Posted: February 25, 2026 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: just because | Tags: 2026 midterms, angel moms, Donald Trump, hatred of immigrants, Marcelo Gomes da Silva, SAVE Act, Seth Moulton, State of the Union Address 2026, tariffs, U.S. men's hockey team, U.S. women's hockey team |
Good Day!!
I actually watched quite a bit of Trump’s “state of the union” speech last night. As expected, it was horrific. He told lie after insane lie, and actually did not report on the state of the union.
He did begin the “speech” by claiming “America is back.” Back to what? I guess we’re back to where we were at the end of his last term as “president”–with Americans dying unnecessarily, the economy going down the tubes, and Americans living in fear about what he might do next. Except it’s even worse now. At least in his last term, he didn’t have a secret police force going around the country attacking and even killing people.
Trump didn’t offer a legislative agenda. He claimed he had designed a health plan in which he would give Americans money and they could use it to find their own health care. He also claimed he had lowered the cost of drugs with his website TrumpRX. He treated these as faits accompli with no need for legislation. He did push for passage of the SAVE act, as his plan for stealing the midterms.
Trump spent most of the “speech” introducing people in the audience, and in one section he sounded like a true crime podcaster, describing ghastly murders committed by undocumented immigrants. After each bloody story, he had the mothers of the victims stand up to be recognized. Much of the “speech” seemed designed to get his fans to hate immigrants more than they already do.
At one point, Trump spoke directly to Democrats, telling them they should be ashamed for not standing and applauding him.
He bragged about the economy, and especially his tariffs, which he claimed have been a huge success. Of course he attacked the Supreme Court for trying to explain to him that tariffs are a tax and must be passed by Congress, not imposed by the “president.” He actually said that maybe tariffs could replace the income tax! So maybe he does know that tariffs are a tax that puts the heaviest burden on the poorest Americans.
Most of all, the “speech” was incredibly boring. It was also overwhelmingly negative, even though he bragged about his imaginary achievements. He made our country sound like a hellhole. Oh, and guess what? He never once mentioned the Epstein files.
Here are some reactions to Trump’s presentation.
Tom Nichols at The Atlantic (gift link): President Trump’s State of the Union Variety Show.
The longest State of the Union in modern history is now over. Donald Trump held court in the House of Representatives and said little of substance, but substance wasn’t the point. This year, he intended to put on a show, with an array of guest stars and special appearances. He was happy because he was playing the roles he clearly loves: game-show host, ringmaster, emcee, beneficent granter of wishes—and, where the Democrats were concerned, a self-righteous inquisitor.
Trump did his usual rote lying about the economy—pity the fact-checkers who tried to keep up even in the first 10 minutes or so of the speech—along with some of his other greatest hits, including the many wars he stopped and the magic of tariffs. (He referred to the “unfortunate involvement” of the Supreme Court on the tariff issue, as if the justices had barged into his office like interlopers.) [….]
Tonight, however, was not about communication—it was about showmanship. Almost every line was a cue for applause from obedient Republicans; they even gave Jared Kushner a standing ovation. Every few minutes, Trump told a story and reached out into the audience like the host of The Price Is Right, telling people to come on down.
He started, of course, with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team. Just basking along with Team USA wasn’t enough. Trump soon announced that the goalie Connor Hellebuyck would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Normally, this honor is bestowed for a lifetime of achievement, but this time it was given as if the young athlete had chosen the right door and found a new car.
And so it went, all night. Sometimes, the guests were meant to tug at the heartstrings, such as when Trump recognized Erika Kirk, the wife of the murdered activist Charlie Kirk. Others were presented as ornaments meant to illustrate Trump’s successes: Enrique Márquez, a Venezuelan political prisoner freed after U.S. forces deposed the strongman Nicolás Maduro, was given a round of well-deserved applause. Trump also gave a shout-out to a woman whose IVF medications were now, he claimed, cheaper because of him.
But no group received more attention than the U.S. military. Trump handed out two Purple Hearts (one posthumously), a Legion of Merit, and not one but two Congressional Medals of Honor. Military awards that should have been treated with dignity and respect were placed on men like prizes, including a moment when Trump’s co-host, the first lady, put one of the Medals of Honor around the neck of a 100-year-old fighter pilot.
