First up, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Debbie Downers of the Dining Set."
Don't you love it? Tom Holman and Joni Ernst should be banned from polite society.
Now for Katie Phang.
Let's do some history? Albert Cashier was a soldier in the Union Army:
Cashier
was originally born in Ireland and made his way over to the United
States, where he lived in Illinois before enlisting in the 95th Illinois
Infantry after President Lincoln called for volunteers in 1862. After
the war, he settled back in Illinois and worked as a handyman. After
suffering a leg injury, doctors discovered that he was transgender, but
kept his secret in order for him to maintain his military pension.
Cashier was no longer able to work and moved into the Illinois Soldiers
and Sailors Home. Later , as he began to show signs of dementia, he was
moved to the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane. There, his secret
was discovered again, and he was investigated for taking a pension under
a false name. However, several of his former fellow soldiers in the
95th Regiment came to his defense to confirm his identity, and he was
allowed to keep his pension. Cashier's home is now a historic site in
Pontiac, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum /
Public Domain / Via commons.wikimedia.org
He is one of 17 trans persons who are part of history that BUZZFEED is reporting on. People don't want to face reality that LGBTQ+ people have always been part of our history. Haters don't like the truth. EAST IDAHO NEWS reports:
The
“Everyone is Welcome Here” sign that sparked a viral nationwide
controversy can no longer be displayed in Idaho schools, according to an
Idaho attorney general’s office opinion released late Friday.
The
revelation became public a day after Idaho EdNews received a redacted
version of the opinion, which the Idaho Department of Education used to
write its guidance on the flags-in-schools law.
The
“Everyone is Welcome Here” sign that sparked a viral nationwide
controversy can no longer be displayed in Idaho schools, according to an
Idaho attorney general’s office opinion released late Friday.
The
revelation became public a day after Idaho EdNews received a redacted
version of the opinion, which the Idaho Department of Education used to
write its guidance on the flags-in-schools law.
House
Bill 41, which goes into effect Tuesday, prohibits flags or banners
depicting a political viewpoint from public K-12 schools. The law’s
vague language led to questions from educators and school leaders.
The
IDE asked the attorney general’s office on March 28 for guidance on the
new law. It took the attorney general’s office until May 29 to provide a
response. The department then took nearly another month to provide
guidance to school districts, which it did Thursday.
That
guidance said school employees cannot display flags or banners that
show opinions, emotions, beliefs or thoughts about politics, economics,
society, faith or religion. The guidance and the attorney general’s
opinion did not define these terms.
So in Idaho, schools prefer not to be welcoming? Got it.
Raul
Labrador -- he's a Mormon extremist who hates LGBTQ+ people -- is the
AG of Idaho. Looking at his picture, you get the idea that he's someone
who's only going to be happy if JD Vance sits on his face bare assed.
Last
time ("Katie Phang, Sting Streisand, and sorry asses: Musk, Chump and Fetty Crap"), we were noting FettyCrap whining that he wanted to be home
and not voting in the Senate. It appears everyone has had it with
FettyCrap's nonsense. Marco Margaritoff (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:
Sen.
Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) disagrees with his colleague Sen. John Fetterman
(D-Pa.), who said there isn’t “a lot of dignity” in prolonging the fight
against the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act by demanding more and more
amendments and chipping away at its provisions.
“I disagree with him,” Kelly told CNN “News Central” anchor Brianna Keilar on Monday.
Here's C..I.'s "The Snapshot:"
Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Chump's actions have consequences if the media
would like to examine that they can start with efforts to deport an
Afghan who helped the US military in the Afghanistan War, Chump
continues to terrorize immigrants and is he using the 2025 equivalent of
Blackwater on US streets, the economy goes further down the toilet and
all Chump wants to do is give tax breaks for the extremely wealthy while
gutting the safety net.
