Alan Zweibel

Trump seems to think it's sufficient evidence that a country has a trade surplus with the United States. Except when he doesn't. Like the cases of Brazil and Australia where the US actually runs a surplus with those countries. And he's still imposed tariffs on them. And then there's the case where he said the prime minister of Switzerland rubbed him the wrong way in a conversation so he imposed higher tariffs.

It can be both.

Are college degrees required for the majority of jobs in all those fields? What percentage of the American workforce is that in toto?

As I noted, I did it in error. But why did you think it was significant? So you're claiming the college degrees are universally required in all these fields? If not, you should come up with some actual data that shows what percentage of positions in each of these fields is stipulated for holders of some sort of decollege degree. And the total numbers. As it stands, all your offering is vagueness.

The point you raised. That you cited college graduates not graduate students. Why is that distinction significant? As for workers in manufacturing. I don't see how that's relevant given that only 8% of American workers labor in manufacturing.

That's true. What you did say was this: "The left is all for guaranteeing $200K student loans that qualify graduates to work at Starbucks because it props up the universities, but is against banks refusing loans to people that are bad risks." Why do you think that distinction is significant?

I think Trump has demonstrated that he can be rude in any culture even without the assistance of body odor.

The 48 Hours That Convinced Trump to Change Course in Minnesota Within hours of the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged Pretti had attacked officers and was brandishing a gun, labeling the actions domestic terrorism. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said Pretti wanted to massacre law enforcement. And Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s aggressive immigration strategy, called Pretti a “would-be assassin.” It wasn’t long before that narrative started to fall apart—and Trump started to get frustrated, according to administration officials. Roughly 48 hours after the shooting, Trump decided to change course, moving to pull back one of his administration’s most high-profile and divisive immigration-enforcement campaigns. By the end of the day Monday, Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar who advocated for a more targeted approach to deportations, was en route to Minneapolis to take charge. Gregory Bovino, the face of the hard-edge approach employed in Minnesota, was leaving the state. https://archive.ph/MiS7k#selection-2545.0-2545.444 The Lawyer for the Agent Who Shot Renee Good Thinks ICE Has Gone Too Far GOP candidate Chris Madel, who is representing ICE agent Jonathan Ross, is dropping out of the Minnesota’s governor’s race, saying national Republicans ‘have made it nearly impossible’ “I can’t look my daughters in the eye and say I’m running as a Republican, when they’re pulling over Hispanics and Asians because of the color of the skin and what they look like,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “I did not sign up for that.” https://archive.ph/oFyAf

So you don't know. Thanks at least for answering the crucial question.

Right. It was the Davos crowd that TACOed.

So, when Biden inherited the Presidency there were no illegal aliens in the USA? It seems you are claiming not that Trump has a problem with illegal aliens per se, but only the increase that occurred during the Biden Presidency.

Who's "they" and what percentage of them are there that are doing work that doesn't require a college degree?

Still ??????????????????????????????? I have no idea what you're writing about. But it can't be anything valid since you're taking the usual recourse of people who have nothing and are making it personal instead.

Or maybe you need an editor.

More like Friends of Facts: In a sharp decrease from the past level of military assistance for Ukraine, the NDAA includes $400 million in funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) for new arms intended for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027. To put this into context, the April 2024 Ukraine supplemental aid bill included nearly $14 billion in USAI funding. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/whats-in-the-new-us-defense-bill-for-ukraine

This is not about humanitarian aid. I doubt there are many protesting that. It's about military aid to various factions. And as far as I know, the US hasn't provided military aid to any faction in Sudan. Maybe you know differently? But the President of the UAE, whom Donald Trump has called a "magnificent man" is the chief backer of the bloodthirsty RSF. The UAE is the country that the Trump family engages with in dubious business deals. And by the way, I don't know where you got that $5 billion figure for US humanitarian aid to Sudan. The Biden administration gave about $2.4 billion. And shortly after taking office the Trump administration slashed that aid.

+ "but is against banks refusing loans to people that are bad risks." If anyone has got it backwards on this issue, it's you. The whole point of tighter regulation on banks was to kill the incentives for making high risk loans with depositors' money. "Yes, during the 2008 financial crisis, many financial institutions used depositor funds and other, more volatile, short-term funding sources to finance high-risk lending and purchase risky mortgage-backed securities. While traditional commercial banks are usually associated with safe lending, the expansion of the "originate-to-distribute" model—combined with the deregulation of banking activities—meant that deposits were heavily exposed to the collapsing housing market." Thanks for the cliched comment about student loans. Can you share with us a breakdown about what percentage of graduate students with 200K in loans end up doing menial labor? I won't hold my breath waiting for you to provide data.

I see you have no answer for the fact that most people unfortunately will not be interested in matters that their countries aren't directly involved in. Maybe if the current US administration starts contributing to some depraved faction there, as that "magnificent man" President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan if the UAE has been doing, you'll see an uptick in protests.

??????????????????????

Riclag really has to learn the meaning of hypocrite.

Well, after all, these ICE agents are the crème de la crème... ICE is struggling to hire officers — even after lowering its standards https://www.ms.now/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ice-hiring-standards-dhs-immigration-police-rcna239656

Why didn't I get the memo that connda has been appointed spokesman for the left? I thought he was the spokesman for Russia. Is this a promotion?

Well, if your remark is intended as a generality and not just directed at unblocktheplanet specifically it could be because people are more concerned with issues that concern their own countries. So, if the United States starts backing one side in Sudan to the tune of billions of dollars per year and affording it a special considerations in other ways, then it can be expected that in the situation will perk up.

In other words, you've got nothing.

Because you're such a great history on the financial industry is deregulated? Oh I get it. This Time it's different.