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So all Putin has to do it wait it out and the USA will stop interfering. Brilliant!
So all Putin has to do it wait it out and the USA will stop interfering. Brilliant!
At some point you just have to sit back and admire Putin's playing of the long game and investments paying off.
It's taken ten years, but he's going to get the bits of Ukraine he wants handed to him on a plate.
Think one of the reasons for the rare earth deal was that the US gets paid for weapons in future, so even if the US stops engaging in talks, Ukraine shouldn't be set completely adrift. I'm sure the US weapons industry would be happy to keep selling.
Suppose it's down to Trump's whim though, so anything could happen.
Suppose it's down to Trump's whim though, so anything could happen.
I think the trump regime is is still angry with Ukraine after they didn't fall for his blackmail attempt to get dirt on Hunter Biden.
Comedy of errors or tragedy?
I don't think they care so long as they get enough nasty morons to vote for them.
🤷♂️
Comedy of errors or tragedy?
Is tragedy of errors a thing?
Another political ambush in a Whitehouse press conference, looks like this is going to be a repeated tactic.
China isn't going to have to work very hard to gain African nations trust, Trump is pushing them eastward. Although I think the different dynamics of US and Chinese policy in Africa, this is just an acceleration of that path.
His world view is just so disconnected from reality now
Ramaphosa impressing again.
”Sorry I don’t have a plane to give you”
try this matty about 1:54
Jeez, trump is bent as hell... not that that needed re-affirming, lol, but thanks for the link.
Ah there’s no free dinners with trump $394mil kerchung
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/trumps-crypto-dinner-cost-1-million-seat-average-rcna207802
Jeez, trump is bent as hell... not that that needed re-affirming, lol, but thanks for the link.
Don't forget the enablers,having to collapse reality on a daily basis to make this all seem normal.
I went out with friends a couple of weeks ago and they were 5 pints into their evening when I met them, they 100% more coherent than that bumbling wazzock.
well his spending bill is on the way to the senate now
it takes a huge slice from those at the bottom and gives the richest some chunky tax breaks
but because he's scrapping tax on tips* he can sell it as good for all
bond markets are on the run now, anyone feel another crash coming?
*insane that tips were ever taxed, but even more insane that service wages are so low that staff are dependent on tips
Bumbling Incoherent Orange Wazzock's little rant at Cyril Ramaphosa neatly debunked by the BBC factchecker service
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9vxve994ro
insane that tips were ever taxed,
lulwut?
tips, like for waiters and whatnot, are taxed?
what possible motivation would anyone ever have for declaring them?
In the US even more than the UK, it is virtually all card payment, so the tips go through the till.
Waiting staff are basically paid by tips rather than a wage, so that is their earnings it isn't really tipping as we know it, you pay the establishment for the meal and the waiting staff for the service (which is called a tip). It would make more sense to actually just make earning of less than x dollars a week tax free than make a specific clause for waiting staff paid by tips.
iirc the restaurant/diner/cafe etc used to be also able to take a cut of the tips, don't know if that is still allowed.
I think in some big tipping establishments, you have to pay to work there, as you can make so much money from tips, but that is obviously rare place and not representative of most who make a living from tips (and might be an urban legend).
I think the IRS also assume a tip is paid (and tax accordingly) even if the punter doesn't pay a tip...so paying for a meal by card and paying cash for a tip won't necessarily help the server...but lack of a tip certainly will hurt the staff...
Edit to add: servers (and probably some other employment types) are not subject to the same minimum wages rules. My knowledge is a few years out of date, the minimum wages for servers was something ridiculously low (like circa $2 per hour) compared to other industries (which were circa $10-$11 per hour)
(This doesn't necessarily apply to all states before anyone calls me out on this as each state has different rules)
Tips are taxed in the UK, or at least they used to be and I can't believe its changed for the better.
Years ago (1990) when I worked in Pizza Hut after quitting college, the front of house staff had a different tax code to those that worked in the kitchens to allow for tips as the tips were not shared with them.
Every day in every way he does something that justs makes me think he's a slightly bigger knob than the day before - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05768jmm11o
More evidence that Trump is a lying piece of shit. Should anyone still require confirmation.
🙄
There is no reason for most of this, the sooner the world realises that and products or supply chains going into or out of the us are increasingly unviable the better.
He really needs to meet his very own Harvey Lee Oswald, or perhaps he'll meet a particularly satisfying gruesome end with an alligator on his Mar a Lago golf course .
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump posted Friday morning on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”
How can anyone be this ****ing thick?, and how can his coterie of so called advisers (with exception of the 2025 pricks) not get through to him that this is damaging to the U.S.
