Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on NewsMax to discuss his perspective on the Supreme Court oral arguments surrounding the legal challenges to President Trump’s tariff authority.
Secretary Lutnick attended the court arguments today and is very optimistic about the outcome of the arguments. WATCH:
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Today, the Dept of Justice Solicitor General Dean John Sauer provided oral arguments to the Supreme Court in support of President Donald Trump’s tariff authority. The issue at the heart of the matter is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which grants the president the power to levy tariffs.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, leaned heavily on the argument that tariffs are taxes against the American people, and all taxes must come from Congress. The ‘tariffs are taxes’ argument seems to be the linchpin for the leftists on the court and the Gorsuch ‘conservatives’.
Solicitor Sauer countered the IEEPA tariffs are “regulations” against foreign imported goods. “The power to impose tariffs is a core application of the power to regulate foreign commerce, which is what the phrase ‘regular importation of commerce’ in IEEPA naturally evokes,” Sauer said.
The full audio of the arguments is provided below. (I’m working on the transcript). WATCH (prompted):
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It’s not as easy, Chief Justice Roberts said, to simply frame a tariff as a tax – a power reserved to Congress. “It implicates, very directly, the president’s foreign affairs power,” said Roberts, who is a key vote to watch in the case.
Trump’s tariffs, Roberts said, were “quite effective” in achieving the president’s particular objective. That position is closely aligned with the administration’s position that a president has broad power in the context of foreign affairs.
The court is expected to hand down a decision by the end of June – or potentially sooner.
The issue is somewhat frustrating for those who have followed DC events closely. The Democrats hated the Big Beautiful Bill budget and spending legislation, so the Republicans had to suspend the filibuster to pass it. However, the Democrats are blocking the BBB budget and spending legislation by shutting down government, and the Republicans will not suspend the filibuster to open it.
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday there’s not enough support among Republican senators to eliminate the filibuster as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure to change the chamber’s rules to allow the simple-majority passage of legislation. “The votes aren’t there,” Thune told reporters.
Thune said he had spoken to Trump about the issue — he didn’t specify when — and questioned whether his campaign against the filibuster should come as a surprise. (more)
The Moonbat leftists are not the biggest problem; they never have been. They are ideologues, mostly. Insufferable, stupid, violent at times, but easy to spot. Remember, Democrats quest for power; Republicans quest for money. Always underline this, because it’s really important.
The Moonbat leftists seek power, seek control of your life, and they are open in their insufferably stupid arguments to get there. When they start to lose, they turn violent. This is their history.
That said, they are not the most dangerous.
The professional Republicans are more dangerous, because their priority is money. As a result, their approaches, goals, objectives and arguments can be purchased.
Republicans have no interests, goals or objectives, nor allegiances, that supersede their primary objective – getting money, and growing their wealth.
Democrats will come at you with a knife, a gun or a baseball bat. You can see them. The professional Republican guy standing beside you, however, is willing to take a payment to shoot you in the ear when you don’t see it coming.
This is also why it seems like Democrats stick together, and Republicans split. Democrats are chasing a common goal, a collective goal – power. Republicans are chasing a commonality, yes, but an individual goal – money, their wealth.
Donors contribute to the Democrat agenda because their interest is to benefit from power. Republicans modify their agenda to benefit donors, because their goal is money.
Democrats stay on task, power. Republicans are flexible, money.
You enter a war against Leftists with extreme danger. However, the danger is not the war in front of you, it’s the army beside you waiting to get a payment from the enemy in front of you.
Out of a group of 1,000 Democrats, 900+ will join in to defend a weakened Moonbat leftist (see Kimmel).
Out of a group of 1,000 Republicans, you will find, maybe, 5 willing to cover your back regardless of how much bribery is put in front of them.
Remember this, understand this, and the reality of who presents the most danger to us is accurately framed.
Republicans do not simply snatch defeat from the jaws of victory; they sell defeat to the highest bidder!
It is interesting to watch Senate Republicans proclaim how agencies like the DOJ and FBI have lost the institutional trust of the American people due to corruption, while simultaneously the same Senate Republicans never note the trust loss within their party as a result of their willful blindness to it.
Wax on…. Wax off. Today is another Monday.
No amount of judicial activism can get blood from a stone. After the Rhode Island judge demanded the USDA pay food stamp benefits from an emergency/disaster fund, Deputy Under Secretary of the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS) at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Patrick Penn, files a court response saying all funds distributed.
