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As a tariffs loophole closes, small online sellers scramble

As a tariffs loophole closes, small online sellers scramble

The New York Times reports: Small-ticket items shipped to the United States from China will no longer be exempt from tariffs starting on Friday, when a decision by President Trump to shutter a shipping loophole he calls a “scam” takes effect. The move is expected to send ripples through the economy as American consumers, who have gotten used to buying cheap shoes, Hawaiian shirts, holiday decorations and other products made in China, suddenly find those products much pricier. The fallout…

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Spooked by trade wars, Trump officials stockpile supplies: ‘It would be stupid not to!’

Spooked by trade wars, Trump officials stockpile supplies: ‘It would be stupid not to!’

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump’s trade wars with China and other nations are widely expected to cause sharp economic pain, but some experts have warned consumers not to hoard supplies and goods before prices skyrocket, arguing that mass stockpiling could backfire spectacularly. Well, many Americans aren’t listening to that advice, according to survey data this year, instead preparing for the possibility of store shelves being bare amid a Trump-inflicted recession. Funnily enough, this includes a number of government officials and…

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As Mike Waltz gets pushed out, ‘Laura Loomer gets a confirmed kill’

As Mike Waltz gets pushed out, ‘Laura Loomer gets a confirmed kill’

Axios reports: Mike Waltz has been a dead man walking in the White House for the past month, and the outgoing national security adviser started to act like it, Trump administration sources tell Axios. Why it matters: “Signalgate” badly damaged Waltz, but it wasn’t his only problem. He got on the wrong side of everyone from conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. After a flood of reports that Waltz was being pushed out, President Trump confirmed the news but…

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New study shows handwriting improves early reading skills more than typing

New study shows handwriting improves early reading skills more than typing

PsyPost reports: New research published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology suggests that handwriting helps children learn to read more effectively than typing. In an experiment with 5-year-old prereaders, those who practiced writing by hand—either by copying or tracing—outperformed children who typed the same material on a keyboard across a variety of tasks. The findings provide strong support for the idea that the physical act of writing strengthens children’s ability to learn letters and words. The study was conducted…

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Trump’s tirade at interviewer wrecks his own case against Abrego Garcia

Trump’s tirade at interviewer wrecks his own case against Abrego Garcia

Greg Sargent writes: President Donald Trump grew angry as a reporter persistently questioned him about his refusal to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador—and in so doing, Trump accidentally demolished his whole case against the wrongfully deported Salvadoran man. In the interview, ABC News’s Terry Moran pointed out that Trump has the power to pick up the phone, call El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, and with the “power of the presidency” get Bukele to release…

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Judge ordering Mohsen Mahdawi’s release compared current political climate with McCarthyism

Judge ordering Mohsen Mahdawi’s release compared current political climate with McCarthyism

  The New York Times reports: Mohsen Mahdawi, an organizer of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University, was freed from federal custody on Wednesday, more than two weeks after immigration officials detained him and sought to rescind his green card as part of a widening crackdown against student protesters. In releasing Mr. Mahdawi on bail, Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford of Federal District Court in Vermont drew parallels between the current political climate and McCarthyism. “This is not the first time…

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Trump administration considers sending migrants to Libya and Rwanda, sources say

Trump administration considers sending migrants to Libya and Rwanda, sources say

CNN reports: The Trump administration has discussed with Libya and Rwanda the possibility of sending migrants who have criminal records and are in the United States to those two countries, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks. The proposals mark a dramatic escalation in the administration’s push to deter people journeying to the United States and remove some of those already here to countries thousands of miles away, some of which have checkered pasts. President Donald Trump signed an…

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Sen. Rand Paul: Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple

Sen. Rand Paul: Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple

  The New York Times reports: The Senate on Wednesday rejected an effort to undo President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, even as a small group of Republicans joined Democrats in delivering a rebuke to a trade policy that many lawmakers fear is causing economic harm. The vote deadlocked at 49 to 49, meaning it failed despite three Republicans joining Democrats in favor of a measure that sought to terminate the national emergency declaration Mr. Trump used…

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Supply chain shock

Supply chain shock

  David Dayen writes: I don’t care how well-stocked a company is; if they rely on finished goods or component parts from China, there will come a point pretty soon when they won’t have enough. West Coast ports are just about to feel the effects of this, because it takes around 30 days for container ships to make the journey from Asia to the U.S. Next week, ships entering the Port of Los Angeles will drop 35 percent compared to last year…

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Meta is turning its Ray-Bans into a surveillance machine for AI

Meta is turning its Ray-Bans into a surveillance machine for AI

Gizmodo reports: What you see is what Meta AI sees while wearing the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and your opt-out options are getting narrower and narrower. In a recent update to the privacy policy for the device, received by most owners in an email sent April 29, according to The Verge, Meta opened up the ability to collect more data for use to train its artificial intelligence models. Under the new policies, Meta explains that “Meta AI with camera use…

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Bees, fish and plants show how climate change’s accelerating pace is disrupting nature in two key ways

Bees, fish and plants show how climate change’s accelerating pace is disrupting nature in two key ways

A bee enjoys lunch on a flower in Hillsboro, Ore. HIllsboro Parks & Rec, CC BY-NC-ND By Courtney McGinnis, Quinnipiac University The problem with climate change isn’t just the temperature – it’s also how fast the climate is changing today. Historically, Earth’s climate changes have generally happened over thousands to millions of years. Today, global temperatures are increasing by about 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 degrees Celsius) per decade. Imagine a car speeding up. Over time, human activities such as burning…

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Majority of Americans see Trump as a ‘dangerous dictator’ who may destroy democracy, poll finds

Majority of Americans see Trump as a ‘dangerous dictator’ who may destroy democracy, poll finds

Axios reports: A majority of Americans say President Trump is a “dangerous dictator” who poses a threat to democracy and believe he’s overstepped his authority by actions such as the mass firing of federal employees, a new survey says. Why it matters: The wide-ranging poll released Tuesday, on Trump’s 100th day in office, is the latest sign of him losing support for his immigration and economic policies — the two issues that largely fueled his election. Zoom in: Only four in 10 Americans expressed favorable views of Trump after…

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‘Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,’ warns Canada’s newly elected prime minister

‘Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,’ warns Canada’s newly elected prime minister

  Zack Beauchamp writes: Canada’s Liberals just pulled off one of the greatest upsets in modern democratic history: going from a predicted wipeout in December to victory on Monday night. To understand why, you need to look at the signs on the sidewalk. I don’t mean the ones advertising Prime Minister Mark Carney’s triumphant party, though there were plenty of those. Rather, I’m referring to the ones outside many businesses, containing long lists of the Canadian-made products on offer. The…

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‘They disappear them’: Families of the detained liken Trump’s America to Latin American dictatorships

‘They disappear them’: Families of the detained liken Trump’s America to Latin American dictatorships

The Guardian reports: Neiyerver Rengel’s captors came one sunny spring morning, lurking outside the apartment he shared with his girlfriend and pouncing as soon as he emerged. The three government agents announced the young Venezuelan man had “charges to answer” and was being detained. “Everything’s going to be OK,” the man’s girlfriend, Richely Alejandra Uzcátegui Gutiérrez, remembers the handcuffed 27-year-old reassuring her as she gave him one last hug. Then Rengel was put in a vehicle and vanished into thin…

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