A Federal Reserve rate drop can have several impacts on your finances, depending on your financial situation and the types of loans or savings you have. Here’s a breakdown of how it might affect you:
In summary, if you’re a borrower, you might benefit from lower rates on loans, but if you’re a saver, you could see reduced returns on your savings. It’s a mixed bag, but overall, the goal of the Fed’s rate cut is to support economic growth and stability.
Sources:
Bloomberg News
Tue, September 23, 2025 at 1:43 AM CDT·9 min read
China is hurtling towards a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus.
(Bloomberg) — President Xi Jinping’s export engine has proved unstoppable during five months of sky-high US tariffs, sending China toward a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus.
With access to the US curtailed, Chinese manufacturers have shown they aren’t backing down: Indian purchases hit an all-time high in August, shipments to Africa are on track for an annual record and sales to Southeast Asia have exceeded their pandemic-era peak
That across-the-board surge is causing alarm abroad, as governments weigh the potential damage to their domestic industries against the risk of antagonizing Beijing — the top trading partner for over half the planet.
While so far only Mexico has hit back publicly this year — floating tariffs as high as 50% on Chinese products including cars, auto parts and steel — other countries are coming under increasing pressure to act. Indian authorities have received 50 applications in recent weeks for investigations into goods dumping from nations including China and Vietnam, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Indonesia’s trade minister pledged to monitor a deluge of goods, after viral videos of Chinese vendors touting plans to export jeans and shirts for as little as 80 US cents to major cities caused an outcry.
For all the pain, the chances of more meaningful action are limited. Countries already embroiled in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration appear reluctant to take on a separate trade war with the world’s second-largest economy. That’s giving Beijing breathing room from US levies at heights economists previously predicted would halve the nation’s annual growth rate.
“The subdued response is probably informed by ongoing US trade negotiations,” said Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics. “Some countries may not want to be seen as contributing to a breakdown in the global trading system. Some may also be holding back on tariffs against China in order to offer them as concessions to the US during their own trade negotiations.”Officials shielding their economies from Beijing are treading carefully. South Africa’s trade minister has advised against punitive tariffs on Chinese car exports — which nearly doubled this year — and is instead seeking more investment. Chile and Ecuador are quietly imposing targeted fees on low-cost imports, after Chinese e-commerce giant Temu’s monthly active users in Latin America soared 143% since January. While Brazil has threatened more aggressive retaliation, this summer it gave China’s biggest electric car maker, BYD Co Ltd, a tariff-free window to ramp up local production.
A BYD Brazil factory under construction in Camacari, Brazil in January. Photographer: Tuane Fernandes/Bloomberg
Beijing is using both diplomatic charm and economic threats to prevent countries from taking outright retaliation. Earlier this month, China’s president rallied BRICS nations to forge a united voice against protectionism during a leaders’ call of the bloc, while Commerce Ministry officials have warned Mexico to “think twice” before acting, making clear such steps will have recriminations. Adding to the risks, Trump is pressuring NATO nations to impose tariffs up to 100% on China over its support for Russia. Chinese officials say their trade with the world is within reasonable bounds and that Beijing isn’t out to dominate global markets. “When there’s demand from abroad, China exports accordingly,” Vice Finance Minister Liao Min said in July. The state-run People’s Daily newspaper on its social media account last month hit back against Western criticisms of “dumping,” arguing that China’s exporters don’t sell below cost. If Trump does corral other countries to gang up on China, it’ll make dealing with internal challenges such as a prolonged property crash and an aging population harder, according to Chang Shu and David Qu of Bloomberg Economics. “Beijing will likely hit back with reciprocal tariffs immediately, but that risks alienating partners at a time when it critically needs allies,” they said. “Over time, it may also encourage firms to localize production in partner countries.”
While Chinese exporters are defying the odds, surging trade isn’t making them richer — or helping the nation’s domestic issues. Profits at industrial firms fell 1.7% in the first seven months, as manufacturers trying to reduce overcapacity at home under Xi’s “anti-involution” drive slashed prices to sell more overseas. That’s only worsening China’s sticky deflation, on track for its longest spell since the country began opening up in the late 1970s.
