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    Need I list all the reasons why Trump shouldn’t get a Nobel peace prize? | Sidney Blumenthal

    Donald Trump’s thuggish campaign to bully his way to the Nobel peace prize should not be the cause for the committee to reject him. There are many more substantial grounds that render him patently unqualified to receive the award.Among the numerous reasons that make him one of the least deserving people in the world who should be honored, he has single-handedly destroyed the United States Agency for International Development, which has saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger and disease, and promoted democracy and the rule of law around the world. In an executive order issued on his inauguration day, 20 January, Trump slandered USAID as “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and claimed that its workers “serve to destabilize world peace”.That act of malice by itself should be sufficient to erase Trump from the longest long list.Clearly, the worthiest candidate for the Nobel peace prize, whether its name was submitted before the deadline or not, is USAID. Since its founding under John F Kennedy in 1961, USAID has supported extensive programs on global health, food security, education and democratic development that, by addressing the root causes of instability and poverty, had promoted a more free, peaceful and prosperous world for 64 years until Trump destroyed it.As a general rule, there should be no shame attached to an organized effort to win the prize by Trump or others. Trump’s lobbying, though, is stained, as is much else about him, by perverse statecraft that has fostered conflict where none previously existed and his unquenchable need for cult-like worship.Several world leaders, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, have written in support of Trump’s nomination at his behest, cynically calculating that it would curry favor for their own often nefarious and warlike purposes. Trump personally pressured India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to write a letter based on the lie that it was Trump who had “solved” a recent military conflict with Pakistan. Modi was alienated by the improper request. After his refusal to submit a false statement, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on India, which sent Modi flying into the arms of China. There is no existing international prize for this sort of willfully destructive behavior.The encomiums from Trump’s closest aides hailing him as the best candidate are symptoms of the sycophancy that is the eternal mark of authoritarian regimes. Fitting the historical pattern, obsequiousness within a cult of personality substitutes for honesty, fact and evidence. Trump punishes and purges forthright counsel, suppresses factual intelligence and expert information that is not falsified or distorted to achieve predetermined results, and dismisses evidence regarding medicine, the environment and energy derived from the scientific method.The tenor of unctuous servility was perfectly voiced by Steven Witkoff, Trump’s all-purpose international representative, speaking at an August cabinet meeting. “There’s only one thing I wish for,” he said, “that the Nobel committee finally gets its act together and realizes that you are the single finest candidate since this Nobel award was ever talked about.”The phrasing of Witkoff’s praise is eerily reminiscent of the words uttered in the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate by the character of Major Ben Marco, played by Frank Sinatra, who has been brainwashed as a prisoner of war held by the North Koreans. He repeats over and over again his admiration for an army sergeant from his unit who has been programmed to be a political assassin on behalf of both the communists and the American far right. “Raymond Shaw,” says Major Marco, “is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.” In the movie, Shaw is awarded a prize – the Congressional Medal of Honor – based on the brainwashed testimony of his fellow soldiers.