Trump even had designated heels in the audience: the Democrats. He called them crazy and accused them of impoverishing the nation. He dared them to stand up if they agreed with him that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” This stunt was obviously meant to force Democrats either to stand or boo or otherwise do something that Trump could exploit; instead, it merely resulted in several awkward seconds of a staring contest between the president and the Democrats in the chamber. Trump managed to bait Representative Ilhan Omar into shouting at him, but for the most part, he seemed genuinely irritated that the Democrats sat through his show in stony silence.
As the whole business dragged on, the atmosphere started to seem less like a game show and more like the late-night Jerry Lewis telethons of the 1970s, in which a tired but pumped Lewis alternately griped at the audience, broke into maudlin emotion, or jumped up to welcome a new guest. The only thing Trump did not do was explain his policies—especially about war and peace—to Congress or the American people.
Use the gift link to read the rest.
The New York Times Opinion Scorecard (gift link): ‘He’s Debased This Country’: The Best and Worst Moments From Trump’s State of the Union.
President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, celebrating his record on immigration and the economy. “We’re winning so much,” he said. “Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast. … America is respected again.” Here’s what our writers thought of his speech. [I’m just giving you a sampling–you can read more opinions with the gift link.]
The best moment:
Jamelle Bouie The single best moment was when this long, exhausted and repetitive speech finally ended. It was then that I felt true relief.
Michelle Cottle The appearance of the men’s Olympic hockey team. The young guys playing to the crowd and showing off their medals were adorable. Here was an appropriate moment for those “U.S.A.” chants. So wholesome.
Michelle Goldberg The moment when, after setting a record for the longest State of the Union in recorded history, it finally ended…..
Matthew Schmitz Democrats are feeling emboldened on immigration amid Trump’s controversial enforcement push. But Trump effectively invoked what is still one of his strongest issues, while drawing a contrast with Democrats: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Many Americans agree.
Worst Moment
Appelbaum It was a tedious, tiresome performance. For much of the night, the president seemed to be boring everyone, perhaps most of all himself. Even his efforts to bait Democrats felt well-worn, familiar and strikingly devoid of real heat on either side.
Barro The “everything is terrible in America” section — which lasted roughly from minute 30 through 75 of this interminable and plodding address — significantly undermined the “everything is wonderful in Trump’s America” messaging that preceded it.
Bouie There are just too many bad moments to choose from. Was the worst one of the many instances where he gave lurid descriptions of pain and suffering? Was it when he began to hand out awards like reality television prizes? Or was it when he tried to write Democrats out of the political community? If I have to choose, I’d say the braying racism against Somali Americans — it would not have been out of place in a D.W. Griffith film.
Cottle So many options. The xenophobia. The scaremongering. The lying. The name-calling. The pettiness. But I’ll go with his ongoing mission to destroy faith in the electoral process. “Cheating is rampant.” The Dems “want to cheat. They have cheated.” It’s the “only way they can get elected.” Heavy sigh.
Read more opinions at the link.
I wrote above that Trump didn’t offer a legislative agenda, but NPR found a few things that Trump asked Congress to do:
There were only about half a dozen specific things Trump asked Congress to do:
— “Codify” Trump’s attempts to lower drug prices, though it’s unclear how.
— Pass the “Stop Insider Trading Act” that would restrict the Wall Street trading of members of Congress and their spouses.
— Pass what Trump is calling the “Delilah Law” that would ban commercial licenses for immigrants in the country without legal status.
— Restore funding for the Department of Homeland Security. After the killing of the two Americans in Minnesota, Democrats refused to authorize new funding for DHS, leading to a partial government shutdown.
— Pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. Proven instances of fraud, including by noncitizens, are very rare, but Trump claims there is “rampant” cheating. It’s something he has used to justify his 2020 election loss, and it’s a claim he could use to cast doubt on this year’s outcome — if Republicans lose.
While those are certainly consequential, they don’t add up to a major legislative push. That’s not surprising, though, since Trump has spent the better part of the last year trying to consolidate power in the White House.
