Tag: Trump

Trump’s Industrial Ignorance + 19th Century GOP Fear of “Regulations” = Screwing up new car sales

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California wants clean air – Trump wants to burn more oil & gas — Melissa Lyttle

❝ The world’s largest automakers warned President Trump…that one of his most sweeping deregulatory efforts — his plan to weaken tailpipe pollution standards — threatens to cut their profits and produce “untenable” instability in a crucial manufacturing sector…

❝ The carmakers are addressing a crisis that is partly of their own making. They had sought some changes to the pollution standards early in the Trump presidency, but have since grown alarmed at the expanding scope of the administration’s plan…

❝ …Trump’s new rule…would all but eliminate the Obama-era auto pollution regulations, essentially freezing mileage standards at about 37 miles per gallon for cars, down from a target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The policy makes it a near certainty that California and 13 other states will sue the administration while continuing to enforce their own, stricter rules — in effect, splitting the United States auto market in two.

For automakers, a bifurcated market is their nightmare scenario. In the letter to Mr. Trump, they warned of “an extended period of litigation and instability” should his plans be implemented.

The ignoranus in the White House has little or no understanding of governance for the good of the whole nation. Falling over himself to kiss corporate butt, he only succeeds in screwing up regulation in a complex industry. Production side as well as marketing and distribution. You can’t run the auto industry like a real estate office. And he didn’t do that well, either. Amassing a fortune through bailouts and bribes ain’t skill.

Trump’s July 4th party bankrupted DC’s security fund

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Stephanie Keith/Getty

❝ Remember just a few weeks ago when the president planned a “my dicktatorship is bigger than yours” July Fourth event in which he wanted tanks and jets and sparklers and shit?

Well, it sounds like that whole thing has bankrupted the Washington, D.C., security fund as they have spent some $1.7 million reserved for protecting the nation’s capital from terrorist threats.

❝ In a letter to the president Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) warned that the fund has now been depleted and is estimated to be running a $6 million deficit by Sept. 30. The mayor also noted that the account was never reimbursed for $7.3 million in expenses from Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

Does ANYONE ever get Trump to pay his bill?

China figured out carrots work as well as sticks

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Since the start of President Trump’s trade war, China has retaliated against US tariffs by raising tariffs on US goods. Less well known is that China has also been lowering rates for everyone else, putting US companies at an even greater disadvantage when trying to sell to China’s 1.4 billion consumers. Companies in the United States and elsewhere used to be on a level playing field, facing an average Chinese tariff of 8.0 percent. Now, there is a 14 percentage point difference between the average Chinese tariff US exporters face versus all other exporters. Some US goods are facing even wider differences in duties, like soybeans, farm and fish products, and certain manufacturing products.

NO citizenship question on the 2020 census

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Wilbur Ross gets to be the front man for this lie — Elizabeth Brockway

❝ The Trump administration, in a dramatic about-face, abandoned its quest on Tuesday to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, a week after being blocked by the Supreme Court…Faced with mounting deadlines and a protracted legal fight, officials ordered the Census Bureau to start printing forms for next year’s head count without the question.

❝ The decision was a victory for critics who said the question was part of an administration effort to skew the census results in favor of Republicans. It was also a remarkable retreat for an administration that typically digs into such fights.

RTFA for all the nice guy analysis and chronology. Two things you should know:

1. There is no need for any NEW inquiry from the census bureau about citizenship. That question is covered in a number of questionnaires and bureau research. As a matter of course, they’ve been asking that question for decades. For the reasons decided in court after court – it simply has no part in the decadal census.

2. Chief Justice John Roberts in all the politesse required of public servants made it clear that Trump and his lackeys can tell all the lies they wish to the American public, including voters, as a Constitutional right. They do not have the right to lie to a Federal Court. And they were caught lying about their reasons for including this question. Scumbags do not get a do-over on their testimony.

UPDATE: The Liar-in-Chief is now contradicting his flunkies in the cabinet. He’s tweeting out silly-storms demonstrating once again his inability to stick to a decision. What a neurotic dork he is!

Sanctuary is an old human right – still confronting evil policies today

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❝ A stressful two-year chapter of Kadhim Albumohammed’s life is coming to a close.

Since July 2017, Albumohammed lived, along with his wife and daughter, in the basement of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Albuquerque. On Wednesday afternoon, he addressed a crowd of about two hundred supporters after he learned that he can finally leave and go home without the fear of being detained by federal agents…

❝ Two years ago he showed up for an appointment with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, fully expecting to be detained. But, because of demonstrations by supporters, ICE cancelled Albumohammed’s appointment. But at his next scheduled appointment, Albumohammed’s lawyer showed up with a letter stating that her client decided to seek sanctuary instead. Albumohammed immigrated to the U.S. from Iraq out of fear of retaliation after supporting the U.S. during the first Gulf War. Then, in the mid-1990s, he was convicted and served his sentence for two misdemeanor domestic violence charges related to his then-girlfriend. For years, the U.S. did not deport Iraqi immigrants. But after President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban from a list of majority Muslim countries, Iraq agreed to take deported Iraqis in exchange for not being included in the travel ban. That meant Albumohammed and many others who had been placed on removal status were at risk of being sent back to countries where they are less-than-welcome. Albumohammed, for example, not only assisted U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but also received a security clearance to work as a linguist for the U.S. government. That, Albumohammed and his attorney said, would likely mark him as a traitor to some in the country.

❝ Now, his lawyer Rebecca Kitson said, his case is being reopened and he gets to go home.

We have a criminal administration that doesn’t even honor treaties previous governments. Who would expect swine like Trump to respect someone foreign-born who ONLY risked their lives to aid our military.

Folks who knit, crochet, learn from gamers – ban support for Trump and his white supremacy ideology

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❝ We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry.

❝ This includes support in the form of forum posts, projects, patterns, profiles, and all other content. Note that your project data will never be deleted. We will never delete your Ravelry project data for any reason and if a project needs to be removed from the site, we will make sure that you have access to your data. If you are permanently banned from Ravelry, you will still be able to access any patterns that you purchased. Also, we will make sure that you receive a copy of your data.

❝ We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy…

❝ Much of this policy was first written by a roleplaying game site, not unlike Ravelry but for RPGs, named RPG.net. We thank them for their thoughtful work.

I second that emotion.