Today in Politics, Bulletin 127. 5/9/25 Ron Filipkowski May 9 ∙ … Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested today by the Trump Regime after a confrontation outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center. Baraka was reportedly engaged in a peaceful protest and attempting to assert local jurisdiction over an ICE operation he claims violates city law. … According to eyewitness accounts and footage online, Baraka was speaking with members of Congress who were present for a scheduled visit when ICE agents blocked his access. Tensions rose. Shoving ensued, then Baraka was placed in handcuffs by federal agents. … Rep. Robert Menendez Jr, who was there: “It was an act of intimidation. They feel no weight of the law and no restraint on what they should be doing. And that was shown in broad daylight today when they not just arrested the Mayor of Newark but when they put their hands on two members of congress standing behind me. How is this acceptable!? To anyone in this country!? How is this acceptable!?” … NJ US Attorney Alina Habba issued a statement: “The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.” … Stephen Miller says the Trump admin is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus, which is only allowed under the Constitution when the US has been invaded or during an insurrection. That would not allow people to challenge their incarceration in court if they are arrested and detained. It is essentially declaring martial law. Miller said “it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.” … Kash Patel is over a week late submitting the FBI budget to Congress as required by law. NBC reported that he doesn’t seem very interested in doing much work: “For decades, the head of the FBI has attended a daily 8:30 AM ‘director’s brief,’ where he is presented the most important intelligence and law enforcement info gleaned from thousands of agents and analysts across the country. Unlike his recent predecessors, Patel is receiving the brief two days a week.” … “Officials who worked on the morning director’s briefings were told that the schedule was changed because Patel sometimes failed to arrive on time. Two current FBI officials said Patel sometimes seemed uninterested in the material and his intelligence briefers are struggling to craft a briefing that captures his attention.” … “Patel has drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at pro sporting events around the country. Since taking office, Patel appears to have made 3 flights on FBI planes to Nashville, where his girlfriend, a country singer, lives; 2 flights to Las Vegas, where he has a home; and one flight to NY, where he attended a pro hockey game.” … Judge William Sessions ordered Tufts Univ student from Turkey Rümeysa Öztürk to be released from ICE custody after Marco Rubio stripped her of her visa and ordered her deported for co-authoring an op-ed in her student newspaper calling on the Tufts president to support a student vote to divest from Israeli companies. … AllRiseNews reported the judge’s decision from the courtroom: “There is no evidence here as to the motivation absent the consideration of the op-ed. These are very substantial claims of First Amendment and due process violations. This is a woman who is just totally committed to her academic career in a caring and compassionate way. There is no evidence that she has engaged in violence or advocated violence. Her continued detention chills the speech of the millions and millions of people who are not citizens. The court finds her continued detention cannot stand and orders the govt to release Ms. Ozturk from custody immediately." … According to the CBO, the federal government spent $2.4 trillion from Jan-Apr 2025, which is up $166 billion from the same time period last year. So much for Elon Musk’s big DOGE cuts dramatically reducing govt spending. … Reporter to Karoline Leavitt today: “The admin appears to have started dismantling the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Does the admin not believe that it's important to keep unsafe toys and cribs off the market?” LEAVITT: “It's a federal agency within the executive branch. Who's the head of the executive branch? The president. He has the right to fire people within the executive branch.” … Guardian: “Large institutional investors have massively increased their holdings of Trump Media in recent months, with many enlarging their positions by 100s of millions of dollars. The revelations raise further questions about big business’s desire to curry favor with Trump via the enterprises he has maintained or commenced. Critics say that the investments do not reflect any obvious improvement in the business prospects of the company, which lost more than $400m in 2024.” … Tony Carrk, Exec director of Accountable.us: “Donald Trump’s refusal to divest from his publicly traded company has predictably prompted huge investments from wealthy special interests that could use a favor from the president. Institutional Wall Street investors and even a foreign company with business before the admin have effectively offered a form of tribute by bulk purchasing shares in DJT.” … Carrk: “Considering Trump Media has been hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, there’s little doubt these hedge fund managers are hoping for a different kind of return on their investment. The President might as well put up a ‘bribe me’ sign on the White House – it’s corruption out in broad daylight.” … Leavitt was asked about Trump’s crypto scam and other business enterprises where he is making billions off the presidency: "I think it's frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit. He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service. This is a