I think it was back in the 1700s when it was established that the tall and straight trunk of a Norfolk Island Pine tree was unsuitable for use as a ship mast, in spite of the tree's appearance.
The trunks just broke when used as a mast. Aside from the proven failure as ship masts, and not demanded by any country, the Australian territory Norfolk Island has been slapped with a 29% tariff, quite a bit more than the general 10% tariff for Australia. No one can imagine what the 2,000 people who live on the island can be exporting to the US to have such a penalty imposed.
Not only is #47 incompetent in his role, so it seems is his administration.
Could #47 run for a third term? I understand not by law, but #47 has little respect for the law. Aside from a courage of a few, the Democrats seem fairly silent. This may be a good idea politically, let #47 destroy himself. But you know, I don't even know who the Democrat leader is?
Ok, Hakeem Jeffries. Youngish, not bad looking but I've never heard of him. Is he the person put in place before a proper leader of the Democrats is found?
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It is sad that such a competent person, Kamala Harris, was not elected. Fuckin' rich old white men are such a problem in the world.
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I don't suppose he'd need to run for a third term. He'll just make himself President for life. Who's going to stop him?
ReplyDeleteShame he'll miss out on all that imported penguin guano though.
JayCee, I have an image in my head of penguins throwing their guano at #47.
DeleteAgreed. On all counts. And sadly I fear that JayCee is right.
ReplyDeleteEC, the constitution should prevent that, upheld by the courts, except he has stacked the courts. Our courts aren't perfect but can't be stacked like those of the US.
DeleteYou said it, rich old white men are a big huge problem. Those poor penguins. Do they export cute penquin videos, is that what we import from the penguins that will be taxed? If that's so, I'll pay the tariff tax to see those videos anyway. I swear, our government is hell bent on spreading its insanity, or at least putting it out there for all the world to see. Yes we are nuts, especially those who voted for 47 and his crew.
ReplyDeleteNo idea who leads the democrats. Nobody is my guess. Or they are all off enjoying a long group nap somewhere.
DeleteDaily Strayer, I ask myself how could have folk voted for him. There can be benefits for leaders to stay low and just sit back watch self destruction.
DeleteThe tariff practice is seen crude and sloppy. Unsophisticated
ReplyDeleteRoentare, crude, sloppy and unsophisticated is not a bad description of #47.
DeleteJeffries is a good smart man and has stepped up to fight this regime, but he needs to do more, as do almost all Democrats.,
ReplyDeleteI trust your opinion Bob, but why has no one heard of him?
DeleteThe current theory - which sounds reasonable to me - is the policy detail was done through ChatGPT without the usual final edit.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand, Anon. It was explained well by The Age and SMH.
DeleteOn TV I saw all the penguins gather on the edge of the island, asking who was this arsehole and what had their beloved penguiny parents and grandparents done to the US.
ReplyDeleteThen they discovered the arsehole had punished the wrong island. Ha!
He sure did punish the wrong place Hels, and made a lot more enemies. Don't underestimate the power of penguins.
DeleteFrom what I understand, even fuckin' rich white men in my wrecked country are scratching their heads over Trump's tariffs. The promise of a tax cut is keeping them in line for now.
ReplyDeleteKirk, isn't the tax cut only for rich old white men? It is circular.
Delete#47 may well self-destruct at some point. Didn't see the penguins as haven't read or seen the news for a few days, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteChina has now hit back with 34% tariff on all American goods.
Margaret, wise to not see news, but is everything ok with you?
DeleteYes Andrew, all is ok. We have been out during the day and some evening so therefore not at home. Thank you for asking. 😉
DeleteI dare to say that not all rich old white men are a problem. Probably only the filthy rich, obscenely wealthy, oligarch types. And Trump, who thinks he is rich, but seems to be consistently bankrupt and unable (or unwilling) to pay his bills. Plus he is either mentally unstable or insane depending on which newspaper or website you are currently reading.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem odd for those two islands to have tariffs slapped on them.
River, you would also remember the sexual assaults he was accused of. How can US voters overlooked his bankruptcies, his non payment of bills, let alone his personal behaviour, but that is what the US chose.
DeleteToo many Democrats DIDN'T vote, that's the problem.
DeleteI agree with you, Trump should retire and play golf, for that he is maybe good enough. I think the poor blind Americans will suffer ! Hopefully they will wake up !
ReplyDeleteIngrid, I really hope things will change very soon.
DeleteNothing and no-one seems able to stop the orange one. He ignores what he disagrees with. King of the world.
ReplyDeleteJB, it seems to be that democracy and law of the land is much more fragile than we thought.
DeleteI don't think many yet realise how much impetus this has given the BRICS economies to diverge from their links with the US Dollar and develop a separate financial system. Give it 20 years and US influence will be a shadow of what it now is, and many countries will be looking to China.
ReplyDeleteTasker, you sent me to Google for BRICS. I had no knowledge. Very interesting, indeed. Thanks.
DeleteSorry for the idiot, in my defense I voted against him twice.
ReplyDeleteI know TP. It is horrible for the majority of decent US citizens to suffer this fool, and for their country to be pilloried.
DeleteAmen to that last line. The tariffs make no sense at all. Dave tells me they used AI to come up with the list and percentages -- maybe he was joking but it sounds likely!
ReplyDeleteHe cannot run for a third term. It's against the Constitution, and even Trump professes to respect that. Plus he'll be old enough by then that I suspect he'll just want to go back to Mar-a-Lago. (Assuming it still exists, along with the rest of the country.)
Steve, however it was done, something similar to averaging, it was wrong. He has never struck me as a particularly healthy person. He may not even be here in four years.
Delete🤞🤞🤞🤞
DeleteEverything that Trump has floated as a "joke" he is now trying to implement, and even though a third term is against the Constitution, I don't trust him to respect the law. Already the Department of Justice lawyers who are pushing Trump's views in the courts are doing everything they can to stall and push back against rulings they don't like. So while we hear of judges ruling against Trump's government, those decisions are being appealed and it's only a matter of time before they come before a sympathetic (Republican-stacked) Supreme Court. All of Trump's moves so far are following the Project 2025 playbook, which aims to consolidate power in the executive (president) branch and allow him to rule with the very wealthy at his side. If it's not Trump, it will be some other puppet, or - worse - someone with more brains but the same ideology. It's frightening and depressing and my country is close enough to the U.S. geographically that they can, if their plans come to pass, be even more threatening to our independence and welfare.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny. Your comment was informative. While the whole world is affected, it is so close and on your doorstep. I hope your population votes correctly to keep the menace at bay.
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