Slingshot News: ‘It’s Not Fair’: Trump Justifies His Tariffs On American Farmers With Lies At White House Event
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Associated Press: Trump’s US Open visit sparks boos and long security lines
President Donald Trump was loudly booed at the men’s final of the U.S. Open on Sunday, where extra security caused by his visit led to lines long enough that many people missed the start of play, even after organizers delayed it.
Wearing a suit and long, red tie, Trump briefly emerged from his suite about 45 minutes before the match started and heard a mix of boos and cheers from an Arthur Ashe Stadium that was still mostly empty. No announcement proceeded his appearance, and it was brief enough that some in the crowd missed it.
Trump appeared again to more boos before the National Anthem. Standing in salute, the president was shown briefly on the arena’s big screens during the anthem, and offered a smirk that briefly made the boos louder.
When the anthem was over, the Republican pointed to a small group of supporters seated nearby, then sat on the suite’s balcony to watch the match intently. He mostly didn’t applaud, even following major points that energized the rest of the crowd as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz bested Jannik Sinner of Italy.
Trump was shown on the big screen again after the first set ended, and elicited a roar of louder boos and some piercing whistles. He raised his left fist in salute as the noise continued in the stadium, which with a capacity of 24,000 is one of the largest in tennis.
The president later moved back inside the suite, where he was seen seated at a table with family members and appeared to be eating, but he was back in his seat shortly before match point. Cameras briefly flashed on Trump as Alcaraz celebrated, but his reaction to the conclusion was as muted as it had been throughout most of the match. This time, there was little crowd reaction, too.
Organizers pushed the start of the match back half an hour to give people more time to pass through enhanced screening checkpoints reminiscent of security at airports. Still, thousands of increasingly frustrated fans remained in line outside as the match got underway. Many seats, especially those in upper rows, stayed empty for nearly an hour.
The Secret Service issued a statement saying that protecting Trump “required a comprehensive effort” and noting that it “may have contributed to delays for attendees.”
“We sincerely thank every fan for their patience and understanding,” it said.
Trump attended the final as a guest of Rolex, despite imposing steep tariffs on the Swiss watchmaker’s home country. The U.S. Tennis Association also tried to limit negative reaction to Trump’s attendance being shown on ABC’s national telecast, saying in a statement before play began: “We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions.”
The reactions to Trump didn’t ultimately constitute big disruptions, though.
Going to the U.S. Open was the latest example of Trump having built the bulk of his second term’s domestic travel around attending major sports events rather than hitting the road to make policy announcements or address the kind of large rallies he so relished as a candidate.
Since returning to the White House in January and prior to Sunday’s U.S Open swing, Trump has gone to the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the Daytona 500, as well as UFC fights in Miami and Newark, New Jersey, the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia and the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Some of those crowds cheered him, but people booed him at other events.
The president accepted Rolex’s invitation despite his administration imposing a whopping 39% tariff on Swiss products. That’s more than 2 1/2 times higher than levies on European Union goods exported to the U.S. and nearly four times higher than on British exports to the U.S.
The White House declined to comment on Trump accepting a corporate client’s invitation at the tournament, but the president has had few qualms about blurring lines between political and foreign policy decisions and efforts to boost the profits of his family business. He’s tirelessly promoted his cryptocurrency interests and luxury golf properties, and even announced that the U.S. will host the Group of 20 summit in December 2026 at his Doral golf resort in Florida.
No large street protests against Trump could be seen from the tournament’s main stadium on Sunday. But attendees also steered clear of wearing any of the the Republican’s signature “Make America Great Again” caps.
A 58-year-old tennis fan originally from Turin, Italy, came from her home in the Boston area to watch the final and said that when she bought a U.S. Open cap, she went with a fuchsia-hued one so it wouldn’t be mistaken for the signature darker color of MAGA hats.
“I was careful not to get the red one,” said the fan, who declined to give her name because of her employer’s rules about being publicly quoted.
Among those attending with Trump were White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff. Trump spent various portions of the match engaged in conversation with many of those around him.
Elsewhere in the crowd were a slew of celebrities — some of whom publicly backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris during last year’s election. Among them were Pink, Bruce Springsteen and Shonda Rhimes. In pre-match interviews shown on large stadium screens with the likes of Martha Stewart and Jon Hamm, the questions asked stuck to tennis and pop culture — not Trump and politics.
The president nonetheless was excited enough about his trip to tell reporters on Air Force One during the flight to New York when the plane flew over Ashe stadium — though the covered roof kept those inside from reacting.
