happybadger

joined 4 years ago
 

Things aren’t looking too hot for anyone on this planet right now, but stick around as we Talk about Iran and the BRICS summit and floundering US/Israeli policy… There are rays of hope...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 minutes ago

I like it because it's the rarest colour in nature. Out of the hundreds of species of wildflowers here, I'd only consider three of them to be blue. One bird out of dozens is properly blue, two if you count the bluish-grey blue heron. As a pigment it was so rare that Europeans pretty much only used it to paint Mary for centuries. Seeing natural blue is always nice.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 hours ago (8 children)

I cried when I voted for Hillary, and I cried waaayyyyy harder when I voted for Kamala.

Both times they were tears of joy to be voting for such qualified kick ass women, but this time there was definitely a lot of fear too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/democrats/comments/1gephlp/how_many_of_you_are_confident_kamala_will_win/luc7rnc/

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 hours ago

But then they might run ads in Pennsylvania saying she isn't pro-Israel enough.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

Google translates that as "We were sleeping, and we were not sleeping", as well as saying she's Alexandria Occasion Cortel from the Losing Sector.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago

You can't be an ecoterrorist unless you own a ski mask that says ecoterrorist. Otherwise you're just a sparkling environmentalist.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 hours ago

Objectively the moderate wing of fascism.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

Don't blame the Nazis for Hitler. They were voting against Hitler 2.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And Ukrainians will never forgive them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Prestige cartoons are different. I don't need school as long as I can learn things from Rick and Morty.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

But now we get the answer to the question that we used to justify developing nuclear weapons: wouldn't it be bad if Germany had nuclear weapons?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The US sowing a culture of cartoon adults: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

The US reaping a culture of cartoon adults: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)

For almost 35 years, Wyoming entrepreneur Alan Chadwick has run his business importing clothing from China and selling the Western-style gear to stores serving "working cowboys" in the US.

Entrepreneur is when you dropship Chinese goods so that racist hogs can wear a costume and pretend they're the All-American Man.

 

spoilerFor almost 35 years, Wyoming entrepreneur Alan Chadwick has run his business importing clothing from China and selling the Western-style gear to stores serving "working cowboys" in the US.

Now, as former President Donald Trump campaigns on a pledge to hit all goods coming into the country with a 10%-20% tariff, or border tax, which would rise to 60% for goods from China, Chadwick is having to drastically rethink his strategy.

The 66-year-old has been exploring moving manufacturing of his products, like wool shirts with snaps and canvas jackets, to India or Pakistan - or perhaps closing his Wyoming Traders business, which employs 16 people, and retiring altogether.

Chadwick said tariffs were a "tax on the American people" and warned that the expense for a company like his of opening a factory in the US was unrealistic.

But as he prepares to cast his ballot, he expects to swallow his qualms about tariffs in favour of other priorities, such as illegal immigration and opposition to abortion.

"I will vote for Trump even though he's going to hurt our company if he does what he says he's going to do," he said.

Chadwick's readiness to look past Trump's views on tariffs is a sign of the contradictory impulses shaping American politics.

The Republican's platform has shifted America - once a global champion of free trade - towards an embrace of policies that are designed to protect US companies and jobs from foreign competition, despite the potential economic drawbacks.

During his first term, Trump hit thousands of items from China with tariffs - measures that President Joe Biden, despite criticising them before entering the White House, kept in place.

This year, the Republican has put plans for sweeping tariffs at the centre of his presidential campaign, calling such duties "the most beautiful word in the dictionary".

He argues his plans - which analysts say could return the average charge on imports to the highest level in at least 50 years - will spur job creation, reinvigorate US manufacturing, drive up wages and raise billions of dollars from other countries.

"We’re going to be a tariff nation. It’s not going to be a cost to you, it’s going to be a cost to another country," he has said on the trail.

His claims are rejected by most traditional economists, who say the policy would do little to expand employment in the US, while raising costs for everyday Americans and slowing growth around the world.

In the US, the Tax Foundation predicts the tariffs would reduce overall employment by 684,000 and shrink GDP by 0.8% - and that's without taking into account the almost certain retaliation from other countries.

For a typical US household, costs would rise by at least $1,700, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, one of the lower estimates out there.

"It's absurd," economist Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said of Trump's promises. "This is not the panacea that people are hoping for."

Despite the warnings, some surveys indicate that Trump's ideas are resonating: a September poll by Reuters/Ipsos found that 56% of likely voters favoured the Republican's tariff plans.

Kyle Plesa, a 39-year-old Trump voter in Miami, Florida, said he did not think tariffs would have precisely the impact the candidate has promised, but the Republican's focus on the pitfalls of globalisation had touched a nerve.

"People are upset about it and I think Trump is at least addressing it," he said.

"I would probably prefer protecting business and paying a little bit more due to tariffs than I would dealing with the current state of inflation and raising taxes from the left," he added.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has attacked Trump’s tariff expansion plans as a "national sales tax", pledging a more targeted approach.

