Open manhole thread

by liberal japonicus

GftNC pointed out that there isn't a true open thread. Reading her comment, I just got an image of an open manhole, which, according to OSHA,

requires that "a railing, temporary cover, or other barrier" be erected around the manhole immediately after the manhole is safely removed. This is to prevent accidental falls into the space and to protect employees who enter the space from objects falling on them from above. link

Of course, with RFK Jr and Doctor Oz on the case, we can get rid of this government overreach. Open manholes long to be free!

Have at it.

Comments

[Hartmut]

As long as it isn't anal of course. [/s]

[wj]

It's absolutely government overreach that the G.E.D. requires knowledge of stuff not considered core by religiously based home schoolers.

P.S. That the American Council on Education (which owns the G.E.D. brand) is not a government body will be ignored like any other inconvenient fact. Or maybe it will be nationaluzed, so that appropriate changes can be made to the test.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

GED nationalized? No no no!

Instead a new exam will be created by a pack of MAGA grifters, called a "Fundamentalist Christian Equivalent Degree" (FuCED) which will be rolled out in Outer Dumbfuckistan (Texas) and Inner Dumbfuckistan (Oklahoma) with public funding.

The FuCED will be based on "biblical knowledge", but not the libral stuff like "sermon on the mount", "show kindness to strangers in your land" and "give away all your goods and follow me", no no no, that's just CRaZy talk!

It'll be all about Prosperity Gospel and 2nd Amendment Jeezus luuurving some AR15's.

With the Prince of Lies preparing to re-enter his dominion over American, how could it be otherwise?

[wj]

It'll be all about Prosperity Gospel and 2nd Amendment Jeezus luuurving some AR15's.

I have a fantasy that, after the (supposed) assassination attempt on their god-king, suddenly the MAGAts will decide that the general public must not be allowed to possess weapons which might be used in another attempt. Call it conservative reactionary gun control. Hey, Trump has turned conservative orthodoxy on it's head on other subjects.

But the prosperity Gospel is still OK.

[nous]

I have a fantasy that, after the (supposed) assassination attempt on their god-king, suddenly the MAGAts will decide that the general public must not be allowed to possess weapons which might be used in another attempt.

Like Reagan in the face of the Black Panthers arming themselves.

Problem is that the illiberal right has no qualms about creating unfair rules that exempt themselves from whatever restrictions they place on Others.

No need to enact more gun control if you can criminalize opposition. Then you just let the current restrictions against felons owning firearms do the work of keeping your opponents unarmed and disenfranchised.

[JanieM]

We should keep in mind that this is not a private space. It never was, but it probably didn't matter as much before. It feels so much like just a group of old pals shooting the breeze that it's easy to forget that anyone on earth can see our words. And further, that for practical purposes they never really go away, one way or another.

"All your words are belong to xxxx."

Or something like that.

ETA: edited for ... some reason or other.

[wj]

"Even paranoids can have real enemies."

[Michael Cain]

We should keep in mind that this is not a private space. It never was...

A couple of years ago when it appeared that the hosting service was going to flush the Typepad sites including Obsidian Wings with no official way to extract the content to move elsewhere, I set out to make a copy of everything. Without any special privileges, it was possible to grab all the posts, all the comments, and all the embedded images stored on the server. All the way back to 2003. The updated version of Typepad makes it more difficult, but not impossible.

[GftNC]

Then you just let the current restrictions against felons owning firearms do the work of keeping your opponents unarmed and disenfranchised.

Out of interest, is Trump still a felon? At least until he pardons himself?

[wj]

Out of interest, is Trump still a felon? At least until he pardons himself?

1. Yes
2. He can't. It's a state conviction, and the President only has the power to grant pardons for Federal crimes.

[nous]

We should keep in mind that this is not a private space.

Pretty much a fact of life that I've been considering all along. Faculty at public institutions have known all along that they might be targets for right wing reprisals.

If we have hit an inflection point where anything I have written here will put me in the sights of the feds, then we are all in deeper danger than my words could ever warrant, and I can think of a few people that I know on a first-name basis both who would be in custody long before me, and who would be the ones snitching and providing witness testimony.

[Hartmut]

Does or will he have have lackeys in place in the state to solve that problem for him?
Or could SCOTUS?

[nous]

SCOTUS has no jurisdiction. He'd need to have the governor of NY state pardon him.

[Michael Cain]

Out of interest, is Trump still a felon? At least until he pardons himself?