Trump was once a U.S. Open mainstay, but hadn’t attended since he was booed at a quarterfinals match in September 2015, months after launching his first presidential campaign.
The Trump Organization once controlled its own U.S. Open suite, which was adjacent to the stadium’s television broadcasting booth, but suspended it in 2017, during the first year of Trump’s first term. The family business is now being run by Trump’s sons with their father back in the White House.
Trump was born in Queens, home of the U.S. Open, and for decades was a New York-area real estate mogul and, later, a reality TV star. Attending the tournament before he was a politician, he usually sat in his company’s suite’s balcony during night matches and was frequently shown on the arena’s video screens.
Associated Press: Trump’s US Open visit sparks boos and long security lines
President Donald Trump is attending the U.S. Open as a guest of Rolex despite imposing steep tariffs on the Swiss watchmaker’s home country.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-us-open-sporting-events-boos-5a80b02c78403f1f2f87a30852ffb0f5
MSNBC: ‘Nothing left to lose’: Mika says Epstein survivors ‘are done’ and they won’t be quiet
‘Nothing left to lose’: Mika says Epstein survivors ‘are done’ and they won’t be quiet
A group of Jeffrey Epstein accusers on Wednesday told stories of sexual abuse at the hands of the late convicted sex offender and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, raising pressure on lawmakers to back the release of all of the files in the Justice Department’s years-long Epstein investigation. The Morning Joe panel discusses.
Slingshot News: ‘You Don’t Know This’: Trump Makes Freudian Slip, Infers His GOP Underlings Are Dumb During White House Dinner Event
‘You Don’t Know This’: Trump Makes Freudian Slip, Infers His GOP Underlings Are Dumb During White House Dinner Event
Donald Trump held a dinner event for Republican members of Congress several days ago at the Rose Garden in the White House. Trump talked down to his GOP underlings, telling them they don’t know that grass has a “life,” inferring they’re too dumb to understand that grass is a living organism.
For once, Trump was right!
Washington Post: RFK Jr. says anyone who wants a covid shot can get one. Not these Americans.
Pharmacies and doctors are struggling to adjust to a new regulatory environment for updated coronavirus vaccines that are no longer broadly recommended.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators last week that anyone can get a new coronavirus vaccine. But many Americans are finding the opposite.
Confusion is rippling through the health care system as pharmacies and doctors try to adjust to providing a vaccine that is no longer broadly recommended. Americans’ experiences vary widely, from easily booking appointments to having to cross state lines to access the shots, according to more than 3,200 submissions to The Washington Post’s request for readers to share their experiences.
Chain pharmacy locations in some parts of the country have yet to stock the shots or are turning away patients seeking the updated vaccines manufactured to protect people from the worst effects of new strains of the coronavirus. In some states, they require prescriptions, a step that has largely not been required since vaccines became widely available in early 2021.
Even more confusing: Pharmacies are reaching different conclusions about whether they’re allowed to administer coronavirus vaccines, even in the same state. And some states, including New York and Massachusetts, have scrambled in recent days to rewrite their rules to make it easier to get shots.
Many patients puzzle about whether they qualify to get the shot at all, or if they remain free as in years past.
Officials in the Trump administration have insisted that the new coronavirus vaccines remain available to those who want them and have blasted those who have suggested otherwise. Some Republican leaders are casting doubt on the safety of the shots, while some Democratic governors are rushing to preserve access — underscoring the nation’s deepening political divide over vaccines.
In Washington, D.C., Vernon Stewart, a 59-year-old retired parking enforcement officer, spent Wednesday riding his bike to see a doctor to get a prescription for the vaccine and to find a pharmacy where he could get it, only to be told the shot was not available. At one CVS, Stewart was seated in the chair with his sleeve rolled up when a nurse emerged to tell him his Medicaid insurance plan didn’t cover it.
On Friday morning, he hopped on the Metro train to Temple Hills, in Maryland — a state where CVS is not requiring prescriptions. He didn’t have to show his insurance card and paid nothing for the shot. He left with a bandage on his arm and a free bag of popcorn.
“It shouldn’t have to be this hard,” Stewart said Friday. “It was such a hassle. But I found a way.”
Doctors have the option to provide coronavirus vaccines “off label” to lower risk groups without approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Amid the fierce debates about coronavirus vaccines and low uptake of the latest versions, plenty of Americans want them.
