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April 5, 2025
'There's a movement bubbling up': Anti-Trump protests planned nationwide Saturday
(USA Today) For weeks, people have gathered on small town street corners, in major cities, state capitols and the nation's capital to express displeasure and disbelief at the way President Donald Trump is running the country. The largest protest by far is expected on Saturday, at hundreds of locations around the country. Nationwide more than 500,000 people have RSVP'd to attend one of 1,000 rallies marches or protests organized by a handful of grassroots groups.
Go to discussionTariffs rollout and stock market mayhem
(CNBC) Before Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s tariffs were expected to be a problem for markets and the economy, but a manageable one. What happened instead is something worse than the worst-case scenario, which previously had been one where the U.S. would slap true “reciprocal” duties on its trading partners that would match tariffs charged to American exports. If Trump was playing chicken with the rest of the world, he lost round one.
Go to discussionTrump's 'All Tariff' Proposal is Class War for the Rich
(Current Affairs) Donald Trump is floating the idea of eliminating the federal income tax. In its place, he wants to implement an “all tariff policy,” according to a campaign source who recently spoke with CNBC. It’s an even more radical expansion of a policy Trump has already proposed publicly, to place a minimum 10-percent tariff on all imports to the United States, which would be used to finance more tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the rich.
Go to discussionMore US Senate Republicans voice support for congressional oversight on tariffs
(Reuters) A U.S. Senate bill that would require congressional approval for new tariffs gained more Republican support on Friday, on the second day of a stock market rout sparked by President Donald Trump's move to impose sweeping new taxes on imports. Republican U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joined on as co-sponsors of a bill introduced on Thursday by Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington.
Go to discussionBritish tourist detained, shackled, sent to immigration detention centre
(The Guardian) Becky was shackled and put into the back of a van. “I had no idea where we were going. It was just bumping around in darkness with handcuffs on.” At 2.30am, she arrived at the Ice facility in Tacoma, Washington. She was made to change into standard-issue underwear, a yellow top and trousers. Officers took away all her personal belongings, measured her height and weight, made her pose for a mugshot, and assigned her an “A” number (short for “alien”). Whenever she asked the people processing her arrival how long she would be detained for, they told her they couldn’t help: they worked for GEO, the private company contracted to run the facility, and not Ice, the government body that would decide her fate.
Go to discussion500 Law Firms Challenge Trump's Executive Orders in Court: What to Know
(Newsweek) President Donald Trump's recent executive orders targeting prominent law firms have drawn sharp condemnation from the legal community, with more than 500 firms and legal offices filing a court brief on Friday warning that the actions represent "a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself." The filing marks the most coordinated legal pushback yet against a series of executive orders aimed at penalizing some of the nation's most high-profile firms and pressuring them into compliance.
Go to discussionGermany considers withdrawing 1,200-ton gold stockpile from US in riposte to Trump
(The Telegraph) For decades, Berlin has stashed 1,200 tons of its famous gold reserves, the second largest on the planet after those of the United States, in a vault deep underground at the US Federal Reserve in Manhattan. Now, senior figures from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, which is set to lead the next German government, have discussed removing it from New York because of concerns that Washington is no longer a reliable partner, the Bild newspaper has reported.
Go to discussionTexas Governor Blames County's Elections Problems For Delay In Filling Vacant Congressional Seat
(Huff Post) Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is blaming a history of election problems in the state’s most populous county for his delay in calling for a special election to fill the seat of Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died a month ago. But Teneshia Hudspeth, the chief elections officer in Harris County where Turner’s congressional district is located, pushed back on Abbott’s criticism, saying the county is “fully prepared” to hold the election for the congressman’s replacement. Democrats have accused Abbott of delaying the election to help Republicans maintain their razor-thin margins in the U.S. House.
Go to discussionIt's Now a Hate Crime to Vandalize Teslas in DC
(Politico) The announcement read more like pro-Tesla White House messaging than a public-safety notice from a blue city’s police force: “The suspects wrote political hate speech onto the victims’ Tesla vehicles then fled the scene,” the police press release declared. “The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating these offenses as potentially being motivated by hate or bias.” In fact, according to police reports I reviewed, the so-called hate speech actually consisted of sarcastic zingers like “Let’s do away with the administrative state! Buy a tesla!” “I like what Musk is doing,” “Go Doge I support Musk killing the dept of education,” “Ask me about my support of Nazis,” and “I love Musk and hate the Fed Gov’t.” To be sure, these are crimes ... But calling it hate speech seems like a stretch — and it isn’t hard to imagine ulterior motives for making such a stretch.
Go to discussionNaval Academy's full list of nearly 400 books on race, gender pulled from library
(Balitmore Banner) The U.S. Naval Academy released the list of nearly 400 pieces of literature removed from its library that explored themes of white supremacy, race and racism in America, gender identity and sexuality and diversity. The book removals follow executive orders from the Trump administration. Titles from prominent Black politicians Stacey Abrams and Bakari Sellers, literary luminary Maya Angelou, activists Ibram X. Kendi and Tamika D. Mallory and a host of historians and academicians were among the removed books.
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