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Trump dials idiot up to 11, and his Trumpeters follow

June 24, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

You can’t make this shit up. The GOP today does its own version of Spinal Tap by dialing it up to 11.

Martin Longeman writes at the Political Animal Blog, Trump Takes Idiot to Eleven in Scotland:

Writing in the New York Times, Ashley Parker casts some shade on Donald Trump’s triumphant reaction to the U.K.’s decision to separate from the European Union.

Early in June, Mr. Trump did not even know what Brexit referred to, and as recently as Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that his opinion on the referendum was insignificant because he had not been following the issue closely.

Amazingly, Trump landed in Scotland today to promote his golf course, seemingly without realizing that the Scots are pissed as hell about the outcome of the referendum.

In a stunning display of tone-deafness, he told the assembled reporters how great it was that the U.K. has asserted its independence. And then proceeded to explain how the tumbling English pound would help his golf course make money.

Brexit makes a global recession more likely

June 24, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

I have been warning you for months now about the economic slowdown in China, China economic news: Asian indicators likely to confirm slowdown continues, and uncertainty over the pending Brexit vote in Britain.

As I was streaming the BBC News election coverage last night, I was reminded of George Taylor (Charlton Heston) in this famous scene from Planet of the Apes (1968): “We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

As I was watching returns, “the British pound fell more than 10 percent Thursday night, reaching $1.34 per pound, after midnight Eastern time, a stunning decline for a rich country’s currency in a single day.” The stunning collapse of the British pound, in charts.

When it became clear that “Leave” the EU was going to win, the next dominoes to fall were Prime Minister David Cameron announcing that he would resign in October, and the global markets responding with steep declines. Britain’s shock vote brings swift consequences as leader to resign, markets plunge:

A day after British voters defied widespread warnings of economic and political peril should they cut ties with the European Union, the country reckoned with the consequences as markets tanked across the globe, the prime minister said he would resign and the United Kingdom felt the renewed pressure of a breakup.

The cascading developments, all within hours of the result of a deeply polarizing referendum, reflected a country shocked by its own decision.

* * *

[I]n the short term, the pessimistic view appeared to be winning out Friday as the country endured layer upon layer of self-inflicted turmoil — and a sudden question over who would lead Britain at a crucial moment.

With Britain still absorbing the dawn news that the country had voted by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent to withdraw from the E.U., an emotional Prime Minister David Cameron appeared in front of 10 Downing Street on Friday and said he would step down after championing a failed campaign.

The Brexit: anti-immigrant xenophobia behind exit from EU

June 24, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

The front page of the Daily Mirror today from Britain.

Britain leaving the European Union has frequently been portrayed as a desire to leave an overly regulated and overly burdensome economic system in which British “sovereignty” was suppressed in favor of a European identity. Late in the campaign, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), led by a Donald Trump–style populist demagogue named Nigel Farage adopted this nationalistic slogan, ‘Let June 23 Be Our Independence Day’.

The Brexit was never really about the EU economic system. The nationalism expressed by Nigel Farage represents a nativist, anti-immigrant xenophobia in Britain.

Tie vote in SCOTUS leaves stay order of President Obama’s DACA and DAPA immigration orders in place during litigation

June 23, 2016June 23, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

The “Dreamers” (DACA eligible) and their s (DAPA eligible) have been waiting for years and living with doubt and uncertainty as to whether they will be allowed to stay in the U.S., or will eventually be deported.

In the most anticipated case of the term, U.S. v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court today delivered an anti-climactic per curiam opinion because the Court is tied 4-4. Opinion. The Court effectively told DACA and DAPA eligible immigrants that they must continue to wait, perhaps for years, while this case works its way through the lower courts back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decision to allow the nationwide stay order of U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen to remain in place, upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, would have been the same were Justice Antonin Scalia still on the court, but a 5-4 decision.

Moody’s: Trump’s economic plan would be a disaster

June 21, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

According to a new analysis from Moody’s Analytics, if all of the economic policies presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has proposed on the campaign trail were to become reality, the U.S. economy would plunge back into recession, losing millions of jobs. Trump’s Economic Plans Would Result In A Long Recession, Analysts Say:

The heart of Trump’s economic proposals come down to tax, trade, and immigration policy. He’s put forward a tax package that experts have found would cost $9.5 trillion and hand nearly all of the benefits to the wealthiest. He’s promised to levy huge tariffs on imports from countries like China and Mexico and he’s railed against trade deals. And he says he’ll deport 11 million undocumented immigrants while building a wall along the Mexican border.

If all of that were to happen just how Trump proposes it, Moody’s analysis finds that the American economy would dip into a recession beginning in 2018 that would last through 2020 — longer than the Great Recession. It estimates there would be 3.5 million fewer jobs and the unemployment rate would rise to a peak of 7.4 percent, as opposed to the current rate of 4.7.