XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.democrats   
   From: katt@gmail.com   
      
   This is another great example of the Post Hoc Fallacy (assuming because one   
   thing happened after another, the first thing caused the second).   
      
   When a troll, like Lee, throws a list like this at you, he's hoping you won't   
   check the specific "why" behind each closure. Most of these events were set in   
   motion long before 2025 or were caused by internal corporate restructuring   
   that has nothing to do with current tariffs.   
      
   Here is the breakdown of the logic for these specific cases.   
      
   1. The "Why" Behind the Layoffs   
      
   I have looked into the specific reasons for several of the examples you   
   provided. Notice how they aren't about tariffs:   
      
   BlueOval SK (Kentucky/Tennessee): This is a restructuring by Ford. They are   
   pivoting away from electric vehicles (EVs) because consumer demand was lower   
   than they projected back in 2021-2022. They are actually planning to rehire   
   2,100 people later after they retool the plant for battery storage-a long-term   
   corporate pivot.   
      
   Alabama Plant (Renfro Brands): The Fort Payne plant that shut down after 60   
   years was actually announced in October 2024. The company (Renfro) stated they   
   were moving production to Tennessee and offshore to "adjust their supply   
   chain." This was a decision made before the 2024 election even happened.   
      
   Missouri Food Companies (General Mills): These closures were part of a 'multi-   
   year supply chain restructuring" announced in late 2024/early 2025. They are   
   closing older facilities to consolidate into newer, more efficient ones to   
   save $100 million.   
      
   Kansas City Transportation (Railcrew Xpress): This was triggered by contract   
   cancellations and mergers in the rail industry (like the Union Pacific and   
   Norfolk Southern merger), not import taxes.   
      
   2. Identifying the "Idiotic Logic"   
      
   The troll is using a Gish Gallop. This is a tactic where someone overwhelms   
   you with a 'mountain" of examples so you don't have time to debunk each one.   
      
   Their logic is: "Look at all this bad news! It's happening now, so it must be   
   the President's fault."   
      
   The Rebuttal Logic:   
      
   Lag Time: Major plant closures take 12-24 months of planning. A company   
   doesn't decide to shut a 60-year-old plant on Jan 1st because of a tariff that   
   started in January.   
      
   Specific Causality: If tariffs were the cause, the companies would state that   
   in their SEC filings or WARN notices to protect their stock price. Instead,   
   they are citing "EV demand," 'mergers," and "restructuring."   
      
   One Baby Step at a Time   
      
   Since we are following the muffin rule:   
      
   Step 1: Would you like me to give you a "Counter-List" that explains the   
   actual reason for each of those specific layoffs so you can post them one by   
   one?   
      
   =============================================================================   
      
   "Trump Derangement Syndrome" Is a Real Mental Condition   
      
   All you need to know about "Trump Derangement Syndrome," or TDS.   
      
   "Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mental condition in which a person has   
   been driven effectively insane due to their dislike of Donald Trump, to the   
   point at which they will abandon all logic and reason."   
      
   Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com, wrote a piece in the   
   Los Angeles Times in 2016 that broke TDS down into three distinct phases or   
   stages:   
      
   "In the first stage of the disease, victims lose all sense of proportion. The   
   president-elect's every tweet provokes a firestorm, as if 140 characters were   
   all it took to change the world."   
      
   "The mid-level stages of TDS have a profound effect on the victim's   
   vocabulary: Sufferers speak a distinctive language consisting solely of   
   hyperbole."   
      
   "As TDS progresses, the afflicted lose the ability to distinguish fantasy from   
   reality."   
      
   The Point here is simple: TDS is, in the eyes of its adherents, the knee-jerk   
   opposition from liberals to anything and everything Trump does. If Trump   
   announced he was donating every dollar he's ever made, TDS sufferers would   
   suggest he was up to something nefarious, according to the logic of TDS.   
   There's nothing - not. one. thing. - that Trump could do or say that would be   
   received positively by TDSers.   
      
   The history of Trump Derangement Syndrome actually goes back to the early   
   2000s - a time when the idea of Trump as president was a punch line for late-   
   night comics and nothing more.   
      
   Wikipedia traces its roots to "Bush Derangement Syndrome" - a term first   
   coined by the late conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer back in 2003.   
   The condition, as Krauthammer defined it, was "the acute onset of paranoia in   
   otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency - nay -   
   the very existence of George W. Bush."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)