The export explosion could also undermine Beijing’s efforts to rebalance its economy toward stimulating consumption — defying foreign officials such as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has urged Beijing to make boosting the Chinese consumer a pillar of its blueprint for the next half-decade. China’s policy document outlining those plans will be in focus in the coming weeks at a key Communist Party meeting.
For Xi, the risks might just be worthwhile. Showing the world China doesn’t need the US consumer strengthens his hand going into a high-stakes meeting with Trump at a summit in South Korea. The world’s biggest economies are still hashing out a possible trade deal, with a 90-day pause on tariffs as high as 145% currently keeping the peace.
China Shock 2.0
Even before Trump stunned the world with America’s steepest tariffs since World War II in April, emerging markets at risk of shedding millions of manufacturing jobs were worried about a glut of Chinese goods. Indonesia’s previous president threatened a 200% tariff to protect local industry, while Brazil has hiked duties on Chinese steel. Even Vietnam took temporary action against Chinese online retail giants that undercut local sellers.
Ultimately, it’s been hard for foreign leaders to protect their economies from China’s vast fleet of factories.
“Protectionism from the US and other countries has turned into a paper tiger because Chinese exporters are extremely competitive,” said Arthur Kroeber, head of research at Gavekal Dragonomics. They “can absorb some of the tariff hit and also have plenty of workarounds through transshipment and relocating late-stage production to lower-tariff countries.”
China’s trade surplus last year was almost $1 trillion and is on track to exceed that in 2025, based on Bloomberg calculations.
Cambodia’s central bank governor Chea Serey was candid about the balancing act smaller economies reliant on Beijing are having to perform. “We do import a lot from China,” she told Bloomberg Television earlier this month, when asked about Chinese dumping. “We also rely a lot in terms of foreign direct investment from China.”
While a rise in shipments to Vietnam suggests some goods destined for US shores and other places are being re-routed to bypass Trump’s wall of tariffs, that’s only part of the picture. Demand for China’s world-beating, high-tech innovations helped drive much of the recent traffic. Rising sales to wealthy markets in Europe and Australia also indicate Beijing simply found new buyers for many products.
India shows how Trump’s redrawing of the global trade map is benefiting Beijing in new ways. Exports to China’s neighbor hit a record $12.5 billion last month, driven largely by Apple Inc.’s suppliers rapidly shifting output of iPhones to India from its Asian neighbor. Those companies, however, still depend on parts and tooling made mostly in China.
In July, Chinese firms shipped almost $1 billion worth of computer chips to India and billions of dollars more worth of phones and parts, according to data released by Beijing. That puts exports on track to exceed last year’s record, with the value of shipments so far this year almost as large as the whole of 2021.
“China has performed better than expected in the first half,” JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief India economist Sajjid Chinoy told Bloomberg Television. “Some of this is the fact that China has very cleverly found other export markets, including Europe, which has been a key hedge to slowing exports to the US.”
Read more on Chinese trade:
Shanghai’s Yangshan Deepwater Port in May.Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
A weaker currency gave China another edge. The yuan has depreciated along with the dollar against currencies such as the euro. Macquarie Bank previously estimated the yuan’s real effective exchange rate — which accounts for inflation differentials between a nation and its main trading partners — was at the weakest level since December 2011.
And the Federal Reserve’s rate cut this month could drag the dollar and possibly the yuan down further, boosting both global demand and also the competitiveness of Chinese exports.
For all the consternation around the world, the glut of goods cascading from China won’t be easy to stop. Chinese electric car exports have continued to power ahead despite steps by the US and Canada to curb them with punitive tariffs and bans.
In the first seven months of this year, carmakers such as Nio, BYD and Xpeng Inc. exported more than $19 billion worth of electric-powered vehicles, about the same as in the same period last year, with Europe being the largest market even after the EU imposed tariffs last October.
