I have no idea how China will deal with their businesses losing sales due to the tariffs, but it's a lot easier to replace money than it is to replace stuff. That is, they could just hand cash to the businesses. The US government can't just hand stock to WalMart so there are things on the shelves.
They do buy some goods from the US, of course, but not nearly as much.
Imports at the Port of Los Angeles are expected to plunge in the next two weeks, even as negotiations over the final tariffs that China and other countries must pay are still being negotiated by President Trump.That was the sobering message that port Executive Director Gene Seroka had Thursday for the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners during an update on port activity.“It’s my prediction that in two weeks’ time, arrivals will drop by 35% as essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased, and cargo coming out of Southeast Asia locations is much softer than normal,” Seroka told the board.
Trump’s overall approval rating is lower than it was only two months ago. The poll shows that 39 percent of adult Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job, compared with 55 percent who disapprove, including 44 percent who disapprove strongly. In February, those numbers were 45 percent positive and 53 percent negative.Carville's "play dead" strategy was dumb, too, but smarter than that!
Later Usha enjoyed an evening visit to the Colosseum — which her husband had also been scheduled to attend before a last-minute change of plan — where she was given a personal tour of the arena, famous for its gladiatorial combats and naval battles, by Alfonsina Russo, the director.tl;dr he asked them to shut down the whole Colosseum for a private tour then didn't even show up.
Lesser mortals unlucky enough to have booked their own visit had to make do with a refund — but not all of them had got the message. There were chaotic scenes as some would-be visitors tried to open the gates surrounding the building, while others climbed over the fences, ticket in hand, trying to force their way in. Some chanted “shame” or anti-American slogans when they learnt the reason for the closure, Italian media reported.
Among the disappointed was Stephen Fishler, 58, a businessman from New York who arrived with his family in good time for his 6pm slot, but was turned away without explanation. “What does he think he is, special?” complained Fishler, himself a Trump voter. “JD should have waited until the Americans who had tickets had their visit and then gone in.” His wife, Anila, tried to calm him down and blamed the Italians.
Pete Hegseth wants Donald Trump to see him as a fighter amid the negative stories swirling around the defense secretary, two U.S. officials told NBC News, and has been focusing more on public and television appearances — including on his old network, Fox News — in which he can speak directly to the president.I am too a big boy!!!
...
...As he battles to keep his job amid a flood of reports about his behavior and infighting in his Pentagon, Hegseth’s behavior has become “erratic,” and he seems increasingly “insecure” about his job and standing in the administration, leading him to frequently reinforce to staff that he can’t allow himself to be fired, according to two officials familiar with the situation.
A federal judge in Louisiana expressed concern on Friday that the Trump administration had deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process” and against the wishes of her father.Aside from the specific case, it is good that even a nutty Trump-appointed MAGA judge can assert that last bit.
In a brief order issued from Federal District Court in the Western District of Louisiana, Judge Terry A. Doughty questioned why the administration had sent the child — known in court papers only as V.M.L. — to Honduras with her mother even though her father had sought in an emergency petition on Thursday to stop the girl from being sent abroad.
“The government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” wrote Judge Doughty, a conservative Trump appointee. “But the court doesn’t know that.”
Asserting that “it is illegal and unconstitutional to deport” a U.S. citizen, Judge Doughty set a hearing for May 16 to explore his “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
Many of them were unenrolling students as soon as they they were made aware..
The Trump administration has restored the student visa registrations of thousands of foreign students studying in the United States who had minor — and often dismissed — legal infractions.
The Justice Department announced the wholesale reversal in federal court Friday after weeks of intense scrutiny by courts and dozens of restraining orders issued by judges who deemed the mass termination of students from a federal database — used by universities and the federal government to track foreign students in the U.S. — as flagrantly illegal.
Somewhat tangential the specifics of our friend Mr. Hegseth, but I do think a tremendous problem with the structure of society is that many people thrust into management roles aren't just unqualified but are actually extremely unsuited for those positions.
ABC News has confirmed that in at least two separate meetings Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused top-ranking military officers of leaking to the media and threatened to polygraph them.
According to one person familiar with the exchanges, Hegseth was upset by media reports that he had planned a briefing for Elon Musk on China.
In a meeting with Adm. Christopher Grady, who was serving as then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Hegseth yelled “I’ll hook you up to a [expletive] polygraph!”