But Trump has said money brought in from tariffs could allow for big tax cuts - sometimes floating the idea of eliminating income tax altogether.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s decision to maintain Trump's China tariffs – and expand them on items such as electric vehicles - has also allowed the Republican to claim a policy victory.

Biden has also signed off other protectionist policies, such as on historic government spending to boost manufacturing in sectors such as semiconductors and green energy.

He and Harris, like Trump, have opposed the takeover of US Steel by a Japanese company on national security grounds, raising chills in the business world about foreign investment.

Michael Froman, who served as the US trade representative under former President Barack Obama, said Washington's turn to tools like tariffs and restrictions on foreign investment was "probably here to stay".

"There certainly is less enthusiasm around pursuing what we might call an affirmative trade agenda in terms of liberalisation, openness, reduction of barriers," he said. "We just have to recognise that none of these policies are actually free. They all impose some kind of trade-off."

'Tariffs have not helped bring back jobs'

Jason Trice, the co-chief executive of Jasco, an Oklahoma-based lighting and electronics company that sells to major retailers such as Walmart, said the experience of his firm shows the damage tariffs can do.

Since 2019, it has paid hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tariffs while transforming its supply chain, moving the bulk of its manufacturing from China to places such as Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

He said the changes have made his firm less efficient and raised costs by about 10%-15%, which he has passed on to retailers, ultimately raising prices and contributing to inflation.

It has all taken a toll on his business, which has seen revenue fall 25% since 2020 and its staff numbers drop, via attrition, from 500 to 350.

“In 50 years in business, the Chinese government has… never done anything nearly as damaging to our business as what the Trump administration has done," Trice said. “Tariffs have not helped bring jobs back to America. Tariffs have hurt American businesses and reduced employment opportunities."

Lucerne International, a car parts supplier based in Michigan that has manufactured in China for decades, has also spent the last few years adjusting to the new climate.

With help from government incentives, the company is now working to open its first factory in its home state in 2026, plans expected to create more than 300 jobs over four years.

But though the project might sound like the kind of successful “reshoring” politicians in both parties want to see, chief executive Mary Buchzeiger, a long-time Republican, said it was a mistake for the US to try to "build walls" against its rivals.

“I don’t think tariffs are a long-term solution,” she said.

“All we’re going to do is continue to make ourselves uncompetitive on a global scale.”

 

spoilerThe Sherwood Police Department in Sherwood, Ore., surprised some members of the community last week when they announced Hide and Seek With a Cop, a modified game of tag billed as an “interactive” community event in which children 12 and up, as well as adults, do their best to outrun armed police officers.

Public information officer Paul Mattson III defended the event when Oregon Live asked about the backlash the department has received.

“There are always going to be people that have something negative to say,” Mattson told the outlet on Tuesday, Oct. 22. “It’s genuinely just us trying to create a fun, interactive event for our community and for people outside of our community to come join us and spend some time with us.”

The event, which was first advertised on the Sherwood Police Department’s Facebook account on Oct. 15, is "basically your only chance to run from the cops without consequences," the department's announcement read.

According to Mattson, the department is known for putting a spin on community gatherings — such as a Star Wars-themed “Coffee with The Force,” which encourages residents to dress up as Stormtroopers and Mandalorians to meet with officers for a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop.

However, commenters on the Sherwood Police Department’s Facebook post didn’t seem to think that running from armed officers after dark at 7 p.m. start time had the same ring to it.

“So you didn't think about how traumatizing interactions with cops with guns have been? You set this up as a game? Have you actually tried community outreach and sensitivity training?” one user wrote.

Another person added, “Intriguing idea, but I don’t think that citizens being more afraid of being killed by cops than by zombies or serial killers is the flex you think it is.”

One user said they were “torn” over the idea because “my nephew was gunned down by police during a mental health check and it’s hard not to be afraid of a uniform anymore.”

Still, Mattson tells Oregon Live that if the Sherwood Police Department didn’t wear their guns, it would defeat the goal of helping community members overcome the fear of interacting with officers as they are.

In a statement to KOIN, Mattson said, “Sometimes being in a uniform, it can scare people or make people feel uncomfortable. And so when they see us, you know, in community events or on social media, it really humanizes us, and it creates that community engagement.”

Hide and Seek With a Cop is scheduled for Oct. 30, the day before Halloween, in Stella Olsen Memorial Park.

 

"buy poor kid for food video idea copyright happybadger 2024" < text him that if you know his number.

 

Along with Reggie Watts who I missed and Flying Lotus. He's so good live. Some couple had a "just married" sign and he brought them on stage along with the only person in the audience who knew the wedding song, making a whole 10 minute song out of her singing the first verse.

He also paused to announce that every concert at Red Rocks Amplitheatre is now $6 and never clarified it was a joke. His, the cheapest I've seen hosted there, was $45.

 

Donald Trump is literally a fascist and this is what they're mad about.

 

DEFEDERATE NOW.

 

Today we are focusing on Lebanon with a more military oriented episode wherein we will discuss leaked US intelligence documents, Israel’s targeting of banks in Lebanon, their preparations to start bombing hospitals, sectarian tensions rising in Beirut, and morale problems in the IDF as they ruminate on their crimes.

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