China’s in a better position than many other countries to find alternative markets to the US, according to Adam Wolfe of Absolute Strategy Research. Its analysis shows there’s almost a 50% overlap between what China sold to the US and what it exports to BRICS nations, suggesting much of what America no longer buys can be shipped to other markets.
“China’s shown this ability to move into other markets and get market share abroad and that probably continues,” said Wolfe. “I don’t know that China is going to see a contraction in exports over the rest of the year.”
–With assistance from Shruti Srivastava, Philip Heijmans, Claire Jiao, Haslinda Amin, Linda Lew, Ntando Thukwana, Andy Lin and Alex Vasquez.
(Updates with details on China’s trade surplus this year.)
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
View comments (2.9k)
Award to Trumplelstilskin below: “Heads Up Their Asses” aka HUTA!
The New Republic
Opinion
Edith Olmsted
Tue, May 20, 2025 at 9:15 AM CDT2 min read
There’s no such thing as a free plane.
Donald Trump’s administration specifically sought out the luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from Qatar’s government to replace Air Force One, despite the president’s insistence that the plane was a gift, sources informed CNN.
A senior White House official told CNN that Trump tasked Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy to the Middle East (and shady crypto partner), with tracking down a replacement for Air Force One, after Trump learned that Boeing would not have new jets ready for another two years. Witkoff ended up leading initial conversations with the Qatari government, according to the White House official.
Boeing provided the Pentagon with a list of other clients who might be able to help with America’s search for a new plane, three sources told CNN. One of those sources said that Qatar was included on that list of clients and that the U.S. reached out about purchasing the luxury plane from the Qatari Defense Ministry, which indicated it was willing to sell. There were also discussions about leasing the plane, said another source.
Legal negotiations over the plane’s transfer are still ongoing, and it’s unclear how the plane went from being a potential purchase to a $400 million gift. Trump and his administration have repeatedly stressed that the plane will be free of charge, a gift of goodwill from a foreign government—sparking major backlash on both sides of the aisle over concerns of foreign corruption.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the potential transfer a “donation to our country” on Monday, but the plane is much more of a personal gift to Trump himself than to the people of the United States, whose tax-paying dollars could end up funding the costly rebuild for the president’s supposedly free gift.
Trump reportedly toured a Qatari plane with aides in February and began lamenting how luxurious the plane was compared to his own transportation options. Last week, Trump whined that the current Air Force One is a “much less impressive” plane than the lavish ones dictators use.
CNN’s reporting upends a recent claim from Senator Markwayne Mullin—which was then repeated by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—that negotiations to receive a plane from Qatar began under Joe Biden’s administration.
Giving Trump $400m Boeing jet was his team’s idea not Qatar’s, report claims
Joe Sommerlad
Tue, May 20, 2025 at 8:39 AM CDT
President Donald Trump’s administration originally approached Qatar about the possibility of acquiring one of its Boeing 747 jumbo jets, according to a report.
The new claim reported in CNN contradicts Trump’s insistence that the controversial plane lined up to replace Air Force One was simply offered as a “gift.”
The $400m aircraft that the Qatari royal family intends to present to the United States, described as a “flying palace” due to its luxurious interior, has inspired a number of ethics complaints at home that cast a long shadow over the president’s visit to the Middle East last week.
Now administration sources cited by CNN claim it was the U.S. that first sought out the plane, rather than Qatar coming forward to offer it as a friendly gesture.
The network’s sources claim that, shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January, the Pentagon contacted Boeing for an update on the two new jets it is building as replacements for the current presidential plane.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, as he departs the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha on May 15 2025 (Win McNamee/Getty)
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, as he departs the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha on May 15 2025 (Win McNamee/Getty)
It was told that their construction would take another two years to complete, prompting a frustrated Trump to task his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff with drawing up a list of potential alternatives already in service.
Boeing reportedly supplied Department of Defense officials with the names of its clients around the world. “Qatar was one of the clients,” one of the sources said, adding that the Pentagon then approached Doha, with introductions from Witkoff, offering to buy the plane. Qatar responded by indicating it would be willing to sell, it is claimed.
