Canada, Greenland, Mexico, etc - USA Tariffs / Trade War commencing March 2025 #5

[Trooper]

Maybe he will tell the Holy Father how Italy is not looking after the Vatican as well as it should be, that St Peters 'is looking a bit weary and neglected, that he 's been talking to a few blokes in the Curia and they want to be removed from Italy , St Petes, Castel Gandolfo and all, and be placed in downtown Memphis.. bringing along a few Michealangelo statues, some spare nuns, some Dominicans, and Carthusians, and Benedictines, Franciscans , the whole shebang, and come under the 'protection ' of the USA. All the HF has to do is sign the papers... the papparazzis.

Ya think??

 

[indicolite22]

What faith did Vance subscribe to before 2019 and why did he convert? Was it an opportunistic decision? IMO you could never guess that Vance had Christian values, unless perhaps in the sanctimonious sense. The Pope is probably not too thrilled to meet him. In contrast, Biden was also there not so long ago.

 

[weepingangel]

What faith did Vance subscribe to before 2019 and why did he convert? Was it an opportunistic decision? IMO you could never guess that Vance had Christian values, unless perhaps in the sanctimonious sense. The Pope is probably not too thrilled to meet him. In contrast, Biden was also there not so long ago.

Atheist

J.D. Vance Used to Be an Atheist. What He Believes Now Is Telling.

He’s not an evangelical Christian. He’s a Catholic—of a very specific type.

slate.com

 

[indicolite22]

Atheist

J.D. Vance Used to Be an Atheist. What He Believes Now Is Telling.

He’s not an evangelical Christian. He’s a Catholic—of a very specific type.

slate.com

He was brought up evangelical Christian, lost faith and then figured he could pick a "cool club" to join. From the link (BBM):

Vance, he argues, isn’t so much buying into a niche Catholic ideology as advocating for collapsing the walls between church and state—perhaps in an effort to cope with the discomfort of the modern world—with some vaguely Christian reasoning built around that impulse. What matters more, Millies says, is that Vance is expressing a vision for taking us back in time to an imagined past.

What's with these guys wanting to bring back coal, repealing environmental laws, taking away human rights and taking us back to the times when life was hard for so many?

 

[Trooper]

Atheist

J.D. Vance Used to Be an Atheist. What He Believes Now Is Telling.

He’s not an evangelical Christian. He’s a Catholic—of a very specific type.

slate.com

Crikey, that's a read and a half.... He's a man on the edge , for sure.... Maybe the Holy Father is giving him a bit of a telling off... Vance probably started the conversation by telling him how to run the entire Catholic church, and the Pope said, 'don't try and teach your grandma to suck eggs, pal. '..

 

[Yellowbelly]

Atheist

J.D. Vance Used to Be an Atheist. What He Believes Now Is Telling.

He’s not an evangelical Christian. He’s a Catholic—of a very specific type.

slate.com

Did the character known to history as "JD Vance" ever actually exist?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1898066953345892487

 

[SouthAussie]

Did the character known to history as "JD Vance" ever actually exist?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1898066953345892487

I didn't know that his real (birth) name is JD Hamel.

ETA: Oh, I guess his birth name was James Donald Bowman, and then changed to Hamel.
JD Vance has changed his name multiple times over the years. These are the different names he’s gone by


Straight out of high school, the young man known then as J.D. Hamel entered the Marines, eager to reinvent himself from the “pudgy, longhaired kid” he’d been in high school.

.........

Following graduation — as other ambitious Yale Law classmates were trying to make a name for themselves pursuing clerkships with Supreme Court justices — J.D. Hamel was using book publishing as a product launch for his new brand, which he’d chosen when he’d gotten married in 2014. He opens his memoir with the five words: “My name is J.D. Vance.”

J.D. Vance's Stolen Valor: 'He Puts on Poverty Like You Put on Makeup'

There’s a hollow core at the center of J.D. Vance’s origin story — his claim in Hillbilly Elegy that he “grew up poor.”

www.rollingstone.com

 

[Trooper]

MSN

The Pope is playing it cool. Neither one thing nor the other, has sent his deputy out to meet with Trump's deputy.. Protocol must be maintained...

(Edit.. ) I actually think Poor old Vance was palmed off to the 2nd in charge, he dragged his wife and kids all over the Basilica, and it seems didn't have an audience with the head honcho, at all.

After all, it was only last week Pope Frances was hobnobbing with King Charles and Camilla.. it's a bit of a step down to parley with Vance and Usha and the kiddies.. So naturally, he delegated a lesser cardinal to the job..

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The Pope is still recovering. And is not attending a lot of what he would usually do.

 

[Trooper]

ahah this might explain why the Pope was 'indisposed' and sent out any cardinal that was passing by...

MSN

Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris.” He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.


In his Feb. 10 letter, Francis appeared to correct Vance’s understanding of the concept.

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

Vance has acknowledged Francis’ criticism but has said he would continue to defend his views. During a Feb. 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance didn’t address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”

While he had criticized Francis on social media in the past, Vance recently has posted prayers for Francis’ recovery.