Some, like Stewart, simply want to protect their health, despite not being considered at high risk. Many care for elderly or immunocompromised people and don’t want to get them sick. Some want to be immunized before traveling abroad or to reduce their risk of long covid.
Research has shown that annual coronavirus vaccinations reduce hospitalization and death, especially in people with weaker immune systems because of their age and underlying conditions. Health officials in the Trump administration argue that a universal recommendation is no longer warranted, because clinical trials have not demonstrated the vaccines are effective at reducing infection or transmission in younger and otherwise healthy people who are at low risk of hospitalization. Past research into updated coronavirus vaccines suggests they confer short-term partial protection against infections and can reduce transmission by reducing viral loads and symptoms.
Under Kennedy, the FDA in August narrowed approval of updated coronavirus shots to those 65 and older and people with underlying conditions that elevate their risk of severe disease. Typically, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee meets soon after such an announcement — often a few days later — to recommend which Americans should get coronavirus vaccines. The recommendations, which previously applied to everyone ages 6 months and older, compel insurers to pay for the vaccines.
But this year, the CDC panel was thrown into turmoil when Kennedy fired its members and replaced them with his own picks, most of whom have been critical of coronavirus vaccines. The panel is now scheduled to meet Sept. 18-19.
The vast majority of Americans receive coronavirus shots at pharmacies. More than a dozen states limit the vaccines that pharmacists can give without a doctor’s prescription to only those recommended by the CDC advisory panel, according to the American Pharmacists Association, complicating efforts even for those who are seniors or have preexisting conditions as approved by the FDA.
Five Democratic-led states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania — have recently issued orders to pharmacies to provide coronavirus vaccines without a prescription.
At CVS, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, prescriptions are still required for coronavirus vaccines in Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico (where the order has yet to take effect), Utah and West Virginia. Patients in higher-risk groups can receive them through CVS Minute Clinics to bypass prescription requirements in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and D.C.
The nation’s other two largest pharmacy chains — Walgreens and Walmart — have not provided a list of states where prescriptions are required to get the vaccine.
In a combative appearance before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, Kennedy bristled when Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) accused the Trump administration of taking steps that deny people vaccines.
“Everybody can get the vaccine. You’re just making things up,” Kennedy said. “You’re making things up to scare people, and it’s a lie.”
In Virginia, Elaine Cox said she and her husband asked their doctor for a prescription before leaving Saturday for a vacation in Italy. The office declined because it hadn’t received CDC guidance. Cox, 68, suffers from chronic lung disease, and her nephew died of the viral infection in 2022.
“I was crying this afternoon about this,” she said on Thursday. “My family takes [covid] very seriously.”
Pharmacy employees have given conflicting instructions about how to get coronavirus vaccines, patients report.
In San Antonio, 78-year-old Brant Mittler was told at a CVS Minute Clinic that he needed a prescription on Monday, even though the pharmacy includes Texas among its no-prescription states. The next day, a pharmacist at the same clinic told him it wasn’t needed.
In states where CVS does not require prescriptions, coronavirus vaccine appointments aren’t available for younger, healthier people outside the recommended categories. But the list of qualifying medical conditions, including physical inactivity, being overweight or a history of smoking, is so long that nearly anyone who wants a shot should be able to get one, said Amy Thibault, a CVS spokeswoman.
“If you’re five pounds overweight, you qualify,” she said. “If you’ve smoked a cigarette once, you qualify.”
Some people seeking prescriptions from their doctors face pushback.
In Louisville, Stephen Pedigo said his primary care doctor recommended against receiving the vaccine, arguing that covid is mild and that the vaccine has “a lot of complications,” including heart problems, according to a screenshot of their messages.
The most recent CDC guidance says coronavirus vaccination is “especially important” if you are 65 or older and notes vaccines underwent the most intensive safety analysis in U.S. history.
Pedigo, who is 66 and has undergone a heart valve replacement, insisted, and the office gave him the prescription. He received the shot at a CVS on Friday. “I trust the vaccines are safe,” Pedigo said.
Doctors offices also have reported challenges helping patients get vaccinated.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, pediatrician Mary-Cassie Shaw said her office has preordered from Moderna hundreds of shots, at $200 a dose, but worries that insurers won’t provide reimbursement.
Families for the past month have been asking for coronavirus shots to go along with flu vaccines, she said.
One 12-year-old immunocompromised girl went to CVS but needed a prescription from Shaw — who was asked by the pharmacist to rewrite the prescription to include certain diagnosis codes indicating why the patient needed the vaccine.