Another source, however, suggested those discussions were originally about leasing the Boeing, not buying it outright.
The account stands at odds with Trump’s own version of events after the president insisted throughout his trip to the Gulf that the plane was a present from one of America’s key regional allies, describing it as “A GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE” on Truth Social and saying that only a “stupid person” would have refused it.
His position was reiterated by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday. She described the jet as a “donation to our country,” saying that Qatar’s royal family “has offered to donate this plane to the United States Air Force, where that donation will be accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations.”
A White House official has since told The Independent that CNN’s reporting is accurate.
Trump griped about the age of the current presidential plane repeatedly last week, boarding it at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Friday with the resentful words: “I leave now and get into a 42-year-old Boeing. The new ones are coming, new ones are coming.”
Amid a furor in Congress over the jet potentially violating the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause, Trump’s own Department of Justice lawyers moved quickly to rule that accepting it would break no laws.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House lawyer David Warrington said the donation of the aircraft would be “legally permissible,” given that its ownership would be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation before the end of his term.
But Columbia Law School Professor Richard Briffault questioned that assessment when he told NPR that if Trump retains ownership of the plane after leaving office, in spite of his claim that it will ultimately be given to the Department of Defense, “then it’s not really a gift to the United States at all” and instead amounts to a “pretty textbook case of a violation of the emoluments clause.”
A Boeing 747 bearing the color scheme of planes used by the Qatari royal family seen at San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this month (Brandon Lingle/The San Antonio Express-News/AP)
A Boeing 747 bearing the color scheme of planes used by the Qatari royal family seen at San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this month (Brandon Lingle/The San Antonio Express-News/AP)
Professor Briffault further warned that accepting any present leaves the recipient beholden to the gift-giver, an argument also made by Trump nemesis Hillary Clinton, saying that gestures like Qatar’s are “designed to create good feelings for the recipient and to get some kind of reciprocity.”
Another cause of concern is the eye-watering cost of retrofitting the jet to make it an acceptable substitute for the presidential plane.
Experts warn that it would take several years and require billions of dollars in further investment from the American taxpayer to ensure it meets the necessary security standards.
It would require secure communications, electromagnetic shielding, and in-flight refueling capabilities, to name just three necessary upgrades.
Story by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams • 23h • 3 min read
© provided by AlterNet
An internal Trump administration document reportedly shows that anti-fraud checks recently installed at the Social Security agency have found just two cases of potentially improper benefit claims out of more than 110,000—a rate of 0.0018%.
The documents, first reported Thursday by Nextgov/FCW, further undercut President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s narrative that Social Security is brimming with fraud. Musk falsely claimed in March that “40% of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent.”
The anti-fraud checks for Social Security have been applied only to benefit claims made over the phone. According to the internal document, “No significant fraud has been detected from the flagged cases.” Earlier this year, amid widespread outrage, the Social Security Administration (SSA) walked back a proposal to scrap many of its phone-based benefit claim services.
Nextgov/FCW noted Thursday that the Trump administration’s deployment of the anti-fraud tools beginning last month “did cause delays, as SSA changed its phone procedures to add the checks on the backend.”
“The lags stem from the three-day hold placed on telephone claims in order to run the anti-fraud [checks], a move that ‘delays payments and benefits to customers, despite an extremely low risk of fraud,'” Nextgov/FCW reported, citing the internal document.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement that “the Trump-Musk Social Security takeover has only meant more chaos and confusion for Americans.”
“Every one of DOGE’s so-called ‘mistakes’ is a backdoor cut to people’s benefits,” said Warren. “There’s nothing efficient about making it harder for people to access the checks they’ve earned and are owed.”
On social media, Warren called the revelations in the internal administration document “a HUGE scandal.”
It’s long been clear that Social Security fraud is minuscule, with an inspector general report published last year estimating that just 0.84% of Social Security benefits paid out between 2015 and 2022 were dispensed improperly—and even those improper payments were not necessarily fraudulent.