Convicted under New York state statute but under appeal. Sentencing deferred indefinitely. IANAL, but as I understand it, the New York charges were misdemeanors that became felonies because they were also felony violations of federal campaign finance laws. If he's pardoned or made immune to those federal laws by the SCOTUS, then presumably the New York charges revert to misdemeanors and he pays "slap on the wrist" sorts of fines, if that.

I say "if that" because given the relative scale -- $150K out of tens/hundreds of millions of dollars of expenses -- it probably doesn't go to trial as a misdemeanor. New York Dept of Revenue notifies Trump's accountants, they file adjusted returns. As Trump said about revealing his tax returns, none of them are "closed".

Lots of legal analysts have pointed out that the charges were unusual in that a New York state jury had to make a decision about whether the payments violated a federal law. Hard to say what the federal courts would say about that.

[CharlesWT]

Two things that can both be true. Trump is guilty of any number of things and politically motivated lawfare was used against him.

[Tony P.]

You want to see "politically motivated lawfare"? Just wait a couple of months.

Or look back over the past couple of years at MAGAt judges and MAGAt "Justices" doing their master's bidding. Had CharlesWT, to name a random person, committed the crimes He, Trump committed, CharlesWT would be in prison today. The reason He, Trump is not is that He is a better, worthier citizen with more rights than CharlesWT -- or even than any random MAGAt yokel.

--TP

[russell]

Trump is guilty of any number of things and politically motivated lawfare was used against him.

Boo freaking hoo.

[bobbyp]

.....and politically motivated lawfare was used against him.

Uh, oh. Somebody said something wrong on the internet.

[wj]

Who needs spiral arms when you've got this?
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241126.html

[wj]

As we all have heard, repeatedly, companies are deserting California for Texas.
Dickies, 102-year-old Texas workwear company, moving its HQ to California

Yes, there are arguably special circumstances. But the headline was irresistible.

[hairshirthedonist]

You want to see "politically motivated lawfare"? Just wait a couple of months.

As usual, it complains about other people doing the things it is already doing or is planning on doing. It cries foul over being investigated or charged with real crimes it has committed, claiming to be the victim of "weaponization" of the justice system while, at the very same time, describing its own plans to go after political opponents in government and the media with the investigatorial and prosecutorial powers of the federal government once it gets its grimy, vengeful hands on the presidency.

Even if you believed that it was the victim of undue prosecutions, that shouldn't justify further undue prosecutions against others unless you subscribe to the elementary school logic of "They did it first!"

[wj]

unless you subscribe to the elementary school logic of "They did it first!"

There is the detail that we're talking about someone with that level of emotional maturity. At best.

[hairshirthedonist]

Of course, but that last part wasn't only about it. There a plenty of others signing onto its proposals.

[wj]

And he isn't the only emotionally stunted one. Just the most visible. Which, apparently, has allowed a bunch of them to find each other. As well as an opportunity to play out their fantasies.

[russell]

politically motivated lawfare

Has there ever been anyone with anything like Trump's portfolio of criminal malfeasance and corruption who has been given as many mulligans as he has?

The man is an obvious crook in his personal and business life, and politically he is an insurrectionist. Depending on WTF the particular nature of his connection is with Putin, he may well be treasonous.

The fact that he is not only not in jail, but was allowed to run for POTUS again, let alone win, is obscene. It's an insult to the principle of the rule of law.

You can take your "politically motivated lawfare" claims and stick them where the sun don't shine.

[hairshirthedonist]

Another poor victim of politically motivated lawfare, right?

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/i-cant-pay-my-bills-rudy-giuliani-says-courtroom-outburst-2024-11-26/

That prompted Giuliani, 80, to speak up, complaining that his day-to-day life had been hamstrung by the election workers.

"Your implication that I have been not diligent about this is totally incorrect," Giuliani said from the defense table, pointing at the judge.

"I don't have a car, I don't have a credit card, I don't have cash," Giuliani said. "I can't pay my bills."

Lie with dogs...

[wj]

"I don't have a car, I don't have a credit card, I don't have cash," Giuliani said. "I can't pay my bills."

If he's not camped out under a freeway overpass, he's not as broke as he'd like the judge to believe.

[russell]

I'd like to amend my 1:13 to remove the "stick it where..." part.

I appreciate Charles' participation here, and that bit of my post seems directed at him, personally, in a way and to a degree that doesn't reflect that.

