Showing posts with label Donald Trump 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Trump 2026. Show all posts

Friday, February 20, 2026

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Supremes rule 6-3 that IEEPA law does not permit Trump's tariffs on the world, Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh dissenting

Supreme Court strikes down Trump tariffs, rebuking president’s signature policy

... Many of those tariffs were invoked using a novel reading of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. They include Trump’s near-global “reciprocal” tariffs, and separate duties related to the alleged trafficking of deadly drugs into the U.S.

The IEEPA does not explicitly mention tariffs, as the Supreme Court noted Friday. Instead, it allows the president to “regulate … importation” of foreign property transactions after declaring a national emergency in order to deal with certain “unusual and extraordinary” threats.

The Trump administration has argued that language empowers the president to impose tariffs on foreign goods.

Critics charged that the law does not permit the president to unilaterally impose levies of any size on any country at any time. A federal trade court and a federal appeals court both found Trump’s IEEPA tariffs illegal before the Supreme Court took up the case. ...

 

 
 

Thursday, February 19, 2026

These people are as phony as the day is long


 
 

 ... But Kennedy’s MAHA coalition that supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election hates glyphosate, which has been alleged to cause cancer in myriad lawsuits. Now, the executive order threatens to unravel that coalition ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that could loosen the president’s grip on Washington. ...  

The massive trade deficits were the main reason Trump instituted his equally massive tariffs to eliminate them, but they're still here lol


 

 U.S. trade deficit totaled $901 billion in 2025, barely budging despite Trump’s tariffs

The U.S. trade deficit swelled in December, closing out a year in which the imbalance was essentially unchanged despite efforts by the Trump administration to close the wide gap.

Closing out a tumultuous year in the global marketplace, the goods and services shortfall in December totaled $70.3 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That marked an increase of $17.3 billion from November and was well above the Dow Jones consensus estimate of $55.5 billion.

For the full year, the U.S. ran a $901.5 billion deficit, down slightly from 2024 but only by 0.2%, or $2.1 billion. The total was also a bit less than the record $923.7 billion shortfall in 2022.

The report follows a year in which President Donald Trump implemented a series of aggressive tariffs aimed at leveling the global playing field. In April, Trump announced an across-the-board duty of 10% on all imports as well as so-called reciprocal tariffs aimed at specific countries that had run up surpluses against the U.S.

However, during the course of the year Trump softened many of those positions, and negotiations with major trading partners are ongoing.

In an effort to get ahead of the tariffs, companies front-loaded imports during the first three months of the year. The trend abated following the early effort, with October registering the lowest monthly deficit since 2009.

The U.S. had its largest goods deficit with the European Union, at $218.8 billion, followed by China, at $202.1 billion, and Mexico, at $196.9 billion.

Exports for 2025 totaled $3.43 trillion for all of 2025, up $199.8 billion from 2024. Imports also rose, totaling $4.33 trillion, an increase of $197.8 billion.

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

It's OK when I do it: Hypocritical Trump lauds $36 billion Japanese investment in U.S. oil and gas, one week ago bashed Reagan era $25 billion equivalent in U.S. automotive sector

But Trump's sin could end up dwarfing Reagan's by 22 times. 

 

 Trump lauds Japan’s pledge to invest $36 billion in U.S. oil, gas and critical mineral projects

U.S. President Donald Trump has welcomed Japan’s pledge to invest nearly $36 billion in oil, gas and critical mineral projects in Texas, Ohio and Georgia. 

The commitment represents the first tranche of investments by Japan following a landmark trade deal between the two countries, one in which Tokyo pledged to invest $550 billion in American-based projects and Trump cut tariffs on most Japanese imports to 15%. ...

 

Trump expands the police state by bribing local police with monies from the Big Ugly Bill in exchange for help enforcing immigration law

 The Supreme Court slapped down Arizona in 2012 for trying to enforce its border with Mexico when Obama wouldn't do it.

Will they slap this down? 

Agreements that allow local police to work with ICE skyrocket

Agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement that allow officers to make federal immigration arrests have increased by 950% in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new analysis of ICE data.

As of Jan. 26, there were 1,168 agencies with officers trained to help ICE, up from 135 during the Biden administration and 150 at the end of Trump’s first term, according to the analysis by FWD.US, a nonpartisan policy organization.

