Sellouts and Selloffs

Plus: A deportation fight, pussy hats in Maine, antagonizing Brown University, and more...

Three-day selloff continues: "The carnage in financial markets worsened on Monday with stressed-out investors abandoning hopes that President Donald Trump would change his tariff policy," reports Bloomberg. "Stocks tumbled, taking the three-day wipeout in global equity value to about $9.5 trillion. S&P 500 equity futures signaled a 3% loss and the VIX Index spiked above 50. Europe's Stoxx 600 tumbled 5%. Asia capped the worst day since 2008. Treasuries and the yen gained as investors sought refuge." Aren't you excited for our markets to open? (Who knows how deep the selloff can get: "There's no sign yet that markets are finding a bottom and beginning to stabilize," write analysts at Deutsche Bank.)

The new tariffs go into effect on Wednesday, and Trump signaled over the weekend that he will not back down. "We're going to become a wealthy nation again—wealthy like never before," he said Sunday. "We have all the advantages. Forget markets for a second—we have all the advantages." You hear that, guys? Forget markets. 

"The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones—that kind of thing is going to come to America," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Face the Nation this past weekend, in a segment that I suppose was meant to make us feel excited for our economic future (?).

Sellouts: We're now seeing a chorus of tech/VC Trump supporters who claim that what happens in the stock market is irrelevant to the "long term health of the economy." ("The first long-term thinking President of my lifetime," writes one Sequoia VC, intent on doubling down.)

"Which [stocks] suffered the biggest losses?" smartly counters Nate Silver at his Substack. It's "largely consumer staples from the lower-middlebrow on up, or cyclical purchases—like autos and air travel—that Americans consume more of when they think good times are ahead and pull back from when they're in the brace position preparing for a recession." These are familiar patterns from our pandemic-era economic turmoil: In times of uncertainty, Americans are likely to delay travel, car replacement, and tech product replacement, to cook more at home and eat out less. Such patterns seem to suggest recession fears—they're things people do when we know we must batten down the hatches to get through the rough waters ahead.

It's possible, to steelman the tariff cheerleaders, that they believe Trump's aggressive moves will result in negotiating down the tariffs that other countries impose on us—that our tariffs are merely a temporary measure to be done away with, that it's actually a game of 4D chess to create a much more free-tradin' world. Or that it's a game of 4D chess to ensure supply-chain sturdiness when China invades Taiwan and we go to war with them. But this is supposed to be a targeted foreign policy tool, why on Earth are we hitting Sri Lankan coffee with a 44 percent tariff? Or sugar from Fiji with 32 percent? Right now it looks like a few influential folks in Silicon Valley—successful capitalists who know a thing or two about economics—have made a bad bet in Trump, and are either coping in public or attempting to figure out how to influence him.

Expect a showdown: Is it time for Congress to reassert its power? The Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley seems to thinks so. Sen. Grassley and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D–Wash.) introduced a bill Thursday to sharply curtail the executive's power to impose tariffs, requiring a 48-hour notification of Congress prior to any presidential imposition and for Congress to "explicitly approve any new tariffs within 60 days," per Politico. Congress would also be granted the ability to swat down the tariffs at any times. "Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said he plans to introduce a companion bill to the bipartisan Senate legislation aimed at reclaiming Congress' authority over tariffs, becoming the first House Republican to openly challenge the powers President Donald Trump is using to launch a massive global trade war," Politico reports. 

Meanwhile, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky—all Republicans—are allying with Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Va.) and other Democrats to "reject the national emergency Trump declared earlier this year to justify his plan to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports," reports Politico. All of this comes together to paint a picture of congressfolk growing cojones. Might the threaten of economic ruin be all it takes to get Congress to reassert its power?

Follow-up: "A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring a Maryland man back to the U.S. by midnight Monday after concluding that he was unlawfully deported to his home country of El Salvador despite an immigration court order that he not be sent there," reports Politico. "U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order Friday requiring the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia following an extraordinary hearing during which the government flatly admitted that he'd been deported in violation of federal law."

The battle lines have been drawn and a clash looks imminent: The White House press secretary called Abrego Garcia part of the "brutal and vicious" MS-13 gang, saying he "will not be returning to our country."

"I haven't been given any evidence," said Xinis. "In a court of law, when someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization, it comes in the form of an indictment, a complaint, a criminal proceeding that has robust process so we can assess the facts."

More on Abrego Garcia's story here. The man, who entered the country in 2012 and was apprehended in 2019, successfully petitioned the government for withholding of removal, which protects him from deportation back to El Salvador because he's likely to be persecuted there. (He says his family owned a successful pupusa business back at home and had been extorted by the cartels.) He had no criminal record in the United States—he broke our laws by waiting nearly seven years to file his asylum paperwork, versus adhering to the one-year filing deadline, and was in sort of legal limbo for a while before receiving his legal protection from deportation—and is married to a U.S. citizen, with an American child and a job as a sheetmetal apprentice. Yet the Trump administration rounded him up and threw him in CECOT, El Salvador's most notorious prison, meant for gang members.

---

Scenes from Portland, Maine: Went to Maine this weekend, saw a lot of pussy hats. Could not stop chuckling. Every man, woman, and child looked like Elizabeth Warren. Went on some boats. 10/10, no notes. Also, people were very nice to my rambunctious toddler. (Is it possible that…New York is uniquely bad in how its upper-middle-class denizens treat kids? Are we simply beyond fixing?)

Guys, Maine is full of boomer progressives who still wear pussy hats. Some of them
brought tambourines to their anti-Trump protest (that'll show him!). Can't even be a hater, it's honestly too cute. pic.twitter.com/tCk8qqpmyh

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) April 7, 2025

---

QUICK HITS

• "It costs $93,064 to attend Brown University," writes Alex Shieh for Pirate Wires. "The annual budget deficit is $46 million. I wanted to know where the hell all the money was going." So Shieh built a model to try to figure it out: "Around 2 a.m. on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday, I launched a public database mapping all 3,805 non-faculty employees of Brown University and sent each one a simple email: What do you do all day?" He made a database of all administrators using "retrieval-augmented generation and a custom GPT-4o pipeline" to rank them according to their "operational importance." He asked his model to flag "DEI jobs, redundant jobs, and bullshit jobs." One discovery: The school has roughly one administrator for every two undergraduates.
• They got us:

https://t.co/do4COghleZ pic.twitter.com/PxOGZLxctT

— Kelsey Piper (@KelseyTuoc) April 7, 2025

• In case you missed it last week, our Just Asking Questions episode with Batya Ungar-Sargon gets deep into both tariffs and deportation:

• RIP Larry Yurdin:

Larry Yurdin just died. He was one of the central characters of REBELS ON THE AIR—and arguably the most central node in connecting me to sources, given just how many stations he worked for, from rural California to suburban New Jersey. A creative force and a great raconteur. RIP. pic.twitter.com/mOpHtbs0Oe

— Jesse Walker (@notjessewalker) April 4, 2025

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The carnage in financial markets worsened on Monday with stressed-out investors abandoning hopes that President Donald Trump would change his tariff policy...

The midterms shall be interesting.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I've posted versions of this before. I may as well attract some more TDS ire here.

tl;dr: Trump has screwed the pooch with these slapdash tariffs. He better pull a rabbit out fast if he doesn't want to be impeached in 2027.
==============
Forget it, Jake, it's Trump Town.

He blew it. He put his incompetence on full display for the world to see, as bad as Biden seeing ghosts and reading teleprompter instructions. Slapdash doesn't begin to describe it.

* He doesn't understand trade deficits, that foreign investments ARE trade deficits, and good because they mean foreign investors think the US is a better investment than elsewhere.

* He doesn't understand trade balances, that they are meaningless between pairs of countries in a world of multiple trading partners.

* He doesn't understand tariffs, that they are taxes on consumers and generate more revenue for the government to spend and waste.

* He says tariffs should be high to protect American industry at consumers' expense, yet he also says he wants tariffs to be zero.

* He says tariffs should be high to compensate for foreigners lax labor, environmental, and safety regulations, yet he also says he wants tariffs to be zero.

* He says tariffs should be high to punish other countries for not stopping drug smuggling into the US, admitting the US hasn't been able to stop the same smuggling in 50 years.

* He says tariffs should be high to reduce trade deficits, yet the two are unrelated, and he added tariffs to countries with trade surpluses.

* He says tariffs should be high to replace the income tax, yet they'd have to be so high that they'd reduce revenue.

* He says he wants reciprocal tariffs, yet slaps tariffs on allies and friendly countries which already have zero tariffs on imports from the US.

* He negotiated the USMCA trade treaty with Mexico and Canada in 2020, yet unilaterally abrogated it and at least 14 other trade treaties.

* He doesn't understand "reciprocity", either what it means or that it works both ways.

* He doesn't understand trade itself as an individual transaction by voluntary parties who are both left better off, since they wouldn't trade otherwise. If he wants to limit the government to Buy America, that's the government's business. But my trades are none of the government's business. That's freedom, isn't it?

* He levied independent tariffs on 15 jurisdictions of parent countries which also got tariffs.

* He thinks Americans who buy imports from penguins need to be taxed.

* He says he wants to reduce spending, yet won't discuss Social Security, Medicare, or other mandatory spending. DOGE's few hundred billion in cuts are one-time and meaningless in the big picture.

* He doesn't understand freedom or individualism. He thinks everything people do is his business.

In other words, Trump doesn't know what he wants or expects, so whatever happens, he will declare victory, and his fanbois will say, "See, I told you so!"

He runs a real risk of beclowning himself and the GOP so thoroughly that the Democrats will take back both the House and Senate in 2026, and give Kamala the election in 2028. Remember, Trump won in 2024 by only 1.5%, against Cackling Kamala, who had never won a single primary vote in 2020 or 2024, against all the woke and DEI crap, and men beating up women in sports. That's a pathetic win.

By the way, if the Democrats take back Congress in 2026, that almost guarantees a third and successful impeachment over those 15 broken trade treaties, if nothing else. Could JD Vance be man enough to take that opportunity to distance himself from Trump and rescue the 2028 elections? I doubt it; he sold his soul to Donald Trump, and canceling that contract prematurely looks bad.

Maybe Trump can pull something out of his hat before this fiasco embeds itself in the 2026 electorate consciousness. But he hasn't got a lot of time.

[sarcasmic]

Oh yeah? Well Jesse read a book about game theory, you're an economic dogmatist, and you've got TDS. That means everything you said about tariffs and Trump is wrong.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Dudette, unless it’s Jeffy or Pluggo, no one wants your white knighting.

