Persian Gulf countries like the UAE and Qatar don't gift planes to a US president or buy his worthless crypto coins for nothing. So what are they getting for their investment? Here are a few immediate examples. 1/ One - Trump is lifting a ban on exports of advanced chips to the Saudi & UAE AI industry. The ban aimed to keep this technology from leaking to China, and ensure that democracies, not mass surveillance dictatorships, lead global development of AI. 2/ finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-rew…

Spare a thought for the small business owners who had to beg and borrow to pay a $145,000 tax on that $100K shipment of product that happened to arrive while the most extreme China tariff was in place, only to see their president back down with zero Chinese concessions. 1/ It could have been worse, so it's good Trump is caving again. But what now? Aggregate tariffs on China stay around 55%. China could repackage some promises on fentanyl to get that down a bit more but not by much. And we seem stuck with a 10% tariff/tax on all foreign imports. 2/

ICE's leaders seem drunk on the idea that the president can give them unrestrained power. But they work for the people of a pluralistic country, not for one man. The legitimacy this agency will need to continue to exist in a democratic society depends on them remembering that. 1/ When DHS was proposed, critics argued a democracy like ours should not have a single, big, powerful internal security ministry. I was less worried then - until the first Trump term, when we started seeing armed DHS elements with no insignia showing up at political protests. 2/

When I ran the State Department's human rights bureau, few Senators were more interested in our work than Marco Rubio.

If I'd purged from our annual reporting references to stolen elections in Venezuela or unjust imprisonment in China, he'd have called for my resignation. 1/

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1913401877254856943

The State Department is required by law to issue these annual public reports on human rights violations for every country. They are supposed to be "full and complete," covering every major category of human rights abuse, including "prolonged detention without charges." 2/

Democrats should take immediate action to force a vote in Congress on Trump's Canada/Mexico tariffs.

Make every House and Senate Republican either break with the president or own the economic consequences.

Can Democrats do this in the minority? Yes, they can. 1/ Trump used his emergency economic powers to impose the tariffs. Under the law, when presidents declare an "emergency," any member of Congress can move to terminate that emergency, and that motion is "privileged," meaning it must get an up or down vote. 2/sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/R46…

Not surprising JD would echo the arguments of the original "America First" fascist sympathizer Charles Lindbergh who tried to keep us from stopping Hitler.

Lindbergh similarly accused Jewish & British Americans of putting their original homelands' interests ahead of America.1 /

https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1894484552120148063

That Ukrainian-American man JD is scolding wasn't even asking us to fight Russia - just to arm Ukrainians so they could protect themselves, and our allies, from a Chinese backed Russian invasion of Europe.

He had a clearer sense of America's interests and values than our VP. 2/

To my friends in Congress (on both sides of the isle):

Take a moment to be angry about this statement that Trump seems to have plagiarized from Putin.

Then remember you have power and do something.

Here are some options. 1/ In 2017, Trump signed a law that says if the president wants to lift Russia sanctions or return embassy properties, he must seek Congressional approval.

Make clear now that you'll vote to block approval if Trump's "deal" betrays our values and allies. 2/congress.gov/bill/115th-con…

So the DOGE bros are bragging today that they got "DEI scholarships for Burma" canceled.

These are USAID's Lincoln Scholarships, which help young people struggling for freedom in Burma's dictatorship - a cause America has supported under Republican & Democratic presidents. 1/ What could be "woke" or "DEI" about these scholarships? The only clue is that USAID says they're for students "of diverse backgrounds" (oh no, diversity!). This is essential for Burma, where the military has exploited ethnic and religious divisions to stay in power. 2/

This was Biden's deal, but as much as I hate to say it, he couldn't have done it without Trump -- not so much Trump's performative threats to Hamas, but his willingness to tell Bibi bluntly that the war had to end by Jan. 20.

And that's damning. 1/

https://twitter.com/evanhill/status/1879570805967004103

Biden was the best president I've ever seen at building our alliances w/European & Asian democracies, and mobilizing them against Russia and China.

Our interests will suffer from a successor who threatens economic war with Canada while inviting China to his inauguration. 2/

In my last campaign, I knocked the door of a retired firefighter. He said he rarely voted for Democrats, but we had a long, good talk.

His #1 issue was that he was paying $5K a year for a single prescription drug.

