Friday, June 5, 2015

Trade Secrets

obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, TISA, TPP, trade agreement, secret, pass it to see what's in it

Depending on who you listen to, the new international trade agreements being negotiated by Barack Obama's administration will either guarantee American prosperity and strengthened relations with trading partners, or destroy American jobs and officially deliver ownership of everything to the filthy rich World Illuminati Council (which may or may not be a subsidiary of the Clinton Foundation).

The agreements are the TISA, dealing with Europe and South America, and the TPP, which deal with Asian nations. And if you don't know much about these agreements, well, you're not alone - because the White House is keeping the details secret.

This puts Hope n' Change in an uncomfortable position; the Wall Street Journal and Charles Krauthammer have voiced support for the trade agreements, and Republicans are largely in favor. Meanwhile, Democrats are voicing strong objections - which is, after all, what Democrats do. Normally, we'd call this a slam dunk in favor of the trade agreements.

But balancing this, the agreements are being pushed by Barack "I Despise America and Capitalism" Obama, and we've already seen how his little "secrets" work out in things like Obamacare and the Iranian negotiations. And we keep hearing rumors (from Wikileaks, among others) that some of the secret language in Barry's agreements goes way beyond what would normally be considered "trade issues" and intrudes into areas relating to free speech, the climate, intelligence gathering procedures, and free healthcare for terrorists.

Okay, we made up that last one - but that doesn't mean it's not in there.  The point is that we don't know, and nobody in Washington should support any binding agreements from this administration which haven't been read and discussed in their entirety and given a public hearing.

As one wit observed, "pass it to see what's in it" is the definition of a stool sample. This time, we've at least got a chance not to get splattered when the trade agreements hit the fan.

BONUS: SNIPPY REMARKS

obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, bruce jenner, caitlyn jenner, vogue, transgender
We don't really have a lot to say about Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, because A) we believe the "pursuit of happiness" should be allowed to take circuitous routes, and B) his/her choice of gender is really no skin off our nose. Or off our anything else (gulp).

We hope Caitlyn lives happily ever after - but even more importantly, privately ever after.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bruce had real accomplishments. Caitlyn has only age wrinkles.

Joseph ET said...

I’m very concerned that the Republicans are willing, even rushing to provide Obama nearly complete control over our trade. He has assumed too much additional power already! Are the Republicans just being lazy because they don’t want to have to deal with a few mere trade treaties? Perhaps they are setting it up so they can blame Obama for everything that goes wrong with trade in the future? Here’s information directly from the WikiLeaks web site. Trade in Services Agreement - Press release

Chapters and Annexes of the TiSA text under negotiation can be found here.

"pass it to see what's in it" means we are about to get screwed again!

Fred Ciampi said...

"Secret" trade agreements? If their negotiating on 'We The People's' behalf, then We The People should know what's in the deal. Stilt, you said that a wit said "we need to pass.....". You left out the first part. That being, "half and nit". 'Nuff said, now where's my moonshine?

Fred Ciampi said...

Oops, that should be they're, not their. It's early.......

REM1875 said...

If ya see 'that'girl at closing time-don't do it!

REM1875 said...

I wanna see less of jenner, a hell of a lot less and more of the trade deal. Is that too much to ask? With our media, why do I even ask.

TMay said...

I wonder if we the people proposed a fast track impeachment of Barack Husdein Obama and the text said " ...blah blah blah... you have to pass this in order to find out what's in it, " how Barack Hussein Obama would respond.

TrickyRicky said...

Come on, what do we have to fear from "the most transparent administration, evah"?
Regarding Jenner, his family, and his sick need for celebrity; when he was going through his ch-ch-ch-changes how come he didn't opt for a big ol' Kardashian butt?

Rod said...

Both these topics are far beyond my range of understanding; they make me feel ignorant. But only the trade agreements are a concern. He/She Jenner still has more talent than the Kardashian girls, even while trying to hide his dick in her panties. The talent is about becoming a money-scooping celebrity. A cover of Vanity Fair is game-on; and dammit, we're taking notice. (I'm so ashamed)

Geoff King said...

What I understand of the trade deals is not very promising. In effect they will destroy our national sovereignty by allowing corporations to side-step federal laws. Don't like GMOs and toxins in your food and water? Too bad. If Monsanto and other corporations say you must accept them, then no amount of federal regulation will protect you from them.
Also, since the agreements attempt to even the playing field, all member nations will be forced to pay employees the same basic wages. This means countries like Vietnam will have to quadruple wages to match the US, or the US will have to pay one quarter of current wages to match Vietnam. Guess which of those scenarios the corporations will prefer?