Let's start
with Sayed Naser Noor, the Afghan who worked with US troops in
Afghanistan and who Donald Chump is now trying to deport. Rebecca Kheel (MILITARY.COM) notes:
"I believed in you. I worked with you. I helped you for years, side by
side. I trusted your words and followed your rules. That trust brought
me here," Noori said in a written statement read aloud by a supporter
during Monday's news conference. "Now, I sit in detention, treated like a
criminal for doing exactly what I was told to do. I crossed borders to
be safe, I asked for protection the right way, and yet I am punished."
Noori's last hope to avoid deportation is a so-called credible fear
interview, which migrants slated for expedited removal are entitled to
to determine whether they might be eligible for asylum. Noori requested
an interview, and immigration officials have acknowledged his right to
one, but an interview hasn't been scheduled yet, McGoldrick said.
Theoretically, Noori cannot be deported until after the interview.
Before
someone e-mails about our using his full name, the article notes,
"Noori's legal team had originally requested reporters withhold his last
name for his protection but is now using it publicly after the
Department of Homeland Security identified him by his full name in
public statements." As we noted Saturday, Homeland Security posted his full name on their Twitter account June 19th.
We
need to stop a moment. The immigration attacks Chump is carrying out
are outrageous. Each and everyone. But they are often outrageous in
their own certain way.
Sayed
helped US forces. Around the world -- not just in declared war zones
-- this government has foreigners who assist in so many ways. And one
of the reasons they do do is because of a level of trust.
By
trying to deport Sayed, Chump is revoking that trust and that can have
serious consequences around the world. There's no one brave enough in
the administration to tell him this is a mistake. Would he listen if
they did? Actually, he would. He'd listen just because he'd be in
shock that the automatic response was not, "Mr. President, you're a
genius!" He is not a genius, he is an imbicile.
And
someone needs to be talking -- David Ignatius, isn't their your area of
expertise? -- about the blowback that can result in what Chump's doing
to Sayed.
Instead, we
just watch as our home grown Adolf, surrounded by his little Eichmann's
is encouraged to move further and further away from humanity. Nicole Lafond (TPM) notes:
It is difficult to find any recent photos of President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis together.
That’s because the two of them have largely been at odds since DeSantis tried to test his MAGA bonafides and was utterly humiliated by Trump on the national stage during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. Trump has made a point of continuing to humiliate DeSantis since he returned to office, while the soon-to-be term-limited governor of Florida tries to make MAGA amends, his political relevance fading fast.
But it appears the two are going to bury the hatchet tomorrow to come together in a shared passion: finding creative new ways to dehumanize immigrants, carried out with a trollish flair.
You’ll remember DeSantis’ infamous stunt during the Biden administration, when, following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead, he duped, transported and dumped a plane full of migrants in Martha’s Vineyard. In the months following the incident it was revealed that the DeSantis administration lied to those it put on the plane, promising jobs and shelter only to dump them in a community that was not prepared to assist them.
It’s becoming a well worn tactic for DeSantis — upending the lives of migrants in a headline-grabbing way to own the libs/score some media coverage to boost his political significance. At the time of the Martha’s Vineyard incident, DeSantis was toying with the idea of a Trump primary challenge. Much of his second term work as governor of Florida was seen as an attempt to establish himself as a MAGA prodigy by trafficking in Trump-adjacent authoritarian extremes, like a new police force to ferret out people who may have illegally voted in the 2020 election — an effort to play into Trump’s various election-related conspiracy theories.
What Trump and DeSantis are doing in Florida this week is similar. By now you’ve likely seen the new name for the facility that the pair are meeting up to cut the ribbon for on Tuesday. “Alligator Alcatraz” is opening at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades. It will have up to 5,000 beds to hold immigrant detainees and process them for deportation. The facility will cost about $450 million a year in operational costs, according to the Associated Press. The state of Florida will pay to run the facility and the federal government will reimburse Florida with FEMA funds that are typically used to house people displaced by natural disasters. (You’ll recall, the Biden administration was ripped to shreds by Trump and his allies for using those funds to house migrants in hotels while they went through the immigration process.)