The new reporting out Thursday bolstered warnings that the Trump administration’s hunt for fraud is a mere pretext for slashing Social Security benefits and weakening the program.
“Turns out there ISN’T rampant Social Security fraud, but Elon’s witch hunt, driven by his insane conspiracy theories, IS keeping seniors from getting their benefits as quickly as they should be,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media. “THIS is Republican governing: hunting for nonexistent fraud while breaking Social Security.”
Frank Bisignano, the newly confirmed SSA administrator, has close ties to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and has defended the president’s false claim that tens of millions of “dead” people are receiving Social Security benefits.
CNN reported earlier this week that as SSA combs “through its databases to check whether beneficiaries are alive or dead” at Trump and Musk’s behest, agency staffers are “seeing more people coming in to be resurrected” after being falsely deemed deceased.
“I’ve been saying it all along,” former SSA chief Martin O’Malley wrote Thursday. “Elon Musk is the biggest fraud, not Social Security.”
James Roosevelt Jr., Henry Scott Wallace And June Hopkins, Common Dreams
April 06, 2025 | 08:38AM ET
Thank you, Senator Cory Booker. In your record-breaking Senate talk-a-thon, you sounded the alarm about President Donald Trump’s increasingly blatant threats to Social Security, and the devastating impacts for ordinary people who count on it.
Ninety years ago, our three grandfathers created Social Security. It’s the most popular, efficient and effective government program ever, ensuring financial security for 73 million Americans today. Now, appallingly, America’s workers and seniors must get ready to fight like hell.
The first draft of Social Security was written by a small committee including Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Wallace and top FDR advisor and Federal Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins, chaired by legendary Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. FDR had insisted that Social Security be funded by a system of payroll taxes, with both worker and employer contributing. He expressed great confidence that this would give workers an unquestionable “legal, moral and political right” to collect benefits.
Save Social Security. Don’t “outsource” it. Don’t tolerate this “reverse Robin Hood”—taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
President Dwight Eisenhower got it. There may be “a tiny splinter group” of politicians who want to mess with Social Security, he wrote, but “their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
Now comes Trump and Musk. They’ve fired 7,000 Social Security Administration staffer, citing a “bloated” workforce (actually severely overstretched at 50-year lows), made it harder to access their benefits, and closed most of the regional and field offices, guaranteeing chaos. Musk has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” (it’s NOT), and shared a post calling Social Security recipients “the parasite class.” Trump has lied that Social Security benefits are being collected by illegal immigrants (they actually strengthen Social Security by paying payroll taxes while being barred from collecting benefits) and by tens of millions of people over 120 years old (nobody in the worldis over 120 years old, and in fact, only 89,000 people over age 99 receive Social Security benefits). Musk says fraud in “entitlement spending … is the big one to eliminate“.
Now, after whipping up anger at imaginary Social Security abuses, Trump is proposing to end all federal taxes on people earning less than $150,000—the largest category of taxes for people in that bracket being the payroll taxes that sustain Social Security— which, when combined with the current payroll tax cap of $176,000, would leave Social Security with virtually no revenues. Trump previously promised to completely end payroll taxes.
Could their intentions be any clearer? Trump campaigned on a promise that Social Security “will not be touched, it will only be strengthened” (and Musk has recently promised that benefits will be increased, unbelievably, without congressional action and without worsening the government spending he enjoys slashing with his chainsaw).
Today, the CEO earning $10 million a year hits that limit and stops paying payroll taxes after the first week of the year, while his janitor keeps paying the 6.2% payroll tax for the next 51 weeks. It’s an outrage against all working people.
But remember how a previous President, George W. Bush, wanted to “strengthen” Social Security? By privatizing it. Trump’s acting Social Security Commissioner now prefers to frame it as “outsourcing.”
