Tag: China

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LIVE On TV: Trump Invites China To Investigate Biden

Yesterday, I reported on the clash between Donald Trump and Reuters reporter Jeff Mason during a White House press event wherein Mason asked Trump what it was he wanted the president of Ukraine to do in regard to investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Trump was evasive in the moment and went on a rant about European countries ‘not paying enough.’ Today, Trump was asked the question again – “What exactly did you hope the Ukrainian president would do about the Bidens?” – and this time, Trump not only said (live on TV) that Ukraine should investigate the Bidens but he also invited China to suss out dirt on the Bidens. Basically, Trump not only did what the whistleblower accused him of in his complaint to Congress, but he actually committed a second offense by inviting China, a geopolitical opponent of the U.S., to investigate his possible Democratic opponent in the 2020 presidential election.

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Wall Street Pundits Worry About Impending Recession As Economy Slows

Wall Street experts say increased stock market volatility may be signs of an impending recession as Donald Trump's trade war with China continues to heat up.
Donald Trump

Wall Street experts say increased stock market volatility may be signs of an impending recession as Donald Trump’s trade war with China continues to heat up.

From Politico:

Over just the last few days, economists at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America all warned that Trump’s bitter trade war with China is taking a bigger bite out of economic growth than expected.

The warnings came as stocks suffered another big dip on Monday with the Dow closing off nearly 400 points, or 1.5 percent, putting the blue-chip index at 25,897, over 700 points lower than it was in January of 2018 before Trump’s trade fights began in earnest. Stocks bounced back Tuesday after the Trump administration’s announcement about postponing some tariffs that had been set to take effect next month, continuing a long track record of market volatility tied to trade policy.

The collective wisdom now spreading across Wall Street is that no trade deal will be struck with China before the 2020 election; business investment will continue to sag; and a series of interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve won’t be enough to juice more growth out of an economy now in its tenth year of expansion — the longest stretch in American history.

With economic growth slowing to 2.1 percent in the second quarter, Trump is predictably shifting from crowing about the stock market to blaming the Federal Reserve for not utilizing more interest rate cuts.

Bank of America’s head of U.S. economics Michelle Meyer said in a note to clients that she believes there is a 1-in-3 chance of a recession in the next 12 months.

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China Raises Tariffs On US Goods After Trump Hikes Taxes On Chinese Imports

CNBC is reporting China has announced it will "raise tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods in retaliation for the U.S. decision to hike duties on Chinese goods. Beijing will increase the tariffs to 25% from 10% on June 1."
Donald Trump

CNBC is reporting China has announced it will “raise tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods in retaliation for the U.S. decision to hike duties on Chinese goods. Beijing will increase the tariffs to 25% from 10% on June 1.”

The news is not a surprise in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s decision to raise taxes on $200 billion in Chinese products to 25% from 10% as the world’s two largest economies struggle to ink a new trade deal.

U.S. stock futures signaled a sharp drop Monday morning amid the escalation.

The Trumpster thinks he’s got China right where he wants them:

In related news, Huffpost reports that Trump is seeking an additional $15 billion in U.S. subsidies in an effort to protect farmers from the devastating impact of his trade war with China.

That’s on top of $12 billion already earmarked for the farmers to help them weather the fallout.

Now, where would the U.S. government get billions in subsidy funds?

Oh, the American taxpayer…

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FBI Claps Back At Trump Claim China Hacked Hillary’s Email Server

Donald Trump took to Twitter last night after apparently watching a report on Fox News (what else?) that China might have hacked into Hillary Clinton's email server.
Donald Trump

Donald Trump took to Twitter last night after apparently watching a report on Fox News (what else?) that China might have hacked into Hillary Clinton’s email server.

Are we still talking about the emails???

Trump wrote, “‘China hacked Hillary Clinton’s private Email Server.’ Are they sure it wasn’t Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!”

He followed that up with another missive asserting, “Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!”

Now, the truth is the FBI has already determined that no classified information was sent via Hillary Clinton’s email server.

Today, the FBI pushed back against that notion telling The Washington Post, “The FBI has not found any evidence the servers were compromised.”

As usual, the Donald was making stuff up to obfuscate his own ongoing problems.

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Trump Administration To Pay $4.7 Billion To Farmers For Trade War Started By Trump

Donald Trump

Well, this is rich.

Donald Trump starts a trade war with China, and now will pay $4.7 billion to American farmers who have lost income to clean up the mess.

