America's nerves are twitching — so it's time go abroad
Schools fighting. Religion disappearing. English disappearing. Other languages appearing. Crazies shooting. Students marching. Kids disobeying. Foreigners entrapping. Diners in bus lanes. Commies encroaching. Drugstores getting robbed. Rules muddying. Longtime ways crumbling.
And our lawmakers? Three little bears running for mayor.
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It's become Our country tis of what? Sneakers are dress shoes. T-shirts are black-tie. Guns today are part of wardrobe. Dessert's a puff of pot. DAs let crazies go free. Roadways are for bicycles, motorcycles, deliveries, scaffolds, double parking. Movies are re-dos. Politicians are who?
Get to packing
Result? This summer our country's moving. Traveling. Not to Arkansas or — oy — Tennessee. The USA's schlepping abroad.
So, if still home scratching for day-old bagels or brownies, let Little Mother clue you about airlines today. They're negotiating. Do not tell me you don't know about it. They are newly doing as well as Biden. Hunter Biden.
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One traveler I know well bought a low-class plane ticket. If he could buy cheapo passage stuffed inside a rubber tire, he'd take it. At check-in he's told an extra charge could be tacked on if he wants to upgrade. So he pays the extra charge and his behind squats in first class across the ocean.
The country of Qatar bought London's USA embassy which, for some reason, needed a more secure building. The new buyers are keeping our rooftop's gilded eagle. Just telling you what I know.
They've turned the building into the $2,000-a-night Grosvenor Square Chancery Rosewood Hotel. Originally designed by Eero Saarinen, who also did JFK's TWA terminal, it'll open to guests in a few weeks.
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Paris is dressing up. $2,000 a night. Want a super room not overlooking your john it's $4,000 a night. The Ritz's prices now look like a Hamptons timeshare. Hotel rooms in Europe — $1,000 to $1,400 a night.
Three-day stay is norm but they throw in breakfast. Itchy for the Amalfi Coast? It's $5,000 a night. Rome, heating up faster than Hell's Kitchen, has hit 120 degrees. Perspired travelers are pushing north. Shoving now to Switzerland, Bavaria, cooler Scandinavia.
Also they're discovering Japan. It's cheaper. Safe. Clean. Efficient. Nice. But such a long schlep that visiting the moon is shorter. And pay attention — nobody, nobody — is lining up for China.
If Mao had great grandchildren even they wouldn't buy a rice cake in downtown Shanghai. However, the once greatest shopping city on the planet — Hong Kong — is still a major destination.
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They're shipshape
The big transport? Ships.
Once, bus tours. Now cruises. Ships that squeeze in 6,000 passengers, 47 restaurants, bowling alleys, skating rinks, swimming pools, movies, lectures, shows, wall-climbing try to make you believe you're on a private yacht. All great — until some steward loses your drawers in the laundry.
Listen, I wish you well. Have a nice time. Betty Grable, Hollywood's famous long ago beauty queen, once told me: 'All I want in life is to take a five-day ocean sail to England and have a different guy make love to me every night.'
OK by me. Definitely beats a Remsenburg time share.
