News Story of the Day: This new round of trade negotiations between the United States and China is do or die. If they pass a trade deal, then bully for us. If they do not, then may God have mercy on our souls.
According to the South China Morning Post, White House advisor Michael Pillsbury is sounding the alarm that tariffs could spike to 50% or even 100% should talks fail.
Does the president have options to escalate the trade war? Yes, the tariffs can be raised higher.
These are low-level tariffs that could go to 50% or 100%.
There are other options involving the financial markets, Wall Street, you know, the president has a whole range of options.
I believe President Trump uses social media, especially on China, to convey his thinking. So I reject the idea that I or anyone else is some kind of adviser to him on China.
His focus is revealed frequently in the tweets that I think everybody should take very seriously as presidential statements.
Scary!
Chart of the Day: There have been two prime ministers since he resigned, but he remains the nation’s most disliked politician. Who is he? Former Prime Minister Cameron! Second place is tied between Laboour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Conservative Member of Parliament George Osborne.
Illustration of the Day: One of the least trusted members of the press is probably Brian Stelter. He is a walking contradiction and hypocrite and has less credibility than Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow.
Quote of the Day: We often celebrate those who fought in war, but what about those who choose to abstain and refuse to be pawns of the state? The ultra-talented Natalie Danelishen writes about the Conscientious Objector:
If we have freedom: are we not responsible for what we do and what we fail to do? History is littered with stories about valor and bravery on the battlefield. Men who went off to war, who fought, and died. But what about the men who refused to fight?
The World War II draft operated between 1940 – 1946, and inducted some 10 million men into forced military service. Of those 10 million men, approximately 72,000 were conscientious objectors, of which 25,000 entered the military in noncombatant roles, another 12,000 went to civilian work camps, and as Robert Higgs points out in the book, The Cost of War:
The government also imprisoned nearly 6,000 conscientious objectors- three-fourths of them Jehovah’s Witnesses- who would not comply with the service requirements of the draft laws.
One of those American conscientious objectors was Desmond Doss. During World War II he refused to carry a weapon and kill the enemy. Despite this, he is credited with saving 75 of his fellow soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa. To this day he is the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions on the battlefield.
….
Conscientious Objectors refused to be pawns and knew that war was morally unacceptable, with some paying the ultimate price. Sadly, in a sense, there is a case to be made that these Conscientious Objectors were the only ones who truly did their job and upheld their oath.1 For all members of the military are instructed: they have a duty to obey all lawful orders, and conversely, they also have a duty to disobey unlawful orders. This principle is embedded in the precedent of the Nuremberg Trials whereby Nazi war criminals invoked the “just following superior orders defense” and were nevertheless found guilty as the orders were found to be illegal. It is worth noting at this point, that illegal orders can happen at any time, wartime or peacetime, civilian or military.
These are the men and women who we should celebrate, too!
Tweet of the Day: Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been caught wearing blackface and brownface, should he lose the election in 2019? Ben Shapiro has the right answer:
Trudeau thoughts:
1. Trudeau should not lose his PM spot over this. He should lose it because he’s a bad PM.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 20, 2019
Video of the Day: You have probably seen that cute video of two toddlers running to each other and giving each other hug. Turns out it was a racist incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1YyEvNfXEM
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