Trump Imposes Tariffs
Reuters wrote on March 7:
“U.S. President Donald Trump pressed ahead on Thursday with import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent for aluminum but exempted Canada and Mexico and offered the possibility of excluding other allies, backtracking from an earlier ‘no-exceptions’ stance.
“Describing the dumping of steel and aluminum in the U.S. market as ‘an assault on our country,’ Trump said in a White House announcement that the best outcome would for companies to move their mills and smelters to the United States. He insisted that domestic metals production was vital to national security.”
“A Declaration of War”
thestar reported on March 2:
“In Europe, there appears to be a growing assumption that diplomacy alone is not working in dealing with the current U.S. administration.
“European officials have not minced words in recent months regarding a U.S. president they often consider to be an obstacle rather than an ally. But President Donald Trump’s announced intention to impose punishing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum triggered an especially sharp backlash Friday from a number of countries.
“Officials in Germany, which exports more steel to the United States than any other European country, were among the most vocal critics Friday. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, whose criticisms of Trump have almost become routine, called the U.S. decision ‘unfathomable.’
“’We must do everything we can to avoid an international trade conflict,’ Gabriel told German daily Die Welt.
“Bernd Lange, a German Social Democrat and head of the European Parliament’s trade committee, offered a more brutal assessment. ‘With this, the declaration of war has arrived,’ Lange told German public radio Friday morning.”
From The New York Times on March 7:
“European Union officials unveiled an array of tariffs on Wednesday that they would place on American-made goods if the United States followed through on President Trump’s plan to impose penalties on imported steel and aluminum, raising the specter of a trade war…
“Such a move by the United States would ‘put thousands of European jobs in jeopardy, and it has to be met by a firm and proportionate response,’ Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union commissioner for trade, said at a news conference in Brussels. European officials have been meeting with their counterparts in Washington, urging them to revisit the plans, she added.
“If the American tariffs are put in place, Ms. Malmstrom said, Brussels would take three steps: It would take the case to the World Trade Organization, add safeguards to protect the European Union against steel diverted from the United States, and impose tariffs on a series of American-made goods.”
President Trump: “Trade Wars are Good…”
thestar wrote on March 2:
“Trump declared on Thursday that the U.S. will impose punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, escalating tensions with trading partners and raising the prospect of higher prices for American consumers and companies.
“U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday insisted ‘trade wars are good, and easy to win,’ a bold claim that will likely find many skeptics, including those on Wall Street and even some Republicans.
“Trump has declared that the U.S. will impose punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, escalating tensions with China and other trading partners and raising the prospect of higher prices for American consumers and companies. After the announcement Thursday, stocks closed sharply lower on Wall Street. China has expressed ‘grave concern.’
“Early Friday, Trump took to Twitter to defend himself: ‘When a country (U.S.A.) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!’
He later tweeted: ‘Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!’
“Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican responded that trade wars are never won.
“’Kooky 18th century protectionism will jack up prices on American families — and will prompt retaliation from other countries,’ he wrote in a statement. ‘Make no mistake: If the President goes through with this, it will kill American jobs — that’s what every trade war ultimately does. So much losing.’”
Angela Merkel Prevails—But Weakened
The New York Times reported on March 4:
“Germany’s Social Democrats voted in favor of forming another government with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, ending nearly six months of political limbo and setting Europe’s economic powerhouse on a path to the political stability it craves — at least for now.
“The results announced on Sunday clear the way for Ms. Merkel, who was long considered a de facto leader of Europe, to remain in the chancellery in Berlin for four more years. It will also allow her to work with President Emmanuel Macron of France on overhauling the European Union in what many consider a crucial year…
“But Ms. Merkel will lead a diminished coalition, and many predicted that the country, shaken by the prolonged uncertainty that followed inconclusive elections in September, would not be the same again. Both main parties received their worst postwar results in those elections.
“By now, the ‘grand coalition,’ as the tie-up is known, looks anything but grand: In polls, it no longer commands a majority. And the far-right Alternative for Germany party, AfD, now the official main opposition in Parliament, has been gaining momentum.”
Italian Elections—A Push to the Right?
The Associated Press published on March 5:
“Since the European Union’s founding treaty was signed in Rome more than 60 years ago, Italy has been an unabashed booster of increased unity and common purpose. That may have come to an end.
“Euroskeptics and populists rode a wave of hostility toward all things EU and surged to the fore in Italian elections on Sunday, turning the founding EU nation into a potential obstructionist just when the bloc was emerging from a decade of economic gloom and seemed poised to rekindle its grand ambitions.
“Beyond moving away from the EU policies in Brussels, the Italian results were the latest indication that the continent is tilting further to the right.
“Sunday’s stunning outcome came at the end of a seesaw day for the EU that started out well enough when the German Socialists finally threw their weight behind a staunchly pro-Europe grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“Now, it seemed, the Merkel-Emmanuel Macron partnership was on and the German-French engine was primed to push a core group of EU nations toward more unity.
“Then, Italy’s results started to come in and the message from Italian voters was clear: ‘Don’t necessarily count on us.’ Instead of a smooth ride under fair weather economic conditions, the bloc should brace for more of the chaos and havoc that anti-EU populists have spread in many member nations over the past few years.
cbcnews added on March 5:
“European leaders reacted with caution to the results.
“French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday the election result was a reminder of the challenges tied to migration.
“‘Italy has, it’s undeniable, suffered for months and months under the pressure of migration,’ Macron said in Paris.
“A top aide for German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that despite Italy’s election showing no faction winning a clear majority, she hopes ‘Italy will manage to build a stable government and especially a government in the spirit of Europe.’
