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Bulletins and News Discussion from April 14th to April 20th, 2025 - The Lamentations of a Levy-Loving Leader

Image is of Trump's initial set of reciprocal tariffs. Source is CNN and Reuters.

It's difficult to keep up with the news around the tariffs; they get instated, then dropped, then reinstated... for example, on Friday, Trump said that certain electronics like smartphones would be exempt, causing markets to rally a great deal, but now the Commerce Secretary has said that they might not be exempt? The state of play right now, if you haven't been keeping up this week, is that the US recently announced a 90-day global pause on implementing the tariffs he had planned (that is, 25% on certain Canadian and Mexican goods, and at least 10% on every other nation) but nonetheless increased tariffs on China to 145%.

Meanwhile, China has been - quite remarkably - standing their ground, increasing tariffs on the US to 125%, and putting restrictions on rare earths. Xi Jinping has been in Vietnam and has made statements against a tariff war there, saying that it would have no winners. Meanwhile, a Chinese spokesperson has essentially said that China can endure the tariff war due to the increasing demand from its domestic market in combination with its growing economic ties with other countries.

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1.1K comments

  • Existing liberal lines on the PRC are shattering, and those antagonistic towards the PRC are increasingly being opposed. The time is good to be correcting misconceptions about the PRC and explaining the benefits of siding with it over the US.

    I may have to hand it to the accelerationists, Trump may go down in history as one of the accidentally best presidents in USian history.

    The Chinese Century is well upon us, as we already knew, but increasingly liberals are accepting this. The Paper Tiger is dissolving.

  • Why Trump (probably) won’t defy the Supreme Court Today at 11:45Aam BST

    Donald Trump Is Defying The Supreme Court Today at 06:29pm BST

    lol

    • Trump Claims He Can Overrule Constitution With Executive Order Because Of Little-Known ‘No One Will Stop Me’ Loophole

    • Establishment liberals, as usual, completely ignored that the supreme court order had some weasel wording (on facilitate vs effectuate) that would allow for this very possibility to occur. Did they really think that the Trump administration would not try to exploit this?

      The weasel words:

      The rest of the District Court’s order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.

      Nobodies on twitter/x were pointing this very possibility out days ago. You know it's bad when nobodies on twitter are doing better journalism than the Washington Post.

      Also the Huffington Post article is really bad

      These are two entirely different things. There is no world where the administration’s definition of “facilitate” aligns with obeying either court’s orders.

      There is, it's the one we're living in right now. Hence Garcia still being locked up in El Salvador and not repatriated back to the United States, and Trump remaining president, with no constitutional crisis. That is how it's playing out. Saying that it ain't so doesn't actually change anything.

      The reason the administration can even make the claim for its mangled definition of “facilitate” gets at how the Supreme Court royally screwed this case up.

      In its unanimous decision, the court did order the administration to get Abrego Garcia out of CECOT and to the U.S., but it also stated that the district court that first ordered Abrego Garcia’s return “should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

      Why is the Huffington Post viewing this as a screw up, and not a deliberate action by the justices on the court, to give the Trump administration an out here? The court is a partisan institution, the majority of the judges are Republican nominees. Compromises obviously had to be made to get this verdict, yet alone a unanimous one at that. They are going to give their party and their guy (in Trump) a way out. Does the Huffington Post not understand the basic dynamics of political power?

    • 😔

  • And now for positive India news: Communist-led Kerala soon to become India’s first state free of extreme poverty

    The low levels of destitution in the state is a result of decades of progressive policy interventions such as:

    Land reforms

    High social spending

    Institutionalizing healthcare as a public service

    Providing job training and other necessary support for families that did not have a stable source of income

    Launching a minimum 100-day job guarantee

    Developing individual livelihood plans based on the specific needs of a particular family

    Various other programs under successive communist governments

    So Kerala is the indian state with the highest human development index. For those that don't know about Keralan politics, state elections are contests between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF), Modi's BJP only has 1 single MP in the state.

    For decades it used to be that Keralan elections would go like this, every 5 years the incumbent government would lose and the opposition would get to govern, however in 2021 for the first time ever the LDF, which had been governing since 2016, consecutively won the elections and so they have governed the state for almost 10 years, that could explain why so much progress has been achieved.

    Now, as someone who doesn't know a lot about Kerala, if winning twice in a row is an outlier outcome then one would guess that, regardless how well they have governed, the LDF will probably lose in 2026 and the UDF will get to govern again, but I just saw this headline in an article I'm not gonna read saying they're polling well and could win 3 times in a row so maybe there's hope!

  • Okay this is actually…. Big fucking news?

    Edit: it’s a MAYBE but still cool! I know science news Isn’t exactly the purpose of this thread but it seems possibly big enough to warrant a comment here

    nytimes

  • While the world is distracted by media noise… China is quietly rallying Asia to shift global power. In just a few days:

    • 45 economic agreements signed with Vietnam
    • A 5-year strategic pact sealed with Malaysia
    • Key diplomatic meetings in Thailand
    • Military and strategic cooperation boosted with Indonesia
    • Telegram

  • Currently on a break from Anglo political content while visiting family in El Salvador. I did decide to come back just to relay some interesting information from leftists in the country.

    CECOT is actually the prison with the best conditions in the entire country and it certainly looks like it from the outside. I’ve seen much worse looking ones since arriving.

    But it isn’t the industrial extermination camp people think it is. The real one is under the radar and it’s at Izalco. There’s an unmarked graveyard rumored to be inside or nearby it while no such thing has been heard of at CECOT.

    So I’m off for another couple of days.

    Also an obligatory fuck you to anyone still looking to “punish” or invade El Salvador.

  • From the NYTimes live thread on the hearing of Kilmar Abrego Garcia:

    Forcing the administration to reveal what it has done behind the scenes is an interim step on the way toward Judge Xinis figuring out if officials are in contempt of court. The judge also notes that this could be an uncomfortable process as the administration is compelled to answer specific questions and officials are possibly made to sit for depositions. She says she envisions the discovery process taking about two weeks. Suggesting how expeditiously she intends to move, Judge Xinis tells Drew Ensign, the Justice Department lawyer, that he should clear his calendar in order to arrange the discovery information she intends to request. “Cancel vacation,” she says. “Cancel other appointments. I’m usually pretty good about this in my courtroom, but not this time.”

    Look at that, only two short weeks until they've legally figured out if the government didn't "facilitate" Garcia's return.

  • ‘Won’t stay silent’, China responds to White House’s 245% retaliatory tariffs

    China responds: ‘We don’t want conflict, but won’t stay silent’

    Reacting to the tariff hike, China’s foreign ministry reiterated that it seeks no confrontation but will not remain silent in the face of US pressure. “If the US truly wants to resolve issues through dialogue, it must stop exerting maximum pressure,” a spokesperson stated, adding that the ball was now in Washington’s court.

    Spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang condemned the US for what he called its “wanton” use of force, warning that such tactics won’t restore American greatness.

1053 comments