Slingshot News: ‘I Think It’s Wrong’: Elizabeth Warren Puts Smug Nominee In His Place, Exposes Trump’s Corruption During Heated Exchange In Senate Hearing [Video]
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The Hill: Trump ahead of Friday jobs report: ‘Real numbers’ will be ‘a year from now’
President Trump said Thursday that “real” jobs numbers will come next year, ahead of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s (BLS) first jobs report since he fired its leader in response to dismal numbers in July.
“They come out tomorrow, but the real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now on,” Trump told reporters while flanked by more than two dozen top tech executives at a White House dinner.
He said that when “huge, beautiful places, the palaces of genius” open, job numbers will improve. He did not specify what projects he was referring to.
“When they start opening up … I think you’ll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible,” Trump said. “Right now, it’s a lot of construction numbers, but you’re going to see job numbers like our country has never seen.”
His comments on the jobs report come as economists are predicting more weakening in the labor market for August. The July jobs report, which sparked Trump to fire former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, showed an average of just 35,000 jobs being added to the economy per month across May, June and July.
Her firing has raised concerns over the politicization of jobs data and whether the public should question whether they can trust future releases. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNN last week, “I think they’ll be as good as they can be, but they need to get a lot better.”
The president spoke to reporters while he hosted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Google Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, among several others, for a dinner at the White House.
At the dinner, which was slated to be the inaugural event in the newly renovated Rose Garden but moved inside due to rain, Trump asked the attendees to say how much their companies were investing in U.S. manufacturing.
A year from now? Meanwhile, how do we eat and pay the rent?
Trump ahead of Friday jobs report: ‘Real numbers’ will be ‘a year from now’
President Trump said Thursday that “real” jobs numbers will come next year, ahead of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s (BLS) first jobs report since he fired its leader in response to dismal numbers…
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5487439-trump-friday-jobs-report-real-numbers
Associated Press: Trump will host top tech CEOs except Musk at a White House dinner
President Donald Trump will host a high-powered list of tech CEOs for a dinner at the White House on Thursday night.
The guest list is set to include Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a dozen other executives from the biggest artificial intelligence and tech firms, according to the White House.
One notable absence from the guest list is Elon Musk, once a close ally of Trump, whom the Republican president tasked with running the government-slashing Department of Government Efficiency. Musk had a public breakup with Trump earlier this year.
The dinner will be held in the Rose Garden, where Trump recently paved over the grassy lawn and set up tables, chairs and umbrellas that look strikingly similar to the outdoor setup at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
“The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political, and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio.”
The event will follow a meeting of the White House’s new Artificial Intelligence Education task force, which first lady Melania Trump will chair.
“During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance,” she said in a statement. “We are living in a moment of wonder, and it is our responsibility to prepare America’s children.”
At least some of the attendees at the president’s Thursday’s dinner are expected to participate in the task force meeting, which aims to develop AI education for American youths.
The White House confirmed that the guest list for the dinner is also set to include Google founder Sergey Brin and CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and founder Greg Brockman, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Blue Origin CEO David Limp, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive, Palantir executive Shyam Sankar, Scale AI founder and CEO Alexandr Wang and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.
Isaacman was an associate of Musk whom Trump nominated to lead NASA, only to revoke the nomination around the time of his breakup with Musk. Trump cited the revocation of the nomination as one of the reasons Musk was upset with him and called Isaacman “totally a Democrat.”
The dinner was first reported Wednesday by The Hill.
As my little brother would have said many years ago, “Musk is cut!”
Trump will host top tech CEOs at a White House dinner. Musk won’t be there
President Donald Trump will host a high-powered list of tech CEOs for a dinner at the White House. The White House says Thursday’s guest list includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a dozen other executives from the biggest artificial intelligence a
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tech-ceos-white-house-rose-garden-e234e719d96d299d2f670037f9505a9f
Daily Beast: Trump Threatens Countries Failing to Show Him ‘Respect’ in Deranged Late-Night Meltdown
The president makes vague threats while lashing out at overseas digital services taxes.
