BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG
We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
Hi, it’s Josh Sanburn, producer with More To The Story.
Growing up in southern Indiana, I was surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans. As a kid, I never knew where it all ended up. My small-town grocery store? Feed for the cows? But back in the ’90s and early 2000s, many of those crops were increasingly going from Midwestern farms to Chinese dinner tables. Markets were globalizing. Countries were intertwining. And US agriculture exports were growing.
Over the last few months, President Donald Trump has tried to reverse many of the long-term economic forces that have sent farm goods overseas and closed factory doors in the US. He’s imposed a series of sky-high tariff rates on Chinese goods that have led China to impose its own set of tariffs on US exports. Sometimes, Trump describes the moves as a negotiating tactic. Other times, he says it’s a way to bring back American manufacturing. But whatever the slippery rationale, it’s particularly affecting farmers.
Planning is essential for farmers, whether it’s trying to predict a wet or dry summer (Farmers’ Almanac, anyone?) or what the market will be like for wheat in October. The tariff upheaval from the Trump administration has injected a dose of uncertainty for farms that have already planted their crops, with little idea what markets will look like come harvest time.
One of those farmers caught in limbo is Bryant Kagay in the northwest corner of Missouri, a red state that voted overwhelmingly for Trump—as did Kagay, even though he knew this tariff upheaval might be coming and potentially threaten his business. On this week’s More To The Story, Kagay talks with host Al Letson about why he still voted for Trump and how he’s managing the farm while keeping an eye on Washington and Beijing. I hope you listen.
On this week’s “More To The Story,” a Missouri corn and soybean farmer fears tariffs could threaten his business.
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Trump and the Silicon Valley right realized they both had a common adversary: democracy.
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SHE is such an ignorant Schlampe, such an ignorant Hündin, I am sure she, like Fotze (NOT MY) vice pres pence, really was surprised that the democratic world really does despise the fascist drumpf / trump-pence administration and their fascist republican allies in congress. Ivanka Sits In Stunned Silence As Angela Merkel Shreds Daddy's Trade War With Europe
Ivanka went prepared for a photo op and then it went south. (Photo attribution Reuters.)
The Munich Security Conference was not kind to Mike Pence, who was given the silent treatment when he brought “greetings from Donald Trump” over the weekend and not one person clapped — not even a “polite golf clap” as reporter Johnathan Allen put it. If you missed that embarrassment, here’s the clip.
Speaking to a security conference in Munich, Pence tells his audience he brings greetings from President Trump... and not a single person claps. #awkward
Ivanka Trump is the only person in audience who doesn’t applaud after Angela Merkel points out the absurdity of Trump claiming German cars are a national security threat
Then, conversely, Angela Merkel took both Trump and his trade representative to task for the idiotic trade war Trump unnecessarily created, and the room exploded in applause. [bottom clip]
“Apparently, the American secretary of trade says German cars are a threat to America’s national security. We’re proud of our automotive industry, and, I think we can be, we’re proud of our cars. They are built in the United States of America. South Carolina is one of the largest, it’s actually the largest BMW plant. Not in Bavaria. South Carolina is supplying China.”
“So when these cars that, because they’re built in South Carolina, are not becoming less threatening, rather than the ones that are built in Bavaria, are supposed to be a threat to the national security of America, it’s a bit of a shock to us.”
The rest of the room broke into thunderous applause at Merkel’s words, with the one notable exception being First Daughter Ivanka Trump, who copied Mike Pence’s deer-in-the-headlights frozen face of a few days earlier perfectly, and sat motionless.
Merkel is spot on about the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It is the largest BMW plant in the world and creates 10,000 jobs for American workers. For all of Trump’s blathering about the need to impose tariffs on German cars, this BMW plant built 237,000 cars for an export value of $8.76Bil in 2017, down from $9.53Bil in 2016.
But then Trump doesn’t understand tariffs anymore than he understands NATO and our European allies have had quite enough of this nonsense, if the Munich conference is any indication.
The only wall Trump is building is an edifice of avarice and stupidity, between us and the rest of the world. The Munich conference contributed a couple of good sized bricks.
Ivanka Trump is the only person in audience who doesn’t applaud after Angela Merkel points out the absurdity of Trump claiming German cars are a national security threat