"Tariff exemptions announced Friday on electronics like smartphones and laptops are only a temporary reprieve until the Trump administration develops a new tariff approach specific to the semiconductor industry, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday."
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-smartphones-electronics-laptops-apple-10c31e91d7790bfe8fb004f547109359
Lavrov: "It's not about territory. It's about people."
Is it now? I saw Russia's handling of "voting" and "passports!" in occupied territory of Ukraine.
Voting at gun point with identifiable choices is extortion. Forcing passports on people is not a choice. It's oppression, it's conquest by brute force.
Russia you are on the wrong side of history here.
All of Tim Cook's sucking up to dictators finally pays off for his company, at least for now.
"The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-exempts-phones-computers-chips-124707368.html
"'Tim Cook calls Donald Trump directly,' the US president said of Apple’s chief executive during his first term in 2019, speaking in the third person."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-collapse-proves-cosying-trump-110000281.html
First Felon is a fading imbecile with zero impulse control surrounded by weak people.
h/t #liberalsarecool@tumblr.com
https://www.tumblr.com/liberalsarecool/780626154638000128/tariffs-will-create-jobs-and-build-new-factories?source=share
#USPol #TrumpTariffs #StockManipulation #Extortion #Fraud #InsiderTrading #TaxTheBillionaires
"If we pay the ransom, maybe he'll grow a conscience." 
Trump says five more law firms agree to pro bono work to avoid punitive executive orders
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/trump-law-firms-pro-bono-deal
#MafiaDon #news #politics #crime #UnitedStates #extortion #RICO
#Trump said he will use major #LawFirms to do free legal work to support his #trade team's negotiations w/other countries over #tariffs. 4 firms in recent weeks *agreed* to *donate* legal services to him.
"We have a lot of law firms that have paid me a lot of money in the form of legal fees. We're going to probably use those firms...I think we can. I think we're going to try to use these very prestigious firms to help us out with the trade."
#extortion #MafiaState #law
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-may-ask-top-law-firms-work-free-us-trade-deals-2025-04-10/
Now is a good time to buy, are you kidding me?? Voter suppression, stock market manipulation, incompetent, self-serving dismantling of the US government! I want to maintain American optimism, but this is unbelievable!!
"U.S. President Donald Trump's about-face on sweeping import tariffs did little to soothe companies' worries about the fallout from his trade war and its chaotic implementation: soaring costs, falling orders and snarled supply chains.
"In a stunning reversal, the president said on Wednesday he would temporarily lower the hefty tariffs he had just imposed on dozens of countries, though he also hiked duties for China and kept 25% tariffs levied on aluminum, steel and autos in place."
https://www.reuters.com/business/trump-tariff-pause-leaves-ceos-asking-what-happens-90-days-2025-04-10/
Kill peaceful protest and free speech on campus or we end your research.
https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-freezes-all-research-grants-columbia-university
Hmmm.... I emailed a state agency this morning to ask about a cyberattack claimed by an extortion group. The agency's site was up when I emailed them to ask about the attack. Shortly after I emailed them, it was suddenly down. I wonder if my email made them aware of something they had been unaware of....
@RachelC_Y @thorsheim just demanding that would likely be a triple felony in #Germany:
I just hope @Bundesregierung , @AuswaertigesAmt and @antidiskriminierung remind the #US #Ambassador they are mere #Guests and that #Diplomats are expected to comply with local laws and customs or they get expelled!
BBC News - Excel Parking ordered to pay £10,240 in five-minute parking rule row - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2040xy9yn6o
How many others just pay the fine? Does Excel rely on those fines for income and have therefore modelled their business on them.
How many other parking companies do the same?
"I’ve said before that Trump does not think of policy the way most of us do, operating instead like a low-level mob boss running a protection racket. Unfortunately, a bunch of rubes decided to give him another bite at the apple, and now the entire global economy has to pay up."
