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posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the but,-but,-I-promised dept.

The United States Senate has passed an amendment that reinstates the ban on Chinese telecoms concern ZTE doing business with US-based companies.

President Trump said he’d secured a reversal of the ban as a personal favour to Chinese president Xi Jinping in the hope that the show of good faith would ease trade negotiations between the two nations. ZTE was banned from dealing with US firms for flouting laws about exporting to Iran and North Korea. The ban cut ZTE off from critical component-makers like Qualcomm and led to it shuttering production lines and resellers dumping its products.

Trump's plan to have his friendship with Xi ease tensions appears not to have worked, in the short term at least, because the Trump administration today issued a statement that said “China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology” and therefore threatening tariffs on US$200bn of Chinese goods.

The threat came after Trump last week announced tariffs on $50bn of Chinese goods, sparking retaliatory tariffs on about $35bn of US-made goods from China.

All of which doesn’t look like that personal favour worked out as planned.

Back to the ZTE vote, as it saw US Senators from both sides of politics decry the removal of the ban on grounds of national security. A joint statement from senior Republican and Democratic senators read: “We're heartened that both parties made it clear that protecting American jobs and national security must come first when making deals with countries like China, which has a history of having little regard for either. It is vital that our colleagues in the House keep this bipartisan provision in the bill as it heads towards a conference.”

And there’s the rub, because the US House of Representatives has passed a version of the same bill without the ZTE ban. Reconciling the bill may yet see ZTE given a lifeline, although the Senate vote passed 85 votes to 10 so there’s clearly not much will for a reversal.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:53AM (34 children)

    by Mykl (1112) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:53AM (#695393)

    Hang on, I'm having a hard time working out who I'm supposed to be supporting here.

    Should I be cheering on China for sticking it to Trump with tariffs and introducing him to unintended consequences?
    Or saluting Congress for taking a hard line against those who would deal with evil dictatorships like Iran?
    Or asking myself why it's so bad to deal with Iran but not with Saudi Arabia (and then remembering money)?
    Or giving China a pat on the back for striking a blow at the evil copyright practices of Disney & co?
    Or breathing a sigh of relief for all of those creators whose work will no doubt be protected from those evil Chinese pirates?
    Or feeling sorry for the execs at ZTE who were no doubt 'encouraged' by their government to do whatever they did?

    Help me SoylentNews - tell me what to think please!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:55AM (#695394)

      Whatever opposes Trumpf the most.

    • (Score: 1) by tftp on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:19AM (2 children)

      by tftp (806) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:19AM (#695405) Homepage
      Not sure why we should care about Iran. ZTE was ready to pay $1.5B for their misdeeds, real or imaginary. The tariff war is profitable only to resellers, who take %% off the price, and to the government (that already has enough.) To everyone else it's a new tax.
      • (Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:35AM (1 child)

        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:35AM (#695411)

        Not sure why we should care about Iran

        We hate Iran because the constant propaganda we get tells us to. We hate them because they had the audacity to remove the dictator we forced on them.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:58AM

          by Arik (4543) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:58AM (#695430) Journal
          "We hate Iran because the constant propaganda we get tells us to. We hate them because they had the audacity to remove the dictator we forced on them."

          And mostly because our foreign policy has become captive of the Israeli and Saudi interests, and both of them would desperately like to see us bomb Iran for them.

          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:23AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:23AM (#695407)

      -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
      Hash: SHA256

      hehehehe donnie should make a deal with china already, something along the lines of they display his cheap crap all along their great wall, while he's solving their ethnic minority problems. nuke taiwan, send ninja squads to steal all tibetan children, nuke japan (god loves trinity, right?), send elite ninjas to capture kim alive (one ninja dressed in all white with thin black belt, so that kim can tell the sensei), and then torture kim by making him take info tours for trump condo time shares. and usa gets to outsource trump (tm). it's a win-win-win... well, except for all the nuked states, but they are gonna be very good craters. the best, in fact, the best craters you've ever seen. just beautiful. ~ the mouth of anonymous 0x9932FE2729B1D963
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      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:31AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:31AM (#695423)

        -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
        Hash: SHA256
        Also, I'm badly in need of cash to support my drug habit. Will be in Balboa Park this evening, willing to perform deviant sex acts for twenty dollars a pop. Will be dressed in hot pink shorts and lavender wife beater T. ~ the mouth of anonymous 0x9932FE2729B1D963

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    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:32AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:32AM (#695408)

      "Who knew [fill-in-the-blank] was so complicated?"

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:21AM (15 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:21AM (#695421) Journal

      How about a different idea?

