Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Robert Roaldi]

There, fixed it for you. 

A particularly egregious and repulsive example of deflection and distraction is the "right" 's use of the trans moral panic. The number of trans people rounds to zero. This is an issue that to first approximation matters to NO ONE. It greatly affects the lives of the individuals directly involved of course, but I see that as a matter between them, their loved ones, maybe the medical establishment, but no one else. And certainly NOT anybody in government. So here we have “small government” conservatives insinuating themselves in truly private matters that affect almost nobody. But it’s highly charged and emotional so it’s used as a tool. If it screws over the lives of a few people, well, they don’t represent enough votes to matter.

I guess individual liberty is important, until it's not.

[Rob C]

Yes, sex should be left out of politics and the legal remit, just as long as no children are affected. Adults, in my opinion, should be left to do, sexually, as they please with one another, in private and as long as all involved parties agree.

[Rob C]

A question: is all political comment limited to this thread, or do the LuLa rules perhaps imply it can be placed in the Coffee Corner? As this particular thread is almost exclusively American politics, it seems a bit confusing. Don't other nations deserve their separate spaces too?

Anyway, assuming the Spanish can chime in:

[Rob C]

For the Brits:

Another success story for British exporters; just what they were praying for: fewer outlets! Yeah, right.

The notice reads "For sale" and also "For rent".

Isn't the iPhone handy? ;-)

[degrub]

Sadly, all to common in Spain now.

[Robert Roaldi]

A question: is all political comment limited to this thread, or do the LuLa rules perhaps imply it can be placed in the Coffee Corner? As this particular thread is almost exclusively American politics, it seems a bit confusing. Don't other nations deserve their separate spaces too?

Anyway, assuming the Spanish can chime in:

I don't know what the official rule is. But if you're sick and tired of reading about the US political shit show, here's something that might even be worse https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/philippines-vice-president-threats-1.7391857.

[Jeremy Roussak]

A question: is all political comment limited to this thread, or do the LuLa rules perhaps imply it can be placed in the Coffee Corner? As this particular thread is almost exclusively American politics, it seems a bit confusing. Don't other nations deserve their separate spaces too?

The answer: yes, all political comment is limited to this thread, Rob, as its name implies. See here and here.

Jeremy

[digitaldog]

The answer: yes, all political comment is limited to this thread, Rob, as its name implies. See here and here.

Jeremy

Something odd. I wonder if others are seeing this: The only email notification I get from this thread is when Jeremy posts. I got the above but never others. By design or a bug?

[Frans Waterlander]

Something odd. I wonder if others are seeing this: The only email notification I get from this thread is when Jeremy posts. I got the above but never others. By design or a bug?

Oh, come on! You don't get notified when I post? Very, very disappointing.

[Rob C]

The answer: yes, all political comment is limited to this thread, Rob, as its name implies. See here and here.

Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy - shall try to behave accordingly!

Rob

[digitaldog]

Oh, come on! You don't get notified when I post? Very, very disappointing.

"I'm the one guy who says don't force the stupid people to be quiet. I want to know who the morons are". -Mark Cuban

[Jeremy Roussak]

Something odd. I wonder if others are seeing this: The only email notification I get from this thread is when Jeremy posts. I got the above but never others. By design or a bug?

It's nothing I've set up. Maybe you've unearthed a hidden, previously unknown "notify me only for posts worth reading" filter.

Jeremy

[Robert Roaldi]

It's nothing I've set up. Maybe you've unearthed a hidden, previously unknown "notify me only for posts worth reading" filter.

Jeremy

[Robert Roaldi]

There may be trouble brewing in the Trump guitar world https://consequence.net/2024/11/gibson-trump-guitars-cease-and-desist/.

I wonder how increased import tariffs will affect things.

[Robert Roaldi]

Trump made an announcement about increasing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. Does anyone know what the strategy is behind these new tarrifs? What problems is he attempting to fix?

I read a funny article about a month ago but cannot remember where. The writer had interviewed some Trump supporters about tariffs and revealed that some didn't really understand what tariffs were. Some of the interviewees thought that they were some kind of penalty that the offending nations had to pay. They didn't realize that it was US buyers whose costs would go up. This wasn't entirely surprising to me, economic matters are rarely adequately reported on in any popular media.

[Robert Roaldi]

A friend sent me this clip of an interview with Stephen Miller, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DFvV2e7naw. The guy might have a uniform fetish. 