The Washington Post reports that with seniors “beside themselves” with uncertainty stoked by all the cutbacks, “many current and former [Social Security] officials” fear that the ultimate goal is privatization. And they’ve got plenty of company among Democrats in Congress. (Trump’s Treasury Secretary recently suggested that the goal was to privatize everything government does.) And Trump’s likeliest argument is that the only way to prevent benefit cuts driven by the system’s looming solvency crisis, and strengthen retirement security, is to put Social Security’s money in Wall Street (rich financiers would surely love the extra $3 trillion in investments).
The fact is that there is absolutely no way for Musk and Trump to reach their goal of eliminating $2 trillion in federal spending without either 1) raising revenues or 2) decimating the largest federal spending program in America: Social Security (Medicare and Medicaid are not far behind).
What could avert such stupidity? Revenues. Make the wealthy pay their fair share. One no-brainer example: eliminate the current $176,000 cap on payroll taxes. Today, the CEO earning $10 million a year hits that limit and stops paying payroll taxes after the first week of the year, while his janitor keeps paying the 6.2% payroll tax for the next 51 weeks. It’s an outrage against all working people.
What related outrages should we expect? Start with Trump’s promised $5 trillion of tax cuts for billionaires (like Trump and Musk). That’s the justification for all of Trump’s cuts to programs that help ordinary people, from veterans to children to health care to preventing terrorism. And don’t imagine for a second that the privatization of Social Security can be blocked in Congress, as it was under President George W. Bush. Trump’s reign of boundary-pushing executive orders has made a supine Congress irrelevant and the Constitution a technicality.
Save Social Security. Don’t “outsource” it. Don’t tolerate this “reverse Robin Hood”—taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Don’t count on “guardrails” like Congress or the courts. It will take a movement of ordinary Americans shouting to protect FDR’s greatest legacy of financial security for working people.
Apparently Not!
All of the touted greatness of the United States and the assistance given to other countries has started to pale. Our former world dominance is being relegated to this country being seen as potentially near mediocre actor on the world stage. All of the bad actors are looking at the current “leader” as a purchasable commodity who if offered the right largesse will ease their situations with the U.S. in the way of sanctions or restrictions. As shown in his first term DJT is out for DJT and it will always be so. His Cabinet members, his Whitehouse staff all play to his ego and his greed so they can insert their agendas onto the American public.
These are the same actions performed during the 30 or so years prior to WWII. There are too many folks who don’t think it can happen here while it’s happening here! DRT is seeking a “Kingship” with absolute authority, that aspiration was imbued by same folks who pushed the “moral Majority, attacked and killed abortion rights”. These are the people who think Medicaid should get less funding (do you hear that Seniors with medical needs and disabilities?) It is not wrong to pursue waste and fraud but usually after a complete investigation as to where misdeeds occur. Forcing needy folks whose disabilities and age preclude any ability to work is ridiculous and wrong. At the bottom of all of this is funding the massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
The elected members of Congress who are kissing the “Arse” of FFLOTUS are people elected by the people to represent them in government but have failed and will continue to fail as long as they are in office. Terms are limited at the ballot box not by the people running for office.
The statements made on the campaign trail along with the empty promises are borne out by the negative rhetoric about Americans and allies against the sucking up to middle eastern strongmen who have swayed his views with pomp and circumstance long with lavish gifts. All of this aside, the promises made by the people we elected are next to useless while the promises made by a inveterate self-serving liar is as Anti American as you can get without actually stating that fact!
Apparently, we are not as sharp politically as we should be, we have more rested on our laurels aka Asses while the government is in the hands of an idiot on steroids!
Arlington Cemetery Erases Civil War in Hegseth DEI Purge
Nandika Chatterjee
Fri, March 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM CDT
3 min read
The Arlington National Cemetery has removed key information from its website about prominent Black, Hispanic, and female service members as well as historical topics like the Civil War.
The moves are part of a broader initiative by the Department of Defense to do away with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the Washington Post reported.
A spokesperson for the cemetery confirmed on Friday that, in compliance with new Pentagon directives, internal links leading to webpages about notable veterans who were minorities—such as Gen. Colin Powell, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and members of the all-Black, all-female 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion—were taken down.