president who has actually lost money for being president." … Nobody in American history has made more money off running for president and being present than Trump. He was leveraged to the hilt coming off multiple bankruptcies when NBC bailed him out with The Apprentice. He was bailed out before that by Deutsche Bank. He parlayed the illusion of a successful businessman that NBC created into the presidency. Since then, his net worth has increased exponentially and his most profitable enterprise by far is politics. … As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was meeting with his counterpart in Geneva to open up the first dialogue of trade talks since Trump imposed a 145% tariff, Trump posted that he would be fine with reducing it to 80% before China has even made any concessions: “Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B.” … Congress is supposed to set tariffs. They abdicated that responsibility to Trump. Now Trump is apparently giving it to Bessent. But what he’s really doing right now is setting Bessent up as the fall guy if/when this whole thing goes sideways. … MarketWatch: “It takes 30-50 days for container ships from Asia to reach the US’s West Coast ports. Barring new, faster shipping options or a stunning retreat by US President Trump on China tariffs, the consumer retail economy, which constitutes 70% of GDP, will be damaged. Demand for container space from China on the ships transiting the Pacific Ocean currently is running 60% to 65% below what it normally would be at this time.” … “China and the US are scheduled to conduct trade talks this weekend in Geneva. But China knows that it does not need to do more than agree to meet to discuss the future of US-China trade relations. Sending negotiators to Geneva costs nothing beyond airfare and hotel bills. For China, the US is not the only country that matters.” … “China could add pain to Scott Bessent’s job by dumping its cache of US Treasury debt on the bond market, driving the US dollar lower and short-term rates higher, and further weakening the US stock and bond markets. China might also find it useful to join a coalition of countries suffering under American economic bullying and redirect trade and manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the world.” … Of course, when we got a copy of the new US/UK “trade deal”, it was dramatically oversold by Trump. Here is the language about our agricultural exports: "The UK and the US plan to work constructively in an effort to enhance agricultural market access. Further, both countries positively support future discussions to strengthen bilateral agricultural trade. " … Economist Justin Wolfers: “The $10 billion in promised purchases Trump claimed from Boeing? It's literally not in the agreement. Nowhere in the text. We are currently on track for tariffs to (roughly) land at 10% on most countries, and 60% on China - pretty much what Trump said during the campaign. If so, the upheaval and paralyzing uncertainty of the past 4 months will have been nothing but pointlessly destructive theater.” … Bloomberg: “European leaders meeting in Brussels today had a message for Donald Trump: There will be no side deals or shortcuts on trade negotiations. The EU’s strategy is to speak with one voice as the US president uses the threat of steep tariff hikes to try to persuade countries, like Switzerland, to sign bilateral trade deals that would be advantageous to America.” … New AP/NORC poll: Trump Job Approve - 41%, Disapprove - 57% … Trump’s handling of the economy: Approve - 36%, Disapprove - 63% … After Trump was forced to drop the nomination of DC US Attorney nominee Ed Martin, he announced that Martin will now be in charge of reviewing pardon requests at DOJ: “Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims.” … Martin is going to be hearing soon from former Rep. George Santos, who went on Piers Morgan’s podcast to beg Trump for a pardon as his turn-in date looms: “I'm in the process of filling an application for a pardon. I'll take a commutation, clemency- whatever the president is willing to give me. I would appreciate if the president would consider it. I'm not a hardened criminal who deserves to be in prison for 7 years." … Ana Navarro to CNN on Fox host Jeanine Pirro’s nomination to replace Ed Martin as US Attorney: “I’m surprised that she wants this job. This is a job where she's going to make a pittance in comparison to what she's been making at Fox. She's not going to be able to have three martini lunches.” … Pirro is now the 23rd Fox employee that Trump has appointed so far to his admin. He appointed 20 Fox employees during his first term. No bulletin tomorrow because I’m off Saturdays, so I will see you with the Weekend Bulletin on Sunday night. We were supposed to go to a spring flower festival in northeastern MA tomorrow but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen because of weather. We’ve had 4 months of ice and snow and 2 months of clouds and rain. But they say Sunday should be nice! If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, link is here. … Mother Jones on Trump’s Surgeon General nominee Casey Means: “She has claimed that ‘the universe’ speaks to her and that people can ‘manifest’ what they want by writing it down. ‘Perhaps the body is simply the material ‘radio receiver’ through which we can ‘tune in’ to the divine,’ she wrote in an October 2024 newsletter. “We will get instructions (through human inspiration and reason) for what we need to do to raise the vibration of humanity and create a sustainable future. The future of medicine will be about light. I don’t exactly know how yet.” … More Means: “Humans are out of alignment with the Earth and depleting its life force. And human bodies are now exhibiting