It's sufficient to say that I'm disgusted by the inability of our institutions of governance to hold an obvious fraudulent criminal lying bastard like DJT to account.

And my apologies to Charles for the intemperate tone of my original.

[nous]

The fact that he is not only not in jail, but was allowed to run for POTUS again, let alone win, is obscene. It's an insult to the principle of the rule of law.

Truly, the fact that Jan. 6 was not disqualifying in the minds of voters has me rethinking my approach to activism and to community. We need to build alternative, decentralized institutions that can ignore federal restrictions and roadblocks and fight for all the parts of the public good that the Republicans and the religious right are cutting out. Just going to have to stone soup our way to saving the public and the planet.

[GftNC]

The fact that he is not only not in jail, but was allowed to run for POTUS again, let alone win, is obscene. It's an insult to the principle of the rule of law.

I still can't get my head around it. It feels so unbelievable, it's as if we are actually on Earth 2. (Anybody who was, like me, addicted to Superman comics in the 60s will recognise my reference.)

[russell]

We need to build alternative, decentralized institutions that can ignore federal restrictions and roadblocks and fight for all the parts of the public good that the Republicans and the religious right are cutting out.

Agreed.

Trump II is shaping up to be, minimally, oligarchic in nature. If not worse, where "worse" is somewhere on the fascist spectrum.

It's not likely to be working in the broader public interest. More like billionaires for billionaires.

So yes, I'm assuming we're gonna be kind of on our own. Or more accurately, on our own, but with headwinds.

I still can't get my head around it.

I figure it's more or less Nixon, but stupider. Just as vicious, though.

Good times.

[CharlesWT]

And my apologies to Charles for the intemperate tone of my original.

No problem. :) I didn't take any umbrage.

I can understand your upset. Politicians of all stripes, including play-acting ones like Trump, can be extremely irritating.

Trump is guilty of any number of things, known and unknown. But his convictions in New York appear a bit shaky and could be reversed on appeal. DA Bragg took an unusual approach compared to similar cases tried in New York. And one of his campaign promises was that, if elected, he would prosecute Trump. It all gives the impression that some lawfare could be in the mix.

[GftNC]

Politicians of all stripes, including play-acting ones like Trump, can be extremely irritating.

Charles, all credit to you for taking no umbrage. But if you think that Trump's main quality, for russell, or indeed anybody here, is to be irritating, you are very far from understanding your fellow commenters. Perhaps you were understating for comic effect?

[liberal japonicus]

A New York city district attorney says he wouldn't tolerate what Trump has done where he is, which he probably feels is a sentiment shared by the people who would vote him in.

A president elect who "has made more than 100 threats to prosecute or punish perceived enemies"

Equivalent? As Wolfgang Pauli said "Das is nicht einmal falsch".

[bobbyp]

Why do you rob banks?

That's where the money is.

Yeah, sure. But you f*cking rob banks.

No fair! Your're picking on me!

[hairshirthedonist]

Seconded on Jan 6th. If that wasn't too much...

Imagine if Obama had done something like that. Imagine if the mob was Black. What would tRump apologists have said?

[Hartmut]

That's why it is problematic (too) to elect members of the judicial branch by popular vote. Even with good intentions one has to appeal to sentiments that not necessarily have anything to do with the actual law or legal justice. And it attracts exactly the wrong kind of people like those who campaign on how many people (preferably blacks) they got executed or are going to execute. The ones that brag in the lawyer bar after the first few drinks that convicting the guilty is for amateurs and wussies, but to be able to convict the innocent and having them executed and getting away with it showed true skill.
That's what makes the old principle quite appealing that those who through neglect or malice convict an innocent person should suffer the very same punishment, in particular where death sentences are concerned.
---
caveat: 'lawfare' is primarily political with a political goal in mind. That's not the same as bending the law for personal benefits (like the judge bribed by a youth prison to keep their facility full all the time), out of careerism (I want to become governor and my prime rival has a tougher image than me) or desire to legally act out one's prejudices (e.g. misogyny and racism).
Although of course there is overlap (cf. Clarence Thomas).

[bobbyp]

his convictions in New York appear a bit shaky You're simply wishcasting here.

...and could be reversed on appeal. Judgement modification perhaps, reversed? Not likely.

DA Bragg took an unusual approach compared to similar cases tried in New York. No, he did not.

And one of his campaign promises was that, if elected, he would prosecute Trump. This is simply a lie.