      Each of the actors involved, including the US politicians and the US voters, has good points and bad points.

      Take domestic politics, for instance. I mostly despise our "left", but from time to time, they have a good idea. I despise our "right" a little less, but from time to time, they also have a good idea. Both have terrible ideas, frequently.

      Same applies to Iran, China, congress collectively, and even ZTE. Don't believe the crap our side tells you to believe. Examine the issues. Decide for yourself.

      And, keep in mind that all the evil things that ZTE did (or did not) do, our own corporations are doing as bad and worse, all over the world. A little payback from a Chinese corporation? Maybe good, maybe bad. Maybe it's a wakeup call? Do unto others as you would expect them to do unto you? Take that any way you like - do we screw them before they screw us? Well, that is how we've done business for most of a century.

      Oh yeah - Iran. Iran was a modern democracy, in the 1950's. Operation Ajax, done by the CIA, on behalf of BP, a British oil company, destroyed that modern democracy, and put a puppet dictator in place. The puppet was eventually overthrown, and a reactionary theist government took over. I can't conceive of any way in which the US/UK could have been more wrong.

      So, while we are running around the world sticking it to anyone and everyone for the sake of profit - it's a little difficult to get terribly worked up over China or Russia, or even Iran sticking it to us.

      Fuck the corporations, and the politicians. They are all dirty. What matters in the long run, is how all that shit affects us, the people. I would sacrifice any and all of the governments, along with corporate heads, if it would improve life for the people.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:36AM (5 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:36AM (#695451)

        USA doesn't have a Left.
        The Dumbocrats are only slightly less Right.[1] [politicalcompass.org]
        Don't believe me? Ask a bigwig. [google.com]

        [1] ...and that chart is skewed to the left.
        Nader hardly ever mentions worker-owned cooperatives[2]--and then only in passing.
        I have NEVER heard Kucinich mention worker-owned cooperatives[2].

        [2] ...the fundamental unit of Socialism.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:29PM (4 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:29PM (#695590) Journal

          I'm well aware of that. I've been on the internet since the turn of the century, and then some. I've been talking to real lefties, mostly from Europe, for a lot of that time. But, at least five other people found your post informative. Maybe you need to keep on preaching that part of your sermons.

          Meanwhile - socialism hasn't really worked out anywhere yet, on a macro scale, has it? Certainly not full-blown communism.

          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @08:08PM (3 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @08:08PM (#695746)

            You're falling back into Cold War bullshit.

            First, from 1917 until 1924 (when Lenin died and Stalin grabbed power), USSR had a successful form of both. [google.com]
            N.B. A soviet is a council: workers council, consumers council, town council, whatever.

            It was aggression (not competition) from Capitalist countries that hindered their efforts in those years.
            Since just after its birth, USSR has had to deal with USAian aggression.
            Immediately after WWI was over in Europe, USA and that bunch didn't bring their forces home but instead used them in a criminal invasion of USSR.

            short version [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [counterpunch.org]
            s/not provide/not providing

            detailed version [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [criticalenquiry.org]
            (The Japs didn't break off that thrust and leave USSR until 1922.)

            .
            Next, there's the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of worker-owned cooperatives in Italy.
            In this one region [wikimedia.org] alone, there's over 8000. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [wikipedia.org]
            ...and that hasn't been updated in a while.
            N.B. The co-ops account for about a third of the commerce in the region.

            ...and, of course there's Mondragon, which started with 5 worker-owners in 1956 and is currently on 5 continents. [google.com]
            Presence worldwide [mondragon-corporation.com]
            Some images of some things Mondragon does these days [google.com]
            N.B. That 1 cooperative is more wealthy|successful than a lot of countries are (Capitalist countries, BTW).

            .
            not full-blown communism

            USSR had "communism" from 1917 to 1991.
            That's 74 years by my count.[1]

            Let's compare to the Capitalist "Democratic" things:
            -Germany's THIRD Reich
            -France's FOURTH Republic
            -The Confederate States of America 1861 - 1865
            -USA's confederation of 1776 - 1789 failed and was replaced with an even more oligarchical "democracy".
            (Currently, with the majority of USAians doing worse than their parents, that's a failure.)

            [1] Granted, the feedback loop between The Workers and gov't wasn't so good once Stalin took over and decided he wanted to be dictator.

            Now, we might compare that to what's been going on with USA's Capitalist "democracy" since the Powell Memorandum of 1971 and see how Joe Average has been doing.
            ...in particular, how Trump views himself as Fuhrer.

