Thursday, May 17, 2018

The monster they created ...

...  is now out of control. Trump bashers are now begging others to stop bashing President Trump because they've realized all that constant non-stop bashing is helping Trump.

What's taken them so long?  Jeeze, it's been a year and a half already.

You really aren't so smart as you think. The best line of the article at All News Pipeline comes at the end.
It is highly ironic that some of the very same people that spent the last couple of years bashing president Trump and howling about Russia at the top of their lungs, are suddenly pushing a concentrated message to stop talking about Russia and stop bashing the President, because it is helping him, not hurting him.
Those internals must have been really, really, bad.
Not just regularly ironic, highly ironic.

The article has a sweet graphic Les Deplorables in the style of Les Miserables, another text on photo listing the five groups trying to destroy President Trump; media, Democrats, deep state/intelligence, weak establishment Republicans and never Trumpers, and a video of SNL Mother's Day cold open.

The article cites Democrats talking to other Democrats, complaining about too much focus on Russia, even as it is themselves providing the leaks that form the basis of media discussion. Democrats are complaining about media concentrating too heavily on Russia while the media are themselves Democrats, so they're talking to themselves. And the leaks continue, they're not leaking anything good about the administration so they're not providing anything worthwhile for media to discuss.

* Daily Beast headline: Dems Give Up on Trying to Get Cable News to Care About Anything but Russia.

The article describes how Democrats organized to formulate their strategy for 2017 leading up to 2018 elections. The developed a comprehensive legislative and messaging plan centered around running against the concentration of economic power, mostly within the pharmaceutical industry, and a multi-faceted approach to enhancing conditions for workers inside and outside the workplace. The effort was titled prosaically, A Better Deal.

The party wanted a flashy debut so they held their announcement in a Virginia town that Democrats expect to flip. And right then Jared Kushner stepped out to a mass of cameras proclaiming his innocence to having any collusion with Russia or knowing anyone else on the campaign who did, and pffft, there went the Democrat's splashy announcement subsumed to interest in Russia, the interest they created themselves.

The Daily Beast ignores all the extensive documentation of Democrats spending all of 2017 and most of 2018 talking about Russia even as places like Real Clear Politics, Rasmussen, and the Telegraph and many more places were discussing their unseemly obsession.
Granted CNN is obsessed with porn stars, strippers and Russian sex coaches, but all mainstream media outlets, papers, and democratic politicians have been pushing the Russia narrative since the 2016 presidential election.
Another recurring theme over the last three days has been the steady stream of statements by Trump-haters, Trump-bashing comedians, Democratic politicians, journalists and op-ed writers, ironically claiming that there is too much Trump-bashing, and too much focus on President Trump, and Americans have had enough. 
Examples given are Jimmy Kimmel, NYT coumnist Nicholas Kristof, Brian Stelter, SNL.

Former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, a celebrity in his own right, wrote an op-ed that is a warning to journalist, comedians, neverTrumpers and all Trump haters by explaining that Trum pis more popular than Dems want to admit.
It’s not going to be easy, given his policies and personality. It might even mean checking into a 12-step program. But setting a winning agenda is like maneuvering an aircraft carrier. It takes time to change course. And if they want to be on target for the November midterm elections, the Democrats need to start changing course now. 
Like it or not, a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days. They are making money. They feel safe, and they agree with with the president’s protectionist trade policies, his call for more American jobs, even his immigration stance. 
Errrrrrk, hard brake sound.

I'm tired of reading about Democrats talking to Democrats in their preciously loose Democrat language.

If Trump's economic policies are protectionist, then China's economic policies are super protectionist, and Europe's economic policies are hyper protectionist, and Asia's economic policies, apart from China, are especially protectionist. Once again, for the millionth time, and I realize this can never sink into their thick pointed heads now that their language is ossified, Trump's economic polices are balanced, and reasonable and fair. Trump's detractors constantly conflate free trade with being the world's patsy.

The discussion is about global trade. But now I'm changing the subject somewhat. I'm going to talk about something personal instead, because it bears on global trade.

I want new shoes for the summer. A couple of pair will do. I want something that could be worn with jeans. Something that isn't too hot. But not sandals, and not sports shoes such as you see on everyone. I don't want something you throw in the washer, and I don't want shoes that stink. No shoes that harbor bacteria. No plastic shoes. That leaves leather shoes.

