Well... it's Trump... again. #47, here we go.

[bilby]

Next he will be deporting dogs like German Shepards, Japanese Chins or Brussel Griffins, and Austrian Shorthair Pinchers, for barking in their native tongues.

Nah, Austrians speak a kind of English, though they do say "Crikey!" a lot. Haven't you seen Crocodile Dundee??

(Seriously, souvenir shops in Vienna now stock kangaroo and koala themed tat, because the owners got fed up with constantly having to correct American tourists...)

 

[Tigers!]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

 

[Swammerdami]

I see questions here like "WHY the stupid tariffs?" or "What is the REASON to appoint the incompetent Hegseth?" To associate words like REASON or WHY with the Orange Moron is to misunderstand him completely. Why does Sylvester the Cartoon Cat do what he does?

If you insist on trying to comprehend Trump's philosophy, let me again recommend Fire and Fury. Twice now I've typed a sentence into Google, hoping for an easy copy-paste. Twice I've gotten many hits, e.g.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/188983.Michael_Wolff?page=9
And it does appear that much or all of the book is online: https://bookreadfree.com/874/27061

... American visitor ... Australia ... I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

A standard meme -- though not entirely joking -- is that Americans think New Mexico is a foreign country.

The last episode of White Lotus is just released on Max. (Tonight I'll have to choose between it and episodes of The Undoing (2020) with Nicole Kidman.)
White Lotus came to mind from Tigers!' mention of "Where are the mountains?" because in the series an American tourist conflated Taiwan with Thailand, despite being in Thailand. I've heard that conflation at least a dozen times, always from Americans.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

Clearly, you were wrong. Instead of an occupation of driving people, you need to start some kind of business, like a bar or mini-golf course and call it "The Alps."

 

[ideologyhunter]

There are no kangaroos in the Alps???? That's not what they taught us in 4th grade.

 

[lostone]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

Clearly, you were wrong. Instead of an occupation of driving people, you need to start some kind of business, like a bar or mini-golf course and call it "The Alps."

There Was a tavern, back in the 1950s, in the town that I grew up in, Washington NC, called the St Moritz. When we toured Switzerland I actually visited the original St Moritz. Great cheeses.

How many people know, offhand, without looking it up, where old Zealand is?

 

[Tigers!]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

Clearly, you were wrong. Instead of an occupation of driving people, you need to start some kind of business, like a bar or mini-golf course and call it "The Alps."

There Was a tavern, back in the 1950s, in the town that I grew up in, Washington NC, called the St Moritz. When we toured Switzerland I actually visited the original St Moritz. Great cheeses.

How many people know, offhand, without looking it up, where old Zealand is?

Holland?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

China responds and the market is opening over 1000 pts down. Now the question is, how do the blithering idiots in the White House respond... and is there any shot in hell of the GOP deciding to jettison this fuck over tariffs? The 1000 pts today is likely just the start of a plummet.

The issue is the Trump Admin invented a tariff rate that isn't based on the tariffs charged by others. So it will be a bit hard to negotiate with such an irrational starting position by Trump.

 

[lostone]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

Clearly, you were wrong. Instead of an occupation of driving people, you need to start some kind of business, like a bar or mini-golf course and call it "The Alps."

There Was a tavern, back in the 1950s, in the town that I grew up in, Washington NC, called the St Moritz. When we toured Switzerland I actually visited the original St Moritz. Great cheeses.

How many people know, offhand, without looking it up, where old Zealand is?

Holland?

It's part of Denmark. Contains Copenhagen. Maybe Trump will conquer it!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

The extent we learn about Australia in American schools is it is a continent and the capitol is Sydney. We didn't learn history about Mexico or Canada other than if it directly impacted us (Mexican War, War of 1812). Learned even less about South America.

Based on what my daughter is learning, it has improved a bit.

 

[Swammerdami]

Keeps getting dumber.

Trump fires six national security staffers after meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer

Trump ally presented him with opposition research against a number of officials that she said showed their disloyalty

www.theguardian.com

Mike Waltz not included.

Laura Loomer is a conspiracy theorist of the MTG school, but much dumber. And kookier. She's been banned from several social media platforms; evicted from events; has orchestrated various hoaxes; and has described herself as being "pro-white nationalism" and a "proud Islamophobe." She convinced Trump to fire several important top security staff (he'd doubtless never heard of), probably making him think it was his own idea:

... One NSC official [whom Trump fired] had recently criticized Trump on social media and others had ties to Republican establishment figures like the senators John McCain and Mitch McConnell, whom Trump despises.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

And as Trump inspires a bear market, he begins pressuring Fed Chairman Powell to cut interest rates!

