A Blueberry Tariff?
I
read recently where Florida blueberry growers were hoping that the President
would add blueberries to the list of American products protected from foreign
competitors. In most instances where
tariffs are imposed, comparable well-priced domestic products are not available
so the imports continue with the tariff being passed on to the consumer. That amounts to a tax! Often, tariffs have nothing to do with supply
and demand but are only a retaliatory tool in an economic struggle. That's what is going on today between us and China.
Well,
blueberries are different. There are
plenty of blueberry growers in the United States, but it costs them more to
grow and bring their product to market than their foreign (usually Mexican,
Peruvian or Chilean) competitor does.
Hence, they want protection.
Well,
I add a handful of blueberries to my breakfast cereal every day! That makes me an expert! Sometimes, I’m puzzled over why the container
of berries which I buy is either a shallow one or a deeper one, and why,
regardless of the container size, the price is always $4.99, $3.99 or rarely
$2.99, never anything in between . In local stores, the source of the berries
varies. I always take note of where my
blueberries come from. Over the past few
months, my blueberries have come from Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan,
Mexico and most recently, Peru. By far
the tastiest and longest-lasting berries (regardless of their origin, usually a few at the very bottom of the
containers don’t make it) I have enjoyed are the Peruvian ones. They are the very best! I am against tariffs on foreign blueberries. If Florida farmers cannot make a living
raising them, they should switch to another crop, or sell their land to real
estate developers.
Kavanaugh
 |
| Did he or didn't he? |
Opposition
to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme
Court bench now centers of charges of sexual molestation during his teenage
years. This is out of left field on the
part of Democrats. That’s why it wasn’t
brought up earlier. Doing it now is like
using a pinch hitter in the last of the ninth.
Whether true or not, and that
will be very difficult to determine, it is the kind of thing that in other
times would not even come to light and if it did, normally would not carry very
much weight in the confirmation process.
But these are not normal times.
Mitch
McConnell played a dirty game when he refused to even entertain President
Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the late Justice Scalia’s
seat on the Court and stalled until a Republican was in the White House. The Democrats are therefore entitled to return
his favor and play just as dirty in their opposition to Kavanaugh and do
whatever they can to stall his confirmation until they have a possible majority
in the Senate or even lacking that, an election victory in November
demonstrating a popular distrust of anything the President and his lackeys in
Congress do.
 |
| McConnell |
Most
Senate Republican blindly follow McConnell’s leadership because they fear
primary challenges from their party’s extreme right, which the President has in
his pocket because of his appeal to millions of gullible Americans. (More about
that later.). When you play dirty,
chickens come home to roost, Mitch! Sad
thing is that if Kavanaugh withdraws or fails getting confirmed, Trump’s
replacement appointee, again drawn from the Federalist Society’s approved list,
would be just as objectionable to Democrats as is Kavanaugh.
One
factor favorable to Democrats is that the behavior of the Republicans in regard
to Kavanaugh only serves to strengthen the appeal of Democrats to women voters. I’ve even seen replays of Anita Hill’s lurid
testimony which failed to prevent Clarence Thomas from getting on the Court in
1991. That would not even be on TV
again, reminding women of supposed Republican attitudes toward them, were it
not for the Kavanaugh ruckus.
Regarding
the President, his background regarding relationships with women is such that
under normal circumstances, Evangelical Christians and other religious
conservatives would abhor him. But in
2016, and right now, holding their noses, they support him only because of his
pledge to put an anti-abortion Justice on the Supreme Court. In the unlikely
circumstance where the Democrats somehow manage to prevent that from happening,
Evangelical support for Trump will evaporate.
They would have no reason to support him.
JL
T he Sewer in the Middle of North Carolina
The
275 mile long Neuse River is not a major river by national standards. It is not in the class of the Mississippi,
the Colorado or even the Hudson Rivers.
But it is still the longest “major” river in North Carolina.
It was in the headlines a few years back when
its function as a sewage facility, carrying the waste materials from hundreds
of hog farms out to sea, contaminating the land on its banks along the way, hit
the headlines. Attempts to remedy the
situation have been made but with minimal success in North Carolina, a state of
environmental deniers. The flooding
caused by Hurricane Florence’s rainstorms has worsened the situation, leaving
rotting carcasses of drowned animals, both domesticated and wild, to add to the
danger already posed by the established flow of hog excrement in the Neuse. This is a very big problem.