Tariff-loving Donald Trump has issued an unhinged threat against countries he claims don’t show the U.S. and major tech companies “respect.”
In a typical deranged late-night post on Truth Social, the MAGA president warned he would impose “substantial” new tariffs and block U.S. chip exports to countries that enforce digital taxes.
Trump argued that digital service taxes are designed to “harm, or discriminate” against American technology, and issued a sinister warning for if they are not dropped.
Trump has long railed against digital services taxes, including those imposed in Europe, which primarily hit U.S. tech giants, including Apple, Google, and Meta.
“They also, outrageously, give a complete pass to China’s largest Tech Companies. This must end, and end NOW,” Trump wrote.
“With this TRUTH, I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed,” he added. “America, and American Technology Companies, are neither the ‘piggy bank’ nor the ‘doormat’ of the World any longer. Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies or, consider the consequences! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
While not mentioning any nation by name, his comments appear to be a swipe at the European Union, whose Digital Markets Act (DMA) designates tech behemoths as “gatekeepers” and seeks to ensure they do not have a monopoly on their respective markets or abuse their powers.
The president’s warning came shortly after the U.S. and EU issued a joint statement pledging to negotiate over “unjustified trade barriers” targeting U.S. tech companies and agreeing not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions, Bloomberg reported.
In June, Canada also pulled plans to tax American tech companies’ operations in the country to appease Trump amid threats to impose higher tariffs on imports from its northern neighbor.
Trump blasted Canada’s proposed digital tax—which would have slapped a 3 percent levy on Canadian revenue above $20 million—as a “blatant attack.”
At the time, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “caved” to Trump by dropping the tax, originally announced in 2020.
Raw Story: ‘Grandmother who won’t stop talking’: GOP aides say Stephen Miller won’t hang up
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor, just won’t get off the phone, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night that Trump 2.0 has Miller’s fingerprints all over it, with Miller “emerg[ing] as a singular figure in the second Trump administration, wielding more power than almost any other White House staffer in recent memory—and eager to circumvent legal limitations on his agenda.”
Miller has drafted or edited each of Trump’s signed executive orders, according to the report, giving him considerable influence over Trump’s second term. This comes after the president refused to give him a leading role at the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly telling aides he didn’t see Miller as leadership material, according to the report.
Also of note — Miller appears to be getting under the skin of GOP aides on Capitol Hill who say they can’t get him off the phone.
https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-2672408339
More here:
Stephen Miller Is Driving Congressional Aides Crazy With Non-Stop Calls
Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, is so involved in every aspect of the Trump administration’s efforts to radically reconfigure American democracy that congressional aides have reportedly begun complaining about his incessant phone calls. Ignoring the fact that his “outreach wasn’t always welcome,” Miller would call congressional aides for lengthy, aimless conversations about illegal immigration that contained no specific requests,…
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ar-AA1H8sPE
And here:
Moneywise: Utah couple both fired from IRS jobs in DOGE cuts
The Trump administration has already fired over 7,000 employees from the IRS and plans to cut 11,000 more by May 15 — in line with its goal to reduce the department’s workforce by 50%. All told, there were 280,253 layoffs across 27 federal agencies in February and March.
“This was going to be my retirement plan,” one probationary IRS employee, who did not want to be identified, told KUTV reporters. “My wife is going to be fired too, so it’s going to affect my entire family.”
Sadly, whether by deportations or by firings, the Trump regime thrives on the misery of those less fortunate.
Utah couple were both fired from their IRS jobs as part of DOGE cuts — husband says it was his ‘retirement plan.’ Here’s how to protect (and grow) your nest-egg even without a job
Here’s how laid-off workers can protect their savings and stay on track for the future.
https://moneywise.com/employment/couple-both-laid-off-by-irs
The Nation: The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power
The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.
The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.
Here’s a troubling news alert for everyone who cares about workers and consumers being protected from illegal, exploitative, and dangerous business practices: The Supreme Court appears ready to give President Donald Trump extraordinary power over what for nearly a century have been independent expert federal worker and consumer protection agencies insulated from White House interference.