“No matter what I do, they won’t give it up and I’m not politicking for it,” Trump said. He suggested the efforts to grant him the prize were spontaneous: “I have a lot of people that are.” When he was handed a nomination letter that Netanyahu had submitted, Trump said: “They will never give me a Nobel peace prize. I deserve it.”But Trump’s ludicrous hypocrisy about not pulling levers behind the curtain to solicit nomination also is not a conclusive reason to deny him the prize.Trump’s rancor about not receiving the prize that has not yet been awarded is exactly the same as his resentment that he did not get an Emmy for his reality TV show The Apprentice. For years he ranted: “Should have gotten it.” “I got screwed out of an Emmy.” “The Emmys are all politics.” “Con game.” “Irrelevant.” Then, like the Emmy, he claimed the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and organized an insurrection to overthrow the democratic result. In his paranoid chain of things wrongly denied him, now it’s the Nobel. Fill in the blank.Trump’s longing for the prize also reflects his anger that Barack Obama received it. Trump’s animus against Obama about the Nobel followed his viciously contrived birther campaign. “Affirmative action,” said Trump. “Rigged.” “He had no idea why he got it.” “If I were named Obama, I would have had the Nobel prize given to me in 10 seconds.”The diplomatic and political friction that Trump has gratuitously produced between the US and Norway with his offensive remarks should also not be the decisive issue that affects the judgment of the committee. In 2018, Trump said: “Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re shithole countries … We should have more people from Norway.” His comment evoked nationwide disgust in Norway. “On behalf of Norway: thanks, but no thanks,” tweeted a politician representing Norway’s Conservative party.Trump’s recent 15% tariff levied on Norway, despite its insignificant trade deficit, has damaged its fishing industry. His antipathy toward renewable forms of energy, throwing the entire wind power industry into chaos, has cost the Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor, which had an ongoing wind project off New York, about $1bn. In July, Trump called the Norwegian finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, the former head of Nato, “out of the blue”. “He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs,” a Norwegian newspaper reported. But none of these offensive, obnoxious and even malign actions should be dispositive in whether Trump receives the prize.The reasons for denying him the award are much more fundamental and salient. His disqualification for the Nobel is not that he an inveterate liar, transparent faker and bungling schemer. It is that he meets other much more germane and dangerous criteria that were engraved for humankind epochs before the peace prize was ever conceived.Within mere months since reassuming office Trump has become a harbinger across the globe of war, famine, disease and death. The standards by which he should be judged are those described in the Book of Revelation (6:1–8) by the appearance of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Trump rides or presumes to ride all of those dreaded emblems of destruction, which do not foretell any glorious coming of peace, a new heaven and new earth, or prophesy a cleansing moment for repentance, but instead carnage followed by dictatorship and plagues without end.Specifically, rather than biblically, Trump has been an enabler of war. By his actions, he has supported Netanyahu’s offensive war for the complete ethnic cleansing and destruction of Gaza. Through his refusal to put conditions on $17.8bn in military assistance, Trump has made it possible for Netanyahu to ignore the advice of the Israeli army and intelligence leadership not to continue and expand that war.Trump has called for the US to “take over” and “own” Gaza to turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East”. This entity would generate profits through a US-led trusteeship, private investment in mega-construction projects and the “voluntary” relocation of Palestinians. Trump has held a White House meeting about a plan dubbed the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or “Great Trust” – that envisions building the “Gaza Trump Riviera and Islands” and the “Elon Musk Manufacturing Zone” and paying Palestinians $5,000 to relocate. Under this plan, Trump would personally profit in violation of the emoluments clause of the constitution.On Ukraine, Trump initially agreed to the European proposal for a ceasefire that would result in new sanctions if Vladimir Putin did not comply. But as soon as he was face to face with Putin at their summit in Alaska, Trump crumbled to take Putin’s side. The consequence has been the intensification of Russian bombing of Ukrainian civilian targets – as well as the European Union headquarters in Kyiv. Trump’s undermining of the ceasefire initiative was his latest gesture toward Putin of admiration and deference.The Trump White House has said it will “not rule out” military action to seize Greenland, a semi-independent territory of Denmark, a Nato member. Meanwhile, Denmark reports that Trump has deployed political personnel close to the White House to Greenland to agitate for a US takeover and to prepare for possible US