THE UNWELCOME MAT: President Trump yesterday declared a ban on travel from 12 Middle East and African countries to take effect on Monday.

  “The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas,” Mr. Trump said in a video message posted on social media. “We don’t want them.”

  The Boulder attacker came from Egypt, which is not on Trump’s travel ban list. The list includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

  Trump also issued a partial ban on travel from several other countries, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

  Trump also said yesterday that he will prevent Harvard University’s international students from entering the country despite a federal judge saying six days ago that she would block administration efforts to bar those students from receiving visas. Judge Allison Burroughs in Massachusetts has to yet issue an injunction to enforce that.

NOT SO BEAUTIFUL: Republican members of Congress were casting doubt on the financial impact of their giant budget and spending bill even before yesterday when the Congressional Budget Office said the Big Beautiful Bill would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt and drop 11 million people from their healthcare.

  Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri said last month that, “Unless I like the number, I’m against the number.”

  The simple math from the CBO is that spending cuts in the bill would save $1.8 trillion while tax cuts and additional spending would cost $4.2 trillion. 

  The bill has passed the House and can lose no more than three votes in the Senate, where some members have deep concerns. Elon Musk denounced it as the “Debt Slavery Bill.”

  The CBO has already forecast … before this bill … that the national debt will grow by $21 trillion in the next 10 years, reaching $50 trillion by 2034.   

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— The President yesterday ordered attorney general Pam Bondi to investigate the use of the autopen to sign presidential documents, in particular pardons, during the Biden administration. Trump has claimed that many of Biden’s actions were illegitimate because they were signed mechanically rather than by hand. 

  Trump in his memo to Bondi claimed there was a “conspiracy” to “abuse the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.” Trump on his Truth Social feed said Biden’s use of the autopen is “THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY.”

— The Education Department under President Trump is threatening the accreditation of Columbia University on claims that the Ivy League school violated civil rights laws by “acting with deliberate indifference” toward the harassment of Jewish students.

— A federal judge in Colorado temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting the wife and children of the Egyptian man charged with attacking that event in Boulder, Colorado supporting the hostages in Gaza. Judge Gordon Gallagher said deportation of the suspect’s wife and five children would cause “irreparable harm.” Immigration and Customs swept up the family following the attack and said they would be subject to expedited deportation. 

— Federal Judge James Boasberg in Washington ordered the Trump administration to give due process to 140 Venezuelan immigrants deported to El Salvador in March under a rarely invoked wartime law. 

  Boasberg said it may be true as the administration claims that the deported men are dangerous gang members, but they were never given the chance to challenge the accusation.

DEPT. OF EDICASHUN: In a congressional hearing yesterday about eliminating diversity, equity initiatives, Education Secretary Linda McMahon appeared to know nothing about the 1917 Tulsa race massacre. McMahon said, “I’d like to look into it more and get back to you on that.”

THE WAR ROOM: President Trump reported after a 90-minute phone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the Russian leader vowed to retaliate for the clever Ukrainian drone attack that destroyed or damaged 40 heavy  Russian bombers. How do you retaliate against a country you invaded? Trump described the talk as a “good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES: Smoke from Canadian wildfires is still passing over the US. The smoke trail stretches all the way from western Canada to Florida. The worst of it is passing to the north, headed towards to upper tip of Maine.

THE CUP: The Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. Edmonton scored the winning goal in overtime.

THE SPIN RACK: The Israeli military has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in the October 7^th massacre. Judi Weinstein-Haggai and Gad Haggai  were both in their 70s. — Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary under former President Biden is leaving the Democratic Party and become an independent, according to the publisher of her forthcoming book. Jean-Pierre is expected to write about “the betrayal by the Democratic Party” that led to Biden quitting his campaign for re-election, according to a description of the book from Legacy Lit. — The Florida State’s Board of Governors, which oversees the sprawling State University System, voted 10-6 against naming Santa Ono to head the University of Florida because he was accused of being lenient toward pro-Palestinian protesters while serving as president of the University of Michigan.

BELOW THE FOLD:  The family of a North Carolina high school student suspended for using the term “illegal alien” in English class has settled their lawsuit for $20,000 and an apology. The suspension followed a moment when a teacher gave students an assignment to use the word “alien” and Christian McGhee asked, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

  The school board  agreed to remove all references to racial bias in McGhee’s school record.

-30-