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

            • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 21 2018, @01:08AM (2 children)

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 21 2018, @01:08AM (#695907) Journal

              There isn't a single communist government that can boast the US' age. Not one. Keep trying. And, you don't get to define failure, or success. The US is more than 200 years old. Find a communist nation that can boast 100 years. Can't do it.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @05:50AM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @05:50AM (#696043)

                That's 1 metric.
                It's not the (Trumpian) one that I would choose to dwell on.

                With the conversion of Russian serfs to Soviet citizens, folks in USSR got universal education, universal healthcare, and a guaranteed roof over their heads.
                ...and everybody had a job to go to.

                As I already mentioned, USA has a declining standard of living.
                I see "success" as Joe Average doing better than his parents.
                In 2015, 55 percent of USAians couldn't weather a $400 emergency without selling something or taking out a loan.
                In 2016, the number went up to 60 percent.

                This doesn't even include, with the financialization of USA's economy plus worker compensation flat since the early 1970s while costs constantly increase, that most folks have had to live on credit for well over a decade.

                You clearly think that an increase in inequality [google.com] is not something to worry about in a "democracy".
                I do.

                ...and USA's Labor Non-Participation Rate has stayed at a near-constant 23 percent for a decade.
                (Unlike the New Deal years and the USSR's system, actual employment in the 21st Century Neoliberal USA isn't even keeping up with population growth.)

                That's not what I call a successful system.
                It is, in fact, a failure.

                -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

                • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 21 2018, @02:32PM

                  by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 21 2018, @02:32PM (#696194) Journal

                  China seems to be a success then. They've kinda put communism on a back burner, and joined the rest of the world in capitalistic ventures. Communism is a failure, and even the Chinese have tacitly admitted as much.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by ilPapa on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:54AM (3 children)

        by ilPapa (2366) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:54AM (#695456) Journal

        all the evil things that ZTE did (or did not) do, our own corporations are doing as bad and worse, all over the world.

        Why are you libs are always on an "apology tour" for the USA? Maybe you should join the other libs and put up framed pictures of Communist dictator Kim Jong Un on your wall.

          https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/trump-replaces-white-house-photos-french-president-framed-pictures-kim-jong-un/ [rawstory.com]

        --
        You are still welcome on my lawn.
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:35PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:35PM (#695593) Journal

          Well, now, Ilpapa, or Lilpapa, or whatever - I would appreciate you pointing out exactly where I "apologized" for being American. Didn't happen, did it? What I said was, we have plenty of evil sumbitches to go around, right here in America. The bastards climbed to the top of a dog-eat-dog world, because they are heartless, cruel, uncaring, and just plain greedy. And, those top dogs shit on EVERYONE - you, me, Syrians, Iraqi, Iranian, Chinese - it doesn't matter to them.

          But, I'm not apologizing to anyone for any of that. No apologies necessary. Seriously, none. All that need be done, is to stir up the villagers with their torches and pitchforks. And, after the big housecleaning, we start enforcing sensible laws.

          If you want to see apologies, you can browse some of Obama's speeches. Dude was kissing ass, prostrating himself, and apologizing all over the world when he was president.

          • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:23PM

            by ilPapa (2366) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:23PM (#695639) Journal

            All that need be done, is to stir up the villagers with their torches and pitchforks. And, after the big housecleaning, we start enforcing sensible laws.

            Have you purchased your commemorative framed photo of Kim Jong Un? They're selling them at trump.org. I hear Communist dictators are very popular this year with American conservatives.

            --
            You are still welcome on my lawn.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:31PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:31PM (#695642)

          Kim is a liberal dictator? Shirley you jest.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 20 2018, @08:48AM (4 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @08:48AM (#695516) Journal

        And, keep in mind that all the evil things that ZTE did (or did not) do, our own corporations are doing as bad and worse, all over the world.

        In the "did (or did not) do" sense, of course. Keep in mind that most of "our own" corporations don't do that and that ZTE is state-controlled (majority owned by two state-controlled corporations).

        Oh yeah - Iran. Iran was a modern democracy, in the 1950's. Operation Ajax, done by the CIA, on behalf of BP, a British oil company, destroyed that modern democracy, and put a puppet dictator in place. The puppet was eventually overthrown, and a reactionary theist government took over. I can't conceive of any way in which the US/UK could have been more wrong.

        How long was Iran going to remain a "modern democracy" even in the absence of UK/US intervention? They stole the entire oil producing infrastructure of a major oil company, partly owned by the British government, escalating a legitimate business complaint into an international incident that shut down their entire oil industry. The leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh called for an election and then partially canceled it. He pciked fights with the other power centers in the country (Shah, military, etc) at the same time as all that. It's standard, self-destructing populist approach - pick fights with all your enemies at once, break plenty of laws so that your enemies have a pretext to do the same, cripple the economy, alienate your allies, etc.