[Quicktown Brix]

While we speculated the democrats were paralyzed, were they really just giving Trump enough rope to hang himself?

Planned or not, he did just that. MAGA will go out of style faster than Disco.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Planned or not, he did just that. MAGA will go out of style faster than Disco.

"We got him this time!", version 3,784.

I've been hearing this shit from you morons for ten years now.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

And Mike pretends he isn't Mike. Most hilarious part.

TDS always drops the mask.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Haven't got any actual rebuttal, have you?

The only credibility you have left is incredible.

[Quicktown Brix]

True.

Still, I see something new here. He put his money where is mouth is and revealed his idiocy. It is a true test of his ideas and leadership. It is the 1st time that his base is shedding and pushing back. We've all lost money in our retirement accounts before, but never could it be all laid at the feet of a single individual, especially acting against public opinion.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Still, I see something new here.

Yeah, I've been hearing that shit the last ten years, too.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Walls are finally closing in. Just like with signalgate.

[Quicktown Brix]

Signalgate? Ah the good old days. Yeah, that was nothing.

[Quicktown Brix]

Let's revisit this in a few months.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yet another that I've been hearing for the last decade.

More likely this is going to be like Nelson's claim that Disney was going to cornhole DeSantis in discovery about a month before they completely capitulated.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

It really comes down to them being so accustomed to no resistance that they can't wrap their heads around this.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

And yet, when you do get pushback and resistance, your only responses are *crickets* or insults and profanity. You're setting a fine example.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I'm starting to think those witches were right and he really does have a reciprocal shielding spell cast on him.

[sarcasmic]

Trump will blame the Fed, Democrats, foreigners, immigrants, and whatever else pops into his head, and his deranged supporters will lap it up like a cat laps up milk.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

And you’ll blame Trump, Jesse, and the so-called mean girls here.

[шинка]

You lost money in your retirement account because you are a shit investor and probably have someone else managing your money. All of this shit was predictable.

Warren Buffet hoarded cash MONTHS ago. Widely reported. Take a page from the Oracle.

[Quicktown Brix]

You lost money in your retirement account because you are a shit investor and probably have someone else managing your money. All of this shit was predictable.

All true.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I figure he's got til summer at most to pull a rabbit out of a hat, otherwise this fiasco is going to sink into voters' consciousness, and it won't matter what happens afterwards, the sour taste will last.

It's not just the finances. It's tariffs on penguins, and tariffs on islands whose countries already have tariffs, and tariffs on allies who already had zero tariffs. It's the sheer incompetence and it's easy to imagine the Dems repeating that over and over.

"If he's so smart, why is he taxing penguins?"

"Is DOGE going after penguins next?"

"Does Trump think safety regulations only apply to penguins?"

It's one of the dumbest political own-goals imaginable.

[mad.casual]

Once again, all of these sound more like floated leftist talking points about what they think voters are talking about vibes rather than what actual voters are talking about.

Again, without Google, name one tariff enacted or ended by Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, or Biden. Name one company, directly ended or buoyed by any of them or even a CEO who lost their job.

Every answer pushes you one or more points away from the political norm. It's like all The Daily Show viewers in the 90s/00s who could name more people on the DOD's terrorist watch list than they could American politicians.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

My entire point is how incompetent and slapdash his tariffs are, how contradictory, inept, and many other adjectives. It is not a matter of policy, it has nothing to do with his economic ignorance.

He is tariffing penguins.

He is tariffing islands which are part of other countries with their own tariffs.

He is tariffing countries who have already reduced their import tariffs to zero.

He violated the USMCA treaty he himself negotiated just 5 years ago, and a dozen others.

What about that is competent?

[[e-mail]]

Trump can't read, is an economic moron, and has such obvious character defects that he cannot survive the midterms; and the Ds have nothing to sell but hate. F'm all; lets move to Argentina!

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

WH Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett: More Than 50 Countries Started Trade Negotiations This Weekend.

If Trump gets the other countries to give up their tariffs, using his tariffs, and then gives up his tariffs upon their compliance, then the Trump tariffs will have been one of the most libertarian moves in American government ever.

There’s a big ‘if’ at the end, I know, but if it goes that way Reason is again going to end up looking like a pack of retards.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No, Trump is the retard. Zero tariffs go against his other reasons for high tariffs.

* He wants to block cheap imports so American producers can raise their prices and be profitable.

* He wants to compensate Americans for foreigners' lax labor, environmental, and safety regulations which make their products cheaper.

* He wants to punish foreigners for not stopping the drug smuggling the US hasn't been able to stop since Nixon 50 years ago.

He doesn't know what he wants, which is perfect, because whatever happens, he and suckers like you will claim victory.

Christ. I could make a dozen conflicting predictions and claim victory if just one comes true. That doesn't make my psychic, it just makes me a fraud.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

1. I very clearly said "There’s a big ‘if’ at the end, I know".

2. I never said the nuclear tariff theory was Trump's given excuse for the tariffs in the last several years. If it is his ultimate goal he's not just going to come out and say it, because then nobody would capitulate.

3. The scenario I gave was discussed by Trump himself in an interview in the 80's. I know your going to ask me for it. I'm looking for it now.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/trumps-tariff-strategy-can-be-traced-back-to-the-1980s/

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Yeah, but that just gives a soundbite from it. There's the whole interview I watched on YouTube but I haven't found it yet. Youtube hides stuff deliberately sometimes from search.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

That's not the point. The point is that his tariffs are incoherent and slapdash, and they conflict with his many stated goals. That has nothing to do with whether any of his many conflicting policies are good or not. It has to do with incompetence, and alienating voters. No one is going to forget he is taxing penguins.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Are the tariffs actually incoherent and slapdash, or is that what the Democratic Party and CNN have dubbed them?

[Quicktown Brix]

I'd say actually. I've been listening to a lot of economists on podcasts etc. and this is the commonly held opinion.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

What are they saying? I've seen a lot of orangemanbad from the usual suspects, but no actual explanation on how they are actually untargeted and random.

[Quicktown Brix]

Well yeah, organgemanbads are having a field day

The common theme seems to be

1 Volitility: that threatening tariffs, delaying them, then making a last minute deal to delay them, then implementing them often with extremely short notice and without any prior notice of the details.

2 The formula for calculating reciprocal tariffs which I recall an economist saying is based on nothing credible within economics. Others are more kind only saying that they are excessive and not based on tariffs against the US

3 The administration giving different goals: negotiation vs. revenue generation vs. reshoring means at this point no one can predict what will happen in a day, let alone a month or year.

All of this is probably irrelevant if he is just bluffing to negotiate. It could still blow up on us though.

[Ersatz]

Didnt he actually hold up a table with countries listed and their tariffs and the counter tariffs he was imposing when he announced his liberation day? That doesnt sound very random

[Quicktown Brix]

He did not.

It turns out those other countries' "tariffs" were not tariffs as much as made up bullshit that no economist that I've seen finds justifiable.

https://www.ft.com/content/85d73172-936a-41f6-9606-4f1e17cb74df?utm_source=chatgpt.com

[Ersatz]

but then, you see dead people too...

[Quicktown Brix]

That one went over my head.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Did you even read my comment? He has five goals which depend on high tariffs. He has tariffs on islands which are not separate countries. He has violated a treaty of his own and a dozen others.

What else do you need to see how slapdash they are?

[Don't look at me! (No longer muted!)]

No one is going to forget he is taxing penguins.

A ridiculous talking point.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

And a ridiculous tariff.

Doesn't matter anyway. It is what the public will remember, just as they remembered Biden talking to ghosts and stumbling on stairs.

Politics is perception, not reality.

[mad.casual]

The point is that his tariffs are incoherent and slapdash, and they conflict with his many stated goals.

We went through this before. This is your TDS re-interpretation of "You need a license to buy groceries." to "Trump's policy of making people buy groceries in order to vote is ill-considered and oppressive." and it's obvious.

The US has been beyond free and fair trade with the EU and NATO for decades. Look where it got us and them. We've been so free trade with China that we do our COVID research there. Look where it got us and them. You've become yet another "We need to do something completely different... but not... like electing a gay dude or enforcing Section 230 harder." false/structured opposition.

[Jefferson Paul]

Christ. I could make a dozen conflicting predictions and claim victory if just one comes true. That doesn't make my psychic, it just makes me a fraud.

But you could start a very successful NFL draft prognosticating business by doing that. They all seem to publish ten mock drafts in the run-up to the draft. Then, after the draft, they pick the one that was the most accurate (or least inaccurate), and hype that one to prove how well they predicted the draft.

Sorry, this is off topic, but, as a consumer of sports media, I'm so sick of seeing "X-person's mock draft, version 6."

I guess pollsters do this too, in the run-up to an election, but the "draft gurus" are the worst.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

More than just Reason.

Not like they've been hiding their plans.

But the globalists did a good job with propaganda and convincing those who don't know much that asymmetrical managed trade is free trade.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

And Trump knows what he's doing, taxing penguins and islands which are part of other countries, in violation of treaties he himself negotiated his first term?

No, Trump is an idiot.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Because Trump made up a big list with by throwing darts at a map, and writing the results on a McDonald's napkin.

The list was made by several government agencies and I absolutely guarantee you that that the media are the ones lying about the validity of the targets.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Here is the funny part. Bessent has literally stated why all regions and islands are subject to the restrictions. Because China has a long history of using other regions as pass throughs to avoid tariffs.

Once again Trump and his administration have publicly stated the reasoning. But STG apparently only gets his news from corporate media talking heads. This was even repeated on Sunday shows yesterday.

But STG is an expert. Ask him.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

So many of what they call "Islands belonging to other countries" are self-governing regions for which there is not federal accountability for their import decisions.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Right. That's why he's got a tariff on a join UK/US military base in the Indian Ocean, to prevent the Chinese from moving factories there.

Same with the Australian islands inhabited by penguins.

What kind of expert are you? Not much.

[mamabug]

The most interesting take I've seen so far is from Yanis Varoufakis (not a Trump fan and pretty liberal). One of his points is that, no matter how much foreign leaders may disagree with what he is doing, it would be catastrophic to believe he doesn't know why he is doing it and have a plan.

https://unherd.com/2025/02/why-trumps-tariffs-are-a-masterplan/

The 'irrational' talking point is just because that is an easy sell to those already on the TDS train (most of which were beneficiaries of the very order Trump is taking a sledgehammer to right now).

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

STG to seethe as EU is agreeing to 0% tariffs on industrial goods.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/04/eu-offering-trump-zero-for-zero-tariffs-for-industrial-goods/

According to EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, the industrial goods include “cars and all other industrial goods, such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber and plastic machinery.”