military operations there. On 28 August, Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the top US diplomat to warn the Trump administration against its covert influence operation.Trump has repeatedly laid claim to the territory of the Panama Canal Zone and threatened to use military force to seize it. These threats were apparently made in part to pressure the government of Panama to reduce or eliminate the bill for taxes on Trump Organization properties that they were accused of evading there. In 2017, a joint Reuters-NBC News investigation reported that the Trump Ocean Club International hotel and tower in Panama City was a front for international money laundering for narcotics trafficking, dubbed Narco-a-Lago. The Trump Organization asserted it bore no responsibility for the activity within its units.Trump has also repeatedly laid claim to the entire nation of Canada, another Nato member, to be occupied by and added to the United States as a single state. The White House has refused to rule out the use of military force for that purpose.On 21 June, Trump ordered Operation Midnight Hammer, a surprise, coordinated air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan and other locations. The mission involved B-2 bombers dropping massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) “bunker buster” bombs on the Fordow site and other weapons against the other facilities. When Lt Gen Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, reported a preliminary intelligence assessment that Iran’s nuclear capability had not been “obliterated”, as Trump had boasted, he was summarily fired.Trump has claimed to have brokered a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, after the parties came to the White House for a ceremony to sign a peace treaty. Both governments, however, subsequently acknowledged that this was a publicity stunt designed to help Trump with his campaign for the peace prize and that no peace agreement was actually concluded.Trump’s claim to have brokered a peace agreement between India and Pakistan was yet another stunt to burnish his credentials for the prize. When he was snubbed by Modi, Trump used it as a pretext for imposing a punitive tariff. His claim to have brokered a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from DRC soil was similarly false. Rwanda-controlled M23 rebels remain on DRC soil, committing massacres in 14 villages in July, and the peace agreement is a fiction.Trump has also enabled the Netanyahu government’s campaign of famine against the population of Gaza, granting Netanyahu impunity for his starvation project, while ordering the US representative to the United Nations not to sign a statement from all 14 other members of the security council that the famine in Gaza is a “man-made crisis” and in violation of international law.A huge famine also rages in Sudan, connected in significant part to the proxy war fought there by a US ally, the United Arab Emirates. Trump’s decision to stop all USAID relief operations as part of his administration’s wholesale demolition of the agency has made the Sudan famine far more acute. As a result, more than 80% of emergency food kitchens have shut down. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have stated that the funding cuts are directly contributing to deaths from starvation and disease. The NRC warned that inaction has allowed Sudan’s crisis to worsen “beyond measure”.Besides creating the conditions for famine, Trump’s decision to terminate USAID could lead to more than 14 million additional preventable deaths globally by 2030, according to an authoritative July 2025 study in the British medical journal the Lancet – “a staggering number of avoidable deaths”.According to the report, “USAID funding was associated with a 65% reduction in mortality from HIV/Aids (representing 25.5 million deaths), 51% from malaria (8 million deaths), and 50% from neglected tropical diseases (8.9 million deaths)”, among significant decreases in many other diseases. But Trump has wiped out all these programs.At home, Trump has eviscerated the National Institutes for Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and withheld $2.6bn from Harvard University in federal funds including for medical research on cancer and other diseases. After an armed man with a semi-automatic rifle opposed to vaccines fired 150 rounds into the CDC headquarters in Atlanta and murdered a police officer, Trump said absolutely nothing. He has been a stalwart against any restriction on guns, which are almost without exception the weapons used in school massacres, mass shootings and violent crime.“I looked,” reads the Book of Revelation, “and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death.”

    Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist More

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    Epstein estate records release could shine light on sex trafficker’s connections – or show nothing at all

    The release of records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to US lawmakers this week, as well as potentially suspicious transaction reports, could offer a roadmap to where the scandal swirling around the late convicted sex trafficker goes next.Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed full transparency around Epstein and his links to a wide circle of powerful, rich and famous associates. But instead, the administration has been accused of foot-dragging and a cover-up, and has faced intense scrutiny over the extent of Trump’s own social contact with Epstein.Due to be handed over this week to the House oversight committee chair are estate records that include Epstein’s 50th “birthday book” compiled with notes from friends – including an entry allegedly signed by Trump that is now the subject of a defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal.They also include Epstein’s last will and testament, agreements he signed with federal prosecutors in Florida in 2008, his contacts from his “black book”, non-disclosure agreements, and financial transactions and holdings. In addition, the committee has asked the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, for relevant suspicious activity reports (SARs) in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Epstein and his one-time girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell on sex-trafficking charges.The committee this week also plans to hold a transcribed interview with Alex Acosta, Trump’s first-term labor secretary who was US attorney for the southern district of Florida when the justice department struck a plea deal with Epstein that victims have repeatedly said allowed him to get away with many crimes.Then there is a stalled campaign by the Kentucky Republican representative Thomas Massie and the California Democrat Ro Khanna to pass legislation to force the government to release all documents relating to the Epstein-Maxwell investigation.The White House has reportedly advised Republicans in Congress that supporting the effort would “be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration”.Adding to pressure on the Trump administration, Epstein survivors said last week they would compile their own client list of alleged abusers if the information was not released. Massie and Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said they would read out the names on the House floor under a protective “speech or debate” clause.But none of the potential avenues for more information on the Epstein-Maxwell sex-trafficking conspiracy may be more fruitful than the financial disclosures, and especially the SARs, if they are made public.But the SARs request is already mired in partisan politics, with Democratic senator Ron Wyden accusing Bessent of withholding key information. In a letter, Wyden listed 58 people or institutions he wanted records on. “Treasury records shine a light on how high-profile individuals paid Epstein staggering sums of money, which was then used to move women around the world or engage in dubious transactions indicative of money laundering,” he said.Banks are required to file SARs with the treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network when they suspect a criminal violation, when specified transaction thresholds are reached, or when they suspect money laundering.According to Patrice Schiano, a former FBI forensic accountant now with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, an SAR itself does not necessarily reveal much – but it can be used by law enforcement to subpoena information, including the originator and beneficiaries of the transaction.“They’re documents that speak for themselves. You might find things you don’t necessarily know you’re looking for. Maybe a source is telling you something but you don’t really know the support behind the SARs, and there are ways with SARs you can begin to figure things out,” Schiano said.In a 2023 lawsuit, the Epstein victims and the US Virgin Islands claimed that JP Morgan notified the government of $1bn in suspicious transactions by Epstein dating back to 2003 – but made the report only after Epstein was arrested in 2019.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionLawyers for the bank said it had flagged the treasury department six times, including as early as 2002, about Epstein’s financial activity and that the federal government gave no response and took no action. The bank settled the action for $290m. JP Morgan said that any association with Epstein “was a mistake, and we regret it”.According to Schiano, Epstein’s banking information, if lawmakers can get it, could be “a rich source”.Schiano added: “But you have to have access to SARs, then you have to get a subpoena, and then you have to crunch the data. It’s not easy to do, and it takes a long time, but they could have all the information they need to do a comprehensive investigation.”But will they? A release last week of more than 30,000 pages of Epstein-related documents yielded little new. Wyden noted in his letter that Bessent has twice declined to produce treasury documents to the committee. The senator and his staff viewed some of the SARs last year, but they were not allowed to copy the documents.A treasury department spokesperson called Wyden’s request “political theater”.Representative James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee, has also issued deposition subpoenas to several former senior US government officials and figures such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales to testify.Marie Springer, author of The Politics of Ponzi Schemes: History, Theory, and Policy, warned the truth about Epstein may remain a mystery and even the release of estate records may show little.“I’m very suspicious about the whole Epstein case. I don’t think we will ever have full disclosure,” Springer said. “He had a lot of money for someone who didn’t graduate from college. The curiosity is around why and how, and the people alive now aren’t willing to tell the story.” More

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    Trump news at a glance: President tells foreign companies to ‘respect’ immigration law after Hyundai Ice raid

