pm
Message from Donald, I'm going to fuck Australia...not for any sensible reason but just because I can!
“Australia has disregarded its verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum exports to a reasonable level.”
The point being, yes Australia could have just refused to ship aluminium to the US once a certain level was reached, but then where do the factories go that are now short of aluminium and can no longer manufacture stuff? They just go broke right? I mean it's standard international trade, people order stuff they need, other people deliver stuff to them, if everyone just refused to deliver stuff due to some imagined limit then that just breaks the entire system.
“The volume of US imports of aluminum articles from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, EU countries, and the UK in 2024 was approximately 14 per cent higher than the average volume of such imports in 2015 through 2017,” the proclamation said.
“The volume of US imports of primary aluminum from Australia has also surged and in 2024 was approximately 103 per cent higher than the average volume for 2015 through 2017.
It's bizarre, factories in the US obviously need the aluminium, but countries should be refusing to send it to them according to some imagined limit. The US doesn't have enough aluminium, what is everyone supposed to do? You bet there are going to be tariffs on Australian aluminium, Trump's just building up to that.
Actually the strangulation of world trade, resulting in a reduction in the highly emission-intensive processes of making steel and aluminium could be a very good thing. It could also be a factor in a collapse in support for Trump in the US and Australia. I suspect that Dutton's populist instincts are attuned to the potential for anti-American sentiment among his own supporters. It's already been a gift for the Canadian Liberals.
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:06 pm
Message from Donald, I'm going to fuck Australia...not for any sensible reason but just because I can!
“Australia has disregarded its verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum exports to a reasonable level.”
The point being, yes Australia could have just refused to ship aluminium to the US once a certain level was reached, but then where do the factories go that are now short of aluminium and can no longer manufacture stuff? They just go broke right? I mean it's standard international trade, people order stuff they need, other people deliver stuff to them, if everyone just refused to deliver stuff due to some imagined limit then that just breaks the entire system.
“The volume of US imports of aluminum articles from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, EU countries, and the UK in 2024 was approximately 14 per cent higher than the average volume of such imports in 2015 through 2017,” the proclamation said.
“The volume of US imports of primary aluminum from Australia has also surged and in 2024 was approximately 103 per cent higher than the average volume for 2015 through 2017.
It's bizarre, factories in the US obviously need the aluminium, but countries should be refusing to send it to them according to some imagined limit. The US doesn't have enough aluminium, what is everyone supposed to do? You bet there are going to be tariffs on Australian aluminium, Trump's just building up to that.
Actually the strangulation of world trade, resulting in a reduction in the highly emission-intensive processes of making steel and aluminium could be a very good thing. It could also be a factor in a collapse in support for Trump in the US and Australia. I suspect that Dutton's populist instincts are attuned to the potential for anti-American sentiment among his own supporters. It's already been a gift for the Canadian Liberals.
The thing is fascist regimes, once gone, often result in a resurgence of more liberal policies like health care and improvements in living conditions, support for human rights and etc. The US, following the defeat of Hitler and Germany, was arguably a high point in living conditions for that country, but as they got further and further away and memory faded conservative ideologies began to grow in power, resulting in Reagan et al and finally Trump, arguably the end point of the process.
There has been a move away from the far right in Europe as well, huge protests in Germany, we'll see how those go, the question is can the world recover without dropping further into the hell of fascist politics. Trumps policies in the last few weeks are the exact opposite of what any sensible fascist takeover would look like, you go in gently and gradually remove rights and impose conservative ideology and trade practices and undermine judicial oversight so the general population has time to get used to each little step until the big one of full dictatorship, he's just gone full dictator straight away. It's quite likely he won't even last his full term, and with luck will bring all his cohort down with him, Musk, the GOP and etc.
Re: Donald Trump
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 2:30 pm
by pipbarber
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 12:46 pm
The thing is fascist regimes, once gone, often result in a resurgence of more liberal policies like health care and improvements in living conditions, support for human rights and etc. The US, following the defeat of Hitler and Germany, was arguably a high point in living conditions for that country, but as they got further and further away and memory faded conservative ideologies began to grow in power, resulting in Reagan et al and finally Trump, arguably the end point of the process.
