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Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been running a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour since February criticising both the Republican Administration and the Democrats response. They're getting larger crowds as the tour progresses with 36k in LA yesterday (Saturday)
https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-crowd-size-biggest-ever-los-angeles-rally-aoc-2059072
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:44 am
BoardinBob and MoreCashThanDash reacted
Harris got massive crowds , meanwhile the republican are busy rigging the system (you only have to look at the gender breakdown of their support to see why)
its hard to he optimistic about America
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:00 am
The British government uses that name change thing for pension claim suppression. Madame Edukator has never changed her name on her passport so has had no trouble with identification on gov.uk. However her colleague who has her married name on her passport has had to do everything by paper forms as the system won't match her passport to her records before marriage. The first paper application was rejected on a technicality which she only fought because she knew Madame who has an identical career history had successfully made an application. Still on going after over a year of effort though a phone operator recently acknowleged the rejection was unjustified.
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:13 am
The British government uses that name change thing for pension claim suppression
Easy to ascribe to malice what is actually just incompetence. More likely the computer said "No" and there aren't enough properly trained and empowered staff to deal with the fall out from the rejections.
Posted : 13/04/2025 12:07 pm
felltop reacted
its hard to he optimistic about America
I understand the handmaids are starting a revolution.
Posted : 13/04/2025 12:13 pm
kelvin reacted
More likely the computer said "No" and there aren't enough properly trained and empowered staff to deal with the fall out from the rejections.
No, a human said "no" to a paper application when a computer would have said "yes", you're missing the point that only married women who use their married name have to make a paper application. Males or women with their maiden names can use the on-line system and there is no chance of human error leading to a rejection. So it's exactly the same problem that Trump has just created. Discrimination against women who use their married name due to increased administrative barriers.
Posted : 13/04/2025 12:39 pm
More likely the computer said "No" and there aren't enough properly trained and empowered staff to deal with the fall out from the rejections.
No, a human said "no" to a paper application when a computer would have said "yes", you're missing the point that only married women who use their married name have to make a paper application. Males or women with their maiden names can use the on-line system and there is no chance of human error leading to a rejection. So it's exactly the same problem that Trump has just created. Discrimination against women who use their married name due to increased administrative barriers.
They'll be giving husbands 2 votes and the wife none, next, woudn't supprise me.
Posted : 13/04/2025 1:04 pm
Ed, you’re right about UK system. But it’s not a problem for voting. Interesting that in France your maiden name carries through on all official documents for life, to avoid this confusion. Anyway… not the same as the USA where the change proposed makes it harder for millions of women to vote. And just women. If it’s a “mistake” it’s one born of sexism.
Posted : 13/04/2025 1:53 pm
so trumps iPhone exemption were just temporary
https://www.ft.com/content/9038804f-cf69-4193-9332-8b5ea1f9af4b
there will be a new set of tariffs on n semiconductor containing items (also pharmaceuticals) coming in s month or so....
so companies will rush to stockpile goods now, and then when he doesn't bring it in theyll be left with oiads to f stick, its possible hes just trying to insulate consumers from inflation in the short term, but it wont work as itll all add costs and means more chaos for businesses.
China could be the thing that unsure trump because they are not blinking
Posted : 13/04/2025 7:33 pm
AIUI Voter id will be required when voting in person, which must take the form of either a birth certificate or passport. The birth certificate must match your current name which is problematic for married women, and naturally the passport is not widely adopted by the poor. Passports cost $165, and require a birth certificate to support the application. Many cannot put their hands on their birth certificates.
It's blatant Voter suppression, but you know, flood the zone with shit, and all that. It's not really big news. 🙄
Also, the biggest holder of US issued bonds? China. And I did enjoy their statement when they raised their tarrifs to match the US imposed ones. 🤣
Posted : 13/04/2025 7:54 pm
MoreCashThanDash reacted
It's not just China though, Europe is quietly working on appropriate measures but will wait until things settle down before acting. No point in escalating now with a war going on, patience.
There was a report on China tat being diverted to Europe on French news tonight. That's more of a problem for Europe than tarifs on exports to the US. 22% of parcels in the French postal system are from Temu and another Chinese seller.