$450
million a year? Yes, a lot of people are getting rich by attacking
immigrants. And once you start detaining them, you are under no
obligation to suddenly discover humanity. That's how you end up with
people dying in custody. Aaron Parnas (MEDIAITE) reports:
A
75-year-old Cuban man who first arrived in the United States in 1966
has died after spending three weeks in immigration detention in Miami,
making him the fifth person to die in U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) custody in Florida this year.
Isidro
Perez, who was detained by ICE on June 5 during an unspecified law
enforcement operation in Key Largo, passed away Thursday night at
Florida Kendall Hospital. His death underscores a troubling trend: Half
of all deaths in ICE custody nationwide in 2024 have occurred in
Florida.
According to
an ICE press release, Perez was arrested for immigration violations due
to his ineligibility to remain in the country—citing two controlled
substance convictions from the early 1980s. No other arrests were
mentioned.
Again, it's big business and about to get even bigger if Chump's budget bill passes. Big business and it's one that's not really monitored which is why you have deaths and abuse taking place. Greg Sargent (THE NEW REPUBLIC) adds of Isidro Perez:
According
to the notification, he was in detention at the Krome detention center
in Miami, which is already coming under scrutiny, after two deaths there
this year. Krome is where migrants recently lined up to spell out
“S.O.S.” in the yard, highlighting growing concerns about detention
conditions.
Perez reported chest pains, leading
to the summoning of paramedics, who attempted to resuscitate him, after
which he died at a Florida hospital, the notification says. While
there’s no reason to assume as of now that Perez’s death was directly
due to mishandling by ICE, its notification says he’d been diagnosed
upon getting booked into Krome and then transferred temporarily to that
hospital during his detention, so ICE knew he faced serious health
risks.
Immigration law experts tell me they
think that given his 1966 arrival in the United States, Perez was likely
paroled into the U.S. as part of the parole programs that the U.S.
implemented for Cubans fleeing Castro’s reign.
Per NPR's count, Isidro is the tenth person to die in ICE custody in calendar year 2025. Marina Dunbar (GUARDIAN) explains:
Under
the past three administrations, the worst year saw 12 deaths in Ice
custody. If the current pace continues, the total for 2025 could double
those numbers.
Critics say the system is
collapsing under the pressure of Ice’s target of detaining about 3,000
people each day. As of mid-June, more than 56,000 migrants were being
held – that is 140% of the agency’s stated capacity.
“These
are the worst conditions I have seen in my 20-year career,” Paul
Chavez, litigation and advocacy director at Americans for Immigrant
Justice, told the New York Times. “Conditions were never great, but this
is horrendous.”
Among the recent fatalities
are 49-year-old Johnny Noviello, a Canadian who was found unresponsive
on 23 June at a detention facility in Miami. Another is Jesus
Molina-Veya, 45, who died on 7 June while in Ice custody in Atlanta.
Molina-Veya,
from Mexico, was found unconscious with a ligature around his neck,
according to officials. His death remains under investigation.
And the kidnappings and round ups continue. Jason Weisberger (BOING-BOING) notes:
A
family is desperately seeking help in freeing their father, a
twenty-year California resident, before he disappears altogether into
CBP's for-profit detention and deportation system.
Picking
up supplies to fix a fence for a customer, a local handyman was chased
down and abducted by ICE. Carlos Mejia Osorio's family is concerned that
he will be lost in the US's terrible detention systems, and they will
be unable to help him.
Public
opinion has turned and continue to turn. If, for example, you're a
member of Congress appearing in a public forum, you better expect this
issue to be raised. Steve Ahlquist reports US House Rep Seth Magaziner spoke with a League of Women Voters chapter and the transcript includes the following:
Representative
Magaziner: Like many of you, I feel a profound sense of anger and rage
at many things the administration is doing, but particularly in the
immigration space, I sit on the Homeland Security Committee in the House
of Representatives. I’m on two committees, Homeland Security and
Natural Resources. On the Homeland Security Committee, we are very much
in the trenches fighting against the deportation of innocent people, the
tearing apart of families, and the rolling back of the fabric of who we
are as a country.