        So, while we are running around the world sticking it to anyone and everyone for the sake of profit - it's a little difficult to get terribly worked up over China or Russia, or even Iran sticking it to us.

        So evil is ok as long as the US does it too?

        • (Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:38PM (3 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:38PM (#695594) Journal

          Oh, FFS - Iran didn't "steal" anything from the US/UK and/or British Petroleum. The Ottoman fell apart (with our help, of course) and we colonized the place. Iranians were pretty happy with the state of affairs, but they wanted a little more money. We balked over a few cents more, for what the Iranians owned anyway.

          Let's make this real simple: we toppled a legitimately elected government for the sake of profit. We just don't share profit with the natives - they'll take the few coins we toss them, and be happy.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:21AM (2 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:21AM (#696010) Journal

            Oh, FFS - Iran didn't "steal" anything from the US/UK and/or British Petroleum.

            Was that oil infrastructure willingly sold or given to Iran? Yes or no?

            Let's make this real simple: we toppled a legitimately elected government for the sake of profit. We just don't share profit with the natives - they'll take the few coins we toss them, and be happy.

            Keep in mind that the UK needed that profit to rebuild it's war-wrecked society. Profit isn't magically evil.

            • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 21 2018, @02:47PM (1 child)

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 21 2018, @02:47PM (#696201) Journal

              Was permission for English and other colonising powers to take Iran's possessions from Iran?

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 22 2018, @03:22AM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 22 2018, @03:22AM (#696579) Journal

                Was permission for English and other colonising powers to take Iran's possessions from Iran?

                Looks like a "Yes" to me. Glancing at the Wikipedia article, there's no mention of illegal seizures of Iranian possessions by APOC (later to become AIOC and then BP). Instead, it was merely a matter of Iran's government wanting a bigger piece of the action.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:48AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:48AM (#695425)

      Help me SoylentNews - tell me what to think please!

      Whichever option leads to the biggest Twitter Tantrum from Drumpf. We're all fucked in the end, so let's at least have some good entertainment on our trip to hell.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:54AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:54AM (#695429)

        Unless

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @06:55AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @06:55AM (#695485)

          Lorax? Is that you? Have you ever noticed that Trump resembles the Lorax? I think I need a Sneed.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:52PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:52PM (#695557)

            Trump is the Once-ler. Perhaps GP is a green Lorax?

            Are sneeds non-GMO, cruelty-free, zero-emissions, and sustainable? The Once-ler's family from Weehawken must have an immortal trademark or patent or similar on the name Thneed™, further illustrating the problems caused by excessive capitalism.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:45PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:45PM (#695649)

            ITYM Lummox.

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:54AM

      by Arik (4543) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:54AM (#695428) Journal
      If you need to focus on one I'd go with this one:

      "Or asking myself why it's so bad to deal with Iran but not with Saudi Arabia (and then remembering money)?"
      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @03:51AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @03:51AM (#695439)

      They make comparable phones 5 times cheaper. Just saying...

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @07:58AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @07:58AM (#695507)

      I think you should be adding "Why are we even talking about this since Trump can easily veto their objection and let his business deal continue."

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:58PM (#695563)

        With 2/3s of both houses of congress, the elites can override Trump's veto.

    • (Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Wednesday June 20 2018, @11:21AM

      by FakeBeldin (3360) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @11:21AM (#695537) Journal

      Help me SoylentNews - tell me what to think please!

      Alrighty then, here we go!

      Should I be cheering on China for sticking it to Trump with tariffs and introducing him to unintended consequences?

      Yep.

      Or saluting Congress for taking a hard line against those who would deal with evil dictatorships like Iran?

      Yup.

      Or asking myself why it's so bad to deal with Iran but not with Saudi Arabia (and then remembering money)?

      Yessirree.

      Or giving China a pat on the back for striking a blow at the evil copyright practices of Disney & co?

      Nope. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that.

      Or breathing a sigh of relief for all of those creators whose work will no doubt be protected from those evil Chinese pirates?

      Naah - I don't think anyone with a registered username here would really be naive enough to believe that tariffs will help protect artists' works from being copied by $RANDOM_OTHER_COUNTRY_WITH_VERY_DIFFERENT_COPYRIGHT_LAWS.

      Or feeling sorry for the execs at ZTE who were no doubt 'encouraged' by their government to do whatever they did?