Approximately 50% of the normal distribution for 42 million recipients has been transmitted.
Block grants for Puerto Rico and Samoa?
Posted originally on CTH on November 2, 2025 | Sundance
With increased holiday travel season soon to take place, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy discusses some of the issues to federal transportation, specifically air travel, with CBS Margaret Brennan. Transcript and Video below:
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, who joins us this morning from Far Hills, New Jersey. Welcome to Face The Nation.
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY: Hey, thanks, Margaret, good to be with you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So our CBS polling shows that there is real concern among Americans regarding the effect of the shutdown on all transportation. Should Americans also have safety concerns at this point?
SEC. DUFFY: I think that’s a great question. We work overtime to make sure the system is safe. And we will slow traffic down, you’ll see delays, we’ll have flights canceled to make sure the system is safe. But we have to be honest, when we have controllers, where we have shortages and towers and TRACONs doing two jobs, does it add more risk into the system? Sure, it does. But again, we’re always managing that. Again, we don’t- we don’t want crashes, we want people to go safely, and so we will slow and stop traffic if we don’t think we can manage it in a way that keeps people safe as they go from point A to point B.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I did see that the FAA said, up in New York, 80% of air traffic controllers were absent from New York area airports, and that same day, there was a near miss at LaGuardia Airport. One United plane clipped another one. Was that pilot error? Or was that linked to some kind of shortage?
SEC. DUFFY: Well, you mentioned the shortages of air traffic controllers in the New York airspace. We had a couple days ago, three hour delays throughout New York. And again, I haven’t got the readout yet on whether that was pilot error. And usually, when these planes are- are traveling very close to each other, it’s their job to stay away from one another. That’s not controllers, it’s usually pilot error. But again, I’ll have to look and see what directive was given by the air traffic controllers. But it’s normally the pilot’s responsibility to stay away from aircraft on the tarmac.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So if this shutdown continues, how- when does it become an emergency in terms of passenger safety and the safety of those who are trying to, for example, get home for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.
SEC. DUFFY: Well, does it become a flight emergency, a safety issue? No, we will stop traffic. So we’re not going to let that happen. I think the real consequence is, what kind of rolling delays do you have throughout the system, right? We’ve seen problems at LA, in Dallas, in DC, Boston, Atlanta. And so I think it’s only going to get worse. We have controllers who, some of them are new controllers. We have trainee controllers who are very helpful in the tower. They don’t make a lot of money, and they’re now confronted, they haven’t had a paycheck for over a month. They’re confronted with a decision: do I put food on my kids’ table, do I put gas in the car, do I pay my rent or do I go to work and not get paid? They’re making decisions. I’ve encouraged them all to come to work. I want them to come to work, but they’re making life decisions that they shouldn’t have to make. Let’s open the government up. Let’s pay these people, these young controllers. Margaret, it’s really important, I think you’ve covered this, we don’t have the best equipment in our towers and centers for air traffic control. But we have the safest airspace, we have the most efficient airspace because we have the best controllers in the world that work our skies and keep our people safe. They deserve a paycheck.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, given that they are so essential, is there any way the administration can find a pot of money like seems to be getting found for others, like the military, to pay controllers so they can show up to work? Why isn’t the administration able to do that?
SEC. DUFFY: Yeah, well, I think that’s a great question. So we have done all we can. President Trump has done all he can to minimize the pain of the shutdown on the American people. Again, you remember under Barack Obama’s shutdown, he was trying to gate off open air monuments in Washington, DC, and were shutting down parks just walking paths. President Trump has tried to make it less painful on the American people. So we’re looking for pots of money to pay essential workers, but there’s really strict rules around what money we can use and how we can use it, and we have to follow the law. And so we were able to fund a central air service, service to more rural communities. We’ve kept our academy up and running thus far. We don’t have a ton of time, a couple more weeks of that funding. But I don’t have the resources to do that, and the simple answer is, vote to open the government, negotiate your differences. That’s fine, that’s fair. But again, these people should be paid. And to say that it’s Donald Trump’s fault, to say he has to find money, when Democrats have said there’s no money for you because we’ve shut the government down, I mean, that’s a contorted analysis. And Democrats are trying to do that, and I don’t think it really works. Give the money and we’ll pay the controllers.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, well, I saw reports that air traffic controllers only received partial pay mid-October, and this past week they missed a paycheck altogether. So practically speaking, for those who are in these jobs, would you advise them to pick up part time work elsewhere?
