The WSJ editorial board argued that the tariff policy has weakened U.S. credibility by targeting allies and obstructed coalition efforts against Beijing’s trade practices. The editorial board wrote, “Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs—and by Mr. Trump’s own hand.”
The editorial board added, “A ‘tragedy’ of Trump’s ‘shoot-America-in-the-foot-first approach,’ is that he’s hurt his chances of rallying a united front of countries against Beijing’s mercantilism.” It added, “By targeting allies with tariffs, Mr. Trump has eroded trust in America’s economic and political reliability.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/repudiated-wsj-delivers-blow-to-trump/ss-AA1F0uoz
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a temporary restraining order after officers arrested about 15 people, including a U.S. citizen.
Attorney General James Uthmeier reportedly told law enforcement the law can still be enforced, even with Judge Kathleen Williams’s court order. Williams questioned whether Uthmeier influenced local officers to continue enforcement against the order, noting that she was “surprised and shocked” by the decision.
Williams said, “What I am offended by is someone suggesting you don’t have to follow my order, that it’s not legitimate.”
Williams added, “Even prior to any formal discovery, there is evidence that AG Uthmeier has used his authority to encourage local law enforcement to continue making arrests under a law the Court has, for the time being, found unconstitutional.”
According to a bombshell report from the Washington Post, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi is considering a plan that would let federal prosecutors investigate and indict members of Congress unfettered by traditional oversight designed to stop political persecution.
Traditionally, before such an investigation could proceed, a prosecutor would have their case reviewed by the lawyers in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. But that would go away under the new proposal.
The report notes that, should the proposal go into effect, “a long-standing provision in the Justice Department’s manual that outlines how investigations of elected officials should be conducted” would be shunted aside and allow possible prosecutions based purely on politics.
This was summed up by legal expert Roger Parloff, who said, “In correcting an earlier (crucial) misstatement about Guatemalan OCG, whom government removed to Mexico and who is now hiding in Guatemala due to fear of persecution, government inadvertently identified OCG’s name, violating court order and heightening the danger OCG’s in.”
Parloff added, “Complicated background, but OCG is a name plaintiff in the DVD class action, which is trying to prevent aliens from being removed to 3d countries without an opportunity to raise and litigate claims of fear of persecution and torture.”
https://www.rawstory.com/dhs-fix-crucial-misstatement-mexico
In recent months, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, rehired and threatened with firing again.
For now, they have a two-week reprieve, after a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration not to carry out any additional firings for two weeks, but the administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.
But employees describe weeks of uncertainty, worry and doubt as their jobs are off, then on, then off again.
No, Qatar‘s royal family gifting a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet known as a “flying palace” to the government that will reportedly then go to Donald Trump‘s presidential library is not the same as France giving the Statue of Liberty to the American people. But that is what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to claim on Sunday.
“Even if Qatar isn’t asking for anything in return now for the jet, I mean, that’s a bill that could come due,” Jake Tapper, host of CNN’s State of the Union said to Bessent. “Nobody… just gives a $400 million jet just to be nice.”
“Well, I don’t know, Jake,” Bessent said. “The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us the Resolute Desk. I’m not sure they asked for anything in advance.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bessent-trump-qatar-statue-of-liberty-1235342112
“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ’n’ roll in dangerous times,” he said in the minute-long speech, to raucous cheers.
“In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,” he continued before asking fans to “raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!”
Later in the evening, Springsteen offered a withering takedown of what he’s seen happening in the U.S. under Trump.
“They are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent,” Springsteen began, in remarks that were later posted on his website and YouTube channel. He continued:
They’re rolling back historic Civil Rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons.
He also took aim at Trump’s fellow Republicans, as well as the Democratic Party, arguing that they had all failed to protect Americans “from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.”
Still, he said, “The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its faults is a great country with a great people. So, we’ll survive this moment.”
And of course the vile King Donald just can’t resist the temptation to badmouth the Boss, and Biden, too. The final score:
If the Episcopal Church had agreed to resettle South African Boers, then it would have elevated a lie that will affect refugee resettlement for years to come.
The combination of the Trump administration granting expedited refugee status to white South Africans and the Episcopal Church ending a 40-year partnership with the federal government rather than help resettle fake refugees leaves me with contradictory feelings.
As an Episcopal priest and a dual citizen of the United States and South Africa, I am proud of the Episcopal Church for standing up and speaking out about the U.S. government’s lies of a white “genocide” in South Africa. In equal measure, I am devastated that the work our church has done for decades, giving hope and care to people forced to leave their homelands, is ending because of white supremacy and Christian nationalism.
…
If the Episcopal Church had agreed to resettle South African Boers, then it would have elevated a lie that will affect refugee resettlement for years to come. If white South Africans are experiencing genocide, then it is truly an enviable genocide. White South Africans, who are about 7% of the country’s population, own about 75% of South Africa’s farmland and control a great majority of senior corporate positions. Our Palestinian brothers and sisters experiencing a true genocide would likely be happy if they had control over 30% of their ancestral land.
…
The Episcopal Church has taken a moral stand. The Boers who arrived on U.S. soil this week are not refugees. They are white people using their privilege to leap over legitimate refugees who have been waiting to escape political repression and life-threatening situations.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-afrikaners-apartheid-refugees-genocide-rcna206660
Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s approach to tariffs, as well as several foreign policy initiatives, in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” airing Sunday.
“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country,” Pence told moderator Kristen Welker, referring to the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on the United States’ largest trading partners in early April.
Days later, the president paused most of the tariffs, a move that Pence on Friday said he was “glad” to see.
Pence also spoke about Trump’s approach to foreign policy in this term. He told Welker it’s “a bad idea” for the president to accept a plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family, amid reports that Trump plans to do so, and was critical of Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia.
The former vice president also questioned the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, as top U.S. officials seek to reach a deal with Iran over the nation’s possession of uranium and nuclear technology.
Pence said he is worried about reports that Iran is seeking to maintain a civilian nuclear program, telling Welker the U.S. “should make it clear in negotiations with Iran that their current nuclear program must be either dismantled or destroyed.”
Pence said Trump was wrong to issue a blanket pardon of people who faced charges for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“I will always believe by God’s grace I did my duty that day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and see to the peaceful transfer of power,” Pence said, later drawing a distinction between some Jan. 6 defendants who “just walked through an open door, meant no harm, did no harm,” and those charged with more serious crimes.
“But individuals who broke into the Capitol, who assaulted police officers, I said that day and I believe to this moment should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said.