Moira Donegan at The Guardian: Trump has lost the ability to entertain. Sadly, he hasn’t lost the ability to offend.
It is one of Donald Trump’s unique talents that he reveals the absurd obsolescence of long-held traditions. In presidential election years, his screaming bloviations on stage make the exercise of gathering the candidates together seem futile. In power, when he divorces facts from policymaking and relies instead on myth and grift to guide his decisions, he renders useless and impotent vast fields of expertise.
When he lies in public, and insists that his fantasies and distortions will dictate the course of government action, he makes those of us in the news business wonder if there’s any point, any more, in gathering and printing the truth.
Likewise, many Americans who watched the State of the Union address on Tuesday night might have wondered what the point of these speeches is any more. The constitution mandates that the president provide periodic updates to Congress on the condition of the country.
But nowhere does the constitution call for the kind of in-person, televised address that has become an annual staple of the presidency in the era of mass media. And certainly none of the Framers could have pictured the speech that Trump delivered on Tuesday night: a rambling, nearly two-hour address that was heavy on falsehoods, ad libs, and digressions that sometimes seemed like bids to kill time – and remarkably light on policy substance.
Throughout the speech, Trump seemed tired. He had difficulty reading from his teleprompter; he gripped the podium with a tightness bordering on desperation, and towards the end of the broadcast, his voice became audibly raspy. He was showing his age. The speechwriters, too, seem to have been exhausted.
The address touched on Trump’s typical themes: the supposed criminality and inferiority of immigrants; the mendaciousness of his opponents; his personal virtues and resentments. But the president offered very few new policy ideas, contradicted himself on crucial issues, misrepresented pertinent facts and substantively addressed few of what polls reveal to be the nation’s most pressing concerns.
A bit more:
He stopped frequently to address veterans in the crowd and to issue them medals as stunts for the television broadcast; he offered a long and strange digression about the gold medal Olympic match recently won by the US men’s hockey team, many of whom paraded into the House chambers wearing their medals. A decade ago, Trump crystallized a longstanding trend in American politics by avowedly fusing governance and entertainment. But Tuesday’s long-winded and boring spectacle showed that he has lost even the ability to entertain.
He has not, of course, lost the ability to offend. Trump lied, saying that he has brought healthcare costs down at a moment when his attacks on Affordable Care Act subsidies have in fact massively increased the premiums paid by many Americans in just the past two months. He made a non-sequitur tangent to attack the rights of trans kids; he claimed, with a kind of vulgar brazenness, that his kidnapping of the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and his administration’s subsequent economic blackmail of that country, was creating new opportunities for the Venezuelan people.
He claimed that Democrats’ withholding of funding for the Department of Homeland Security over abusive immigration enforcement was causing fallout for areas effected by this week’s east coast blizzard, as the DHS was unable to help clear snow. (The federal agency does not do this.) Even his filler lines reeked with the stench of hypocrisy. “We are building a nation,” he said, “where every child has a chance to build higher and go further.” It was a sentiment that called to mind Liam Conejo Ramos, and all the other children imprisoned in ICE’s concentration camps, whose education, promise, dreams and freedom have been sacrificed to the administration’s racism.
There’s more at the Guardian link.
Trump talked for nearly two hours, gave out medals, praised sports teams, lied constantly, made zero new policy proposals, suggested we are about to bomb another country again, and got standing ovations from Republicans after every line. Nothing new for average working Americans.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-02-25T12:19:53.936Z
Davdid Smith at The Guardian: Why the longest-ever State of the Union address was the most inconsequential.
He wanted to give the king’s speech. Donald Trump entered the US House chamber on Tuesday like a medieval monarch, with Republicans lined up eager to touch his royal robes (or, in two cases, grab a selfie with him). But within moments, the illusion was shattered.
As the US president strolled by, soaking up adulation, the Democratic representative Al Green of Texas held aloft a handwritten sign: “Black people aren’t apes!” – a reference to Trump recently sharing a racist video depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama.
