August 22, 2023

Trump vows massive new tariffs if elected, risking global economic war

The former president floats a 10 percent tax on all foreign imports, calling for a ‘ring around the collar’ of the U.S. economy

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/22/trump-trade-tariffs/

https://archive.li/rmcOP



Even in the face of growing personal legal peril, Donald Trump summoned his top economic advisers to his private golf club in New Jersey for a two-hour dinner last Wednesday night to map out a trade-focused economic plan for his presidential bid. Trump and top aides — including former senior White House officials Larry Kudlow and Brooke Rollins, as well as outside advisers Stephen Moore and former House speaker Newt Gingrich — spent the dinner discussing how Trump could attack President Biden in the 2024 election on the economy, amid a recent spate of positive economic news that has buoyed Biden’s fortunes, according to three people familiar with the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private event.

Among the ideas they discussed was Trump’s plan to enact a “universal baseline tariff” on virtually all imports to the United States, the people said. This idea, which Trump has taken to describing as creating a “ring around the U.S. economy,” could represent a massive escalation of global economic chaos, surpassing the international trade discord that marked much of his first administration. Trump’s advisers have for months discussed various potential levels to set the tariff rate, and they say the plan remains a work in progress with major questions left unresolved, the people said. On Fox Business on Thursday, the former president publicly called for setting this tariff at 10 percent “automatically” for all countries — a move that experts warn could lead to higher prices for consumers throughout the economy, and likely lead to a global trade war.

“I think we should have a ring around the collar” of the U.S. economy, Trump told Kudlow on Fox Business on Thursday. “When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically, let’s say a 10 percent tax … I do like the 10 percent for everybody.” The proposed expansion of the tariff policy — which aides say is expected to be a central 2024 campaign plank — reflects how Trump is aiming to expand the power he wielded in the White House, eyeing sweeping authoritarian measures for his second term that range from deploying the military to fight street crime to purging the federal workforce. Trump is opting not to explain this vision to voters at the first GOP presidential primary debate, being held Wednesday; Trump will not attend.

Economists of both parties say Trump’s tariff proposal is extremely dangerous. Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a D.C.-based think tank, called the idea “lunacy” and “horrifying” and said it would lead the world’s other major economies to conclude that the United States cannot be trusted as a trading partner. Although aimed at bolstering domestic production, a 10 percent tariff would hurt the thousands of U.S. firms that depend on imports, while also crippling the thousands of U.S. firms that depend on foreign export markets, Posen said. Currently, the United States imposes an average tariff on imports of just above 3 percent, according to Posen. That number is higher for some countries, with Chinese goods facing an average import duty of 19 percent.

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August 22, 2023

My Search for the River of Fly Fishing Dreams

Uncovering the secrets of the real River Why, with only a novel for a guide

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/river-why-oregon-coast-range



Six and a half miles down an overgrown dirt road, my partner and I pulled our truck to a halt before a locked gate. We were attempting to reach a river, the banks of which were still far off, and we’d have to cover the remaining miles by foot. I was nagged by a feeling that something wasn’t right, a sense that I was wasting my time here. Perhaps it was the semi-arid valley around us, a far cry from the lush ecosystem described in the 1983 cult classic novel The River Why by David James Duncan—whose unnamed river we were steadfastly in search of—but we forged ahead anyway, letting the dogs out of the back of the truck. We packed our fishing gear and set off down the rarely-used two-track toward the river.

An hour later, we stood at its banks. The torrential current frothed and churned, the water filled with sediment. I thought about the river I was looking for, which was meant to be a fly fisherman’s dream, and knew this wasn’t it. We settled in for a few casts anyway, and a quick dip for the dogs. But as we enjoyed a day on the river, a familiar question demanded consideration: Would we ever find the real River Why?



I was 14 years old when I first read the fly fishing tale The River Why. On the cusp of high school and turning a corner towards independence, I devoured it in a few days, identifying with the coming of age story and the need to strike out on your own. Fast forward two decades and I’ve moved to Oregon, a couple hours from the area where the novel is based. My partner Jenny is an avid fly fisherwoman, and our dogs, Dusty Bottoms and Bea, love nothing more than a good swim. Over the winter I spotted The River Why on Jenny’s shelf and decided to pick it up again. This time, I found myself less interested in the metaphorical lessons and more curious about the river itself.

In the novel, recent high school graduate Gus leaves home and heads into the woods to perfect his ability to fly fish. A trout stream near his secluded cabin becomes his friend, mentor, and occasional nemesis. The river is never named, but is described in colorful detail. And while the story is fictional, rumor has it that Duncan based his river on a real river in the Oregon Coast Range. The location of that river has remained a secret for 40 years. So Jenny and I set out to see if we could find it, committing the spring to fishing along this 200-mile stretch of mountains.