“I have to do the legwork to come up with the codes that might qualify them,” Shaw said. “It’s a huge barrier. It’s ridiculous.”
Vaccination rates for the latest coronavirus shots have been low, particularly for people not considered at high risk, according to CDC estimates. For adults, uptake of the 2024-2025 vaccine ranged from 11 percent for younger adults to nearly 44 percent for those 65 and older. Roughly 13 percent of children between 6 months and 17 years received the shot.
The most effective way to increase vaccine uptake is to make it easier for people to get the shots, said Noel Brewer, professor of public health at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. In states such as North Carolina, the added step of getting prescriptions will prompt many people to not bother, he said.
“They might even just hear about other people having a hassle and decide to go back another time and never get back to it,” said Brewer, who studies patient behavior in regard to vaccines.
Last week, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington announced plans to form a “health alliance” to coordinate vaccine recommendations based on advice from national medical organizations rather than the federal government, because, they said, federal actions have raised concerns “about the politicization of science,” according to a joint statement.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) announced Thursday that her state would be the first to require insurance companies to cover vaccines recommended by the state’s Department of Public Health, even if the CDC does not. Washington state government officials on Friday recommended coronavirus vaccines for people ages 6 months and older.
At 59, Brewer doesn’t fall into the category of people for whom the FDA recommended updated coronavirus vaccines. Instead, Brewer said, he will wait until the fall, when he might travel to a blue state.
NBC News: Sec. Scott Bessent says tariffs are not a tax on the American people
Slingshot News: ‘It Sends A Message’: Kristi Noem Makes Freudian Slip, Admits Trump’s Border Wall Is Nothing But Political Theater During House Hearing
‘It Sends A Message’: Kristi Noem Makes Freudian Slip, Admits Trump’s Border Wall Is Nothing But Political Theater During House Hearing
During her remarks in a House hearing in May, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem admitted that Trump’s border wall is nothing but political theater. Noem stated, “It sends a message.”
Associated Press: In one DC neighborhood after federal intervention, the notion of more authority is a mixed bag
There might be military units patrolling Union Station and public spaces where tourists often come, she said, but “none of them over here. They are armed — on the Mall. Ain’t nobody doing nothing on the Mall. It’s for show.”
In a swath of the nation’s capital that sits across the tracks, and the river, residents can see the Washington Monument, the Waldorf Astoria — formerly the Trump Hotel — and the U.S. Capitol dome.
What the people of Anacostia cannot see are the National Guard units patrolling those areas. And they don’t see them patrolling on this side of the Anacostia River, either.
In this storied region of Washington, home to Frederick Douglass, the crime that President Donald Trump has mobilized federal law enforcement to address is something residents would like to see more resources dedicated to. But it’s complicated.
“We do need protection here,” said Mable Carter, 82. “I have to come down on the bus. It’s horrifying.”
There might be military units patrolling Union Station and public spaces where tourists often come, she said, but “none of them over here. They are armed — on the Mall. Ain’t nobody doing nothing on the Mall. It’s for show.”
Carter wants to see more police in this area — the city’s own police, under the direction of Chief Pamela Smith. “I’d rather see them give her a chance. She has the structure in place.”
The Pentagon, when asked if there were plans to deploy the National Guard to higher crime areas like Anacostia and who determines that, sent a list of stations where the military units were present as of late last month. None of those deployments included stations east of the Anacostia River.
In response to a question of whether those deployments had been extended, or whether there were plans to do so White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that federal law enforcement members have been working the wards east of the river, including involvement in the arrests of several suspects wanted for violent crimes, including a first-degree murder warrant.
“As we have said since the beginning of the operation, National Guard troops are not making arrests at this time, but federal law enforcement officers will continue getting criminals off the streets and making the communities safer,” Rogers said.
A neighborhood caught in the middle
Over the course of two weekends east of the river, in conversations with groups and individuals, including a senior’s gathering at Union Temple Baptist Church, a theme emerged.
Like Carter, people would like more law enforcement resources, but they distrust the motives behind the surge and how it has usurped the authority of the mayor and local officers. And while they acknowledge crime is more serious here than most other areas of the district, it is nowhere near the levels of three decades ago, when the D.C. National Guard worked with the Metropolitan Police to address the violence.