We are a country of
immigrants. Unless there’s somebody here in this room who’s a hundred
percent native, every one of us is descended from immigrants, and our
state, Rhode Island, was founded by a refugee as a place of refuge for
other refugees. This is our identity as a country and a state, and
always has been. The cruelty that we’re seeing from the administration
is being driven, certainly, by Trump, but particularly by Stephen
Miller, Tom Homan, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who I
had the pleasure of arguing with strenuously when she was in front of
our committee a few weeks ago.
What they are
doing is different from what they have said their goal is. What they
have said their goal is, in whatever over the top language they use, is
to get rid of criminals, gang members, rapists, et cetera. That, for the
most part, is not what they have been doing, according to their data.
Since the administration started six months ago, they have detained and
or deported just under 300,000 people. Of those, more than 70%, more
than 200,000, had no criminal record. These are mothers, children, and
people just trying to work, make a living, provide for their families,
and contribute to our economy.
It’s been widely
reported that a month or two ago, Stephen Miller called all of the
regional heads of ICE to come to Washington in person and yelled at them
for not deporting enough people and not meeting this artificial quota
of 3000 people a day. One of the regional directors said, “But we’ve
seen you all say on TV that you want us to focus on criminals and people
with removal orders.” And Stephen Miller has reportedly said, “No,
forget about that. Go to Home Depot, go to 711, round up whoever you
can.” So the administration’s goal is not to do what they say they will.
Speaking
for myself, if all they were doing was focusing on people with criminal
records or removal orders, we could quibble over whether some of those
people should be removed. If that’s all they were going to do, I think
most Americans would be okay with that. But that’s not what they’ve been
doing. Their goal is to remove immigrants from this country, period,
whether they have committed any crimes or not, whether they’re here
legally or not, because, as you all are aware, there have been many,
many people who have been detained who are here lawfully and committed
no crimes: [such as] students expressing political opinions or writing
op-eds.
A gentleman from New Hampshire was
being held at the Wyatt in Central Falls for a few months. He was a
legal green card holder. His only criminal record was a simple
possession of marijuana from about 12 years ago, but otherwise, he had a
clean record and was a legal green card holder, here legally. What they
are doing is so expansive, unnecessary, cruel, and self-defeating.
The
vast majority of undocumented people here have no criminal record and
are actively contributing and working. It is estimated that 20% of the
construction industry, 30% of the hospitality industry—food, beverage,
and hotel workers—and 40% of agricultural workers are undocumented. They
are central to our supply chain and our ability to keep costs down for
American consumers.
What do we do about it?
There are three things to consider: litigation, legislation, and
agitation. Let’s start with litigation. There are over 300 lawsuits that
have been filed against actions that the Trump Administration has
taken: funding freezes to states and agencies, potentially illegal
actions on immigration, birthright citizenship, etc. If you look at
those 300 or so lawsuits, the administration has been losing more than
they have been winning, and for the most part, the administration has
been following court orders. Earlier in the year, there was a big fear
that Trump would just ignore the courts.
“I’m
going to do whatever I want. I control the military, I control ICE, I’m
going to do whatever I want,” but, for the most part, that has not
happened yet. Instead, they will do something illegal, like round up
three airplanes of people and send them to a prison in El Salvador with
no due process, and no hearing. A court will say, “You should not have
done that,” then the administration won’t do it again until they appeal
to a higher court to tell them they can. I compare it to Jurassic Park,
when the velociraptors kept trying different parts of the fence to see
where they could bust through.