This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always ‘late,’ but he could now change his image, and quickly," Trump posted on social media, adding "CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!

Trump is apparently trying to cause hyperinflation. Like actual hyperinflation, not the hyperbole conservatives were whining about.

 

[bilby]

Once I had to pick up an American visitor from Tullamarine airport (Melbourne, Australia) and take him into the office in the CBD of Melbourne. As we were driving down the Tullamarine freeway he said that he was suprised at what he was not seeing. I expected him to ask "Where are all the kangaroos"? Instead he said "It is very flat. Where are the mountains"?
It took me a moment to realise he probably thought he was in Austria.

Clearly, you were wrong. Instead of an occupation of driving people, you need to start some kind of business, like a bar or mini-golf course and call it "The Alps."

There Was a tavern, back in the 1950s, in the town that I grew up in, Washington NC, called the St Moritz. When we toured Switzerland I actually visited the original St Moritz. Great cheeses.

How many people know, offhand, without looking it up, where old Zealand is?

It's in the Netherlands. They spell it 'Zeeland' though. Lots of Australasia was named by Dutch explorers based in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

The whole Australian continent was once called "New Holland"; Why they changed it I can't say, folks just liked it better that way.

The Danes never bothered much with the Southern Hemisphere, and New Zealand has no direct relationship with Zealand, Denmark.

 

[Elixir]

And as Trump inspires a bear market, he begins pressuring Fed Chairman Powell to cut interest rates!

This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always ‘late,’ but he could now change his image, and quickly," Trump posted on social media, adding "CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!

Trump is apparently trying to cause hyperinflation. Like actual hyperinflation, not the hyperbole conservatives were whining about.

He obviously thinks lowering interest rates would stimulate the markets as they have in the past. Powell knows that it would reek of panic and therefore probably worsen the Trump Crash. Trump benefits when people ignore him. That’s how fucking abysmally STUPID he is.

 

[ImGod]

They need lower interest rates to keep the US debt service costs down.

https://www.usbank.com/investing/financial-perspectives/market-news/national-debt.html

"The rising costs associated with the federal government’s large accumulated debt add to the challenge. Interest rates jumped significantly beginning in 2022. As a result, interest costs on the debt are a larger component of federal government spending. The average interest rate for all federal government-issued interest-bearing debt has jumped in recent years, to 3.28% as of December 31, 2024. That’s more than double the average interest rate paid in 2020."

 

[Loren Pechtel]

View attachment 49858

Eat the rich is the leftist equivalent to MAGA. Probably even worse for society.

No eating at all involved. They'll still be billionaires.

That's MAGA level "thinking".

What does that wealth represent? A huge amount of productive equipment etc. You can't eat it. You can't get rid of it without big long term damage. Just look at Mexico's oil industry. The government treated it like you want to treat billionaires.

 

[Derec]

Holland?

 

[unapologetic]

Eat the rich is the leftist equivalent to MAGA.

It may come to that.

maybe the SCOTUS will argue that Trump isn’t a “person”.

That seems like an argument that no one can deny. OTOH, could or would will it encourage one more argument on how to define personhood?

Which court was it, that granted corporations personhood? Could the 'Trump Organization' Run for Prez?

got fed up with constantly having to correct American tourists...

I know the difference, but have ocasionaly been acused of not knowing, online, just because I can't spell either one.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Canada's PM Carney might have found a solution. Instead of negotiating with Trump he has said 'We are moving forward without America.'

This will take attention away from Trump which Trump will hate. Pretty much wapking out of the room of a screaming toddler.

 

[lostone]

Eat the rich is the leftist equivalent to MAGA.

It may come to that.

maybe the SCOTUS will argue that Trump isn’t a “person”.

That seems like an argument that no one can deny. OTOH, could or would will it encourage one more argument on how to define personhood?

Which court was it, that granted corporations personhood? Could the 'Trump Organization' Run for Prez?

got fed up with constantly having to correct American tourists...

I know the difference, but have ocasionaly been acused of not knowing, online, just because I can't spell either one.

If the Trump organization ran for President would it avoid the Constitutional issue of a third presidency for Trump?