    Donald Trump has told foreign companies that they must hire and train American workers and respect immigration laws, after a raid at a Hyundai Motor manufacturing facility in Georgia saw about 300 South Koreans detained.Nearly 500 workers in total were detained in the raid on Thursday, with US authorities releasing footage showing them restrained in handcuffs and ankle chains, loaded on to buses.The raid marked the largest single site sweep carried out under Donald Trump’s nationwide anti-immigration campaign and appeared to strain the longstanding diplomatic and economic relationship between the US and South Korea.“I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday, adding “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people … What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”Trump made the post shortly after telling reporters he would look at what happened but that the incident had not harmed his relationship with South Korea.300 South Koreans detained at Hyundai plant in US to be released, says SeoulSouth Korea announced on Sunday that the roughly 300 of its nationals detained during an immigration raid in Georgia would be released and flown home.LG executive Kim Ki-soo flew to Georgia in an apparent effort to slow the fallout. “The immediate priority now is the swift release of both our LG Energy Solution employees and those of our partner firms,” Ki-soo reportedly said before boarding a plane.Read the full storyUS treasury secretary denies Trump tariffs are tax on AmericansUS treasury secretary Scott Bessent has refused to acknowledge that the sweeping trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump around the world are taxes on Americans.In a new interview Bessent, a former billionaire hedge fund manager, dismissed concerns from major American companies including John Deere, Nike and Black and Decker who have all said that Trump’s tariffs policy will cost them billions of dollars annually.Bessent was asked: “Do you acknowledge that these tariffs are attacks on American consumers?” To which Bessent replied: “No, I don’t.”Read the full storyRepublican condemns Vance for ‘despicable’ comments on Venezuelan boat strikeThe Republican senator who heads the homeland security committee has criticized JD Vance for “despicable” comments apparently in support of extrajudicial military killings.“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” the vice-president said in an X post on Saturday, in defense of Tuesday’s US military strike against a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean Sea, which killed 11 people the administration alleged were drug traffickers.Rand Paul condemned Vance’s comments, saying “Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.”Read the full storyCrowd greets Donald Trump with boos and cheers at US Open men’s finalDonald Trump was booed and cheered at the US Open during the national anthem before Sunday’s men’s final.Prior to the match, US Open broadcasters were asked not to show any negative crowd reactions to the president at the event.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

    Nine attorneys – who have represented approximately 50 Jeffrey Epstein survivors – have told the Guardian they have not been recently contacted by the justice department, despite the president’s promises to get to the bottom of the deceased financiers crimes.

    As Chicago braced for an immigration enforcement crackdown and a possible national guard deployment, churches across the city have urged congregants to carry identification, stay connected to family and protest.
    Catching up? Here’s what happened on Saturday 6 September 2025. More

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    Trump issues ‘last warning’ to Hamas to accept Gaza ceasefire deal

    Donald Trump on Sunday issued what he called his “last warning” to Hamas, urging the Palestinian militant group to accept a deal to release hostages from Gaza.“The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”Hamas said in a later statement that it received some ideas from the US side through mediators to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.The group said it was discussing with mediators ways to develop those ideas, without giving specifics.Hamas also reiterated its readiness for negotiations to release all hostages in exchange for a “clear announcement of an end to the war” and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.“I think we’re going to have a deal on Gaza very soon,” Trump told reporters as he traveled back to Washington from New York, without offering any details. He added that he thought all the hostages would be returned, dead or alive. “I think we’re going to get them all.”On Saturday, Israel’s N12 News reported that Trump has put forth a new ceasefire proposal to Hamas.Under the deal, Hamas would free all the remaining 48 hostages on the first day of the truce in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel and negotiate an end to the war during a ceasefire in the enclave, according to N12.An Israeli official said Israel was “seriously considering” Trump’s proposal but did not elaborate on its details. More

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    Ex-congressman John Burton, influential California Democrat, dies at 92