That’s the way
the administration is handling these deportations: They keep testing the
fence and doing things they know are probably going to be found illegal
by the courts, but maybe there’s one court that will say, “Okay, you
can do that,” and then they find an opening. That’s he way the
administration has been handling it. They’re hoping that ultimately, the
Supreme Court will be very permissive with them, but in the meantime,
they’ve mostly been doing what the courts have told them to do, so we’ve
got to keep supporting these lawsuits. Several good organizations are
involved: Democracy Forward as One, the ACLU, and others. The litigation
front has been very active and, for the most part, has been our most
effective arena so far. It’s not perfect, and I’m not saying we’re
winning everything, but there’s some effectiveness there.
In Chicago today, officials will be questioned. WLS reports:
A council committee meeting will happen on Tuesday over ICE detainments in the South Loop.
City leaders said they are concerned that Chicago's Welcoming Ordinance may have been violated during an ICE operation in the South Loop.
On June 4, several were detained outside the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program Office, known as ISAP.
ABC7 blurred out their faces, because it is unknown if they are facing any charges.
Several people reported getting texts to check-in for their immigration cases and were later detained.
On Tuesday, the committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will vote on a measure for Chicago Police, the Office of Emergency Management Chicago, and the mayor's office to provide all data and communication related to that day.
If you pay
attention, you may notice some changes in your surroundings. When we
were last in DC, a server was very helpful when we were having lunch.
But that's not what stood out. What stood out was a man two tables away
watching the server and coming over to ask about her accent. Nazis
need informers after all. And look closely around you and you may start
noticing little rats who would feel like their pitiful life finally
mattered if they knew that they'd destroyed some immigrant's life. Ben Conarck and John-John Williams IV (BALTIMORE BULLETIN) report:
The
Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it is investigating a
Maryland corrections department employee after ICE agents made a rare
and apparently invited visit to the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse
last week and detained someone.
On June 24,
ICE agents appeared at the courthouse indicating that they had an
appointment with the employee, causing sheriff’s deputies to escort the
agents to the fourth floor, where the Maryland Department of Public
Safety and Correctional Services runs pretrial services, the sheriff’s
office said.
The deputies then watched the
agents detain an individual in what they later confirmed was a federal
immigration action taken by ICE officers, the first of its kind to take
place in the courthouse since President Donald Trump took over the
federal government, according to Nicholas Blendy, assistant sheriff and
spokesperson for the department.
Blendy said
that “it appears that a single pretrial employee contacted ICE to cause a
federal immigration enforcement action to occur on Monday outside the
scope of their standard duties.” He said the investigation started as an
inquiry into a breach of protocols by the corrections department
employee. But, he said, it has become a criminal probe into the apparent
misuse of information for actions outside official duties.
Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Your Anti-Social Neighborhood ICE Agent."
Isaiah's
latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Your Anti-Social Neighborhood ICE
Agent." The agent explains, "I wear a mask because I'm proud of the job
I do as an ICE agent and, of course, to avoid lawsuits for beating up
women and children." Isaiah archives his comics at THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS.
This continuing misconduct reflects the actions of unqualified or
untrained personnel and exposes serious failures in operational
training, oversight, and accountability within the agencies involved.
These private contractors also all lack qualified immunity, leaving them open to prosecution
— which many believe is the actual reason for the masks. Victims can
sue for civil rights violations, false arrest, personal injury, and
wrongful death.
Chump
has created a gestapo police force for the US. That will allow him to
go down in history and be remembered, yes, but not in a good way. Are
these Blackwater mercenaries? Who has he unleashed upon the streets?
Congress needs to be asking that question because the moment they showed
up, they were wearing masks suggesting they had something to hide.
A
bill to ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks while making
arrests is set to be introduced in the House of Representatives by two
New York Democrats, amNewYork has learned.
Reps.
Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) plan to formally
introduce the “No Secret Police Act” in the House on Thursday morning.
The bill would prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other
Department of Homeland Security officers from concealing their faces
during civil immigration enforcement and would require them to clearly
display official identification and insignia.
