Thursday News: “The sweeping federal court order blocking Trump’s tariffs”; “The MAGA War on Science Is Deadly”; Trump Has Pardoned “230 individuals, including violent rioters and extremists”; “Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 29.

• World faces new danger of ‘economic denial’ in climate fight, Cop30 head says
• Trump gives Putin two weeks. What’s next?
• Russia sanctions in limbo as GOP defers to Trump (STOP DEFERRING TO TRUMP YOU COWARDS!)
• The Russian State Media Is Laughing Its Ass off at Trump’s Temper Tantrum (“Meanwhile, Putin continues slaughtering civilians in Ukraine.” They think Trump is a joke. Which he is, of course – a very, very bad joke.)
• Ukraine scrambles to set up ‘drone wall’ as it braces for Russian summer offensive
• If Trump Walks Away From Ukraine Now, He Looks Weak, and Putin Wins
• Fragile U.S.-China Tariffs Truce Is Endangered
• Marco Rubio: US to ‘aggressively’ revoke visas of Chinese students (How the everlasting f*** was Rubio confirmed 99-0 by the US Senate? That says SO much about how the Senate operates, and none of it is good.)
• Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas
• China thought it had a truce with the US. Then Trump dropped two bombshells
• Trump’s Air Force One deal with Qatar not final, despite U.S. claims
• Big battery splurge sets cracking pace for 2025, as wind and solar investment has best year since 2018 (“Australia has notched up a ‘remarkable run’ on big battery investment in the first quarter of 2025, with six projects worth $2.4 billion and a combined 1,510 megawatts (MW) of capacity and more than 5 gigawatt-hours of storage duration reaching financial close in just three months.”)
• Trump administration emerges as a staunch defender of Germany’s far-right AfD (Completely insane.)
• The way to end the Gaza war has been clear for nearly a year (“Every day he delays, Benjamin Netanyahu harms both Palestinian civilians and his people.” Bibi needs to be Bye Bye – ASAP)
• Britain Weighs Sanctions on Israeli Cabinet Ministers as Gaza Crisis Worsens
• Israel announces major expansion of settlements in occupied West Bank
• Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan charged with rape in the UK (Definitely two of the worst people in the world.)
• Trump administration’s bid to deport Mahmoud Khalil is likely unconstitutional, judge rules
• US judge blocks Trump from halting Biden-era migrant ‘parole’ programs
• Judge Says Government Should Release Russian Scientist
• An intelligence report debunked MAGA media claims about Tren de Aragua and Venezuela. A Trump official is now under fire for reportedly ordering the report be redone. (“The New York Times reported that Trump intel official Joe Kent ordered the assessment to be edited to protect Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard”)
• Immigration courts are dismissing cases of those sent to El Salvador, potentially cutting off their return (“The Executive Office for Immigration Review, a branch of the Justice Department that employs immigration judges and runs the immigration court system, also did not respond to a request for comment.”)
• The sweeping federal court order blocking Trump’s tariffs, explained (“If this decision stands on appeal, it’s a big loss for Trump that will make it difficult for his trade war to continue.”)
• Federal court blocks Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs under emergency powers law
• We Won Our Tariff Case! (“The US Court of International Trade just issued a unanimous ruling in the case against Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs filed by Liberty Justice Center and myself on behalf of five US businesses harmed by the tariffs.”)
• Is There a Dignified Legal Way, Preferably in Latin, to Say “Holy Shit”?
• US trade court blocks Trump’s sweeping tariffs. What happens now?
• Trump’s not happy about Wall Street’s name for tariff flip-flops (“TACO”=”Trump Always Chickens Out”)
• Markets cheer court ruling to block Trump tariffs
• Steve Bannon and his guest agree: Trump should suspend habeas corpus if the Supreme Court doesn’t end nationwide injunctions (Bannon is a fascist – period.)
• The MAGA War on Science Is Deadly—and It’s Just Getting Started (“The administration’s anti-science posture has three different sources. Each is as extremist as the last.”)
• STAT+: HHS cancels nearly $600 million Moderna contract on vaccines for flu pandemics (WHY???)
• 16 States Sue Trump Over $1.4 Billion in Science Cuts (Starting in January 2026, when we hopefully get a Democratic AG, Virginia needs to be on these lawsuits!)
• The Supreme Court Undercuts Another Check on Executive Power (“In leaping to defend the Trump Administration, the Court conveniently ignored a long-established precedent that prevented Presidents from firing independent-agency heads at will.”)
