Daily Beast: Texas Officials Slam Trump’s National Weather Service for Botched Forecast

The government weather forecaster has been hit with huge cuts by the president’s administration.

Officials in Texas are casting blame on the National Weather Service (NWS) for failing to forecast catastrophic flooding that has killed 24 people.

NWS was among the government agencies targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency in its effort to gut the federal bureaucracy, losing approximately 600 staffers.

After the cuts, the agency—which was already understaffed—began to prepare to offer “degraded” forecasting services, facing “severe shortages” of meteorologists, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times in April.

“The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill Country,” said Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd at a press conference Friday. “The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”

Current tally is 27+ dead, 24+ still missing!

Thank you, Trump, Musk, and DOGE for a job well botched!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-officials-slam-donald-trumps-national-weather-service-for-bad-forecast

Tag 24 News: Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem took large personal cut of political donations while serving as governor, new report reveals

A recent report found that current Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem once accepted payment from a dark money group during her time as governor, raising concerns over possible violation of ethics requirements.

According to the report from ProPublica, while Noem was serving as governor of South Dakota in 2023, she received a payment of $80,000 from the dark money political group American Resolve Policy Fund (ARPF), which was funneled to her personal company Ashwood Strategies.

But when it came time to file her annual income disclosure form after President Donald Trump appointed her head of DHS, she chose not to include the payment.

While it’s not unusual for a politician to work with nonprofits and other groups to raise funds to assist their political efforts, it is unusual for one to take a cut for themselves – and even more questionable for them not to report it.

Several experts told ProPublica that Noem’s actions are “a likely violation of ethics requirements,” and critics on social media have called it clear signs of corruption.

We have a corrupt president with a corrupt DHS secretary — is anyone surprised?

https://www.tag24.com/politics/politicians/kristi-noem-took-large-personal-cut-of-political-donations-while-serving-as-governor-new-report-reveals-3399141

Raw Story: Travesty’: Ex-presidents issue rare rebuke of Trump as major agency axed

Obama:

A pair of former U.S. presidents issued a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump on Monday in a farewell meeting to former employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Former president Barack Obama called Trump’s decision to shutter the agency “a travesty.” He also credited the agency with both saving lives and creating economic growth across the globe.

Bush:

Former president George W. Bush chided Trump for gutting a program within USAID known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which he credited with saving 25 million lives across the world.

“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart,’’ Bush said in a pre-recorded message. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”

Our resident fascist:

Trump has raged against USAID since the day he took office for his second term. One of the first executive orders Trump signed described U.S. foreign aid offices as being “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”

He then sent Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to investigate USAID’s spending and recommend ways to reduce the agency’s financial prowess. Musk described USAID as “a criminal organization” and “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”

And one of the fascist’s royal suck-ups:

The pressure had its intended impact. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously described USAID as an agency with “amazing achievements,” swiftly recommended cutting 83% of programs under the agency’s umbrella.

https://www.rawstory.com/usaid-2672503313

Newsweek: Supreme Court to hear JD Vance case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Republican-led challenge to a federal campaign finance law provision that limits how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. The case, which centers on free speech claims, involves Vice President JD Vance, who was a U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio when the lawsuit was initiated.

The justices took up an appeal from Vance and two Republican committees, contesting a lower court’s decision that upheld the spending limits. The challengers argue the restrictions violate constitutional protections by capping party spending influenced by input from supported candidates.

How dare they deprive the wealthy of their God-given right to purchase election results!

DNC Chair Ken Martin, DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement: “We refuse to sit on the sidelines as Trump’s DOJ and the Republican Party attempt to throw out longstanding election laws for their own benefit. Republicans know their grassroots support is drying up across the country, and they want to drown out the will of the voters.

https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-jd-vance-campaign-finance-ohio-case-2092657

USA Today: Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill ‘immaterial’ compared to ICE increases

In a series of social media posts, Vice President JD Vance said the cost of the GOP spending bill, including the effect of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, are “immaterial” compared to the money he says it will save through expanded funding for immigration enforcement.

“The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The (bill) fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass,” Vance said in a June 30 post on the social media site X, a few hours before he cast the tie-breaking vote to move the spending bill back to the House.

“Everything else ‒ the (Congressional Budget Office) score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy ‒ is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions,” he said in a second post.

This assumes that “illegal” immigrants contribute nothing to the economy, which is totally false. Removing “illegal” immigrants will cause a net loss of hundreds of billions of dollars for California alone (not to mention other states), and it is on top of that loss that millions of Americans will be losing their health insurance.

