Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/07/08/even-the-fireworks-were-corrup.html
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Talk about explosive revelations.
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My mom called it. I can’t wait for more information to surface, like the bones of the dead in a newly dug underground pool.
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Quite the bombshell.
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A bit like a reverse gunpowder plot?
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Dumb question, was there an actual. well, parade? hundreds of people marching down the middle of the road passing a reviewing stand? tanks actually moving? missiles carried on the backs of trucks?
I understand there was a flyover, but never saw any footage of an actual parade
Seems to me that even North Korea does the military parade thing way better than Trump
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Prior to the era of free trade agreements, tariffs were primarlily a tool, not of serious national policy, but as a way to favor domestic groups. Jack up the tariff on foreign steel to help out a supporter, cut the cost of imported grain to please another.
All, of course, at the cost to the American consumer. Because, after all, they’re sheep to be sheared.
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It may have been corrupt, but it somehow still wasn’t the worst ever fireworks show put on by a president. James K Polk takes that honor:
One newspaper reported “Indeed, we understand that nothing of the kind half so brilliant was ever before seen in this city.” The celebration was marred however, by an unfortunate accident as several rogue fireworks discharged in the direction of those assembled along the south wall of the White House Grounds. A man sitting on the wall named James K. Knowles, a local carpenter, was killed outright and about a dozen others were injured in this incident.
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And sometimes, the tariffs intended to help companies ended up biting them on the ass. The 1960s “chicken tax” on imported light trucks, that was meant as retaliation for a European tax on chicken from the US, ended up with Ford going to ridiculous lengths to import its own Transit Connect van. They built them in Turkey with a full passenger interior, shipped them to Baltimore, and rolled them into a facility whose entire purpose was to rip out the passenger interior and replace the excess glass with steel panels. Meanwhile, Daimler-Benz sent knocked-down Sprinter kits to be reassembled stateside.
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cheeto narcissistic dick-wag fascism fiesta.
FIFY!
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Cultural sidelight: AFAIK, fireworks bigger than sparklers and firecrackers are technically illegal in Ohio ( I remember trips to FL in my youth; a high point was stopping for illicit Roman candles in TN or KY on the way home.) Don’t worry, we’ll make them here and send them far, far away!
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Wait - so he postponed ALL the tariffs, not just those on fireworks?
Ehhhh - that sounds to me like the work of more than just one man with $3/4 million worth of fireworks.
If this is the result of just ONE guy with only $3/4th a million blocking $300 BILLION worth of tariffs - then - uh - good? That’s a hell of a lobby! Too bad he can’t just do the right thing for no reason, but this is next to no reason. This guy is a goddamn hero.
I’d argue they are STILL overall getting hella good protectionism from that tariff, even though it isn’t enough and they are looking to cheat the system set up to protect them.
The truck market is solidly Ford and Chevy thanks to this tax, as they don’t have to compete with so many other companies directly like they do with cars (and are losing to Honda and Toyota). Nissan is the 3rd big maker and they are made (at least mostly) in the US due to this tax.
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No, it was intended to end tariffs just on fireworks imported from China. In the blurb quoted above it refers to “tariffs that effect his business”. If it’s mentioned elsewhere as “all tariffs”that’s inaccurate.
I was happy to see the humidity resulted in a low hanging cloud of smoke that prevented anyone from enjoying said $750k in fireworks. You couldn’t see a damned thing. I went home and happily watched NYC’s:/ Macy’s fireworks and they were truly spectacular.
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Well that’s my question - the pullquote from the ABC article said, “Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks.” Which sounds like all the tariffs.
Hmmm I wonder how big of a Walmart gift card he would need to drop the rest?
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Who, pray tell, didn’t see that coming?
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45’s wasn’t the very worst, only because nobody died or got injured; low fucking bar.
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Well, we still don’t know how corrupt the whole event was - we’ll have to wait to see if Trump uses footage of it in a campaign ad. (At which point, good luck trying to get him to repay the costs of the event.)
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Kinda like Jack Daniels being made in a dry county.
Still makes me laugh that such a thing exists…
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Just another friendly bribe.
Nothing to get hung about.
Nothing like emoluments.
What matters: who owns whom, and the price.
US pols are always cheap.
Trump for $750k? Bargain.
The art of the cheap deal.
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