      Nuh-uh. If you want to feel sorry for someone at ZTE, the execs are the wrong level to target your sympathy at. Factory workers and other lowly peons who will lose their jobs over this: sure.

      Hope that helps!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:57PM (#695560)

      Help me SoylentNews - tell me what to think please!

      First and foremost you should think of the children.

  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:56AM (2 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:56AM (#695397) Homepage Journal

    Bad idea, it will mean too many jobs in China lost. Keep the deal I made, VERY FAIR to all sides. To all sides!!!!

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:19AM (1 child)

      by frojack (1554) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:19AM (#695420) Journal

      Well played. Get to be the good cop while talking to the Chinese, and still NOT lose any bargaining chips.

      Bout time those guys in Congress get with the game plan. Better to let Congress play bad cop for a while.
      They think they are winning. Chuckle.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:51AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:51AM (#695427)

        How do you suppose that Trump is colluding with the D team?

        It seems more likely to me that Trump went off script, and the real ruling class is correcting it.

        The only way we can correct for that is to vote out the 85 senators that voted to pass the bill.

        Both the R teamers and the D teamers need to participate in this.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:36AM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:36AM (#695412)

    All those american workers in all those cellphone factories are very happy about this.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:47AM (2 children)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:47AM (#695416) Homepage Journal

      Possibly you're being sarcastic. Or possibly you're very dumb or don't like to read. Because our Senate wants to stop ZTE from buying American cellphone parts. As a punishment to ZTE. But if it happens it will hurt our great American workers. Who I always, always put first!!!!

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by aristarchus on Wednesday June 20 2018, @06:57AM (1 child)

        by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @06:57AM (#695487) Journal

        Or possibly you're very dumb or don't like to read.

        Finally! Proof the realDonad is not the Real donald. Except that it is an epithet, and not any kind of factual claim. Oh, dear.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:01PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:01PM (#695564)

          Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!

          UID 6614! UID 6614! UID 6614!

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:46AM (9 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:46AM (#695453)

      Upon agreeing to ease up on ZTE, Trump's development project in Indonesia got a $half-billion investment from China.gov. [google.com]

      The dude can't go an hour without violating one of the multiple instances of emoluments clauses in the Constitution.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday June 20 2018, @08:54AM (8 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @08:54AM (#695517) Journal

        The dude can't go an hour without violating one of the multiple instances of emoluments clauses in the Constitution.

        Should be easy to come up with a case for impeachment then.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by FakeBeldin on Wednesday June 20 2018, @11:25AM (7 children)

          by FakeBeldin (3360) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @11:25AM (#695540) Journal

          The problem isn't coming up with a case. The problem is that both House and Senate need to overwhelmingly support it.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:31PM (5 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @12:31PM (#695554) Journal

            The problem isn't coming up with a case. The problem is that both House and Senate need to overwhelmingly support it.

            No, they don't. I can think of several cases where criminal evidence had effect even when no one official was willing to support it. At the least, the media will run with it which is better than usual. And a rich person accepting bribes is not the easiest thing to defend. Republican party might not want to take the hit for Trump.

            • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:58PM (3 children)

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 20 2018, @02:58PM (#695603) Journal

              Dafuq? Are you just feeling argumentative? Or, you got a thing for Fakebeldin?

              "both House and Senate need to overwhelmingly support it." re impeachment

              If a supermajority of both the House and the Senate does not support an impeachment of the president, then there can be no conviction. Without the conviction, the president cannot be removed. Or - are you hoping for a Nixon-style resignation? I don't see that happening with the funny looking bastard in the White House today.

              And, meanwhile - if Trump were impeached, or otherwise removed from office - how is Pence going to make things any better?

                Facepalm

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:41PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @04:41PM (#695646)

                Next year both Trump and Pence will be impeached and convicted leaving Pelosi as President.

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:31AM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:31AM (#696021) Journal

                "both House and Senate need to overwhelmingly support it." re impeachment

                And if the House and Senate don't overwhelming support an obvious case for impeachment, then what happens? The US public has more tools at its disposal than merely hoping that elected officials respect the law. For example, that's a big part of how Clinton lost the recent election.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @05:41PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @05:41PM (#695671)

              Trouble is that the Rs have become the party of Trump.

              It is the Trump fans that are their constituency, and they know it.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday June 20 2018, @05:02PM

            by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday June 20 2018, @05:02PM (#695655) Journal

            The problem isn't coming up with a case. The problem is that both House and Senate need to overwhelmingly support it.

            The problem is Republicans. Full Stop.

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