2.0: The Blogmocracy

The Kluck Klams – The Ghost of Walt Kelly Speaks

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 84 Comments › )
Filed under Art, Bigotry, Democratic Party, Free Speech, OOT, Open thread, Politics at August 17th, 2017 - 9:01 pm

[This is a repost from December 2014. Seems appropriate given the idiocy flying around the airwaves in recent days. –Bunk X]

“Pogo” was penned by a famous anti-communist conservative cartoonist and his missive was directed at the Southern Democrats who created the KKK and enforced segregation via Jim Crow Laws. Walt Kelly was often censored by the liberal media newspapers for posting strips like these, so he published his uncensored opinions in “The Pogo Poop Book” in 1966.

We need more people like Walt Kelly to fight the latest “Gibber of Goblins,” and these New Goblins don’t wear white hoods either…

NAFTA Renegotiation Starts Today.

by coldwarrior ( 135 Comments › )
Filed under Economy, Open thread at August 16th, 2017 - 4:39 am

More Winning!

Discussions to begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are set to begin Wednesday in Washington, D.C., when the United States, Canada and Mexico will come together to work out new terms for the trilateral trading pact.

Mexican officials have said the plan is to hold seven rounds of talks at three-week intervals, according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump, who has called NAFTA “the worst trade deal” the U.S. has ever approved, is not expected to be included in the initial rounds of talks, as he continues his 17-day working vacation. Trump officially announced his intentions to renegotiate the agreement shortly after his inauguration, part of his campaign promise to put “America First.”…

According to the White House, since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994, the U.S. trade balance with Mexico has shifted from a surplus of $1.3 billion to a $64 billion deficit in 2016.

That deficit is the ‘giant sucking sound’ of American jobs going south. It is not Free Trade if one country grossly undercuts wages, environmental protections, and workplace safety. Adam Smith was talking about trade of British Wool for Portuguese Port wine, not exporting thousands and thousands of jobs to another country to sell back those goods to us. Smith would have never gone for exporting the British Woolen mills to Portugal, ever. NAFTA is not Free Trade nor was it ever meant to be. It was a sellout of America.

Another likely source of dispute is Washington’s desire to eliminate an infrequently used dispute resolution process under which a NAFTA panel can overrule individual countries’ decisions on dumping and unfair subsidies.

Washington views Chapter 19 as unfair, since it can overrule decisions made by US agencies on imports thought to receive unfair subsidies.

But for Canada especially, which has successfully used the process in the longstanding timber dispute with the United States, Chapter 19 is not negotiable.

And Mexico’s Congress passed a resolution last month calling for negotiators to resist any move to eliminate the mechanism.

The question remains whether that becomes a red line for the US side, and would prompt Washington to withdraw from the trade deal that has allowed vast multinational supply chains to form throughout the region

I don’t think Adam Smith would have went for Chapter 19 either. He was a huge fan of British Sovereignty. I’m a huge fan of American Sovereignty.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland suggested on Monday that Canada could walk away from the talks if the United States insisted on scrapping the mechanism to resolve trade disputes between the three NAFTA countries.

You tipped your hand sweetie, you don’t play much poker or negotiate real often do you?

135 Comments »

Trump Invokes Section 301

by coldwarrior ( 115 Comments › )
Filed under China, Donald Trump, Economy, Open thread at August 14th, 2017 - 6:30 pm

Finally, I’ve waited too many years for a President to do this. The free ride for China and the rest is now over. Now starts the investigation and retaliation for dumping billions of dollars goods on our shores, stolen ideas, violated property rights, and outright theft of US technology.

SECTION 301

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides the United States with the authority to enforce trade agreements, resolve trade disputes, and open foreign markets to U.S. goods and services. It is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions on foreign countries that either violate trade agreements or engage in other unfair trade practices. When negotiations to remove the offending trade practice fail, the United States may take action to raise import duties on the foreign country’s products as a means to rebalance lost concessions.

The list of products on which the United States raises import duties is called a “retaliation list.” Products included on a retaliation list are carefully selected to minimize the adverse impact on U.S. consumers, firms, and workers. I&A’s Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis is responsible for developing all retaliation lists implemented by the United States Trade Representative.

Listen to President Trumps comments very carefully:

Watch this video on YouTube.

This received just about ZERO press today. Why is that? Well, we can’t have the American Citizens understanding what just happened to them over the past 30 years. If the press covered it, they would have to state why 301 is being invoked. By stating why, that lets the cat out of the bag for the people who don’t follow this sort of economic action…meaning, most folks. The people would have to be told how they got played like SUKKAZ by the GOPe and the Democrats…and well, we can’t have that sort of info getting out. SO the Press will ignore this.

115 Comments »