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The Chinese have just whacked another 50% tariff on the US, matching Trump’s escalation. Given that Trump is already at 104% which is probably enough to effectively stop imports from China it will be interesting to see what Trump does next.

That should probably be in the `Celebrating Positives' thread.

Reminds me of the `Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow' story, except that this looks more like the `Headless Horse of Sleepy Hollow'.

I’ve always wondered what your shed looks like.

That uninhabited island explanation is rubbish. They are saying the islands are countries which they’re not and even if they were, they are uninhabited so how do you tranship goods. They are just trying to spin an embarrassing blunder.

Putin is giving Trump the run around on a ceasefire deal, has pushed Ukraine out of the Kursk area and continued indiscriminate rocket and drone attacks. Business as usual. He’s got Trump on his side and in his pocket.

Musk’s days are numbered now given his disloyal comments about Trump’s tariffs.

Drop a towel in the bottom of the bath and stand on that.

I once read that most shark attacks occur in waist deep water, because that's where most of the people are.

I don’t think Vance would be able to win an election after four years of Trump. MAGA only has one leader. If something happened to Trump then Vance would get the top job but he doesn’t have Trump’s hold over the GOP and MAGA so he probably wouldn’t be very effective. It wouldn’t matter much anyway because Trump has already set the US on path to self destruction with the rest of the world forging new alliances for better or for worse. The Democrats may get the Senate or House back at the midterms but they won’t be able to do much before the next election and nobody knows what the results of that might be.

When things really go pear shaped Trump will always try to blame others but apart from the ignorant diehards left in his MAGA cohort the rest of America will blame him. Of course, it will be too late and the damage will have been done.

Some interesting observations on Trump's tariffs and the future of America by Professor Richard Wolff:

Good old Bernie Sanders telling it how is is with a glimmer of optimism for the mid-terms: Bernie for President! At least he's a decent person, unlike the destructive clown in the White House.

I saw a few prawn ponds in China that didn't give me a lot of confidence in the product.

My wife was cremated and that's my choice too. The thought of being buried gives me claustrophobia but as you say, it's a personal choice.

No. They have just been a victim of their own success at shipping lots of stuff to the US and not buying much in return. Check out Trump’s nonsensical tariff calculations which have nothing to do with reciprocal tariffs as he claims.

I'm just off to Bunnings now for some cheap timber.

I think the main concerns most people have about globalisation is the quality of the imported goods and the potential exploitation of the people making them. There are plenty of reports on programs like 4 Corners about how workers in many developing countries are used almost as slave labour, working very long hours for pittance wages and often for big Western corporations either directly or through local companies. But it's a two-edged sword, because if it wasn't for the work the country would not be able to develop, however exploitative and corrupt its progress might be. Japan and South Korea have been very successful over time. Other places like Vietnam probably have a long way to go, but have benefitted significantly from Trumps first round of tariffs on China, when factories moved there to dodge the tariffs.

I looked it up. The main reason is that globalization exacerbates income inequality, both within and between countries, as wealth tends to concentrate in the hands of a few. Industries and jobs move to countries with lower labour costs leading to job losses and economic hardship in more developed countries, and potential exploitation of workers and resources in developing countries by multinational corporations. In other words, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. America is a pretty good example of income disparity in a wealthy country and loss of manufacturing jobs. However, their export of services exceeds the value of the disparity in goods that Trump is solely focused on with his tariffs. He's only looking at the numbers that suit his narrative of the US as an exploited and failed nation.

Even if we continue to sell directly to the US, sales are assured because our lean beef is almost all used for hamburgers. There's no way the population over there will give up their Big Macs, including Trump.

I don't see how not voting is much of a protest because it has no effect on anything, apart from you having to pay a fine to the government for the privilege. If you don't like the major parties or the system, then voting for an independent would be more effective and would avoid the fine. At least your protest against the major parties would be recorded. Your call, of course.

... and Norfolk Island, but he forgot about Tasmania.

Too costly, too unwieldy and too utopian to work, GON.

We got that thunderstorm too and it was quite impressive. Another one that came through about 3-4 weeks ago knocked over two 30m gum trees on the verge that hit the house, ripped off 30m of barge, guttering and eaves lining, demolished several battens and a few rafters plus at least a dozen roof sheets, punched a hole in the roof and ceiling in one room and knocked 40m of fence down. The roofers will be here most of the week. We had 20mm of rain in 10 minutes. The storm passed in about 25 mins but we were without power for three days and the NBN was only reconnected a week ago. The Bureau said it was a microburst. It sure caused a lot of damage in our area.

Here's a partial list of Trump's achievements so far (apart from tariffs, getting rid of USAID and going after law firms he doesn't like): — Gutting the IRS so badly that the country will lose an estimated $500 billion to morbidly rich tax cheats — Killing off the EPA so polluters can run free and profit from giving us cancer — Disbanded the Public Integrity Section that once prosecuted corrupt politicians — Shut down the DOJ unit that was prosecuting violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — Moved the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) under Kash Patel’s overview with the goal of neutering it — Crippling the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) that stops big banks and insurance companies from ripping off average people — Taking a hatchet to NASA presumably to hand more power and money to SpaceX — Dismantling the Department of Education to create more demand for private for-profit schools — Paralysing the Department of Health and Human Services that protects us from disease and pandemics — Mutilating the National Labor Relations Board that protects workers’ rights — Proclaiming their intention to end FEMA, so Americans are on their own when climate-change-driven disasters strike — Tearing apart the Social Security Administration so seniors will have to rely on big banks for retirement options — Demolishing the National Institutes of Health that develops new drugs and cures for disease — Seizing control of the FCC so they can end net neutrality and dictate content of radio and TV programming — Stripping NOAA of its workers so we’ll have to rely on for-profit companies for our weather reports and storm warnings — Kneecapping the Department of Transportation to block new public transportation projects and deregulate big trucking companies and self-driving cars — Ripping up the Department of Energy so it can’t fund any more “green” energy projects — Wiping out the Department of Housing and Urban Development to prevent any new low-income housing projects — Attacking the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to leave Americans defenceless — Largely ending the ability of the Office of Civil Rights within the DOE to enforce anti-discrimination laws in education — Defunded the National Institute of Justice that works against terrorism and far-right extremism — Eviscerating the Department of Veterans Affairs and other programs that help our veterans (including shutting down the suicide prevention hotlines) — Defunding the Department of Agriculture to gut food stamps/SNAP, school lunch programs, and supports for small family farms — Paralysing the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) that oversees the executive branch to make sure anti-terrorism efforts don’t violate civil rights — Weakening the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) so it can’t do its job of protecting minority or disabled workers and job applicants — Firing scientists at the FDA, gutting oversight of drug manufacturers. — Snatching students off the streets and transporting them to a private for-profit prison in Louisiana with no due process and in clear defiance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights — Proposing changes to voting laws that will prevent tens of millions of married women from casting a ballot — Threatening to seize foreign, sovereign lands by force.