"Under Trump’s tariff fest, countries face very different tax rates. This provides an enormous incentive to mask the origins of goods imported into the United States. This may be done by actually changing the production process, for example shipping components from China to Vietnam where they will be assembled into a refrigerator or television set. Or it could just mean writing on the box “made in Vietnam.”

In fact, it would be reasonable to suspect that something like this is taking place. Our imports from China through October were down by 25.3%. At the same time, imports from Vietnam increased by 40.4%. You’re welcome to believe that Vietnam suddenly became a much more attractive source for U.S. importers, but it seems more likely Chinese companies have figured out how to circumvent Trump’s tariffs."

deanbaker22.substack.com/p/don…

#USPolitics #Tariffs #DeanBaker

January 7:

Renée Good was murdered by ICE which then, with the aid of Trump and his administration vilified her and blocked any accountability for her murder,

Last Thursday:

"U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, was one of seven Democrats who helped pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that gives $10 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Today:

It’s unacceptable to have another needless death in Minnesota, and it’s unacceptable to have elected officials, candidates, and administration officials continue to throw gas on this fire, or tacitly encourage assaults on law enforcement and anyone else. The situation is…
— Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (@RepMGP) January 25, 2026

"I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…"

openculture.com/2025/02/carl-s…

#USPolitics

Despite my resolution to keep the bad stuff out of my head this time around, too much has already leaked in. Not so easy to see the end of all we worked, sacrificed and struggled to accomplish.

But life goes on. The fragrance of roasted millet. The sparkle of sun on the snow. The laughing, little girl, wielding a pink snow shovel, fighting back against efforts to clear the sidewalk.

#USPolitics #Personal