I'll admit it -- when this speculation began mounting yesterday, I wasn't remotely sold on the idea that Palin was poised jump aboard the Trump Train when so many influential figures within the conservative talk radio constellation are at long last blasting The Donald and rallying to Cruz. The Palin speculation seemed even less plausible when this rumor leaked:
Multiple little birdies tell me Jerry Falwell, Jr. is going to endorse Trump for president and come to Iowa with him tomorrow. Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) January 18, 2016
Falwell bestowed a fulsome introduction upon Donald "Two Corinthians" Trump just yesterday -- much to the dismay of many in the evangelical community -- so Deace's report made sense. Surely that's the big announcement and "special guest" Trump's been pumping on social media, right? Not so fast, my friends:
Oh my. The jet is headed to Ames, then hopping over to Tulsa? Exactly mirroring Trump's campaign itinerary? Dude. This might actually be happening. And what a splash it would make less than two weeks before Iowa. Should Palin's endorsement both come to fruition (there have been cluesalong the way), and push Trump over the top, emotionalist nationalistic populism will have officially supplanted principled, policy-driven, limited-government conservatism as the currently dominant strain within the American right-wing. I'll leave you with this, because why not at this point?
Cruz went to the floor of the Senate to publically call McConnell a liar . Cruz said that his vote for tpa was cast on the basis that McConnell assured him there was not a deal made with the Democrats to support the Ex-Im bank renewal. But McConnell made a separate deal with the emperor ,and the Ex-Im was added to the highway bill . Cruz has taken on the Washington establishment ,often by himself in the hall of the Senate .
Trump chastised Cruz for calling McConnell a liar .
Ethanol subsidies is a big deal . Cruz won't compromise his principles even if it may cost him the Iowa caucus .Trump on the other hand has no principles and is a corporatist who favors government subsidies at the tax payer expense to corporate interests.
You fear Trump like that piece of shit Eric Cantor
Unfortunately I do think that if there were to be a Trump administration the casualty would likely be trade, said Eric Cantor, a former Republican House Majority Leader and now vice chairman of Moelis & Company. Thats a very serious prospect for the world.
"Unfortunately I do think that if there were to be a Trump administration the casualty would likely be trade, said Eric Cantor, a former Republican House Majority Leader and now vice chairman of Moelis & Company. Thats a very serious prospect for the world.
Cantor is right in this case . The last businessman who became President ;and signed off on a trade war was Herbert Hoover . He did that right before the market crashed and the Great Depression began.
Nobody "forces " Congress to change laws . That is the lie you bought . The Constitution, through the Commerce Clause, gives Congress exclusive power over trade activities with foreign countries.
Nobody "forces " Congress to change laws . That is the lie you bought .
A corporate court has ruled that the U.S. must face $1 billion in tariff punishment because a law U.S. consumers wanted for protection of health and safety has cost foreign companies some profits. The U.S. Congress is being told they must repeal the law or we face billions in punishment. U.S. courts dont get a say. We the People dont, either.
Thats what free trade agreements have done for us lately.
COOL
The U.S. has country of origin labeling (COOL) rules for meat labels as part of rules that notify customers about the source of certain foods.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that informing consumers discriminates against Mexican and Canadian companies, thereby violating the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The court decided that American consumers might, for one reason or another, prefer to buy meat born, raised, slaughtered and packaged in the U.S. to meat from other countries that might or might not have lower health and safety standards. Since this preference would hurt the profits of Canadian and Mexican corporations, it violates the agreement.
The U.S. labeling effort began when mad-cow disease was discovered in cattle in other countries. That was pretty big news at the time. The rules also come out of concerns that some countries have lower health and standards than the U.S. So Congress passed a law requiring that meat and other foods be labeled so consumers can make up their minds about what to purchase.
But NAFTA allows Mexican and Canadian companies to sue the U.S. if the U.S. passes laws and/or impose regulations that might hurt their profits. The WTO has decided giving consumers the ability to know where their food comes from can hurt the profits of non-U.S. corporations and is therefore a violation of NAFTA.
Its Out Of Our Hands (And Sovereignty)
Ninety-two percent of the U.S. public wants the meat labeling rules. But what the WTO rules is what has to be, because we are a party to NAFTA. Congress has passed and the president has signed NAFTA, so We the People cant do anything about this not through our courts or our legislative bodies. No U.S. court can review this ruling. We cannot vote to overcome it. It is out of our hands and beyond our countrys sovereign ability to do anything about it because we signed that away so corporations can increase profits.
Congress is not required to change the law, but Canada and Mexico can now begin to impose tariffs that will hit U.S. jobs and communities. We cannot impose counter-tariffs to balance this out, so Canadian and Mexican goods will have an advantage in U.S. markets. (See: Taxation without representation.)
How did we end up here? We were promised that NAFTA would benefit our economy, bring jobs and higher wages to U.S. workers, etc. Of course, that is not what happened. Our trade deficit increased. Manufacturing jobs went south, so shareholders and executives could pocket the wage differential (while Mexicans family farms were wiped out, forcing northward migration). And, of course, now we cant even tell people where their meat is coming from so consumers can decide if they want to purchase it.
TPP
This ruling is a particular concern now, because the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is coming before Congress for approval. TPP has similar corporate court provisions, and would open up our country to lawsuits from corporations in many more countries including subsidiaries of U.S. corporations.
Giant multinational corporations and Wall Street stand to benefit from TPP, because it will enable even more offshoring so shareholders and executives can pocket the wage difference. Their lobbyists (both in and out of government) will tell you that TPP cant make us change our laws. For example, in May President Obama gave a speech at Nike headquarters to promote TPP. He said that warnings that TPP could undermine American regulation food safety, worker safety, even financial regulations was just not true. He said: Theyre making this stuff up. No trade agreement is going to force us to change our laws.
This is technically correct but just barely. Congress doesnt have to change the law. But the COOL case shows how we face tariff penalties that cost jobs and hit communities if Congress doesnt. Perhaps billions of dollars of economic damage that we cant do anything about wont force Congress to change the COOL law.
We should not sign way our sovereignty to corporate courts concerned only with corporate profit.
This would be a good time to call your representative and senators and tell them you do not want them to vote to approve TPP.
P.S.: Just last month the WTO ruled that our dolphin-safe tuna labels are a technical barrier to trade. So consumers wont have information that lets them decide if they want to purchase tuna that is caught with or without killing dolphins.