signs of blocking the flow of energy through them. This is insulin resistance. We are the Earth.” … Fox host Bret Baier to RFK Jr on his new Surgeon General pick: She never finished her residency and doesn't currently have an active medical license. RFK JR: “She was top of her medical class at Stanford. During her residency, she won every award that she can win. She walked away from traditional medicine because she was not curing patients.” … CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale: “I asked the spokesperson for the Stanford School of Medicine about this ‘very top of her medical class at Stanford’ claim. The spokesperson said there are no rankings because they use a pass-fail system rather than grades.” … Dr. Peter Hotez on RFK Jr wanting to create an Autism Registry: “From my many discussions 8 years ago with RFK Jr, it was clear that he had no interest in autism/helping families like mine. He had another agenda. Maybe he’s changed, but I’m concerned about his zeal to pursue a registry. I believe it’s something very dark, deeply disturbed.” … Trump threatened Russia with additional sanctions for the 5th time. He has still never done anything, but this time he has promised UK, France and Germany that he will do it now if Russia doesn’t sign a cease-fire: “The US calls for, ideally, a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. Hopefully, an acceptable ceasefire will be observed, and both Countries will be held accountable for respecting the sanctity of these direct negotiations. If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions.” … French president Macron: “I spoke several times last night with POTUS. I commend his strong call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, as did our British and Nordic partners earlier this morning. We must all work towards this goal without delay, false pretenses, or dilatory tactics. Ukraine has already expressed its support for such a ceasefire nearly two months ago. I now expect Russia to do the same. Failing to do so, we are ready to respond firmly, together with all Europeans and in close coordination with the US.” … Senior Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said they don’t care about Trump’s threats anymore: “He is most welcome to do whatever he can do but we have our basic interests in this crisis.” … Foreign Policy says that the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump has been broken since their meeting on April 7: “Waiting for the PM on that occasion was public humiliation. Israel’s preemptive revocation of all duties on US imports failed to solicit reciprocal annulment of the 17% tariff imposed by Trump on Israeli products, which had been Netanyahu’s primary mission that day. Trump also waxed noncommittal on his original designs for Gaza, suggesting that ‘a lot of people like my concept, but, you know, there are other concepts that I like too.’ Most uncomfortable for Netanyahu, though, was being deployed as the backdrop for Trump’s surprise declaration that his representatives would be launching ‘very high level’ talks with Iran just days later. The PM went home with his tail between his legs.” … NBC reported that radar screens went black again at Newark Airport this morning, leaving air traffic controllers completely blind as to the location of hundreds of flights over NY. Air traffic controllers also faced blacked out radar screens last week that lasted roughly 90 seconds. Multiple air traffic controllers took a medical leave following the blackout calling it a "traumatic experience." … Trump’s former Transportation Sec Elaine Chao told CNN that Sec Sean Duffy needs to “stop the blame game” and do his job. She also nodded her head yes when Kaitlan Collins said this: “House Republicans, including Sean Duffy, when you were the transportation secretary, voted against upgrades to the air traffic control system. It was a party line vote. They all voted against it.” … Trump fired the first Black person and first female to serve as the Librarian of Congress. Dr. Carla Hayden has held the position since 2016 and was also the first professional librarian to serve in that role since 1976. … Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY): “Trump fired a patriotic public servant. Hayden has spent her entire career serving people—from helping kids learn to read to protecting some of our nation’s most precious treasures. She is an American hero. Trump’s ignorant decision will impact America’s libraries, our copyrighted economic interests, and service to the American people by threatening support for Congress. His decision is a complete disgrace.” … Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MA): “All fellow Marylanders can take pride in the work of Dr. Carla Hayden, who has provided remarkable leadership as the Librarian of Congress. Her sacking by Donald Trump, who knows little about Congress and less about libraries, is a scandal exposing his contempt for learning, literature and knowledge.” … Karoline Leavitt was asked why the librarian was fired: “There were concerning things she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI. And putting inappropriate books in the library for children.” … Sen. Ruben Gallego told MeidasTouch that Republican gains with Latino voters have evaporated: “I’ve certainly seen a reversal - mostly among Latino men. I would say it started about 3-4 weeks ago. It’s really a combination of factors: they’re deporting people who aren’t criminals, they’re separating families. The economy is the other big factor pushing these guys away.” … Trump posted another attack on MSNBC: “The worst there is on Television misrepresentation, is so far knowingly off in their statements about me and Tariffs that it should be considered