Even if you're facing insubordination and rebellion, is this a smart way of dealing with it?
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, had an unsecured internet connection set up in his Pentagon office so that he could bypass government security protocols and use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told the Associated Press.
Most notable was discussion of the current testing levels. Musk, asked about challenges, said that they are now at a level where interventions are rare enough that it’s hard to find new problems. It was stated that “we can go many days without getting a single intervention, so you can’t easily know if you are improving.”"Our cars are so good they don't have anything else to learn, and this is a problem."
While a precise number was not given, twice Musk suggested it was around 10,000 miles, the distance a typical car drives in a year. He worries that as they get to 20,000 and 30,000 it will take a long time with their Austin test fleet to get new issues to learn from.
(Bloomberg) -- Tariffs are starting to hit American meat exports, with China making its biggest cancellation of pork orders since 2020, according to Thursday data from the US Department of Agriculture.
The cancellation of 12,000 metric tons of US pork was the most since the Covid-19 pandemic roiled global supply chains. For the week, overall US pork export sales fell to the lowest level since October.
Not enough people enjoy pissing off the Harry Potter lady.
Pedro Pascal has strongly criticised JK Rowling following her public celebration of a UK Supreme Court decision that trans women are not legally women.
The Last of Us actor left a pointed comment on Instagram under a post by activist Tariq Ra’ouf, who had urged a boycott of all future Harry Potter projects in response to Rowling’s stance.
...
In his video, Tariq called Rowling’s actions “awful and disgusting” and said: “It has become our mission as the general public to make sure that every single thing that's Harry Potter related fails...because that awful disgusting s**t, that has consequences.”
Pascal not only liked the post but added his own take in the comments: “Awful disgusting S**T is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior.”
Pascal's sister is trans.
The United States faces millions of measles cases over the next 25 years if vaccination rates for the disease drop 10 percent, according to new research published Thursday.
No change in the current vaccination rate would result in hundreds of thousands of measles cases over the same period, according to a mathematical model produced by a team of Stanford University researchers.
Senior administration officials are scrambling to stem economic damage from China’s restrictions on rare-earth exports, as President Donald Trump’s trade war risks cutting key industries and defense contractors off from supplies of metals crucial to production, according to three people familiar with internal deliberations.
I struggle these days whenever someone asks me for my political affiliation. But if you really force me, I’d describe myself as a “Waymo Democrat.” Waymos are the self-driving electric taxis started by Google. My party’s bumper sticker would read, “A chicken in every pot and a Waymo in every city.” And our TV ads would say: “Trump is for he/him — his grievances, his revenge, his corruption — and for bringing old stuff back ‘again,’ like coal and gasoline cars. Waymo Democrats are for ‘We the People’ and reinventing American industry anew.”Yes, Elon, get out those car tools and finish that product you've been promising for a decade that you are totally going to deliver one of these days. What? You want to inspect my wallet first? Sure go right ahead.
...
And, finally, we’d say to Elon Musk: “Stop wasting your talents and hurting America with your DOGE craziness and finally get the Tesla robotaxi that you have been promising for a decade out on the road. The greatest gift you could give America today is to junk your stupid chain saw, replace it with car tools and create a nationwide competition with Waymo for robotaxis.”
When a bomb threat coincided with a pro-Palestine student protest at Barnard College last month, the New York City Police Department arrested nine demonstrators. By the next day, local and national media had picked up the story. Some outlets suggested that the protesters were responsible for the threat. “Several Barnard College protesters in custody after bomb threat made during sit-in,” read one headline.
That headline, as well as statements from Barnard College and the NYPD, overlooked a key fact: The Palestine solidarity protesters were actually the targets of the bomb threat.
Trump is going to give Hawaii to China soon.
Hilarious:Beijing on US-China tariff talks: 'All fake news'
A Chinese official on Thursday said that claims that Washington and Beijing are in active talks about tariffs were "all fake news."
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that the two sides have not consulted or negotiated on tariffs at all, but signaled that Beijing would be open to talks on an equal and reciprocal footing.
Beijing has called on the US to “completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures” if it wants trade talks, in some of China’s strongest comments yet on the impasse between the world’s two economic superpowers.
