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Donald Trump

Internet Erupts As Trade Court Strikes Down Unlawful Trump Tariffs

A federal trade court halted Wednesday President Donald Trump's attempt to impose broad tariffs on imports using an emergency-powers statute.

The decision, issued by a three-judge panel from the Court of International Trade in New York consisting of Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and Donald Trump appointees, followed multiple lawsuits claiming that Trump overstepped his legal authority, destabilized U.S. trade policy, and triggered economic turmoil.

Currently, at least seven lawsuits are contesting the tariffs, which have been a central element of Trump’s trade agenda.

Social media users including legal commentators welcomed the decision. Graham Steele, who is a fellow at Stanford University's Rock Center for Corporate Governance, wrote: "IEEPA grants the President a lot of authority, and this President still found a way to exceed that authority."

"YOU CAN'T WIN IF YOU DON'T FIGHT. ANOTHER EXAMPLE. FIGHT," writer Amanda Carpenter said in a post on the social platform BlueSky.

International Relations professor David Burbach wrote on Bluesky: "This could be gigantic, IIEPA's grant of unilateral emergency trade powers to the President has been the loophole through which they are trying to shove the whole tariff thing. I'm sure this gets to SCOTUS."

Legal journalist Chris Geidner posted one excerpt of the ruling to Bluesky in which the panel ruled that the tariffs were "unlawful to all," writing: "After forcing challengers out of district courts, here’s how the specialty court slaps Trump around."

"Trump’s first-term [U.S. Trade Representative] Bob Lighthizer built a very careful legal strategy to ensure tariffs wouldn’t be overturned in court," tweeted author and Columbia University researcher Eddie Fishman. "Second-term Trump admin hasn’t been so careful."

Small business owner Aaron Rubin wrote on X: "Unless the government wins an emergency stay on appeal, CBP has to stop charging all reciprocal and fentanyl related tariffs and refund any paid duties."

"So if you are a foreign government negotiating with the Trump administration about the IEEPA 'Liberation Day' tariffs, and the tariffs have now been struck down (pending a probable appeal), it may be time to recalibrate your negotiating position," China Trade Monitor co-founder Simon Lester tweeted.

AlterNet reached out to the White House for comment.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Fox News Discovers Regulation Is Needed After Ohio Derailment

Fox News Discovers Regulation Is Needed After Ohio Derailment

Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade acknowledged on Thursday that federal regulations may be necessary to protect people and the environment, a rare admission on a network that has pushed for mass deregulation for decades. Kilmeade, who co-hosts Fox & Friends, made the comments while discussing the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and its aftermath.

“I knew nothing about these derailment numbers,” Kilmeade said. “I'm stunned by it – that we have thousands of derailments all the time and how costly it is, and how they're not kept up and maybe the regulation needs to be there.”

Fox News has long vilified federal regulations as governmental overreach, and needless red tape that eats into corporate profits. In 2011, the network launched Regulation Nation, a series that would “expose how excessive laws are drowning American businesses.” The series was the brainchild of then-Fox News President Roger Ailes, who said at the time that bureaucrats “draw up regulations to try to ruin your life.”

That same year, Fox News also waged a full-on war against the Environmental Protection Agency, and continues to argue against environmental regulations, including in its so-called straight news programs.

More recently, Fox News personalities and their guests have railed against federal regulations for the oil industry, argued that federal regulations are a way to divide families, blamed regulations that purport to limit police violence for resulting in the police killing of Tyre Nichols, and pushed for further deregulation of the cryptocurrency market, just to name a few examples. Fox News and other cable networks also largely ignored the Trump administration’s broad deregulatory agenda to benefit massive polluters in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Television coverage of East Palestine was scant and decontextualized, including on Fox News, immediately after the derailment, with only three percent of coverage mentioning the decadeslong deregulatory push by the rail industry. The Obama administration attempted to make more effective train brakes mandatory following a series of derailments in 2014, which the industry fought against, effectively hollowing out the proposed rules. In 2018, the Trump administration completely repealed the regulations.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Abortion Issue Moves Swing Voters Toward Democrats — But How Much?

Abortion Issue Moves Swing Voters Toward Democrats — But How Much?

Seven or eight months ago, many Democratic strategists feared that the 2022 midterms would bring a massive red wave like the red waves that plagued President Bill Clinton in 1994 and President Barack Obama in 2010. But that was before the U.S. Supreme Court’s radical-right majority handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and overturned Roe v. Wade after 49 years. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell still believes that Republicans are likely to “flip” the U.S. House of Representatives, but he considers the U.S. Senate a toss-up.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark , Rich Thau (president of the research firm Engagious and a moderator for the Swing Voter Project) and Susie Pieper (an Engagious intern and student at Haverford College in the Philadelphia suburbs) examine the effect that the abortion issue could have with swing voters in the 2022 midterms. The Dobbs decision, according to Thau and Pieper, definitely helps Democrats among swing voters. But the burning question is: How much?