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Anonymous- Caitlyn also has the prestigious Arthur Ashe Courage Award for showing more moxie than anyone else in sports, which a lot of people aren't happy about. But even if the decision stinks (and I think it does), that's not Jenner's fault. Blame the judges and their political agenda.

@Joseph ET- Absolutely. Giving this idiot more power and secret powers is an idea so indescribably bad that I'm amazed the Republicans in Congress aren't waving pitchforks and torches. All I can figure is that they're expecting a GOP president to get the powers after the next election - which is anything but a foregone conclusion.

@Fred Ciampi- If Barry has ever negotiated anything which was truly on our behalf, I can't think of it. I suspect this is just another effort to transfer jobs and wealth out of our country.

@REM1875- Well until closing time, you could at least talk politics with Jenner. She's apparently a conservative.

And yes, I'd like to see/hear a lot less about celebrities including Jenner and his whole sideshow family. They are a (deliberate) distraction from genuinely important issues.

@TMay- I'd love to slip Barry's impeachment or resignation into a Bill that no one plans to read.

@TrickyRicky- The only thing transparent about Barry is his desire to punish our country. Regarding Jenner, I'm not offended by his/her choice of gender, but am offended by the unending publicity circus. On a side note, I wish you hadn't put the picture of him sporting the gigantic Kardashian butt in my mind.

@Rod- I actually wanted to ignore the whole Jenner thing, but I felt like the subject of trade agreements was so dry that I wanted to throw folks a punchline in the extra cartoon. Moreover, as much as we want to ignore popular culture, it's damn near unavoidable these days.

Bruce Bleu said...

Stilton, YOU have done what only Presidents have done in the past... coined a new word. Thomas Jefferson is credited with "neologize", Teddy Roosevelt with "muckraker", and I think it was Harry Truman who invented "normalize", but NOW an unassuming citizen has perfectly encapsulated the lamont regime in a new word, "destroyAmerican"! I cannot think of a more appropriate way to document the historicity of "the one"! I just hope Webster concurs and credits YOU with this honorific achievement.

It is also understandable that lamont would mispronounce "traitor", considering his abject deficit of Americanisms and patriotic life. I would like to throw my hat in the ring for another new hyphenated word, "smart-as-a-Baggarocks-Whosinsane-Obama" and the definition is: "shitbird living in a country, but everything NORMALLY understood and accepted as a part of the culture is completely foreign to him", (and as a more specific addenda, "married to a silverback or Wookiee, can't pronounce 'corpsman', manly as a plate of quiche, rugged as a Twinkie riding a PeeWee Herman bicycle wearing a Styrofoam helmet, and the inspiration for a new product called the 'Gaffe-o-matic'").

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Geoff King- See, those are the very kinds of concerns that I'm worried about. Obama has as much as admitted that there will be some negative impact on American workers, so his plan calls for them to get skills training to help them compete. But how will that training be funded? According to multiple sources, the money will be taken out of the already overburdened Medicare system, further damaging our healthcare system. Bottom line: wealth redistribution out of America, and on the domestic front fewer jobs and worse healthcare - which will raise the demand for more government control.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@BruceBleu- D'oh! Sure enough, I did coin a new word - albeit accidentally (and now I've fixed it). Which reminds me: what kind of blood do writers have? Typo.

John the Econ said...

The problem with trade agreements is that there are usually winners and losers. The questions usually are "Will there be more winners than losers?" and "Will America be better off overall?" Needless to say, it's messy and you can be sure that those who see themselves as the "winners" and "losers" will be lobbying hard to see that their interests prevail.

Unfortunately, we already know that the government is usually pretty bad at picking winners and losers, and we also know that Obama usually doesn't choose what is best for America. Knowing this, I am also curious as to why the GOP is so eager to sign on to what Obama wants in his "secret" deal. It can't possibly be any better than his Iran deal. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm thoroughly over "Let's make it law so we can finally see what's in it" legislating.

Caitlyn: I think like most non-identity-group Americans, I'm over it. What Bruce Jenner does with his confusing circus of a life is his business and it really doesn't, or shouldn't have any effect on mine. Unfortunately, a 24/7 media culture that is far more interested in the freak show than the things we ought to be interested in makes it impossible to ignore. So, here's my only take:

If the media is to be believed, the LGTBQRTY community and some gender-feminist groups are lauding Bruce's transformation as a bold step forward. Personally, I think it's counter-productive for their cause, because it's been made a freak show for viewers. Is that what most LGTBs really want? I thought they want to be thought of as "normal"? I understand that Bruce, er, Caitlyn is or has negotiated a new reality series where he'll make tens-of-millions of dollars. (So so much for your wish that this transformation continues "privately", @Stilton) So you can't fault me for feeling cynical about this considering how much money is involved.