German Finance Minister Jörg Kukies called for zero tariffs on imports: “The easiest way to assure balance and fairness is if everyone goes to zero and then we have free trade, efficiency, and economies of scale. The key is to send the signal that we are willing to include reducing tariffs all the way to zero.”

[Stupid Government Tricks]

You still can't rebut the actual facts, such as why he thinks taxing penguins is a good idea.

It's pretty funny how you have given up responding to me and only refer to me in the third person.

[VinniUSMC]

such as why he thinks taxing penguins is a good idea.

Of course, nobody should respond to STG, because STG has the comprehension skills of an ADHD toddler.

[Don't get eliminated(Lying Jeffy thinks about people having anal sex with their sisters)]

You’re really going to stick with the penguin talking point, lol?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

It's all over CNN and MSNBC. Why bother learning what people actually say. When you can repeat a narrative. So much less energy.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

That's all you do, paste Twitter posts. You haven't got a thinking bone in your body. You are afraid to rebut my arguments, so you call me names and repeat "CNN MSNBC" as if that has anything to do with facts.

[Truthfulness]

Have you ever considered the thought that maybe, just maybe, those X posts are on to something in refuting what CNN and MSNBC have said?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Because the Democrats will. If you think they won't, you're delusional.

Do you think the way to correct mistakes is to pretend they aren't mistakes?

[DesigNate]

Yeah, but you’re not a Democrat, so hammering this point just seems silly.

[mad.casual]

It's pretty funny how you have given up responding to me and only refer to me in the third person.

1. He responded to himself and anyone reading his posts.
2. EU agreeing to 0% tariffs on industrial goods is an actual fact.
3. Setting aside the above, referring to Groot as "He" doesn't materially change the "I am Groot." response.
4. Cry harder about your pronouns, bitch.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

There's no reason to respond to him. He's still using the penguin talking point. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

He has shown zero interest in actually having discussions on this topic.

Plus I love how it aggravates him, sarc, Jeff, and others.

There is no reason to ever argue with theists who refuse to admit to even simple truths like current trade policy isn't free trade.

[VinniUSMC]

He's been copy/pasting his stupid "I know everything about tariffs" talking points all over the place. Nobody cares about the ramblings of a broken SGT.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

And none of you Trumpistas have rebutted them. That should be easy if they were so wrong. Yet you can't. All you know is Jesse's talking points. Haven't even got any of your own.

[VinniUSMC]

No point arguing with SGT's baloney.

PENGUINS! -Says the CNN talking point regurgitator.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Coward. Pretty funny how scared you are of facts. Makes you run crying to your crowd like a little girl.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

And tariffs on penguins and a UK/US military base are facts.

[Truthfulness]

No, they're lies. The tariffs say nothing about penguins. You've been deceived.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/von-der-leyen-offers-trump-zero-for-zero-tariffs-deal-on-all-industrial-goods/ar-AA1CscTm

The European Commission has offered the United States a deal to remove tariffs on all industrial goods as part of the trade negotiations, Ursula von der Leyen has said while stressing her intention to retaliate against Donald Trump's policies should talks fail.

Trump has announced a 20% across-the-board tariff on imports from the European Union, set to take effect on 9 April. Steel, aluminum and cars are subject to a separate 25% rate. In total, over €380 billion in EU-made products will be affected.

Pharmaceuticals, copper, lumber, semiconductors and energy have been exempted.

"We stand ready to negotiate with the US. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners," the Commission president said on Monday afternoon.

"Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table. But we are also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests."

The "zero-for-zero" deal was offered in the past "repeatedly" for the automotive sector, von der Leyen said, "but there was no adequate reaction" from Washington.

The Commission expanded the pitch to all industrial goods in recent days as talks intensified, a spokesperson said. No further details were provided.

[Don't get eliminated(Lying Jeffy thinks about people having anal sex with their sisters)]

How awful!

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Did I miss something on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday regarding Jeffy? Where did this come from, that Jeffy thinks about people having anal sex with their sisters? Another bears in trunks moment?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

This is what I get for not visiting here on a Sunday, LOL.

https://reason.com/2025/04/06/trump-is-wrong-about-mckinleys-tariff-legacy/?comments=true#comment-10991680

chemjeff radical individualist 15 hours ago
Flag Comment
Mute User
Do you fuck your sister in the ass?

Just, wow.

[Don't get eliminated(Lying Jeffy thinks about people having anal sex with their sisters)]

When I call Lying Jeffy a psychopath I'm not being hyperbolic.

[DesigNate]

He really really doesn’t want to answer my very simple question.

[Medulla Oblongata]

It was shit like that that made me finally put Sarc in the grey box. If Jeff is devolving to that level of discourse, too ...

[Medulla Oblongata]

This afternoon at the WH:

"We will eliminate the trade deficit with the United States. We intend to do it very quickly. We think it's the right thing to do and we're going to also eliminate trade barriers... and I think Israel can serve as a model for other countries who ought to do the same," Netanyahu said.

https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1907176949484830910

Today we cancelled all of the customs duties levied on products from the US, Israel's largest trading partner.

Cancelling the customs duties on American goods is an additional step in the policy that my governments have led for a decade in opening up the market to competition, introducing variety to the economy and lowering the cost of living.

In addition to the advantages to the market and to citizens of Israel, the current effort will allow us to further strengthen the alliance and ties between Israel and the US. We will continue to work to reduce barriers and customs, and bolster our special relationship with the US.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"There's no sign yet that markets are finding a bottom and beginning to stabilize," write analysts at Deutsche Bank.

You know who else found himself deep underground?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Arne Saknussemm?

[Quicktown Brix]

Big John?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Nosferatu?

[Fist of Etiquette]

HIS NAME WAS COUNT ORLOK.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Or Dr. Acula

[Jefferson Paul]

Dr. Jan Itor

(Scrubs)

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Jimmy Hoffa?

[Ajsloss]

Shock G, the one who put the satin on your panties?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Joe, me, and Tim?

/Timothy, Timothy, where on earth did you go?
Timothy, Timothy, God why don't I know?

[Anomalous]

Hassan Nasrallah?

[Dillinger]

Lou Reed?

[MK Ultra]

Rick Buckler from "The Jam"?

https://youtu.be/AE1ct5yEuVY?si=EvuWMe6OOz8x1dTz

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

All those large protests are gaslighting.

https://x.com/TonySeruga/status/1908704326379593779

Tony Seruga
@TonySeruga
GPS—7,498 mobile devices.

Organizers are claiming 30,000. CBS states a vague ‘thousands’.

92% having attended 5 or more Kamala Harris rallies, antifa/blm, pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian protests.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's possible, to steelman the tariff cheerleaders, that they believe Trump's aggressive moves will result in negotiating down the tariffs that other countries impose on us...

Now is not the time to show weakness. We must stand our ground and not give any credence to the possibility Trump's plan will work.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Hey, do you even want to live in a world where Trump was right?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Even more frightening than a world with a system closer to free trade.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring a Maryland man back to the U.S. by midnight Monday after concluding that he was unlawfully deported to his home country of El Salvador despite an immigration court order that he not be sent there,"

It's an important distinction that the procedural error was not deporting him--there is apparently a valid deportation order already in place for him, "Maryland father" or not--but deporting him to the one country he was supposed to be protected from being sent to in accordance with the long-standing deportation order.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Which is itself likely an illegal judicial order. It creates a carch 22 for legalization. Order someone to be deported but then say they can't be deported to the country he is a citizen of.

[damikesc]

I love the judge saying Trump MUST do this.

1) Court decisions forcing actions tend to not work.
2) He can always make such a request as half-assedly as possible.

Pretending he is going to abide by her idiotic decision --- he does not have to do it to her satisfaction. He can also tell Bukele there will be no punishments nor negative consequences if the request is declined.

Malicious compliance, baby.

[Ersatz]

Its even better than you say....
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring a Maryland man back to the U.S. by midnight

I smell a smokey and the bandit sequel...... on a (inter)national scale!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is it time for Congress to reassert its power?

Maybe coordinated shirts?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Pussy hats.

Appropriate for both activist Democrats and useless RINOs.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

While everyone is freaking out about reciprocal tariffs...

The EU is attempting to use new laws to control US businesses.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/new-uk-internet-policing-law-targets-us-online-forums

Under the OSA, sites that allow user interaction, including forums, must have completed an illegal harm risk assessment by March 16 and submitted it to Ofcom by March 31.

Ofcom warned that noncompliance could result in enforcement action—including massive fines of 18 million pounds (more than $23 million), or 10 percent of a company’s annual revenue—or even court orders to block access in the UK.

[Social Justice is neither]

But that is the good kind of government action. Would be nice if the Leftist writers were the least bit interested in the actual context of actions instead of some fantasy world with no pre-existing state.

[Medulla Oblongata]

They're destroying local sites in the process too.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/04/04/how-the-online-safety-act-shut-down-a-hamster-forum/

Under the rules of the Online Safety Act, all online services and social media – from small online communities to giants like Facebook, X and TikTok – must complete lengthy risk assessments. This involves laying out how likely it is that a user will come across illegal content on their platform and how they intend to deal with it. Sites that fail to comply could face fines of up to £18million or 10 per cent of their annual turnover.

Small, community-led sites have been announcing to users that they will either restrict access, introduce sweeping rules or even go offline entirely – all because of the regulations imposed by the new law. Smaller forums, many of which have been around since the early days of the web in the 1990s and early 2000s, have been particularly badly hit. Victims include a group for locals of a small town in Oxfordshire and a cycling forum. One site, a link-sharing forum hosted in Finland, has blocked access for UK visitors, blaming Britain’s ‘Great Firewall’.

A particularly galling example is the Hamster Forum. Describing itself as ‘the home of all things hamstery’, it is the last place you’d expect to feel ‘unsafe’ online. Still, it too has posted a farewell notice to its users, announcing that it is shutting down. ‘While this forum has always been perfectly safe’, the administrator wrote, ‘we were unable to meet’ the compliance requirements of the Online Safety Act. The administrator of the Charlbury in the Cotswolds forum similarly wrote that the law was ‘a huge issue for small sites, both in terms of the hoops that site admins have to jump through, and potential liability’. As a result of the new rules, the forum was being forced to more strictly moderate its content.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

HAPs (Hamster Attracted Persons) hardest hit.

[Michael Ejercito]

Are these new rules really necessary to keep underage porn off web sites?

Or do they use a "definition" that undermines any reasonable foundation in having these kind of laws in the first place?