Beijing on Thursday also said there were “currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States”, despite recent signs of softening on dispute from Washington. US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said in recent days that the trade war is “not sustainable” and “there would have to be a de-escalation by both sides”.
“The unilateral tariff measures were initiated by the US,” said He Yadong, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson. “If the US truly wants to solve the problem, it should . . . completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and find a way to resolve differences through equal dialogue.”
Several professors at Barnard College received text messages on Monday notifying them that a federal agency was reviewing the college’s employment practices, according to copies of the messages reviewed by The Intercept.
The messages, sent to several professors’ personal cellphones, asked them to complete a voluntary survey about their employment.
The survey from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, asked questions including whether respondents were Jewish or Israeli; whether they had been subjected to antisemitism; and whether they were subject to “unwelcome discussions,” graffiti or signs depicting antisemitic messages or images, “unwelcome comments, jokes or discussions,” or “pressure to abandon, change or adopt a practice or religious belief.”
Kasper would later work at the Department of Homeland Security, the Navy and the Air Force in the first Trump administration and as a lobbyist. But critics say he quickly ran into trouble with his new job at the Pentagon.He was often late to meetings and developed a reputation for dropping the ball on critical tasks with little follow-up, according to three people who witnessed his behavior. Another person familiar with his management said he “lacked the focus and organizational skills needed to get things done.”While some who know him say he was fun and charming, three of the people said he frequently berated officials in meetings and repeatedly referred to military officials by a lower rank.And at times, Kasper’s detractors say his leadership seemed almost juvenile. He graphically described his bowel movements to colleagues in one high-level meeting, according to two people who were in the meetings.
Working with David Brent.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says China’s new trade restrictions on rare earth magnets have affected the production of the company’s Optimus humanoid robots, which rely on the exports.
Dick Durbin, the longtime second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, announced plans to retire at the end of next year, setting off a succession scramble to take his powerful leadership spot in the chamber and a likely crowded primary in Illinois for the seat.
I have a soft spot for him, as he could be feistier than some back in the Bush days, but that was awhile ago...
US President Donald Trump has signaled a potential U-turn on his trade war with China, saying the high tariffs on Chinese goods will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.”There's a decent chance China responds to this by keeping much of their retaliation in place, and it almost certainly will continue to reorient their economy away from the US.
Trump’s remarks, made at a White House news event Tuesday, appear to mark a rhetorical climbdown after weeks of tough posturing and tit-for-tat retaliation that sent tariffs on China beyond a staggering 145%.
The Trump administration is considering slashing its steep tariffs on Chinese imports—in some cases by more than half—in a bid to de-escalate tensions with Beijing that have roiled global trade and investment, according to people familiar with the matter.
President Trump hasn’t made a final determination, the people said, adding that the discussions remain fluid and several options are on the table.
Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.Gotta love the house style:
Why it matters:The answer is not "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THEY'RE PLANNING ON SENDING CITIZENS WHO EXRESS DISSENT TO FOREIGN CONCENTRATION CAMPS" for some reason.
Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:"Legal analysts say."
The spread of measles in the Southwest now constitutes the largest single outbreak since the United States declared the disease eliminated in 2000, federal scientists told state officials in a meeting on Monday.Months of describing DOGE cuts as being about about waste, fraud, and inefficiency instead of highlighting the real, if clumsily implemented, agendas behind it.
The New York Times obtained a recording of the meeting. Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not publicly described the outbreak in such stark terms.
In a public meeting last week, Dr. David Sugerman, a C.D.C. senior scientist, said recent threats to local public health funding meant the agency was now “scraping to find the resources” to support those in Texas and other states grappling with outbreaks.
Last month, H.H.S. moved to cut billions of dollars allocated to local health departments. (A judge temporarily blocked the funding cuts after a coalition of states sued the Trump administration.)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door investor summit on Tuesday that he expects the tariff showdown with China will de-escalate as the situation is unsustainable, according to a media report.Totally good and normal for the Treasury Secretary to say market moving shit to a select group in private!
He noted that a deal is possible, even though talks haven't started yet, Bloomberg News reported, citing people who attended an event hosted by JPMorgan Chase in Washington. The conference wasn't open to the media or the public.
WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.Gotta increase that birthrate even more if you're trying to increase the childhood mortality rate, too.
The US Commerce Department has announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four South East Asian countries.This is the kind of thing where you can make a case for protecting a domestic infant industry against dumping, but in the current context...