The main source of hope is the impact of a second Trump presidency on American's themselves. I spent an hour or so in the company of an American family recently. They occupied the other three seats around a table on Eurostar. Feeding off the T-shirts they were wearing I asked where they skied, having compared notes on our favourite X-C ski resorts and the impact of global warming they moved on to Trump. Only personal pain will convince enough MAGAs to turn against Trump and that will take time. I compared with Brexit, an act of self harm born of lies, prejudice and ignorance. They were not optimistic and like some of the remainers on here are considering jumping ship and emigrating, the limiting factor being their lack of language skills and kids in school. Lies, prejudice and ignorance versus education and honesty. Now what are Faridge and Reform scoring in the polls? Or the RN or the AfD... . There but for a few votes go we.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde2z6jpzp8o
Quite remarkable......
In the context of the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just days ago announcing that part of the point of escalating tariffs on China was to bring back iPhone production to the US, this was a stunning about-turn.
And so much for the "special relationship" and the rewards of Sir Keir Starmer's sycophantic groveling....
Meanwhile an ally such as the UK, which according to US figures has a $12bn deficit - i.e. the US sells more to the UK than the other way round, has a 25% tariff on cars, its biggest goods exports, with number two, medicines, in line for similar charges.
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:05 pm
It's not just China though, Europe is quietly working on appropriate measures but will wait until things settle down before acting. No point in escalating now with a war going on, patience.
Benevolnet, manevolent, or simpy the ramblings of a misguided old man on a power trip...
...the entire world is now quietly re-wiring supply chains due to the instability in the USA... this is really really bad, mostly for USA citizens but this volitility will hurt everyone to some extent.
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:13 pm
Annual health check for the orange baboon today
The president weighs 224lb (101kg) and stands 6ft 2.5in tall, according to the records from Dr Barbabella.
101kg? Are we seriously meant to believe that? He's at least 115kg
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:17 pm
reeksy reacted
uk mostly exports luxury cars to the US so the impact on the average consumer there will be less noticeable, but i really cant see how the American healthcare system will manage 25% on medicines
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:25 pm
Annual health check for the orange baboon today
The president weighs 224lb (101kg) and stands 6ft 2.5in tall, according to the records from Dr Barbabella.
101kg? Are we seriously meant to believe that? He's at least 115kg
You aren't seriously suggesting trumps telling lies are you? 😉
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:31 pm
uk mostly exports luxury cars to the US so the impact on the average consumer there will be less noticeable, but i really cant see how the American healthcare system will manage 25% on medicines
Will hurt our exports though... a 100k 'UK' car will now cost americans 120k, or is it 135k? I can't keep up.. but it will hurt UK car exports, and by extension, hurt UK workers, factories and supply chains.
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:34 pm
A 100,000 car already cost the USA buyer 120,000 due to the 20% luxury tax.
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:41 pm
uk mostly exports luxury cars to the US so the impact on the average consumer there will be less noticeable
Yeah like mattyfez I was thinking more about the effects on UK producers/workers than US consumers.
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:48 pm
a 100k 'UK' car will now cost americans 120k, or is it 135k? I can't keep up.. but it will hurt UK car exports, and by extension, hurt UK workers, factories
the cheap ones start at 250k, a phantom at 450k, you can spend up to 2 million with extras!
whether the super rich will absorb a 25% bump in price, i dunno, rolls Royce shares have taken a kicking but rebounded, thats a lot about their aerospace business tho, rather than cars
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:53 pm
A 100,000 car already cost the USA buyer 120,000 due to the 20% luxury tax.
Are you sure? I think it was scrapped over 20 years ago and it was only 10%
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1041807729976794664
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:53 pm
No idea why the double post, I only hit the button once
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:53 pm
Yeah like mattyfez I was thinking more about the effects on UK producers/workers than US consumers.
my point was that on pharma at least i don't see how that would be sustainable for Trump, like the Chinese electronics i can see him being forced into a u-turn
Posted : 13/04/2025 9:56 pm
and china have stopped exporting rare earth magnets crucial to the defence industry and the manufacturer of EV engines
im guessing the USA have stockpiles but this will be another escalation , and i imagine Tesla might be getting worried
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/business/china-rare-earths-exports.html
just a few days ago this was considered a worrying but unlikely possibility
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:32 pm
Is it being overly optimistic to hope that a few threads might be unravelling? Or fraying at the ends at the very least?