I saw these boots that I think look nice so I bought a pair. I'll probably buy a second pair in another style. But these are not really for summer. Check 'em out. Thursday Boot Co. I get a lot of complements on the boots that I bought. I wasn't expecting anyone to notice. And now I must have these.


Are those cool, or what? The photo is kind of dorky with the pant leg rolled up. Here's a better photo except suede, not light brown.


So, I like this style a lot. It's a new thing with me. I never did like this type of thing before, but now I do. The kids make them look great. And so can I. This works for me. 

But I need something right now for summer. And finding the light color like this that's not suede is a bit of a challenge. 

Zappos has similar style that are not boots. They have a full range from under $100.00 to over $600.00, and you know what? When it comes to shoes you really do get what you pay for. There is an awful lot of craftsmanship that goes into making shoes, and very good amount of that is skipped by mass production techniques, glues, stitching, materials, sizing, dyes, and attention. This pair is mid-range at $300. There is nothing goofy about them, such as white rubber sole, cheap ass padding inside, imitation stitching, and glued layers of rubber sole, unbreathable materials and the like. This would be a fairly good shoe. 

I could wear them with jeans, of any color, as my wont, green, orange, red, yellow, and regular blue. 

Now, on to global trade. My purchase with Wish was an experiment. Their website makes offers too good to be true. They are not true. First, they are total bait and switch. The item show at the price shown is never available once you click through and select your size and color. 

The shoe is described as originally $300.00 marked down to $20.00. But then the actual price is $27.00. No biggie. This is an experiment anyway. 


They don't look too bad. Hard to say. I don't know. 

The package arrived, I opened it and the entire apartment was immediately filled with the nasal-penetrating chemical scent of cheap plastic dye. Not leather dye, plastic dye. A horrible odor that permeates everything all at once including your lungs. One imagines the slave workers at the factory dying like flies and swept out with a janitor's broom. Horrible. 

Wrong color. Hard plastic sole. Fake stitching connecting uppers to lowers, they're actually glued. The leather is apparently plastic-leather. Pleather, perhaps, It does not have the feel of real leather. The stitching throughout the uppers is the same thread used for shirts. Exceedingly thin, near non-existent. 

They're like shoes produced by Martians with no concept of real shoes but reproducing the likeness of shoes derived from photographs of them, but having no feet of their own, no sense of their purpose. I could not believe the plastic soles, the imitation leather uppers, the wrong thread, everything glued, the insoles just ridiculous, and the horrible debilitating disqualifying hazardous materials odor. 


Wrong color. If I wanted blue, I'd have ordered blue. Did I say 蓝?  

Black
Blue
Yellow
Grey

I ordered yellow(?), I get blue. 




Tongue white thread outside, black thread inside, meaning the two pieces are glued together, not sewn.



Hard plastic sole, not rubber. The same plastic used for ... I don't even know what. 

I expect these shoes to fall apart the first wearing. I expect them stink up my whole body and smother my feet to death. 

The shoes cannot even be donated. They must be destroyed. It would be unChristian to inflict them upon any poor unsuspecting soul in need of shoes. By comparison, the $300 shoes from Zappos are a much better deal than these $27.00 shoes from China through Wish. 

Truly, America is dumping ground for China's piss-poor quality production. You simply cannot find quality in Communist production, no matter how meticulous the specifications. 

I bought seeds from China chosen from photographs with specific species named in Latin, universally recognized, and received seeds for entirely different family of plants, with extra bonus seeds for weird vegetables that no westerner eats and utterly fail in decorative gardens, so, two entirely wrong seeds. I bought pieces of furniture that turn out to be manufactured in China and received crap toy furnishings unsuitable even for dollhouses or treehouses, or freshman year dorms, their conceptualization of furniture is slipshod, short-cut driven, cheaper even than Ikea. I've purchased electronics that turn out produced in China with jacks that don't fit their plugs, burned out LEDs and that just flat don't work as solid state electronics are expected. Nothing produced there can last, nothing outlives a hurricane, nothing can hold up to time and use, certainly nothing can survive a flood. And when you see an Asian tsunami you see bamboo furnishings, cheap plastic chairs, household items made of paper, you see tons of garbage washed away like 1,000 trailer parks destroyed all at once and wiped away out to sea as if even Nature itself disparages what they've done with what Nature provided. 