The
legislation comes amid a string of ICE detentions at immigration courts
in New York and across the country, where masked, plainclothes agents
have taken individuals attending immigration appointments into custody.
New
York Rep. Nydia Velazquez held a press conference outside an
immigration court to advocate for passage of her bill to ban Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks while making arrests.
Velazquez
gathered with other Democrats and activists at the Federal Plaza
Immigration Court to push for passage of the "No Masks For ICE" Act.
And that's how it should be. There is not supposed to be a secret police in the US.
Recent
raids carried out by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement in California's agricultural heartland are causing a
widespread exodus of workers, threatening the harvest of billions of
dollars worth of produce.
Farmers say the raids
earlier this month, as part of President Donald Trump's migration
crackdown, have frightened off workers and left fields in Ventura County
and beyond critically understaffed.
Ventura
County produces billions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables each
year, much of it hand-picked by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Lisa
Tate, a sixth-generation farmer in the area, has observed the immediate
and chilling effect of the ICE operations.
"In the fields, I would say 70 percent of the workers are gone," she said.
"If
70 percent of your workforce doesn't show up, 70 percent of your crop
doesn't get picked and can go bad in one day. Most Americans don't want
to do this work. Most farmers here are barely breaking even. I fear this
has created a tipping point where many will go bust."
Immigration enforcement operations on farms
have left crops rotting and farm operations disrupted in major
agricultural states including California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
Farm owners and industry representatives report that up to 70 percent of workers stopped reporting to work following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions, resulting in significant crop losses and financial strain.
"We do not have enough workforce in the United States to do manual work, to do those jobs that other people are not qualified to do and do not want to do it," Alexandra Sossa, CEO of Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project, told Newsweek. "For example, we are running into a problem where we do not have enough farm workers to grow the food we eat every day.
"Now we do not have enough workers to go to the meatpacking processing industries and factories to produce, to pack the food that we are eating."
This qualifies as an 'accomplishment' for Donald Chump and is why so many have turned against him. As noted last night on THE NEWSHOUR (PBS):
As President Donald Trump seeks to keep his campaign promise of mass deportations, a majority of Americans say actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have “gone too far,” according to a new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll.
More than half of U.S. adults — 54% — described ICE’s actions in enforcing the country’s immigration laws as having “gone too far.” Another 18% percent said the agency has not gone far enough, while 26% said they’d describe ICE’s actions as “about right.”
A majority of Democrats (83%) and independents (59%) said ICE has taken its actions too far. Republicans were more likely to say that the agency’s actions were appropriate, with nearly half (49%) agreeing, while another 31% said ICE “has not gone far enough.”
Those
who can learn from history are already objecting to Chump's attacks on
immigrants. Sharon Mizota is a fourth generation Japanese-American. At HYPERALLERGIC, she notes:
Many
in the Japanese-American community share this intimate understanding of
the lasting loss and pain such violations bring. Back in February, the
Japanese American National Museum made a powerful statement declaring,
“We stand with all immigrant families and communities at risk and will
continue to fight for the rights of all people to be recognized as full
members of society.” While many in the museum world remained silent or
quietly acquiesced as due process, birthright citizenship, and DEI
programs were threatened or summarily dismantled, JANM saw what was at
stake and stayed true, not only to their mission to steward culture and
history but to defend human and civil rights. (In full disclosure, I
collaborate with the museum on a fellowship program.)
Only in Chump Land, Hannah Feuer (THE FORWARD) reports:
Nearly
60 years after the United States outlawed racial and religious
discrimination in housing, one group in Arkansas is openly reviving it.
“Return
to the Land,” a white supremacist group co-founded by Eric Orwoll and
Peter Csere in 2023, owns 160 acres in northeast Arkansas, according to
the group’s website. Jews and non-whites are explicitly banned.
Prospective residents must verify their “ancestral heritage” in a
written application and interview before becoming paying members and
residing in the off-grid settlement, according to the group’s Substack.