From NPR:

The Department of Agriculture will pay $4.7 billion to farmers growing soybeans, cotton and other products hit by tariffs in the Trump administration’s hard-line trade war with China, announcing the first batch of payments from a $12 billion government aid package.

Starting next Tuesday, the agency will take applications from farmers who produce corn, cotton, dairy, hogs, sorghum, soybeans and wheat — products that were targeted in China’s retaliatory tariffs, after the U.S. imposed a 25 percent levy on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports.

The government payout was sharply criticized when it was announced last month, with farmers and Trump’s fellow Republicans saying that the administration was paying billions in response to a problem it created. Congress was not required to vote on the billion-dollar farm relief package — a vote that could have had sharp negative fallout with midterm elections looming in November.

So. Much. Winning.

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China’s Social Media Weibo Bans Gay Content As Netizens Respond “I Am Gay, Not A Pervert”

In an apparent crackdown by China’s Communist Party to denounce any and everything to do with LGBT folks, the country’s microblogging platform Sina Weibo began deleting “homosexual” content even as protesters reacted with the hashtag #IAmGay.

From Yahoo News:

Weibo said in a statement Friday it had begun a “clean-up campaign” to remove “illegal” content, including “manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality”.

It is the latest sign in a crackdown by the ruling Communist Party to purge the Internet of any content deviating from its “core values ​​of socialism” while stifling criticism of social norms and established policies.

The popular Twitter-like platform, which boasts 400 million active monthly users, said it was implementing China’s new cybersecurity law and had already removed some 56,240 items by Friday evening.

The announcement provoked a flood of reaction from stunned or outraged Chinese Internet users, with protesters rallying behind the hashtag “I am gay”.

By midday Saturday, it had been used by some 170,l000 Weibo users, before it was apparently banned by the platform.

“There can be no homosexuality under socialism? It is unbelievable that China progresses economically and militarily but returns to the feudal era in terms of ideas,” one angry commenter said.

China only decriminalised homosexuality in 1997, but conservative attitudes remain widespread.

(h/t JoeMyGod) 

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News Round-Up: November 15, 2017

Pietro Boselli

Some news items you might have missed:

• I would love to have abs like “World’s sexiest math teacher” Pietro Boselli (above), but I like my food too much. So, let’s just look at him 🙂

• China is apparently using electro-shock therapy to try and convert gay men into heterosexuals.

• Anti-LGBT gay basher Kathryn Knott, who went to jail for the violent beating of Andrew Haught and Zachary Hesse in the Center City area of Philadelphia in 2014, has settled a civil lawsuit with the men she helped land in the hospital. Knott and her co-defendants Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams have apparently agreed to a large six-figure settlement in order to avoid a court battle they’ve already lost once.

• Even more women have come forward accusing sexual assault/misconduct by GOP Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

• In related Roy Moore news, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is floating the idea of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who used to hold the senate seat in Alabama, being a write-in candidate in next month’s election in an attempt to keep Moore out of the U.S. Senate. I wonder how Jeff Sessions feels about that?

• According to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll, former Vice President Joe Biden would easily beat Donald Trump 46%/35% should the Democrat decide to run for president in 2020.

• Out tennis legends Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova react to Australia’s marriage equality news:

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News Round-Up: October 20, 2017

(via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• The real Steve Pena (above) is giving you fab Fall foliage and physique. Happy Friday!

• Celebrity chefs Jose Andres, Elizabeth Falkner, and Carla Hall are among bakers who have joined the Human Rights Campaign’s friend-of-the-court brief for the right of LGBT people to be served by all businesses open to the public.

• A new study shows only 5% of LGBT employees in China feel comfortable coming out at work.

• Hate fliers advising members of the LGBTQ community to commit suicide were posted on the Cleveland State University campus – the same day the university opened its first LGBT center.

• Required reading – brilliant Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda interviews brilliant Tony Award winner Stephen Sondheim on approaching creativity and collaboration. “Variety, variety, variety. Don’t let up for a second. Surprise us.”

• Another great episode last night on the rebooted Will & Grace. I’m finding the “Will/Jack” scenes are landing a bit better than some of the “Grace/Karen” scenes, but maybe that’s just me.

This was a cute moment with guest stars Jane Lynch and Andrew Rannells (below) who played “conversion therapy camp counselors” at Camp Straighten Arrow.

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Trump Tweet Watch – February 10, 2017

President Trump took to the Twitter battlefield today to rant at the “failing” New York Times regarding his communication (or not) with the President of China.

When, in fact, the acknowledgment is in the first sentence of the article…

Is this a reading comprehension issue?

#winning