This year’s homicides in the district, as of Friday, were at 104, a 17% decrease from 126 as of Sept. 5 last year. But, more than 60% of them are in the two wards that are almost exclusively east of the Anacostia River, including 38 in Ward 8, according to the Metropolitan Police Department crime mapping tool. That proportion is about the same as it was in 2024 when there were 187 homicides citywide for the year. One of the most notable murders was a double homicide that left two teens lying dead on the street and a third man wounded.
“I just called the police the other night,” said Henny, 42, who owns NAM’s Market.
He said a group of teenagers attempted to rob his store after casing it throughout the day. He called police and said they asked him if they were armed. “I didn’t see a weapon,” he said, adding that no patrol officers responded.
The store owner said he has been here about 10 years and been victimized multiple times but thinks it is getting worse now. He does not give his last name out of fear.
“What worries me is to make sure they’re not coming back,” he said. “There are a lot of things going on.” Asked if he feels safe he said, “Absolutely not.”
He has pepper spray but has been told by authorities not to use it, he said. When he heard of the federal law enforcement and National Guard arrival, “To be honest, I said that’s good — but that’s not over here. It’s getting worse. The city says crime is down but I don’t see it.”
‘The rampage with guns is nothing new’
A block away, Rosie Hyde’s perspective is different. The ashes of one of the 75-year-old widow’s sons are spread around her property. Samuel Johnson was killed about three miles away on April 20, 1991. The case is still open.
Hyde, a retired probation officer for the city, said her son died during that epidemic of gun violence. “That was 35 years ago,” she said. “That tells you the rampage with guns is nothing new.”
Homicides topped 400 annually in 1989 and stayed there through 1996, according to the district’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Aggravated assaults were also at record totals.
Hyde believes Trump is after the optics in areas where he will get attention — at the train station, on the Mall, in areas with a concentration of tourists. “They haven’t been over here like that,” she said.
The majestic home of Frederick Douglass is here, offering a panoramic view of other parts of the city west of the river. Farther east is the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. The plaque outside says as much about this moment as it does about history: The museum, it says, “aspires to illuminate and share the untold and often overlooked stories of people furthest from opportunity in the Greater Washington, D.C. region.”
Federal agents are in this area working with local authorities, including FBI agents and Border Patrol, as well as Metro Transit Authority police. Along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Anacostia, new buildings mix with older ones and small groups of people mill about, drinking from bottles and with the occasional smell of marijuana. But it is relatively quiet.
At one point, a large group of National Guard members climbs out of a van at the Anacostia Metro station, but they catch the train heading west back beneath the river. While troops are stationed at 18 stops, the last one on the green line is the Navy Yard-Ballpark station, the final one west of the river.
Guard presence has precedent in this neighborhood
There was a time when the Guard was here — or, more precisely, above it. During the high crime years, the D.C. National Guard worked with District police; officers flew aboard the Guard’s helicopters directing patrol units to crime scenes.
Norm Nixon, an associate pastor at Union Temple Baptist Church, said there are federal agents around, but their presence is not constant and no military uniforms are seen on the streets. He said local officers who try to push community policing — communicating with residents and acknowledging their concerns — will probably get blowback because of the federal presence.
He, like others, questions why Trump decided to federalize the city when violence is present virtually everywhere, including in rural areas where drugs and economic hardships have created fertile ground for lawlessness.
“The president needs to have these initiatives to make it seem like something is happening, almost like he’s got to make news,” Nixon said, adding that he is also concerned about the focus on rousting the homeless population. “What happened to those people? Are they receiving services?”
Vernon Hancock, a church elder and trustee attending a senior’s day party, said he believes Trumps’ actions are a test. “Washington, D.C., is easy because it is federal and he has the authority to do what he’s doing,” Hancock said. “It is a federal city so he can just take over. But he wants to take this to other cities and spread this.”
The big question for me is, “What will be the long-term results once the extra troops & cops are done?” Probably nil, things will just revert to the state they were in a couple weeks ago. It’s all show, no permanent substance.
Slingshot News: ’Suck it Up’: Sen. Cortez Masto Exposes Trump Nominee’s Blunt Response To Americans Suffering Under Trump’s Tariffs In Senate Hearing
’Suck it Up’: Sen. Cortez Masto Exposes Trump Nominee’s Blunt Response To Americans Suffering Under Trump’s Tariffs In Senate Hearing
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto exposed Trump nominee Stephen Miran’s blunt response to Americans suffering under Trump’s tariffs during a Senate confirmation hearing this week. Miran said that Americans would have to ‘suck it up.’