When the first State of the Union address of Trump’s second term got under way, Republicans moved in on Green menacingly and tried to tear the sign away. But he persisted until being escorted out for the second year in a row. As he departed, there were more acrimonious exchanges with Republicans, a few of whom tried to start a chant of “USA! USA!”
It was the first but not the last time that a person of color would take a stand during the wannabe autocrat’s record 107-minute speech while others remained silent or raucously egged him on. It was a night where Trump again sought to poison US politics and divide Americans along various fault lines, none more inflammatory than race.
The great salesman, sporting his familiar red tie and orange hue, began with a predictable pitch: “Our nation is back – bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.” In his telling, inflation, mortgage rates and gas prices are falling, while the stock market, oil production and foreign direct investment are booming along with construction and factory jobs.
Luckily for Trump’s speechwriter, the US men’s hockey team won Olympic gold two days earlier. The reality TV president hailed them in the press gallery, prompting applause and roars from both Democrats and Republicans. But while Republicans chanted “USA! USA!” with gusto, barely any Democrats did.
“We’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it,” Trump declared. While he didn’t mention his gilded ballroom, it was still a Pollyannish version of America that will not be recognized by people struggling to pay bills and make ends meet. Trump is not the man to offer: “I feel your pain.”
Read the rest at The Guardian.
I don’t know if you remember Marcelo Gomez? He is Massachusetts teenager who was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice. He was invited to the SOTU, but had to leave in fear of ICE.
Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Milford teen who was arrested by ICE last May, went to the State of the Union as a guest of Representative Seth Moulton. He left early after a Department of Homeland Security tweet singled him out by name. trib.al/z40q0Yo
— The Boston Globe (@bostonglobe.com) 2026-02-25T14:46:26.768313Z
Marcela Rodrigues at The Boston Globe: Milford teen Marcelo Gomes leaves State of the Union after targeted DHS tweet.
From the visitor’s gallery, Marcelo Gomes da Silva looked down at the House floor, attentively watching President Trump deliver his State of the Union speech. A guest of Representative Seth Moulton, the 19-year-old from Milford was overjoyed to be sharing a room with the nation’s most powerful politicians.
“I truly hope that one day I’ll be here and I’ll be a representative, and then hopefully a senator, as well. That’s the dream,” he said.
Wearing a light gray suit, Gomes looked worlds apart from the day he met Moulton for the first time last June, outside of the ICE holding facility in Burlington wherehe had spent six days detained in volleyball shorts and crocs.
This week, in Washington for the first time, he met with other members of Congress and talked about his experience in detention and his desire to end ICE operations that target people who, like him, don’t have a criminal record.
As he watched the speech, the teen looked for Moulton on the House floor but couldn’t find him among the sea of politicians; he was impressed by Representative Al Green’s protest of a racist video posted on Trump’s social media account recently portraying the Obamas as apes; he didn’t agree with Trump’s statement about low inflation; and he felt dehumanized by being called an “illegal alien.” Still, he planned to stay and listen to the entire address.
Soon after standing up to applaud the US men’s hockey team, who Trump honored during the speech, Gomes was escorted out of the chamber by Moulton’s chief of staff Neesha Suarez.
Suarez and other congressional staff had seen an online post by the Department of Homeland Security, calling out Democrats who brought immigrants as guests to the State of the Union, singling out Moulton and Gomes by name.
“Today, some Democrats in Congress are planning to bring illegal aliens as guests to the State of the Union. Once again, they are putting illegal aliens above the safety of American citizens,” DHS officials wrote. Gomes “is an illegal alien who has no right to be in our nation. We are committed to enforcing the law and fighting for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens like him.”
DHS officials also named two other guests, invited by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado.
Disgusting.
This article was published before the SOTU, but I’m including it because of Trump’s disrespect for the women’s gold medal winning hockey team.
NEWS: The gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team has declined an invitation to attend Trump’s State of the Union.This comes after Trump was heard telling the men’s team he’d begrudgingly invite the women’s champions or risk impeachment.
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2026-02-23T18:37:04.574Z
Tara Sullivan at The Boston Globe: The US men’s hockey team should be celebrated, but the gold medal won by the US women is no laughing matter.
