Opening Shots: President Trump opened a trade war with Mexico, Canada, and the European Union yesterday imposing stiff new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from those countries. A 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum went into effect at 12:01 this morning.

An administration statement said, “The Trump administration’s actions underscore its commitment to good-faith negotiations with our allies to enhance our national security while supporting American workers.”

The targeted countries announced they would retaliate by imposing tariffs on an equal value of goods imported from America.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “The measures carry the threat of a spiral of escalation that will result in damaging everyone,” and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said it was “inconceivable” that Canada “could be considered a national security threat.”

Trump is using tariffs as leverage in trade negotiations, but his unpredictability is sowing chaos in international trade.  Neil Irwin writes for The Upshot in The NY Times  that, “The administration’s trade policy is displaying an erratic, improvised, us-against-the-world quality that is anathema to businesses that must make long-term decisions about how to deploy capital.”

That’s What She Said: Supporters of Roseanne Barr and The White House are in an uproar because comedian Samantha Bee referred to Ivanka Trump with the dreaded “C” word and her employer TBS didn’t fire her. Bee and the network apologized but some advertisers have already left her.

Barr was dumped by ABC  because she compared a black woman to an ape and now there’s a debate about which insult is worse.

Barr revealed on Twitter yesterday that she nearly prostrated herself to save her show, “Roseanne.” She said, “I begged them not to cancel the show. I told them I was willing to do anything & asked 4 help in making things right. I’d worked doing publicity4 them 4free for weeks, traveling, thru bronchitis. I begged4 ppls jobs.”

Pardon Me: President Trump yesterday pardoned Dinesh D’Souza, a Republican operative and commentator who went to prison for violating campaign finance laws. Trump tweeted, “He was treated very unfairly by our government!”

The President also said he’s considering commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, and pardoning home diva Martha Stewart who went to prison in an insider trading mess. Both Blagojevich and Stewart appeared on Trump’s show “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Presidential pardons and commutations generally are reserved for people who have been wronged or overly punished by the justice system. But Trump’s pardons have a political intent. He pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who blatantly violated the civil rights of Hispanic people in his county.

D’Souza pleaded guilty, so, nothing unfair there. Trump’s pardons are being read as a signal to former associates who might give evidence against him that if they just hang in there, he’ll take care of them.

House of Horrors: A traffic stop in Massachusetts Sunday led to the discovery of a  woman who was kidnapped and tortured and three bodies in a Springfield home. Police arrested Stewart Weldon, 40, after a woman in his car told police Weldon had been holding her captive for about a month. They said she had suffered terrible injuries including stab wounds and hammer blows.

Police followed up and searched Weldon’s home where they found the three bodies.

World: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain lost a no-confidence vote today over a major corruption scandal within his conservative party. He’s been one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders. — After 88 days of negotiations, two Italian populist parties with a history of dislike for the European Union are creating a coalition government. A leader of the Italian Democratic Party said, “The populist and right-wing government has a program that’s dangerous for the country and the events of recent days confirm our longstanding concerns.”

Hoop Dreams: Golden State held off LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the first game of the NBA finals 124-114. James scored 51 points. The Warriors barely squeaked by in the home opener despite 29 points from Stephen Curry, 26 from Kevin Durant, and 24 from Klay Thompson.

Use It In a Sentence: Fourteen year old Karthik Nemmani of McKinney, Texas was the last kid standing out of a field of 515 in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. Among the words he spelled on the way to the championship; “condottiere” (knight or roving soldier available for hire), “miarolitic” (of igneous rock), “cendre” (a moderate blue), “ankyloglossia” (limited normal movement of the tongue), “grognard,” “passus,” “shamir” (tiny worm capable to splitting the hardest stone) and “jagüey” (an East Indian tree).

Microsoft Word’s spell check doesn’t recognize most of them.

Nemmani won the title correctly spelling “koinonia,” which is the fellowship of Christian believers.

Expense Accounts: The special counsel investigation into Russian election influencing has cost $16.7 million so far, The Washington Post reports. It’s approaching the cost of the President’s golf weekends.

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