SEC. DUFFY: No, I’m clearly asking them, come to work. It is your job to come to work, and eventually you will be paid. But as I’ve traveled around the country and talked to air traffic controllers, they’ve told me that a lot of them can navigate missing one paycheck. None of them can manage missing two paychecks. And they’re like every American family, everyone watching your show today as they think about their own finances, how many paychecks can they miss before it becomes real stress, real strife in their life? And so they’re- at the- next week, they’re going to get a notice of what their next paycheck is going to be. And if the government doesn’t open, the notice will be another big fat zero, and you’re going to see more of them probably make the decisions of funding their families, putting food on their table, gas in their cars, versus coming into work. That’s not what I want, but I’m a realist as well, Margaret, these are the decisions of life and survival that these controllers have to make. By the way, it’s the technicians, also. We have old equipment. We have technicians that work in the towers that keep the equipment operational. They’re not getting paid. I have train inspectors who are working to keep our trains running and running safely. They’re working without pay. I have pipeline inspectors, same thing. Across the system. We have a number of people who are working without pay. We talk about the air traffic controllers, but I have thousands of employees who are showing up, doing the work and trying to keep this system safe for the American people all the while they don’t get paid to do it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. So you said back on Fox Business on October 9 that “I can’t have people not showing up for work and that they may be let go.” There’s a shortage of 4,000 controllers already. You’re not firing people, are you? You can’t afford to.
SEC. DUFFY: No, so when- we’re 2-3,000 controllers short, but that’s a huge number. And you make an interesting point, because I’ve tried to surge air traffic controllers into the system through our academy. Margaret, we’re up 20% of controllers through the academy this year alone. It takes them about a year to two to get certified in a tower, but this shutdown is impacting my pipeline of controllers. And so as- when everyone forgets about air traffic control and the shutdown, I’m going to deal with the consequences of, again, delivering for the American people and getting more controllers in the towers, not less. And you bring up a good point. We’re already stressed in that we don’t have enough controllers in our system, and this shutdown, when we have staffing triggers where they’re not coming in because they’re funding their families and food on their tables, that makes it more difficult because we’re already short long. Long term consequences–
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you’re not going to fire them?
SEC. DUFFY: I don’t plan on firing control. No, listen, I have, no, I- again when they’re making decisions to feed their families, I’m not going to fire air traffic controllers. I have, I have loved them and supported them as they’re trying to go through this process and it’s challenging for them. They need support, they need money, they need a paycheck. They don’t need to be fired.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. Secretary Duffy, thank you for your time this morning. We’ll be right back.
[Transcript End]
The Big Beautiful Bill (BBB), essentially the 2026 budget and spending package, was passed along party lines because Democrats would not support the cuts to their spending programs which purchased votes. The Democrat opposition to the fiscal spending Continuing Resolution (CR) is essentially just another way to filibuster the BBB that preceded it.
If the Republican Senate would end the filibuster to pass the BBB, then why would the Republican Senate permit the spending filibuster to block the CR which is the spending vehicle to deploy the BBB?
DONALD J TRUMP – “Remember, Republicans, regardless of the Schumer Shutdown, the Democrats will terminate the Filibuster the first chance they get. They will Pack the Supreme Court, pick up two States, and add at least 8 Electoral Votes. Their two objectors are gone!!! Don’t be WEAK AND STUPID. FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! WIN, WIN, WIN! We will immediately END the Extortionist Shutdown, get ALL of our agenda passed, and make life so good for Americans that these DERANGED DEMOCRAT politicians will never again have the chance to DESTROY AMERICA! Republicans, you will rue the day that you didn’t TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!! BE TOUGH, BE SMART, AND WIN!!! This is much bigger than the Shutdown, this is the survival of our Country!”
On Friday President Trump noted (off-the-cuff) he was ambivalent to the trade interests of Canada and had no intention to restart discussions. However, Trump also said he holds no personal animosity toward Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the stupid and antagonistic move they made in purchasing a manipulative television ad intended to undermine the Trump trade position.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed he did apologize to President Trump for the Canadian effort.