The issue isn’t with a president getting on the phone to congratulate an Olympic gold-medal-winning team. America’s men’s hockey players deserve every syllable of celebration a proud and grateful nation has to give them.
The issue is with a president who got on the phone to congratulate only one of our nation’s two gold-medal-winning hockey teams, and then using part of that telephone call to casually dismiss Team USA’s women, who also won gold in Milan with an overtime goal against Canada.
Amid the beer-chugging, bro-hugging antics inside the men’s celebratory locker room Sunday, it was extra partier Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, who put the president on speaker phone with the victorious players. Part of the conversation was an open invitation from President Donald Trump for the team to visit the White House, and specifically to attend Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. It came with a condition, however.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You do know that?” the president said.
He was laughing, and as he was, players could be heard laughing, too. It continued as Trump joked he’d “probably be impeached” if he didn’t include the women’s team.
To him, those women were a punch line.
To me, they are American heroes.
Now more than ever. The women politely declined the chance to be afterthoughts at someone else’s party. Officially, a spokesperson for the team said it couldn’t accept “due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games.” The statement made sure to insist, “We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold-medal-winning US women’s hockey team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement.”
If only that recognition felt more sincere. Instead, the perfect storm of sports forces combined to remind us just how far the fight for respect of women’s sports still has to go, and how much simmering sexism continues to bubble under the surface.
Those are my recommended reads for today. Thoughts?
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Posted: February 21, 2026 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: just because | Tags: cat art, caturday, Donald Trump, Epstein Files, iran, Japanese cat art, Jeffrey Epstein, New Mexico, sex trafficking, Supreme Court tariff decision, tariffs, Trump temper tantrum, Zorro Ranch |
Good Afternoon!!
By Toshiwo Katsuma
Yesterday was quite a day. The Supreme Court actually decided against Trump’s insane tariffs instead of bowing down once again to the man who thinks he’s a king. Predictably, Trump threw a gigantic tantrum and then decided to more or less ignore the SCOTUS decision.
Nina Totenberg at NPR: Trump throws a temper tantrum after tariff loss.
At a hastily called press conference, an agitated Trump railed against the conservative [John] Roberts and two of the courts other conservatives, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both Trump appointees.
“They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the RINOs and the radical left Democrats,” Trump said, using the apparently derisive acronym for “Republicans in name only.”
And that was hardly all. Trump called the three conservatives “disloyal, unpatriotic,” and at one point he launched into a rant about how the court should have invalidated the election results in 2020, which Trump lost to Joe Biden….
Writing for a hefty 6-to-3 majority, Chief Justice Roberts said that the nation’s founders deliberately and explicitly placed the power to impose taxes, including tariffs, with Congress, not with the president.
As the Chief Justice put it, “Having just fought a revolution motivated in large part by taxes imposed on them” by the King of England without their consent, the Framers wrote a Constitution that gives Congress the taxing power because the members of the legislature would be more accountable to the people.
Nonetheless Trump asserted at his press conference that he will go ahead with his tariffs, using alternative statutes that allow him to act without the consent of Congress.
A bit more:
There are, in fact, several statutes that allow him to impose some tariffs on his own, but they are limited. For example, one of the key statutes he cited Friday does allow him to impose certain tariffs on his own, but only for six months, and after that he must get approval from Congress. The other statutes he cited have other provisions that make it far more difficult to act unilaterally.
The other problem that Trump faces is that the billions of dollars already collected in tariffs were supposed to offset the tax cuts that the Republican-dominated Congress adopted last year at Trump’s behest. Now, however, the money isn’t there.
The federal government has been collecting about $30 billion a month in tariffs, about half of which will be eliminated by Friday’s court ruling. So it’s a big deal for U.S. businesses that have been paying the lion’s share of these tariffs. That said, tariffs are still a fairly small slice of overall government revenues; about 5%. So if half that tariff money goes away, that will mean a larger, but not crippling federal deficit.
In contrast to the stock market’s plunge when the tariffs were first put in place, the market reaction on Friday was fairly stable. That could be because investors believe the White House will try to make good on that threat to replace the outlawed tariffs with other taxes, using different statutes where the president’s claims his authority is more clear. Even those statutes, however, have more strings attached. None give Trump the power he claimed to have to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from any country for any reason….