    The former US congressman John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement.Tributes poured in from California’s top politicians, who recalled Burton as a fierce and tireless advocate for laborers, foster children and the environment. Over the years, Burton mentored Pelosi, former US senator Barbara Boxer, current US senator Alex Padilla and countless other California officials.“There was no greater champion for the poor, the bullied, the disabled, and forgotten Californians than John Burton. He was a towering figure – a legendary force whose decades of service shaped our state and our politics for the better,” said Governor Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, in a statement.Another former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, said that death had managed to separate him from a dear friend who was by his side for decades – as college students where they first met, as fellow newbies in the state Assembly and as influential members of California’s Democratic political machine.“John Burton may have been the best person with whom I served as a member of the legislature,” said Brown.Burton believed that government was at its best when it served those who needed it the most, and he never backed down from a fight, said state Democratic party chair Rusty Hicks.“The greatest way to honor John Burton is to keep fighting with the same grit, tenacity, and heart that defined his life,” Hicks said in a statement.“He cared a lot,” said Burton’s daughter, Kimiko Burton. “He always instilled in me that we fight for the underdog. There are literally millions of people whose lives he helped over the years who have no idea who he is.”John Lowell Burton was born on 15 December 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in San Francisco with plans to teach history and coach high school basketball.But he followed his older brother, Phillip Burton, into politics and in 1964 was elected to the state assembly. A decade later, he moved on to the US House of Representatives, where he pushed legislation protecting wilderness areas in the Golden Gate national recreation area and condemning apartheid in South Africa.Burton stepped down in 1982 to address a cocaine addiction, but he didn’t stay gone for long.In 1988, he returned to the California assembly and in 1996 he won a state Senate seat, rising to become the chamber’s president. He retired from elected politics in 2004 – only to head up the California Democratic party from 2009 to 2017.After retiring, he founded a nonprofit dedicated to foster youth. A remembrance posted Sunday by John Burton Advocates for Youth quoted his exasperation with the lack of resources available for foster youth who aged out of the foster care system.“Emancipated from what? And into what?” he asked. “Into not being able to have a roof over their heads? Into being frozen out of a chance at higher education? Into unemployment? Into a life on the welfare rolls? Into homelessness? Into jail?”The organization has advocated successfully for more than 50 legislative reforms, including financial aid for college and extending foster care for some from age 18 to 21.Barbara Lee, a former US congresswoman and current Oakland mayor, said that in spite of his health challenges, Burton was determined to attend her public inauguration in June, and he did.“His life’s work reminds us that authentic leadership means having the courage to speak truth to power and never forgetting where you came from,” she said.In addition to his daughter, Kimiko, Burton is survived by two grandchildren, Juan and Mikala.Plans for a celebration of life are pending. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the John Burton Advocates for Youth. More

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    Florida plan to drop school vaccine mandates won’t take effect for 90 days