~ Marlon Weems
#Trump #tariffs #mob #MobBoss #sanctions #extortion #bullying #stupidity #incompetence
/6
#politics #alt #tariffs #protectionism #mobboss #extortion
Heather Cox Richardson Mob Boss Extortion 4/3/2025
![Heather Cox Richardson Mob Boss Extortion 4/3/2025
Dayen writes that Trump's tariffs are essentially sanctions on the rest of the world. His behavior is, Dayen says, “no different from a mob boss moving into town and sending his thugs to every business on Main Street, roughing up the proprietors and asking for protection money so they don't get pushed out of business.” Dayen notes that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued last year for using the extraordinary power of the U.S. economy to force other countries to do as the U.S. wants, creating a U.S. sphere of influence through economic pressure.
Extending the comparison to a mob boss, Dayen notes that “protection money"” could take many forms: “curbing migration, taking in more U.S. farm exports or weapons systems, reducing industrial capacity in China and forcing more consumption, buying long-dated U.S. debt on the cheap, siding with a war strategy against Iran, literally anything the White House wants.”
Trump's son Eric appeared to confirm that the tariffs are a shakedown : “I wouldn't want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with [T]. The first to negotiate will win—the last will absolutely lose. | have seen this movie my entire life....” Foreign affairs journalist David Rothkopf was more graphic: “These aren't tariffs,” he wrote. “They are a horse’s head in the bed of (almost) every world government and business leader.”](https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/114/280/246/909/734/612/original/55a5e555b4a5b4f1.jpeg "Heather Cox Richardson Mob Boss Extortion 4/3/2025
Dayen writes that Trump's tariffs are essentially sanctions on the rest of the world. His behavior is, Dayen says, “no different from a mob boss moving into town and sending his thugs to every business on Main Street, roughing up the proprietors and asking for protection money so they don't get pushed out of business.” Dayen notes that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued last year for using the extraordinary power of the U.S. economy to force other countries to do as the U.S. wants, creating a U.S. sphere of influence through economic pressure.
Extending the comparison to a mob boss, Dayen notes that “protection money\"” could take many forms: “curbing migration, taking in more U.S. farm exports or weapons systems, reducing industrial capacity in China and forcing more consumption, buying long-dated U.S. debt on the cheap, siding with a war strategy against Iran, literally anything the White House wants.”
Trump's son Eric appeared to confirm that the tariffs are a shakedown : “I wouldn't want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with [T]. The first to negotiate will win—the last will absolutely lose. | have seen this movie my entire life....” Foreign affairs journalist David Rothkopf was more graphic: “These aren't tariffs,” he wrote. “They are a horse’s head in the bed of (almost) every world government and business leader.”")
"The only legible purpose of the tariffs is for Trump to arrogate more power to himself: so that nations and corporate leaders and labor unions come begging him for relief, and so that he can shake them down."
~ Brian Beutler
#Trump #tariffs #mob #MobBoss #sanctions #extortion #bullying #stupidity #incompetence #Putin #PutinsPoodle
/5
“Vladimir Putin bet his life that American voters would be weak and decadent enough to return Donald Trump to the presidency. He was right. …
We have a deeply stupid government—from our economically illiterate president to our craven and foolish secretary of state," (continued in /4)
~ Jonathan V. Last
#Trump #tariffs #mob #MobBoss #sanctions #extortion #bullying #stupidity #incompetence #Putin #PutinsPoodle
/3
"Trump’s son Eric appeared to confirm that the tariffs are a shakedown when he posted: 'I wouldn’t want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with [Trump]. The first to negotiate will win—the last will absolutely lose. I have seen this movie my entire life.…'”
~ Heather Cox Richardson
#Trump #tariffs #mob #MobBoss #sanctions #extortion #bullying
/2
"It is not at all surprising that Trump sees the appeal in sanctions. It is no different from a mob boss moving into town and sending his thugs to every business on Main Street, roughing up the proprietors and asking for protection money so they don’t get pushed out of business. … It’s a mentality fit for someone repeatedly linked to organized crime."
~ David Dayen
#Trump #tariffs #mob #MobBoss #sanctions #extortion #bullying
/1
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-03-theyre-not-tariffs-theyre-sanctions/
️ 
nge? W