Unresolved by the Supreme Court’s decision was the question of whether U.S. businesses that paid the tariffs for the last year can get their money back. Chief Justice Roberts did not address how refunds might work, so a lower court will have to figure that out.
There’s more at the NPR link.
David Rothkopf at The Daily Beast: Trump’s Unhinged Tantrum Is Just the Beginning. Buckle Up.
Donald Trump on Friday attacked the Supreme Court majority that ruled against him in a landmark decision on tariffs with a venom and ferocity he has never directed against America’s foreign enemies. He suggested they were disloyal to the country, under the sway of other nations. The entire performance was unhinged, an old man’s tantrum about an affront to his manhood. He called the three Republican appointed justices who voted against him “fools and lapdogs.” [….]
The president seemed to miss the entire point of the Supreme Court ruling—that the power to levy tariffs lay with the Congress—as well as the nuance in the majority opinion, such as a footnote by Chief Justice John Roberts that suggested while there were may be other ways by which he could seek to put tariffs in place, those “contain various combinations of procedural prerequisites, required agency determinations and limits on the duration, amount and scope of the tariffs they authorize.”
By Kazuaki Horitomo Kitamura
In other words, he could not behave like a king. He could no longer go around the world threatening other leaders whenever it suited him. He could no longer ignore the law, existing U.S. treaties, or the role Congress is assigned by the Constitution. He said he could—he said he didn’t need Congress to impose the new types of tariffs he mentioned during his press conference. But that was either denial or ignorance or a special Trumpian combination of both.
Because it will be very difficult for Trump to recreate the tariffs of the past year. Should he attempt to put some in place, and should he get the Congress and government agencies to work with him on this, the process is going to be more complex, require periodic renewals, and be far more limited in scope.
But watching Trump, it was clear that the thrust of his remarks had nothing to do with the letter of the law. With him, it seldom does. His feelings were hurt. Someone told him “no.” And he was going to lash out until he felt better.
The outburst was notable, then, because it revealed just how battered, exhausted, and at wits’ end the president is after weeks and weeks of similar experiences, of serial defeats and embarrassments, and of the prospect of many more such humiliations in the months ahead in a world that is finally learning how to say “no” to him.
With pressure building on him because of a soft economy, public anger at his immigration policies, fears of spiking healthcare costs for millions of Americans, the Epstein scandal and a looming massive defeat in the November midterms, Trump has returned regularly to the authoritarian playbook in the hopes that it would make him feel more powerful, less enfeebled by age, more like the kind of leader the slavering courtiers in his daily retinue say he is.
Go read more and enjoy the schadenfreude.
Naturally, reacted immediately with a new round of tariffs. He could have decided to work with Congress on rational trade policy, but he’d rather be a king.
Politico: Trump signs order imposing ‘temporary’ 10 percent global tariff after Supreme Court ruling.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing a new “temporary” 10 percent global tariff following the Supreme Court’s decision Friday striking down many of the global tariffs he raised last year.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump is invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15 percent to address a “large and serious balance-of-payments deficit,” according to a White House fact sheet. Tariffs imposed under the authority may remain in effect for no more than 150 days unless Congress passes legislation extending them….
The announcement seeks to keep many of his tariff policies intact even after the court’s ruling.
Tama the Cat, Woodblock Print by Hiroaki Takahashi, 1926
“Effective immediately, all national security tariffs under Section 232, and existing Section 301 tariffs — they’re existing, they’re there — remain in place, fully in place, and in full force and effect,” Trump told reporters at a White House press conference Friday afternoon. “Today, I will sign an order to impose a 10 percent global tariff under Section 122, over and above our normal tariffs already being charged. And we’re also initiating several Section 301, and other investigations, to protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies.”
The duties are set to take effect Feb. 24 at 12:01 a.m.
The White House fact sheet lists exemptions that are similar to the ones included with the tariffs that were invalidated Friday, carving out specific products within sectors such as energy, pharmaceuticals, autos, and aerospace, and shielding goods from North American neighbors compliant with U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade pact Trump signed in his first term.