    Florida’s plan to drop school vaccine mandates likely won’t take effect for 90 days and would include only chickenpox and a few other illnesses unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases, like polio and measles, the health department said on Sunday.The department responded to a request for details, four days after Florida’s surgeon general, Dr Joseph Ladapo, said the state would become the first to make vaccinations voluntary and let families decide whether to inoculate their children.It’s a retreat from decades of public policy and research that has shown vaccines to be safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of communicable diseases, especially among children. Despite that evidence, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, has expressed deep skepticism about vaccines.Florida’s plan would lift mandates on school vaccines for hepatitis B, chickenpox, Hib influenza and pneumococcal diseases, such as meningitis, the health department said.“The department initiated the rule change on September 3 2025, and anticipates the rule change will not be effective for approximately 90 days,” the state told the Associated Press in an email. The public school year in Florida started in August.All other vaccinations required under Florida law to attend school “remain in place, unless updated through legislation” including vaccines for measles, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, mumps and tetanus, the department said.Lawmakers don’t meet again until January 2026, although committee meetings begin in October.Ladapo, appearing Sunday on CNN, repeated his message of free choice for childhood vaccines.“If you want them, God bless, you can have as many as you want,” he said. “And if you don’t want them, parents should have the ability and the power to decide what goes into their children’s bodies. It’s that simple.”Earlier this week, Ladapo garnered criticism after he compared vaccine mandates to “slavery”. Speaking at a press conference alongside Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis who has also expressed deep vaccine skepticism, Ladapo said of the vaccine requirements: “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.”His comments drew outrage from lawmakers and health experts alike, with Democratic Florida state representative Anna Eskamani saying: “Ending vaccine mandates is reckless and dangerous. It will drive down immunization rates and open the door to outbreaks of preventable diseases, putting children, seniors and vulnerable Floridians at risk.”Meanwhile, John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said: “Florida’s undertakers will now need to plan for the future by increasing their stocks of small coffins,” adding that all the preventable vaccines would increase in schools.Ladapo had previously altered data in a 2022 study by the state’s health department to exaggerate the risks of cardiac death for young men. The study had initially disclaimed any significant risk associated with the vaccines for young men. However, Ladapo replaced the language to claim that men between 18 and 39 years old are at high risk of heart illness from two Covid vaccines that use mRNA technology.Ladapo had also falsely claimed in 2023 that booster shots were not tested on humans and had “red flags.” The same year, the US Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called Ladapo’s vaccine stances as harmful to the public.“It is the job of public health officials around the country to protect the lives of the populations they serve, particularly the vulnerable,” the federal letter said, adding: “Fueling vaccine hesitancy undermines this effort.”Florida currently has a religious exemption for vaccine requirements. Vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives globally over the past 50 years, the World Health Organization reported in 2024. The majority of those were infants and children.Dr Rana Alissa, chair of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said making vaccines voluntary puts students and school staff at risk.This is the worst year for measles in the US in more than three decades, with more than 1,400 cases confirmed nationwide, most of them in Texas, and three deaths.Whooping cough has killed at least two babies in Louisiana and a five-year-old in Washington state since winter, as it too spreads rapidly. There have been more than 19,000 cases as of 23 August, nearly 2,000 more than this time last year, according to preliminary CDC data.Maya Yang contributed reporting More

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    US treasury secretary denies Trump tariffs are tax on Americans

    US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has refused to acknowledge that the sweeping trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump around the world are taxes on Americans.In a new interview on Sunday with NBC host Kristen Welker, Bessent, a former billionaire hedge fund manager, dismissed concerns from major American companies including John Deere, Nike and Black and Decker who have all said that Trump’s tariffs policy will cost them billions of dollars annually.Addressing Welker, Bessent said: “You’re taking these from earnings calls, and on earnings calls, they have to give the draconian scenario. There aren’t companies coming out and saying, ‘Oh, because of the tariffs, we’re doing this.’”He went on to add: “If things are so bad, why was the GDP 3.3%? Why is the stock market at a new high? Because, you know, with President Trump, we care both about big companies and small companies.”As concerns continue to grow over American companies trying to pass on the cost of US tariffs on to everyday Americans, Welker asked: “Do you acknowledge that these tariffs are attacks on American consumers?” To which Bessent replied: “No, I don’t.”Bessent’s latest interview follows a ruling by a federal appeals court which found that Trump had overstepped his presidential authority when he imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries earlier this year that sent shockwaves across global markets.The tariffs established a 10% baseline for nearly all of the US’s trading partners. Trump also imposed so-called “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on countries that he accused of unfairly treating the US in trade. Lesotho, a south African nation of 2.3 million people faced a 50% tariff, while Trump also imposed a 10% tariff on a group of uninhabited islands home to penguins near Antarctica.In response to the federal appeals court’s decision, the Trump administration has recently asked the US supreme court to overturn the ruling.Speaking on whether the Trump administration would be prepared to offer rebates if the supreme court rules against the administration, Bessent said: “We would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs which would be terrible for the treasury… There’s no ‘be prepared.’ If the court says it, we’d have to do it.”Nevertheless, Bessent remained confident that the conservative-majority supreme court would side with the Trump administration, saying: “I am confident that we will win at the supreme court. But there are numerous other avenues that we can take. They diminish president Trump’s negotiating position … This isn’t about the dollars. This is about balance. The dollars are an after amount.”Bessent’s comments also came on the heels of newly released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which revealed that in August, 12,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, marking a total loss of 42,000 jobs since April when Trump made his tariff announcement.“Are these numbers proof that the tariffs are failing to produce the manufacturing jobs that President Trump promised?” Welker asked Bessent, to which he replied: “It’s been a couple of months. And with the manufacturing sector … we can’t snap our fingers and have factories built.”Bessent went on to add that he believes “by the fourth quarter, we’re going to see a substantial acceleration”.In addition to a decline in manufacturing employment since April, job openings and hires have fallen by 76,000 and 18,000, respectively, according to the Center for American Progress.According to economists, Trump’s tariffs are expected to cost American households $2,400 annually while wage growth among manufacturing workers remain stagnant under the tariffs.In August, manufacturing workers earned an hourly average of $35.50, marking only a 10-cent increase from July, the center reported. More