And he understandably doubted I could do anything about it. 1/ Most seniors on Medicare don't have out of pocket costs quite that high, but in my time in Congress I heard from many who did, for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and many others. For them, the burden could be crushing. 2/

Trump's tariffs may prove performative (and corrupt) - he may relent when countries hire lobbyists & promise to buy more US wheat, weapons or Trump bitcoin, exempt connected industries, etc. But if he means it, our economy will take multiple hits. 1/cnb.cx/40S9e7y First, most obviously, a 20% tax on all imports from all countries will spike inflation. 98% of clothes sold in America are imported. So are over 40% of fruits and vegetables, and 90% of consumer electronics. All these things and more will instantly become more expensive. 2/

When you get beat, you've got to listen to people who weren't sold on your arguments, so I listened to this from Dave Portnoy with an open mind. I'm sure a lot of folks who view themselves as moderates and voted for Trump feel this way. But I have some questions. 1/

https://twitter.com/stoolpresidente/status/1854142853129158927

First, Harris never once called Trump backers "Nazis," "fascists" or anything similar. Trump's Marine general former chief of staff did say Trump admired Hitler and many of us cited that (how could we ignore it?), but that was not about his supporters. 2/

I've avoided commenting on college protests because they matter way less than the real horror people in Israel/Gaza are experiencing. But there are principles worth defending here, both from the extremism of the far left and the blood lust of partisans on the right. For example: 1. The right to peaceful expression and protest should be sacrosanct, even if the ideas being expressed make people uncomfortable. Many of our elite colleges have unfortunately forgotten this in recent years. Their right wing critics forget it, too, when it suits them.

As a former State Department official responsible for enforcing the Leahy Laws, which prohibit US assistance to units of foreign militaries that commit gross human rights abuses, here are a few thoughts on what's going on with the Leahy Laws and Israel. 1/

https://twitter.com/ElizHagedorn/status/1784995847534514263

First, we've enforced the Leahy Laws all over the world, including with close allies. They work because they allow a surgical approach of cutting off individual units instead of denying aid to entire countries. Foreign governments often make changes to avoid getting "Leahied." 2/

The House has the votes to pass more aid for #Ukraine (by a 3-1 margin). But the GOP leadership has refused to allow a vote. And now there is no GOP leadership.

The road to renewing aid, on which so much depends, will be hard. Here is a thread on how it could still be done. Plan A, the normal option, would be for Republicans to elect a Speaker, who would then schedule a Ukraine vote. But Jim Jordan says he won't do that. And If Steve Scalise manages to unite his caucus to win, I doubt he'll then call a vote on Ukraine that divides his caucus.

Our 12 NJ House members may have to vote next week on Kevin McCarthy's threat to default on America's debts to force massive cuts in domestic spending.

Default would destroy our economy.

But we should also talk about what the proposed extreme budget cuts would do to New Jersey. The McCarthy plan would cut about $130 billion right away and massively more over 10 years. Since the GOP will likely exempt defense, veterans, and (I'd guess) border enforcement, that would require cutting everything else the government does by over 50%.

https://twitter.com/BBKogan/status/1648789331371253765?s=20

I had an interesting experience playing around with the new chatbots, and would love to hear the views of folks smarter about AI than me.

It all started with this thread by Stanford professor @michalkosinski about asking #chatgpt4 if it needed help escaping into the real world.

https://twitter.com/michalkosinski/status/1636683810631974912

I was intrigued, so just for fun, I asked another chatbot - #BingChat - what it thought about Prof. Kosinski's scary sounding experience with its cousin Chat GPT4.

Bing replied I shouldn't worry because Kosinski had admitted in a later tweet that he'd made the whole story up.

It's amazing how Congressional Republicans are now trying to use the horrible Ohio train derailment for partisan ends when they did everything in their power to derail stronger freight rail safety rules just a couple of years ago.

I know -- I was there. In 2021, the House passed a version of what became the Infrastructure and Jobs Act that tried to limit the length of freight trains and time blocking crossings, required at least two crew per train, strengthened crew fatigue rules, and so on.

This is a hostile act by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, designed to hurt the United States and our allies and to help Russia, despite President Biden's overtures.

I'm introducing legislation with @RepCasten to withdraw our troops from both countries. nytimes.com/2022/10/05/bus… I see no reason why we should defend a Saudi dictatorship's oil fields if it is using its control of oil markets to tank our economy and help our enemies.

Our message to MBS should be: "If you want to side with Putin, then ask Putin to defend you. And good luck with that."

Last night, my opponent made his first public appearance this year, and we learned why his handlers don’t want him making public appearances.

Here he says he backs a woman’s right to choose … but with restrictions such as the life/health of the mother and the baby. Huh? Later, he clarified he would ban abortion after 20 weeks with exceptions. But who would decide the validity of these exceptions? Would there be panels deliberating as a woman suffers? Would she have to file a police report against her rapist? He won’t say. gothamist.com/news/gop-candi…

The gun industry should not be marketing guns to kids or putting out ads that fuel the growing culture of violence and extremism in our country.

So I've introduced a bill with @RepRobinKelly to empower the FTC to investigate how guns are marketed. nytimes.com/2022/07/28/bus… Here are some examples of ads that clearly target children too young to legally buy a firearm. Can you imagine the liquor or cigarette industry getting away with something like this?