Leader Jeffries, thank you for being here. Let me get right at what you were saying, because I also heard you say that Republicans are breaking the economy and will own all of the damage that is being done to the American people. So, what are Democrats going to do about it?JEFFRIES: Well, we're going to continue to make clear that the cost of living in the United States of America is too high. Donald Trump and Republicans promised to lower the cost of living. In fact, on day one, costs aren't going down. They are going up. And they are crashing the economy in real time and, in fact, driving us toward a recession.Democrats have a different vision. We want to build an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers, and we're ready to work with anyone in good faith to get that done. But that's not occurring in the Congress right now, which is why things are heading in a bad direction.KARL: But let me ask you about a Gallup poll that came out recently, asking people how much confidence they have in various people to -- to deal with the economy. And Donald Trump only -- you know, 44 percent have a great deal or fair amount of confidence, but that was -- GOP leaders were next, the Fed Chairman, the Speaker of the House. And when you get down to the bottom, Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer down at the bottom. You had only 30 percent.So, what do Democrats have to do to convince the American people that they have a better plan on the economy than the Republicans?JEFFRIES: Well, this week, we'll be having a cost of living week of action, and we have to continue to talk to the American people about our plans. We recognize that housing costs are too high, grocery costs are too high, utility costs are too high, childcare costs are too high, insurance costs are too high. America is too expensive.Now, Donald Trump is the president. And in terms of his approval as it relates to the economy, it was his biggest strength on January 20th. Now, it's his greatest weakness.There are a variety of different polls that are out there, including most recently a Morning Consult poll, that showed that Congressional Democrats were actually trusted more than Congressional Republicans on the economy for the first time in four years.We're going to continue to press our case on the economy, continue to press our case on protecting and strengthening Social Security, which is what we are committed to do. Republicans are trying to detonate Social Security as we know it. And certainly, we're going to protect the healthcare of the American people.
The only "plan" here is defending the status quo! Which is important at the moment! But that was basically the November 2024 message also!
We are going to keep talking about our plans, he says, while not taking a prime opportunity to talk about those plans.
WASHINGTON — Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: providing Hegseth, his superior, with information he needed to know and using a system specifically designed to safely transmit sensitive and classified information.
But then Hegseth used his personal phone to send some of the same information Kurilla had given him to at least two group text chats on the Signal messaging app, three U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges told NBC News.
Must have been an Antifa Supersoldier:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fell victim to a thief while eating dinner at a downtown Washington, DC, restaurant Sunday night, two sources familiar with the incident, including a law enforcement source, told CNN.
The Secret Service, which provides security for Noem, reviewed security camera footage at the restaurant and saw an unknown white male wearing a medical mask steal her bag and leave the restaurant.
The thief got away with Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash, the law enforcement source said.
I occasionally think about how for years the Secret Service managed to project an image of extreme professionalism. Now we know they're just playing candy crush all the time like cops.
...story here🚨 NPR reports that it has learned that the White House has begun the search for a new Secretary of Defense.
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) April 21, 2025
A Boeing jet intended for a Chinese airline landed back at the planemaker’s US production hub on Sunday, a victim of the tit-for-tat bilateral tariffs launched by Donald Trump.
The 737 MAX, which was meant for China’s Xiamen Airlines, landed at Seattle’s Boeing Field at 6.11pm, according to a Reuters witness. It was painted with Xiamen livery.
The jet, which made refuelling stops in Guam and Hawaii on its 5,000-mile (8,000-km) return journey, was one of several 737 MAX jets – Boeing’s bestselling model – that had been waiting at Boeing’s Zhoushan completion centre for final work and delivery.
Hegseth, for his part, has still not weighed in on the firings or turmoil inside his office and has avoided situations over the last week in which he may have encountered the press. Reporters were invited to cover the defense secretary welcoming his French counterpart to the Pentagon on Thursday, but Hegseth failed to show up, sending an aide instead.
At first I thought this meant Hegseth didn't show to the meeting at all, but then I realized there was some formal protocol greeting that he avoided, probably to avoid the press.
The guys who got fired are pissed that they were slimed on the way out (whether or not they deserved it) and Pete's worried about what they'll say.
Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll wrote Saturday in a joint statement that they are “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended” and denied leaking information.
“Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform — for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it,” they wrote. “At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”
The Pope died. Shame one of his last moments was meeting Vance briefly.
A pretty good Pope, to the extent that I have any understanding of these things. Aside from the things "we" hear about, he also was involved with purging some nasty orders in his home continent.
I don't think there's too much argument from decent people against the idea that he was the best pope in my lifetime.
DHL Express, a division of Germany’s Deutsche Post, said it would suspend global business-to-consumer shipments worth over $800 to individuals in the United States from April 21, as US customs regulatory changes have lengthened clearance.It isn't all Musk, but it is a government by people like Musk, by people who don't know how anything works, and who believe they are smarter than everyone else so there's no point in asking.
Sunday morning April 20, 2025 Fox News Sunday — Van Hollen NBC's Meet the Press — Van Hollen CNN's State of the Union — Van Hollen CBS’ Face the Nation — Van Hollen ABC’s This Week — Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov #AbregoGarcia #RuleOfLaw
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw.bsky.social) April 20, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Harvard University received an emailed letter from the Trump administration last Friday that included a series of demands about hiring, admissions and curriculum so onerous that school officials decided they had no choice but to take on the White House.It's quite clear what happened here (the Trumpers are full of shit), but even though the journalists clearly know this they still privilege the bullshit to make it sound as if Harvard is the unresonable party, that Harvard should've accepted the "mistake" claim and continued to grovel.
The university announced its intentions on Monday, setting off a tectonic battle between one of the country’s most prestigious universities and a U.S. president. Then, almost immediately, came a frantic call from a Trump official.
The April 11 letter from the White House’s task force on antisemitism, this official told Harvard, should not have been sent and was “unauthorized,” two people familiar with the matter said.
The letter was sent by the acting general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sean Keveney, according to three other people, who were briefed on the matter. Mr. Keveney is a member of the antisemitism task force.
A senior White House official said the administration stood by the letter, calling the university’s decision to publicly rebuff the administration overblown and blaming Harvard for not continuing discussions.The simple point is that if they can't beat this stuff in court then there's no point in going on. It's all over already. Spend your endowment then turn out the lights.
China is introducing new regulatory standards for electric car batteries that will represent some of the strictest safety and testing requirements in the world. Set to take effect on July 1, 2026, the “Safety Requirements for Power Batteries of Electric Vehicles” will essentially prohibit fires and explosions even after thermal propagation, or the spread of an uncontrolled temperature increase from one battery cell to another.
Immigrants falsely labeled dead by the Social Security Administration are showing up at field offices with documents proving they are alive, leading staff to reinstate nearly three dozen people over the past week, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.
The immigrants who have requested a reversal and been reinstated in Social Security databases include a Haitian asylum seeker and a minor child, the records show. Some immigrants have shown up with driver’s licenses and work permits to prove their legitimacy, the records show. Others have arrived bearing letters of notification that they received from their states declaring them dead.
The reversals come after the Department of Homeland Security and Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service pushed to incorrectly label roughly 6,100 mostly Latino immigrants as dead in a bid to pressure the immigrants to leave the country. The administration overrode the objections of senior Social Security staff to labeling the immigrants as dead — a move that current and former top officials at the agency warned was illegal because it violates privacy laws and involves the purposeful falsification of government records.
So this is a column that I really need to write because it really rankles — I’m a U-Chicago person. I have a fundamental commitment to concepts of academic freedom, which include the right of students and professors to espouse views, which I find mistaken, wrong and even loathsome.
And so what Trump has now done is turned a legitimate grievance — and specifically Jewish grievance — into a tool to undermine and potentially destroy a value, which I think is a core Jewish value, which is the value of debate, dissent, reason, inquiry, criticism and so on. The one mistake we cannot make is we cannot get on the side of illiberalism. We cannot get on the side of people who pretend to be our friends but seek to undermine a political order centered on the notion of the freedom of conscience and thought, the freedom of and the dignity of the individual.
I don’t mean liberalism in the kind of progressive sense. I mean liberalism in the classic Jeffersonian and John Stuart Mill sense of the word. I think it’s dangerous because it puts the Jewish population sort of as a protected class of the ruler, and that’s happened historically for Jews over the centuries.