[Zeb]

Here's my risk assessment: "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me".

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Words are violence. Violent protests (D) are free speech.

[mamabug]

Pretty sure that is the intention - easier to control the narrative if you can control the public square.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Yes, a feature, not a bug.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

So of course taxes on American consumers are how Trump shows the Europeans what for.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Shoulda done like them and taxed producers, right? (Or really like them, and taxed everybody. Oh, wait.)

[DesigNate]

It’s almost like we aren’t operating under an umbrella of free trade with these countries…

[Fats of Fury]

EU is implementing DEI rules for all companies operating in Europe including American. No doubt to further oppress their native populations.

https://tinyurl.com/25ha7zd9

[Medulla Oblongata]

Don't forget that EU has been raising revenue by "fining" Google, Microsoft, billions and billions etc. for violations of EU rules.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Yeah. But those aren't tariffs so that's okay.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

CORPORATIONS PAY FINES! (and never pass those costs onto consumers, employees, etc)

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Next you're going to say regulatory costs get passed through. Ha.

[damikesc]

See no point in placating fascists, personally.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Howmet Aerospace (HWM) declared a force majeure event, Reuters reported late Friday, in a letter sent to customers. Force majeure is a legal practice allows enabling contracted parties to avoid obligations due to unavoidable or unpredictable external circumstances.
...
"Howmet will be excused from supplying any products or services that are impacted by this declared national emergency and/or the tariff executive order," the company wrote in its letter.
...
Howmet is the first reported instance of a U.S.-based company declaring force majeure due to Trump's tariffs. Elsewhere, India-based Tata Motors, the parent of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced on Saturday it has paused exports to the U.S. in response to tariffs, Reuters reported.

https://www.investors.com/news/tariffs-trump-howmet-aerospace-jaguar-jlr-nintendo-order-stops-delays/

Unbelievable. Business is grinding to a halt. Someone needs to tell the fatass god-emperor that he is insane.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Headlines:

India offers US lower tariffs on farm imports, weighs natural gas tax cuts in rush to reach trade deal: report

India eyes tariff cuts on $23B of US imports to avoid Trump's reciprocal taxes: report

India unlikely to impose counter-tariffs on US amid trade deal talks: Report

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order Friday requiring the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia...

What kind of fucked up space alien name is that? "Garcia." Now I've heard everything.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The kind who names their spaceships Tiger and Wolf?

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

And how about “Paula”? Seriously, is this the 80s or something?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Biden flooded highways with non English speaking truck drivers granting CDLs illegal immigrants don't qualify for. Yes it requires speaking English to understand signs and other safety issues.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-handed-out-cdls-candy-now-us-highways-are-public-national-security-nightmare

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

I’ve noticed that with these truckers over the past four years. They are less polite and just bull their way through like they think they’re driving in India or some other shithole.

[Zeb]

I haven't noticed much on the roads, but I have had to deal with a good number of LTL drivers with little or no English and who seem pretty clueless about what they are doing.

[Rick James]

Now they're driving in the third world shithole known as Los Angeles.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Mostly peaceful flaming deadly big rig crashes.

[Don't get eliminated(Lying Jeffy thinks about people having anal sex with their sisters)]

I know a trucker and he says it’s getting insane.

[mad.casual]

"Biden"

FIFY - In IL this started back during the previous administration when the administration had different leadership.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Which is rather interesting when you consider that a former governor went to jail for selling CDLs for campaign contributions in Illinois.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

To be fair the federal government doesn't issue CDLs the states do but the ability to read and communicate in English is a federal requirement and for good reason. A car driver can figure out stop and yield signs pretty easily but one of the first things a big rig driver learns is that you have to read every sign you see. Bridge heights and weight limits and truck restrictions of all kinds are critical. Drivers that don't understand the language are dangerous and they also slow the supply chain because shippers, receivers, cops and other drivers struggle to communicate with them. Some states are taking short cuts to put illegals in jobs that they consider unskilled. But driving a big rig is a deadly serious business.

[sarcasmic]

The tariffs are a temporary measure with the goal of achieving zero tariffs, are a permanent measure to replace the income tax, and are also going be so high that people will not pay them and instead buy domestic goods. All at the same time.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

It's the magic tariff! It will both replace the income tax and will be repealed to usher in truly free trade, both at the same time! It's both a floor wax and a dessert topping!

[sarcasmic]

And protectionist too.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Do either one of you realize how to play hardball while negotiating?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Easier question would be to ask them if they could ever be even slightly honest.

[Don't get eliminated(Lying Jeffy thinks about people having anal sex with their sisters)]

The answer is no.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

No, but they know how playing with balls can make things hard.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Look, we all understand that you and your team play games defending these tariffs.

When someone correctly points out that they harm the cause of free trade, you all argue "but but he is just a master negotiator using tariffs to bring about truly free trade! You aren't opposed to free trade, are you?"

Then when someone correctly points out that they represent a large tax increase on Americans, you all argue "but but they are meant to replace income taxes, which are far worse! You're not in favor of the income tax, are you?"

Tariffs can't realistically both be justified as a negotiating tool to bring about truly free trade (and therefore to be repealed), and ALSO as a viable substitute for the income tax (and therefore to remain in place to generate revenue). You're just playing idiot rhetorical games in trying to have it both ways.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

And, Jeffy, how many countries that these tariffs have been proposed for have already capitulated? Why would they capitulate if it’s just a tax on us?

[sarcasmic]

You keep forgetting that tariffs are also going to bring back jobs by making imports so expensive that people won't buy them and will buy American instead.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones—that kind of thing is going to come to America"

What about the army of millions and millions of human beings just screwing?

[Ajsloss]

India?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

They tend to try to screw people with scams.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I thought that was Nigeria and Myanmar.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

The more recent ones I’ve come across, especially over the phone are Indians. You can always tell from the accent.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Went to Maine this weekend, saw a lot of pussy hats.

Maine doesn't exist. Pussy hats in 2025. I mean, really.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

It sunk

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Should we remember it?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

12/7 and 9/11 removed 2/15 and 5/7 from our collective memory.

[Quicktown Brix]

What are they grabbing at anyway?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Sarcasmic’s 40 of Colt 45.

[Dillinger]

did Colt miss a marketing ploy by not using a 45oz. bottle?

[Medulla Oblongata]

He asked his model to flag "DEI jobs, redundant jobs, and bullshit jobs." One discovery: The school has roughly one administrator for every two undergraduates.

[Old info, circa 2021]

Yale Daily News:

Over the last two decades, the number of managerial and professional staff that Yale employs has risen three times faster than the undergraduate student body, according to University financial reports. The group's 44.7 percent expansion since 2003 has had detrimental effects on faculty, students and tuition, according to eight faculty members.

As evidenced by the financial report from 2002-2003, Yale employed 3,500 administrators and managers while there were 5,307 undergraduate students enrolled at the university. Less than two decades later in 2019, before the pandemic affected enrollment, Yale employed more than 1,500 additional administrators while the undergraduate population had only risen by 600 students. Now undergraduate enrollment has dipped to 4,703, with more than 5,000 “managerial and professional staff.”

Meanwhile, professor of English Leslie Brisman made light of the situation, remarking, “I think we don’t yet have a Vice President for the rights of the left-handed, but I haven’t checked this month,”

[Medulla Oblongata]

[Circa 2023]

https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/26/the-more-taxpayers-pay-for-college-the-worse-it-gets/

A state audit of the University of California system identified rising administrative costs as the main driver of tuition increases, citing a 28 percent increase in system-wide administrative spending from fiscal years 2012-13 to 2015-16. Since then, the trend has only accelerated: As of 2021, non-instructional personnel comprises more than half of four-year university staff nationwide. In response, spending on per-student instruction decreased, dropping 13 percent between 2008 and 2018.

It is unclear where this excess administrative spending goes. As George Mason University law professor Todd Zywicki writes, “The interesting thing about the administrative bloat in higher education is, literally, nobody knows who all these people are or what they’re doing.” Schools increasingly fund positions with nebulous or vaguely defined titles, such as “student success manager” or “vibrant campus community coordinator.”

Students can hardly be said to benefit from this. Despite skyrocketing tuition costs, students rarely find themselves in front of a full-time, tenure-track professor. To accommodate growing administrative spending, universities save money by hiring adjunct or non-tenure track lecturers. The rise of such faculty has been dramatic: Today, only about 20 percent of college courses are taught by tenure-track or full-time professors, compared to almost 80 percent in 1969.

[MT-Man]

I agree 100%, see it every day and ask this question with no answer or folks not wanting to answer why there is no deliverables from 100's of 100k+ positions.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Have to provide jobs for useless degrees somehow.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

They’re essentially make-work programs for grievance studies degrees. You could let them all go to take over the jobs the deported illegals were working.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Be fair. That's a make-work system for almost all degrees that have little value on the open market.

And, like my local college, many of them celebrate the incestuous system, with announcements that trumpet how each new admin hire is an alum.

[Marshal]

Harvard alone has over 100 Title IX employees which translates o over 30,000 such employees nationwide. Even if you severely discount for smaller institutions the total is over 10,000. DEI is trying to replicate that success (from their point of view) but on an even larger scale by exporting it to private business as well.

[Rick James]

The kids need help adulting.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Ohio State has more than 100 DEI administrators costing more than $13M.

https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/the-making-of-a-bureaucracy-ohio-states-dei-regime

Economist Mark J. Perry (coincidentally an emeritus professor at the University of Michigan) released a chart yesterday that lists every DEI bureaucrat at the Ohio State University, ranked by salary, and calculates the total compensation allotted to these employees for the 2021-22 academic year—a grand figure of $13,405,605 [see chart below]. Nearly 30 of the listed employees make more than six figures, and the average salary is around $77,000. The employees work for an array of different initiatives, including such notables as “Diversity and Inclusion,” “Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach,” “Equity and Inclusion,” and “Institutional Equity.” There are around 20 employees who share the title of “Program Coordinator, Diversity and Inclusion,” and another 12 who are “Program Managers” of the same (not to be confused with the Program Manager of Equity and Inclusion).

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Cancer.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

So a U of M guy is bad mouthing Ohio State?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Yeah, this was known years ago, probably 10-20 years ago at least, and just from federal regulations alone. Whatever DEI added, it was already top-heavy.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Be fair. The feds compensated for required college bureaucrats with unlimited student loan and grant funding. Not sure where that comes from.

[BYODB]

I noticed way back when I still worked in University administration that a whole bunch of graduates recycled right back into the University as administration, then worked while earning their masters, then just burrowed deeper into the administration.

