Reading archive 2025-04-08

Israel walks back its account of the killing of 15 medics in Gaza after video seems to contradict it

Trade Will Move On Without the United States: The tariffs will destroy another pillar of American power and leave a vacuum for others to fill. - "The results are unlikely to be what the administration anticipates. Some foreign companies may indeed respond to the tariffs by building factories in the U.S. to maintain their presence in a crucial market. But many others are simply too small, or too integrated into existing supply chains, to make that move. Where the millions of American workers will come from to screw together iPhones or make car parts is also a mystery, especially given the president's opposition to large-scale immigration. Factories in the U.S. are already struggling to find workers; the manufacturing sector has hundreds of thousands of vacant openings.

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"Other countries long accepted U.S. leadership because they saw Washington as a proponent of global economic progress. The role Trump is choosing for the United States is not that. He may eventually roll back tariffs for those countries that negotiate with him, and he may even see this as a show of kingpin-like strength: Trump has already said that he'd be willing to reduce duties on China in return for a deal involving TikTok. But the erratic and arbitrary nature of the policies, and the willingness to exploit U.S. economic might to extort concessions, will undermine American standing nearly everywhere."

Why America’s Oligarchs May Regret Their Obedience: Putin’s Russia shows what happens when billionaire businessmen choose to back a strongman. - "Putin's regime offers a stark illustration of how democratic institutions can be hollowed out. Some of Trump's recent moves contain echoes of Kremlin strategy: canceling institutional checks in favor of loyalist appointments, attacking lawyers who work for opponents, demolishing independent agencies, feeding popular delusions of imperial greatness by threatening neighbors. The reforms of Musk's DOGE outfit are set to shift public goods into private hands."

Here Are the Places Where the Recession Has Already Begun: Towns near the Canadian border are suffering. - "He cannot buy feed from another supplier; there aren't any nearby, and getting it from farther away would be more expensive. When he got the delivery, he stared at the tariff for a while. Shouldn't his Canadian supplier have been responsible for paying it? 'I'm not even sure it's legal! We contracted for the price on delivery! If your price of fuel goes up or your truck breaks down, that's not my problem! That's what the contract's for.' 

"But the tariff was legal, and it was Gilbert's responsibility." [ed. note: lol eat shit]

The Cabinet Secretary Who Wants His Cookies Freshly Baked: The unusual requests made of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s staff are raising concerns all the way to the White House.

Defying the Courts Will Backfire: The public has not responded kindly to other politicians who have tried this in the past.

Trump Has Already Botched His Own Bad Tariff Plan: Once you’ve said you might negotiate, nobody is going to believe you when you change your mind and say you’ll never negotiate. - "The key to making it work was to convince businesses that the new arrangement is durable. Nobody is going to invest in building new factories in the United States to create goods that until last week could be imported more cheaply unless they’re certain that the tariffs making the domestic version more competitive will stay in place. (They’re probably not going to do it anyway, in part because they don’t know who will be president in four years, but the point is that confidence in durable tariffs is a necessary condition.)"

Wall Street Blew: It Investors discounted everything Trump has ever said about trade and tariffs. We’re all going to pay for that mistake. - "The U.S., for instance, buys agricultural products and basic manufactured goods from developing countries that don't have a big appetite for Boeing airplanes or Microsoft software. So those countries typically take the dollars they earn and buy U.S. government bonds, knowing that their money will be safe, instead of purchasing American goods. That creates a trade deficit, without anything sinister behind it. But for Trump, any trade deficit means that Americans are being played. And Trump hates few things in this world more than feeling that he's been played."

Trump to sign executive order to help dying U.S. coal industry: The president will direct agencies to boost coal leasing, mining and exports. But these steps are unlikely to usher in a coal renaissance. - "The executive order builds on moves the Trump administration has already taken. The Environmental Protection Agency last month began the process of dismantling restrictions on coal plants’ carbon emissions, mercury pollution and wastewater runoff. The Interior Department approved an expansion of a Montana coal mine, and the Bureau of Land Management is considering an 'emergency' lease to mine coal in North Dakota."

Who will tell Trump he’s naked?: The president’s advisers are falling over themselves trying to excuse tariffmageddon.

In the rain-soaked South, storms portend future ‘generational’ floods: Parts of Tennessee received 15 inches of rain. What happens when the next storm is worse?

MAGA Maoism is spreading through the populist right: A new conservative strain dreams of sending the bourgeoise to work the factories. - "But nostalgia is not a plan. It’s a mirror turned backward. Trump is not bringing back the dignity of work — he’s marketing the image of it. His tariffs won’t rebuild Bethlehem Steel. They won’t revive the coal towns. But they will make life more expensive for working people, while feeding the fantasy that somewhere out there, the old America still waits if you can just hurt the right people to get there."

After a Slow Start, High-Speed Rail Might Finally Arrive in America: True high-speed rail has not yet made it to the U.S., but that will change soon. Here are the projects currently being developed.

Ailing historic tree removed from White House grounds: The tree, known as the Jackson magnolia, was attributed to President Andrew Jackson, officials said.

Gun discharged inside backpack at Va. elementary school, police say: Spotsylvania County authorities said a gun went off while inside a third-grader’s backpack at Lee Hill Elementary School on Monday morning. No one was injured.

Palestinian American teen fatally shot by Israeli troops in West Bank village: American citizen Amer Rabee, 14, was fatally shot in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya. The mayor said he had been picking green almonds with two friends.

44 percent of DC-area restaurants surveyed say they’re ‘likely to close’ by the end of this year