Also, notice that for Vanity Fair, Jenner has not simply converted himself from a man to a woman, but from 65-year-old man to a 30-something-old woman. Is that something the gender feminist should be thrilled about; confirmation that women over 40 aren't worth being?

CenTexTim said...

Fred Ciampi +1

Oversimplification, but anytime government does something it hides from the citizens it turns out to be a bad thing.

As for him/her/it ... yawn...

Now I'm going to join Fred and have some 'coffee.'

Bruce Bleu said...

I think, considering the second photo and all the hubbub generated, we need to refer to the former Wheaties face and the current Froot Loops face as "Bruce Jenitals". Walter Heyer has MUCH to say regarding Bruce trying to enter the "20 times higher suicide rate" club. Gee, could someone from Johns Hopkins Psychiatric please weigh in on this?

dk99 said...

Hermaphrodites exhibiting both XX and XY sex chromosomes aside, this "sex change" mutilation business is an unnatural abomination. Recently in California a judge ruled that a prison inmate who'd been diagnosed as suffering from "gender identification disorder" must be given "sex change" surgery at taxpayer expense. Not conflating two issues here — it's a logical outcome of society legitimizing this sort of insanity, and the rest of the unnatural sexuality agenda. After all, if it's a real disorder, and prisoners are entitled to medical care ... just fill in the blanks. That same agenda further destabilizes society and helps destroy the family, glib references to unfaithful heterosexuals also contributing to the destabilization aside. The more fragmented families become and the less emotional support individuals have, the easier it becomes to enslave the masses.

chef621 said...

On the trade deal...looks like one more step closer to the One World Order thing to me.

On Caitlyn....wonder what she will do when she gets tired of being Caitlyn. Photo editing sure does wonders doesn't it!!!!

Colby Muenster said...

About ten years ago, the company I work for built a manufacturing facility in China. If I have learned nothing else since then, it that the Chinese are back stabbing opportunists, who will stop at nothing to steal, copy and put you out of business using your own ideas and designs.

So, yeah, we should absolutely trust them to honor a trade deal concocted by O'Snake-in-the-grass.

If I were to magically become President, I would push like HELL to get the corporate tax rate reduce to zero. You would see companies pulling out of China faster than you can say the word money. And dollars to donuts, the fed would end up with waaaaay more tax money than now.

The only trade deal I'm interested in is one that puts China, Singapore, Malaysia and the rest of the backstabbers out of business.

Oh, and Jenner? One word... meh.

Uncle Dirt said...

The continuing hubbub over Bruce's life change led the little woman the other day to wonder if he/she is now "trans-jenner".

O-zero continues to destroy any signs of American sovereignty or economic health. I fear for the future, to say nothing of the present.

PRY said...

Uncle Dirt, your comment is a kindred spirit to the way I feel in general...we're goin' downhill fast! Loved the 'trans-jenner', very apt!

But, God is STILL in control, believe it or not! Everyone have a great weekend!

REM1875 said...

Ahhh the American media, in jenners case .04% of the population is huge, @20% of Americans smoke, one in 5, easy small minority to target, less than 2% are lbgtxyz-huge, 74% i.d. as Judeo-Christian -just a tiny number, crazy moms against gunowners numbers in the thousands- huge. Tens of millions of gun owners -small. NOW less than a million members -huge number, speaks for all American women.
We have started to find out that fringe lunatics especially right wing fringe lunatics as the media refers to them may contain up to @75% of the population.
So the problem is not bias, it's simple math.I am positive common core math will fix this problem.

Juanita The Icon said...

Hey putas!

Anonymous said...

Guess who reposted todays comic strip on Twitter. Allen West!

https://twitter.com/AllenWest/status/606912635309846530

Anonymous said...

RE: TransJenner: The Vanity Fair shoot is well done; but if he/she is really going to compete with the K. girls the media must see him/her naked. Not so much T&A; but hands & feet. Wide angle lens at close range will help with the butt.

Rod said...

Is it simple coincidence that TransJenner was timed precisely with FDA approval of Flibanserin? Talk about redundant coverage. What's going on? We may not be giving our old champ enough credit.

Boligat said...

With the exception of really weird chromosome combinations that some people are born with, I use the following rubric:

Born with male parts and wants to be male = he
Born with female parts and wants to be female = she
Anything else = it

So why would Vanity Fair put it on the cover? It sells. I refuse to get into the multiple pronoun issue, same with names. It's a Jenner. Period. No first names required.