(Probably, yes, but any port in a storm, etc)
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:41 pm
Yeah like mattyfez I was thinking more about the effects on UK producers/workers than US consumers.
my point was that on pharma at least i don't see how that would be sustainable for Trump, like the Chinese electronics i can see him being forced into a u-turn
It's not realisticaly sustainable... back to the UK car export thing... If a '100k UK' car costs US citizens '120k' already due to 'luxury tax', than an additional 10% tariff on top of that (I presume the tax will be stacked) would mean that 100k car now costs, what, 132k for an american citizen to buy it?
I can only dream, but if I was spending that much money on a car, I'd be looking at some Italian exotica, not a Morgan or whatever.
But Trump has slapped even bigger tariffs on the EU, so no more Lambos and Ferarris for the americans... they can choosea Corvette 😆
Although to be fair, the corvette ZR-1 is a tasty looking car
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:42 pm
I guess the question is what sort of stockpiles of neodymium magnets do Tesla have?
will musk have to move all his car manufacturing to China to het round this 😉
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:52 pm
Although to be fair, the corvette ZR-1 is a tasty looking car...
Posted : 13/04/2025 10:53 pm
Yeah like mattyfez I was thinking more about the effects on UK producers/workers than US consumers.
my point was that on pharma at least i don't see how that would be sustainable for Trump, like the Chinese electronics i can see him being forced into a u-turn
Oh yes for sure. The point is that the "special relationship" and Starmer's delusionary belief that he can influence Trump through sycophantic gestures such as offering him an unprecedented second state visit doesn't come into play.
Trump will still slap massive tariffs on top UK exports to the United States, despite a trade deficit in the US's favour, and if he doesn't it will be purely because he has been forced into a U-turn by reality and for no other reason.
Posted : 13/04/2025 11:36 pm
Starmer should cancel the state visit... That would be a an absolute baller move.
Probably not very diplomatic.. But in the face of Trump, what even is diplomacy?
Posted : 14/04/2025 12:04 am
Starmer should not have offered Trump a second state visit, in line with existing protocol, but the invitation cannot be reasonably withdrawn now imo.
Posted : 14/04/2025 12:21 am
Starmer should not have offered Trump a second state visit, in line with existing protocol, but the invitation cannot be reasonably withdrawn now imo.
It doesn't need to be withdrawn, it just needs to be delayed. King's health concerns etc etc...
It's the thing Trump wants most from us. Well, he's learning actions have all sorts of consequences.
Posted : 14/04/2025 7:09 am
Bunnyhop reacted
Interview on CNN with two small business owners who have been left high-and-dry by the tariffs - a load of stock in China that they can't get to the US as they don't have the cash lying around to pay the tariffs.
Posted : 14/04/2025 7:14 am
MoreCashThanDash reacted
I'd love to read the KGB dossier on Trump. He didn't even mention Russia when paying lip service to the strike on Ukraine
Posted : 14/04/2025 7:15 am
MoreCashThanDash reacted
Interview on CNN with two small business owners who have been left high-and-dry by the tariffs - a load of stock in China that they can't get to the US as they don't have the cash lying around to pay the tariffs.
This is really biting those traditionally Republican small businesses.
More worryingly, an arson attack on a Jewish Democrat governor celebrating Passover, and a Nazi obsessed teen wanting to kill the President. There's a lot chaos bubbling below the surface and in the online cesspit. As more people suffer as a result of Trumps policies, extremes will feel more attractive.
BBC News - Man arrested after suspected arson attack at Pennsylvania governor's home
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgp6zeymevo
BBC News - Teen killed parents as part of Trump assassination plot, says FBI
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62g8d47z86o
Posted : 14/04/2025 7:20 am
Starmer should not have offered Trump a second state visit, in line with existing protocol, but the invitation cannot be reasonably withdrawn now imo.
It doesn't need to be withdrawn, it just needs to be delayed. King's health concerns etc etc...
It's the thing Trump wants most from us. Well, he's learning actions have all sorts of consequences.
So is the King not going to carry out his head of state duties for the next four years claiming poor health just to delay a Trump state visit? That's what would be required because otherwise the humiliation of the Trump administration being told that the King is unwell whilst he carries on as normal would be just as bad, if not worse, than withdrawing the invitation.
