Justin Trudeau woke up Monday morning believing that the Donald Trump tariffs were inevitable.
As the prime minister admitted on Saturday, he had not been able to speak to the U.S. president since the inauguration on Jan. 20 and the threat of tariffs had become reality over the weekend with the signing of an executive order.
Trump’s Gaza plan: bluff or not, one man benefits
As President Trump laid out his plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to “countries of interest with humanitarian hearts”, Binyamin Netanyahu sat next to him, smiling wordlessly and nodding along.
Many commentators agreed that the proposal was too audacious to take seriously. But in pledging a US takeover of Gaza, the president handed the Israeli leader a political lifeline.
Netanyahu, in Washington on a week-long diplomatic mission, has faced threats back home from far-right members of his cabinet to quit the coalition underpinning his government if the war ends with Hamas still in control in Gaza.
Meanwhile …
Trump’s Gaza plan will be seen as flying in face of international law
When US President Donald Trump began speaking 10 days ago of Gaza as a demolition site, calling to “clean out that whole thing”, it wasn’t clear how far these were off-the-cuff remarks.
But in the lead up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, in his Oval Office comments before the meeting, and in the press conference itself, it’s now clear he is profoundly serious about his proposals.
They amount to the most radical upending in the established US position on Israel and the Palestinians in the recent history of the conflict; and will be seen as flying in the face of international law.
The Guardian Squeals! – Trump’s declaration US will ‘take over’ Gaza Strip sparks global condemnation
‘New world order’ or ‘dangerous delusions’? Israeli officials react to Trump’s Gaza plan
Senior Hamas officials call Trump’s proposal for Gazans to relocate from the Gaza Strip “racist” and “a move that could lead to chaos and tension in the Middle East.”
Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford has reneged on his vow to tear up a $100 million agreement with Elon Musk’s Starlink after U.S. President Donald Trump paused his tariff threat on Canada for 30 days.
Ford confirmed on Feb. 3 the Starlink agreement with Musk will proceed for the time being and other retaliatory measures planned by Ontario, such as banning U.S. alcohol from LCBO stores, will be put on hold.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has come under scrutiny after tech billionaire Elon Musk chose the agency as the first target in his campaign to reduce ballooning government costs and root out progressive ideology from within the executive branch.
Musk’s decision to first declare war on USAID in his role as head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency should come as no surprise, given the agency’s long history of wasteful, ideologically driven spending.
Established in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, USAID is meant to oversee humanitarian, development, and security programs, doing so in over 100 foreign countries. As originally conceived, the agency was meant to distribute aid in a way that advances U.S. interests, ideally without antagonizing the local population.
President Trump has declared that the illegal transit into the U.S. of migrants and drugs, chiefly fentanyl, is a national emergency, and he has targeted Mexico, Canada and China with tariffs to force them to halt the flow.
How fentanyl became part of the tariff equation comes down to the production and smuggling of an opioid that has caused the overdose deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The U.S. has long pressured Mexico, by far the main source of fentanyl, to do more to halt the drug’s production and export, and the money-laundering activities that are vital to the drug trade. Canada entered the picture because of the growing presence of Mexican cartels there.
Uncertainty and turmoil gripped the U.S. Agency for International Development for a second day, as employees locked out of their offices braced for potential cuts to the work force, while Democrats denounced the Trump administration for what they said was an illegal power grab.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took control of U.S.A.I.D. as its acting administrator on Monday, insisted during a Fox News interview that night that the takeover was “not about getting rid of foreign aid,” and that the goal had been to reform the agency.
“But now we have rank insubordination,” he said, adding that U.S.A.I.D. employees had been “completely uncooperative, so we had no choice but to take dramatic steps to bring this thing under control.”
President Trump is making good on his campaign promise of deporting illegal aliens. So, of course, various self-described Christian leaders are outraged.
Mariann Budde, the Episcopalian “bishop” who reportedly owns a $2 million D.C. mansion, has drawn much attention to herself due to her lecture at the Washington National Cathedral. “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said to Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance at the inaugural prayer service, adding that “the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals” but are “good neighbors” and members of religious communities.
Donald Trump is well-advised to pause his unprovoked act of aggression against Canada.
The once “friendly giant of the North” has the means to inflict a serious energy and industrial crisis on America if pushed too far. Ottawa has conspicuously refused to rule this out.