I'm not angry. Not cross. All experiments are good for something. I'm describing global production and economics. China is protectionist against American production. That production shows communists what quality production is. They don't know. They've never seen it. They have outrageous protective tariffs on all U.S. sectors while we allow in all their bamboo paper and plastic glued crap. These shoes are the least of it, but these shoes are a direct and personal exchange, a direct example of what goes on in a much larger national scale.

I can still smell those goddamn shoes all the way over here. I have to put them outside. And stink up the whole neighborhood.

9 comments:

deborah said...

I'm fairly sure he'll be re-elected, and Dems are tearing their hair out with stomach-dropping feelings of helplessness.

edutcher said...

I love the smell of schaudenfreude in the morning.

I saw somewhere this morning the Demos are worried the Trump voters won't come back.

No fooling.

Which means say bye-byes to PA, MI, WI, and probably a few more, for a generation. We had Reagan Democrats, now we'll have Trumpocrats.

And then there's that doubling of support among blacks. Lose 20% of the black vote and the Demos are no longer a national party.

Which will probably send them to that bunker in the Reichskanzlei.

PS Good luck with the shoes. You ought to be able to get yourself a good pair of Oxfords.

ricpic said...

"Like it or not a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days."

Like it or not. That's beautiful. What a problem that poses for Willie's party.


I thought summer footwear is sneakers? It is for me!

Mumpsimus said...

Check out Rockport. Their boat shoes are perfect for jeans.

ken in tx said...

What you are describing about Chinese products is exactly what Japanese products were like in the early 50s. I remember playing with Japanese made toy cars and cap pistols that were made from American beer cans. The insides still had the labels. In those days, Made in Japan, was the joking label for cheap junk. Now we have Nikon, Cannon, Sony, Lexus, and others. The Chinese may learn.

edutcher said...

Actually, the Made in Japan label for cheap junk goes back to the 30s. It's a big reason why us and the Limeys were caught so flat-footed.

MamaM said...

On the cheap shoes, a "What were you thinking??? reaction" arose even though the thinking was clearly explained. It was this last part of the screed that had me saying "Yes!

Truly, America is dumping ground for China's piss-poor quality production. You simply cannot find quality in Communist production, no matter how meticulous the specifications.
I bought seeds from China chosen from photographs with specific species named in Latin, universally recognized, and received seeds for entirely different family of plants, with extra bonus seeds for weird vegetables that no westerner eats and utterly fail in decorative gardens, so, two entirely wrong seeds. I bought pieces of furniture that turn out to be manufactured in China and received crap toy furnishings unsuitable even for dollhouses or treehouses, or freshman year dorms, their conceptualization of furniture is slipshod, short-cut driven, cheaper even than Ikea. I've purchased electronics that turn out produced in China with jacks that don't fit their plugs, burned out LEDs and that just flat don't work as solid state electronics are expected. Nothing produced there can last, nothing outlives a hurricane, nothing can hold up to time and use, certainly nothing can survive a flood. And when you see an Asian tsunami you see bamboo furnishings, cheap plastic chairs, household items made of paper, you see tons of garbage washed away like 1,000 trailer parks destroyed all at once and wiped away out to sea as if even Nature itself disparages what they've done with what Nature provided.
I'm not angry. Not cross. All experiments are good for something. I'm describing global production and economics. China is protectionist against American production. That production shows communists what quality production is. They don't know. They've never seen it. They have outrageous protective tariffs on all U.S. sectors while we allow in all their bamboo paper and plastic glued crap. These shoes are the least of it, but these shoes are a direct and personal exchange, a direct example of what goes on in a much larger national scale.
I can still smell those goddamn shoes all the way over here. I have to put them outside. And stink up the whole neighborhood.


SonM, who is currently working a job in Calgary, Canada, went to the Alberta Boot Company where the boots for the Mounties are made, with their store located next to the shop. He found a pair that fit like a glove, with the guarantee that the company will repair any boots they make. While it is still possible to buy quality and find places where craftsmanship and excellence is valued, a mutual investment on both sides is required.

ampersand said...

The difference seems to be the Japanese made their own products, The Chinese are building American brand names.

William said...

New Balance has a fine selection. Why wear leather in the summer, especially with jeans?........I had a mild interest in the Stormy Daniels story because porn. However, that lawyer Avenatti is everywhere, all the time, and boring. He never talks about why Stormy doesn't do anal, just boring stuff about campaign contribution violations. The Russia stuff was boring a year ago, and the only real news is stuff that makes the FBI look bad. Give it a rest.