Not sure how common that is at most universities, but I'd wager it's very common though and I'd be curious on numbers for how many University graduates go on to simply work at the University they graduated from.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Like I said above, it seems to be a point of pride at my local college that all the administration hires are grads.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"...I launched a public database mapping all 3,805 non-faculty employees of Brown University and sent each one a simple email: What do you do all day?"

"List five microaggressions you reported last week."

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Oh no, not even close.

"List five microaggressions you committed last week."

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Why not both?

[Social Justice is neither]

If they're white shouldn't the two lists overlap for proper self-flagellation?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Stocks tumbled, taking the three-day wipeout in global equity value to about $9.5 trillion.'

Hmm, so these things were not worth what our betters told us?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Ding ding ding we have a winner!

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

The top stocks are at a 27 p to e ratio when historically it was around 16. A lot of this growth was from massive covid spending by the government a few years ago.

A correction was always coming.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And now they can blame it on Trump. But absolutely no conspiracy.

[Minadin]

Sounds like a great argument against taxing unrealized gains.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Americans are likely to delay travel, car replacement, and tech product replacement, to cook more at home and eat out less.'

OMG! We're all hand maids now.

[Quicktown Brix]

Three-day selloff continues: "The carnage in financial markets worsened on Monday with stressed-out investors abandoning hopes that President Donald Trump would change his tariff policy,"

Hello? Deep state? Are you there? I'm sorry about everything I said. I didn't mean it.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

I'm not. The result of the "carnage" is still far higher than during the Biden junta's term.

It is at 4949 as of yesterday. This time in 2024 it was 4964, in 2023 it was 4120, in 2022 it was 3585, down from 4750 when Joe took office.

(source: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/stock-market)

But by screaming "carnage" the media has all the boomers scared again.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

What it really shows is that business likes predictability, whether by laissez-faire, corruption, or whatever. They don't give a shit which party is in power or what their policies are, as long as they are predictable.

Trump and Trumpistas like to brag about his business acumen, the art of the deal. Problem is, unpredictability like his only works when he's the lone wolf. A wolf pack needs predictability if they don't want to keep running into each other.

He's an idiot.

[Quicktown Brix]

Right. Even if this protectionism would restore US manufacturing, at this point, no one is going to invest billions on anything while Trump's in power.

On the other hand, I did hear he won a golf tournament this weekend so you never know...

[Spiritus Mundi]

List of Companies Pledging to Invest Billions in US Since Donald Trump Win.

[Quicktown Brix]

Updated Mar 21, 2025

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Sixteen days ago. When everyone knew that Trump was going to put tariffs on nine days later.

[Quicktown Brix]

Yes, but I think people have been shocked by how extreme the tariffs are.

Eh, I'm speculating a bit too much on this, so I'll drop it.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Updated April 1st, 2025

A staggering $1.7 trillion in foreign and domestic investment commitments...

[Spiritus Mundi]

Updated Apr 02, 2025:

$3 Trillion in 3 Months: A List of Companies and Governments Betting on America First

[Quicktown Brix]

Duly noted.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

"What it really shows is that business likes predictability, whether by laissez-faire, corruption, or whatever."

Yes, why you and Brix think it's a bad idea to temporarily upset that applecart is something I don't understand. Complacent companies can be rotten companies and parasitical companies.
The invisible hand is not a gentle force on those institutions either.

[Quicktown Brix]

Yes, why you and Brix think it's a bad idea to temporarily upset that applecart is something I don't understand.

The ever increasing power of the presidency to easily change the business playing field with each administration is something I've complained about for years. Not just for Trump. Industry needs stability to plan and grow.

If Trump is intentionally doing this and we walk away with lower tariffs, I'll be pleasantly (understatement) shocked. In that case, this will all have been worth it and I'll openly confess my TDS led me astray.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

"If Trump is intentionally doing this and we walk away with lower tariffs, I'll be pleasantly (understatement) shocked."

Well, that's what I'm hoping for, but if they turn out instead to be protectionism then I'll join you in your opprobrium.

[Quicktown Brix]

We'll probably get something arbitrarily in the middle, and we'll both come back and say, "See? I told you."

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Lol

[BYODB]

The ever increasing power of the presidency to easily change the business playing field with each administration is something I've complained about for years

'Ever increasing' isn't something I'd be too sure of since the President has had this authority for longer than you've been alive times two.

I'd agree that it was also incredibly stupid to give that authority to one guy, but Congress isn't known for their intelligence either.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Narratives over facts. That is all the left has. Generating fear. No rational analysis.

And we continue to see the same not a leftists repeat the same narratives.

Whats funny is their goals are the same as ghost cities in China. Growth not backed on economics, but by pushing policies unleveraged with actual formation of business or assets.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Try answering the Trump criticisms and you'll have more credibility when you claim the left doesn't respond with facts.

[SRG2]

The two largest declines in the S&P500 since Biden's inauguration were -6.0% on 4/4/25 and -4.8% on 4/3/25. Source: S&P.

That's a possible explanation for why the media is drawing attention to these drops.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

And the market stayed at those levels post drop forever.

Economic ignorance seems to be the reason for the media. And you lap it up.

[Rick James]

Hopefully the Democrats can finally do something to save their friends on Wall Street.

[Quicktown Brix]

Yes, and the rest of us.

[Truthfulness]

What's their plan? I don't think the Dems will succeed. Care to say otherwise?

[Quicktown Brix]

No. I have no hope the dems can or will save us.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Trump fluffer Bill Ackman warns Donnie causing "nuclear winter" with policy:

In a post on X, Ackman said “business investment will grind to a halt, (and) consumers will close their wallets” if the new levies do indeed come into force. “We will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate,” he added in the post, which was viewed 10.6 million times.
..
Unless Trump changes tack, “we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down,” the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management warned.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/business/bill-ackman-criticize-trump-tariffs-intl/index.html

Bring Sleeply Joe back! Brain-dead is better than insane!

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the ass-wipe of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Anti Trump protest in Charles Town, WV. About 200 people, not paid protestors, but the median age appears to be about 70.
[video]

I've spent the day studying pictures of these "protests" across the nation.
The median age appears to be about 70, and that's across the entire nation.
I also notice an almost complete lack of black and Latino people.
The Democrat Party may not exist in ten years.

I saw a Tesla protest in Sarasota, FL yesterday
All old people
All white
All similar signs
Seemed strange to not see any young people and barely any diversity
This entire operation feels paid

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Confused Tea-baggers? The KEEP YER FILTHY GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE crowd?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the TDS-addled ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yeah, very confused, as they watched the feds add millions more to the benefit groups, you fucktard.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

"Confused Tea-baggers? The KEEP YER FILTHY GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE crowd?"

Sarah Palin's Boomerplug forgets he's in his late sixties.
He still thinks he's all young and with it in his white Trans Am, his Sam Kinison and AC/DC tapes, a bottle of Drakkar Noir and a well-worn Kids Letters to Penthouse strewn across his back seat. He's as hip as his politics.

[mamabug]

Walked by people leaving a protest in Bend, OR over the weekend. Probably not paid (overheard too many conversations where people bitched about Trump). Demographically, though, it is mostly the 60+ generation and the WFH careerists who have all been beneficiaries of the status quo for the last 50 years.

[Bill Godshall]

Like left wing Democrats and media propagandists, Liz Wolfe suffers from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, the most pervasive mental illness in America today.

Like other left wing Trump haters, Wolfe demonizes all of Trump's new tariffs imposed on foreign nations, while remaining silent on the far greater tariffs, VAT and other trade barriers that have been increasing imposed on US made goods by dozens of foreign nations.

If Trump's new tariffs are as catastrophic as Wolfe claims, why has she (and everyone else at the formely Libertarian Reason, failed to criticize, or even acknowledge, the far greater tariffs imposed on US goods by foreign nations?

Seems like Trump's new tariffs could prove to be the most effective (and quickest) ways to reduce foreign tariffs, VAT and other trade barriers now imposed by foreign nations on US goods,
which real Libertarians applaud.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

TDS works both sides of the aisle. That you refuse to recognize that shows you too to be a victim.

Trump's done a lot of good and is better then Biden was or Harris or any other Dem would have been. That doesn't make him perfect.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

TDS works both sides of the aisle.

You.
Are.
Full.
Of.
Shit.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Really? What, it only works on Trumpistas? I had no idea you thought Democrats were sane.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

You.
Are.
Still.
Full.
Of.
Shit.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

And so is Trump. Nyah nyah!

[Truthfulness]

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/04/eu-offering-trump-zero-for-zero-tariffs-for-industrial-goods/

Take the L and shut up.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

This is all theater.

Sen. Grassley and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D–Wash.) introduced a bill Thursday to sharply curtail the executive's power to impose tariffs, requiring a 48-hour notification of Congress prior to any presidential imposition and for Congress to "explicitly approve any new tariffs within 60 days," per Politico. Congress would also be granted the ability to swat down the tariffs at any times.

The President can veto those bills. Congress should have thought of how hard that is when they asked the President to sign bills surrendering their power.

"Hey, I know, let's pass a bill giving our power to the President. We can always pass another bill later to take it back."

"Except he wants to sign a bill taking power, and won't want to sign a bill giving that power up."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Heinlein had it right. It should be easier to repeal laws than create them. In my Chartertopia, any individual chamber can repeal laws with a simple majority, but it takes all chambers approving bills by 2/3 to enact laws. One of my favorite ideas for amending the Constitution is allowing repeal of bills without the President having any say.

The Constitution was a pretty darned good first draft, but they were seriously naive about how perfidious politicians could be.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Trump's actions aside, it's been a paradigm of the "educated" classes for over 100 years that the President needs to be am "enlightened despot," meaning they should be able to do whatever they want as long as they're advancing left-wing agendas. One execrable book on Washington DC's history that my mom and uncles had when they were kids started the section on Theodore Roosevelt assuming the chair as "the day they brought the power back," mainly due to him sassing JP Morgan during a White House visit.

We really do need to go back to a late 19th Century model where Congress had as much authority as the President, and the latter was largely a figurehead that appointed officials, kissed babies, and decided whether to sign off on laws or not.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But why else get "educated" about how the world should be unless that implies a mandate to impose all those cool ideas? We have to protect people from their base selves, right?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Went to Maine this weekend, saw a lot of pussy hats. Could not stop chuckling. Every man, woman, and child looked like Elizabeth Warren.'

And people wonder why birth rates (and even sex rates) are down.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Also, people were very nice to my rambunctious toddler. (Is it possible that…New York is uniquely bad in how its upper-middle-class denizens treat kids? Are we simply beyond fixing?'