GYEONGJU, South Korea, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday he had apologised to U.S. President Donald Trump over an anti-tariff political advertisement and had told Ontario Premier Doug Ford not to run it.
Carney, speaking to reporters after attending an Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea, said he had made the apology privately to Trump when they both attended a dinner hosted by South Korea’s president on Wednesday.
“I did apologise to the president,” Carney said, confirming comments by Trump made on Friday.
Carney also confirmed that he had reviewed the ad with Ford before it aired but said he had opposed using it.
“I told Ford I did not want to go forward with the ad,” he said.
The ad, commissioned by Ford, an outspoken Conservative politician who is sometimes compared to Trump, uses a snippet of Republican icon and former President Ronald Reagan saying that tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.
In response, Trump announced that he was increasing tariffs on goods from Canada, and Washington has also halted trade talks with Canada.
When departing South Korea earlier this week, Trump remarked he had a “very nice” conversation with Carney at that dinner but did not elaborate. On Friday Trump still said the United States and Canada will not restart trade talks. (read more)
Carney also noted he had great discussions with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping but did not negotiate any trade deals.
Instead, the Canadian Prime Minister emphasized the release of Canadian citizens detained in China and requested that Beijing not interfere in Canadian domestic politics.
The irony is strong.
The current USMCA (CUSMA) trade pact covers approximately 60% of U.S-Canada trade; it is the remaining 40% is being debated and argued.
President Trump’s position is pragmatic. He would prefer to just deal with 100% of the trade sectors in one bilateral free trade agreement; hence, his ambivalence until the USMCA is dissolved.
Canada, on the other hand, is entirely dependent. They demand all trade conflicts be resolved without opening up the USMCA. Again, another conflict. Canada is like the dependent spouse in a divorce arguing for child support payments when the “children” are in their twenties.
The current status is President Trump pulling back completely from discussions with Canada, while the various provincial Premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney agonize over the issue.
At a certain point, when the entire national economic plan of Canada is based on “Donald Trump bad”, and all political messaging internally is to proclaim they have no alternative policy positions, the Canadians might not realize it, but they are confirming complete and total dependency on the nation Donald Trump represents.
What took place in last week’s tour of Asia, makes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney look very small.
Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the Asia tour by President Trump and the trade delegation that culminated with a lengthy meeting between President Trump and Chairman Xi Jinping.
By locking down trade agreements with Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Japan and South Korea in advance of the meeting with Xi, President Trump had effectively boxed out the maneuvers of Beijing and isolated any contravening strategy.
Chairman Xi was facing a U.S. strategic trade reset with multiple options for replacement of Chinese goods and resources. As a result, the Beijing trade delegation recognized President Trump had effectively neutered the scale of their economic power and influence over the U.S. economy. Instead, the best play for big panda was to shake hands and come to agreeable terms. WATCH:
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Playing into President Trump’s hands was/is the strains currently ongoing within the Chinese domestic economy. Further friction against the USA would have weakened Chairman Xi domestically.
The missing piece of the puzzle is now Russia.
President Trump participates in a dinner hosted by Lee Jae-myung, the President of the Republic of Korea.
PRESIDENT TRUMP – South Korea has agreed to pay the USA 350 Billion Dollars for a lowering of the Tariff’s charged against them by the United States. Additionally, they have agreed to buy our Oil and Gas in vast quantities, and investments into our Country by wealthy South Korean Companies and Businessmen will exceed 600 Billion Dollars. Our Military Alliance is stronger than ever before and, based on that, I have given them approval to build a Nuclear Powered Submarine, rather than the old fashioned, and far less nimble, diesel powered Submarines that they have now. A great trip, with a great President of South Korea! (link)
For those who have followed along with the U.S-Canada trade positioning, the current status of conflict between the Trump administration and the government of Canada is not surprising. {GO DEEP} Going all the way back to the replacement of NAFTA, with the USMCA, President Trump always said he did not favor multilateral trade deals with multiple countries; instead, he preferred bilateral free trade agreements.
Some people have construed the bilateral preference of President Trump to be the elimination of globalism in favor of nationalism in trade agreements.
While the outcome of the Trump approach indeed aligns with that theme, it is not specifically the objective of President Trump to eliminate global trade, but rather to focus on specific interests in trade that benefit the unique nature of each party involved.