Never, ever forget, that when it comes to "lawfare" in our history, it has always been conservatives in the forefront:

anti-syndicalism laws
Lockner Supreme Court decisions
Jim Crow
Palmer raids
McCarran Act...etc.

[CharlesWT]

DA Bragg took an unusual approach compared to similar cases tried in New York. No, he did not.

And one of his campaign promises was that, if elected, he would prosecute Trump. This is simply a lie.

According to this rightwing rag.

"A New York Times analysis of about 30 false business records cases brought by Mr. Bragg and his predecessor — based on court records, interviews and information the office provided — shows that in this respect, the case against Mr. Trump stands apart. In all but two of the indictments reviewed by The Times, the defendant was charged with an additional crime on top of the false records charge."
In Trump Case, Bragg Pursues a Common Charge With a Rarely Used Strategy: A review of more than two dozen cases shows that in at least one sense, the indictment of the former president stands apart.

Perhaps not a promise to prosecute Trump, but a big part of Bragg's campaign for DA was the potential prosecution of Trump and him being the best guy for the job.

"The incumbent district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., had begun his own investigation of the president and his businesses. And even before Vance announced in March 2021 that he would not seek re-election, the race had become a referendum on who could best take on Trump. In a primary campaign of would-be Trump slayers, Bragg sold himself as the most experienced."
How a ‘Nerdy’ Prosecutor Became the First to Try Trump: Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan D.A., campaigned as the best candidate to go after the former president. Now he finds himself leading Trump’s first prosecution — and perhaps the only one before the November election.

[russell]

Did Bragg pursue his prosecution of Trump to try to prevent him, in some illegitimate way, from seeking office? Or to punish him for any legitimate political activity?

If not, then it's not "lawfare", it's just a DA doing his job.

"Lawfare" has become the right-wing's label for anyone prosecuting criminal behavior carried out by right-wingers.

Running on a platform of prosecuting criminals, no matter how powerful they are, if that's where the evidence leads, seems like a completely reasonable position.

And, in fact, that's where the evidence led.

So well done, Alvin Bragg.

[wj]

So, Charles, what you're saying is that ALL of the New York DA candidates, as well as the outgoing DA, agreed that Trump should be tried on these counts. Right?

And this somehow makes it political persecution. Care to unpack how that works?

[Snarki, child of Loki]

As for the prosecution of Trump over false business records being "extraordinary" because of the connection to "other crimes":

Trump is "extraordinary" because of a lifetime of criming, so OF COURSE the case will be unusual! So are all cases of Mafia Dons being prosecuted!

[CharlesWT]

Trump is "extraordinary" because of a lifetime of criming, so OF COURSE the case will be unusual!

This article has a similar theme.

"Now that we’ve seen the People’s case against Trump in the so-called hush-money prosecution, it’s possible to make an educated guess about why District Attorney Alvin Bragg elected to go forward with the indictment he brought—one that many, including some liberal observers, have questioned.

...[a litny of Trump misdeeds]

Some have closed their eyes to the evidence presented at the New York trial. The defendant has done so literally, and his political supporters have done so metaphorically. But for those of us who have kept our eyes open, the evidence has been appalling. (I have not been there, but I have followed my colleagues’ live-tweets and other reporting closely.) The evidence has shown that this defendant and his subordinates propagated blizzards of lies to facilitate the defendant’s disgusting and criminal ends.

Weighing this evidence in the context of the many civil frauds Trump has been adjudicated to have committed, and the many crimes of which his closely held corporation and most essential business colleagues, Weisselberg and Michael Cohen, have been convicted, I have been persuaded. District Attorney Bragg was right to bring this case."
Was D.A. Bragg Right to Bring the New York Charges Against Trump? : Consider the “Al Capone factor”: Should a prosecutor let an elusive kingpin go scot-free, or indict him for the crimes he can prove?

[Michael Cain]

I've been reading stuff about the consequences of drought in the Northeast. Wildfires have gotten significant play. Less noted is the Delaware River. The salt line, where the river becomes too salty to drink, is moving steadily upstream. At this time of year it's normally around river mile (RM) 60. This year it's at about RM 90. The intakes for Philadelphia's water supply is at RM 110. Projected sea level rise plus typical drought numbers suggest the salt line reaches the intakes in 2050-2060. Since actual changes due to warming seem to be outpacing all the predictions, guess 25 years.