They don't give a shit, clearly his advisors have demanded another bounce in the stock market as they didn't get enough the last 2 times. Will be another tariff that won't go into full effect and the US consumers will largely pay for it (I know EU industries will take a hit too).
The more I watch him do stuff the more I think of Begbie from Trainspotting - Its just the political equivalent of lobbing a pint glass off a balcony to see what happens..he doesn't care who gets hurt he just wants a fight.
Hope he leaves his red button suitcase on the upstairs bar table before he gets into a proper scrap with the rest of the pub
I can't believe he hasn't "fallen down some stairs" yet. The entirety of the US' "grown ups" must be viewing him as a massive (biggest ever) liability by now.
youve got to wonder how many of his mob knew this was coming and played the stock market accordingly.....
He really is a total ****ing moron! What good does he think it’ll do threatening one of America’s most successful businesses with 25% tariffs on their products?
And the reason that the trade talks with the EU are going nowhere is because most American made products are shit and don’t conform to EU standards. So what he’s asking is for the EU to water down its standards on various things and the half-wit is surprised that they told him to eff off!
So now he is attacking our big beautiful 'windmills', or wind turbines as we like to call them in the UK on account that they are not used to mill wheat, or anything else.
He really is a total ****ing moron! What good does he think it’ll do threatening one of America’s most successful businesses with 25% tariffs on their products?
He's just manipulating the stock market for personal gain, simple as that.
He'll have sold off a bunch of shares 3 or 4 days ago, and now due to his latest announcemnt the price has dropped.
So now he will buy back those same shares at a huge discount. Rince and repeat.
It's so transparent it's not even funny.
If you view his presidency simply as a vehicle for him to make money, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Shame about every one else, especially the people who voted for him.. But they are just 'losers' in his book.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy75eenl46eo
It's not hard to work out why populists like Trump alight on policies like these. Their voter base is - generally speaking - uneducated, resentful, xenophobic, disdainful of intellect and looking for someone else to blame for their poor quality of life. It's a relatively easy win for him.
Of course, the university sector in the UK has heard mutterings of this being good as some of those foreign students with their money could choose us instead. But we're shooting ourselves in the foot too in our attempts to fight rightwing populism by imitating it. 🤪
Imagine what, even just 15 years ago, we would have thought about the political success of movements that are actively anti-intellect. 🤦♂️
It's not hard to work out why populists like Trump alight on policies like these. Their voter base is - generally speaking - uneducated, resentful, xenophobic, disdainful of intellect and looking for someone else to blame for their poor quality of life. It's a relatively easy win for him.
Well if that is the case I am finding it hard to work out why with such an resentful and xenophobic electorate a mixed race presidential candidate had two relatively easy wins in the US not that long ago.
Something which has hardly ever been replicated in Europe and certainly not in the UK. The only time the UK has had a non-white Prime Minister he was installed by the Tory Party but was then firmly rejected by the electorate.
It is almost as if voting patterns cannot be explained in simple black and white terms. And not least with regards to Donald Trump's electoral success which the last time included a very significant increase in support from non-white votes who rejected his mixed race opponent.
I was referring to Trump's voter base. And Obama's wins were more of a close run thing with the US system, like ours, able to hide a large rump of intolerance and prejudice in actual binary win/lose terms.
And I was going to edit 'uneducated' to 'poorly educated', but ran out of time.
Well if that is the case I am finding it hard to work out why with such an resentful and xenophobic electorate a mixed race presidential candidate had two relatively easy wins in the US not that long ago.
It's 13 years since Obama was last elected. Fox News and the Twittersphere hadn't really taken hold to the same degree.
The point I believe oakwood was making was that the US - and many others - have been moving backwards in recent years.
And I didn't bring race into it, BTW - xenophobic, not necessarily racist.
not that long ago
In USA politics terms, is was an age ago. And was the springboard for Trump and his success in using these tactics… the “birther” conspiracy theory.
It's 13 years since Obama was last elected
I am aware. I reckon the probability that the US electorate has become more "uneducated, resentful, xenophobic, and disdainful of intellect" since then is unlikely.
I am also aware that Donald Trump's support since he first stood has increased significantly beyond his Anglo-Saxon base.
Danny likes to explain election results with a simple "voters are stupid/uneducated/racist/xenophobic" explanation, I consider politics to be a tad more complicated than that.
The right wing populists use "foreigners" for their excuse, the centrist populists use the "dumb racist electorate" as theirs. Neither group will accept responsibility for the failure of neoliberalism and need their "dead cats" to slam on the table to distract from the failure they have created.
