Category: Trump

The Great Negotiator

Art Of The Deal New Governor 77 Comments

Global News;

The U.S. said Monday it will be imposing an additional 50 per cent tariff on Canadian imports due to retaliatory and “discriminatory” measures Canada took in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Trump signed three executive orders, each one using a different justification for the new tariff: the provincial and territorial boycotts on American alcohol products, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles and auto parts, and quotas on American dairy imports under Canada’s supply management system.

The new tariff will take effect in 30 days and will apply to goods covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA), a senior administration official told reporters on background.

“Over the past year and a half, only two countries have chosen to retaliate against President Trump’s tariffs rather than negotiate a deal with the United States: the People’s Republic of China and Canada,” the White House said in a statement on the new tariff.

Via @FoodProfessor;

Canada exports approximately $1.4 billion worth of alcoholic beverages to U.S. annually. U.S. receives roughly 90% of Canada’s total alcohol exports, with spirits.

Canada exports about $360 million worth of dairy products to the U.S. annually.

Could be related.

Groundhog Day

Art Of The Deal Military Religion Of Submission 44 Comments

Someone wake me up when this thing finally ends. In the meantime, any ideas out there as to how this script will be wrapped up?

President Donald Trump on social media accused Iran of violating the ceasefire and warned of a point where the U.S. may no longer be reasonable “and will be forced to militarily complete the job.”

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote.

The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated with strikes.

 

New Rules

47 New Rules 11 Comments

Politico;

Former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty Friday to illegally retaining classified information from his tenure in President Donald Trump’s White House, exposing himself to potential prison time for putting top secret information into private emails and chat messages and sharing them with members of his family.

During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, Bolton admitted to the allegations in an 18-count indictment brought against him last October, but under a plea deal with prosecutors he entered a guilty plea only to a single felony charge of willfully retaining classified information.

That charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but under the terms of the deal, Bolton, 77, can withdraw his plea and go to trial if Chuang decides a sentence of more than five years is warranted. Bolton has also agreed to a fine of $2.25 million.

Prosecutor Tanner Kroeger declared that, during 17 months as Trump’s top national security aide in the first term, Bolton “abused his trust” by forwarding more than 1,000 pages of daily notes detailing his activities to his family members in apparent preparation for a book the hawkish foreign policy adviser later published.

Thank You For Your Attention To This Matter

Art Of The Deal Religion Of Submission Trump 9 Comments

Matt Margolis;

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, offering “congratulations to all!” He followed that up by authorizing what he called the “toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz” alongside the simultaneous removal of the naval blockade. Then, in classic Trump fashion, he added, “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed the deal in a statement of his own. He announced that “the Peace Deal between the United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran has been REACHED” after what he described as “intensive talks.”

He continued, “We would like to thank the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict. We would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to our brothers in this mediation effort, the great leadership of State of Qatar, for their support in reaching this agreement. I would also especially thank the visionary leadership of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Republic of Türkiye for their immense contributions in this regard.”

A formal signing ceremony is scheduled for June 19 in Switzerland, with mediators facilitating preliminary technical meetings this week to lay the groundwork.

Richard Fernandez provides context: Iran had to sign while they still had cards to hold.

Trump Whisperer

Art Of The Deal New Governor 97 Comments

Juno News (Video): The Gordie Howe International Bridge opening has been delayed indefinitely.

It is the latest setback in Canada’s bumpy relationship with the United States. The Gordihow International Bridge opening has been delayed indefinitely as the two countries resolve some outstanding issues. Well, at the at the request of the United States, we agreed to uh uh to delay the opening and um take the necessary time uh to resolve outstanding issues. A few issues uh that have been raised and uh this is a collaborative approach. As I said yesterday, there’s there’s not great drama here. We’re going to work through uh some some issues that uh have come up. Um and you know for a bridge Um that is going to be in place and serve Canadians, Americans um others uh for uh decades uh question of a few weeks is time well spent.

Gain Of Function

47 Gain of Function 13 Comments

From the documents about Ukrainian biolabs;

The new documents reveal two dozen biological labs in Ukraine. The map reveals that a lab in Odessa, a city with a population of more than one million people, has a lab with stored biological weapons from the defunct Soviet Union biological weapons program. Viruses in storage include anthrax, tularemia, tuberculosis, Swine Fever, New Castles Disease, MERS, SARS, Marburg, Ebola, Lassa, the Plague, and Rickettsia, the documents show. […]

[T]he newly declassified documents reveal that some of the labs conduct gain-of-function research, research that makes pathogens more infectious or deadly in the lab. Most biodefense experts consider gain-of-function research to be “dual use.” It has civilian applications, but could it could also be weaponized for more nefarious applications in the wrong hands. Many of the labs have permits for handing “especially dangerous pathogens.” One project involved highly pathogenic avian influenza, a virus with a 50% fatality rate.

Art Of The Fail

Art Of The Deal New Governor 48 Comments

Reuters;

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has captured global attention by championing the idea of an alliance of mid-level economic powers that would operate beyond President Donald Trump’s increasingly protectionist United States.

