A gobsmacked planet is wondering what’s next from President Donald Trump on the tariff spree he’s set in zigzag motion. In recent weeks, Trump has announced punishing tariffs against allies and adversaries alike, selectively paused and imposed them, doubled and then halved some, and warned late in the week that he’ll tax European wine and spirits a stratospheric 200% if the European Union doesn’t drop a 50% tariff on U.S. whiskey. His ultimate stated goal is clear: to revive American manufacturing and win compromises along the way. But people and nations whose fortunes rise and fall on trade are trying to divine a method to his machinations. So far, he’s spurred fears about slower growth and higher inflation that are dragging down the stock market and consumer confidence. “His tariff policy is erratic, more erratic than April weather,” Robert Halver, head of capital markets analysis at Germany’s Baader Bank, said from the floor of the Frankfurt stock market. “So, there is no planning certainty at all.” The same goes for Exit 9 Wine & Liquor Warehouse in Clifton Park, New York, where owner Mark O’Callaghan is waiting to see if the prohibitive taxes on European wine — over a third of his business — really happen. He’s mindful of Trump’s seemingly whack-a-mole approach on which countries and goods to hit and how hard. “It changes by the hour now, right?” O’Callaghan said. “You know, it’s hard to navigate and manage, and everything changes so quickly.” In Canada, generations of political leaders took it as a point of pride that their country and the U.S. share the “world’s longest undefended border,” as they liked to say. No more. Trump unifies Canada Trump’s sweeping taxes on Canadian imports come in the context of his wanting the U.S. to absorb its neighbor, an ambition that has united Canadians of the left and right in seething anger. A recent Nanos poll found that the vast majority of Canadians say their opinion of the United States has sunk from a year ago. “The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said days before his swearing-in Friday. “Think about it. If they succeed, they will destroy our way of life.” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said: “If the U.S. can do this to us, their closest friend, then nobody is safe.” Trade wars sparked by retaliatory and escalating tariffs typically form in the grind of legislation, as happened with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act nearly a century ago. This round comes from Trump’s executive actions, with Congress passive, and can change like the weather, or perhaps even his moods. That’s how March came in like a lion. Watch your manners Personal pique is part of it all, suggests Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “If you make him unhappy, he responds unhappy,” he told Bloomberg TV, explaining that Trump didn’t like it when a variety of countries targeted with new U.S. tariffs retaliated with tariffs of their own. Nor was Trump content when Canada did not show “immeasurable respect” for his trade grievances, Lutnick told CBS News. “Say, ‘Thank you, I want to work it out with you,’” he added, as if advising Ottawa on how to be properly deferential. “’I want you to be happy.’” Trump himself said of Canada, “We don’t need anything that they have.” Canada […]
NY-17: Catskills Hatzolah and other emergency personnel were on the scene of an MVA involving an overturned vehicle on Route 17 westbound, between exits 116 and 115. Two individuals sustained injuries and were transported to Orange Regional Medical Center for treatment. (Via Catskills Scoop)
Commuters in downtown Barcelona have been able to ride the bus for free this week. There’s just one catch: this mini-bus has no one at the wheel. The bus pulls away from the stop with its passengers on its own, brakes before changing lanes and eases down one of Barcelona’s most fashionable boulevards. Renault is testing a new driverless mini-bus in Barcelona this week. The autonomous vehicle is running on a 2.2-km (1.3-mile) circular route with four stops in the center of the Spanish city. Adventurous commuters can jump on free of charge. The French carmaker has teamed up with WeRide, a company specializing in autonomous vehicles, to make the prototype. It unveiled the driverless bus at the French Open venue last year, but now it is testing it on the open road in Barcelona. It also has testing projects going in Valence, France, and at the Zurich airport. Pau Cugat was one of the curious to step aboard for a short ride along Passeig de Gracia boulevard. “We just passed by a regular, combustion-engine city bus, and I thought, ‘Look, there is a bus of the past, and right behind it you have the bus of the future,’” the 18-year-old student said. Driverless taxis and buses are being tried out by companies in other cities, from San Francisco to Tokyo. But Renault’s initiative comes as Europe generally lags behind the United States and China in driverless vehicle technology, where companies are fiercely competing to get ahead. “The US is doing a lot of experimentation with autonomous vehicles, the same thing in China,” Patrick Vergelas, head of Renault’s autonomous mobility projects, told The Associated Press. “Until now we don’t have a lot in fact in Europe. And this is why we want to show that this works and prepare Europe to this route in public transportation.” The electric bus can run for 120 kilometers without a recharge and reach 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph). It is equipped with 10 cameras and eight lidars (sensor arrays) to help it navigate the streets filled with cars, motorbikes and pedestrians. The company says the bus is able to drive safely on a given course through a busy downtown like that of bustling Barcelona. Carlos Santos, of Renault’s autonomous driving group, said that he has seen all types of reactions from riders. “We’ve seen a lot of behaviors of people. Some of them were smiling, (while) other people just start crying, taking photographs or even try to open the doors,” Santos said before he insisted that the bus ride was a safe one. Barcelona’s city officials said that they have had no reports of accidents caused by the experimental bus. (AP)
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The FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are warning against a dangerous ransomware scheme. In an advisory posted earlier this week, government officials warned that a ransomware-as-a-service software called Medusa, which has launched ransomware attacks since 2021, has recently affected hundreds of people. Medusa uses phishing campaigns as its main method for stealing victims’ credentials, according to CISA. To protect against the ransomware, officials recommended patching operating systems, software and firmware, in addition to using multifactor authentication for all services such as email and VPNs. Experts also recommended using long passwords, and warned against frequently recurring password changes because they can weaken security. Medusa developers and affiliates — called “Medusa actors” — use a double extortion model, where they “encrypt victim data and threaten to publicly release exfiltrated data if a ransom is not paid,” the advisory said. Medusa operates a data-leak site that shows victims alongside countdowns to the release of information. “Ransom demands are posted on the site, with direct hyperlinks to Medusa affiliated cryptocurrency wallets,” the advisory said. “At this stage, Medusa concurrently advertises sale of the data to interested parties before the countdown timer ends. Victims can additionally pay $10,000 USD in cryptocurrency to add a day to the countdown timer.” Since February, Medusa developers and affiliates have hit more than 300 victims across industries, including the medical, education, legal, insurance, technology and manufacturing sectors, CISA said. (AP)