It is one thing not to offer Trump a second state visit which he would never have expected anyway because it is unprecedented, and publicly humiliating him before the world by either withdrawing the invitation or simply ignoring it.
Starmer's advisors screwed up, they can't backtrack. The best we can hope for is huge anti-Trump demonstrations during his state visit. The government obviously won't like that but it's them that ****ed up.
Posted : 14/04/2025 7:50 am
This is what the US has been working on with Vietnam for a decade
U.S.-Vietnam relations have become increasingly cooperative and comprehensive, evolving into a flourishing partnership that spans political, economic, security, and people-to-people ties. Relations are guided by the 2023 U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), an overarching framework for advancing the bilateral relationship, and built on preceding Joint Statements issued over the previous ten years by the two countries’ leaders
https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-vietnam/
This is what President Trump has achieved in a few weeks
HANOI, April 14 (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping on Monday called for stronger ties with Vietnam on trade and supply chains amid disruptions caused by U.S. tariffs, as he kicked off a three-nation trip to Southeast Asia in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
The visit, planned for weeks, comes as Beijing faces 145% U.S. duties, while Vietnam is negotiating a reduction of threatened U.S. tariffs of 46% that would otherwise apply in July after a global moratorium expires.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-xi-meet-vietnam-leaders-kick-off-southeast-asia-tour-amid-us-tariffs-2025-04-14/
Posted : 14/04/2025 8:03 am
Not to mention this gem
But now that President Donald Trump has rocked relationships with Europe established after World War Two, and turned to energy as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations, businesses are wary that reliance on the United States has become another vulnerability.
Against this backdrop, executives at major EU firms have begun to say what would have been unthinkable a year ago: that importing some Russian gas, including from Russian state giant Gazprom...
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/back-russian-gas-trump-wary-eu-has-energy-security-dilemma-2025-04-14/
Posted : 14/04/2025 8:04 am
It's not realisticaly sustainable... back to the UK car export thing... If a '100k UK' car costs US citizens '120k' already due to 'luxury tax', than an additional 10% tariff on top of that (I presume the tax will be stacked) would mean that 100k car now costs, what, 132k for an american citizen to buy it?
I can only dream, but if I was spending that much money on a car, I'd be looking at some Italian exotica, not a Morgan or whatever.
Trouble is that like most cars now the Italian exotica is way more expensive than you think the Lamborghini suv (yuk) starts from $240k and the nice stuff $280k
100k isn’t wow territory anymore 🙁
Posted : 14/04/2025 8:51 am
I wonder what additional back tracking goes on this week. An awful lot of stuff comes out of China. Went to Portmeirion a couple of weeks ago, saw some mugs on sale - but MrsF checked their on-line store and they were 25% cheaper than in store. For those that don't know Portmeirion sell a range of pottery as well as being famous for 'The Prisoner".
Saved us carrying them round so ordered on line (bonkers really). "Made in China" it says on the bottom !
Posted : 14/04/2025 9:09 am
It is one thing not to offer Trump a second state visit which he would never have expected anyway because it is unprecedented, and publicly humiliating him before the world by either withdrawing the invitation or simply ignoring it.
Given the humiliation he has piled on himself and the damage he's done to international relations, I don't care how he takes it if we delay the visit. What else is he going to do? Have another tariff tantrum? Push us towards other more reliable allies and trading partners?
He's upended the world order and should be firmly in the FAFO stage of the process.
Posted : 14/04/2025 9:51 am
There was an interesting article published a few years ago (can't find the original, but it is currently being re-hashed by a number of publications) about the manufacture of the iPhone, and the time Obama asked Steve Jobs how much it would cost to build the iPhone in the USA. Jobs explained to Obama that it wasn't simply a question of assembly cost. The entire complex integrated manufacturing chain required to build an iPhone (production engineers and project managers, logistics, components suppliers, etc, etc) had moved to China. Jobs nearly pulled the launch with a month to go, after his prototype plastic screened phone was badly scratched by they keys in his pocket. The Apple team immediately flew to China where they were met by a team of engineers who developed a new production ready glass screen solution in a couple of weeks. The Chinese had all the experts, suppliers and infrastructure available to do this at short notice.