• Trump Nominates His Defense Lawyer-Turned-DOJ Yes Man For Federal Appeals Court
• Trump nominates one of his former personal attorneys for prestigious federal appeals court seat (The Senate absolutely SHOULD reject this nomination – but will it???)
• Crime is Now Legal (At Least for Trump’s Friends) (“Corruption is spreading fast within the Justice Department”)
• The Trump Presidency’s World-Historical Heist (“He is taking self-enrichment to a scale never seen before in America.”)
• Ben Shapiro decries the “skeeziness” around Trump involving crypto investments: “This sort of skeeziness is likely to have really bad political effect” (“The Trump family should stop openly engaging or engaging at all in many of the sort of activities in which they are currently engaged”)
• The GOP’s Big, Beautiful Bind (“House Republicans fell in lockstep behind Trump and now own a bill that targets health care and food assistance. As Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries tells me, ‘They will be held accountable.'”)
• Trump will ‘take a look’ at pardoning convicted Whitmer kidnap plotters, he says (That’s completely insane.)
• Trump has let allies and supporters avoid centuries of prison time (“Trump’s pardons have cleared the records of over 230 individuals, including violent rioters and extremists.”)
• Doge employees hold stock in firms set to benefit from cuts, Democrats allege (“Elizabeth Warren and others urge investigation over ‘clear conflict of interest and potential criminal violation’”)
• A Disillusioned Musk, Distanced From Trump, Says He’s Exiting Washington (Musk did tremendous damage and nobody should ever forget or forgive that.)
• Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers
• Inside Trump’s push against school desegregation plans (Deranged and racist.)
• Can Dems Save Themselves by Spending $20M on ‘Speaking With American Men’? (Doubtful.)
• Why the left gets the far right wrong (“The left’s attachment to thinking of politics in ‘material’ terms is causing it to misread the moment.” Bingo.)
• The President’s Pattern of Impatience (“Trump’s short attention span is a threat to his own agenda as well as to the constitutional order.”)
• Paramount Has Offered $15 Million to Settle CBS Lawsuit. Trump Wants More. (Paramount should, in fact, offer ZERO, because CBS News did nothing wrong in this case.)
• House Democrat launches investigation of Trump’s meme coin dinner
• Tommy Tuberville Wants to Stop Embarrassing Himself in the Senate, Start Embarrassing Himself in the Alabama Governor’s Mansion
• Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine Condemn GOP Tax Plan “that blows a hole in the deficit and leaves working families holding the bag” (“The last thing [Virginia families] need is a reckless giveaway to the richest Americans…”)
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08): “The U.S. Court of International Trade agreed with what I and others have said for months: Trump was clearly abusing emergency authorities in ways not authorized by Congress” (Sen. Mark Warner: “The courts are saving the Trump administration from itself”)
• Sen. Warner Visits Falls Church For Roundtable on Tariff Policy
• Consumer confidence in Virginia nears record low as economic anxiety grows
• Debate grows over timing of higher academic standards in Virginia
• State lawmakers chew on possible food safety updates for Virginia in wake of federal cuts
• Video: VA Democrats Launch Ad Campaign Highlighting Winsome Earle-Sears’ Extreme Record Supporting Abortion Bans and Restricting Access to Birth Control
• ICYMI: Virginia Democrats on Track to Smash Primary Early Voting Record (“The Washington narrative that Democrats are dispirited and the activists are hopeless…[is] just not supported by these early voting numbers in Virginia.”)
• A casino proposal in Northern Virginia is a hot topic on the campaign trail this year
• Democratic candidates for attorney general talk opioids, Trump and Southwest Virginia (“Jay Jones and Shannon Taylor are vying for the Democratic nomination to face Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in the November election.”)
• LeVar Burton endorses Levar Stoney for Virginia lieutenant governor
• CASA in Action: Trump’s Pardon of Convicted Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins Undermines Justice, Threat to Public Trust (“Jenkins was convicted in December 2024 on multiple federal charges, including conspiracy, honest services fraud and bribery.”)
• Editorial: Trump undermines the rule of law with Culpeper sheriff’s pardon
• Williams: Richmond is under water again, but there is a cure (“What’s happening at the plant looks less like a crisis than a chronic condition. It needs the sort of holistic cure that only a regional water authority can provide.”)
• UVA student-led groups urging General Assembly to reject BOV appointee
• Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Rocky Mount attorney facing sanctions
• Hanover appoints former Colonial Heights superintendent to school board
• Harrison Ruffin Tyler, grandson of 10th U.S. president and longtime Richmonder, dies at 96
• CWG Live updates: Warmer today with a chance of showers; storms possible Friday