J.D. Dunce is a f*ck*ng sh*t for brains disgrace. Nobody in Greenland wanted them over for lunch, and I wouldn’t either.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/01/vance-medicaid-cuts-ice-spending-tax-bill/84429757007

Daily Beast: Florida City Ends ICE Deal Ahead of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Visit

Key West, home to the southernmost point in the continental U.S., voted to end its cooperation agreement with ICE.

A Florida city welcomed President Donald Trump to the state Tuesday by making life harder for his ICE goons.

Hours before Trump touched down at Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” city commissioners in Key West voted 6-1 in favor of scrapping an agreement requiring local police to coordinate with federal immigration officials.

The vote “basically invalidated the city’s most recent agreement with ICE,” which was reached in March, reported Local 10.

“People who are seeking political asylum are important members of our community,” Commissioner Samuel Kaufman said, according to WLRN. “We have thousands of them here, by the way. And they deserve the respect that anybody else does.”

Florida’s southernmost city, less than 100 miles from the Cuban coast, is also among its most progressive. Commissioner Donald Lee said that the city’s police chief, Sean Brandenburg, signed the deal to cooperate with ICE because he had a proverbial “gun” to his head from both federal and state officials. The Florida city of Fort Myers has refused to sign an agreement, and its leaders have been threatened with removal from office.

Key West residents went into uproar last month when a beloved local hairstylist, who a city cop stopped as he rode his e-bike to work, was placed in ICE custody and detained for weeks.

Lee Stinton, a Northern Ireland national, holds an employment authorization card and has applied for a green card, according to Keys Weekly. Still, his traffic infraction reportedly warranted the involvement of ICE agents, who allegedly harassed him and tossed him in a detention center in Miami, where a Canadian citizen, 49, and a Cuban national, 75, died in custody within the last week.

“The ICE agent that got involved in his traffic stop—and I’m still not sure how that happened, whether he was riding with the police officer or showed up separately—saw the photo of the two of us on Lee’s phone’s lock screen, and assumed I was Haitian,” Davis said. “He asked Lee, ‘Is that your boyfriend? We’ll go find him as well and get two for one.’”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-city-ends-ice-deal-ahead-of-trumps-alligator-alcatraz-visit

ABC News: Department of Justice suing Los Angeles over sanctuary city policy

The Department of Justice is suing the city of Los Angeles over its sanctuary city policy, alleging it interferes with the enforcement of federal immigration laws, officials announced on Monday.

“The challenged law and policies of the City of Los Angeles obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit is targeting Ordinance Number 188441, which prohibits city resources, including personnel, from being used for immigration enforcement. The DOJ is seeking a permanent injunction barring the city from enforcing the ordinance.

Big waste of time and money — the Tenth Amendment (separation of powers) says the federal government can’t hijack state or local governments to do their bidding.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/doj-suing-los-angeles-sanctuary-city-policy/story?id=123348526

The Hill: Opinion: The Supreme Court’s injunctions decision returns America to the constitutional horrors of Dred Scott

In ordinary times, someone could read the Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of so-called “universal injunctions” as just the latest example of an old dispute: the proper way to interpret the Constitution and the jurisdiction of federal courts. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s majority opinion saying the federal district courts do not have the authority to issue such injunctions is a classic in the genre of “originalism.” 

In contrast, the dissenting opinions by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson read the law through the lens not just of its origins but with an eye to how an interpretation would affect the world beyond the courtroom. They understand that these are not ordinary times and do not want to disable the judiciary from responding when fundamental rights are at stake, in the face of an ongoing assault on the rule of law itself. 

To put it simply, with its decision in Trump v. Casa, the court has become an accomplice in President Trump’s ongoing assault on our constitutional republic. The decision has effectively removed the federal courts as a check on the Trump administration.  

But it also does grave damage to the court itself — Trump v. Casa now takes its place among the high court’s most infamous rulings. As Stephen Lubet says, it returns us to the world of its discredited Dred Scott decision, which found that the rights of Black people depended on where they lived. Just like Blacks in the antebellum world who had one status in free states and another in slave states, immigrants and others may now find themselves in a legal nether land. 

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5376627-supreme-court-universal-injunctions-ruling

Channel News Asia: Why countries like China, Canada and the UK have issued new warnings about US travel

China:

On Wednesday, China warned tourists to “fully assess the risks” before travelling to the US, after Beijing raised tariffs on American imports in retaliation for similar duties imposed by Trump.

“Due to the deterioration in China-US trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States, (we) advise Chinese tourists to fully assess the risks before travelling to the US,” Beijing’s culture and tourism ministry said in a statement.

