SBU, if you are listening

find recordings of phone calls between Sondland, Trump and Giuliani.

“As a presidential appointee, I followed the directions of the President,” he said, adding that he worked with Mr. Giuliani on his pursuit of investigations in Ukraine into Democrat Joe Biden and 2016 election interference “because the president directed us to do so.”

Mr. Sondland denied any wrongdoing, saying he felt emboldened to pursue the investigations because of conversations with the White House and State Department. “Everyone was in the loop,” he said. “It was no secret.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gordon-sondland-to-testify-in-impeachment-inquiry-11574245802

(no subject)

According to the Fed, the trade war with China is the greatest risk to the US economy:

“Risks to the outlook associated with global economic growth and international trade were still seen as significant despite some encouraging geopolitical and trade-related developments,” said minutes of the Oct. 29-30 policy meeting, which were released on Wednesday.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-officials-cut-rates-amid-worries-on-trade-global-growth-11574276730

Monthly snapshot

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/u9tu99dui5/econTabReport.pdf

Fucking Moron (tm): the tariffs edition

The president also said he was “looking at” exempting Apple from a coming round of China tariffs. “We have to treat Apple on a somewhat similar basis as we treat Samsung, ” he said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-he-is-looking-at-exempting-apple-from-china-tariffs-11574288711

Obviously, he doesn't believe his own bullshit that China is paying the tariffs. If China is paying, why should Apple be exempt? Also, the comparison with Samsung is another piece of bullshit because, unlike Apple, Samsung makes most of their phones in South Korea, not China.

Культурный парадокс

Пляж и дорога вдоль пляжа. Идешь по пляжу - все незнакомые встречные здороваются, особенно активно собачники. Идешь по дороге - здоровается примерно половина. Интересно, почему?

(no subject)

"John Coltrane: My Favourite Things - East meets West - Magic from 3:45!!" (Watch on YouTube)

О коррупции

Если во Франции, например, где-нибудь в Бретани, зайти в булочную и попросить багет, то тебя, [бессмысленного иностранца] вежливо спросят, какой именно багет: тонкий, толстый, короткий, пшеничный, ржаной, сладкий, кислый, и т.д. Если не спросят, то ты попал в неправильную французскую булочную.

То же самое с коррупцией: не бывает одного вида коррупции. Она разная: большая, маленькая, частная, государственная, социальная, административная, судебная, политическая, системная, фоновая, силовая, бытовая, финансовая, религиозная, этническая, и т.д. Если тебя спросят: "Как бороться с коррупцией?", то надо понимать, что речь идет не о борьбе с коррупцией.


upd: если ты местный, то тебе сразу дадут багет, который ты всегда покупаешь.