Maybe we should start thinking about plan B….

[FlyerInHi]

I’m not into cars anymore so I haven’t kept up with the rules

There used to be California cars and Federal cars so you couldn’t buy a new car from out of state and bring it to CA. But if you were from out of state and moving to CA, or had a second home elsewhere, you could bring your preownwed car to CA. There used to be an impact fee that was ruled unconstitutional.

I think CA and Federal regulations have merged and/or automakers decided to make all cars CA compliant. But there are still differences in aftermarket parts.

[ucodegen]

[quote=flu]it’s interesting how much power the prez has with executive orders….[/quote]
Yes.. but they are ephemeral – prone to evaporate in the next election. I guess that is good though. It prevents a President from having permanent powers of a monarch. For permanence, a President needs to go through Congress.

One thing that amazes me, and it applies to both sides of the isle, is that neither side seems to realize that the powers they grant to themselves through uncontested use may end up going to the other side on the next election.

[ucodegen]

[quote=flu]Looks like acting AG just weighed in saying travel ban is unlawful…

We’re going to have a gridlock government over the next 4 years. This means it should be great for all of us that want government to leave us alone 🙂

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/donald-trump-immigration-order-department-of-justice/index.html%5B/quote%5D
Nothing in the Constitution states that the country has to accept certain Visas and Immigrants.

As for gridlock, I have always felt that gridlock is best. Only the better laws survive gridlock (well almost since they do seem to jack up their paychecks even though everything else is gridlocked)

[ucodegen]

[quote=FlyerInHi]
There used to be California cars and Federal cars so you couldn’t buy a new car from out of state and bring it to CA. But if you were from out of state and moving to CA, or had a second home elsewhere, you could bring your preownwed car to CA. There used to be an impact fee that was ruled unconstitutional.
[/quote] Correct, provided any aftermarket parts were CARB approved.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
I think CA and Federal regulations have merged and/or automakers decided to make all cars CA compliant. But there are still differences in aftermarket parts.[/quote]
The second one – make all cars CA compliant. There is one exception that I know of – a Jeep Wrangler with a diesel engine (much loved by true offroad’sts – high torque, good gas mileage). To bring this into California, it must be at least 2 years old (last time I checked)
Supposedly there is going to be a 52 state version in 2018.. we’ll see.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=ucodegen]

I don’t consider the Chinese official good, but I do think that the veteran journalist started realizing that he was being stonewalled, with questions not really being answered and wanting to avoid conflict while the Chinese official didn’t care.

Mainland Chinese are educated into the official party line at a very early age. It becomes almost rote. What the Chinese official did was defer followed by party line statement that was not really related to the question. There is a Chinese born miss World Canada that talks about this. Here is her statement on the propaganda and thought control/conformity:

Here is some meddling at personal affairs, reaching down into other nations – directly affecting individual citizens:

[/quote]

You’re talking in general terms. And I agree about China in general.

However, the Chinese official was precise. Sean Spicer is a moron who said the islands are international territories. Wrong. They are Chinese or maybe Malaysian, Vietnamese, … whatever.

That just shows you that Trump and his people are not knowledgeable about policy.

On Korea, Trump wants China to intervene. In negotiations, a person of average intelligence would react: “you want it, so do it yourself, or pay me to do it for you. But try first, then we’ll see how much the job is worth”

Unfortunately for Trump, the real world is not NY real estate.

[ucodegen]

[quote=FlyerInHi]
However, the Chinese official was precise. Sean Spicer is a moron who said the islands are international territories. Wrong. They are Chinese or maybe Malaysian, Vietnamese, … whatever.
[/quote]Precise maybe, but incorrect. The Chinese want to cloak their claims with legitimacy. I refer you to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which incidentally China signed up to – but is basically violating. I also refer you to the 2016 PCA Tribunal ruling per Philippines v. China.

[quote=FlyerInHi]
That just shows you that Trump and his people are not knowledgeable about policy. [/quote]
Predictable segway into anti Trump/Trump bashing.

[quote=FlyerInHi]
On Korea, Trump wants China to intervene. In negotiations, a person of average intelligence would react: “you want it, so do it yourself, or pay me to do it for you. But try first, then we’ll see how much the job is worth”
[/quote]
China backs North Korea and starts sabre rattling whenever anyone else wants to deal with North Korea. Trump’s position is simple – if you (China) want(s) to back North Korea, you (China) take care of dealing with and the responsibility of any actions taken by your ally – or stop backing North Korea and we’ll take care of it.

[FlyerInHi]

Ucodegen, I hate to sound like I’m defending China. I’m not. I want our liberal democratic values to win, but Trump is clueless.