Educational material on the Civil War and Medal of Honor recipients has also been completely removed, leaving only a brief mention of the cemetery’s connection to the conflict.
These deletions follow a series of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump banning DEI across the federal government. In accordance with the directives, Pentagon leaders have been tasked with purging content that “promotes” DEI on military websites.
“We are proud of our educational content and programming and working diligently to return removed content to ensure alignment with Department of Defense instruction 5400.17 and Executive Orders issued by the President,” a cemetery spokesperson told the Post in a statement.
They added: “We remain committed to sharing the stories of military service and sacrifice to the nation with transparency and professionalism, while continuing to engage with our community in a manner that reflects our core values.”
Historian Kevin M. Levin first noted the removals in his Substack, “Civil War Memory,” which was further reported on by military news site Task & Purpose. The removals have drawn sharp criticism from educators and historians, who argue that the changes erase vital pieces of American history.
Levin, a Boston-based author and former teacher, expressed disappointment over the loss of accessible material about influential individuals like Captain Joy Bright Hancock, one of the military’s first woman officers, and Major General Marcelite Jordan Harris, the Air Force’s first female, African-American general officer.
“It’s incredibly unfortunate. This is just the kind of history that we want students to be learning, a history that allows students from different backgrounds to make a meaningful connection with one of our sacred sites,” Levin told the Post.
Some of the removed content is still accessible through active links to pages on “Prominent Military Figures” and “U.S. Supreme Court,” but the categories “African American History,” “Hispanic American History,” and “Women’s History” no longer appear prominently on the site.
The cemetery’s website, a key resource for educators and visitors, once provided lesson plans, walking tours, and detailed profiles of military heroes. Now, many of these resources have been scrubbed.
“This is a place where history comes alive, and you feel it when you’re there,” Levin said. “Even if you can’t bring your students there, you can bring the stories to them in the classroom. There’s a story there for everyone to connect to.”
Jose Pagliery
Thu, March 7, 2024 at 3:31 AM CST·3 min read
“Bannon, with the aid of his counsel, has, for months, done nothing but intentionally stall and delay plaintiff’s enforcement of its valid money judgment,” the law firm that previously represented him wrote to a New York state judge last month, employing an underline to show their heightened frustration.
Bannon, who was once Donald Trump’s White House chief strategist and played an active role in the former president’s Jan. 6 coup attempt, is already trapped in a precarious position. He’s a convict trying to avoid serving his four-month prison sentence for ignoring a congressional subpoena that sought to question him over his role in the MAGA insurrection. And the Manhattan District Attorney is putting him on trial in May for duping nativist donors to “We Build The Wall” who wanted to support a privately built U.S.-Mexico border barrier.
But now he’s making it even worse on himself.
It’s been seven months since a New York state judge ordered the conspiracy-spewing right-wing political agitator to pay the $484,197 he owed the defense lawyer he stiffed, Bob Costello.
Steve Bannon Admits Bank Account May Have Evidence of Fraud
But since then, according to court filings, Bannon has been dodging the ordered judgment and ignoring follow-up subpoenas. That has put the aggrieved New York City law firm of Davidoff Hutcher and Citron in the awkward position of asking the judge to intervene yet again, citing what they called “a last ditch effort concocted by Bannon to game this court.”
In its attempt to get a readout of Bannon’s personal finances and his ability to pay the bill, the law firm tried to question him under oath and sent subpoenas to learn more about his businesses and what’s in his personal bank accounts. Emails show that Bannon’s new lawyer, Harlan Protass, initially agreed in November to schedule a deposition and turn over materials—provided that they first sign a “simple and straightforward” confidentiality agreement.
But as the months went by, nothing happened.
Then, in January, Bannon suddenly put up resistance and claimed he couldn’t possibly answer questions or turn over bank records. Doing so would potentially reveal evidence of fraud that could ruin his attempt to overturn his federal conviction or even bolster the Manhattan DA’s case.
“DHC’s taking of post-judgment discovery from Mr. Bannon poses a significant risk of compromising Mr. Bannon’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” Protass wrote in court filings.