“The general-secretary of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said Monday in Berlin, ‘the view across the Alps to Italy today is not an easy one, because it’s not foreseeable after this difficult result … how long it will take to get a government, whether there will be one at all, and who will lead such a government.’
“A German trade lobby group urged Italy’s next government to be ‘constructive’ about the European Union’s future course to ensure the two countries’ economies continue to thrive.
“The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry says it is ‘of great importance for the German economy whether Italy can form a stable government and continue following the path of reform it has set out on.’
“In Brussels, a European Commission spokesperson said it was confident a stable administration could be formed, ‘and in the meantime Italy has a government with whom we are working closely.’”
Regardless of the surfacing of movements to block the unification of Europe, that process is now taking place on several fronts—especially in the area of European militarization. PESCO, The Permanent Structured Co-operation, is the recently approved (December 2017) European defense pact. Twenty-five of the EU’s current 28 members have signed up — Britain, Malta and Denmark are not involved. Note the article below…
German Industry Responds to PESCO
DefenseNews wrote on March 6:
“The leading German defense industry group is urging its members to position themselves for new business through the European Union’s Permanent Structured Cooperation mechanism ― that is, if PESCO proves to be worthwhile in the first place.
“In a new whitepaper, the Federation of German Security and Defence Industries warns that domestic firms could miss out on a expected uptick in common spending, as Germany’s role in an initial batch of 17 PESCO projects is fairly vague. The projects were approved in December.
“Berlin is on tap to lead the formation of a European Medical Command, act as a major player in military logistics, guide training-related initiatives and build a European Union Force Crisis Response Operation Core.
“In contrast, France and Italy claimed topics with a heavy industry focus. France will advance a European secure software-defined radio, while Italy heads a section devoted to armored combat vehicles.”
Trump Administration Sues California
The New York Times reported on March 6:
“The Trump administration escalated what had been a war of words over California’s immigration agenda, filing a lawsuit late Tuesday that amounted to a pre-emptive strike against the liberal state’s so-called sanctuary laws.
“The Justice Department sued California; Gov. Jerry Brown; and the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, over three state laws passed in recent months, saying they made it impossible for federal immigration officials to do their jobs and deport criminals who were born outside the United States. The Justice Department called the laws unconstitutional and asked a judge to block them.
“The lawsuit was the department’s boldest attack yet against California, one of the strongest opponents of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb immigration. It also served as a warning to Democratic lawmakers and elected officials nationwide who have enacted sanctuary policies that provide protections for undocumented immigrants.
“‘The Department of Justice and the Trump administration are going to fight these unjust, unfair and unconstitutional policies that have been imposed on you,’ Attorney General Jeff Sessions planned to say on Wednesday at a law enforcement event in Sacramento, according to prepared remarks. ‘I believe that we are going to win.’”
Win or lose, this is a sad commentary on the state of these “United” States of America!
Netanyahu Compares Trump…
The Los Angeles Times wrote on March 5:
“Netanyahu offered an enthusiastic endorsement of Trump’s decision in December to recognize the divided city of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, which previous administrations had refused to do in hopes of furthering peace negotiations.
“Netanyahu compared Trump to Cyrus the Great, an ancient Persian king who conquered a vast empire and allowed the exiled Jews in Babylonia to return to their ancestral home to rebuild their temple.
“‘The Jewish people have a long memory,’ Netanyahu said. Trump’s decision, he said, will be ‘remembered by our people through the ages.’”
Shameful Hypocrisy of Gay Priests
Newsweek wrote on March 5:
“A 1,200-page dossier containing the names of 34 ‘actively gay’ priests and six seminarians in Italy has been sent to the Vatican by the archdiocese of Naples.
“The allegations were compiled by Francesco Mangiacapra, a gay male escort who told local media he couldn’t put up with the priests’ ‘hypocrisy’ any longer…
“Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, an Italian Cardinal and the current Archbishop of Naples, said in a statement that none of the priests who were named in the dossier were stationed in Naples. He claims he forwarded the document to the Vatican because ‘there remains the gravity of the cases for which those who have erred must pay the price, and be helped to repent for the harm done.’
“The large file contains explicit WhatsApp messages, erotic photos and other evidence, but none of the 40 priests and seminarians were accused of paedophilia or having sexual relations with minors. ‘We’re talking about sins, not crimes,’ Mangiacapra said.
“The dossier is the latest in a string of sex scandals that have rocked the Italian church and Vatican.”
There is simply no justification for this behavior.
Stephen Hawking’s “Belief”
Newsmax reported on March 6:
“Stephen Hawking said Sunday he believes that ‘nothing was around’ before the so-called Big Bang that led to the beginning of the universe, USA Today reported…
“‘(I use a) Euclidean approach to quantum gravity to describe the beginning of the universe,’ Hawking said on the program about the Big Bang, which he believes happened nearly 14 billion years ago, per USA Today.
“‘The Euclidean space-time is a closed surface without end, like the surface of the Earth,’ Hawking continued. ‘One can regard imaginary and real time as beginning at the South Pole, which is a smooth point of space-time where the normal laws of physics hold. There is nothing south of the South Pole so there was nothing around before the Big Bang.’
“Hawking had previously said that events that happened before the Big Bang ‘have no consequences that can be observed,’ so there is no way to measure what happened, according to Tech Times.
“‘The universe will evolve from the Big Bang, completely independently of what it was like before,’ Hawking said on his website. ‘Even the amount of matter in the universe can be different to what it was before the Big Bang, as the Law of Conservation of Matter, will break down at the Big Bang.’”
However, the Bible shows that Someone was around before the so-called Big Bang occurred—and here is what He says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). That is the truth, and we can believe it!
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