But it’s good to know that at least one person, the President of the United States, is concerned with the crisis in North Carolina! As reported in the Charlotte Observer, Trump asked about the storm’s effect upon Lake Norman, which is managed by Duke Energy, but which is some distance from the Neuse. Duke’s CEO told him that the lake was good but got a lot of rain, according to a briefing released by the White House. “I love that area,” Trump was quoted as saying. “I can’t tell you why, but I love that area.”
(Lake Norman, is home to the Trump National Golf Club, an 18-hole golf course with “world class country club amenities,” according to its website.)
It never ends, does it?
JL
Floriduh Politics
The
biggest asset that the Republicans running at the top of their ticket in
Florida have is the endorsement of the President. Without that, Rick Scott (running for the
Senate) is just another conservative candidate with a lot of oppressive
baggage. Ron DeSantis (running for
Governor) is a big nothing whose only appeal is to those on the far right of
his party. Ah, but they both have more
wisdom than Donald Trump. Neither of them agreed with his attack on the George
Washington University study, commissioned by the government of Puerto Rico,
which greatly increased the number of deaths resulting from Hurricane Maria
last year. (There are a lot of Puerto
Rican voters in Florida.)
As a result,
the President’s support for them has cooled and his base may react accordingly
and cannot be counted on as they were when these two candidates were fully in
agreement with Trump’s lies and fabrications.
And
speaking of the Florida races, DeSantis remains on the low road. After bringing racism into the contest by
criticizing the ideas of Democrat Andrew Gillum’s programs as programs which he
suggested can “monkey up” things, he has made a blatant appeal to Jewish voters,
of which there are about 600,000 in Florida. He is attempting to tie Gillum to
the pro-Palestinian agenda of some on the Democratic far left, including those advocating a boycott of Israeli goods. Gillum of course strongly denies this.
 |
| Gillum |
Not all Jewish voters, this blogger included,
buy into Bibi Netanyahu’s right-wing positions (necessary to maintain his
majority in the Knesset) which delay a real solution in Israel, and that
includes moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Although a governor has little to do with it, Andrew Gillum is for a two state solution there and opposes steps which serve to prevent that from happening. That's no sin. DeSantis thinks Jewish voters are “one issue” voters. They are not.
And Gillum, a politician, while a strong supporter of the State of
Israel, is not going to go overboard to alienate Democratic voters on the
extreme left.
JL
Endgame for the President
Like
the last phase of a chess match, the President is slowly being deprived of
available options to avoid a loss. The
best he can hope for is a “stalemate,” but he cannot win. He has already lost too many of his key
pieces (Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen) to salvage a victory. If you look closely, there are beads of sweat
on his brow.
His
opposing player, Robert Mueller, still has his key pieces in place on the chessboard. That is why the President is attempting to
get them removed from the board. Right
now, his efforts are directed toward eliminating the “recused” Attorney
General, Jeff Sessions, and his second-in-command at the Department of Justice,
Rod Rosenstein. (Consider them to be “rooks” in chess terminology.) Rosenstein is accused of privately talking
about, but not acting on, some extreme tactics to counter the President’s
actions. That may be enough to wipe him
from the board. Trump is also trying to
eliminate his opponent’s “pawns,” the FBI, by discrediting that agency’s normal
and routine operating procedures and demanding access to the confidential
information essential to any law enforcement agency’s operation. Their “bishops” (Comey and McCabe) have
already been captured and taken off of the board.
And
when it comes down to deciding whether the game will end with the President
being the victim of a “checkmate” or a “stalemate,” that well may be left up to
the Supreme Court. They will decide
whether the President can also capture his opponent’s “queen,” which is the report which
Robert Mueller’s investigation ultimately makes, eliminating that from the
board as well. This is really, in
addition to abortion, what the battle over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to
the Supreme Court is about.
Of course,
if the Supreme Court rules against Trump, he can always kick over the
chessboard and say that he makes the rules and the game is over. Demonstrations and bloodshed might follow. It’s that serious.
JL
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