Donald Trump on Friday railed against the supreme court justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling them a “disgrace to the nation”, and later signing documents imposing a 10% tariff on all countries.
Trump said he would immediately sign an order increasing tariffs globally by 10% under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and will begin investigations of unfair trade practices allowing further tariffs. He asserted that he had the authority to impose additional tariffs under existing statutes without congressional approval.
By Friday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social: “It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately.”
“I wanted to be a good boy,” Trump said, describing his relative restraint in issuing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump said that tariffs under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 will remain “in place and in full force and effect”.
During remarks at the White House, Trump said: “It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think.” He cast that influence as social and cultural, saying: “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”
He praised the three justices who dissented in the opinion: Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the main dissent, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The others – including two of his appointees, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – drew his derision.
Can we once again iterate that the President is bat-shit crazy? Before he attacks Iran, I mean?
BTW, guess who stands to make out like a bandit on the tariffs ruling:
Almost every article on today’s tariff decision includes, somewhere two or three paragraphs down, a note which explains that it’s unclear how or whether the federal government will issue refunds for illegally collected tariffs. The Court’s decision doesn’t address this. I’m not sure why it would really need to address this. The tariffs were illegal. The government had no legal authority to collect them. So it should be a simple matter for importers to go to court and compel the government to refund their money. But set all that aside. Is it really so uncertain? I’ll bet the White House is going to find a way to issue those refunds. Why? Because Trump insiders, especially the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, have reportedly made huge, huge bets on the tariffs being tossed. They and their clients now, per a July report that prompted a Senate investigation, stand to make tens or even hundreds of billions on those refunds. Given that Lutnick is a primary player in White House tariff policy, I’m pretty confident that they’re going to find a way to issue those refunds.
How does this work? I discussed this in a post from Sept. 1 of last year. The gist is this: When he became commerce secretary, Lutnick gifted his sons his Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. (In the link above I explained how they structured this handoff — which as a bonus allowed Lutnick to pay zero capital gains on the entire transaction.) Twenty-something failson Brandon Lutnick is now chairman of the firm. Brother Kyle, apparently another business prodigy from the same family, is vice chairman. Soon after Trump’s tariffs were announced last fall, Brandon Lutnick — no doubt in a totally, totally arms-length way — started buying up the rights to tariff refunds at about 25% of their sticker value.
Absolute corruption.
The UD’s Whitewashing Of Anti-Racism Research. Check out Vivian Houghton’s comment:
Was there a vote taken from the Board of Trustees to allow the University of Delaware to stop the research of slavery in Delaware and if there was ,I would be interested in Ms. Lodhavias’ vote. If the Board did not vote on this issue, I would like to hear her views on this decision. As an alumnae of this University, I was enraged to hear that the UD made such a horrible decision.
VAH
Now read what IMO is obviously bullshit from somebody at UD:
The University of Delaware quietly removed years of research and academic materials from its anti-racism initiative website last summer, cutting off access to scholarship examining its historical ties to slavery and systemic racism.
The website, known as UDARI, was created in 20
20 as part of a national consortium studying institutional histories of racial injustice. Then, in July 2025, it went offline and stayed that way until February. Students and researchers say the disappearance of the website disrupted academic work, strained community trust, threatened academic freedom and raised concerns about transparency.
Alex Toth, an undergraduate student majoring in history education and a board member of the Newark Historical Society, said he first noticed the issue while researching the university’s relationship with the surrounding community.
As a Newark, Delaware, native and local historian, Toth said he frequently relied on UDARI’s research.
“At some point in the middle of the summer, I went to look at one of the articles that I look at very often. It’s called, ‘Beyond Its Limits: A Case Study in University Expansion and Gentrification in Newark,’” he said. “I’ve used it in conversation with students and in conversation with other local historians, and I found out pretty quickly that it was gone, along with all the other research done by UDARI, and had been replaced by a pretty generic website.”
As the fall semester approached, Toth waited for an opportunity to raise his concerns directly with university leadership. He brought the issue forward during a Sept. 25 public forum with the UD interim president and senior administrators.
“What I was told at the moment was that UD had just been made aware … that this research had been taken down, that it was a mistake and that they were going to do all that they could to find a different venue to host this research on,” he said.
Despite that assurance, the website remained offline for months.
Prior to the UDARI rollback, the university had also asked diversity, equity and inclusion organizations, such as the Center for Black Culture and Student Diversity and Inclusion office, to remove their posters from campus. That got the attention of the student NAACP chapter at UD.