AMERICA FIRST: Donald Trump’s drive for “America First” is quickly becoming America Alone. He’s putting up walls against the rest of. the world.

  Trump said yesterday that high tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada will go into effect on March 4^th because those two countries are not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs over the border. “Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,”  he said in a social media post.

  Trump said an additional 10 percent tax will be piled on top of the 10 percent already levied on Chinese goods.  “A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China,” he wrote.

  At the White House, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said his country was ready to put “boots on the ground” to enforce a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia deal which must “stop Putin coming back for more.” Trump has said the US will no longer back Ukraine’s security and Europe will have to take care of it.

  Trump in recent days has failed to condemn Russia for starting the war and has even called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator. Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Trump for initiating a thaw in US-Russia relations.

  At the same time Trump has brought a chill to relations with America’s European allies. At Wednesday’s cabinet meeting he said, “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it.”

  The US shocked European leaders this week, voting “no” along with Russia, Belarus, and North Korea on a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  At the same time, the administration is withdrawing US Aid for International Development from around the world, leaving impoverished countries to deal with their own health and starvation crises.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— A federal judge yesterday ordered the Trump administration and Office of Personnel Management to retract directives firing thousands of federal workers, saying that those orders were “illegal” and that the layoffs should be stopped.

— The Pentagon sent out a memo saying it plans to “separate” from the services members who have or have had a history of gender dysphoria … read that as trans sexual. The memo says such people are “incompatible with military service.” It’s believed that there are thousands of trans gender members of the services.

  The memo also says, “The Department only recognizes two sexes: male and female. An individual’s sex is immutable, unchanging during a person’s life.”

— The administration yesterday fired hundreds of probationary employees at NOAA and the National Weather Service who do weather forecasts, maintain radar systems, gather data from satellites, and monitor key commercial fisheries.

— Department of Government Efficiency czar Elon Musk says Verizon’s upgrade of the FAA’s air traffic control system is failing and his own SpaceX company needs to take over the contract.

—  Donald Trump posted the following on his Truth Social: “As a President who is being given credit for having the Best Opening Month of any President in history, quite naturally, here come the Fake books and stories with the so-called “anonymous,” or “off the record,” quotes. At some point I am going to sue some of these dishonest authors and book publishers, or even media in general, to find out whether or not these “anonymous sources” even exist, which they largely do not.”

POPEYE DOYLE: Authorities say actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa  was found dead in the bathroom of their Sante Fe home with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered around her on the counter and floor. A dead German Shepherd was a few feet away. 

  Hackman was found dead on the floor of the mud room with his cane next to him and no obvious clues to how he died. Both bodies were in initial stages of decomposition. They were seen through a window by a maintenance worker.

  Arakawa was 64 and Hackman, 95. One investigator said it looked like Hackman had “suddenly fallen.” They said there was no sign of a gas or C02 leak in the house.

  Two other dogs were found alive on the property. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Russian chess master Boris Spassky, who in 1972 lost the “Match of the Century” to American Bobby Fischer, died in Moscow at age 88.

  The match was a proxy for the Cold War but it was as much a clash of personalities as politics. The 29-year-old Fisher was a brash and spoiled man-brat who made demands like a rock star. Spassky, 35, at the time, was urbane, good-natured,  and gentlemanly, acceding to Fischer’s many demands.

  The match was a best-of-24 series in Reykjavik, Iceland with each win counting as one point, each draw as a half point, and 12.5 needed to win. Despite faltering early, Fischer won it 12.5 to 8.5.

  Fischer died in 2008 at age 64.

THE SPIN RACK: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Donald Trump in Washington today. He is expected to sign the agreement granting mineral rights to the US. —  Employees at The Washington Post are in open rebellion after owner Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire, declared that the opinion pages will focus only “personal liberties and free markets” rather than a wide variety of opinions.  

BELOW THE FOLD:  Woe is woke. Illustrating why millions of Americans have rebelled against “woke” sensibilities, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is defending a proposal to change the term “mother” under Wisconsin state law to “inseminated person”.

  The mother of all terminology changes is included in a section of proposed law on “gender neutral terminology” that also seeks to change “husband” to “spouse,” “wife” to “person,” and “father” to “parent.” 

  But, about that “inseminated person” thing. We do hope he’s aware that not all inseminated persons have the biological ability to bear children.

-30-