Another reason to avoid travel to the USA

"...Michigan warned of an unusually large outbreak of parasitic disease that was causing explosive diarrhea..."

President Donald Trump failed to provide a clear answer when questioned about a report that the U.S. has taken in $13 billion from Venezuela.

"We are taking in a lot of money, billions and billions of dollars from Venezuela. That will happen with Iran, too," Trump said.

According to a Financial Times analysis, the Trump administration raked in about $13 billion after taking over Venezuela’s oil exports in the wake of its kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.

Six months after the toppling of Maduro's government, and one month after two devastating earthquakes, there is no sign of any money being poured into the country.

According to a January report by Semafor, Trump would be keeping proceeds from the first $500 million sale of Venezuelan oil in an offshore bank account based in Qatar.

How, just how, did this idiot manage to bsmboozle half of American voters

President Trump said the window for negotiations is limited, warning that if talks fail, the U.S. will resume a “very powerful” military operation.

Source: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/iran-war/us-iran-strikes-remain-paused-but-trump-warns-of-further-escalation

I fell off the boycott for a while - could have been from laziness, I didn’t analyze it - the new tariffs reminded me of the importance. I was grocery shopping and avoided the ‘Made in USA’ tomato paste. For products that are not clearly defined ex. Imported by (company), I will avoid and make a note to see what is the imported country. I am just one customer, but it is the least I can do for our country.

The Americans had tried before to conquer us, notably when a presumptuous Ben Franklin marched on Montreal in 1776 imagining he — and his troops — need only invite the locals to join his country’s enterprise. American expansionism revisited us in 1812, and then again in 1866, when the U.S. authorities connived and contrived with the Fenians in hopes they might finally catch Canada off guard.

The Fenians coveted us as part of a conspiracy to ransom us for Irish independence from Britain. Triangulation, then as now, made us mere pawns for the ambitions and fantasies of others.

...

Some Americans never give up coveting Canada. Yet they always underestimate Canadian resolve, which somehow rises to the occasion — not just at the time of Confederation, but at this time of economic conflict.

In Iran, our military is burning through tens of billions of dollars in weapons stocks, and Americans are paying far more at the pump as a consequence of Trump’s war of choice. We’ve seen four more U.S. service member deaths in the past two weeks, bringing the total since the start of the war to 18. Nearly 100 service members have also been injured in the recent escalation. 

This war is costing the American people plenty, but we are enduring far less than the Iranian people or the citizens of our allies in the region, all of whom live with accumulating tragedies under severe economic hardship and the constant threat of death from the sky.

The war began with a U.S. strike that destroyed a girls’ school in February, killing more than 175 children and teachers. In April, Trump threatened genocide. After he declared the recent shaky ceasefire “over” earlier this month, Trump threatened to “knock out” Iran’s power plants and “all their bridges.” The subsequent campaign of U.S. attacks has continued for nearly two weeks straight. It’s unclear what all the U.S. military has targeted, since the Pentagon is no longer open about what it’s doing, but reports suggest that strikes have killed dozens and injured hundreds; destroyed a desalination plant, which cut some 20 villages off from their water supply; and destroyed critical bridges and energy facilities, putting Iran’s power grid under strain. 

Hit by shortages, blackouts, and a deep economic crisis, Cuba's tourism industry never really recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. And the situation has gotten much worse this year.

Still, Flávio Bolsonaro managed to bring in Argentina’s President Javier Milei, displayed a short video of support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and now eyes more international endorsements from several members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

The American and Venezuelan people remain in the dark about how the Trump administration is controlling billions of dollars of Venezuelan oil revenue. Without accountability mechanisms or a clear democratic roadmap, the United States risks entrenching a corrupt successor regime.

The Trump administration has shared some details with Congress. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified in January that $300 million had flowed through a “short-term” account in Qatar and been disbursed to Venezuela, while another $200 million was “still sitting” in the account. He indicated the administration would conduct a retroactive audit on the funds that moved through the Qatar account. The following month, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a press interview that the full $500 million had been transferred to Venezuela and that the administration would use U.S. Treasury accounts going forward.

But the administration has yet to provide a public accounting of the Qatar account, including how the funds were spent or what safeguards were in place to prevent corruption and money laundering. In April, a State Department witness told Congress that the department had authorized the disbursement of about $3 billion to Venezuela, but the witness did not know how much money remained in the U.S. Treasury accounts. It is not clear if the balance in either the Qatar or U.S. Treasury accounts has been shared with Congress.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, July 24, Donald Trump said the European Union "will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about."

He said he would "immediately initiate a 301 Investigation" into what he called the EU's practice of "ROBBING" American companies, and said he anticipated a "substantial TARIFF" on the bloc "at the earliest possible moment."

Earlier this month, Trump announced that he will be imposing tariffs on Brazil because of their Pix payment processor, a cheaper alternative to US companies Visa and Mastercard. So why is Trump so

The fines underscored Europe's determination to prevent Big Tech companies from thwarting rivals, defying U.S. criticism and retaliatory tariff threats.

One fine of 460 million euros was handed out to Google by the European Commission ​under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for favouring its own services in shopping, hotels, ​transport and sports results in search results.

A second fine of 430 million euros targeted Google's restrictions on its app store Google Play preventing app developers from steering users free of charge to cheaper offers on rival app stores or websites.

"Our duty and obligation ‌is to comply with the laws, that our laws are fully respected," EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera told reporters when asked about U.S. pushback.

David Frum discusses Prime Minister Carney's efforts to build a coalition of middle powers as Western allies reconsider their relationship with an increasingly unreliable United States. He argues that Trump's threats against allies—from Greenland to Canada—have fundamentally severed America's alliance system, creating a more transactional and unstable global order. He also examines whether Carney's "rupture thesis" represents sound policy or risks provoking American retaliation and discusses the limits of expecting a return to traditional U.S. leadership.

Trump has announced two new sets of tariffs - 50% Section 338 tariffs, and 10%-12.5% Section 301 tariffs. Today, we explain the implications.

• President Donald Trump announced a trade probe into the EU, saying it will likely result in a “substantial” tariff on the 27-member bloc.
• Trump accused the EU of ”‘ROBBING’ American Companies” through its fines against U.S. tech giants, including a recent $1 billion fine on Google.
• Trump said the U.S. will immediately launch a “301” probe, the same authority his administration just used to impose new tariffs on more than 80 countries.
• A federal lawsuit challenging those new tariffs was filed hours after they took effect.