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Miami Herald
20 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
As school starts in South Florida, families fear increased immigration enforcement
As South Florida students return to class for the new school year, many parents are not just worried about their children doing well in school and getting along with their classmates. They are also worried about increased immigration enforcement. In Miami-Dade County, where at least 82,000 students are English language learners — many of whom come from 'mixed-status' families, where family members have varying immigration statuses — returning to school can mean anxiety and fear of immigration enforcement actions breaking apart families. 'We have a lot of fear. We go from home to work and work to home,' said Roselia, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools parent of four who is undocumented. She asked the Herald to use only her first name, citing her fears of deportation. Roselia worries that she could be deported and that her four children, all born in the U.S., will come home from school without a parent to care for them. Federal agents can now legally enter schools if they have a warrant or consent, and since local law enforcement has deepened cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some families say they live in constant fear that a school day could end with a parent or a child questioned by immigration officials, or even in detention. While most removals happen quietly, without teachers or classmates even knowing, the Miami Herald has documented several cases where students have been deported, had their parents deported or now live with the daily possibility of separation — a fear that is reshaping classrooms across South Florida. 'People are getting picked up every day. … Kids are going to go back to school in the fall, look to their left, look to their right, and it's going to be kids missing,' said Frieda Goldstein, an immigration attorney and former U.S. immigration prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice. Adding to the fear is the 287(g) program, which empowers local officers to act as immigration agents. Miami-Dade County Public Schools boasts that it has the largest school police force in the nation. Though there have not been any public conversations about the school police force signing a formal agreement with ICE, immigration advocates fear the possibility. For Cesar Garcia, an incoming middle school teacher at iPrep Academy in downtown Miami, the start of his first year teaching brings both excitement and difficult conversations around immigration. Garcia, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who is now a U.S. citizen, will be teaching critical thinking, personal finance and business. He said that teachers he knows who deeply care about their students are already having difficult conversations about what to do if immigration officials were to show up at school and how best to support students who may be affected. 'I would never let a kid be taken away,' he said. 'As a citizen of the United States and an immigrant, I think everyone in this country has rights, and they need to go through due process. We have seen a huge disregard for following the law — and this is supposed to be law enforcement.' 'I understand we need to address the immigration situation,' he added, 'but I disagree with how it's being implemented.' Two students won't be returning to Coral Springs Elementary School on Monday, the first day of school in Broward County. Geronimo and Salome, a kindergartener and a third grader, were deported alongside their father to Colombia in May, according to their mother, Catalina, and a lawyer representing the mother. Catalina is now awaiting deportation in detention. She agreed to speak with the Herald using only her first name because she fears repercussions while in detention. Catalina, who is from Colombia and has been in the United States since October 2021 with an asylum case in process, was detained along with her children's father, Yohan. When ICE told them that their two children would be detained as well, Catalina had to call a friend to pick up Salome, 10, and Geronimo, 5, from their public school in Broward County, she said. At the ICE field office in Miramar, the children were crying as agents tore Catalina away from her son and daughter, said Goldstein, their lawyer. Catalina said in Spanish that the female ICE officer told her 'hand over your children because they're facing deportation.' After a day in immigration detention, the father and the two children boarded a plane back to Colombia, leaving their mother, life and school in the United States behind. 'There they are in school one day, going to school in Broward County, doing great things, and the next day, their life is ripped apart,' said Goldstein. 'They were very fine … happy… studying,' Catalina said over the phone from detention. Catalina did not have a deportation order, according to her attorney. But she is now awaiting deportation in detention in Louisiana. She wanted to remain in the United States and see her asylum case through but took her lawyer's advice to sign a self-deportation form. But she was told she must wait to actually leave. Catalina was never able to call the school to tell them what happened because phone calls are expensive from inside detention. Even her calls with her children have been limited because of the cost and a bad connection. 'It is very sad,' Catalina said over a broken phone line from detention. Keandra Fulton, the principal at Coral Springs Elementary, said she was unaware of the siblings' deportation or any other deportations impacting students at her school. Upon learning the news, she said, 'It is obviously troubling because our priority is that our students are safe and receiving an education.' 