Yet Carney’s push to lessen dependence on the U.S. is colliding with a stubborn reality: access to American markets remains a crucial part of Canada’s appeal to prospective trading partners, according to interviews with a dozen government officials and business leaders.

Since winning election in April 2025, Carney’s team has led four trade missions, including two to Asia, seeking foreign investment in mining, engineering and infrastructure projects. A fifth, the largest so far, is headed ​to Japan later this month.

But Canadian officials acknowledge that the main draw for many potential trading partners is the prospect of gaining tariff-free access to the world’s largest market through Canada’s participation in ‌the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade ‌agreement.

Carney regularly touts Canada’s preferential access to the U.S. market, noting that more than 85% of bilateral trade remains tariff-free.

“That (USMCA deal) has been kind ​of a baseline of our investment attraction message,” said a top Canadian government official who requested anonymity to speak frankly.

ICYMI: “I’m not looking to renew it (USMCA).”

Unexpectedly

Art Of The Deal Trump 8 Comments

The US economy added 172,000 jobs in May, blowing past expectations, according to the government’s closely watched jobs report. The unemployment rate remained flat at 4.3%.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had anticipated payroll growth of 88,000 for the month.

April’s jobs report — which itself was a massive beat — was also revised to show an even better 179,000 jobs gained, compared to the 115,000 reported earlier. March’s payroll growth was similarly updated to show 214,000, bringing the first monthly gain above 200,000 since early 2024.

Is Our Diversities Learing?

47 Democrats nannystate New Rules 11 Comments

JTN;

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced a major fraud bust in which authorities cracked down on misuse of public funds intended for autism aid in Minnesota.

Kennedy highlighted that the original cost of the Early Intervention Development Program was a mere $38.1 million in 2020, but that it had ballooned to $442 million in 2026, with much of that increase stemming from fraud.

“Today’s arrests represent the largest autism fraud bust in American history,” he said. “This was an organized theft that exploited the most vulnerable, deceived families, stole taxpayer dollars meant to help children with autism access legitimate care and support.”

“Investigators uncovered brazen schemes that billed taxpayers for nonexistent services, fraudulent diagnoses, and fake care while criminals enriched themselves at public expense,” he added.

Margin Of Fraud

47 Democrats Margin Of Fraud New Rules 9 Comments

Mark Tapscott;

in the nearly four decades between Reagan’s junkyard dogs and the period covered by the 2024 GAO report, Washington officials really didn’t know how many federal tax dollars were actually lost every year. Even with the new estimate, officials conceded that gaps in available data across the government produced “challenges in producing fraud estimates, such as limited available fraud-related data and use of varying terms and definitions of fraud for recording data. These data gaps and variability result in information that cannot be readily compared or consolidated to determine the extent of fraud across the federal government.”

It’s now 2026, and they still don’t know for sure, but one thing has become all but certain: Far more of the federal government’s $7 trillion in annual spending than previously estimated is lost every year to professional criminal fraudsters, undeserving and even dead benefit recipients, over-priced procurement contracts, unjustified reimbursements, and numerous other ways.

That realization is driven by the results of the unprecedented efforts starting in January 2025 of President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, and others on Capitol Hill to go after waste, fraud, and abuse on a scale never before attempted and with weapons too long ignored.

Veteran federal spending analyst Cato Institute Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy Romina Boccia summarizes the state of play.

A system that enables the theft of billions would never be used for the theft of elections.

More: Stephen Miller says he believes that the fraud and waste being uncovered by the Anti-Fraud Taskforce is so widespread, that dealing with it could balance the budget

Update: Russ Vought at OMB has just overhauled $1 TRILLION in federal grants by adding: Strict E-Verify requirements, English-language rules, and political appointee oversight to ensure taxpayer dollars go to American citizens first.

Tulsi Resigns

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Fox News;

Trump reacted to the resignation later on Friday, writing on Truth Social, “Unfortunately, after having done a great job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the Administration on June 30th.”

“Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and she, rightfully, wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together,” he continued. “I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever. Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her. Her highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.”

A Speech In Davos

47 Chinada New Governor 84 Comments

Turns out, cheap talk has a price;

On Monday morning, the Pentagon’s senior defense strategist suspended the oldest bilateral defense institution in North American history and pointed the announcement at Mark Carney’s Davos speech — a four-month-old address the Canadian prime minister’s admirers had called Churchillian, and that Washington now treats as a case study in the gap between rhetoric and reality.

Elbridge Colby, Under Secretary of War for Policy and the principal architect of American defense strategy under the Trump administration, announced that the Department of War is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to “reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense.” The board was established by Franklin Roosevelt and Mackenzie King at Ogdensburg, New York in 1940 and has operated continuously for 86 years.

“A strong Canada that prioritizes hard power over rhetoric benefits us all,” Colby wrote. “Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments.” In a subsequent post, Colby attached a map of North America and wrote that “delivering on shared continental defense begins by recognizing our shared geography.” A third post revealed that Colby had recently hosted US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra at the Pentagon, and that the two are “working closely” to ensure Canada reaches the Hague Summit’s 3.5% of gross domestic product defense spending target.

The implications for Canada are potentially generational.

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