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What The Fuck Happened Over The Weekend?

General Discussion
#381

https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/china-has-halted-purchase-of-us-farm-products-china-commerce-ministry

Everybody knows (except Trump evidently) that everyone loses in a trade war.

How is this going to sit with Trump-supporting farmers?

Once China switches to other suppliers (like Russia, the country run by Trump’s BFF – see the second article below), our farmers may never win back this massive and crucial market. China’s ban includes all agricultural products, not just soybeans, but also all other grains, pork, beef, etc., etc. Trump is trashing one of our strongest and most vital industries. He is systematically pulverizing America’s heartland.

China’s Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that Chinese companies have stopped buying U.S. agricultural products, and that China will not rule out imposing import tariffs on U.S. farm products that were bought after Aug. 3.

The moves by China represent the latest escalation in its trade row with the United States, and comes after China let the yuan weaken past the key 7-per-dollar level on Monday for the first time in more than a decade.
…
China is the world’s top buyer of soybeans, the most valuable U.S. export crop. The Trump administration has announced plans to spend up to $28 billion compensating U.S. farmers, a key Trump constituency, for lost income from trade disputes.

“Related Chinese companies have suspended purchases of U.S. agricultural products,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement posted shortly after midnight in Beijing on Tuesday.
…
The National Pork Producers Council said in an e-mail in response to the commerce ministry statement it continued to reiterate the importance of ending the trade dispute with China so U.S. pork producers can get back to competitive access.

China has approved wheat imports from the Russian region of Kurgan, the Chinese customs office said on Friday, bringing Russia a step closer to its goal of dramatically increasing grain exports.

It also approved soybean imports from all parts of Russia, the General Administration of Customs said in a separate statement on its website, having all but halted U.S. soy imports as the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington deepened.

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Day 928
#382

TRUMP TO LAUNCH CRACKDOWN ON VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AFTER MASS SHOOTINGS

Judge signals interest in removing Mueller report redactions

‘That’s what open government is all about,’ Judge Reggie Walton said during court arguments over a FOIA lawsuit against the Justice Department.

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#383

My president.

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Until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening:

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#384

Well I guess that’s all over now. I would have preferred justice for those young women.

Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced millionaire who was facing federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide early Saturday in his Lower Manhattan prison cell, law enforcement sources and the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to ABC News.

Epstein hanged himself, the sources said.

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#385

There are SO many questions on this one, like why the man MOST in danger of suicide or homicide in the prison system was taken off of suicide watch. The speculation is insane.

EPA REAUTHORIZES CONTROVERSIAL ‘CYANIDE BOMBS’ FOR KILLING WILD ANIMALS: ‘A COMPLETE DISASTER’

In other news…

Trump administration says it won’t approve Roundup cancer-warning labels

Khashoggi killing: Judge orders federal agencies release records

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#386

Trump is re-tweeting right-wing conspiracy posts accusing the Clintons of having Jeffrey Epstein killed while naturally ignoring his own connections to the man and the fact that his DOJ removed the suicide watch and failed to keep Epstein surveilled. The height of hypocrisy.

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The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump
#387

I don’t know why the media continues to sugar coat Trump’s appalling behavior. On CNN, the headline is similar: Trump promotes Epstein-Clintons conspiracy theory

Headlines should read: Trump Accuses Clintons of Murder. Because that’s exactly what he is doing. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. Without one shred of evidence, the President of the United States is claiming that a former President committed murder to cover up crimes. This is just too astounding to wrap my head around. :exploding_head:

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#388

I agree…this is unheard of…well except we always hear the conspiratorial stuff coming from the T camp.

Quite a few legal types have written these renunciations

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#389

More discussion of how to grasp this conspiratorial theory and what of it…? Are we in for more undecipherable news? …looks like it.

The dueling hashtags and their attendant toxicity are a grim testament to our deeply poisoned information ecosystem — one that’s built for speed and designed to reward the most incendiary impulses of its worst actors. It has ushered in a parallel reality unrooted in fact and helped to push conspiratorial thinking into the cultural mainstream. And with each news cycle, the system grows more efficient, entrenching its opposing camps. The poison spreads.

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#390

Hit the pause button…

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Take this in from Sen Angus King (I-ME)

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#391

Remember “The Mooch”?

Anthony Scaramucci, who famously served as President Trump’s communications director for 11 days, says Republicans may need to pick a different candidate in 2020.

Driving the news: In a phone interview on Sunday afternoon, Scaramucci compared Trump to a melting nuclear reactor and said he may support a Republican challenger to Trump.

  • “We are now in the early episodes of ‘Chernobyl’ on HBO, where the reactor is melting down and the apparatchiks are trying to figure out whether to cover it up or start the clean-up process,” Scaramucci said.
  • “A couple more weeks like this and ‘country over party’ is going to require the Republicans to replace the top of the ticket in 2020.”

Scaramucci, who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, including Trump’s 2016 campaign, said that if Trump “doesn’t reform his behavior, it will not just be me, but many others will be considering helping to find a replacement in 2020.”

  • “Right now, it’s an unspeakable thing. But if he keeps it up, it will no longer be unspeakable. The minute they start speaking of it, it will circulate and be socialized. We can’t afford a full nuclear contamination site post 2020.”

The big picture: Scaramucci has said that Trump’s attacks on congresswomen of color “divide the country.” And yesterday the president attacked his former communications director in a couple of tweets.

  • White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham had this short response to Scaramucci’s comments about opposing Trump in 2020: "It sounds like his feelings are hurt."

Why does the White House Coms team always sound like every lazy troll ever?