Canada is the world’s fourth biggest producer of crude oil, exporting some 4m barrels a day to the US. It is the fifth biggest producer of natural gas.
I always loved the idea of DOGE, but was a skeptic that anybody could fight the Deep State and win. I expected a few billion in real cuts, some exposure of waste, fraud, and abuse, and a lot of symbolic action.
Boy, was I wrong, and boy, am I happy about it.
The imposition of 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports—now suspended for a month—by President Trump was an outrage, but it is also an opportunity.
It is offensive because the president says the tariffs are a result of inadequate efforts on the part of Canada and Mexico to prevent the entry of undesirables and dangerous narcotics into the United States. As I’ve written elsewhere, Canada is not East Germany and does not construct a wall to keep people in the country. It is well-settled international law and usage that sovereign countries maintain their own borders. Mr. Trump’s complaint is not with us but with his predecessor, who wilfully allowed 10–12 million or even more illegal migrants to cross the southern border, a significant number of them dangerous criminals bringing with them horrifying quantities of fentanyl and other lethal drugs.
OTTAWA — The Canadian Armed Forces will not be sent to the Canada-U.S. border, but it will sending more drones to the RCMP and assist with logistics, according to National Defence Minister Bill Blair’s office.
Calls to send the military to the border rang out Monday from Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who requested Prime Minister Justin Trudeau do so as the clock ticked down to the U.S. imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports and 10 per cent on energy resources.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed that the United States take a “long-term ownership position” over Gaza, moving its residents to a “good, fresh, beautiful piece of land” in another country and rebuilding the war-torn territory under U.S. control, offering a vision of mass displacement likely to inflame sentiments in the Arab world as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.
Trump’s proposal was likely to provoke a furious reaction from many Palestinians as well as their Arab allies in the region, since it suggested permanently removing Gaza’s 2.2 million residents from Palestinian territory and settling them outside of their land. It would also pull the United States even more deeply into the conflict by taking over territory that belongs to Palestinians.
The idea was a first indicator of Trump’s swaggering approach to the region, as he waded into a generations-old conflict with the assurance that he could resolve what years of efforts by U.S. diplomats have failed to accomplish. His proposal appeared to give little consideration to what Palestinians have said they want
JUST IN: President Trump says the United States is taking over the Gaza Strip as Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu listens.
"This is just a demolition site. Virtually every building is down. They're living under fallen concrete that's very dangerous."
"The US will take over the Gaza… pic.twitter.com/NGE7RlUwen
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 5, 2025
JUST IN: President Trump says the Gaza Strip will become the "Riviera of the Middle East" just minutes after saying the U.S. would "take over" the Strip.
"We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal."
"I don't wanna be cute. I don't wanna be a wise guy, but… pic.twitter.com/zC1GIo7lfw
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 5, 2025
BBC Live Feed – Trump suggests US could ‘take over’ and redevelop Gaza as he hosts Netanyahu
No one had this on their Bingo Card.
H/T XC
Today’s system prioritizes diversity and inclusion over merit and skill.
President Donald Trump has moved decisively to eradicate “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” initiatives in the federal government and private sector. His actions are a great step forward, but one area of federal policy has been spared his efforts so far—U.S. immigration policy remains infused with DEI principles. Trump has a historic opportunity to fix this problem and put America first.
JUST IN: Israeli PM Netanyahu Credits TRUMP for the peace deal in the Middle East
FOX'S DOOCY: "We have heard Biden and Trump take credit for the hostage and cease-fire deals. Who do you think deserves more credit?"
NETANYAHU: "President Trump"
That settles it! pic.twitter.com/rfkzUkj75y
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 4, 2025
Off topic President Trump announces plan to obliterate Iran in the event of his assassination.
HOLY SH*T: President Trump says he has left instructions to OBLITERATE Iran if they assassinates him:
"That would be a terrible thing for them to do, not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I've left instructions."
“There will be… pic.twitter.com/osWC0cikXX
— Jack (@jackunheard) February 4, 2025
h/t XC
Space constraints and legal limits are forcing the freeing of detainees despite administration’s tough stance.
With more than 8,000 immigrants arrested by federal agents since President Trump arrived back at the White House, some have already been released back into America despite the promise of mass deportation.
With the number of arrests increasing, space constraints at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, and federal court orders that forbid indefinite detention, ICE officials have been forced to release some of those arrested as an alternative to holding them until deportation can be completed, according to a report from NBC News.
I trust Homan to work this out.