Yes. You know what else New York is uniquely bad at?

[sarcasmic]

Know why people in New York are angry all the time?

You would be too if the light at the end of the tunnel was New Jersey.

[VinniUSMC]

Personally, I'd like to know if there's any way in which New York isn't uniquely bad.

[Jefferson Paul]

The pizza tends to be better than other regions in the US.

[Quicktown Brix]

This is correct.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/04/07/the-all-male-womens-pool-final/

This is what the endgame of trans ideology looks like.

Last night, the UK’s Ultimate Pool Women’s Pro Series Event 2 in Wigan had its final match. This women’s pool event wouldn’t ordinarily have grabbed the headlines, except for one curious detail: this year, there were no women in the final. It was played between two transgender-identified men – Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith. They had defeated four female opponents each before making it to the final, which Haynes ultimately won. Broadcaster Piers Morgan took to X to call the incident ‘preposterous’ and ‘cheating bullshit’. Meanwhile, former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies described it as ‘bloody ridiculous and grossly wrong in every way’.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I'm curious. What about pool makes men better? Longer reach? Beards to hide chalk?

It's not like running or swimming or hitting or lefting. It's just a stick and some balls.

Oh, wait ....

Huh. I'd think straight women and gay men would have an advantage there.

[Zeb]

There are a few sports like that where it's hard to see where men get an advantage. But men still dominate those things too, except maybe something like gymnastics where being tiny and super flexible is a big part of it (and of course those tiny girls couldn't do most of what male gymnasts can either).

[Medulla Oblongata]

Not just sports. Chess, for example. Or bridge.

[Medulla Oblongata]

The current women's chess world champion has an ELO rating of 2604. Doesn't crack the men's top 100.

The highest ELO rating EVER for a woman was 2735 (Judit Polgár 2735 2005-07), which would put her just outside the current men's top 20.

The best woman bridge player in the world DOES crack the top 10, barely. And the 2nd best woman barely cracks the top 20.

[Marshal]

except maybe something like gymnastics...

and figure skating.

But note the common thread. The things women are better at are judged rather than timed or counted. Womens' aesthetics are superior, not their athletic ability.

[Jefferson Paul]

Beach Volleyball

And I don't mean the women are BETTER at playing the sport. I'm just judging by how nice the players are to look at as I'm watching the sport (pretty much just the Olympics).

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Why do you hate trans-ballers?

[Super Scary]

I was also thinking that gender wouldn't really matter in something like pool and as far as I know they don't use heavier balls or wider tables in the men's division.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Has more to do with spatial recognition.

But also draw and strike mechanics.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

This. Spatial recognition is key. You see it when women try to fit their bags in an overhead container on an airplane.

[Medulla Oblongata]

The article:

While it’s true that, in pool, the difference between men and women might not be as pronounced as in other, more physically demanding sports, men do still have some biological advantages. These differences – though hotly disputed by delusional trans activists – are obvious to anyone with eyes. The chief issue being that anyone who has gone through male puberty will have, on average, a much wider wingspan and be much taller than someone who hasn’t. As Pinches has explained, ‘they have a longer reach, and a lot of them are taller than us’, making it easier for men to make shots with greater power and speed.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

It's almost as if men and women are good at different things. I can understand why women want separate pool leagues or championships, even if I don't understand why men are better at it; that just biology being mysterious.

What I cannot understand is how any man can have any pride in having to pretend to be a woman in order to take home a trophy. Well, except for legit drag queen shows, where that's the point and not reading to kids.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

That's my problem with these guys. They're just being assholes and they have the balls to insist that the rest of us celebrate it.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Also, men have, on general, much better spatial cognition and mechanical reasoning than women.

E.g., https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6591491/

Results: Study 1 showed that in behavior performance, males outperformed females in both large-scale and small-scale spatial ability, but the effect size of the gender difference in large-scale spatial ability is significantly greater than that in small-scale spatial ability. In addition, Study 2 showed that in terms of neural activity, males and females exhibited both similarities and differences no matter in large-scale or small-scale spatial ability. Especially, the contrast analysis between females and males demonstrated a stronger activation in the brain regions of bilateral lentiform nucleus and bilateral parahippocampal gyrus in large-scale spatial ability, and correspondence in right sub-gyral, right precuneus, and left middle frontal gyrus in small-scale spatial ability.

Conclusions: The results indicated that the reason why females performed not so well in large-scale spatial ability was that they were more susceptible to emotions and their parahippocampal gyrus worked less efficiently than males; females performed not so well in small-scale spatial ability because they mostly adopted the egocentric strategy and their sub-gyral also worked less efficiently than males. The two different reasons have made for gender differences in favor of males in terms of spatial ability and such gender differences have different manifestations in large-scale and small-scale spatial ability. Possible implications of the results for understanding the issue of gender differences in spatial ability are discussed.

[Social Justice is neither]

Height and reach makes more shots easier, strength makes some shots easier, spacial judgement has a male bias, tits not in your swing and testosterone generally making you (and your history of competitors) more competitive overall.

[Minadin]

Men also have a different bell curve distribution cross section than women, on all sorts of skills, abilities, and natural traits. So men are both more likely to be geniuses, and idiots, millionaires, and homeless, than women, who tend more toward the average across a whole host of traits, but far less at the extremes.

[Zeb]

That is a very important point for the whole debate about sexual equality/differences. But people have a hard enough time with averages and simple generalization. Good luck getting them to understand distributions. It's quite possible (perhaps likely) that women are smarter on average than men, but most highly exceptional people (on both ends of the curve) will always be men.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'"It costs $93,064 to attend Brown University," writes Alex Shieh for Pirate Wires. "The annual budget deficit is $46 million. I wanted to know where the hell all the money was going." So Shieh built a model to try to figure it out: "Around 2 a.m. on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday, I launched a public database mapping all 3,805 non-faculty employees of Brown University and sent each one a simple email: What do you do all day?" He made a database of all administrators using "retrieval-augmented generation and a custom GPT-4o pipeline" to rank them according to their "operational importance." He asked his model to flag "DEI jobs, redundant jobs, and bullshit jobs." One discovery: The school has roughly one administrator for every two undergraduates.'

Did you really think elite universities, and K-12 public schools, are for the students?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

No, they seem to be make-work programs for useless bullshit degrees.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Pedantry for the cause!

----------

Upon closure of the case, the MNPD's Homicide Unit has released a 48-page final report detailing the probe's findings.

Among them, on a page titled "What She Didn't Leave Behind," the police agency disputes that the "transgender"-identified shooter, Audrey "Aiden" Hale, had ever left a manifesto divulging her motive.

By definition, the MNPD asserts, a manifesto is "a mission statement or other document written and disseminated by an individual or group to enumerate or expound upon the guiding principles and beliefs that inform their actions." Regardless of length, a manifesto is "a single document that outlines all the factors, intentions, and objectives of an individual act or a series of actions," according to the MNPD.

"In this case, a manifesto didn't exist," the MNPD concludes. "Hale never left behind a single document explaining why she committed the attack, why she specifically targeted The Covenant, and what she hoped to gain, if anything, with the attack."

What did exist, per the MNPD, was simply "a series of notebooks, art composition books, and media files" documenting Hale's planning and preparation, the events in Hale's life that motivated her to carry out the mass murder, and her hopes related to the outcome of the attack.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2025/04/04/nashville-police-final-report-covenant-school-shooting-n2654970

[Super Scary]

Xhey must have forgotten to get xheir stuff notarized.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'In case you missed it last week, our Just Asking Questions episode with Batya Ungar-Sargon gets deep into both tariffs and deportation'

Are you ready now to consider reciprocal immigration? How about the US sends the same percentage of, um, yearning immigrants to all countries which have a migration deficit? I hear lots of locals want to escape our Nazi regime.

Not sure what Venezuela will do with a few million baristas with grievance studies degrees, but that's their problem.

[Longtobefree]

"Not sure what Venezuela will do with a few million baristas with grievance studies degrees, but that's their problem."

Climbing mountains to pick coffee comes to mind - - - - - - -

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Really give them something to grieve about.

I can just see the new marketing slogans.

"Pre-washed in salty tears."

"They cry so you don't have to."

"Your approval makes them grieve more."

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“Everything Is So Terrible And Unfair”.

[Zeb]

I prefer immigration where no one "sends" anyone anywhere but where free individuals can choose to move to where their assets and skills are most useful.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What's a nation?

[Zeb]

You're a nation.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And you're an idiot.

[Zeb]

Sorry, I thought puns were popular here. But I suppose it's more important to be an asshole and jump to conclusions about people whose comments you read every day based on a single comment that you misunderstood.

[DesigNate]

You’re a towel.

[Longtobefree]

Wound up in the wrong place

[chemjeff radical individualist]

From the totally-not-fascists: Republican senator from Oklahoma argues that there would be less "fake news" if politicians could legally murder journalists.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/markwayne-mullin-floats-using-violence-journalists-report-fake-news-rcna199922

Oh but he said he was "joking" so that makes it all totally okay.

[MT-Man]

You were just the free speech guy last few weeks with the Hamas Columbia dude right?

[Medulla Oblongata]

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

[Super Scary]

Step two is: No seriously, all the lawyers.

[Dillinger]

alright but don't expect your 5mph rear-end collision to bear fruit.

[Jefferson Paul]

Step three: profit

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

"Markwayne" is a redneck scumbag. He was the guy that challenged a Senate witness to a fight last year.

Advice for you MAGA types - never give your child a double name like RickyBobby or JoeBob.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the TDS-addled ass-wipe of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Weren’t you the asshole who said it was ok to shoot a trespasser dead?

[damikesc]

That's (D)ifferent.

[VinniUSMC]

Best part about this whole story is that what actually happened was that a journalist ended up killing a politician.

I'm all for it though. Make Dueling Great Again!

[Longtobefree]

"(Is it possible that…New York is uniquely bad in how its upper-middle-class denizens treat kids? Are we simply beyond fixing?)"

Since Reason has no one who actually edits, just a bunch of people with the job title 'editor', I contribute this:
(Is it possible that…New York is uniquely bad? Are we simply beyond fixing?)

The answer is of course, yes.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

One New York frog to another: "Is it getting warm in here?"

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

There’s a solution for NYC, proposed by Burke in “Aliens”.

All right. We take off. Nuke the site from orbit. [glances at Ripley in agreement] It's the only way to be sure.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

"proposed by Burke"

I think you need to watch that movie again.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Ripley, not Burke, my bad. Forgot she said it first.