As a result, the USMCA -or CUSMA as said in Canada- is not in alignment with a bilateral free trade agreement, and the conflicted differences between trade with Mexico and trade with Canada are an outcome of this dynamic. The solution is simply to eliminate the multilateral in favor of the bilateral approach. This is the objective of President Trump as expressed.
That said, the USMCA covers approximately 60% of U.S-Canada trade, and the remaining 40% is being debated and argued. President Trump would prefer to just deal with 100% of the trade sectors in one free trade agreement; hence, his ambivalence until the USMCA is dissolved.
Canada, on the other hand, continues to demand that all trade conflicts be resolved without opening up the entire USMCA. Again, another conflict. Canada is like the dependent spouse in a divorce arguing for child support payments when the “children” are in their twenties.
The current status is President Trump pulling back completely from discussions with Canada, while the various provincial Premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney antagonize over the issue.
At a certain point, when the entire national economic plan of Canada is based on “Donald Trump bad”, and all political messaging internally is to proclaim they have no alternative policy positions, the Canadians might not realize it, but they are confirming complete and total dependency on the nation Donald Trump represents.
As the Canadian government continues demanding President Trump pay attention to their needs, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, informs the Carney administration, and various stakeholders, any trade agreement is no longer possible.
CANADA – The U.S. ambassador to Canada doesn’t foresee a new security and economic deal between Canada and the United States — which could see the reduction or full removal of tariffs amid an ongoing trade dispute — before the new year.
“We have stopped negotiations with Canada,” Pete Hoekstra said in a keynote address to the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Business Canada on Monday. “I don’t see any way that there will be an agreement before American Thanksgiving.”
“I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get people back to the table in a constructive and positive mode,” he added.
Hoekstra’s comments come just days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he is terminating trade talks with Canada and increasing levies on Canadian goods by 10 per cent in response to an anti-tariff ad by the government of Ontario which featured the voice of former Republican U.S. president Ronald Reagan. Ontario has since pulled the ads, effective Monday.
Government sources had told CTV News that Canadian officials were hopeful there could be movement on a steel and aluminum deal by this week’s APEC Summit in South Korea.
[…] Asked by event attendees whether he sees any way to get negotiations back on track, such as an apology for the ad, Hoekstra said: “No.”
Speaking more broadly about the state of negotiations, Hoekstra laid the blame at Canada’s feet for the soured relationship.
Hoekstra has previous expressed his distaste for what he’s called “anti-American” sentiment in Canada, and on Monday pointed to some provinces removing U.S. liquor from store shelves and Canadians being discouraged from travelling south of the border as examples.
He also said the ad amounts to foreign interference, with the U.S. Supreme Court set to start hearing arguments on the legality of Trump’s tariffs on Nov. 5, as well as some gubernatorial and state legislative elections happening next week.
“Canada burnt the bridges with America,” he said. “Donald Trump did not slam the door.”
“Donald Trump could do the only thing that a leader of a sovereign nation could do when a neighbour, another sovereign nation, decided to interject itself into American politics,” he added. “Canada slammed that door shut all by itself.” (read more)
Canada is trying to force President Trump to give them preference, in a similar way the EU demanded special trade privileges.
President Trump is trying to end the Canadian one-way benefits toward the U.S. market.
President Trump is currently touring Asia, gathering up bilateral trade deals with various countries all across the ASEAN network.
In the bigger context, Trump is cutting all the tentacles and tools of China, and isolating them from Southeast Asia, as it relates to trade with the USA.
The bigger strategy of President Trump is very clear now, reduce dependency on China by retracting all of the manufacturing dependency.
All of the surrounding nations in Asia stand to benefit from this approach through bilateral free trade agreements with the USA. Beijing’s influence is being seriously diminished as the lead-up to President Trump sitting down with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Inside China, throughout the Chinese Communist Party, there are indications they are recognizing how successful President Trump has been at working around their influence. Some outside observers have even started to believe the “moderates” within China feel empowered over the “hardliners” represented by Chairman Xi. There is a lot going on behind the scenes.
This internal pressure inside Beijing’s politics works to President Trump’s favor, because it makes it even harder for Xi Jinping to be aggressive. Additionally, with the Chinese economy being uncertain, perhaps significantly weak, Chairman Xi might even face a challenge to his power structure. Meanwhile President Trump hops around shaking hands and making deals.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
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