To make matters more complicated i believe (but may be wrong) in Japan Tokyo and Osaka have opposite conventions. So it can even come down to the city level.
The problem with choosing your own reality is that when it doesn't bear any resemblance to actual reality, you will inevitably be forced to face up to it at some point.
Humans generally hate to admit when they are wrong so creating a version of events where you didn't make a mistake is easier.
They can't admit it because it's an echo chamber. Trump tells them what they want to hear. They feel smarter for being validated by the president so they ignore the nagging voice that things aren't going to plan because the only possible explanation is NOT that they were wrong and don't understand these complex issues, but that even though they can't see the full picture, they were right. Then all the other people in the same position agree that 4D chess is being played and they all voted a smart vote and the endorphins flood their brain again
Trump has said that other countries are ripping off the USA which creates the impression that foreign companies are selling goods far higher than they are worth.
That means that people who believe Trump likely think that the foreign companies have enough margin to soak up the tariff, I.e. Pay it themselves, in order to keep doing business. Then the ripping off stops and those foreign countries just grumble that their gravy train is over.
In reality, they are not and never were ripping off the USA in the way that is being suggested. Republicans seem to have forgotten that the market forces they used to talk about being so important have put a downward pressure on prices to some extent have prevented price gouging wherever there is competition and no collusion. Even when the goods come from overseas.
Now due to the tariffs, the cost of doing business with the USA went up. So if they want to keep selling products in the USA, they need to cover the cost of the tariff, and the only way to do that and stay in business is to pass the tariff on by increasing their price to the customer. They can still sell that product outside the USA at its original price but they may choose to increase those due to reduced volume sold over all since the USA will likely buy less.
By labelling the surcharge for the tariff they are simply highlighting the reason for the increase in price. As they should. I fear though that posts like this show that even when the reason for increased pricing is made clear, people will still choose their reality and not believe or understand the causes and motivations.
"The US separation of powers, a cornerstone of the Constitution, divides governmental authority into three distinct branches – legislative, executive, and judicial – with each branch having specific powers and responsibilities, preventing any one branch from becoming too powerful"
If the president is responsible for appointing judges, then the judiciary is not and never was a separate power. While it required a rather unlikely series of deaths and retirements, in close proximity, the judiciary is under trump's control because he has control of the supreme Court having appointed several.
Tesla: Due to the attacks on our dealerships and stock, we currently only have refurbished cybertrucks to offer. Here is one which has the panels reattached. It's just like it came out of the factory.
Customer: wasn't that mine that I just returned?
Tesla: yeah but this time we used gorilla glue. Please ignore the finger prints and hairs that got stuck to it. We let Elon's kid stick them back on for a photo op. He only got his hand stuck 5 times.
Tesla: alternatively we've got this one going cheap. It only has one swastika painted on the side that we couldn't get off, otherwise it's brand new.
I'm not trying to be a nay-sayer, but what does this actually achieve?
He's not disrupting a vote. He's only talking. While I'm all for the Democrats doing something this doesn't actually achieve much. Chick Schumer had a chance to actually disrupt this administration but he didn't.
So I am genuinely asking, if the Democrats are not preventing the Trump administration from pushing bills through e.g if this were a fillibuster,, how does this help?
I'm neither American nor Canadian , but I just wanted to offer up that the worry I think comes with age. When I was 9 the Berlin wall came down. Before that, there was a constant spectre of nuclear war hanging over the world thanks to the cold war.
Our parents lived through those times presumably worrying while I as a child was blissfully unaware of what the cold war really meant. When I was 11 the gulf war started. Again I knew about it, but I didn't really understand what terrorism was or what was happening in Iraq. Then in 2003 gulf War 2. I was a little more tuned in to politics by now, so I was a little more concerned about it but it was still something happening far away.
By the time Russians invaded Ukraine in 2022 I had a daughter. This time although it was a far away war, I was glued to updates, scared for the future of my daughter (and myself). I wonder if back when the cold war was going on if our parents were similarly worrying and freaking out when we weren't looking.
I dont want to downplay the threat, but people have had the exact same thoughts and feelings we are having before and on those occasions it worked out, ok. Not for everyone of course but for the western world.
That gives me faith that even though there are bad people doing bad things, humanity on the whole is good. Maybe there are peaks and troughs along the way, and maybe we are going through a trough right now, but I am hopeful that a self correction is coming that will start us climbing back up to a peak.
I mean, she has a hugely important job. Leaking details of an attack plan is as bad as it gets but if she can't remember details like this a mere two weeks later, she isn't for for the job either.
How can she make operational decisions if her memory only goes back less than two weeks???
In the normal world everyone on that chat would be fired but we are in Trump world now so everyone just shrugs.
Nixon would never have stepped down if watergate happened in today's world.
Except for the fact that he is single handedly responsible for a massive decrease in teslas value. I would not bet on anything he touches because even if he were loved inside the US, he is now despised everywhere else.
Tesla was built on left wing progressive ideals and so was spacex, and solarcity, etc etc. Musks turn to the right betrays all of those who liked his companies for ideological reasons.
I don't expect tesla stock to recover any time soon.
Every time I read something about the USA in the last few weeks I think "Wow that's shitty. How can it get worse?"
In short order, the answer to my question is served up. I find it worse when the victims cannot speak or stand up for themselves. Though horrible things are happening to a wide range of victims at least they can protest, take action etc. The dogs cannot. I only hope that the handlers make sure the welfare of these animals is taken care of despite the order. They do not deserve to be pawns in the MAGA game, but then no one does.
"don't worry, our AI suggested swapping your order because it predicted you actually prefer chicken based on your order history which it got from facial recognition when you walked in so we started preparing it before you ordered which also meant we'd get your order out 9.4 second faster! Isn't it so clever, eh?"
"what about my drink, I didn't order diet coke?"
"we gave you diet because our AI indicated that you probably have diabetes based on body weight analysis and McDonald's is committed to healthy eating as well as maximising profits"
"I want to talk to the manager."
"the manager was replaced by AI last month, corporate felt on site managers were one of the biggest expenditures for the branches and felt AI can offer more value. I'm sure the AI will be able to help you at that terminal over there. If not, we can escalate to the corporate AI which is authorised to offer 1% off coupons and has a slight antisemitism problem..."
"the terminal over there? The one with the queue 30 minutes long?"
"yep, that's the one. Have a great day!! Oh it looks like our conversation took longer than the time we saved. Oh well, isn't AI though"
Government response should be....
"While the government sympathises with your plight and considers protecting its citizens a core duty, recent events have left the government under manned and thus powerless to protect those who cheer on the downsizing of the government until it directly affects them. Therefore please accept our apologies but until such time as staffing levels allow us to focus on anything but the absolutely vital functions of government which are already more than we can handle, we will not be able to offer you any support."
To make matters more complicated i believe (but may be wrong) in Japan Tokyo and Osaka have opposite conventions. So it can even come down to the city level.