Jonathan Tepe

Public interest/civil rights lawyer based in Nashville. Proud Buckeye and Cincinnatian.

[Jonathan Tepe @JonathanTepe]

Incredibly proud to be bringing this lawsuit to stop Tennessee from subjecting its most vulnerable youth to barbaric violence and neglect instead of providing the treatment they need. https://t.co/P31CPhdgSI

[The Athletic @TheAthletic]

Folarin Balogun will be available to play the USMNT’s round of 16 match against Belgium, with his one-game red-card ban that he received against Bosnia and Herzegovina suspended.

Article 27 of FIFA’s disciplinary code states that “the judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.”

https://t.co/RYBdM06r2I

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Today marks the 250th anniversary of one of humanity's brightest, strongest, and most influential dreams – the American Dream of an independent, free, and prosperous nation that defends people's freedom, faith, and the pursuit of happiness.

That dream has endured many trials. It did not merely survive – it has, for two and a half centuries now, served as an example for other nations and helped the entire humanity stand firm and become freer. This was especially important in the 20th century, when America helped save the world from the rule of tyrants and built the alliances and partnerships that, for the first time, gave a large part of humanity lasting peace and the opportunity to develop in freedom.

Now, in the 21st century, America's influence and importance are certainly no less. And we see that particularly clearly in Ukraine, which is fighting for its independence, freedom, and our people's right to happiness with much the same hope, the same purpose, and the same determination with which Americans won and defended their own independence.

We deeply value the support of the United States, especially now, during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. American weapons – from the Javelins that President Trump decided to give to Ukraine to the Patriots that most reliably protect the lives of our people – everything the United States has provided to help us defend our country demonstrates the strength of the American spirit, American resolve, and American technology.

And we know the value of all these words better than anyone. When we ask America for Patriots, we believe that the values of respect for life and for people that prevailed 250 years ago will prevail again today. The world needs the kind of leadership that guarantees protection for freedom and for life.

I wish America a happy Fourth of July, the President of the United States and all Americans every success, and all of us around the world who value America – fruitful cooperation. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." That is what unites all of us – all who respect America and thank America today.

May the dreams of free people always triumph over the evil and hatred of those who seek to destroy freedom. America, thank you! I am confident that if we're in it together, we'll definitely achieve peace! Congratulations on your Independence Day!

[Jake Tapper 🦅 @jaketapper]

DOJ has since killed this link. This is what was there:

[Stewart Mandel @slmandel]

At his postgame press conference after the national championship, someone asked Jim Harbaugh about what it means to be a Michigan Man.

Part of his answer: "You don’t lie, you don’t cheat, you don’t steal."

[Will Sommer @willsommer]

"FBI Director Kash Patel has privately told other government officials that Trump’s name appeared in the files." https://t.co/dzpSYeaVXW

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

The stupidity of indiscriminately canceling grants to punish an entire university for a shifting mixture of grievances, mostly fictitious or distorted.

[evan loves worf @esjesjesj]

You 100% would have sent Jesus to El Salvador

[Jeet Heer @HeerJeet]

We can't rule out that God kept Francis alive so he could do this.

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

"Mack Trucks announces layoffs at Lehigh Valley plant, blames tariffs" https://t.co/2XHEjmvyeE

[Jon Favreau @jonfavs]

This is what they’re doing to citizens now:

[Michael Shermer @michaelshermer]

"One of the highest tariff rates, 50 percent, was imposed on the African nation of Lesotho, whose average citizen earns less than $5 a day.

Because Lesotho’s citizens are too poor to afford most U.S. exports, while the U.S. imports $237 million in diamonds and other goods from the small landlocked nation, we have reserved close to our highest-possible tariff rate for one of the world’s poorest countries.

The notion that taxing Lesotho gemstones is necessary for the U.S. to add steel jobs in Ohio is so absurd that I briefly lost consciousness in the middle of writing this sentence."
https://t.co/LneucerCp8

[(((Harry Enten))) @ForecasterEnten]

"Uh oh... Trump's making history": he's the 1st president since the S&P 500 was created in 1957 to inherit a bull market & turn in a loss of at least 5% at this point in his presidency.

This isn't like other early declines. Trump took a bull & is turning it into a bear.

[Heath Mayo @HeathMayo]

The S&P 500 has lost nearly 15% of its value since Donald Trump took office. No external shock, no new wars, no natural disaster. Just man-made, self-inflicted stupidity.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

It is hard to express, without resorting to expletives, how stupid it is to suggest that the United States, world's richest economy with a population of 340 million, should have a bilateral trade balance of zero (no trade surplus or trade deficit) with every country in the world.

[Laura Robinson @LauraRbnsn]

The logic here seems to be that the US's economy will only be fair when 31 million people in Madagascar spends the same amount on Brooks Brothers as 300 million Americans spend on coffee beans.