“An overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, which overturned Roe v. Wade,” Thau and Pieper explain. “Concurrently, an overwhelming majority of Americans think abortion should be legal in at least some cases. But how will these views translate to voting behavior among swing voters? This month, as part of our Swing Voter Project, we asked focus groups of Trump-to-Biden voters across North Carolina what’s changed for them when it comes to their likely voting behavior in the wake of the Dobbs decision.”

Abortion rights, according to Thau and Pieper, are a high priority for the swing voters that the Swing Voter Project spoke to in North Carolina. But they have other priorities as well.

“Among eleven North Carolinian swing voters, nine said that Dobbs would be a top-three issue for them in the midterms, which seems significant,” Thau and Pieper report. “Except that issue matrixes are often complicated: Earlier in the same focus groups, we asked which one issue in the news concerns them the most — and only one said abortion. We have seen similar results in recent months, where abortion is a leading issue, but it competes with various others — such as inflation and gun violence — for the top concern.”

Alana, a 26-year-old swing voter from Dover, North Carolina, told researchers, “I was registered as a Republican. I still am right now, but I’ll be switching completely to Democrat. As I say, most Republicans are the reason why this happened, and I just can’t stand by and agree with something that has affected myself, my family, and friends so much. It’s just something that has upset me greatly.”

Abortion is clearly a major issue for Kayla, a 34-year-old swing voter from Mocksville, North Carolina who told researchers, “I was registered unaffiliated. I didn’t see myself as a Republican or a Democrat, but I would vote for a Republican if I thought that candidate had my views for the economy. But nah, I’m leaning left completely. And this is personal for me. So, I’m probably going to end up registering as a Democrat from here on out.”

The Swing Voter Project found that some of the swing voters were leaning towards pro-choice Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley in North Carolina’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. A Civitas/Cygnal poll released in late September found Beasley and Ted Budd, the Donald Trump-backed Republican nominee, in a virtual dead heat. However, Beasley trailed Budd by 3 percent in an Emerson College/The Hill poll released on September 20.

“We won’t know the electoral impact of Dobbs until the votes are counted,” Pieper and Pieper observe. “But this month’s focus group suggests that with swing voters, the issue salience is high and helpful to Democrats.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

QAnon Psycho Rosanne Barr Gets Show On Fox Nation

QAnon Psycho Rosanne Barr Gets Show On Fox Nation

Comedian, racist, and QAnon conspiracy theory enthusiast Roseanne Barr is slated to produce and star in her own 2023 Fox Nation comedy special. The network’s decision to hire Barr continues the streaming service’s history of platforming conspiracy theorists and extremists.

In a statement to Deadline, Fox Nation President Jason Klarman said that the outlet is “thrilled” to add Barr to its entertainment catalog.

By enlisting Barr, Fox executives have decided to turn a blind eye to her embrace of QAnon and other conspiracy theories, as well as her racist, anti-Muslim, and antisemitic comments over the years. Barr’s history is on par with Fox News’ typical programming, however, which has spread conspiracy theories, white supremacy, and violent rhetoric.

Barr is also not the first QAnon adherent to be given their own slot on Fox Nation. Previously, conspiracy theorist Lara Logan and QAnon promoter Isaiah Washington were granted shows on the streaming service.

Here is a brief look at the comedian’s history of making extremist claims and pushing conspiracy theories:

Barr’s Embrace Of QAnon And Extremist Views

  • Barr’s ABC sitcom Roseanne was canceled in 2018 after she published racist tweets about former President Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
  • Barr appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2019 and promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory.


  • Barr previously tweeted the QAnon slogan, “WWG1WGA.”





  • Barr conducted an unhinged interview in 2021 with QAnon conspiracy theorist Bishop Larry Gaiters, who has claimed that President Joe Biden performed a “satanic sacrifice” of his own family to gain political influence.


  • Barr posted a video of herself watching a QAnon video in 2019.


  • Barr recorded QAnon videos with the late QAnon influencer Cirsten Weldon.
  • In May 2018, Barr tweeted that Americans should “unite against” CIA mind control program MK-Ultra. This is not the only time she has tweeted about the MK-Ultra conspiracy theory.

  • In 2015, Barr appeared on the Kremlin-controlled outlet RT (formerly Russia Today) to discuss MK-Ultra and mind control in Hollywood.
  • In 2009, Barr dressed as Adolf Hitler for the cover of satirical Jewish magazine, Heeb. It was reportedly her idea to dress as the dictator.
  • On her personal blog, Barr purported that Israel is a “Nazi state” and said, “The Jewish Soul is being tortured in Israel.” (Barr is reportedly Jewish.)
  • Barr also tweeted about “Jewish mind control” and promoted musician and Holocaust denier Gilad Atzmon on Twitter.
  • In 2013, Barr proclaimed that Islam is “rape pedo culture.”
  • In another 2013 tweet, Barr described Director of the Domestic Policy Council Susan Rice as “a man with big swinging ape balls."
  • In 2018, Barr suggested that Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg gave a “Nazi salute” at a gun control rally.
  • Barr described Hillary Clinton as a “jew hater” and former Clinton 2016 campaign vice chair Huma Abedin as a “filthy nazi whore.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

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