The court showed its hand in Wilcox v. Trump—the case involving Trump’s unprecedented effort to fire Gwynne Wilcox—a Senate-confirmed member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the first Black woman to ever serve as a member of the NLRB.
Members of independent agencies like the NLRB, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are nominated by the president and confirmed by the US Senate for defined terms. They are protected by law against being removed from office except where there has been wrongdoing and only after notice and a hearing. The Supreme Court has recognized and respected these “for cause” removal protections for 90 years.
That is, until now. Upon taking office for his second term, Trump decided that he has the power to unilaterally remove members of independent boards and commissions whenever and for whatever reason he wants. The list of casualties is long—in addition to Wilcox, he has fired members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the FTC, the CPSC, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and more. And by firing these officials, Trump has left these consumer- and worker-protection agencies without a quorum to act and hold corporations accountable.
…
The court’s order is going to embolden a president who has already shown himself willing to push or violate the boundaries of his power. Now that the Supreme Court has nodded at his power to fire members of independent boards and commissions, he will undoubtably continue to do so, even before the Supreme Court definitively rules on the merits of the question in its next term.
The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power
The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/wilcox-trump-federal-agencies
OBOXMA: It seems Zuckerberg now wants US military contracts
While Meta is mired in antitrust proceedings threatening to lead to its dismantling, Mark Zuckerberg is desperately tightening his ties with the Trump administration, which he has been trying to seduce for several months in the hope of securing highly lucrative military contracts.
Mark Zuckerberg has made one strategic rapprochement gesture after another towards Donald Trump, combining financial initiatives, internal decisions and political signals: a million-dollar donation at his inauguration in January, a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the dismantling of Facebook’s fact-checking program, the removal of Meta’s diversity team, the appointment of people close to Trump to the board of directors, and the purchase of a house in Washington D.C.
Move over, F’Elon and Jeff! Mark Zuckerberg — the guy who stole Facebook from his Harvard schoolmate — wants a piece of your pie.
It seems Zuckerberg now wants US military contracts – OboxMA
Meta recently hired Francis Brennan, a former advisor to Donald Trump, to head up its strategic communications in Washington.
The Street: These two industries could face mass layoffs this year
Trucking:
Trucking has typically been known as a reliable career choice, although some struggle with the isolation and long hours.
But according to Apollo’s report, the disruptions tariffs will cause to trade, especially with China, will have a negative effect on those working in the trucking industry.
The report suggests that a sharp decline in container-ship voyages from China will significantly reduce freight volumes, meaning fewer trucks will be needed to transport goods.
Apollo estimates that imports accounts for 20% of U.S. trucking volume, which if reduced, would translate to less need for drivers. It also estimates that domestic freight activity will hit a major slowdown by mid-May, with major layoffs to follow in order for trucking companies to cope with the changes.
Add in that President Trump signed an executive order on April 28 that requires all truck drivers to be able to speak English, and even more jobs will be snuffed out.
Retail:
Another blue-collar sector that will suffer because of the tariff environment, according to Apollo, is retail.
Apollo’s data suggests that retail will also face problems due to the decline in container shipments, especially from China. This will lead to stores running out of stock and longer gaps until they are able to refill their shelves. Other items could disappear altogether if they’re too expensive to import.
In addition, Apollo predicts that declining consumer confidence in the economy and fear of spending on anything nonessential will mean a slowdown in retail shopping. After all, less sales means less money to pay staff.
Further, the tariff-driven slowdown could lead to stagflation — stagnant growth combined with high inflation — according to Apollo’s analysis.
https://www.thestreet.com/retail/these-two-industries-could-face-mass-layoffs-this-year
Business Insider: UPS says it is cutting 20,000 staff and shuttering over 70 facilities
- UPS said it would cut 20,000 jobs this year as it overhauls its US network to boost efficiency.
- The shipping giant plans to shutter 73 facilities and save $3.5 billion as demand remains soft.
- The cuts are linked to the “changing trade environment,” UPS CEO Carol Tomé said.
UPS plans to slash 20,000 jobs this year as part of a cost-cutting drive amid the shifting global trade landscape triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Thank you, sir, King Donald! Please, sir, may I have another?