 

[Trooper]

Vance is living with the impression that he knows how to run things, . anything.... Denmark, Greenland, Washington, the Vatican, the entire Catholic Church, the army, the navy and the airforce, Harvard, ,Japan, China, South Africa, the ENTIRE European Community, Britain, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Canada, . ad nauseum... ad infinitum, on and on and on and on..

 

[SouthAussie]

"For many Americans celebrating Easter, the holiday is incomplete without chocolate ...

But the rocketing cocoa costs will mean higher prices for chocolate candy this year, and Donald Trump’s tariffs on all imports will likely keep prices high for the foreseeable future.

Hershey, the biggest chocolate producer in the United States, raised the prices of its chocolates last year, and ultimately struggled to maintain consumer demand. The company had its worst profit in seven years in 2024.

And now, with Trump’s new tariffs in place, the price of chocolate is expected to rise even more. While economists don’t know exactly what the effects of tariffs will look like, the Yale Budget Lab estimates that tariffs could cost consumers $4,900 a year, with an average price increase of 3% across all goods."

US chocolate prices surge amid soaring cocoa costs and tariffs

Price of cocoa – chocolate’s key ingredient – has climbed over past year and tariffs on imports will keep prices high

www.theguardian.com

 

[SouthAussie]

"When President Donald Trump paused a punishing round of global tariffs last week, he attributed his change of heart to one main thing.

"I was watching the bond market," he said. "The bond market is very tricky."

Trump should know -- he had a big personal stake in it.

A New York Times analysis of Trump's financial holdings shows that he had roughly $125 million to about $443 million invested in bonds as of last year, a range that far eclipsed his investment portfolio's exposure to the stock market."

Trump Tariffs Live Updates: Trump says US having 'nice conversations' with China - The Times of India

Trump Tariffs Live Updates: Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed confidence about the prospects of a US-EU trade deal, si

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Maybe the Vatican invited (summoned) Vance for a meeting. The Vatican seems really concerned about what is going on in the US.

Possibly, but for the sake of clarity, the Vatican has nothing to do with Italy or the EU. It is an independent sovereign state whose head of state is the Pope. I'm not sure it has, or needs to have, trade agreements with any other state (though perhaps I'm wrong about that).

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The Pope is playing it cool.

He can afford to. There are no known deposits of rare earth minerals under the Vatican.

 

[SouthAussie]

Possibly, but for the sake of clarity, the Vatican has nothing to do with Italy or the EU. It is an independent sovereign state whose head of state is the Pope. I'm not sure it has, or needs to have, trade agreements with any other state (though perhaps I'm wrong about that).

Yes, understood. When I wrote that "The Vatican seems really concerned about what is going on in the US" I mean what we have posted about the Vatican's concern about what is happening to US immigrants, and domestic and international assistance.

The pope has certainly made his thoughts about that known to Vance and all of the US Catholic clergy, as per our linked articles above.

 

[Kudzuu]

I am puzzled why JD Vance is there under pretenses to meet with the Pope. It could be something as simple as his ego and a photo of to show in the future when he thinks he will run for president.

IMO this man is so unlikable due to his arrogance and ease of pushing a false narrative to bully groups of people, not to mention insult and lecture them. I doubt the Pope would agree to an audience with him.

If it shows up in the news here it will be to deflect from Trump's nonsense sound bites. The GOP is trying to limit his exposure to cameras and have him reading from a teleprompter now. He reads a few lines then inserts a few insults, quotes crazy made up numbers, then repeats a few words then finishes on the teleprompter.

Meanwhile, the DOGE drastic cuts have arrived at the local level and in my city (which supports a LOT of small businesses), the programs supporting marginalized communities, i.e., the poor, the sick, minorities etc are being hit hard. Small business owners are being loud. A new distillery just shut down because to make bourbon takes years and the outlook is grim with tariffs.

We'll see how MAGA responds. Many in the rural areas will be burdened. I'll look for a link if anyone is interested.

 

[Dotta]

Meet with the Pope?

The Pope is regaining strength after almost 5 weeks of hospital stay.
He miraculously cheated death.

Even The Way of the Cross in the Colosseum took place without Pope Francis.

And,
on Good Friday,
the Liturgy of the Passion was celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Peter by the delegate of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis himself does not participate in the celebrations due to his health.

 

[Kudzuu]

I was responding to some posts on here. It is ludicrous JD would expect to meet with the Pope during Easter weekend.

@dotta

 

[detective.moon]

good luck to everyone going out to protest today! i’m cheering you on from across the world

i know some (maybe many) people feel like “trump doesn’t care about protests anyway”, “protesting doesn’t change anything” etc. but i think trump does actually care about crowd sizes and optics, and even if it doesn’t bring immediate change it can give a sense of community and hope, an antidote to the feeling of already being defeated

the last hands off! protests got quite a bit of (international) press, so i bet todays ones will too