The
organization hopes to replicate its whites-only settlements across the
country, with the stated aim of “trying to put land back under the
control of Europeans.” Experts warn the group’s practices likely run
afoul of anti-discrimination laws and express doubt about its long-term
viability.
Still, the group’s financial and
legal infrastructure makes it one of the most established white
supremacist residential communities in the United States today,
according to Morgan Moon, an investigative researcher with the
Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Extremism.
Chump's self-imposed deadline of July 9th approaches. Deepti Sri (STOCKWITS) notes,
"Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that the U.S. could
complete “top 10” deals with major economies by the deadline." 90 days
and 90 treaties. Only now maybe only a handful of treaties as Chump
fails yet again. Gabriela Leon (EXPLICAME) observes:
As
the Trump administration champions tariffs as a path to economic
revival, many economists are sounding alarms over their potential to
disrupt investment, raise consumer prices, and deliver fewer
manufacturing jobs than promised.
President
Donald Trump has repeatedly touted tariffs as a cornerstone of his
economic strategy. “Tariffs will bring our companies back home,” he
declared at a rally, describing the policy as a way to supercharge
domestic industry and cut dependence on foreign economies. However,
leading economic analysts suggest the results may be far more mixed—and
potentially harmful in the short term.
According
to a wide range of experts, the administration’s use of tariffs as a
negotiating tool has introduced uncertainty into the business
environment, deterring companies from making long-term investments.
“Everybody is kind of in a holding pattern until the uncertainty gets
resolved,” said Jeff Bischoff, chief sales officer at Gray, a
Kentucky-based construction firm. Recent Census Bureau data reflects
this hesitation: manufacturing construction spending has declined
slightly in recent months.
The costs of doing
business under current trade policies are also rising. Nearly one-third
of U.S. manufacturers depend on imported intermediate goods, and the
increased cost of these inputs—exacerbated by tariffs—is squeezing
margins. The National Association of Manufacturers and the Department of
Commerce have both pointed to inflationary pressure and higher
materials costs as significant threats to growth.
He's
been allowed to destroy our economy and to destroy our economy. The
only hope of any protections being put in place is a Democratic sweep in
the mid-terms.
Mark
Cuban isn’t sugarcoating it anymore. The billionaire entrepreneur and
Shark Tank star is practically shouting from the rooftops: China tariffs
are costing you way more than you realize. And he’s right to be
alarmed. Here’s the thing that’s got Cuban and economists like Justin
Wolfers freaking out—tariffs don’t just replace each other. They stack.
They build on top of existing rates.
As of June
2025, we’re looking at an average 51.1% tariff on Chinese imports,
according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.We’re
talking about rates that can climb as high as 55% when you factor in the
10% baseline tariff, the 20% “fentanyl” tariff, and the 25% Section 301
tariffs, all piling on top of each other.
While
there have been fluctuations and temporary reductions (such as the
recent 90-day truce lowering some rates to 30%), the current effective
average remains above 50% for most Chinese imports. But many Americans
only see the new percentages in headlines, missing the cumulative
effect.
The
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) reports that the
average tariff on Chinese goods now stands at 51.1%. These elevated
tariffs are directly increasing the prices of everyday items. For
example, recent analyses show that consumer technology products are
facing sharp price hikes:
Smartphones: up 31%
Monitors: up 32%
Laptops and tablets: up 34%
Video game consoles: up 69%
Walmart
and Target executives have been looking stressed lately. They can
either absorb the additional costs—cutting into already narrow profit
margins—or raise prices for consumers.
With
approximately 60% of Walmart’s merchandise still sourced from China in
2025—spanning electronics, clothing, toys, and household goods—the
company is highly exposed to tariff-driven price increases and supply
chain disruptions.
Walmart’s Chief Financial
Officer, John David Rainey, has publicly stated that these tariffs are
“inflationary for customers,” meaning price hikes are now unavoidable
for many products.