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    Crowd greets Donald Trump with boos and cheers at US Open men’s final

    Donald Trump was booed and cheered at the US Open during the national anthem before Sunday’s men’s final. When stadium monitors showed him saluting as a member of West Point performed The Star-Spangled Banner, a burst of cheers sprang up and was quickly drowned out by boos, at which point the president offered a brief smirk. After the first changeover, he reappeared on the big screen and stayed up there for a while – causing fans to boo even longer until the camera cut away.Trump’s return to the US Open marked his first time at the tournament since 2015, when he was booed after leaving a match between Serena and Venus Williams. Invited to this year’s tournament by Rolex, he sat in a suite next to a winner’s trophy among a welter of cabinet and family members. He arrived more than an hour before the scheduled start of the match and raised a triumphant fist for the cameras.Meanwhile, thousands of fans were left trickling into the match because of the heightened security around the president’s visit. The stadium was not yet at its expected capacity 45 minutes into the match, at which point Carlos Alcaraz already had a 6-2 lead over Jannik Sinner.In a statement, the Secret Service said that protecting the president “required a comprehensive effort” that “may have contributed to delays for attendees.”Trump’s return to the Open is somewhat of a homecoming. He was once a fixture at the tournament, styling himself as a celebrity to dwarf all others from New York or Hollywood. During that time, he was often shown on the big screen and booed.But after he kicked off his 2015 presidential campaign with a fiery announcement speech hitting out at immigrants and foreign allies, the prevailing attitude toward Trump in New York shifted negatively.The reception Trump received from the crowd on Sunday was in marked contrast to the enthusiasm that went up for the match’s other prominent attendees. During a changeover in the second set, the camera cut to Bruce Springsteen, who has been the target of a fusillade of Trump criticism. The crowd cheered deliriously.The US Tennis Association, which organizes the US Open, had emailed broadcasters requesting reactions to Trump not be shown. Despite that, Trump’s appearance during the anthem was briefly shown on ESPN in the US.A scattering of protestors stood outside the grounds before the match. Among them was Emma Kaplan, a 33-year-old executive assistant from Brooklyn, distributing flyers that read “The Fall of the Trump Fascist Regime.” She was joined by three members of RefuseFascism.org, one hoisting a poster that declared “GAME, SET, MATCH! NOV 5, FLOOD DC. TRUMP MUST GO!”; another’s sign demanded the shutdown of “the whole Trump fascist regime.”Some fans nodded quietly in approval. Others made their opposition clear.“Oh my bad, I voted for him,” one man muttered.Kaplan brushed off the jeers. “Trump has historically been booed here,” she said. “He should be booed everywhere he goes. And on 5 November we’re calling for millions of people to come to Washington DC. They might try to silence our boos, but they can’t silence our rage.” More