I think he should send the stormtroopers into that town where foreigners were eating pet dogs. That'd be a good place to start.

I don't mean to make light of crime, I'm only making fun of Miller. The US might have to do some soul-searching about crime. They have LOTS of police, they imprison the most people, many citizens own guns for self-protection, and yet after all that, public statements make it sound like there is still a widespread epidemic of crime in the streets. At the very least this is a weird combination, it doesn't add up.

And not to be outdone, Pierre Polièvre here in Canada (Joe Rogan's new best buddy ?) has been making statements about not being forced to east crickets. We might move in different circles, no one has approached me about eating insects. Not even once. The last time anyone approached me with free food samples was yesterday at the grocery store where they were handing out pieces of private brand sliced roast beef. Which was pretty good.

[degrub]

Chinese companies are relocating a fair amount of finishing production to Mexico to take advantage of NAFTA and avoid punitive tariffs. Don't know about Canada.
Similar to moves that they are making in other countries in SE Asia. Host countries are glad for the extra revenue, but the Chinese companies wall them out as much as possible by importing workers for all but the least skilled jobs.

[Robert Roaldi]

Chinese companies are relocating a fair amount of finishing production to Mexico to take advantage of NAFTA and avoid punitive tariffs. Don't know about Canada.
Similar to moves that they are making in other countries in SE Asia. Host countries are glad for the extra revenue, but the Chinese companies wall them out as much as possible by importing workers for all but the least skilled jobs.

So the tariffs against China are the cause of tariffs against Mexico. Does it apply economy-wide or only against some specific products?  Isn't this the kind of endless nonsense that international trade agreements were supposed to avoid?

I have to take a step back, why is the US imposing tariffs against China in the first place? What industries are they protecting that they didn't need to protect 25 years ago. The US is the world's second largest manufacturer still, although probably not in the same industry sectors as Chinese manufacturers, I don't really know about that. And if China does enjoy supremacy in some manufacturing, isn't that because western governments and corporations offshored so much to China?

I did know about walled-off manufacturing and I have heard that China does something similar in agriculture. Surely the solution to this is for countries to exert territorial integrity. Tariffs seem like a pretty roundabout way to fix that specific issue.

Being bothered by China "invading" other countries' economies is a little two-faced, isn't it, considering who used to do that to developing economies. I guess they learned the lesson.

[digitaldog]

Despite former President Donald Trump’s history as a rich businessman, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria explains how his tariff proposals could damage America’s economy and pose a greater risk to the economy than Democrat’s “anti-business” proposals.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KQe5jb5_6Ik

[degrub]

So the tariffs against China are the cause of tariffs against Mexico. Does it apply economy-wide or only against some specific products?  Isn't this the kind of endless nonsense that international trade agreements were supposed to avoid?

I have to take a step back, why is the US imposing tariffs against China in the first place? What industries are they protecting that they didn't need to protect 25 years ago. The US is the world's second largest manufacturer still, although probably not in the same industry sectors as Chinese manufacturers, I don't really know about that. And if China does enjoy supremacy in some manufacturing, isn't that because western governments and corporations offshored so much to China?

I did know about walled-off manufacturing and I have heard that China does something similar in agriculture. Surely the solution to this is for countries to exert territorial integrity. Tariffs seem like a pretty roundabout way to fix that specific issue.

Being bothered by China "invading" other countries' economies is a little two-faced, isn't it, considering who used to do that to developing economies. I guess they learned the lesson.

IP theft is one reason that can be imagined. Anytime we built a new plant or changed a process or  a product that we might want to implement in China, we had to consider what we wanted to give to the party. This was because everything went through government/party controlled "design institutes" for implementation. These details were now available to any Chinese company in PRC that had similar aspirations. The CCP party line is that all citizens and companies work for the benefit of PRC.

Chinese mass tourism is another example.  Countries, like Thailand for example, imagine a large tourism revenue "boom" when they promote and allow the masses in. How it works on the ground is another story. Chinese "front" tourism companies with a nominal Thai "owner",  restaurants (similar setup), hotels and transport (same same) provide all services and material goods to the tourists. Money flows primarily back to the Chinese owners in PRC. Local businesses get very little and cannot compete on price withering the industry and providing little benefit to the country.

Sri Lanka and Cambodia are extreme examples of what can happen to "beneficiary" countries of PRC largess.