It was an unwelcome surprise. On Feb. 6, Costello’s law firm told the judge that Protass has been toying with them and engaging in “a feeble attempt at stalling.” Joseph N. Polito, a senior counsel at Costello’s firm, wrote that the excuse “is beyond any and all logic.”
Steve Bannon’s Lawyer Sues Him Over Unpaid Bills
Polito then took the relatively rare and aggressive approach of asking that New York Supreme Court Justice Arlene P. Bluth hit the right-wing influencer and his lawyer each with $10,000 sanctions—the highest allowable fine “for engaging in intentional dilatory litigation tactics.”
“Bannon’s intentional bad faith conduct has left plaintiff with no other choice but to seek civil contempt and sanctions. Without this relief, Bannon will be further emboldened to continue his dilatory tactics that have, and continue to, severely prejudice plaintiff in its efforts to satisfy the substantial money judgment that remains outstanding,” Polito wrote.
But Polito went even further, asking the judge to also tack on the cost he incurred “for having to address Bannon’s frivolity,” an eloquent insult used to describe the hours he’s wasted chasing down the conservative media figure.
Protass did not respond to a request for comment, but he is expected to file a formal reply in court records later this week. Polito did not reply to an email asking about the case.
Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.
Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. View comments (161)
Donald Trump’s recent public proclamations, in which he presents himself as a godly figure and explicitly threatens to behave like a dictator if re-elected, have raised concerns among experts and observers.
Trump’s behavior is indicative of what experts call a “God complex”, a deep-seated belief in one’s own infallibility and superiority. This is a classic element of a cult and a key ingredient of why and how Trumpism works among his followers. In this context, the profane and the sacred are conflated in the same way as the Nazis did.
This isn’t the initial instance of Donald Trump asserting divine authority. Over the past seven years, Trump has consistently professed to possess clandestine and omnipotent wisdom, urging his supporters to have faith in him over facts, reality, or anyone else. He purports to hold knowledge beyond anyone else’s grasp, makes daring future forecasts akin to a mystic or psychic, and overall maintains a belief in his omnipotence, considering himself beyond the law and any form of accountability.
During a speech in Iowa last weekend, Trump told his MAGA cultists that, “But I think if you had a real election and Jesus came down and God came down and said, ‘I’m going to be the scorekeeper here,’ I think we’d win there [in California], I think we’d win in Illinois, and I think we’d win in New York.”
Trump’s “narcissistic injury” following his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden has escalated into a more severe threat to American democracy, as per psychology experts. His recent remarks about targeting judges, pardoning the traitorous individuals from Jan. 6, and removing his ‘enemies’ are not novel concepts, but rather indicate that his veneer of decency and normality is eroding under the pressure of being answerable for his actions for the first time in his life.
“Mr. Trump is an obvious and severe sociopath, an antisocial person lacking the capacity for honesty, empathy or respect for the rule of law,” said an anonymous psychology expert, who added that Trump’s mental illness made him dangerous, especially as his legal problems grow worse.
As Trump faces mounting pressure from his criminal and civil trials, he is now publicly declaring himself as the Chosen One, chosen by “god” and “Jesus Christ” to be the next President of the United States. This marks a notable departure from his previous rhetoric and raises concerns about his mental state and the potential influence on his followers and the wider political landscape.
The implications of Trump’s behavior are far-reaching. His claims to be god-like are terrifying on their own but made much worse by the rapidly deteriorating democracy crisis. His endless self-centered drive for power at any cost makes him an extreme risk of discarding democracy in favor of his personal rule.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Trump’s followers appear to be buying into his narrative. For them, Trump does not come from the normal political system, he comes from the world they come from, he’s been hugely successful, he’s enormously flawed, but who gives a damn, he’s chosen to turn the political system upside down and make it work for them.
As the country grapples with these developments, it is clear that the situation is fluid and evolving. The full impact of Trump’s rhetoric and behavior remains to be seen.
Michael1942's Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.