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August 22, 2023

State senator eyes new panel as way to punish Fani Willis over Trump indictments

Commission, starting in October, will have power to sanction and even remove prosecutors

https://www.ajc.com/politics/trumps-georgia-allies-search-for-ways-to-punish-fani-willis/LYUKIOKBJJBMBAXFD3JCWO2ZTQ/

https://archive.li/VDkIX

Several Republican lawmakers are seeking ways to sanction Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she brought criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and 18 allies. Trump backers are going after Willis using a new state law approved by Gov. Brian Kemp that creates a state commission with power to sanction or oust prosecutors found to be neglecting their duties or responsible for an array of other violations.

State Sen. Clint Dixon said Monday that he would file a complaint against Willis in October when the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission begins its proceedings, saying the indictments were sparked by Willis’ “unabashed goal to become some sort of leftist celebrity.” “Once the Prosecutorial Oversight Committee is appointed in October, we can have them investigate and take action against Fani Willis and her efforts that weaponize the justice system against political opponents,” the Buford Republican said in a social media post. “This is our best measure,” Dixon added, “and I will be ready to call for that investigation.”

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1693722940984950914
This scenario is what a coalition of opponents, including Willis and Democratic leaders, warned about during debate over the legislation. It passed this year, mostly along party lines, at the urging of Kemp and Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump supporter whose candidacy last year was backed by the former president. Kemp and Republican sponsors said it was designed to pursue “rogue prosecutors” who were ignoring their duties or flouting the law, avoiding overt mention of Willis. Even so, Democrats warned it would inevitably be used to target her for investigating Trump.

Among them was state Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick, who cautioned during debate that Republicans could try to use the new law as a “prosecutorial overthrow” bill against Willis. She said Monday that she wasn’t surprised by Dixon’s move. “The irony, as I see it, is that DA Willis has to do her very best to prosecute those involved in the interference case on Georgia,” Kendrick said Monday. “Otherwise, she may be subject to removal by this commission.”

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August 21, 2023

Peach and Chile Galette With Pistachio Frangipane

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024333-peach-and-chile-galette-with-pistachio-frangipane

https://archive.li/Mhy5q



This peach galette is sweet, flaky and topped with a wonderful kick of chile. As the galette cooks, the peaches nestle themselves into the pistachio frangipane, flavoring the rich, nutty filling as they release liquid. Lightly crushed cardamom seeds bring bursts of flavor to both the frangipane and the chile syrup, adding even more warmth to the dish. Using almond flour and buttermilk in the pastry imparts a wonderful nuttiness, and acidity too. For a perfectly flaky pastry, a scale provides the most accurate measurements when weighing out the butter and flour. Try to resist taking a slice as soon as the galette comes out of the oven: The galette develops in flavor as it rests, which is worth the wait.

Featured in: Every Peach Shines in This Tart









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August 21, 2023

Ukraine running out of options to retake significant territory

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/20/ukraine-counteroffensive-analysis-war-russia/

https://archive.li/px5Ff













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August 19, 2023

Volodymyr Zelensky visits Sweden for talks with government and royal family

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a visit to Sweden on Saturday, saying he had arrived in the country for talks with the government, political parties and the Swedish royal family.

https://www.thelocal.se/20230819/zelensky-visits-sweden-for-talks-with-government-and-royal-family

https://archive.li/qjIxc



The visit comes almost a year and a half after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as Stockholm is set on joining Nato. "Olena and I arrived in Sweden," Zelensky said on social media, referring to his wife.

He said he will hold talks focused on "partnership, defence cooperation, EU integration, and common Euro-Atlantic security." "I thank all Swedes who support Ukraine," he added.

Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden broke with its doctrine of not delivering weapons to countries at war, pledging thousands of AT4 anti-tank weapons to Kiev. Last month, Turkey dropped its former opposition to Sweden entering Nato, greenlighting Stockholm's membership bid.

However, it's still unclear exactly when Turkey's parliament will ultimately ratify Sweden's Nato membership. Moscow has said that Sweden joining Nato would threaten Russia's security, with the Kremlin hinting at possible countermeasures in July.

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August 19, 2023

Swedish Prime Minister: 'Planned terrorist attacks have been averted'

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson held a press conference after intelligence chiefs raised the terror threat level to four on a five-point scale.

https://www.thelocal.se/20230818/swedish-prime-minister-planned-terrorist-attacks-have-been-averted

https://archive.li/49k9D


From left, Swedish Security Service head Charlotte von Essen, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and national police chief Anders Thornberg. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

The level was increased from "elevated", where it had been since 2016, to "high", the head of the Swedish Security Service (Säpo), Charlotte von Essen, told reporters. "The reason for this decision is the deteriorated situation with regard to attack threats to Sweden, and the assessment that the threat will remain for a long time," she said.