I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

If it's Portland, Maine then I think I know the guy.

Portland man arrested after police say he pointed laser at Tesla employees inside dealership

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Mostly peaceful retina damage.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

What favors did he do to get his hands on a laser pointer?

[Fats of Fury]

That guy works for an NGO and they're trying to unionize.

https://nwlaborpress.org/2024/08/do-good-multnomah-workers-seek-union/

[Fats of Fury]

But the good news :Do Good Multnomah, a nonprofit shelter operator, is facing a potential funding shortfall as Multnomah County's homeless services department is experiencing a $104 million budget gap, which could lead to shelter closures and reduced services.

[Zeb]

And fewer homeless. I'm pretty sure that homeless populations grow in proportion to funding for homelessness programs.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Yeah, it does. Lay-abouts, drug addicts and bums will gravitate to the places that will support their lifestyle.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Excellent.
Because impeaching him and arresting him as a political strategy worked so well all those other times: Al Green says he’ll present articles of impeachment against Trump in next 30 days

What’s the definition of insanity again?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Wait until 2027. That 1.5% margin against Kackles, DEI, and woke won't take much to flip both houses if Trump doesn't find some face saving measure toot sweet. Biden forgot that home finances get voters' attention. Trump looks to have forgotten too.

[Incunabulum]

D's have a 20 percent approval rating. It's only 40 percent *among D voters*.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Sure, but they hate Trump more, and that's all that matters in 2026.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

But will it matter in 2026? There's going to be a lot less USAID money out there soon, and you're banking pretty heavily on Trump being wrong about everything.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

He says Trump is wrong even when events prove Trump right. Consistency.

[Zeb]

Hard to say. If the trade stuff works out OK, and well before 2026 elections, then I don't think Democrats have much.

And while Ds are being absolutely retarded and refusing to learn their lessons at this point, they will still figure out how to roughly split the vote because that's how a 2 party system works. Either they figure out how to get roughly half of the national vote, or they get replaced with another left of center party. I think Republicans and fellow travelers should not get too comfortable about assuming the demise of the Democrats. 2026 isn't going to be a cakewalk.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

I think the real concern for Trump right now should be the criminally lazy Republican congress continuing to sit on its hands, and the people who voted for change getting sick of them and staying away.

[Incunabulum]

No, they don't. Trump has approval rating s above the D's *with Democrats*.

But go ahead - inhale the copium.

[Zeb]

"Copium"? Seems to me he is making the comments he does because he doesn't want Republicans to fuck it up and hand power back to Democrats. Maybe he's overly concerned, but there is a legitimate debate to be had here. It's not obvious that Trump's plan with tariffs (whatever that is) is going to be successful. There is room for reasonable disagreement and debate here.

[Marshal]

Right, but half of the Dem non-approvers are because Dems aren't left enough.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/04/04/atf-fbi-spying-on-californians-gun-purchases-to-help-the-state-bust-them-n2654904

The ATF and FBI have been monitoring gun purchases made by California residents to bust them for violating the state’s assault weapons ban.

Gun Owners of America recently revealed that the ATF and FBI have been using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to surveil lawful gun owners to help the Golden State enforce their gun control laws.

“The FBI has been secretly exploiting the law to hold on to the records longer than the statutory limit of 24 hours,” Sanderson said. This means these agencies have turned what is supposed to be a temporary background check into a months-long surveillance program.

Among the rationales agents use to justify the surveillance, they stated they wished to surveil an individual for being “too poor to own firearms based on her reported income.” In another instance, they surveilled a citizen for purchasing a shotgun during the George Floyd protests, reasoning, without evidence, that he probably intended to use it during the riots.

[Michael Ejercito]

Has the assault weapons ban eliminated gang violence?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

No, but the assault words ban eliminated free speech on campus and in the UK.

[Jefferson Paul]

That was good. (the turn of phrase, not the abridgement of free speech)

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

ATF and FBI have no business enforcing unconstitutional state laws.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Dave Smith has become a fucking idiot.

Dave Smith: “Churchill was the real villain of the war.”
You have to be a complete idiot who has never read a book on WWII or a purely evil individual to say this.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

There are idiots who claim Britain started the war, because they issued the initial declaration of war on September 3rd. Bring up what Hitler did on September 1st and the excuses are wunderbar.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Both Hitler and the Kaiser forgot the cardinal rule of Bismarckian diplomacy--don't put Germany in a position to fight a two-front war, because you don't have the resources or manpower to fight a sustained conflict. Wrap it up fast and consolidate gains.

Hitler was absolutely in the catbird seat after beating France, and could have legitimately established an EU under German authority the same way it is today if he'd never ordered Barbarossa and Sea Lion, and put out feelers for an armistice after Dunkirk (putting aside the fact that he stupidly held off his ground troops so Goering could fuck up an air strike operation).

[Michael Ejercito]

Especially as Geamy used weapons and materiel supplied by the Soviets to invade France.

The last deliveries of Soviet weapons and materiel was completed after the first bombs from Operation Barbarossa fell.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The only fly in the ointment was the possibility of Stalin deciding to invade Germany first. One of the stupid results of dividing Poland was giving Stalin the OK to occupy the Baltics, Poland, Romania (?), and the other buffer countries which had separated the two.

There are some stories that the Germans captured and defeated the Russians so easily in the first few months because Stalin had positioned his army for invading Germany. I doubt the truth will ever be known after all this time. Personally, it only seems plausible, not likely, but Stalin was one devious SOB who took whatever he could get.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

I’ve seen those stories before. Apparently Stalin was planning an invasion for a few weeks later and positioned his forces south of where the Germans crossed into the Soviet Union, catching Stalin off guard.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Hmmm, I don't know.

Stalin had pretty much purged the entire top echelon of the Soviet military at that point and Soviet weapons manufacturing had essentially ground to a halt.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

It's getting confusing when everyone is a "Nazi".

[Michael Ejercito]

If any of those pro-Hamasshole protests hate nazis, it is solely because they view neo-Nazis and skinheads as rival gangs.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Dave Smith is a fucking retard. If people had listened to Churchill earlier, war could’ve been avoided by a show of force and backbone toward Hitler. Hitler wasn’t ready for war in 1935, 38, 37, or 38, and barely ready in 39. Their own estimates said they should wait until 42 or so.

[Michael Ejercito]

I wonder why people were reluctant to fight war.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

It didn’t even need to be a war. A simple show of force when Hitler decided to remilitarize the Rhineland would’ve been enough. The problem was, was that no one said a simple “no” to the man. Each time no one said “no” to him, it emboldened him.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

There's some debate as to how ready they were to conduct a war and when. Despite being de-militarized to a great extent, their military forces never lost esprit de corps even through the shitty Weimar years. Like Franco's Spain, the military was one of the bedrock institutions of German society.

I can't recall where I read this, but the German army was conducting a maneuver exercise sometime in the mid-30s under the eye of British and French observers. They saw an army that had lost none of its joie de vivre, and were carrying out the exercise with assertive tactics and extreme aggressiveness. Germany was well-prepared from a civic and institutional standpoint to fight a war long before the shooting started.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Very true. It’s why the German army could have so many early victories in the war. They weren’t as ready in war materiel however, and that showed as the war wore on. Not enough steel, oil, or much else. They couldn’t sustain a long fight. Fortunately for them, in 1940, the French lacked the joie de vivre and capitulated earlier than they should’ve (hence giving rise to the “cheese eating surrender monkey” stereotype). If the French had any sort of joie de vivre in 1940, the Germans would’ve been in trouble due to a lack of materiel.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

World War I effectively ended France as a global power. They still had their colonial possessions for a while after that, but were entirely on borrowed time from that point forward. People outside the country really underestimate how badly that war broke them; pretty much any Frenchman with balls got obliterated on the Western Front from 1914-1918.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Tell me these people aren't paid, A video series.

“Donald Trump is trying to repeal parts of The Constitution. Like rights.”
“Which rights?”
“I don’t have all the information.”

They have no idea what they are protesting. Literally they have no idea what DOGE or Elon Musk is even doing. Thats what happens when you fry your brain on MSNBC all day.

This man holding a Canadian flag at the Asheville NC anti-Trump/Anti-Elon Musk protest could not explain to a reporter why he was protesting.
These people have no idea why they are protesting...
... and Elon Musk gave Starlink for FREE to Western North Carolina and saved lives

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

I wish jeffsarc was as honest as the first guy and admitted to their ignorance.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

But that would be expecting Lying Jeffy not to be Lying Jeffy.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Do you mean paid by check from Soros, or paid by welfare state (promises) by Democrats?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Why not both? You think their are reporting paid protests to the IRS?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Chemjeff has just achieved his singularity.

BREAKING: Two men will face each other for a women's championship title at the Ultimate Pool Women's Pro Series Event 2 tonight in Wigan, UK.

Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith, both trans-identified males, beat all female competitors to take the spots in the women's final event.

[Incunabulum]

Must suck to put on a dress to get a competitive advantage only to find some other dude had the same bright idea;)

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

The theater kids saved democracy yesterday.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What do you get when you elevate feelings over facts, data, logic, science, economics, practical skills, work ethic, and any sense of shame?

[Longtobefree]

A democrat.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Aka drama queen.

[Medulla Oblongata]

RFK Jr attended funeral of unvaccinated child who died from measles. He said "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine."

[VinniUSMC]

That can't be true. Everybody knows RFK Jr is Anti-Vaccine Satan.

[Incunabulum]

>, in a segment that I suppose was meant to make us feel excited for our economic future (?).

Were you hoping Americans would live in abject poverty completely dependent on the dole?

Sweatshops are better than no shops. And we're not interested in 'net benefits' where the benefits go to you while we bear the costs.

Now, I don't know if Trump has a good plan, I don't like how it's been rolled out and messaged, but at least the fucker is acknowledging us - something no one else has done (except to call us 'deplorables' and worse) in 35 years.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

The messaging was actually pretty good yesterday.

[LIBtranslator]

I just want to say that being chosen as this month's Miss April is like a compliment I'll remember for as long as I can.
Right now I'm a freshman in my fourth year at UCLA but my goal is to become a Mutterkreuz mom cause I love children. "Duck Trumpie, duck!"

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Class of 1881, right?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

I thought his comment needed more Comstock.

[Jefferson Paul]

Can someone who speaks "Hank" translate this for me?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Someone stole his pudding cup from the fridge.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Americans are likely to delay travel, car replacement, and tech product replacement, to cook more at home and eat out less.'

(Can't resist double-dipping on this.)

