Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 ? Youth fitness test is back Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios ??♀️The Presidential Fitness Test is coming back to public schools after it was phased out more than a decade ago, the White House announced today. The test — featuring challenges like a 1-mile run, pull-ups and the sit-and-reach — was once a rite of passage for America's youth, Axios' April Rubin writes. It was also a source of anxiety and shame for more than a few kids, who ended up feeling like they weren't strong enough for the president's purposes. Flashback: President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the test in 1956 to assess cardiovascular fitness, upper body and core strength, endurance, flexibility, and agility. The test was launched out of panic over American children being less fit than Europeans, Vox reported. ? President Obama replaced the test after the 2012-13 school year and instituted the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, putting more emphasis on students' health rather than performance. During a late-afternoon ceremony at the White House, President Trump is expected to sign an order restoring the test. ps:Well that's interesting, considering that he wants to do away with public education!!!!! Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 ?️ Trump to build White House ballroom Rendering: The White House The White House announced that a ballroom construction project will begin in September. "It is expected to be completed long before the end of President Trump's term," the announcement says. ?Trump "and other patriot donors" are committing approximately $200 million to the project. The Secret Service will also "provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications," per the release. Rendering: The White House Between the lines: The White House Ballroom's "theme and architectural heritage" will be almost identical to that of the main building. It will be "substantially separated" from the main building and sit "where the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits." Rendering: The White House Read the release. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 Scotland Trolls Trump With Massive New Wind Farm on His Doorstep “Stop the windmills! You are ruining your countries,” Trump ranted days earlier while on a visit to the country. The Scottish government has green-lighted one of the world’s biggest wind farms, just days after President Donald Trump ranted about “windmills” while visiting the country. The U.S. president was in Scotland to visit his golf courses in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire, the latter of which has a history with wind farms. While Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen was still being built, Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group also started constructing a row of wind turbines that impeded the view at his course. That started a long obsession with the structures that he wrongly calls windmills. And despite his latest protestations in Scotland, the country’s government has now given the go-ahead to a mega wind farm, one of the world’s largest. The Berwick Bank project, which would be positioned 23 miles off the east coast in the North Sea, will boast up to 307 of Trump’s big renewable enemies. The whole project hangs on whether the company can come up with a suitable wildlife compensation plan, however. Such a plan is necessary because the structures could “kill tens of thousands of seabirds,” according to the BBC. That, of course, is one of Trump’s major gripes with the structures. “Stop the windmills! You are ruining your countries. I really mean it,“ he told reporters on the tarmac at Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport on Friday. “It’s so sad. You fly over and you see the windmills all over the place ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and—if they are stuck in the ocean—ruining your oceans,” he went on. He is also irritated by the optics, saying the turbines are ugly. The president has also wrongly claimed that they cause cancer. The White House did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the new project. Conservation groups agree with the president on the impact the wind farm is likely to have on nature. Five charities, led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, have called Scotland’s decision to approve the farm a “very dark day for seabirds.” The project would generate enough electricity to power all of the country’s homes—two times over—every year. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the green light had been given after “extremely careful consideration.” She added that it is a move that will help in “tackling the climate crisis.” U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said it “boosts our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/scotland-trolls-trump-with-massive-new-wind-farm-on-his-doorstep/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 MAGA Star’s Top Aide Launched Racial Rant About ‘Child Molesters’ Byron Donalds, who is running for Florida governor, is the focus of concerns about vetting of him and those around him. The politician endorsed by Donald Trump for Florida governor is facing questions over his longtime aide—an accused sex offender who has made racial comments about pedophilia. Byron Donalds, a three-term Republican congressman, was endorsed by Trump for the Florida gubernatorial race in February, making him a strong contender for a contest that does not take place until next year. But the Daily Beast has learned that there is concern in Republican circles about Donalds’ long relationship with Larry Wilcoxson, who was been described as his “right-hand man” for more than a decade—and about the lack of vetting of Donalds’ candidacy in its entirety. Donalds has been a prominent TV voice for Trump, jetted around the country to rally support for Trump last year and was, at one point, rumored as a potential pick for vice president. His loyalty was rewarded with an early endorsement for Florida governor, which two Republican sources told the Beast appeared to come without the level of vetting that such a high-profile race demands. Donalds has used Trump’s endorsement to barnstorm the state and, crucially, raise over $22 million for a notoriously expensive race. He has capitalized on his MAGA media profile as a Trump ultra-loyalist and on his potential to make history: if victorious, he would be the first Black governor of Florida and the first Black Republican governor since the Reconstruction era. “The president did not properly vet him,” a prominent Trump supporter said of Donalds, specifically noting his close relationship with Wilcoxson. For almost all of his political career—until now—Donalds has had Wilcoxson at his side. The pair, both 46, have posed for many photos together, including one with Trump, since 2013, and have celebrated Thanksgiving together. The relationship has been lucrative for Wilcoxson. Records show Donaldson has paid Wilcoxson—who called the congressman a “brother away from home”—over $300,000 in reimbursements and for consulting services since 2021. In response to a request for comment, Donald’s campaign told the Beast that Wilcoxson will not be a paid consultant for his gubernatorial race, which is a break from his role in his two most recent races. But it is the fact that Wilcoxson was charged with molesting a child—while working as a substitute teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana—and how he responded that is causing concern about how much vetting Donalds has been through. Molestation charges against Wilcoxson were dropped in 2007, a year after his arrest. Wilcoxson previously said that Black men did not commit such crimes, saying, “with white men, it’s bombs, it’s serial killers, it’s child molestation.” He told the Daily Beast on Wednesday that he “never harmed anyone.” Wilcoxson confirmed he will no longer consult for Donalds, saying that he has chosen to focus on things other than politics. He said he will still vote for Donalds if he is the “conservative candidate” in the general election, but he did not commit to whether he will actively campaign for the congressman. He also declined to elaborate on how close he and his one-time boss are today. A Republican insider described Wilcoxson as a “rabble rouser” to the Beast, and a Republican official from southwest Florida, where Wilcoxson lives, told the non-profit news site the Florida Trident that the consultant “resorts to threats of violence almost instantaneously.” Those concerned that Trump’s endorsement came too early pointed to Donalds’ choice to pay Wilcoxson campaign cash and to hire him as a “senior adviser” in Washington. They said these decisions raised questions about the congressman’s judgment. “[Donalds] answers to industry and is happy to just, kind of like, use his campaign funds and his budget to give money to his buddies,” an insider said. Wilcoxson’s own record would certainly raise eyebrows for anyone vetting Donalds. Among the incidents in which Wilcoxson has been involved are: In 2006, while working as a substitute teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana, he was alleged to have given a teenage girl a “nude photo of himself,” which police said she then showed to some classmates. The child reportedly told police that she had a crush on Wilcoxson, and authorities alleged that he molested her in his car near school. Wilcoxson was held on a bond of $100,000. A year later, the case was dropped for unstated reasons. Wilcoxson told the Beast that he would never touch a child. Also in 2006, the Indianapolis Star reported that he was dismissed as a substitute teacher for allegedly exposing himself to a custodian. Wilcoxson also denied this ever happened. In 2013, he was fired as a Hertz rental clerk at an airport in Naples, Florida, and then convicted of driving a car for months without permission. Cops