Speaking at a separate press conference, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said "planned terrorist acts have been averted". "People have been arrested, both in Sweden and abroad," he said, providing no other details. At the other press conference, security chiefs told reporters that they tend to intervene at as early a stage as possible, to avoid plans of committing terror actually being put into practice.

Von Essen and Kristersson urged Swedes to continue to go about their lives "as normal" but to remain alert to anything unusual and "stay informed". Von Essen stressed the decision was not based on a "single incident", but rather a "collective assessment".

She said the attack threat "posed by violent Islamist actors has increased in the past year". "Sweden has gone from being considered a legitimate target for terrorist attacks to being considered a prioritised target," she explained.

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August 19, 2023

From God's shoes to satellites in heaven - children weigh in on religion

https://aeon.co/videos/from-gods-shoes-to-satellites-in-heaven-children-weigh-in-on-religion

August 18, 2023

A dreamy tribute to the music of Brian Eno, rendered in paint, soap and water

https://aeon.co/videos/a-dreamy-tribute-to-the-music-of-brian-eno-rendered-in-paint-soap-and-water

This short film by the French visual artist Thomas Blanchard pays tribute to the English ambient music master Brian Eno with riveting imagery built from a simple concoction of paint, soap and water. Pairing his practical effects with ‘Emerald and Stone’ (2010), which Eno co-wrote with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams, Blanchard builds an ephemeral dreamworld of flowing music and visuals that’s easy to sink into.

Director: Thomas Blanchard

Music: Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins, Leo Abrahams

vimeo.com/843191452

August 18, 2023

The polycrisis

Is this the word we need to describe unprecedented convergences between ecological, political and economic strife?

https://aeon.co/essays/the-case-for-polycrisis-as-a-keyword-of-our-interconnected-times


Smoke and flames rise over a warehouse storing ammunition in the town of Kalynivka, Ukraine, 27 September 2017. Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Sometimes words explode. It is a safe bet that, before 2022, you had never even heard the term ‘polycrisis’. Now, there is a very good chance you have run into it; and, if you are engaged in environmental, economic or security issues, you most likely have – you might even have become frustrated with it. First virtually nobody was using polycrisis talk, and suddenly everyone seems to be. But, as often happens, people seem to mean quite different things with the word. So, what does ‘polycrisis’ mean? The term reverberated at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2022, and in Davos the following January, as The New York Times noted. In the Financial Times, Jonathan Derbyshire chose it for his 2022 ‘Year in a Word’ piece, defining ‘polycrisis’ as a collective term for interlocking and simultaneous crises.

Then 2023 opened with the World Economic Forum adopting this buzzword for its Global Risks Report, highlighting how ‘[c]oncurrent shocks, deeply interconnected risks and eroding resilience are giving rise to the risk of polycrises’. The report explores the interrelation of geopolitical, environmental and sociopolitical risks. The World Economic Forum used the term to advertise the report, with headlines like ‘We’re on the Brink of a “Polycrisis” – How Worried Should We Be?’ or ‘Welcome to the Age of the Polycrisis’. A key champion of the word has been the British historian Adam Tooze, professor at Columbia University in New York, whose efforts to proselytise its fruitfulness and to define it are undoubtedly an important reason for this explosion of usage. Indeed, in October 2022, Tooze launched his monthly Financial Times column with the heading ‘Welcome to the World of Polycrisis’:



As Tooze has repeatedly noted, ‘polycrisis’ did not drop out of the blue. In the discussion paper ‘What Is a Global Polycrisis?’ (2022) from the Cascade Institute, Scott Janzwood and Thomas Homer-Dixon locate its origins in the book Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for the New Millennium (1999) by Edgar Morin and Anne Brigitte Kern. They trace its history of use in studies of sustainable transition and in studies of the European Union. A key moment often pointed out is the 2018 speech by the former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, but he had already made an attempt at a definition in an earlier speech in 2016, when he explained how various security threats not only coincide with but also feed each other, ‘creating a sense of doubt and uncertainty in the minds of our people’.

The term has emerged from relative obscurity to wild popularity, but it is crucial to note that the meanings of the word diverge. There is ‘a’ polycrisis and ‘the’ polycrisis. That is, on the one hand, people are trying to find a clear working definition of a polycrisis, to define its key characteristics, in order to forge a research concept with which to examine a diverse range of concatenations of events. With this meaning of the word in mind, there can be multiple polycrises: for example, the combination of the financial and the food-system crises around 2008-09, or the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, a hunger crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in more recent years.

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