But wait--when the WEF imposed this on the rabble classes, progressives swooned with delight.

[Michael Ejercito]

Yes.

And they continued to support this despite endorsing mass orotests.

[Michael Ejercito]

Steve Witherspoon writes about the need for tariffs.

https://ethicsalarms.com/2025/04/07/tariffs-have-been-needed-for-decades/

I worked as a Manufacturing Engineer in a metal fabrication plant for thirty years (I wore many hats in this small company) and I personally saw what other countries (especially, China, Mexico, and Canada) were doing to undermine manufacturing in the United States of America. The USA should have put tariffs on at least these three countries 20+ years ago, but instead they were allowed to continue to unfairly practice “free trade” with us unabated.

China took one manufacturing and assembly job after another, then China used its financial capital to seriously undercut USA steel manufacturing causing steel mills in the USA to slow to a dead crawl and increase their cost a lot. In addition to that, the steel coming out of China was rusty and didn’t meet quality standards and distributors were having real problems providing quality steel to long term customers like our company. We had to slow production of some products as a result of supply problems and that hurt some of our customers and that trickled down to problems for some consumers.

Canada has been undermining aluminum and stainless steel manufacturing in the USA for over twenty years, as they practiced their unfair “free trade” with us unabated. When Canada’s stainless steel production slowed we had to seriously slow the manufacturing of some products. One stainless steel product that had to be slowed we made for a local company and that product ended up on United States Navy submarines. I personally know people who worked (past tense) in aluminum mills and they watched as the plants slowed down to a crawl. People got laid off and retired early as Canada took over most of the market for some aluminums.

Then there is Mexico. That nation has been undermining USA assembly plants of all kinds for well over twenty years. Where do you think a huge portion of assembled consumer goods are coming from, including PC computers? Yup, it’s Mexico and usually just across the USA/Mexico border. These are not the only countries that have been unfair with all this “free trade” bull shit.

Just in our small town manufacturing facility, the consequence of losing just one of our very long term very large manufacturing and assembly jobs to China was that we lost more than half of our manufacturing staff and one-and- a-half administrative positions. A couple of years later, we lost another small manufacturing and assembly job to China and that lost job cost us a few more full-time manufacturing positions. One of these jobs was a really high volume product: we made nearly thirty million pieces per year and the parts were manufactured and packaged in our plant, delivered locally, shipped all over the USA and sold off the shelf at just about anywhere office supplies were sold. The other job was short run labor intensive job developed by someone in the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department. It kept a few full time people employed. In total, we lost around 65% of our full time positions and one and a half administrative positions. The owner and I took substantial pay cuts for over a year to help keep the company afloat and keep the rest of the full time manufacturing staff employed even if they just swept the floors and cleaned the machines for forty hours a week. Eventually we got some more manufacturing jobs but nowhere near what we had before China undercut everyone. That’s just one small company, in a small mid-western town. Tthere are thousands of similar and larger (some much larger) companies out there that are struggling to survive.

Some years ago when things were pretty bad for the company I worked at, the owner openly discussed taking a couple of our own products and getting some quotes from China, I told him if he did anything of the sort I would walk out the door in a heartbeat and take 100% of the knowledge hats I wore with me, which could have been a very serious problem for the company. The topic was never raised again.

A few years ago, a couple of the employees bought the company after the owner died. I decided to retire on January 1, 2024 and only go in for a couple of hours a month for very technical things that no one there can do and where the work can’t be effectively contracted out at this point in time. I’m friendly with the new owners after working with both of them for over twenty years; I’d like to see them and the company succeed as they reprioritize and streamline some of the manufacturing. When I retired, it gave the owners the ability to invest more of their earned dollars back in the company instead of paying me my salary; I was ready and prepared to retire anyway.

No one in the USA government has done a damn thing for many years to help the manufacturing industry in the US. The government sat on its collective hands preaching their “free trade” bull shit and ramming it down everyone’s throat while our middle class in the USA was being undermined by both friend and foe. In my opinion, “free trade” is an utterly delusional concept much like the socialistic styled utopia delusion; as always, Kumbaya is a figment of the imagination. Companies in the USA were expected to compete directly with companies in countries that only needed to pay their employees pennies on the dollar compared to the USA in many cases.

In short: Free trade, HOGWASH!

Manufacturing is one of the core industries that directly supports the middle class. It always has and likely always will. Tariffs WILL help manufacturing in the USA and that will help the economy in the long run because employment in the private sector will increase for both labor & administrative positions. This, in turn, will cause the supporting industries like retail sales and service to increase their output. Everyone will be spending more money because they will be earning more money, more taxes will be collected across the board, more people will have dollars to save for larger purchases like homes, and the country as a whole will be more prosperous. If by chance the government can significantly reduce their overall debt and annual spending so we can help reduce the overall annual tax burden on consumers, that would be another big benefit.

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again, whenever you possibly can, support your neighbors and buy…

Made In America!

[Rick James]

Steve Witherspoon writes about the need for tariffs.

What does Reese Witherspoon say?

[Dillinger]

too many jokes here.

[SRG2]

Trump's tariffs were not reciprocal, and were set using a really stupid approach. And IDGAF what an engineer who evidently knows little to nothing about macroeconomics and global trade has to say.

[Dillinger]

ya I can see Reese saying this.

[Quicktown Brix]

Nicely played

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Trump's tariffs were not reciprocal

If you're going to force them to remove theirs, that's kind of the point.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Posted this yesterday.

https://news.sky.com/story/last-uk-blast-furnaces-days-from-closure-as-chinese-owners-cut-off-crucial-supplies-13341457?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

This is literally what China is doing. They're admitted to this publicly. Cripple industry in the west, breed dependence, then profit and use for political power.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Did Steve ever see anything that USA government did regarding environmental, energy, or labor regulations that drove up his companies costs, making them less competitive?

[mad.casual]

In my opinion, “free trade” is an utterly delusional concept much like the socialistic styled utopia delusion; as always, Kumbaya is a figment of the imagination. Companies in the USA were expected to compete directly with companies in countries that only needed to pay their employees pennies on the dollar compared to the USA in many cases.

Paid pennies on the dollar, assuaged with ministrations of "information economy", taxed and student loan restructured at the blue-collar level to the redistribution of that information/intellectual capital even if only to undermine culture locally and undermine foreign economies, and told borders were a figment of their imaginations and some mostly peaceful protests were more free speech than others...

The commissioner of the league is crooked. The governing body is all elite ideologues with overlapping political agendas. All the games are fixed. All the players are owned by corporate brands and occasionally get money off the books to flop. Even who gets attention for kneeling on the sidelines and which King of which sport gets to declare "Now is not the time to protest." is all according to predictable scripts... but Trump instituting a 10% non-reciprocating trading fee on his team's players is what's really going to ruin the game.

[Dillinger]

>>The carnage in financial markets worsened on Monday

lol carnage. you ever have one of those water-filled games where you pushed the button to create pressure & made like a basketball go in the hoop or some rings land on a crab's claws? it was easy to cheat by tilting the game so the ball would fall in the hoop.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

People in my little blue college town, who indulged in a totally spontaneous Resist! protest last week, have long been loud champions of "buy local" and will eagerly confront people who shop at Walmart or Amazon.

Of course, they despise Trump, especially since he imposed the same ethic on the national/international scale.

Go figure.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

They love the virtue signaling of saying “buy local”, but when someone tries to do this in reality, they balk. It’s always easier and cheaper to virtue signal than actually walk the walk.

[VinniUSMC]

"Buy local, but not that local"

[mad.casual]

Right. EVs and Teslas specifically were just really popular and the singular technology without which all of humanity would collapse into a Venusian runaway greenhouse effect within 50 yrs., until Elon supported Trump and then every last Tesla had to be blown up or set on fire. Humanity be damned.

They don't want to save humanity any more than they want to prevent someone from dying of gun violence. They just want to control people.

[Dillinger]

>>Is it possible that…New York is uniquely bad

you're finally at least typing the suggestion out loud so +1

[Dillinger]

>>It costs $93,064 to attend Brown University

likely not the actual attendees.

[Dillinger]

>>Sen. Grassley and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D–Wash.) introduced a bill Thursday to sharply curtail the executive's power to impose tariffs

did he ... forget whose autograph is required?

[VinniUSMC]

Trump would be well-served to vocally make a stink about it, and then sign it with a big smile and a hearty "ok fuckers, now do your damn jobs". Then, Congress can vote openly and we will have yet another opportunity for them to show their true colors. Will they step up and take their powers back, remove tariffs, deregulate, cut spending? We've made a big spectacle lately of all the ways in which government doesn't work, mostly because Congress thinks their job is to get rich, fuck everyone else over, and shirk their actual responsibilities.

[Dillinger]

I like your plan and also it's terrifying because those psychopaths would never do the right thing

[Dillinger]

>> smartly counters Nate Silver

no, dude.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Sarcasia’s disloyal opposition)]

Nate Silver is never smart.

[Dillinger]

I'm not certain whether "never going to eff you" applies in reverse-gender crushes like this

[mad.casual]

I think the appropriate inversion is "He's never going to respect you or consider you his intellectual peer no matter how much you suck his dick."

[Dillinger]

lol probably. Nate Silver not considering you his intellectual peer? the horrors!

[I, Woodchipper]

I'm against the tariffs but I still prefer them to the communism, price controls, CBDCs, crypto bans, and IRS expansion that Kamala was offering.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarcasian Meanister of Foreign Affairs)]

Great moments in Chemjeffery #1,549:

A Charlotte NC man claiming to be protesting President Trump in favor of veterans and social security...

...later admitted he was a USAID worker living in Vienna Austria who was told to come back home after USAID was shut down

You cannot make this up!!!

[Dillinger]

long live Jay North.

[mad.casual]

One discovery: The school has roughly one administrator for every two undergraduates.

Notable Brown Alumn:
Janet Yellen
Emma Watson
Bobby Jindal
Victoria Nuland

Better/Worse for the balance of liberty and free trade in the modern era:
Eliminating tariffs but keeping Brown University or Eliminating Brown University but keeping tariffs?

Seems like eliminating Brown and forcing Nuland to fuck around and find out somewhere else pretty directly redefines the trajectory of the war in Ukraine.

But, of course, saving money on Brown Administrators so that Victoria Nuland doesn't get the chance to steer Ukraine towards conflict isn't covered in freshmen-level economics courses so, obviously, we should continue to have 2 admins for every student at Brown (and other Ivies, and all the Universities striving to emulate them, and all the diverse students they're educating...) because there's no loss of any comparative advantage!