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#392

So true. And here’s a list from CNN:

conspiracy%20theories%20promoted%20by%20trump

It is no longer surprising when President Donald Trump fuels a conspiracy theory online, as he did over the weekend with regard to the apparent suicide of multimillionaire financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

This is the man who built a political career by fanning the fringe of American politics with fevered insinuations or allegations, including, but not limited to the baseless theories that:

  • Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US
  • A rival’s father was in on the John F. Kennedy assassination
  • The 2016 presidential election was rigged against him even though he won
  • Millions voted illegally for Hillary Clinton
  • The US government spied on his campaign
  • There’s a deep state of bureaucrats organized against him
  • The special counsel appointed by his Justice Department was actually a witch hunt organized by Democrats

He’s done a bang-up job on Twitter using the term “fake news” as a weapon against media organizations that deal in reporting and fact. And the ultimate irony is that he so often misleads his followers with fiction.

His latest trip into fantasy comes after the death of Epstein in a federal jail cell in New York.

Trump pushed a quick-moving conspiracy theory online that maybe the Clintons, his old nemeses, were involved. Never mind that as US President he’s got more to do with oversight of New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal facility, than a former President and Secretary of State.

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#393

I don’t know why the media keeps reporting ANY of his tweets. It would cut down on the public angst if the regular media stopped repeating his inane crap. It’s time to stop!

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#394

‘Casually tweeting out national secrets’: Internet stunned as Trump tweets about previously unknown US nukes

Trump tore out magazine picture of Justin Trudeau, scrawled odd message and mailed it to Canadian embassy, report claims

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-tore-magazine-picture-justin-111759677.html?soc_src=community&soc_trk=fb

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#395

A friend of mine who lived in Alaska tells me this is not an uncommon event; it can happen in cycles. The bears will have a feast on the dead fish. But if they have a banner year for cubs with the bounty this year and it happens against next year, it could be truly serious, especially for the long-term.

The water is so hot in Alaska it’s killing large numbers of salmon


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#396

Wait continues on additions to VA’s Agent Orange connected illnesses

“They told us they were ready to go, and we haven’t gone anywhere,” said Rick Weidman, executive director for policy at Vietnam Veterans of America. “It feels like they just don’t want to spend any money on this.”

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#397

This has been rumored for awhile – now it’s confirmed. There’s no AG Barr to obstruct this investigation. Let justice be served for Epstein’s victims. :balance_scale:

French prosecutors said Friday they are opening an investigation into possible crimes, including the rape of children and minors, related to the sex-trafficking case of deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Paris Public Prosecutors’ Office said it was launching a “preliminary investigation” based in part on “the exchanges with the competent American authorities in the so-called ‘Epstein’ case,” according to a translation of that office’s statement.

The investigation “will aim to uncover possible offenses committed not only on the national territory, but also abroad to the detriment of French victims or in France against individuals of French nationality,” the statement said.
…
Epstein reportedly owned an apartment in a high-end Paris neighborhood near the Arc de Triomphe.
…
The French prosecutors’ investigation will look into a variety of crimes, such as rape, sexual assault of minors and conspiracy.

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#398

I almost posted this in the humor thread. Just listen to Trump’s chief economic adviser squirm as he desperately tries to bring consistency to the wildly erratic pronouncements that Trump has been making. I mean it’s really laughable. Is Trump backing off on tariffs? Or is he thinking of raising them even higher? Or maybe just leaving them where they are now? Is he “hereby ordering” US businesses out of China? Or is he just making a suggestion? Who knows! We have never had a President as volatile (and infantile) as this one.

Business abhors instability – so on top of the damage he is doing with his tariff wars, Trump is creating an environment fraught with peril that will cause businesses to circle their wagons and rein in spending, exactly what we don’t need when we’re on the brink of a recession.

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#399

President Trump asserted on Saturday that he has the authority to make good on his threat to force all American businesses to leave China, citing a national security law that has been used mainly to target terrorists, drug traffickers and pariah states like Iran, Syria and North Korea.

As he arrived in France for the annual meeting of the Group of 7 powers, Mr. Trump posted a message on Twitter citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, a law originally meant to enable a president to isolate criminal regimes, not sever economic ties with a major trading partner over a tariff dispute.

“For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Case closed!”

The president’s threat to all but cut off one of America’s most important trading relationships amid a so-far-unsuccessful trade war could disrupt a global economy already on the edge of recession while further unsettling companies in the United States that rely on China in their production of everything from clothing to smartphones.

Mr. Trump has often made drastic threats as a negotiating ploy to extract concessions, as when he vowed to close the border with Mexico or impose tariffs on its goods to compel action to halt illegal immigration. But if he were to follow through in this case, it would be the most significant break with China since President Richard M. Nixon’s diplomatic opening to Beijing in the early 1970s.

[…]

Peter Baum of Baum-Essex, a firm that makes products like umbrellas for Costco and cotton bags for Walmart, said he had already moved much of his manufacturing to factories in Vietnam and Cambodia over the last year because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

As the trade war shows up in American cash registers, stock markets and retirement account statements, American shoppers and retirees will grow angry, Mr. Baum said.

“Both Trump and Xi have backed themselves into such a corner that this will go on through the U.S. election,” he said. “These two guys don’t realize that this could cause a global depression, not recession.”

:grimacing:

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#400

Trump expresses regret about escalating China trade war, then reverses course and says he wishes he raised tariffs higher

https://wapo.st/2zpxyQ5?tid=ss_tw

Mitch McConnell’s Nightmare Continues As Kentucky Coal Miners Expose Him As A Fraud

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