Phoenix and Miami are on my mental list of places that might spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their drinking water supply in that sort of time frame. Philadelphia hasn't been.

[russell]

Wildfires have gotten significant play.

I'm in Essex County, near Salem and Lynn, where there have been daily wildfires for a while. We wake up to the smell of smoke.

I've more or less accepted the idea that the folks in a position to really do something meaningful about climate change aren't likely to do a damned thing of consequence anytime soon, probably in my lifetime. With the accession of Trump, even more so.

A lot of stuff is gonna break.

Humans have really big brains, but nonetheless manage to be unbelievably stupid. Squirrels have more sense than we do.

[GftNC]

It seems more and more likely to me that the explanation for the Fermi Paradox is the Great Filter theory. In certain rather detached moods, I don't find this particularly upsetting, but this is no doubt easier for me because I don't have children (although I do have very beloved godchildren). It is pretty hard to contemplate the inevitable human suffering that will take place in the meantime, however.

The great love of my life (who was particularly irreligious) used to love a joke which ended with the tormented in hell crying out to God (for some reason in the joke in a Scottish accent) "Lord, lord, we didnae ken" to which the Lord replied, unanswerably, "Well, ye ken the noo".

[wj]

The Scots apparently underestimate the ability of some to remain in denial, no matter how vigorously reality makes a pount. One is put in mind of the guy who, in the hospital dying of covid, continued to his dying breath to insist that covid was entirely faked.

[liberal japonicus]

Charles displays his ability to suss out motes, despite being handicapped by beams. Truly impressive

[nous]

I've more or less accepted the idea that the folks in a position to really do something meaningful about climate change aren't likely to do a damned thing of consequence anytime soon, probably in my lifetime. With the accession of Trump, even more so.

We can all do things that are meaningful. Plant a tree, or donate to a reputable group that will do so for you if you do not have that capability yourself. Plant a dozen, to make up for the idiots in your personal monkeysphere who will refuse to do so themselves.

Cut back on your consumption of beef and lamb, and extend that to pork as you are able. Buy pasture raised poultry if you can afford it.

Support no-till farming however you are able to do so. Find a CSA project that uses it, and that grows seasonal foods sustainably.

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Drive as little as is feasible for your circumstances.

Move your investments into sustainable sectors.

Live within The Doughnut as much as you are able, and try to spread that choice as a lifestyle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MK6tuZ7Rws

None of these will fix things on their own, but they *will* make a difference, and reduce suffering, and they will sway those who can be swayed.

[Michael Cain]

We can all do things that are meaningful.

Support local/state politicians and policies that are doing good. My municipal electric utility has a generous program to help with efficiency and rooftop solar. The utility is one of four cities that own the power authority that has gone from no renewables to 50% of delivered power in 20 years. Their goal is 100% no-carbon by 2030. All of the coal will be gone by then. The next big (relative to demand) solar farm comes online next year, first serious storage project the year after that. The PA is also doing a number of smaller things. All of that is happening independent of federal policy, unless Trump sends the military in to force the coal-fired plant to keep running.

Nous is in California, I believe, where the state/local actions are even more impressive.

[CharlesWT]

Concerns about the environment and climate are mostly luxury concerns in the West. Until they reach the West's level of prosperity, the rest of the world will have more immediate concerns. For example, Jusper Machogu.

[wj]

Until they reach the West's level of prosperity, the rest of the world will have more immediate concerns.

Some of the rest of the world. In addition to the obvious, e.g island nations in danger of disappearing altogether, large countries with low elevations (Bangladesh leaps to mind) have really immediate concerns. Likewise countries with limited water resources which are eexperiencing unprecedented drought already. While more power for more prosperity is great in general, it's nothing if your agriculture -- especially subsistence agriculture -- tanks.

[nous]

Concerns about the environment and climate are mostly luxury concerns in the West. Until they reach the West's level of prosperity, the rest of the world will have more immediate concerns.

These two things are interrelated. Developing countries need resources to raise the standard of living, but to get those resources they often have to rely upon industries that release enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses, and the markets for all of those goods are prosperous Western nations. It's a vicious cycle.

My concerns are not luxury concerns. I'm not suffering like many in the Global South, but my environmental concerns are as much for their suffering as for my own future.

We need to increase aid to developing nations and pay them to grow carbon. We need to consume less and de-growth our economy. You cannot separate the two or avoid the need to do both. Trying to split the two just leads to greater imbalance.