Yet, it won’t allow the president the kind of flexibility he has wielded under the emergency powers law. By statute, the tariff must be “nondiscriminatory,” meaning the U.S. can’t give breaks to certain trading partners and not others.
Today, Trump decided to increase the newly announced tariffs to 15 percent.
The New York Times: Trump Says He Will Raise Global Tariff to 15 Percent.
President Trump announced Saturday that he would raise his new, global tariff to 15 percent, a day after he took steps to replicate some of the punishing duties that had been struck down by the Supreme Court.
Mr. Trump announced the change in a post on social media, and said the tariff would take effect immediately, as he signaled anew that he would press ahead with his trade war despite the stunning legal setback.
On Friday night, Mr. Trump had set that tariff at 10 percent, using a provision in a law that allows him to impose an across-the-board tariff for 150 days unless Congress agrees to extend it.
“I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again — GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!”
This man is looney tunes and he controls our nuclear arsenal.
By Ayako Ishiguro
Meanwhile, Trump and Hegseth continue to order the murders of people in small boats. NBC News: U.S. military says it struck another alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific, killing 3.
The U.S. military said that it struck an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Friday, killing three people.
U.S. Southern Command said the strike in the eastern Pacific was against a boat that was traveling along a drug trafficking route.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the military said.
U.S. Southern Command said earlier this week that the military hit three boats on Monday, killing 11 people, in the Pacific and Caribbean.
Since September, the military has conducted strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that it alleges are involved in drug trafficking, which has been criticized by some members of Congress as legally questionable.
Before the strike Friday, there had been at least 41 boat strikes that have killed at least 134 people, according to statements from the Department of Defense tracked by NBC News.
We still have seen no evidence that these murdered people were actually transporting drugs to the U.S. and even there was such evidence, the U.S. government would have no right to kill them.
From The New York Times, an update on Trump’s possible attack on Iran (gift link): Dozens of U.S. Planes Are at Jordan Base, Satellite Images and Flight Data Show.
New satellite imagery and flight tracking data show a base in central Jordan has become a key hub for the U.S. military’s planning for possible strikes on Iran.
Imagery captured on Friday shows more than 60 attack aircraft parked at the base, known as Muwaffaq Salti, roughly tripling the number of jets that are normally there. And at least 68 cargo planes have landed at the base since Sunday, according to flight tracking data. More fighter jets could be parked under shelters.
The satellite images also show more modern aircraft, including F-35 stealth jets, compared to the aircraft normally seen there. Several drones and helicopters are also seen.
Soldiers also installed new air defenses to protect the base from incoming Iranian missiles.
Jordanian officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said that the American planes and equipment are deployed there as part of a defense agreement with the United States.
The changes at the base in Jordan are part of a large U.S. military buildup across the region, which comes amid negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. On Friday, President Trump told reporters he was considering a limited military strike to pressure Iran into a deal.
One benefit for Trump of the tariff decision has been the Epstein story has temporarily faded in U.S. news, so here are some Epstein files updates:
The Guardian: Epstein files place renewed attention on US authorities’ failure to stop him.
The Department of Justice’s release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein files has not only prompted questions about his crimes – but renewed attention on authorities’ failure to stop him after an accuser reported him in 1996.
By Kazuaki Horitomo Kitamura
This new cache of Epstein files has provided more insight into authorities’ familiarity with allegations against him in the years that followed, including time between his sweetheart plea deal in 2008 and federal arrest nearly six years ago.
While it’s known that accuser Virginia Giuffre’s attorneys met with federal prosecutors in 2016 about Epstein to no avail, recently disclosed files indicate that detailed information was provided to federal authorities years before that sit-down. This included allegations against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; documents indicate that he appeared on the FBI’s radar about 15 years ago.
A woman, whose name is redacted from these documents, gave an interview to FBI agents about Epstein and Maxwell in 2011, with a federal prosecutor in attendance by phone; her account echoes Giuffre’s public and legal allegations against the sex traffickers.