The Trump administration has called on local law enforcement to support its growing deportation operations nationwide, reviving a controversial “task force” model that allows local police officers to be deputized by ICE to stop people and make arrests based on suspicion that someone is in the country illegally. ...

ICE’s advertising for the program promised to give law enforcement agencies $7,500 for equipment per trained officer; $100,000 for new vehicles and overtime pay of up to 25% of an officer’s salary.

The analysis shows 39 states have policing agencies now participating, but didn’t give the total number of officers now working with ICE.

The states with the most participating agencies were Florida, with 342 agreements, Texas, with 296 agreements, Tennessee, with 63 agreements, Pennsylvania, with 58 agreements and Alabama with 52 agreements, according to the analysis by FWD.US, which advocates for immigration and criminal justice reforms.

State and local police agencies and sheriffs departments potentially stand to gain between $1.4 billion and $2 billion this year if they agree to participate because of the large infusion of cash from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the organization predicted.

“This amount would dwarf all other federal funding for local law enforcement,” the FWD.US report found. ...

 

Friday, February 13, 2026

I can no longer has cheezburger under Donald J. Trump

 100% ground beef hit a new all time high average price of $6.752/lb in Jan 2026.

 



 

On the eve of the election Trump promised cheaper grocery prices, but breakfast costs nearly 8% more in Jan 2026 than it did then


 

A basket of bacon and eggs, whole wheat bread and butter, coffee and whole milk, and orange juice cost on average $32.47 in the United States in 3Q2024. Stretched out over a week, your breakfast cost you $4.64 a day.

That same basket in Jan 2026 is now $35.00 on average, up $2.53 or 7.8%.

Stretched out over a week breakfast now costs $5.00 a day.

Meanwhile OJ hit a new high, and despite removing some coffee-related tariffs, coffee hit a new record high price in Jan 2026, too.

 



 

On the campaign trail in August 2024, Trump promised to cut energy prices by 50% but in Jan 2026 they are down just 4.3%, and entirely on the back of modestly falling gasoline prices


 

 Average prices per unit of energy in 3Q2024 vs. Jan 2026:

Gasoline $3.496 vs. 2.961 (down 15.3%)

Natural Gas 1.403 vs. 1.704 (up 21.5%)

Electricity 0.178 vs. 0.192 (a new record high, up 7.9%)

Total 5.077 vs. 4.857 (down 4.3%)

 

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Winning . . .

All today: 

 

Feds declare victory in Minnesota immigration enforcement operation and begin withdrawal, cutting their losses

They leave two murdered civilians in their wake, a permanent stain on the Trump administration. 

 
... “We have greatly reduced the number of targets for enforcement action” in the Twin Cities region as a result of the influx of thousands of officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies, Homan said at a press conference. ...
 
 

U.S. House votes 219-211 to overturn Trump tariffs on Canada

 House votes to override Trump’s Canada tariffs

... the effort is likely symbolic. Even if the Senate approves Meeks’ resolution, Trump would likely veto the legislation. ...

 

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

MA78A: The civilian employment level was 59.3% of population in Jan 2026, which was the average level first achieved way back in 1978 lol

The White House doesn't have a clue.

 




MA88A: Nonfarm payrolls in Jan 2026 were 57.6% of population, a level first hit in America in . . . Dec 1988 lol


 


Federal government employment in Jan 2026 is down 324k since Trump took over, with local government employment up 140k and state government employment down 72k


  That's a net hit to government jobs at all levels of 256k in Trump's first year.

The federal government last averaged 2.69 million employees in 1966. The Jan 2026 level is 2.686 million. 

 


 

Manufacturing jobs in Jan 2026 remain down 83k since Trump took over

 


The unemployment rate in Jan 2026 remains higher than when Trump took over

 


The unemployment level is higher in Jan 2026 than when il Trumpo Incompetento took over lol

 



Foreign born employment recovers by 565k in Jan 2026 under incompetent anti-immigration president lol

 


Wei Tu Hai: Trump's Dumb Ass Unemployment Rate in Jan 2026 ticked down slightly to 37.8%, 103.951 million still eating but not working