[CharlesWT]

Reasons to oppose Santa

[CharlesWT]

Getting from Maine to Georgia the hard way.

[GftNC]

Gift link while I still have a sub (I am finding it hard to actually kick the stuff, but I still hope to):

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/opinion/wolfgang-streeck-populism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dk4.d-WK.BOsr20o51Nto&smid=url-share

The first couple of paras:

Who could have seen Donald Trump’s resounding victory coming? Ask the question of an American intellectual these days and you may meet with embittered silence. Ask a European intellectual and you will likely hear the name of Wolfgang Streeck, a German sociologist and theorist of capitalism.

In recent decades, Mr. Streeck has described the complaints of populist movements with unequaled power. That is because he has a convincing theory of what has gone wrong in the complex gearworks of American-driven globalization, and he has been able to lay it out with clarity. Mr. Streeck may be best known for his essays in New Left Review, including a dazzling series on the cascade of financial crises that followed the crash of 2008. He resembles Karl Marx in his conviction that capitalism has certain internal contradictions that make it unsustainable — the more so in its present “neoliberal” form. His latest book, “Taking Back Control? States and State Systems After Globalism,” published this month, asks whether the global economy as it is now set up is compatible with democracy. He has his doubts.

[Bobbyp]

GftNC,

I read that article with great interest this morning. As a lefty sort I must confess that I had never heard of Streeck. Highly recommended.

Will add his latest to my reading list.

[hairshirthedonist]

Ditto. I might have as much lefty cred as bobbyp, though.

[hairshirthedonist]

Not. Might not.

[GftNC]

I'm glad, bobbyp. I guess my sub is good for something apart from driving me crazy, at least for now.

And now for something completely different. And probably my last word on Geldof and Band Aid:

Bob Geldof, who founded Band Aid and co-wrote Do They Know It’s Christmas? with Midge Ure, defended the song in light of Fuse ODG’s criticism. He told CNN that he, along with Kofi Annan and others, had previously travelled Africa “lobbying exactly for what Fuse is saying” regarding the ability for African countries to be self-sustaining: “You inject the oil of cash into an economy and people fly.”

But, he added, for African people “to be able to get Africa going and on its feet, they must be alive, and over the course of 40 years, hundreds of thousands of people, probably millions, are alive because of a little pop song. That is a ridiculous way to run the world and it should stop, but while it doesn’t, we will continue … doing this little song.”

Earlier this month, responding to an article that argued the song perpetuated “colonial tropes”, he wrote: “‘Colonial tropes’ my arse … There IS endemic hunger due to the unforgiving soil conditions. Water IS scarce save for a scattering of unreliable wells. Rain IS increasingly unreliable … These are not ‘colonial tropes’ they are empirical facts.”

Watching Geldof arguing Maggie Thatcher down was a great moment of the 80s. I will never not love him for what he has achieved - mainly through astonishing bloody-mindedness.

[GftNC]

Ditto hsh!

[CaseyL]

GftNC - Streeck may be correct about what's driving populism, but the people who are put into power under that banner have no intention of leveling the playing field for the economically or politically dispossessed.

If I squint really hard and give a completely unearned benefit of the doubt, I could sorta kinda see Trump's protectionist trade policies as a potential boon for US manufacturing. I would applaud that, have wanted us to be able to manufacture our own consumer goods for a long, long time.

But the way Trump is going to make policy will be based entirely on cronyism and bribery. Companies in the US (and outside the US) are already strategizing what kind of sucking up they'll have to do, and how big the bribes they'll have to offer, to be able to continue doing business.

The ones who emerge victorious won't be companies committed to (re-)creating a large US manufacturing base. They're more likely to be private equity, or aligned with private equity, to finish stripping every asset they can from the US economy.

Any consumer items they sell will be crap, made overseas as cheaply as possible, re-labeled as "Made in the US" (what Federal agency is going to monitor that sort of thing?) to comply with the letter of whatever protectionist laws Congress passes.

Won't help a single underemployed, debt-ridden US worker.

[CharlesWT]

If I squint really hard and give a completely unearned benefit of the doubt, I could sorta kinda see Trump's protectionist trade policies as a potential boon for US manufacturing.

Trump and other proponents of tariffs are idiots, lying, or both. They claim that the countries exporting to the US will absorb the tariffs and the tariffs will onshore manufacturing and manufacturing jobs. Both cannot be true.