President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II, granting himself sweeping powers under a centuries-old law to deport people associated with a Venezuelan gang. Hours later, a federal judge halted deportations under Trump’s order. The act is a sweeping wartime authority that allows non-citizens to be deported without being given the opportunity to go before an immigration or federal court judge. Trump repeatedly hinted during his campaign that he would declare extraordinary powers to confront illegal immigration and laid additional groundwork in a slew of executive orders on Jan. 20. His proclamation on Saturday identified Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang as an invading force. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, blocked anyone from being deported under Trump’s proclamation for two weeks and scheduled a Friday hearing to consider arguments. What is the Alien Enemies Act? In 1798, with the U.S. preparing for what it believed would be a war with France, Congress passed a series of laws that increased the federal government’s reach. Worried that immigrants could sympathize with the French, the Alien Enemies Act was created to give the president wide powers to imprison and deport non-citizens in time of war. Since then, the act has been used just three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. During World War II, with anti-foreigner fears sweeping the country, it was part of the legal rationale for mass internment in the U.S. of people of German, Italian and especially Japanese ancestry. An estimated 120,000 people with Japanese heritage, including those with U.S. citizenship, were incarcerated during the war. What brought this to a head on a Saturday? The American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward preemptively sued Trump late Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying five Venezuelan men being held at an immigration detention center in Raymondville, Texas, were at “imminent risk of removal” under the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg blocked their deportation, prompting an immediate appeal from the Justice Department. Almost simultaneously, the Trump administration agreed to pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison about 300 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang for one year. The agreement with El Salvador followed discussions between that country’s president, Nayib Bukele, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about housing migrants in El Salvador’s notorious prisons. Bukele’s government has arrested more than 84,000 people, sometimes without due process, since 2022 in a crackdown on gang violence. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said two flights Saturday may have carried people deported under Trump’s proclamation, one to El Salvador and one possibly to Honduras. Boasberg said any such flights would have to be returned midair to the United States. The US isn’t at war, is it? For years, Trump and his allies have argued that America is facing an “invasion” of people arriving illegally. Arrests on the U.S. border with Mexico topped 2 million a year for two straight years for the first time under President Joe Biden, with many released into the U.S. to pursue asylum. After hitting an all-time monthly high of 250,000 in December 2023, they plunged to less than 8,400 this February — the lowest levels since the 1960s. The act, Trump said in his inaugural address, would be a key tool in his immigration crackdown. “By […]
It’s 3am, Motzei shabbos, after Purim. I’m sitting and trying to process the last 48 hours. So much to say. So much to write. I feel compelled to write on behalf of myself but more so on behalf of the many people I’ve spoken to and supported before and on Purim. Purim is beautiful. It’s a day so full of joy and excitement. The unbelievably joyous atmosphere permeates through the walls of every Jewish home, every shul, ever passing car along with the most creative and fun costumes! Purim is a day when we let go and let loose of our pains, stresses and worries. To most that is. We can drink away our pain but not all can. We can block it all away, but not all can. We can pretend to be happy and full of life, but not all can. For myself and the many countless others who’ve been hurt, broken and abused in the most horrific of ways, our pain is not “drinkable”, or “bury-able”. The very thin mask we’d wear on Purim isn’t nearly strong enough to cover our deep inner wounds, bleeding souls and broken hearts. I’ve had a complex surgery several weeks ago. It stopped me from doing many household and work chores. It was all so simple and easy. I physically wasn’t able to do it regardless of how much effort I put in. There were no expectations. No disappointments. No judgements of “just get over it”. I couldn’t help but think “if only”. If only mental health would be on the same caliber as physical health. If only fighting and winning an intense suicidal battle would be celebrated in the same ways as fighting a physical illness. If only, we can be open in regard to shul, a wedding, a family simcha or party and simply say, I have too much trauma to attend for now and that would be considered an acceptable response. If only, people would realize the non human amount of strength it takes to get up each and every morning. If only, people would realize how hard it is to show up at work after yet another sleepless night, another panic attack or a brutal trauma flashback. If only, people would know the amount of energy, bravery and courage it takes to face your worst inner demons every week at therapy. The world would look so different. My world and the worlds’ of so many others of who’m I’ve spoken to would look different. Purim would’ve looked so different. I can’t begin to describe the enormous feelings of absolute panic and anxiety Purim brings on to so so many. It’s a day of intense joy to some but a day of the most horrific and awful pain to others. The direct contrast, staring us in the face at every turn is so incredibly painful. It’s as though we’re living in a different world while desperately trying to remain on this planet for our families. That painful contrast makes us feel so incredibly lonely. Like I always say, I’m not angry nor am I bitter. It’s not a place I naturally go to. I’m just hurting. Hurting for myself and hurting for the many hundreds and thousands of people out there who by no fault of their own, […]
