This Ain’t No CNN.

As seen in The Verge:

The United States will delay proposed tariffs on many consumer electronics imported from China, the Trump administration said today, giving a reprieve to gadget makers that are hoping to wait out a trade war between the two countries.

It’s amazing to me that many of the Trump supporters I know have mentioned they voted for him because he was so decisive, yet he whips his decisions around more than Sybil on a good day.

I’m no economist but if the United States can’t compete with overseas goods without charging excessive tariffs, then something is wrong with the way things are done in the United States. If we are going to be a capitalist society, we should be a capitalist society all the way, instead of imposing rules and fees and tariffs.

Just my $0.02.

Full story in The Verge.

Spotted on Facebook, this is a very accurate assessment of Trump.

Someone asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” 

Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

“A few things spring to mind.

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

* You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

‘My God… what… have… I… created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

Thanks Occupy Democrats

Photo from WDEF.com

Trump is visiting the United Kingdom for a State visit. There really isn’t any policy discussion going on while he is in the U.K.; he’s over there to do niceties with the monarchy and maintain the special diplomatic connection the U.S. has with the U.K. Protestors have welcomed him with the “Baby Trump Balloon”.

Trump has already called Megan Markle “nasty” and called the mayor of London a “stone cold loser”.

That’s great language for a diplomatic visit. As I read on my Twitter feed this morning, the man has “throne envy”.

My apologies to the United Kingdom.

I try to be pleasant. I try to remember that my life is very good and in many respects I am a very lucky man. But then I turn on the news and see the results of the complete idiocy of the general American public (the results being the idiot in the presidency at the moment) and I try breathe easy and remember the “good days” of George W. Bush.

I want to read the news. I want to know what’s going on in the world, but within 30 seconds of hearing that stupid Orange Dipped Idiot “in chief” speak or reading his latest brain child of idiocy I want to throw the nearest lamp against the wall. Folks don’t even think twice of supporting a president that basically weaponizes human beings trying to find a better life in the United States. They support an administration that hold children hostage from their parents. If a non-white person gets beat up on the streets of this country, they cheer. They have the audacity to claim this administration was sent to this country by “God”.

If this is God’s work I want nothing to do with this “God”.

I would not be surprised in the least if Trump somehow decided that he needs to cancel the elections or if they happen and he lost, he’d invalidate the results and stay in the office. I honestly think he’s going to start a war or manufacture some sort of crisis to skip the 2020 elections all together, and the band of idiots in the Senate, stoked on by the stupid people that still support this idiocy will cheer, reinvent their “moral compass” to accommodate and bam, we’ll find ourselves in a police state.

I have purposely avoided blogging about politics or the news or anything of that nature because I have absolutely nothing nice to say. I have ZERO tolerance for idiocy. My thoughts on the state of this country are the darkest thoughts I have ever had in my 50+ years on this planet.

So I focus on my family. I focus on work. I focus on flying. I drink. I do everything I can to build a bubble around myself, to shield myself away from the complete and utter stupidity that has gripped this nation, “The Greatest Nation on Earth”.

You have got to be kidding me.

If you feel so inclined, use the link at the top of any blog page entitled “Tell me something good”. I could use the pick me up.

This photo has made my year. This vibe gives me hope.