[Nigel]

I'd call Aileen Cannon's extended campaign of precedent busting in favour of Trump lawfare, if we're going down that road.

And drop in Thomas and Alito for the jury's consideration.

[wj]

If I squint really hard and give a completely unearned benefit of the doubt, I could sorta kinda see Trump's protectionist trade policies as a potential boon for US manufacturing.

Only if you carefully exclude all manufacturing for export.

And that's before you get to the detail that a lot of existing US manufacturing depends on imported inputs. Which will also be subject to Trump's tariffs, of course, and so the products become less competitive worldwide. In addition to being more expensive for us.

But then, the whole point of tariffs is to give an advantage to particular companies. Which, in this case, will be the ones that pay the best bribes.

[wonkie]

I don't think the psussygrabber is going to do much with tariffs except use them as scams like he just did with Mexico. This is the pattern: Trump makes a big threatening noise about tariffs at someone so he can look strong. He then meets with the someone so he can look like a leader. He then backs down but publicly announces that no tariffs are necessary because he got (imaginary) concessions. Faux reports him as BIG WINNER LEADER and the bobbleheads bobble their heads. The MSM reports it as "some say Trump made a great deal and some say he didn't." Meanwhile no significant tariffs actually happen.

[novakant]

Cut back on your consumption of beef and lamb, and extend that to pork as you are able. Buy pasture raised poultry if you can afford it.

Or just stop eating meat altogether and be done with all that. I became a pescatarian in January (soft launch) and don't miss it really. It's much easier than giving up smoking, but similar in the sense that you wonder afterwards why you ever bothered in the first place.

Animal Liberation Now (2nd edition) by Singer helped me with the philosophical background, but there's other literature available of course.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Liberation_(book)

And in case I'm sounding a bit holier than though: I had to swear that I would continue to cook the Christmas goose once a year...

[nous]

Or just stop eating meat altogether and be done with all that. I became a pescatarian in January (soft launch) and don't miss it really.

I understand where this is coming from. Certainly, that is the course that my wife is on. I would follow, except that I have developed a nut intolerance that makes veganism a lot more challenging, and I've also noticed that I do better at mood regulation when I have animal protein in my diet. So I'm on a lower and slower trajectory on this by necessity.

I think that livestock can play a role in carbon farming, but it has to be done at the right scale to keep everything in balance, and we have some work to do with fish farming models before we can make that a sustainable food source for inland metropolitan areas.

I think I may have mentioned The Blue Plate here before (https://www.patagonia.com/product/the-blue-plate-a-food-lovers-guide-to-climate-chaos/BK910.html) It's a thought provoking, and very accessible read, and it explores a lot of these food sustainability questions at length.

[Hartmut]

Be careful about fish. It's (at least in the US) a potentially significant mercury risk. And imported fish can be ethically highly questionable.

I don't know why but since the start of the Ukraine War the price of smoked salmon, trout and mackerel around here has doubled. I love the stuff but that was a bit too much.

[nous]

Salmon and pollock tend to have less mercury, so it's safer to eat in quantity.

As far as seafood goes, mussels and oysters seem to be among the most sustainable overall as food sources. They sequester carbon in their shells to offset their carbon costs. And they are low in mercury buildup because they are early in the food chain and don't have too much buildup due to mercury concentration the way that predatory fish compound their own toxicity.

[bobbyp]

A different take on Caldwell's review of Streeck:

https://www.cepr.net/capitalism-and-democracy-the-market-is-far-more-flexible-than-christopher-caldwell-imagines/

The message is always the same in a Dean Baker squib, but I do like the tune. Also: Please read his book, Rigged.... It's good. It's free.

How can you beat that?

[novakant]

nous, if a vegetarian diet is incompatible with one's health and wellbeing, that's of course another matter altogether, and going pescatarian was a very personal decision for me, so I don't go around judging people anyway. I still eat eggs, milk products and fish, so I'm far from being a vegan, but I thought I have to start somehwere.

What moved me most wasn't actually the environmental impact of eating meat, but the animal welfare aspect. I found Tom Regan's book, which is looking at the problem from a deontological perspective, very convincing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Animal_Rights

My gut feeling was: how on earth do we think we have the right to cause so much suffering (e.g. 200.000.000 chicken killed every day) - or any suffering for that matter - for such (with a few exceptions) trivial gain?

Regarding mercury: if you're not eating several tins of tuna or a swordfish every day, I think you should be alright.