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Give Trump A Chance

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Another old friend (I have lots of old friends, and they’re all freaking out) wrote an amazing piece in Medium that is definitely worth a read. In the piece, he suggests that in the face of CFAF (Conservative Friends and Family) who insist that you should “Give Trump a Chance”… that you should. Accede to their request, shut up about him and what he’s doing.

But… with conditions:

you want me to keep my stupid liberal mouth shut? You want your fucking glorious leader to bask in the light of Heaven and lead us to the promised land? Fine. But now YOU bear the burden of keeping him in check. YOU are the watcher at the gates. I’m not asking you to say you’re wrong. And I promise I won’t yell ‘ha!’ in your face. This isn’t some gotcha game. I know exactly where my boundaries are, and what I am willing to tolerate. I have drawn a line and know when it is crossed. It has been crossed so many times this week I feel like I can’t even see straight…

So, to be clear… my line has been crossed. What I want to know is this…where is your line and when it is crossed?

Source: Give Trump A Chance – Dan Hagerty in Medium

Historical Reminder: Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act

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Being on the brink of a renewed protectionist urge in the US, it’s worthwhile to review the history on this kind of policy.

The Tariff Act of 1930 (codified at 19 U.S.C. ch. 4), otherwise known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff or Hawley–Smoot Tariff, was an act sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley and signed into law on June 17, 1930. The act raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods.

The tariffs under the act were the second-highest in the U.S. in 100 years, exceeded by a small margin by the Tariff of 1828. The Act and following retaliatory tariffs by America’s trading partners helped reduce American exports and imports by more than half during the Depression; but economists disagree by how much.

Source: Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act – Wikipedia

Re: Russian Spy Accused of Treason

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Josh Marshall is following an odd but disturbing bit of news out of Russia. Note that this is going on as Trump officials are being investigated about their ties to Russia. Has someone in the White House “outed” one of the US’s own assets to the Russians?

Last night I noted that a top Russian spy who is the number two person in the FSB department which allegedly oversaw the US election hacking operation had been arrested and charged with treason. Was he a sacrificial lamb and olive branch to Trump? A way for Putin to claim that his spy services had perhaps gone rogue? Or was he suspected of being a source to US intelligence? People who fall from grace in Putin’s Russia are often dealt with with trumped up criminal prosecutions. But treason is a special charge.
Well, now we have reports that Sergei Mikhailov is suspected of being a US asset at the heart of Russian intelligence.

Source: Wow, It Gets Bigger

Donald Trump said 11 false things in his first major TV interview as president

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Astonishing. Not much more to say.

WASHINGTON—Trump sat down with ABC’s David Muir on Wednesday for his first major television interview as president. He showed no sign of abandoning his campaign penchant for littering interviews with false claims. We counted 11 — not including the outlandish but uncheckable claim that he was told he received “the biggest standing ovation since Peyton Manning had won the Super Bowl.”

Source: Donald Trump said 11 false things in his first major TV interview as president | Toronto Star

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