There has been a move away from the far right in Europe as well, huge protests in Germany, we'll see how those go, the question is can the world recover without dropping further into the hell of fascist politics. Trumps policies in the last few weeks are the exact opposite of what any sensible fascist takeover would look like, you go in gently and gradually remove rights and impose conservative ideology and trade practices and undermine judicial oversight so the general population has time to get used to each little step until the big one of full dictatorship, he's just gone full dictator straight away. It's quite likely he won't even last his full term, and with luck will bring all his cohort down with him, Musk, the GOP and etc.
That's a hopeful scenario! However, short of some kind of military mutiny i'm not sure how they'll get rid of him. I think we've got a minimum of 2 years of this, until the mid terms, who knows after that.
The thing about the post WW2 anti-fascist revolution is that the Nazis went all the way, had Hitler been overthrown in say....1935, would that have been enough to turn the world against fascism?
If Trump were arrested now, i think his global popularity would surge to a whole new level. It seems weird to say it out loud but i think its going to have to get way worse than it is now to put the fascism zombie back in its grave.
And we don't really have time, what with climate change and all. But who knows! He could of course just drop dead. Someone pass the Kfc.
Re: Donald Trump
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:46 am
by pipbarber
PZ Myers reports that this bill was introduced to congress a couple of days ago by a maga rep from Georgia
'Red, white and Blueland!'
Apparently this is NOT satire. Apparently this actually happened...in congress.
“It’s pretty gross,” said one federal employee in Kansas City who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “I went so far as to change my voter registration” from Democrat to independent.
He said he hoped that could spare him from a potential loyalty sweep that might use party affiliation as a metric.
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 12:46 pm
The thing is fascist regimes, once gone, often result in a resurgence of more liberal policies like health care and improvements in living conditions, support for human rights and etc. The US, following the defeat of Hitler and Germany, was arguably a high point in living conditions for that country, but as they got further and further away and memory faded conservative ideologies began to grow in power, resulting in Reagan et al and finally Trump, arguably the end point of the process.
There has been a move away from the far right in Europe as well, huge protests in Germany, we'll see how those go, the question is can the world recover without dropping further into the hell of fascist politics. Trumps policies in the last few weeks are the exact opposite of what any sensible fascist takeover would look like, you go in gently and gradually remove rights and impose conservative ideology and trade practices and undermine judicial oversight so the general population has time to get used to each little step until the big one of full dictatorship, he's just gone full dictator straight away. It's quite likely he won't even last his full term, and with luck will bring all his cohort down with him, Musk, the GOP and etc.
That's a hopeful scenario! However, short of some kind of military mutiny i'm not sure how they'll get rid of him. I think we've got a minimum of 2 years of this, until the mid terms, who knows after that.
The thing about the post WW2 anti-fascist revolution is that the Nazis went all the way, had Hitler been overthrown in say....1935, would that have been enough to turn the world against fascism?
If Trump were arrested now, i think his global popularity would surge to a whole new level. It seems weird to say it out loud but i think its going to have to get way worse than it is now to put the fascism zombie back in its grave.
And we don't really have time, what with climate change and all. But who knows! He could of course just drop dead. Someone pass the Kfc.
Two scenarios:
What Trump and Musk are doing is so radical, it's likely to cause a chaotic collapse in large parts of US society: essential operations of government grinding to a halt, countless people losing jobs and falling into poverty, inflation soaring, etc.. There will also be high-profile cases of violence and oppression carried out by the government and its supporters. Then, hypothetically, Trump would get the blame, people would rise up, and his nasty regime would be dead in the water.
On the other hand, the willful destruction could remove the ability of people to resist. A wave of doublespeak, misinformation, conspiracy theories, victim-blaming, incitement, paramilitary force, and propaganda will allow the regime to retain a critical mass of MAGA support to withstand the resistance, and Trump will maybe even go for a third term.
Re: Donald Trump
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 10:12 am
by two dogs
The Democrat Governor of Illinois taking the piss:
Elon's staff release top secret data on DOGE's website, I trust they are all behind bars now, no? What a surprise!
The website states in tiny print at the bottom that its database excludes information from U.S. intelligence agencies.
But an easy search shows that DOGE’s database provides details on the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal agency that designs, builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites. Not only are NRO’s budgets and head counts classified, but the prospect of Musk’s tech team meddling in sensitive personnel information is setting off alarms for some in the intelligence community.
“DOGE just posted secret NOFORN info on their website about [intelligence community] headcount, so currently people are scrambling to check if their info has been accessed,” said one Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from senior leaders.
Anyone else in the US who isn't a Trump sycophant who released this data would already be in isolation waiting for a 50 year prison sentence!
