#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump is 👇🏻
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump is a freaking 🤡🤡🤡
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump is the worst president in history.
Trump’s Tariff Tirade
I didn’t watch the speech tirade by “US President” Donald Trump* last night in which he unveiled his new tariff plan, but people have been talking about this all day so I couldn’t resist a quick comment. There’s a lot I don’t know about economics and trade policy but one thing I do know is that the trad-weighted average tariff on goods from the USA entering the EU is about 3%, not the 39% that Trump alleged. I did therefore wonder where he got this number and all his other “reciprocal tariffs” from. Fortunately a little digging around revealed the answer.
On the left you see part of the chart showing tariffs country-by-country and the second is an extract from the published methodology which would be hilarious were the consequences not so serious.
part of the list of “reciprocal tariffs”The magic formulaYou will see that the second column on the chart is headed “Tariffs charged on the USA”, with 39% listed for the European Union. This number is calculated using the “formula” on the right which has absolutely nothing to do with tariffs charged. Moreover, the denominator contains the product εφ with the values ε=4 and φ=0.25 given in the text so εφ = 1. The expert mathematician who derived this formulae seems to have missed the fact that ε is not less than zero (first sentence) if it is equal to 4, but we’ll let that pass. In fact I can’t be bothered to point out the other errors because no matter how egregious they are, there is no chance of Trumpty Dumpty reversing his decisions anyway.
To sum up, the notional tariff in column 2 is just the difference between imports and exports (the country’s trade surplus) divided by imports. The numbers in the third column of the chart on the left are just half those in the second column (give or take rounding errors and the fact that there is a minimum of 10%). China faces huge tariffs because it has a large trade surplus with the USA. The EU’s 20% tariff is nothing to do with the tariffs it charges but is due to the fact that it has a trade surplus with the USA; the UK has a lower tariff rate than the EU because it has a smaller trade surplus with the USA than the EU. That’s it.
I heard a Trump-supporting numpty attempting to justify the calculation shown in the chart on the grounds that it is really an “unfairness index”, it apparently being unfair and worthy of punishment if a country sells more to the USA than the USA sells to it. Following this line of reasoning, I have decided that all shops are unfair because I always buy more from them than they buy from me.
P.S. I was thinking that in future retaliation I should boycott goods from the USA but this would be an empty gesture because I don’t really buy any anyway. Looking up top imports from the USA to Ireland I find, for example, Bourbon (which I never buy because it is undrinkable) and confectionery (which I don’t buy because I don’t have a sweet tooth). Then I found peanuts, which I do buy occasionally, and will not buy in future. However in the grand scheme of world trade, peanuts are small potatoes.
*I apologize for forgetting to mention that Donald Trump is a convicted felon.
#China #ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump #DonaldTrump #EuropeanUnion #peanuts #ReciprocalTariffs #Tariffs
Via #TheGuardian, March 07, 2025
Behold Donald #Corleone, the US president who behaves like a #mafia boss – but without the principles. Of course, one hesitates to make the comparison, not least because #DonaldTrump would like it.
#MafiaState #ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/07/donald-trump-america-mafia-state
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump is a #ClearAndPresentDanger and a👇🏻👇🏻
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump is a vile, narcissistic sociopath.
Who will stand up for LGBTQ+ Diversity?
Progress Pride flagThe only thing that has surprised me about Donald Trump’s assault on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the speed with which he has imposed his bigotry on individuals and federal institutions. The first step came within hours of the Felon-in-Chief assuming office with an Executive Order intended to dismantle crucial protections for transgender people and deny the validity of gender identity itself. The new order withdraws a range of executive orders issued by Joe Biden, including those allowing transgender people to serve in the military, advancing the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, and interpreting federal sex discrimination protections in domains like education, housing, and immigration to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And this is just the start, and I don’t think it will be confined to the USA for very long.
The attack on LGBTQ+ rights is part of a wider assault on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies intended to create a level playing field for women and minorities. The intention is to turn the Federal government into a system of oppression operated by people of Trump’s hate-filled mindset that diversity is a threat to white male privilege and must be crushed. He and his crony Elon Musk got where they are not by merit but through inherited wealth. It’s no surprise that they wish to deny others the chance to succeed.
I have addressed the question “why should we care about diversity?” many times on this blog in many contexts, though usually in science and usually in reference to LGBTQ+ rights. The obvious answer _ think – is based on notions of fairness: we should do everything we can to ensure that people have equal opportunity to advance their career in whatever direction appeals to them. But I’m painfully aware that there are some people for whom arguments based on fairness simply don’t wash. Trumpists, for example. For them there’s another argument that should work better. As scientists whose goal is – or should be – the advancement of knowledge, the message is that we should strive as hard as possible to recruit the brightest and most creative brains into our subject. That means ensuring that the pool from which we recruit is as large and as diverse as possible. In large and complex research collaborations, such as the Euclid Consortium (of which I am a member), the range of ideas and perspectives is a real asset when it comes to solving problems. The problem is that this argument doesn’t work either as they are driven purely by mean-spirited ideology and the desire to fill the institutions of state with those of a similar ilk.