found the purportedly missing vehicle in his driveway and arrested him, despite his pleas that he was legally renting the car. He was sentenced to six months in prison for grand theft auto. However, that conviction was vacated in 2022 after it was discovered that Hertz had systematically submitted incorrect reports of stolen vehicles nationwide. Wilcoxson told the Daily Beast he’s never “stolen anything.” In 2022, he was captured on camera lunging at a former Florida school board member’s husband during a Republican Executive Committee meeting. Video from the incident, described as “disturbing” by local news, showed a deputy holding back Wilcoxson—who told the Beast he is 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds—to prevent a fight among the fellow Republicans. No charges stemmed from the incident. In 2023, his then-fiancée Melissa Kamin filed an injunction for protection against him. She alleged that she was “picked up, thrown on the kitchen counter, and held against [her] will” by Wilcoxson. She also alleged that, after she fled, he found her more than 100 miles away, “broke into” her car, and scattered her belongings on the street. A temporary restraining order was put in place but was later removed. Wilcoxson told the Daily Beast his ex’s allegations were not factual, but he declined to elaborate, saying he was “not hashing this out again.” He was charged with battery in 2003, for allegedly striking someone with a stick in a street fight, and again in 2013, for allegedly attacking a car detailer. He was not convicted in either case. Privately, Florida Republicans have been particularly concerned about Wilcoxson’s extraordinary defense of himself in 2023 to the Florida Trident, having acknowledged that the 2006 allegations involved multiple victims. “I’m not gonna open up that can of worms,” he told the Trident, which asked if he was calling his accusers liars. “The law has spoken. It took me to a dark place. In my America, in your America, only a Black man will be guilty and will always be guilty.” He added, “I was having a menage à trois with three women at once, and I had the video footage. I said [to police], ‘Did you see any little girls in there? I’m a real-life pimp. I’m a lady’s man.’ They went through all my sexual tapes, all of them. They looked on my computer. I said, ‘Did you see me looking at porn with kids?’ I don’t do that. That’s what white men do. As a criminologist, look at the statistics. With Black men, it’s homicide, it’s robbery … with white men, it’s bombs, it’s serial killers, it’s child molestation.” Wilcoxson told the Beast that he felt the Trident’s reporter had asked him a leading question, so he responded with sarcasm about being a pimp, which he says he is not and never was. He noted that he holds a master’s degree in criminology, and he stood behind his remark that white men are more likely to abuse children sexually.“That’s not things that you see Black men do,” he told the Beast. Donalds could have distanced himself from Wilcoxson after the 2022 school board incident, at which the congressman was present; the melee was reportedly related to a lawsuit filed against his wife, Erika. “It should not have happened, and I told him it will not happen again,” Donalds said after the chaos, according to Florida Politics. Since that incident, Wilcoxson remained a consultant for Donalds. His most recent payment was for $8,227.51 in March. The Donalds campaign told the Beast in a statement, “Larry doesn’t work for the gubernatorial campaign and this is nothing more than a desperate attack from the radical left.” There are also questions swirling about the viability of Donalds himself. His loyalty to MAGA is unquestioned, with the watchdog GovTrack listing him as the second-most “politically right” lawmaker in the House. However, insiders say he is bringing his own “baggage” to the governor’s race. Donalds is a native of Brooklyn, New York, but he moved south to attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. He was arrested in 1997, when he was 18, for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, The Washington Post reported last year. He later transferred to Florida State University, where, as a student, he was convicted of bribery and he also pleaded no contest to a felony theft charge. Records in those cases have since been expunged. Donalds has chalked up the instances to youthful mistakes, crediting his conversion to Christianity as putting him on the right path. Among the criticisms levied against him now are the 89 votes he missed in the last Congress—a trend that continued into this year, with him controversially voting by proxy so he was able to be in California to film an interview with Bill Maher. Trump’s early endorsement of Donalds was a surprise to many, given that the other likely Republican primary candidate is Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Donalds trailed Florida’s first lady by three points in a GOP voter poll that was released last week by the University of North Florida. However, most polls show Donalds as the front-runner in a hypothetical matchup, and he is universally favored in polls that specifically survey Republicans who voted in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial primary. Gov. DeSantis took a dig at the lawmaker over his missed votes after he announced his gubernatorial bid. “We have such a narrow majority that to be trying to campaign other places and missing these votes, I think, is not something that’s advisable at all,” he said in a news conference. “I think that people would forgive Byron for stuff that he did in college,” a GOP insider told the Beast. “But you know, looking at what’s going on with him now, I think that Casey would have kind of a head-to-head advantage, especially on camera.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-stars-byron-donalds-top-aide-larry-wilcoxsons-racial-rant-about-child-molesters/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 TACO Trump Delays Mexico Tariffs One Day Before Deadline The president wrote he was giving Mexico 90 days to sign a deal after declaring his Aug. 1 deadline would “not be extended.” President Donald Trump announced he was delaying new tariffs on Mexico on Thursday, one day before his self-imposed August 1 deadline to reach trade deals with numerous countries. The president announced his decision to delay tariffs set to go into effect on Friday for 90 days in a post on Truth Social after speaking on the phone with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. “The complexities of a Deal with Mexico are somewhat different than other Nations because of both the problems, and assets, of the Border,” Trump wrote. The president had been threatening 30 percent tariffs, but Trump instead said that Mexico will continue to pay a 25 percent “Fentanyl Tariff,” the 25 percent tariff on cars and the 50 percent tariff on steel, aluminum and copper. “We will be talking to Mexico over the next 90 Days with the goal of signing a Trade Deal somewhere within the 90 day period of time, or longer,” the president wrote, signaling even the 90 day extension was in flux. The extension comes one day after Trump declared that August 1 was the deadline and would “stand strong” and “not be extended.” Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO) is an acronym started by Wall Street traders in May to describe the president’s tendency to make tariff threats, only to later delay them as a way to extend time for negotiations. Sheinbaum confirmed that Mexico would not face increased tariffs starting on Friday and would be working with the U.S. during those 90 days to “build a long-term agreement through dialogue.” Since the president’s so-called “Liberation Day” in April, when he first announced what he dubbed “reciprocal tariffs,” Trump has extended the deadline for sweeping tariffs by 90 days while attempting to reach deals, before extending the deadline again to August 1. Over the past few months, Trump has announced a series of agreements, including some topline numbers and supposed investments in the United States, but questions remain over many of the details. Most recently, on Thursday, the president announced he secured a deal with South Korea that would impose 15 percent tariffs on imports to the U.S. while locking in other concessions, but like most of the agreements he has announced, the deal remains lacking in detail. The Trump administration had also announced previous frameworks for trade deals with the UK, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, as well as a temporary deal with China. During his visit to Scotland, the president said he reached a deal with the European Union. Trump also indicated this week that he made a deal with Pakistan, but it was unclear if it would impact tariff rates. The president’s delay of increased tariffs on Mexico suggests other countries may be able to continue negotiating past the August 1 deadline. While Trump indicated he was closing in on a deal with Mexico, the president posted on Wednesday that it would be “very hard” for the U.S. to make a deal with Canada after the country backed Palestinian statehood. https://www.thedailybeast.com/taco-trump-delays-mexico-tariffs-one-day-before-deadline/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 Breaking The Pact View in browser Tomorrow is Donald Trump’s deadline to agree to trade deals before he imposes tariffs, and he means it this time. Why are you laughing? (In fact, since saying that yesterday, he’s already chickened out with Mexico, putting the “taco” in, well, TACO.) But the president has already written off hopes of reaching agreements with some allies. Yesterday, Trump announced that he was raising tariffs on many Brazilian goods to 50 percent across the board, as retribution for Brazil’s prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. This morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state “will make it very hard” to strike a deal with Canada. The president’s perpetual caving can make him seem craven and opportunistic, but you can detect a different impulse in his handling of trade policy too: a warped kind of idealism. When Trump began his political career, he said he would put “America First,” rather than using American power to enforce values overseas. Wars to fight repressive autocrats were foolish ways to burn cash and squander American lives. The promotion of human rights and democracy were soft-headed, bleeding-heart causes. Trump, a man of business, was going to look out for the bottom line without getting tangled up in high-minded crusades. Now that’s exactly what he’s doing: using trade as a way to make grand statements about values—his own, if not America’s. This is troubling on legal, moral, and diplomatic levels. The Constitution specifically delegates the power to levy tariffs to Congress, but legislators have delegated some of that capacity to the president. Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows him to impose tariffs in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” on the basis that Congress cannot act quickly enough. This use of the law is, as Conor Friedersdorf and Ilya Somin wrote in The Atlantic in May, absurd. The White House’s months of vacillation on its tariff threats since make the idea of any emergency even less credible. Understanding why Trump would be sensitive about Bolsonaro’s prosecution, which stems from Bolsonaro’s attempt to cling to power after losing the 2022 election, is not difficult—the parallels between the two have been often noted—but that doesn’t make it a threat to the United States, much less an “unusual and extraordinary” one. Likewise, Canadian recognition of a Palestinian state is unwelcome news for Trump’s close alliance with Israel, but it poses no obvious security or economic danger to the U.S. A Congress or Supreme Court interested in limiting presidential power could seize on these statements to arrest Trump’s trade war, but these are not the legislators or justices we have. Setting aside the legal problems, Trump’s statements about Brazil and Canada represent an abandonment of the realpolitik approach he once promised. Even if Carney were to back down on Palestinian statehood, or Brazil to call off Bolsonaro’s prosecution, the United States wouldn’t see any economic gain. Trump is purely using American economic might to achieve noneconomic goals. Previous presidents have frequently used U.S. economic hegemony to further national goals—or, less charitably, interfered in the domestic affairs of other sovereign nations. But no one needs to accept any nihilistic false equivalences. Trump wrote in a July 9 letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that the case against Bolsonaro was “an international disgrace” and (naturally) a “Witch Hunt.” Although the U.S. has taken steps to isolate repressive governments, Trump’s attempts to bail out Bolsonaro are nothing of the sort. The U.S. can’t with a straight face argue that charging Bolsonaro is improper, and it can’t accuse Brazil of convicting him in a kangaroo court, because no trial has yet been held. The U.S. government has also long used its power to bully other countries into taking its side in international disputes, but the swipe at Canada is perplexing. The Trump administration remains the most stalwart ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (notwithstanding some recent tensions), and the U.S. government has long withheld recognition of any Palestinian state as leverage in negotiations. Even so, slapping tariffs on Canada for a symbolic decision such as this seems unlikely to dissuade Carney or do anything beyond further stoking nascent Canadian nationalism. This is not the only way in which Trump’s blunt wielding of tariffs is likely to backfire on the United States. Consumers in the U.S. will pay higher prices, and overseas, Jerusalem Demsas warned in April, “the credibility of the nation’s promises, its treaties, its agreements, and even its basic rationality has evaporated in just weeks.” But it’s not just trust with foreign countries that the president has betrayed. It’s the pact he made with voters. Trump promised voters an “America First” approach. Instead, they’re getting a “Bolsonaro and Netanyahu First” government. Related: The TACO presidency Start budgeting for Trump’s tariffs now. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 Trump signs order imposing new tariffs on a number of trading partners that go into effect in 7 days WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that set new tariffs on a wide swath of U.S. trading partners to go into effect on Aug. 7 — the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and sturdiness of American alliances built up over decades. https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-mexico-3b03b98296424e59c7dc19a865d21969? Judge blocks Trump administration from ending protections for 60,000 from Central America and Nepal SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge ruled on Thursday against the Trump administration’s plans and extended Temporary Protected Status for 60,000 people from Central America and Asia, including people from Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua. https://apnews.com/article/trump-tps-nepal-honduras-nicaragua-noem-3a9de82ede381c6d969fd5aac13635f9? Trump just revealed his new tariff plan. Here’s what you need to know President Donald Trump just set new tariffs for every country around the world, solidifying his extreme break with America’s long-standing trade policy. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/31/business/tariffs-trade-trump-deadline? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 ? Trump's Liberation Day reset "Liberation Day" on April 2 was about President Trump trying to impose a new global trade system. His sweeping tariff orders yesterday, 120 days later, were a reset to create a more practical regime, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. Why it matters: Trump scrapped most of the highest levies and the erroneous formula behind them. In the process, he settled on a framework that most major partners seem willing to grudgingly accept. Driving the news: The government published a list of 68 countries — plus the EU — last night with new tariff rates set to start Aug. 7. Any countries not on the list will face a 10% rate. Many nations got a substantial break from their April levels. A few countries saw rates rise, including Switzerland and some African nations such as Cameroon and Chad. Bloomberg cited a senior administration official as saying countries were roughly divided into three groups: 10% for those where the U.S. has a trade surplus. Around 15% for those with a deal, or where the U.S. runs a modest deficit. Higher for those with no deal and larger deficits. ?️ The big picture: Tariffs are now higher than they've been in a century or more. That's already starting to show up in inflation data, and economists expect to see more in months to come. But for all the panic over the steep rates Trump proposed in April, the 10%-15% tariffs he's now imposed are closer to a cost of doing business than a crippling barrier. The intrigue: In a separate order, Trump raised duties on Canada to 35% from 25%. The Canadian relationship has been fraught with tension, a stark contrast to Mexico, which got a 90-day extension to make a better deal. Go deeper: Rates kick in Aug. 7. Tariffs It’s August 1st and President Donald Trump has just set new tariffs for every country around the world. Even the nations that negotiated trade deals will see tariffs rise on the vast majority of goods America imports. While the “universal” tariff for goods coming into the US will remain at 10% — the same level that was implemented on April 2 — that rate will apply only to countries with which the US has a trade surplus. A 15% rate will serve as the new tariff floor for about 40 countries with which the US has a trade deficit. More than a dozen countries will have tariff rates that are higher than 15%, either because they agreed to a trade framework with the US or because Trump sent their leaders a letter dictating a higher tariff. The new trade policy will go into effect for Canada today. However, virtually every other country will see the tariffs implemented on August 7, in order to give Customs and Border Protection enough time to make the necessary changes to collect the new duties. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 Drug prices President Trump sent letters to the CEOs of 17 major pharmaceutical companies on Thursday, demanding that they bring US drug prices in line with the far lower ones available to patients in other countries. Trump also wants the companies to guarantee that Medicaid, Medicare and commercial-market insurers pay such prices for all new drugs. He gave the companies 60 days to comply. “But if you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices,” Trump wrote. “Americans are demanding lower drug prices, and they need them today.” Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry said Trump’s demands could harm research and development — and industry analysts don’t expect the drugmakers to acquiesce. Air marshals To carry out the largest deportation operation in American history, the Trump administration has been tapping employees from other parts of the federal government, including the US Marshals Service, the FBI and, now, the TSA’s Federal Air Marshals division. According to two sources familiar with the matter and documents seen by CNN, these highly trained agents are taking ICE assignments — some, willingly, others, under intense pressure from supervisors — where they are serving sandwiches and acting as flight security guards. In response, the Air Marshal National Council sent a cease-and-desist letter to Homeland Security and the TSA that accused the Trump administration of undermining security on commercial aircraft. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 MAGA Senator Says Trump, 79, Totally Misunderstood GOP Bill The president feared what the proposal would mean for Mar-a-Lago, the senator said. Donald Trump lashed out at Josh Hawley’s bill that would ban stock trading by lawmakers in the mistaken belief it would force him to sell his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort, the Missouri senator has claimed. Hawley, normally one of the staunchest Trump loyalists in the Senate, has been downplaying the president’s attacks after Trump questioned why the “second-tier senator” was backing a bill that would “target” him. The Missouri Republican now blames his GOP colleagues in the Senate for feeding Trump false information about the bill, which would bar members of Congress, presidents, and vice presidents from trading individual stocks. “What he said is that he had a number of people call him and say that the bill had been changed at the last minute to force him to sell Mar-a-Lago and divest all of his assets, which is, of course, totally false,” Hawley told Business Insider. “I said that is absolutely not true at all. And when we walked through the text of the bill, he was like, ‘Oh, OK.’” Hawley added that Trump did not mention that the bill would bar him from trading stocks, but that he supported the overall idea. “He remains committed to getting a stock-trading ban, so we’ll work with him to do that.” “He finished by saying, ‘You’re totally exonerated, Josh,’” Hawley added. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Ohio’s Bernie Moreno have opposed the bill specifically because it includes the executive branch. The bill, originally named after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has long faced accusations from her political foes of benefiting financially from insider information, advanced through the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday with support from all Democrats plus Hawley. Trump then went after Hawley in a scathing Truth Social post: “I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with—He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats,” Trump wrote. “I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!” Speaking to reporters Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that Trump supports banning lawmakers from trading stocks, though it’s still unclear whether he backs applying that ban to presidents and vice presidents. “Conceptually, he, of course, supports the idea of ensuring that members of Congress and United States senators who are here for public service cannot enrich themselves,” she said. Elsewhere, Pelosi fired back at CNN’s Jake Tapper after he asked her to respond to Trump’s claim that she benefits from insider information. “That’s ridiculous. In fact, I very much support stopping the trading of members of Congress,” Pelosi said. “I’m not into it. My husband is, but it isn’t anything to do with anything insider. But the president has his own exposure, so he’s always projecting.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-josh-hawley-reveals-donald-trump-wrongly-thought-he-was-going-to-make-him-sell-mar-a-lago/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 Top Trump Aide Shares Ominous Post About ‘Indefinite’ Presidential Terms White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino cc’d President Donald Trump on the post. At least one White House official is apparently feeling inspired by El Salvador’s move to end presidential term limits. President Nayib Bukele’s ruling New Ideas party voted overwhelmingly to amend the country’s Constitution, paving the way for Bukele to remain in power indefinitely, Reuters reported. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino shared an AP link with news of El Salvador’s approval of “indefinite presidential reelection” and wrote Thursday in a social media post, “What to see heads explode? CC:@realDonaldTrump.” He also added an emoji of a thinking face and pointing finger for good measure. It wasn’t the first time Trump loyalists have floated the idea of ignoring the U.S. Constitution’s requirements on presidential term limits—or expressed admiration for Bukele’s authoritarian regime. The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly says that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” MAGA loyalists have nevertheless called on Trump to run for reelection in 2028, and his newest appointee to the federal appellate bench, Emil Bove, refused during his Senate confirmation process to rule out supporting another run. Senate Republicans confirmed Bove—who briefly told government lawyers to ignore judicial rulings while serving as Trump’s principal associate deputy attorney general—to a lifetime appointment. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. Bukele won reelection last year in a landslide victory even though the country’s Constitution previously only allowed single five-year presidential terms. During his first term, he had packed the courts with loyalist judges, who allowed him to run for a second term, according to Reuters. After his 2024 victory, his opponents worried he would overhaul the Constitution and try to rule for life like neighboring Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, Reuters reported. Trump has been an open admirer of Bukele’s authoritarianism, calling him “one hell of a president” during an April meeting at the Oval Office. The 42-year-old’s popularity stems from his massive security crackdown, which all but eliminated gang violence and small business extortion in what was previously one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries. His strategy involved suspending civil liberties and indefinitely jailing more than 75,000 Salvadorans without any charges in the country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison, where inmates are regularly beaten and are not allowed to have recreation, education, or even access to legal counsel. There’s also evidence he secretly cut a deal with MS-13 during the early years of his presidency, offering gang leaders money and power in exchange for votes and reduced homicide rates, ProPublica reported in June. The Trump administration has deported some migrants to the supermax CECOT, and he’s expressed a wish that homegrown criminals could be next. Bukele enjoys near-total control of El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly, which voted 57-3 to scrap term limits. “Today, democracy has died in El Salvador,” said opposition legislator Marcela Villatoro, from the Republican National Alliance. Trump doesn’t have the numbers to amend the U.S. Constitution, which requires two-thirds majority votes in the U.S. House and Senate, or for two-thirds of State legislatures to call for a constitutional convention. But he has already shown a willingness to disregard what’s written in the Constitution. In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring that children of immigrants are not entitled to U.S. citizenship despite the 14th Amendment to the Constitution’s guarantee that, “All persons born… in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” A federal appeals court ruled last month that the executive order was illegal. https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-donald-trump-aide-shares-ominous-post-about-indefinite-presidential-terms/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 1, 2025 Author Members Posted August 1, 2025 Trump Blasts Recess-Ready Republicans in All-Caps Rant: ‘DO YOUR JOB’ The president is ready to ruin summer break for his senators. President Donald Trump has doubled down on his warning that the Senate must confirm his nominees for government posts before its members can take their traditional month-long summer break. Earlier this month, the president suggested the cancellation of the August recess, due to start Monday, to Senate Majority Leader John Thune. After flattering Thune by calling him “very talented,” he suggested senators could even work through long weekends to confirm his “incredible” nominees. “We need them badly!!!” he said. The president returned to the idea of dumping the summer recess in a fired-up Truth Social screed on Thursday. Donald Trump Truth Social post insisting Senators skip their summer recess. screen grab He wrote: “The Senate must stay in Session, taking no recess, until the entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!! We have to save our Country from the Lunatic Left. “Republicans, for the health and safety of the USA, DO YOUR JOB, and confirm All Nominees. They should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” There are an estimated 1,300 nominees who require confirmation by the Senate for jobs in the executive branch and independent agencies, with more than 160 of those ready for a vote. The backlog Trump wants senators to work through means they would forfeit a break scheduled from Aug. 4 to Sept. 1. Senators can use that month to try and sell Trump’s policies to voters in their home states, ahead of midterm elections. The president followed up his “No recess for you” post with a snide “How to vote” tip for his party. He posted on Truth Social, “Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins. Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong. Thank you for your attention to this matter and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The Maine Republican voted against two of Trump’s bills this year, including his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and opposed some of his high-profile Cabinet nominees. Last week, Thune said he had not ruled out keeping Republicans in Washington instead of having summer recess. “We’re thinking about it. We want to get as many [nominations] through the pipeline as we can,” Thune said of keeping Trump happy. He added, “Trying to get his team in place is something that we’re very committed to and we’re going to be looking at all the options in the next few weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can.” Thune has previously worked overtime to get Trump what he wants. He pulled an all-nighter to amass enough votes from his party to pass Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill after the president demanded it be ready for his signature by July 4. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-blasts-recess-ready-republicans-in-all-caps-rant-do-your-job/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Trump pushes tariffs start date back, injecting a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses For weeks, President Donald Trump was promising the world economy would change on Friday with his new tariffs in place. It was an ironclad deadline, administration officials assured the public. Read more. Why this matters: But when Trump signed the order Thursday night imposing new tariffs on 68 countries and the European Union, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so that the tariff schedule could be updated. The change — while potentially welcome news to countries that had not yet reached a deal with the U.S. — injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what’s going to happen and when. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Appellate judges question Trump’s authority to impose tariffs without Congress Trump orders a 35% tariff for goods from Canada, citing a lack of cooperation on illicit drugs Judge blocks Trump administration from ending protections for 60,000 from Central America and Nepal A Texas researcher was held at an airport for over a week. Now he faces deportation Pentagon pulls back more National Guard troops and leaves behind 250 in Los Angeles ICE says it has made tentative job offers to more than 1,000 as hiring ramps up Colorado deputies disciplined for helping federal immigration agents Federal judges detail rise in threats, ‘pizza doxings,’ as Trump ramps up criticism Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects GAO issues final report documenting federal response to COVID-19 pandemic Worries over military chopper routes, FAA staffing levels emerge as factors in midair crash inquiry Trump revives the Presidential Fitness Test, a rite of passage for schoolchildren for decades Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny Davis says he won’t seek reelection after 15 terms in Congress North Carolina Senate race sets up as a fight over who would be a champion for the middle class California governor signs executive order to support boys and men and improve their mental health From ‘Crossfire’ to ‘CeaseFire': C-SPAN executive launches program that promotes common ground New York woman who duped investors, funneled money to 2017 Trump fundraiser pleads guilty Virginia Giuffre’s family expresses shock over Trump saying Epstein ‘stole’ her More Trump administration figures who met Laura Loomer’s ire are out. A look at her influence White House announces new $200M ballroom as part of Trump’s latest makeover of ‘The People’s House’ Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 US employers slash hiring as Trump advances a punishing trade agenda U.S. hiring is slowing sharply as President Donald Trump’s erratic and radical trade policies paralyze businesses and raise doubts about the outlook for the world’s largest economy. U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, well short of the 115,000 expected. Read More. Trump calls on the Federal Reserve board to take full control of the central bank from Powell President Donald Trump on Friday called for the Federal Reserve’s board of governors to usurp the power of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, criticizing the head of the U.S. central bank for not cutting short-term interest rates. Read More. Trump administration weighs fate of $9M stockpile of contraceptives feared earmarked for destruction President Donald Trump’s administration says it is weighing what to do with family planning supplies stockpiled in Europe that campaigners and two U.S. senators are fighting to save from destruction. Concerns that the Trump administration plans to incinerate the stockpile have angered family planning advocates on both sides of the Atlantic. Read More. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Trump’s Boast of an Economic Boom Gets Brutal Reality Check Even Trump’s aides and allies admit the job numbers are concerning. Donald Trump’s claim that America’s economy is booming has been undercut by new data showing there were 258,000 fewer jobs over the past few months than initially thought, thanks in large part to the president’s chaotic trade policies. The latest jobs report released on Friday showed a significant slowdown in job growth, with only 73,000 new jobs for July and unemployment rising to 4.2 percent. But the biggest shock was the revised job figures for the two months prior. In a brutal reality check for Trump, there were only 14,000 new jobs in June, far less than the previously stated 147,000; while the May count fell to just 19,000, revised down from 144,000. “This jobs report isn’t ideal - there’s no way around that,” Stephen Miran, the chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN. Within minutes of the figures being released, Trump took to social media to lash out at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates. “Too Little, Too Late. Jerome “Too Late” Powell is a disaster. DROP THE RATE! The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!” he wrote. But even some of the president’s aides and allies admitted the figures were linked to Trump’s policies, which had likely led companies to slow their hiring amid the uncertainty. Heritage Foundation economics fellow Stephen Moore told Fox Business: “This disappointing number is a result of all the turmoil of tariffs and trade wars.” “I talk to small businesses all over the country. A lot of their businesses came to a standstill, they didn’t know if they could get their parts in, they didn’t know what was going on… but my point is that turmoil is now behind us and I think business will be much more optimistic now that we have those trade deals in hand." The figures were released just as Trump announced new tariffs on countries around the world, escalating trade wars with some of America’s key allies. Under the policy, assuming it sticks, the 10% universal tariff will remain, but about 40 countries with which the US runs a trade deficit will now face a 15% rate. Some will be hit even harder, such as Canada, where tariffs will now rise to 35 percent, due to what Trump says is a lack of cooperation in tackling fentanyl. Thursday’s report showed that there were some gains, with jobs in the health sector continuing to grow. But the manufacturing sector lost about 11,000 jobs, and the construction sector, which is heavily dependent on migrant workers, only added 2,000. What’s more, the revised job numbers for June have not been this sluggish since December 2020 when the U.S was still reeling from the global pandemic. Fox Business commentator Joanie Bily, the interim chief executive of Dressed for Success Worldwide, told Fox News that the May and June revisions were “very concerning.” “There are jobs out there… but a lot of those entry-level positions are going away," she said. “I’m concerned about the labor market.” Miran, however, insisted that the worst was over. “We’ve been hearing a lot about uncertainty over the last few months, but all that is resolved now,” said the Trump aide. “We’re created trade deals left and right that have unlocked enormous new potential for the American economy.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-boast-of-an-economic-boom-gets-brutal-reality-check/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Trump Melts Down in Unhinged Revenge Rant: ‘They Must Pay’ The president is still trying to convince people that unfounded claims against Barack Obama are the “crime of the century.” President Donald Trump is once again pushing the widely disputed claim that Barack Obama attempted to stage a “coup” after the 2016 election, and insists those involved “must pay.” In a flurry of posts on Truth Social, the president has returned to his familiar playbook of trying to distract his MAGA base from the ongoing fallout of the Epstein files by repeating unfounded accusations against Obama and former U.S. intelligence officials who concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. “The Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX is now TOTALLY UNDISPUTED! THE FACTS ARE ALL THERE, IN BLACK AND WHITE,” Trump posted Friday morning. “It is the biggest scandal in American History. The perpetrators of this CRIME must pay a big price. This can never be allowed to happen in our Country again!” He then shared a video from The Daily Signal featuring right-wing historian Victor Davis Hanson accusing Obama-era intelligence leaders of conspiring to “destroy” Trump after his victory over Hillary Clinton. “They must pay for the crime of the Century,” Trump added. The renewed attacks stem from claims made earlier this month by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who cited newly declassified documents to allege a “treasonous conspiracy” by Obama and senior national security officials to fabricate Russian election interference in order to undermine the legitimacy of the results. Gabbard alleged that Obama, as well as national security officials, engaged in a “treasonous conspiracy” by manufacturing evidence of Russian interference at the 2016 election, thereby trying to undermine the legitimacy of the results. Gabbard accused Obama and his team of trying to lay the groundwork for “what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump” while presenting misleading information. Gabbard’s claims rely heavily on an apparent contradiction regarding U.S. intelligence findings in Jan. 2017 that Russia ran an influence campaign to help Trump in 2016, and separate unfounded claims that Moscow successfully manipulated votes in favor of the Republican. However, the Obama administration never claimed Russia changed vote totals or hacked voting machines. In 2020, a report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, which included the current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also found that Russia had tried to help Trump’s 2016 campaign. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Obama’s office said in response to Gabbard’s allegations. Elsewhere, a number of Trump loyalists including Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino have reacted with glee after declassified documents showed the FBI investigated intelligence reports alleging Clinton approved a plan to try and vilify Trump by linking him to Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2016 election. However, as noted by The New York Times, an annex to a 2023 report by Special Counsel John Durham suggests that this supposed approval from Clinton may have been put together by Russian spies. The Truth Social posts from Trump attacking Obama came as the president continues to dig himself deeper into the hole surrounding the extent of his knowledge about the crimes of Epstein, the billionaire pedophile who died in Aug. 2019. After years of claiming their friendship ended over a real estate dispute, Trump now says he cut ties with Epstein because the financier “stole” young workers from Mar-a-Lago. “He took people. I say, ‘Don’t do it anymore,’ you know, they work for me,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “He took some others. Once he did that, that was the end of him.” One of the women Trump alleged Epstein “stole” from him was Virginia Giuffre, a sex trafficking victim of Epstein’s who took her own life in April. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-melts-down-in-unhinged-revenge-rant-against-obama-they-must-pay/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Furious Voters Scream at Republican Defending Trump in Town Hall Disaster Rep. Bryan Steil’s constituents were apoplectic about masked immigration officers and the president’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill. A Wisconsin congressman was booed relentlessly when he tried to defend President Donald Trump’s policies at a rare in-person town hall. Republican Bryan Steil could barely get a word in as his constituents yelled and jeered in response to his answers on everything from border security to tariffs to the president’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Video footage obtained by MSNBC’s Morning Joe showed a number of deeply uncomfortable exchanges. “Why are [ICE agents] wearing masks, and why are they unidentified?” one woman asked to cheers. “We’ll probably agree to disagree on some of my answer here. But what I view is the moral hazard created by the Biden administration by allowing the U.S. border…,” Steil replied, before being drowned out with boos. He continued, “…to remain unsecure, and so...,” before the heckling got so loud that he was forced to stop. “It’s completely fine that we disagree,” he said as the crowd yelled. “There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing on the topic.” An elderly man holding a small American flag later said softly, “I am so disappointed,” inspiring a younger man to cry out, “Yeah!” “I am so disappointed in how you represent us as the citizens of Walworth County,” the older man continued to applause. “Southeast Wisconsin has not been represented by you. President Trump seems to run southeast Wisconsin through you. And all I have to ask is, I will be out there working hard if you choose to run for any office.” Another woman drew yet more applause and cheering when she told Steil, “I don’t think you’re the right fit for us anymore. I just think it’s time to go. You just don’t relate to most of us anymore and you gotta know when to step down. I think it’s time.” The event was Steil’s first in-person town hall since January, and the first time a Wisconsin Republican has met with constituents in person since March, when party leadership advised their caucus to avoid in-person events, the Journal Sentinel reported. Republicans like Steil who have bucked leadership’s advice to try to sell Trump’s agenda have faced anger and ridicule, and given answers that were so bad they inadvertently penned new political slogans for Democrats. About 250 people packed the Elkhorn Area High School auditorium for the town hall. Before the event, about 50 demonstrators gathered outside to protest Steil’s support for the president’s budget bill, which is predicted to cause tens of thousands of Wisconsinites to lose Medicaid coverage. Steil is one of two Wisconsin representatives whom Democrats plan to target as they seek to flip the House in next year’s midterm elections. https://www.thedailybeast.com/furious-voters-scream-at-gop-rep-bryan-steil-defending-trump-in-town-hall-disaster/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Top Trump Aide Shares Ominous Post About ‘Indefinite’ Presidential Terms White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino cc’d President Donald Trump on the post. At least one White House official is apparently feeling inspired by El Salvador’s move to end presidential term limits. President Nayib Bukele’s ruling New Ideas party voted overwhelmingly to amend the country’s Constitution, paving the way for Bukele to remain in power indefinitely, Reuters reported. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino shared an AP link with news of El Salvador’s approval of “indefinite presidential reelection” and wrote Thursday in a social media post, “What to see heads explode? CC:@realDonaldTrump.” He also added an emoji of a thinking face and pointing finger for good measure. It wasn’t the first time Trump loyalists have floated the idea of ignoring the U.S. Constitution’s requirements on presidential term limits—or expressed admiration for Bukele’s authoritarian regime. The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly says that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” MAGA loyalists have nevertheless called on Trump to run for reelection in 2028, and his newest appointee to the federal appellate bench, Emil Bove, refused during his Senate confirmation process to rule out supporting another run. Senate Republicans confirmed Bove—who briefly told government lawyers to ignore judicial rulings while serving as Trump’s principal associate deputy attorney general—to a lifetime appointment. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. Bukele won reelection last year in a landslide victory even though the country’s Constitution previously only allowed single five-year presidential terms. During his first term, he had packed the courts with loyalist judges, who allowed him to run for a second term, according to Reuters. After his 2024 victory, his opponents worried he would overhaul the Constitution and try to rule for life like neighboring Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, Reuters reported. Trump has been an open admirer of Bukele’s authoritarianism, calling him “one hell of a president” during an April meeting at the Oval Office. The 42-year-old’s popularity stems from his massive security crackdown, which all but eliminated gang violence and small business extortion in what was previously one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries. His strategy involved suspending civil liberties and indefinitely jailing more than 75,000 Salvadorans without any charges in the country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison, where inmates are regularly beaten and are not allowed to have recreation, education, or even access to legal counsel. There’s also evidence he secretly cut a deal with MS-13 during the early years of his presidency, offering gang leaders money and power in exchange for votes and reduced homicide rates, ProPublica reported in June. The Trump administration has deported some migrants to the supermax CECOT, and he’s expressed a wish that homegrown criminals could be next. Bukele enjoys near-total control of El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly, which voted 57-3 to scrap term limits. “Today, democracy has died in El Salvador,” said opposition legislator Marcela Villatoro, from the Republican National Alliance. Trump doesn’t have the numbers to amend the U.S. Constitution, which requires two-thirds majority votes in the U.S. House and Senate, or for two-thirds of State legislatures to call for a constitutional convention. But he has already shown a willingness to disregard what’s written in the Constitution. In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring that children of immigrants are not entitled to U.S. citizenship despite the 14th Amendment to the Constitution’s guarantee that, “All persons born… in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” A federal appeals court ruled last month that the executive order was illegal. https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-donald-trump-aide-shares-ominous-post-about-indefinite-presidential-terms/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Trump removes official overseeing jobs data after dismal employment report WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday removed the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported. https://apnews.com/article/trump-jobs-firing-f00e9bf96d0110519be9bf4f3ec89195? Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down after being defunded by Congress, targeted by Trump WASHINGTON (AP) — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cornerstone of American culture for three generations, announced Friday it would take steps toward its own closure after being defunded by Congress — marking the end of a nearly six-decade era in which it fueled the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and even emergency alerts. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/08/01/media-public-broadcasting-trump/? Trump moves nuclear submarines after ex-Russia president’s menacing tweet Donald Trump has said that he has deployed nuclear-capable submarines to the “appropriate regions” in response to a threatening tweet by Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, suggesting that he would be ready to launch a nuclear strike as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/01/trump-nuclear-submarines-russia-ukraine? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 A Cloudy Forecast (Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic) View in browser The Trump economy doesn’t look so hot after all. This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released revised data showing that, over the past three months, the U.S. labor market experienced its worst quarter since 2010, other than during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. The timing was awkward. Hours earlier, President Donald Trump had announced a huge new slate of tariffs, set to take effect next week. He’d been emboldened by the fact that the economy had remained strong until now despite economists’ warnings—a fact that turned out not to be a fact at all. After Trump announced his first sweeping round of “Liberation Day” tariffs, in April, the country appeared to be on the verge of economic catastrophe. The stock market plunged, the bond market nearly melted down, expectations of future inflation skyrocketed, and experts predicted a recession. But the crisis never came. Trump walked back or delayed his most extreme threats, and those that he kept didn’t seem to inflict much economic damage. Month after month, economists predicted that evidence of the negative impact of tariffs in the economic data was just around the corner. Instead, according to the available numbers, inflation remained stable, job growth remained strong, and the stock market set new records. The Trump administration took the opportunity to run a victory lap. “Lots of folks predicted that it would end the world; there would be some sort of disastrous outcome,” Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump’s council of economic advisers, said of Trump’s tariffs in an interview with ABC News early last month. “And once again, tariff revenue is pouring in. There’s no sign of any economically significant inflation whatsoever, and job creation remains healthy.” A July 9 White House press release declared, “President Trump was right (again),” touting strong jobs numbers and mild inflation. “President Trump is overseeing another economic boom,” it concluded. The seemingly strong data spurred soul-searching among journalists and economists. “The Economy Seems Healthy. Were the Warnings About Tariffs Overblown?” read a representative New York Times headline. Commentators scrambled to explain how the experts could have gotten things so wrong. Maybe it was because companies had stocked up on imported goods before the tariffs had come into effect; maybe the economy was simply so strong that it was impervious to Trump’s machinations; maybe economists were suffering from “tariff derangement syndrome.” Either way, the possibility that Trump had been right, and the economists wrong, had to be taken seriously. The sky’s refusal to fall likely influenced the Trump administration’s decision to press ahead with more tariffs. In recent months, Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on car parts and 50 percent tariffs on copper, steel, and aluminum. He has threatened 200 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals. Over the past week, Trump announced trade deals under which the European Union, Japan, and South Korea agreed to accept a 15 percent tariff on exports to the United States. Finally, this morning, he announced a sweeping set of new tariffs, a sort of Liberation Day redux, including a 39 percent levy on Switzerland, 25 percent on India, and 20 percent on Vietnam. These are scheduled to take effect on August 7 unless those countries can negotiate a deal. Then came the new economic data. This morning, the BLS released its monthly jobs report, showing that the economy added just 73,000 new jobs last month—well below the 104,000 that forecasters had expected—and that unemployment rose slightly, to 4.2 percent. More important, the new report showed that jobs numbers for the previous two months had been revised down considerably after the agency received a more complete set of responses from the businesses it surveys monthly. What had been reported as a strong two-month gain of 291,000 jobs was revised down to a paltry 33,000. What had once looked like a massive jobs boom ended up being a historically weak quarter of growth. Even that might be too rosy a picture. All the net gains of the past three months came from a single sector, health care, without which the labor market would have lost nearly 100,000 jobs. That’s concerning because health care is one of the few sectors that is mostly insulated from broader economic conditions: People always need it, even during bad times. (The manufacturing sector, which tariffs are supposed to be boosting, has shed jobs for three straight months.) Moreover, the new numbers followed an inflation report released by the Commerce Department yesterday that found that the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of price growth had picked up in June and remained well above the central bank’s 2 percent target. (The prior month’s inflation report was also revised upward to show a slight increase in May.) Economic growth and consumer spending also turned out to have fallen considerably compared with the first half of 2024. Taken together, these economic reports are consistent with the stagflationary environment that economists were predicting a few months ago: mediocre growth, a weakening labor market, and rising prices. The striking thing about these trends is how heavily they diverge from how the economy was projected to perform before Trump took office. As the economist Jason Furman recently pointed out, the actual economic growth rate in the first six months of 2025 was barely more than half what the Bureau of Economic Analysis had projected in November 2024, while core inflation came in at about a third higher than projections. The worst might be yet to come. Many companies did in fact stock up on imported goods before the tariffs kicked in; others have been eating the cost of tariffs to avoid raising prices in the hopes that the duties would soon go away. Now that tariffs seem to be here to stay, more and more companies will likely be forced to either raise prices or slash their costs—including labor costs. A return to the 1970s-style combination of rising inflation and unemployment is looking a lot more likely. The Trump administration has found itself caught between deflecting blame for the weak economic numbers and denying the numbers’ validity. In an interview with CNN this morning, Miran admitted that the new jobs report “isn’t ideal” but went on to attribute it to various “anomalous factors,” including data quirks and reduced immigration. (Someone should ask Miran why immigration is down.) And this afternoon, Trump posted a rant on Truth Social accusing the BLS commissioner of cooking the books to make him look bad. “I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote. “She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.” He then went on to argue, not for the first time, that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should be fired for hamstringing the economy with high interest rates. These defenses are, of course, mutually exclusive: If the bad numbers are fake, why should Trump be mad at Powell? In these confused denials, one detects a shade of desperation on Trump’s part. Of course, everything could end up being fine. Maybe economists will be wrong, and the economy will rebound with newfound strength in the second half of the year. But that’s looking like a far worse bet than it did just 24 hours ago. Related: Meddling with the Fed could backfire on Trump. Annie Lowrey: Start budgeting now. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Trump authoritarian streak Photo illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images A five-alarm fire tore through the economic establishment yesterday after President Trump ousted the government's top labor statistician, accusing her — without evidence — of "rigging" a weak jobs report. Why it matters: It's just one glaring example from a week that bore many authoritarian hallmarks — purging dissenters, rewriting history, criminalizing opposition and demanding total institutional loyalty, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Vast swaths of society are falling in line. The Washington Post revealed this week that the Smithsonian quietly removed references to Trump's two impeachments from its presidential exhibit. ? The big picture: The overwhelming, all-consuming nature of Trump-driven news cycles makes it difficult to discern partisan hysteria from true democratic backsliding. But apply any of these five developments to a foreign leader — or even a past U.S. president — and it reads like an authoritarian playbook: 1. Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer, a 20-year government veteran, after BLS announced massive downward revisions for job growth in May and June. "We're doing so well. I believe the numbers were phony. ... So you know what I did: I fired her," Trump told reporters, without explaining why he believed past jobs reports were credible when they were positive. Larry Summers, Harvard professor and Treasury Secretary for President Clinton. Screenshot via X William Beach, who led the BLS during Trump's first term, blasted the firing as "totally groundless." 2. Eager to shift scrutiny from his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Trump demanded his Justice Department prosecute former President Obama for "treason" over the 2016 Russia investigation. Top Trump aides are engaged in an all-out effort to rewrite the history of "Russiagate" and exact revenge on Obama-era intelligence officials, including through criminal referrals. 