a Major Campaign Violation. They are nothing less than an arm of the DNC, and their untruths are incredible, real losers. Their ratings are down the tubes, but that pressure on them doesn’t give them the right to lie and cheat!” … Rep. Jared Moskowitz to Meidas: “I’m the only former FEMA director in all of Congress. And if they actually do what Kristi Noem says she wants to do with FEMA—which is get rid of it, chop it up, and give it to other agencies—it’s not going to be more efficient. It’s going to be worse. We’re not talking about this, but hurricane season is starting, and I’m worried about whether FEMA is going to work. There are people in the Trump West Wing from FL who know this. They’ve got to stop the secretary—who has never done disaster cleanup in her life.” … Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to Breitbart on his negotiations with Iran: "We’ve stated our position. The Iranians cannot have a bomb. They have stated back that they don’t want one. We didn’t think that the talks last week were going to be productive because we needed to get to certain understandings with them, and hopefully this Sunday they will be productive. If they are not productive on Sunday, then they won’t continue and we’ll have to take a different route.” … Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX): “I was actually a labor organizer in the construction field well before running for elected office. Our job was to get hundreds of guys—who had disagreements on a variety of issues—to all work together toward a common cause. That’s what I think we need to be able to do as a Democratic Party: to say, ‘Yes, there are social issues that impact us all, and we should stand firmly for the rights of everyday, vulnerable people.’ The way we win back the trust of the overwhelming number of people is by focusing on what brings us all together—and that’s the pocketbook issues.” … The Lever reported that the Trump admin plans to use the Office of Refugee Resettlement to ask for emergency authority to provide assistance to white South Africans who are being allowed to enter the US because they are allegedly suffering racial persecution. Funds that are reserved for very high-risk refugees are being diverted to bring in white, upper-income South Africans. This is apparently about to happen any day now. … Trump confirmed that he has asked congressional Republicans to create a new tax bracket for millionaires to pay for his campaign promise of no tax on tips or overtime pay: “The problem with even a “TINY” tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!” … Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris surprisingly endorsed the idea today: “I’ve always believed that if we can’t find spending reductions elsewhere, we should look at restoring the pre TCJA tax bracket on million dollar income to help pay for the President’s agenda.” Harris said he wants to create a new top bracket for people making over $2 million a year and set the rate at 40%, up from the current top rate of 37%. … Republicans in the Senate do not seem interested in doing this even a little bit. Lindsey Graham just laughed when he was asked about it and said it was never going to happen. … Fox business’ Charles Gasparino: Word coming out of the WH via my Wall Street sources is massive finger pointing and disarray on millionaires tax proposal amid a backlash mainly from GOP senate and prominent supply siders. The betting now is that it doesn’t go anywhere but as with all things Trump you never know. Recall how he said this thing was dead a week or so ago and then it miraculously found life.” … David Steiner will replace Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General. NPR reported that Steiner is a former Waste Management CEO who has been serving on the board of FedEx. Steiner statement: "I deeply admire the public service and business mission of this amazing institution, and I believe strongly in maintaining its role as an independent establishment of the executive branch." … Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers: "His selection isn't just a conflict of interest—it's an aggressive step toward handing America's mail system over to corporate interests. Private shippers have been waiting to get USPS out of parcel delivery for years. Steiner's selection is an open invitation to do just that." … National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, President Don Maston: “We will be watching closely, especially since Mr. Steiner currently sits on the board of directors of FedEx, one of the Postal Service's largely and aggressively non-union competitors. The stakes—for rural communities, for working families, and for the future of our cherished public Postal Service—could not be higher." … NYT reported that the new Pope’s maternal grandparents are mixed race creole from New Orleans - both part Black, and lived in the 7th Ward. They moved to Chicago and their daughter Mildred Martinez was the Pope’s mother. “Records from the 1900 Census list [Pope Leo XIV’s maternal grandfather] Joseph Martinez as ‘Black,’ his place of birth as ‘Hayti,’ and his occupation as ‘cigar maker.’ ’Both … Martinez and [the pope’s grandmother] Louise Baquié were people of color.’” … Trump’s Kennedy Center Director Ric Grenell is now whining about Disney picking up Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s latest project, which is a documentary about a family of Major League Baseball catchers. Grenell: “Disney goes far left again - openly endorses the intolerant Lin-Manuel Miranda and his anti-Republican strategies. Lin boycotts Republicans so why is Disney using him?” … Grenell is being a baby because Miranda pulled Hamilton from the Kennedy Center after Trump took over and fired everyone.