TARIFFS NOT LEGAL: A federal appeals court yesterday found that many of the trade tariffs levied by President Trump were illegally applied, upholding an earlier decision by a federal trade court, yet allowing the tariffs to remain in place while the administration appeals to the Supreme Court.

  The issue is whether Trump properly invoked powers of economic emergency. The economy, if anything, was doing too well when he took office but he worships the notion of import tariffs and punishing trade partners. No president before Trump had invoked the economic emergency law to tax imports. He plows ahead and challenges the courts to decide whether he’s wrong.

  Trump has claimed that his tariffs will make America rich. As usual, he condemned the judges who ruled against him. “Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end,” he predicted on social media. “If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country.” 

BLOWHARD: Furthering President Trump’s attacks on wind-generated power, the Transportation Department announced that it is terminating or withdrawing $679 million in federal funding for 12 projects around the country that support development of offshore wind power.

  He previously ordered a stop to a nearly completed wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. 

   One project in California involves wind turbines that would be capable of floating in the ocean, which the state had been planning to meet its renewable energy goals.

  Much of the money was targeted for port and maritime projects. “Wasteful wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go toward revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

  Trump has claimed that wind-power “is the worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy.” Wind turbines are expensive to install but once they are working they produce cheaper energy. Trump is a climate-change denier who favors fossil fuels, including what he claims to be “clean” coal. The President is particularly miffed about giant turbines in the ocean visible from his Scotland golf course.

  The President is also pressuring other countries to stop development of wind power. He could put that and efforts to fight climate change back by years. 

REGIME NEWS:

— The Trump administration is moving to override Congress and cut $4.9 billion in federal aid. The White House informed Congress that they intend to invoke a little-known and legally-untested mechanism called a “pocket rescission” to stop spending approved by the legislators. 

  “Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said in a statement. She’s the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. 

— Secretary of State Marco Rubio is barring representatives of  the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization from attending the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York next month. The State Department said Rubio is holding the two organizations “accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.” 

— Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who once told voters angry about healthcare cuts that, “Well, we are all going to die,” will not run for re-election, several news outlets report.

  Her departure would give a Democratic candidate a long shot at taking the seat.

  First elected in 2014, Ernst rose to become one of the highest-ranking Republican women in politics. But she joins a list of Republican senators who are choosing not to seek re-election next year after being targeted by President Trump or his supporters.

  Ernst has flirted with opposing Trump, particularly in approving Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, but generally she has fallen in line.

— A federal judge yesterday blocked the Trump administration from carrying out fast-track deportations of people detained far from the southern border, a pillar of his immigration policy.  Judge Jia Cobb in the District of Columbia wrote, “When it comes to people living in the interior of the country, prioritizing speed over all else will inevitably lead the government to erroneously remove people via this truncated process.” 

— CNN reports that the Trump administration is planning to send hundreds of Guatemalan children in government custody who arrived in the United States alone, back to their home country. 

— President Trump yesterday withdrew Secret Service protection for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Vice Presidents are normally afforded six months of post-term protection but President Biden had ordered an extension to a year. 

THE WAR ROOM:  Russia launched a wave of 600 drones into Ukraine overnight. It was the second large-scale attack in three days as peace efforts appear to be going nowhere. 

THE SPIN RACK: Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special legislative session to redraw congressional maps in his state to favor his party, following the lead set by Texas, where Gov. Gregg Abbott yesterday signed a Republican-favoring district map into law. — At least 70 people drowned and more than 60 others are missing after a boat loaded with migrants capsized off the coast of Mauritania, in northwest Africa. — The bloom of jellyfish in East Coast waters is reported to be especially severe this year.

BELOW THE FOLD: Nobody ever accused Donald Trump of having good taste. Since arriving in the White House he has adorned the Oval Office and other rooms with gilded decorations. He associates gold with wealth and class, one of which he has, and the other he doesn’t. It doesn’t bode well for his planned ballroom on the East Wing.

  Internet sleuths have discovered that Trump’s office decorations are not so exclusive. The gilded moldings attached to the Oval Office fireplace are similar to plastic moldings available at Home Depot.  Similar, but not identical. That doesn’t mean they are in good taste.

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