The effects of the latest reactionary steps are already starting to show in the area of astronomy. The Diversity and LGBT+ channels on the Vera Rubin-LSST Slack (which is a Federal project, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy) have already been deleted. A similar fate has befallen the Space Telescope Science Institute (funded by NASA). It seems to me unlikely that NASA itself will survive long as Musk will have his eyes on dismantling it and using its resources for his own vanity projects.
Over the past year I have given a few talks about my own career in research as an LGBTQ+ person; see for example here. In giving these talks I tried to strike a relatively positive tone, showing how LGBTQ+ rights have improved over the 40 years or so I’ve been involved in cosmological research since I started my graduate studies in 1985. I have, however, ended with a warning that the forces of reaction were gathering, and all the progress we have made could easily be put into reverse. That is exactly what is happening now in the USA.
The question in my mind is who will stand up for diversity? I can quote examples from my own life that prove that some individual institutions have never really taken LGBTQ+ bullying and discrimination seriously. Others may be genuinely supportive, but perhaps that is wishful thinking. It is notable how enthusiastically some US organizations have preemptivly cooperated with Trump’s edicts, even when paused through legal challenge. I grew up in the 1980s when the climate was filled with homophobic hate. It is naive to imagination that all that hate simply disappeared. We will find out very soon whether our self-styled “allies” have only ever been fair weather friends who will happily abandon us when we become politically inconvenient.
Due to President Carter's passing on Dec 29, flags should be at "half staff" for 30 days after his death.
Note which states will have the American flag at "full staff" when #ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump is inaugurated on January 20.
These shall be known as the "Insurrectionist States"
Why Donald Trump’s Criminal Sentence Matters
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/01/why-donald-trump-criminal-sentence-matters.html?via=rss
#TrumpDidThis #RepublicansDidThis #GOPKakistocracy #EnemyTrump #ResistFascism #NaziTrump #GOPWeirdos #RacistGOP #DonaldTrump #Project2025 #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol
Here's the headline we SHOULD be getting in today's media if they weren't kissing his ass:
TRUMP CONVICTED FELON FOR LIFE!
Donald Trump was sentenced today to serve out the rest of his life as a confirmed convicted felon.
Trump was charged with, and convicted of, 34 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree.
#Trump #HushMoney #ConvictedFelon #ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump
So why SHOULDN'T Joe pardon Hunter?
America just pardoned a criminal by making him fü¢k¡ng president, dammit!
@georgetakei I cannot get enough of this video!!!! 🤩 👏 👏 #DaveBautista ROCKS!!!!! 💪 ❤️ 💪
#HarrisWalz
#HarrisWalz2024
#HarrisWalzForTheWin
#KamalaHarris2024
#KamalaHarrisForPresident2024
#KamalaHarrisForPresident
#KamalaHarrisForPOTUS
#StopProject2025AtTheBallotBox
#StopProject2025
#TrumpIsNotFitToBePresident
#TrumpIsALiarAndACriminal
#TrumpIsALiar
#LockHimUp
#LockHimUpAlready
#ConvictedFelonTrump
#ConvictedFelonTraitorTrump
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump
Dave Bautista is my HERO!!! 💪💪 ❤️ 👏 👏 🥳 :yayblob:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGxwn_N9DtE
#HarrisWalz2024InALandslide
#TrumpIsNotFitToBePresident
#TrumpIsALiarAndACriminal
#TrumpIsALiar
#LockHimUp
#LockHimUpAlready
#ConvictedFelonTrump
#ConvictedFelonTraitorTrump
#ConvictedFelonDonaldTrump
Via #JoJoFromJerz @ 11:17am EDT on Oct 16, 2024
We’re 3 weeks out from the election of our lifetime and the #ConvictedFelon #Republican candidate for president who incited an attack on our #Capitol to overturn the last #election just stood on a stage for 39 minutes straight, silently swaying to #AveMaria & #YMCA.
This is fine.
_____
From elsewhere on the #internet...
Via #HarrySisson @ 8:50pm EDT on Oct 05, 2024
#MarkCuban DESTROYED #DonaldTrump again today “When you rip off hard-working #Americans, you are not qualified to be president of the #UnitedStates of America.” Spot on. Trump cares about himself, not hard working Americans.
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