[Matt McDermott @mattmfm]

The NASDAQ just saw the largest single day point drop in American history and the response from the President is to cut his work week short to get on his plane and go golfing.

[Armand Domalewski @ArmandDoma]

the reason we have so many trade deficits with countries is because AMERICA IS RICH and RICH PEOPLE BUY LOTS OF THINGS. The Trump plan is for you to be POORER and work a job that PAYS YOU LESS

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

STOCKS TANKING AFTER TARIFF NUMBERS REVEALED

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

To illustrate just how nonsensically these tariffs were calculated, take the example of Lesotho, one of the poorest countries in Africa with just $2.4 billion in annual GDP, which is being struck with a 50% tariff rate under the Trump plan, the highest rate among all countries on the list.

Why? Does Lesotho apply extortionate tariffs on U.S. products and the U.S. is merely being "reciprocal" here? Not at all, despite what Trump is saying, it's NOT the way these tariffs are defined.

As a matter of fact Lesotho, as a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), applies the common external tariff structure established by this regional trade bloc.

Which means it applies the same tariffs on U.S. products as South Africa does, as well as the 3 other members of the bloc: Namibia, Eswatini and Botswana.

So since the tariffs charged by these 5 countries on U.S. products are exactly the same, they must all be struck with a 50% tariff rate by the U.S., right? Not at all: South Africa is getting 30%, Namibia 21%, Botswana 37% and Eswatini just 10%, the lowest rate possible among all countries.

So what gives? Again, the way these tariffs are calculated has absolutely zero relationship with actual tariffs imposed by these countries on U.S. products. Instead, they appear to be simply derived from trade deficit calculations.

Looking at Lesotho specifically, every year the U.S. imports approximately $236 million in goods from Lesotho (primarily diamonds, textiles and apparel) while exporting only about $7 million worth of goods to Lesotho (https://t.co/uHvem6nH2o).

Why do they export so little? Again this is an extremely poor country where 56.2% of the population lives with less than $3.65 a day (https://t.co/GEho8xFjAp), i.e. $1,300 a year. They simply can't afford U.S. products, no-one is going to buy an iPhone or a Tesla on that sort of income...

The way the tariffs are ACTUALLY calculated appears to be based on a simplistic and economically senseless formula: you take the trade deficit the U.S. has with a country, divide it by that country's exports to the U.S and declare this - falsely - "the tariff they charge on the U.S."

And then as Trump did in his speech last night, you magnanimously declare that you'll only "reciprocate" by charging half that "tariff" on them.

As such, for Lesotho, the calculation goes like this: ($236M - $7M)/$235M = 97%. That's the "tariff" Lesotho is deemed to charge this U.S. and half of that, i.e. roughly 50% is what the U.S. "reciprocates" with.

It's extremely easy to see why this makes no sense at all.

First of all, there's nothing Lesotho can do about it: they can't change tariffs they allegedly charge the U.S. to reduce the tariff rate the U.S. "reciprocates" with because, again, it's NOT based on any tariff that they charge.

Similarly they can't do much about reducing the trade deficit they have with the U.S. because, again, they simply don't have enough money to buy U.S. products.

Also the main rational Trump gave for the tariffs is to get production back to the U.S., to "bring manufacturing back". 47.3% of Lesotho's exports are diamonds: how do you bring the "manufacturing" of that "back to the U.S."? Anyone can see it makes just about zero sense.

The Lesotho example exposes the fundamental economic incoherence of these tariffs. Rather than addressing actual trade barriers, they punish countries based on trade deficits that arise from structural economic realities. All the more countries like Lesotho which pose zero competitive threat to American industry.

Worse yet, these tariffs will likely make these structural realities even worse: the U.S. is Lesotho's second most important export destination so it's a fair bet that applying 50% tariffs on their products will make people in Lesotho even poorer, and therefore even LESS able to afford U.S. products.

But perhaps the most unfair and detrimental aspect of all this is that these tariffs represent a complete reversal of longstanding U.S. development policy, and therefore a betrayal of countries - like Lesotho - who chose to follow U.S. advice in the past.

For decades the U.S. has used preferential trade access to encourage economic development in the world's poorest nations, recognizing that trade, not just aid, could get them out of poverty and ultimately put them in a position where they too could afford iPhones or Tesla.

They're now effectively penalizing countries for following previous U.S. policy, a lesson which I bet they won't forget anytime soon.

So all in all the irony is painful: in the name of fighting unfair trade, America has just demonstrated what truly unfair trade looks like.

This isn't something designed to address genuine trade issues, but simply a mechanism based on arbitrary math to punish countries for the affront of selling more to the United States than they buy.

[Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 @JeremiahDJohns]

mRNA is a miracle of biotechnology that sure looks like it might be able to cure certain forms of cancer.

But we elected the stupidest people in the world and put an antivaxxer in charge of the nation's medicine so now we're just not gonna do that.