.
Got pets? Prepare to see a price increase.
A
week after Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariff plan went into effect on
“Liberation Day” on April 2, the president abruptly announced a 90-day
pause to refocus his trade war on China.
The
U-turn offered reprieve to dozens of countries, including Thailand, the
largest foreign supplier of pet food to the U.S., which faced a steep 36
percent tariff on its exports to the American market. In 2024, the U.S.
imported 392 million kilograms of cat and dog food.
Now, the 90-day pause, which caps import taxes at 10 percent for most nations, is set to end.
If
no deal is struck between Bangkok and Washington by the July 9 deadline
and tariffs return to the 36 percent rate announced in April, pet food
prices could rise on American shelves, leaving animal owners to shoulder
the cost.
In that scenario, Thai pet food producers have warned they may be forced to suspend shipments to the U.S. market.
“We
need to pause shipping to the U.S. unless something changes,” Chatchai
Lertviwatkul of S.I.P. Siam Inter Pacific told The New York Times. “Our
customers can’t increase the prices that much at retail.”
Meanwhile, Shane Croucher (NEWSWEEK) points out:
The
U.S. dollar has had its worst start to a year since 1973, weighed down
by President Donald Trump's frenetic trade policy, a worsening outlook
for the country's ever-bloating public debt pile, and fears about the
independence of the Federal Reserve.
The
Financial Times reported that the U.S. Dollar Index was now down by 10
percent over the course of 2025, making it the weakest performance since
the end of the Bretton Woods system, which was underpinned by the
dollar's convertibility to gold.
Trump
has staked much of his political reputation on his handling of the
economy, pitching himself as the leader who can slash household bills,
put more money in Americans' pockets through lower taxes, and lift
commerce into a new golden age.
The dollar news
concides with the U.S. Senate gearing up to pass Trump's much-tweaked
One, Big, Beautiful Bill, the tax-cutting provisions of which are set to
expand the deficit by trillions of dollars over the coming
decade—putting pressure on the dollar.
In
the midst of all of this bad economic news, the GOP is trying to ram
through a bill that will seriously harm most Americans. Bob Cronin (NEWSER) notes, "Majority
Leader John Thune said he wants to pass the bill Monday to get it back
to the House for its final approval before the July 4 deadline Trump
set. But polls show the measure is becoming more unpopular with voters
over time, per the Washington Post.
And its estimated cost rose on Sunday when the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office said the bill would balloon the national
debt by $3.3 trillion over 10 years. That's on top of significant
increases in borrowing costs; even with its spending cuts, the measure
is largely deficit-financed."
Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following:
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released new data from the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) estimating that Republicans’ bill would kick 326,262 people in Massachusetts off of their health insurance — up from 305,611 under the House version of the bill earlier this month.
A recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also found that the proposed Senate bill would increase the number of Americans who will lose their health insurance to 17 million people.
“Senate Republicans had the opportunity to fight back against the House’s disgusting excuse of a bill. Instead, they’re ripping health care away from even more people and raising costs for families to fund giant tax handouts for billionaires and giant corporations,” said Senator Warren. “This ugly bill is a slap in the face for Massachusetts families, and I’m taking all my fight to the Senate floor to stop it.”
A Republican amendment proposes to lower the federal funding that states receive to cover certain Medicaid enrollees, likely immediately ending the program in 9 states with “trigger laws” activated if the federal matching percentage is reduced. If adopted, the amendment would raise the number of people kicked off of health insurance to 20 million.
JEC estimates that if all states end their Medicaid expansion programs due to the Republican amendment, combined with the devastating Medicaid cuts in the bill, 29 million people across the country could lose their health insurance.
Senator Warren has led the fight against these unprecedented cuts to Americans’ health care, pressing nominees to justify the cuts, and sharing stories of constituents set to be impacted by the cuts. The Senate is voting on its version of the budget bill today.
###
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