3. In his crackdown on liberal power centers, Trump has extracted more than $1.2 billion in settlements from at least 13 of the most elite players in academia, law, media and tech, according to an Axios tally. The Trump administration is reportedly eyeing up to $500 million from Harvard and $100 million from Cornell, paving the way for a cascade of other universities to follow suit. 4. Dozens of Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador's notorious CECOT megaprison say they were beaten, sexually assaulted and denied access to lawyers or medical care, a Washington Post investigation found. 5. Trump's months-long campaign to oust Fed Chair Jay Powell, or at least pressure him to cut interest rates, is still lingering. White House response: "President Trump is holding the federal government and elite institutions accountable for their political games, longstanding corruption, and terrible incompetence," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said. With regard to CECOT, a White House official told Axios: "These are criminal terrorist illegal immigrants and the American people are safer with them as far away as possible." Trump's consolidation of power comes at the same time he's attempting to unilaterally reset the global trading order — with tariff rates set to his personal whim. Brazil now faces 50% tariffs — among the highest rates of any country — due to its prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, which Trump has denounced as a "witch hunt." The stakes of Trump's centralized command were accentuated yesterday, when he ordered two nuclear submarines repositioned in response to saber-rattling by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 3, 2025 Author Members Posted August 3, 2025 Ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith faces investigation by independent political watchdog BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — An independent watchdog agency responsible for enforcing a law against partisan political activity by federal employees has opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel who brought two criminal cases against then-candidate Donald Trump before his election to the White House last year. https://apnews.com/article/trump-jack-smith-investigate-cotton-special-counsel-f32b39962d7aee1cb87f71ea9fde13f5? Watchdog agency launches probe into former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith The Office of Special Counsel has launched an investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith, who led criminal probes into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents and alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/02/politics/jack-smith-office-of-special-counsel-hatch-act? Trump’s New Merger Scandal Is Swampier Than Watergate In a stunning reversal, the Trump administration just gave the green light to a major tech merger — and then fired two Justice Department lawyers who opposed it. Was corruption at play in the merger decision? https://www.levernews.com/trumps-new-merger-scandal-is-swampier-than-watergate/ How AI Is Taking Over Your Government The Trump administration just unveiled a sweeping AI Action Plan that aims to achieve global dominance in the industry. Hiding deep within the document? A previously rejected scheme to ban oversight of tech oligarchs and let artificial intelligence run wild. https://www.levernews.com/how-ai-is-taking-over-your-government/ A Big Oily Bill Oil and gas industry handouts in the big, beautiful bill will cost consumers an additional $170 billion in household energy costs. https://www.levernews.com/a-big-oily-bill/ Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 4, 2025 Author Members Posted August 4, 2025 ? Trump targets tuition for undocumented students Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Republican-leaning states, once at the forefront of laws helping undocumented students pay in-state college tuition, are trying to roll back that access thanks to pressure from President Trump, Axios' Russell Contreras writes. Why it matters: Around 8% of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants are under 18, and the ending of in-state tuition would make college unaffordable if those laws are reversed. Without in-state tuition, undocumented immigrants who have gone through the state's public school system would have to pay out-of-state or international rates to attend public colleges and universities. 24 states and D.C. offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. Florida repealed its in-state tuition policy this year. Republicans in many of those states are pushing for their legislatures to repeal their laws. Keep reading. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 4, 2025 Author Members Posted August 4, 2025 Trump Says He’s Lowered Drug Prices by ‘1500%’ After Firing Stats Boss The president’s boast defied basic arithmetic. President Donald Trump bragged on Sunday that he had lowered drug prices by up to 1500 percent—an arithmetical absurdity, even by his standards. Trump floated the impossible figure just days after he fired a top government statistics official over numbers he didn’t like. Trump told reporters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that his administration had brought about a “tremendous drop in drug prices.” “You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500 percent,” Trump said. “I don’t mean 50 percent, I mean 14, 1500 percent.” He added, “We want the same prices Europe gets, we want the same prices other country gets.” “So we’ll be dropping drug prices,” he said, before throwing out another confusing set of figures. “It’ll start over the next two to three months. By 1200, 1300, and even 1400 percent. And 500 percent.” Reducing the price of something by more than 100 percent would mean that not only does it become free—the consumer would be getting paid to take the product. On Friday, Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, after the agency released monthly jobs data showing a slowdown on jobs growth. Trump accused her of rigging the numbers to make him “look bad.” The move was likened to one from an authoritarian playbook, and marked another escalation in his crusade against inconvenient facts. As for the drug price boast, it’s one that Trump has floated before. Trump routinely cites fantastical figures that don’t add up, tossing around unlikely claims about inflation, the price of gas and groceries, and his poll numbers, among other topics. He was widely mocked on social media over his claim. “Time and again, he’s shown himself to be utterly innumerate‚” said conservative attorney George Conway. Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen wrote on X, “The guy who doesn’t trust the Bureau of Labor statistics jobs numbers thinks that your drug prices were cut by 1,500%.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-says-hes-lowered-drug-prices-by-1500-after-firing-stats-boss/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted August 4, 2025 Author Members Posted August 4, 2025 Now Trump Is Gushing Over ‘Republican’ Sydney Sweeney’s Ad The president thinks her jeans ad is “fantastic” for one reason. President Donald Trump has joined a chorus of MAGA fans praising Sydney Sydney over her provocative jeans advert. While speaking to reporters before departing Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Trump was asked about reporting over the weekend that the Euphoria actress is a registered Republican. After learning her political leanings, the president said the 27-year-old’s ad for American Eagle jeans is “fantastic.” “She’s a registered Republican? Now I love her ad,” Trump said. “You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans. That’s what I wouldn’t have known, but I’m glad you told me that.” Sweeney listed her party affiliation as Republican in publicly available records reviewed by The Guardian on Sunday. She registered to vote in Florida in June 2024. “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic!” Trump added. Sweeney recently drew widespread attention—and backlash—for starring in an American Eagle campaign that played on the words “jeans” and “genes.” In one spot, Sweeney says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” The optics of that messaging featuring a blonde-haired, blue-eyed movie star did not land well with many viewers, drawing accusations that it promoted eugenics and racial superiority. Many figures on the right, meanwhile, have celebrated the ad, cast the backlash as ridiculous, and defended Sweeney. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was accused of being “thirsty” after he shared a revealing picture from Sweeney’s ad last week and wrote that, “Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women.” Vice President JD Vance also commented on her appearance, describing her as an “all-American beautiful girl.” “My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi,” Vance said on a podcast on Friday. “That appears to be their actual strategy. I mean, it actually reveals something pretty interesting about the Dems though, which is that you have a normal all-American beautiful girl doing like a normal jeans ad. They’re trying to sell jeans to kids in America and they have managed to so unhinge themselves over this thing. And it’s like, you guys, did you learn nothing from the November 2024 election?” Sweeney has not responded to the backlash, but American Eagle did on Friday in a brief statement. “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story,” the company said of the campaign. “Great jeans look good on everyone,” it added. A representative of Sweeney has been contacted for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/now-trump-is-gushing-over-republican-sydney-sweeneys-ad/? ps:Oh so now that trump says it's OK everyone else can say it's OK?? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
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