We keep hoping the next king won’t expel us or put us to the torch. But the whole purpose of liberalism is that Jews enjoy the same kind of rights and privileges and freedoms as everyone else, as equal citizens. That’s the promise of Washington’s letter to the Newport congregation. He says: We no longer speak of mere tolerance because Jews are every bit as American as everyone else.
And so there is a side of the Jewish population that’s sort of cheering Trump because he seems to have the same enemies, or many of the same enemies, that we do. But the methods he’s using to oppose those enemies, we ought to fear.
Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday night that he had met in San Salvador with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador last month has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate and fueled a standoff between the Trump administration and the courts.Dems decided immigration was their "loser" issue but there is a big difference between "Do you approve of Donald Trump deporting people with criminal records?" and "Do you approve of Donald Trump kidnapping people and sending them to a concentration camp for no reason?" Americans have shitty opinions about "immigration" in part because no one explains how cruel the system is.
Mr. Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shared a photo of the two men speaking on Thursday evening, hours after the senator had been denied entry to the prison where Mr. Abrego Garcia was being held.
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) April 18, 2025 at 2:02 AM
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It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.There's a bunch of nonsense in there, too, of the "look what you made them do" variety. He hasn't yet gone the full Kristol.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told a room full of Alaska nonprofit leaders that the tumult of tariffs, executive orders, court battles, and cuts to federal services under the Trump administration are exceptionally concerning.
“We are all afraid,” Murkowski said, taking a long pause. “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell ya, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
“The tough balance is the fact that we get money because of tariffs, but we want to pick and choose which countries to have free trade with. We want to appear to be going towards free trade but we also love the revenue from tariffs,” said a second White House official.
I'll never shop there again if I can avoid it (never say never, once I had to get some emergency clothes there when my luggage was delayed, for example, but generally):
Target CEO Brian Cornell will meet with the Rev. Al Sharpton this week in New York as the retailer faces calls for a boycott and a slowdown in foot traffic that began after it walked back key diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the civil rights leader told CNBC Wednesday.
The meeting, which Target asked for, comes after some civil rights groups urged consumers not to shop at Target in response to the retailer’s decision to cut back on DEI. While Sharpton has not yet called for a boycott of Target, he has supported efforts from others to stop shopping at the retailer’s stores.
“You can’t have an election come and all of a sudden, change your old positions,” said Sharpton. “If an election determines your commitment to fairness then fine, you have a right to withdraw from us, but then we have a right to withdraw from you.”
I remember how, after the 2004 election, I was regularly asked things like, "What are you going to do now?" — as if the blog would be OVER.
Oh well.Driving the news: Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an extremely harsh message on Saturday to anybody thinking of visiting the country.
"Visiting America is not an entitlement," he wrote in a Fox News opinion piece. "It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values."
"We expect — and the law requires — all visa holders to demonstrate their eligibility every day their visa is valid."
China wants to see a number of steps from President Donald Trump’s administration before it will agree to trade talks, including showing more respect by reining in disparaging remarks by members of his cabinet, according to a person familiar with the Chinese government’s thinking.
Other conditions include a more consistent US position and a willingness to address China’s concerns around American sanctions and Taiwan, said the person, who asked not to be identified to discuss internal thinking.
The Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners to limit their dealings with China, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.
The idea is to extract commitments from U.S. trading partners to isolate China’s economy in exchange for reductions in trade and tariff barriers imposed by the White House. U.S. officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from locating in their territories to avoid U.S. tariffs, and not absorb China’s cheap industrial goods into their economies.
While Musk posts sometimes dozens of times a day on X about right-wing politics or his companies, among other things on his mind, he often interacts with lesser-known users. He replies to them and sometimes interacts through direct messages, some of whom he eventually solicits to have his babies, according to people who have viewed the messages.I'm sure he's reading all of their DMs, too, and I don't mean the ones he sends to them.
However, Tesla allegedly ”knowingly overstates the distances traveled in Tesla vehicles” by manipulating odometers, allowing the company to dodge repair responsibilities tied to warranties. ... “Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage travelled by Tesla vehicles,” reads the lawsuit. “In so doing, Defendants can, and do, accelerate the rate of depreciation of the value of Tesla vehicles and also the expiration of Tesla vehicle warranties to reduce or avoid responsibility for contractually required repairs as well as increase the purchase of its extended warranty policy.”This is adding, not subtracting, for an entirely different fraudulent reason, but the laws are about modifying, not just subtraction. California law:
28050. It is unlawful for any person to advertise for sale, to sell, to use, or to install on any part of a motor vehicle or on an odometer in a motor vehicle any device which causes the odometer to register any mileage other than the true mileage driven. For the purposes of this section the true mileage driven is that mileage driven by the car as registered by the odometer within the manufacturer's designed tolerance.