'It makes you wonder how many others could be impacted,' she added. The problem is not unique to Broward. In the southern part of Miami-Dade, two siblings at Redland Middle School were repatriated to their home country of Mexico after their mother was held in detention and then deported, according to repatriation documents obtained by the Herald and email correspondence with the mother. Catalina's family's experience is a cautionary tale for undocumented parents with children in schools, Goldstein said. Immigration advocates and attorneys are advising families to ensure that their emergency contact cards are up to date in case a parent is detained and the school needs to release the child to a friend or family member. Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, the executive director of Hope Community Center, a 50-year-old organization in Central Florida that supports immigrants, said he knows of multiple families where parents were detained while the child was in school. 'It is widespread,' he said, adding that students impacted 'are just in great distress, emotionally speaking.' In Apopka, Florida, near Orlando, Esvin Juarez, a Guatemalan father who'd been living in the United States for over 20 years, was deported after showing up to his immigration check-in. The mother of the family was also detained and eventually deported, according to Sousa-Lazaballet and news reports. Their four children, all American citizens, have been left behind — and the eldest daughter, Beverly Juarez, 21, is now tasked with caring for her three siblings. Renata Bozzetto, the deputy director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, advised all immigrant families to ensure they have a guardianship form filled out that assigns temporary care of children to someone they trust. The form must be notarized, and Bozzetto says it is best to have a lawyer help fill it out, although it is not necessary. Bozzeto's organization offers weekly events where interested participants can get free legal help. Families should also ensure that the name of that guardian is listed as one of their child's emergency contacts on school paperwork. According to a public record obtained by the Herald, at Phyllis R. Miller Elementary in the Upper East Side of Miami, there was an instance in which a student's mother was held in a correctional facility, and the principal needed to sort out who to release the student to. 'We know it is very difficult for a parent to think about a situation where they will not be there, and hopefully nothing bad will happen, but they need to take measures in this moment to be sure they are protected,' said Bozzetto. Roselia, the mother of a 15-year-old sophomore at South Dade Senior High, says she has no plans to attend school events this year. Roselia, who is from Chiapas, Mexico, has been in the United States for 19 years. She met her husband, who is from Guatemala, after they both immigrated, and they have built a family together. Both are undocumented. In the summer, Roselia's daughter Cristal, a 15-year-old sophomore, works alongside her at a small plant nursery in Homestead. Cristal and her siblings were all born in the United States, and her mother tries not to burden her four daughters with the fact that both of their parents are undocumented and live at risk of deportation. When her daughter was in kindergarten, Roselia volunteered at the school to help the teacher with the garden. 'I was always there. We brought food to the schools,' Roselia said. But now, Roselia says the fear of deportation is so strong that she avoids reading the news completely. 'If I read, I won't sleep,' she says. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a former educator whose Miami-Dade district includes many immigrant communities, said she's alarmed by the immigration enforcement activity around Miami, including the holding of people in conditions she believes are inhumane. 'I think that a lot of children and a lot of families are living in a state of fear, and that should not be the case,' Wilson said. 'This is not who we are as a nation.' 'I don't want Miami-Dade to become so terror-ridden that [families] are scared to go to school,' she added. 'Children should go to school, they should be safe, they should be protected, they should be in school learning.' The superintendent for Miami-Dade County Public Schools has said there have been no known incidents of ICE or other federal immigration agents showing up at school campuses. But a source within the district confirmed there was one instance where ICE agents were questioning construction workers who were at a school site. The workers were contractors, not district employees. The superintendent for Broward County Public Schools also said there have been no instances of ICE showing up at schools. Nonetheless, parents like Roselia are fearful. Videos and news reports of immigration agents picking people up outside of courts make them wonder: Could they also do the same outside school campuses? Before an executive order signed on the first day of Donald Trump's presidency, schools, hospitals and churches were considered 'protected areas,' and federal officials could not enter the spaces. But that has all changed. Law enforcement enforcing immigration laws can now legally enter a school site with a judicial warrant, and there have been examples of agents attempting to enter schools, including in the nation's second-largest school district, in Los Angeles. Districts across the state and country have offered different guidance and protocols to principals regarding how firmly they will uphold the law and what they would do if officers enforcing immigration laws were to show up on campus. The procedures and interpretation of the law and guidance vary widely. Lee County Schools, on