The US embassy in Australia told the country’s national police: “The Federal Bureau of Investigation Miami Field Office (FBI Miami) is assisting the Palm Beach Police Department in Florida with an ongoing investigation into JEFFREY EPSTEIN, a US citizen.”
The accuser, who was told in late 2008 about Epstein’s plea deal as she was found to be one of his victims, contacted federal authorities in south Florida three years later. Federal agents questioned her at the US consulate in Sydney on 17 March 2011.
This woman provided an extensive account of Epstein’s abuse and alleged participation of co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other men as a teenage girl during the late 1990s. The woman, who described suffering at the hands of several predatory men after leaving a rehab facility, told agents that her father, a maintenance man at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, secured a job for her as a locker room attendant there.
That woman was Virginia Giuffre. There are other examples of FBI reports in the article. Why didn’t the government act?
Also from the Guardian: New Mexico to reopen inquiry into Epstein’s ranch amid pressure campaign.
New Mexico will reopen its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro ranch in the state after a public pressure campaign for a fuller accounting of the role the location played in the late financier’s sex-trafficking conspiracy.
The New Mexico department of justice’s announcement came less than two weeks after the Guardian reported that federal agents did not appear to have ever searched Zorro Ranch.
The Guardian’s reporting also revealed that there appeared to be no active criminal investigations into Zorro Ranch at that time.
New Mexico’s department of justice said at the time that it was working with lawmakers on launching something it styled as a truth commission. That commission was given the green light several days ago.
“Upon reviewing information recently released by the US Department of Justice, attorney general Raúl Torrez has ordered that the criminal investigation into allegations of illegal activity at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch be reopened,” the New Mexico department of justice posted online on Thursday.
“Upon reviewing information recently released by the US Department of Justice, attorney general Raúl Torrez has ordered that the criminal investigation into allegations of illegal activity at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch be reopened,” the New Mexico department of justice posted online on Thursday.
One more from Nicholas Kristof at The New York Times: What Trafficked Girls Think of Jeffrey Epstein and His Pals.
As the world follows the drip-drip of sensational revelations about Jeffrey Epstein, here’s a number to ponder: Last year the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received more than 113,000 reports of child sex trafficking.
Yiota Souras, the center’s chief legal officer, says that while no one knows the actual number of children trafficked annually in the United States alone, “the real number is absolutely higher” than that. Most of the victims reported to her organization are 15, 16 or 17, she said, but some are as young as 11 or 12.
By Toshiwo Katsuma
“This is happening in every community, in every city and state,” she added.
I’ve been speaking in the past few days with survivors of sex trafficking and those who work with them, and they’re thrilled that the Epstein files are bringing more attention to trafficking. But they’re also frustrated that the focus has been tightly on Epstein and his circle — and not on the victims or on the way we as a society enable the abuse.
We rightly condemn powerful associates of Epstein’s for their indifference to young girls being sexually assaulted. But collectively we show the same indifference, in a way that I fear leaves us complicit.
“If you told me 20 years ago that the word ‘trafficking’ and the concept of it would be on the nightly news every single night and be the national obsession, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Rachel Lloyd, who was trafficked as a teenager and once was nearly strangled to death by her pimp, told me. “But it’s bizarre to me that we’re having a national conversation about trafficking and yet it hasn’t made any difference.”
Lloyd, who now runs GEMS, an outstanding program for trafficked young women and girls, said of the increased attention: “It’s not elevating the lives of my young women. It’s not shining a light on their vulnerabilities and the things that they go through or the gaps in the systems. It’s not doing any of that.”
It’s terrific to see the scrutiny of Epstein’s world, and I hope that there’ll be investigations of
allegations made
against President Trump and many others, even as we acknowledge that, for now, they are lacking in evidence. If Britain can arrest the former Prince Andrew and Norway can
charge a former prime minister, how is it that the United States has barely taken action?
Lloyd says she is not surprised that Epstein’s friends appear to have gotten away with raping children: In her experience and that of the girls she has worked with, she said, predators almost always get away with their abuse.
I’ll end this post on that powerful note.
Those are recommended reads for today. What else is on your mind?
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