28050.5. It is unlawful for any person with the intent to defraud to operate a motor vehicle on any street or highway knowing that the odometer of such vehicle is disconnected or nonfunctional.
28051. It is unlawful for any person to disconnect, turn back, advance, or reset the odometer of any motor vehicle with the intent to alter the number of miles indicated on the odometer gauge.
President Donald Trump called on China to reach out to him in order to kick off negotiations aimed at resolving the escalating trade fight between the world’s two largest economies.(paywalled, everything is)
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday, reading what she said was a statement Trump dictated.
"I think it's only a matter of time before [a state attorney general] figures out how to file state kidnapping charges against those that are abducting people who are in the country legally..." says former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.
— MaddowBlog (@maddowblog.msnbc.com) April 15, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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But according to an official whistleblower disclosure shared with Congress and other federal overseers that was obtained by NPR, subsequent interviews with the whistleblower and records of internal communications, technical staff members were alarmed about what DOGE engineers did when they were granted access, particularly when those staffers noticed a spike in data leaving the agency. It's possible that the data included sensitive information on unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets — data that four labor law experts tell NPR should almost never leave the NLRB and that has nothing to do with making the government more efficient or cutting spending.Extra bad, even:
The new revelations about DOGE's activities at the labor agency come from a whistleblower in the IT department of the NLRB, who disclosed his concerns to Congress and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in a detailed report that was then provided to NPR. Meanwhile, his attempts to raise concerns internally within the NLRB preceded someone "physically taping a threatening note" to his door that included sensitive personal information and overhead photos of him walking his dog that appeared to be taken with a drone, according to a cover letter attached to his disclosure filed by his attorney, Andrew Bakaj of the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid.
China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing Co. jets as part of the tit-for-tat trade war that’s seen US President Donald Trump levy tariffs of as high as 145% on Chinese goods, according to people familiar with the matter.It's one thing to start a trade war with one country, even a big one like China, quite another to do it with the whole fucking world simultaneously.
Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private.
Five Below, the 1,500-store chain based in Center City that grew rapidly by selling cheap sunglasses, LED watches, and many other brightly colored Chinese-made items, has paused its Chinese imports, citing the rapid rise in U.S. tariffs that have more than doubled costs on new inventory.People can live without cheap sunglasses, but it isn't just going to be cheap sunglasses.
“In order to ensure maximum flexibility, we proactively paused orders from China, given the escalation in the tariffs, as we evaluate all options” to find “trend-right products” at attractive prices, Five Below said in a statement.
President Claire Shipman of Columbia University just sent out an email advertising an "International Student Relief Hardship Fund". When you click on the link for "Special Student Relief", you're taken to the ICE website to report people. Sent this after a student was detained.
— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) April 15, 2025
Screen recording for proof. This is Columbia's "resources for international students", linking to the ICE website to report people. Columbia University is not safe for international students. pic.twitter.com/2RUGCH66Q2
— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) April 15, 2025
Their dream is of a post-scarcity society in which AI and robots do everything, which they will achieve by inventing God, but also they want human slaves.
Star Trek, but it's on one of those sex planets.
Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press were barred from an Oval Office news conference on Monday with President Donald Trump and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.Schumer's "red line" for a constitutional crisis was ignoring the SUPREME COURT, you see.
Holy shit. Video posted by President Bukele’s team on X shows the moments before his press conference with Trump in which Trump tells him: “We want to do homegrown criminals next. You gotta build about five more places.” (h/t @titonka.bsky.social @michelekelemen.bsky.social)
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) April 14, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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Andrew Cuomo Used ChatGPT For His Housing Plan
The Democratic mayoral frontrunner's "Addressing New York's Housing Crisis" features garbled text and a citation from ChatGPT.
Charitable explanation: really busy with Candy Crush.
It’s unclear how State Police, who have a 24/7 detail assigned to Shapiro and additional security at the governor’s residence, allowed Balmer to enter the property, start a fire, then break into the building and start two more fires before fleeing on foot without apprehension.