Replacing the manufacturing environment required to compete with that is a complex, long term problem that will take years to fix and won't be solved overnight by mad tariffs. US consumers started grumbling about expensive iPhones and Trump has u-turned almost immediately.
Posted : 14/04/2025 9:59 am
So is the King not going to carry out his head of state duties for the next four years claiming poor health just to delay a Trump state visit?
My understanding is Trump doesn’t have an invitation for a state visit, he has an invitation for Tea so that Charles can discuss arrangements for a proposed state visit. I don’t think Charles is immune to saying we would love to have you for a visit assuming of course there is special trading relationship / political stability in Ukraine / we hear nothing more about Greenland / Vance apologises for meddling in UK woman’s rights.
Posted : 14/04/2025 10:32 am
More likely the computer said "No" and there aren't enough properly trained and empowered staff to deal with the fall out from the rejections.
you're missing the point that only married women who use their married name have to make a paper application. Males or women with their maiden names can use the on-line system
whilst many more women will be affected by this - presumably it does affect men who have changed their names (or at least changed their names during their working career?) too? Whilst many more women change their names - there’s a lot of people who’s official “passport name” today does not match their “birth certificate name” and they aren’t all women.
Posted : 14/04/2025 10:36 am
Replacing the manufacturing environment required to compete with that is a complex, long term problem that will take years to fix and won't be solved overnight by mad tariffs. US consumers started grumbling about expensive iPhones and Trump has u-turned almost immediately.
TBF trumps skills weren’t in manufacturing 🙂
Funny enough you also have an issue with staffing these factories, as the experts/engineers with the practical knowledge are in China.
Posted : 14/04/2025 12:53 pm
I don’t think your interpretation of what is permitted is correct. Eg, if Musk posts “no better time to buy Tesla shares
It might break a different law but it wouldnt be insider trading in the US sense. It cant be insider trading if you post it on twitter since then its publicly available (assuming its a large well known company and the official account).
You might be breaking some other laws especially around when reports are published but thats separate from insider trading.
Posted : 14/04/2025 12:58 pm
Funny enough you also have an issue with staffing these factories, as the experts/engineers with the practical knowledge are in China.
Which was something Biden tried to address with the CHIPS act.
Something Trump ermmm wants to get rid off and use the money for paying off pornstars or maybe debt.
Posted : 14/04/2025 1:01 pm
So they're asking for more people to work in high tech manufacturing AND more people to work in low skill manual jobs (to replace the immigrants) and they don't want immigration. So who's going to do these jobs?
Posted : 14/04/2025 1:34 pm
I don’t think Charles is immune to saying we would love to have you for a visit assuming of course there is special trading relationship / political stability in Ukraine / we hear nothing more about Greenland / Vance apologises for meddling in UK woman’s rights.
I am sure he isn't, it would hardly enhance UK-US relations though. Trump has been given a handwritten letter from the King inviting him to discuss a second state visit, this was a mistake on several levels imo including the fact that a second state visit of this sort is unprecedented and Trump had no reason to expect the invitation.
However it is not reasonable to expect the UK government to now withdraw the invitation (which they should never have made). Yes they could withdraw it if they wanted to, yes they could simply not proceed forward with it, yes the King could demand all sorts of conditions which Trump won't agree to, but that would be simply another mistake to a self inflicted mess which Starmer created. I don't see the point of piling one mistake on top of another.
Plus of course let's not forget that there is zero chance of the government actually doing any of that.
I did sign kimbers petition calling for the invitation to be withdrawn and offered to Zelensky instead btw, but that was to register my disapproval, I never expected it to do anymore than that. And when the second visit eventually takes place I will be doing exactly the same as I did during Trump's first state visit when the other Tories were in government, joining anti-Trump demonstrations in London.
Posted : 14/04/2025 1:43 pm
you're missing the point that only married women who use their married name have to make a paper application. Males or women with their maiden names can use the on-line system
unless it changed since last year, that’s certainly not the whole story. My mother applied online with no trouble.
used her married name, no issues.
maybe you have had problems, but it’s not a blanket policy.
and as an aside, photo id required for voting can be obtained for free. You don’t need a passport.
Posted : 14/04/2025 1:45 pm
MoreCashThanDash reacted