But the facts that you posted don’t give the US standing to get involved. Plus Philippines won the arbitration case against China, why don’t they enforce, and why is Duterte kissing ass to Beijing? Maybe if China is interfering with shipping lanes. But they are not.

China has bilateral trade with North Korea. So what? If the US doesn’t like North Korea’s nuclear program, why is that China’s responsibility?

In countries around Asia there are pro US and pro China factions. So far, the pro China, authoritarian factions are winning because TPP is dead.

Now Trump is creating a rift with Australia. Nice!

[ucodegen]

[quote=FlyerInHi]Ucodegen, I hate to sound like I’m defending China. I’m not. I want our liberal democratic values to win, but Trump is clueless.

But the facts that you posted don’t give the US standing to get involved. Plus Philippines won the arbitration case against China, why don’t they enforce, and why is Duterte kissing ass to Beijing? Maybe if China is interfering with shipping lanes. But they are not.[/quote]
How are the Philippines going to enforce against China? Who has the stronger military force? The US does have standing in international waters. Read the case. Spratleys are considered ‘rocks’ because they are barely above high tide, if at all. See also the ruling I noted with regard to international waters, coastal waters etc. China is trying to make the entire area ‘their’ coastal waters.

So I guess your plan is to wait until there is a real international incident and then whine about it? China works on a long term plan – many moves ahead. They operate with more than a 15 second ‘sound bite’ style of concentration and planning.

[quote=FlyerInHi]
China has bilateral trade with North Korea. So what? If the US doesn’t like North Korea’s nuclear program, why is that China’s responsibility?

In countries around Asia there are pro US and pro China factions. So far, the pro China, authoritarian factions are winning because TPP is dead.[/quote] It is China’s problem because they are propping up their reckless ally. The US is not the only one concerned about NK’s behavior. Try studying some of their actions with respect to shelling an occupied SK island and torpedoing a SK destroyer in international waters – just to start with.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
Now Trump is creating a rift with Australia. Nice!
[/quote] Try reading the terms of the Refugee transfer that is causing the (so called)rift. Australia initially took Refugees from Syria (among others), then suddenly changed their mind after they were about to be settled in Aus – Obama signed (executive order I believe) that he would take them near the last year or so of office – (maybe he knew that he would not be around when the transfer actually occurred). Trump is saying hold on, wait a minute. You (Australia) picked them up now suddenly want to toss the ones you don’t want over to us? Why? The Aussie prime is now in a squeeze – with refugees that he wants to pawn off but can’t.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38837263

interesting note:

All of the occupants of Manus Island are male. By far the largest number are from Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq. There are also sizeable contingents from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar.

[FlyerInHi]

Ucodegn, the US, like any other country can act unilaterally. That means going it alone and directly confronting another great power without allies/proxies like Phillipines and Vietnam, or Japan, South Korea, Australia who have core interests in Asia. .

Ok, Trump alone can fix it. He will spend trillions more of our money. And in the end that will hurt the average American he claims to represent.

My prediction in that in 4 years things will be more broken than they are today.

Plan B in Canada is not too bad. While we are closing ourselves off from the world, Canada is welcoming the world.

[ucodegen]

[quote=FlyerInHi]Ucodegn, the US, like any other country can act unilaterally. That means going it alone and directly confronting another great power without allies/proxies like Phillipines and Vietnam, or Japan, South Korea, Australia who have core interests in Asia.
[/quote]
Whatever happens in the world, the US is often asked to do something about it. Look at the response in Europe to the possibility that Trump is going to make nice with Russia/Putin. Besides, somehow you jumped stating that the US does not have standing, which I showed was not the case, to a strawman argument of the US going it completely alone.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
Ok, Trump alone can fix it. He will spend trillions more of our money. And in the end that will hurt the average American he claims to represent.[/quote] Further strawman.

[quote=FlyerInHi]
Plan B in Canada is not too bad. While we are closing ourselves off from the world, Canada is welcoming the world.[/quote]You don’t welcome the world by prostituting yourself to gain acceptance. It only gets you used. Sweden is learning some of it the hard way. The action on Australia was to stop prostituting ourselves for acceptance. Australia as an ally is important, but at what cost?

[FlyerInHi]

The US standing on the Pacific Islands is very weak. It would be much better if we empowered the phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia to challenge China on the territories themselves, not just access to navigation.

Trump is pissing off our allies. Peter Navarro criticized Germany. The UK is pursuing a trade deal with china even before they do with us. We will not have any friends left but Putin. Is Putin really a friend?

[Author]

Posts