Seems like a problem:
China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.
An arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in Harrisburg early Sunday morning causing “a significant amount of damage,” according to state police.
Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were uninjured. Shapiro, who is Jewish, posted a photo Saturday evening of his family’s Passover dinner at the governor’s residence.
...lololol:Breaking: A senior Wall Street executive w ties to the Trump White House described @howardlutnick’s comments about the temporary nature of the tariff exemptions as “off message. Now the market will open way down again since it appears the administration is totally confused. Susie…
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) April 13, 2025
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that the administration's decision Friday night to exempt a range of electronic devices from tariffs implemented earlier this month was only a temporary reprieve, with the secretary announcing that those items would be subject to "semiconductor tariffs" that will likely come in "a month or two."
RFK: If you are healthy, it’s almost impossible for you to be killed by an infectious disease in modern times because we have nutrition, because we have access to medicines. It’s very, very difficult for any infectious disease to kill a healthy human being.
Jonathan says the official suggested he was carrying human remains and sent for Centers for Disease Control agents to assess the empty ashes urn. He says when he explained he had been living in the US for more than five years, he was asked: “Oh you live here, do you?”Saying you live somewhere is not communicating that you intend to overstay your visa. Similarly, saying you are in the US for "work" often means you are there for a conference or for meetings - all fine with a tourist visa! - but the border guy might decide you should have an actual work visa.
Jonathan says: “Then he told me I didn’t have the right visa – apparently saying I lived there showed that I had intent to stay and not leave.”
He says his visa was still valid for more than 12 months and he had left and re-entered the US without any problems about 20 times holding the same class of visa.
The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage surged 13 basis points Friday to 7.1%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That’s the highest rate since mid-February.
Some thing are a bit complicated and don't work at the speed of the whims of the Mad King.
In a sign that the federal government’s technology is struggling to keep up with President Trump’s tariffs, Customs and Border Protection acknowledged on Friday that importers had not been able to submit a tariff on certain goods. The glitch appeared to be preventing importers from applying a lower tariff rate on goods that were in transit to the United States before some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs took effect. Customs and Border Protection said it was releasing the goods and allowing importers to submit their customs duties later.
I feel horrible for any noncitizen living in the US right now as their options are more constrained, but certainly no one else should plan on coming.
He says that over a series of short interviews amounting to about half an hour, the official told him his visa had been cancelled and that he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was told he would be placed on a flight to Australia and was handed a document informing him that he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act. He says he felt he had no choice but to sign the document, which Guardian Australia has seen.
He says the official then told him: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them.”
It isn't a competition, really, it just means that it will hurt us more than it will hurt them, that we have a greater incentive to end it than they do. Or should.
...lol
BOOM:
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) April 11, 2025
*US TOLD CHINA TO REQUEST A XI-TRUMP CALL: CNN
China has once again raised its tariff on US goods to match Trump’s, for what it says is the final time. China’s tariff is now set at 125 percent, as it warns that the US is on track to become an economic “joke.”In a statement from China’s Ministry of Finance, which we’ve translated using Google, the country says that any further tariffs from the US side would “no longer make economic sense,” and that the US “will become a joke in the history of the world economy.” Trump initially set a tariff of 10 percent for China in February, which has risen four times, now set at 145 percent. Until now, China has retaliated in kind with its own matching tariff hikes.
I wonder what the reaction will be if planes carrying some members of Congress really do get DOGEd.
Two American Airlines jet have had a minor collision on the runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport - just three months after a deadly crash near there.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the wingtip of one aircraft struck another on Thursday afternoon. At least two members of Congress were aboard one of the jets.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The nearly 2,700-mile Keystone oil pipeline was shut down Tuesday morning after it ruptured in North Dakota, halting the flow of millions of gallons of crude oil from Canada to refineries in the U.S. and potentially leading to higher gasoline prices.
South Bow, a liquid pipeline business that manages the pipeline, said it shut down the pipeline after control center leak detection systems detected a pressure drop in the system. The company estimated that 3,500 barrels of oil were released and said the spill was confined to an agricultural field in a rural area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Fargo.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — OpenAI is suing Elon Musk for unfair competition and interfering with its business relationships with investors and customers, escalating a legal battle between the ChatGPT maker and the billionaire who helped bankroll the artificial intelligence startup a decade ago.