UK:

In March, the UK revised its advice for citizens travelling to the US to include a warning that anyone found breaking its entry rules could face arrest or detention.

The current British travel advice for the US, published online by Britain’s foreign office and most recently updated on Mar 14, states: “You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”

At the beginning of February, the guidance had only stated: “The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules.”

The foreign office declined to comment on the reason for the revision or confirm when exactly it took place. It said its travel advice was designed to help people make decisions and that the advice was constantly kept under review.

Earlier in the month, in response to reports that a woman had been detained in the US for more than 10 days over a possible breach of her visa conditions, the foreign office confirmed that it was providing support to a British national detained in the US.

The woman has since returned to Britain.

Germany:

Similarly, in March, Germany updated its US travel advisory to emphasise that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry after several Germans were detained while entering the country.

Germany’s foreign ministry updated its travel advice website for the US on Mar 11 to clarify that neither approval through the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, system nor a US visa entitles entry in every case.

“The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities,” said a German foreign ministry spokesperson, who emphasised that the change did not constitute a travel warning.

Canada:

The Canadian government updated its US travel advisory on its website in March to say that those who plan to visit the US for more than 30 days “must be registered with the United States government”, NPR reported.

Those who did not do so could face “penalties fines, and misdemeanour prosecution”, the Canadian government said.

In early April, it updated its advisory again, adding a new paragraph about scrutiny at points of entry into the US, Canadian public broadcaster CBC reported.

This was done “quietly”, CBC said.

Part of the new paragraph reads: “Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices. Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities. If you are denied entry, you could be detained while awaiting deportation.”

CBC noted that US border agents had long had the power to ask to search travellers’ belongings and demand access to their electronic devices.

However, it reported that security had been stepped up at the US-Canada border, citing an immigration lawyer.

“There’s been much more heightened security and heightened investigations at the border,” the lawyer told the broadcaster.

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany:

In March, several European countries including Denmark, Finland, France and Germany suggested that transgender, non-binary and intersex people may face difficulties when trying to enter the US.

The Danish foreign ministry changed its US travel advisory to say that transgender people should contact the US embassy in the Nordic country before travelling to the United States.

“When applying for an ESTA or visa to the United States, there are two gender designations to choose from: Male or female,” the travel advisory stated on Mar 21.

“If you have the gender designation X in your passport, or you have changed your gender, it is recommended that you contact the US embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed,” the ministry added.

The “X” gender marker is preferred by many non-binary people, who do not identify as strictly male or female.

While the travel advisory did not explicitly mention the Trump administration, it came only weeks after Trump signed an executive order calling for the US federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents, such as passports, and in policies.

The US State Department has stopped issuing travel documents with the X gender marker.

The department also stopped allowing people to change the gender listed on their passports or get new ones that reflect their gender rather than their sex assigned at birth.

Finland also advised prospective US travellers on its foreign ministry homepage that if their “current gender as recorded in their passport differs from the gender they were assigned at birth, US authorities may deny (them) entry”.

“It is recommended that you check with US authorities in advance for entry requirements,” the ministry said.

France, meanwhile, modified its official advice to its nationals who are travelling to the United States, warning they must now state their gender assigned at birth in visa or ESTA applications.

In advice similar to that issued by Denmark, Germany told travellers who have the X gender entry in their passport or whose current gender entry differs from their gender entry at birth to contact a US diplomatic mission in Germany before they enter the country.

This is so that they can “find out the applicable entry requirements” for the US, the German foreign ministry said.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-travel-advisories-warnings-trump-china-canada-uk-immigration-tariffs-5059056

Alternet: ‘Should be investigated’: [Bimbo #1] Leavitt says Trump could revoke mayoral candidate’s citizenship

According to White House press secretary Karoline [Bimbo #1] Leavitt, President Donald Trump has not yet ruled out stripping U.S. citizenship from New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

During Monday’s White House press briefing, [Bimbo #1] Leavitt answered a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy, in which he pressed [Bimbo #1] Leavitt on the administration’s position on using denaturalization to prevent Mamdani from becoming mayor of New York City. Rolling Stone reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez posted the exchange to Bluesky, in which Leavitt left the door open for Trump to pursue deportation after Doocy’s follow-up question.

“He doesn’t want this individual to be elected,” [Bimbo #1] Leavitt said in response to Doocy asking if Trump wants Mamdani deported.

It’s always entertaining to hear from the dumbest woman in America!

https://www.alternet.org/leavitt-trump-revoke-citizenship