Florida's Gulf Coast, for example, has a policy that ICE officers can interrogate and arrest any 'alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States.' Miami-Dade has said that it will follow all local, state and federal laws. A document shared with the Herald that was sent to Miami-Dade school principals in January reminds administrators that all students, regardless of immigration status, are legally entitled to a free and public education. It also notes that the school cannot maintain any information regarding a student's or parent's immigration status and that students cannot be interviewed by any officer seeking to enforce immigration laws without a warrant signed by a judge, a parent's consent or a court order. It also advises principals to contact the school attorney if there is ever an interaction with law enforcement. But there has been no such reminder of policies publicly posted or sent out to parents, and immigration advocates say vague protocols can create fear. 'The absence of guidance is an issue,' said Bozzetto. Complicating the matter is the fact that the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office and many other local law enforcement agencies in South Florida are now enrolled in the 287(g) program, which deputizes local officers to enforce immigration policies — meaning there are more eyes on the street as parents take children to and from school and after-school activities. The school districts provide bus transportation to and from school, but there is not always transportation available for after-school activities, and parents and children without legal status are often most at risk of being stopped and questioned while driving. One of the most common ways immigrants get arrested in Florida is for driving without a license, a misdemeanor charge that has ended up with people being detained. Miami-Dade Schools Police, the largest school police force in the nation, has not signed on to the 287(g) program, and the Broward Sheriff's Office did not explain how its relationship with the public school system will be impacted by its own 287(g) agreement. Some of the school resource officers in Broward are from the Sheriff's Office. Fulton, the principal at Coral Springs Elementary, says she has noticed a drop in attendance but that it's hard to attribute to parents being afraid to send their children to school because there has been a decline overall due to more students attending charter and private schools. A data analysis of attendance records from Miami-Dade Public Schools between January and March did not show a trend of declining attendance, even at schools with the highest number of recent U.S. arrivals. Bozzetto said that during a recent town hall, a member of the Haitian American community in Miami discussed the idea of virtual school in order to avoid the risk for students of attending in person. In Palm Beach County, there was a high school student who was scared to attend school because she was worried about putting her mother, who is from Brazil, at risk, according to Bozzetto. 'What we don't want is for kids to be out of school for fear,' said Bozzetto. Luisa Santos, a Miami-Dade school board member who was once an undocumented student herself, says she hopes that undocumented students or students with parents who are not permanent residents can find solace in knowing that she, too, was once scared to show up at school for fear of deportation. 'I have felt firsthand what it means to be extremely afraid. There's real fear, and it is probably 100 times stronger now,' said Santos. 'I will do everything in my power to make sure students are not worried,' she said. 'Schools are sacred spaces for learning.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
CNN Panelist Trounces Scott Jennings During Debate Over Dean Cain Joining ICE
Conservative commentator Scott Jennings endured some quick-witted pushback Thursday on CNN for arguing that 'a bunch of people' could start to join Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and help round up immigrants — simply because actor Dean Cain announced he will. 'Having someone like that out touting it, talking about, 'Hey, this is a thing you can do for your government, this is a public service,' it's going to help them recruit and they have a bunch of people to recruit,' Jennings said on 'NewsNight With Abby Phillip.' Cain, who played Superman in the 1990s ABC series 'Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,' told Fox News on Wednesday that he's already a reserve police officer in Idaho. The former television star then announced that he'll be 'sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP.' Jennings joined a burgeoningRepublicanchorus in touting the news as an invaluable recruitment tool. Guest panelist and podcaster Van Lathan couldn't help but interrupt, however, and said: 'Scott, it's not '95. Nobody gives a Sam Hill what Dean Cain does.' 'You may not,' replied Jennings, suggesting Cain remains an influential conservative. Lathan went on to suggest some unspoken motivations for Cain joining ICE, which received an enormous funding infusion as a result of the GOP's so-called Big Beautiful Bill — and has since announced a maximum signing bonus of $50,000 for Americans of all ages. 'Dean ain't worked in a while,' Lathan told Jennings. 'Dean needs the 50,000. That's what got Dean off the couch. Dean ain't worked in a while. Dean's gonna take that money and buy some crypto [currency] with it. Dean needs the 50 [thousand dollars]. That's what Dean is on.' Jennings: Having someone like Dean Cain out touting it—It's going to help them recruit. Lathan: It's not 1995. No one cares what Dean Cain thinks. — Acyn (@Acyn) August 8, 2025 Lathan wasn't the only suspicious panelist. Even Mediate founder Dan Abrams — who said President Donald Trump's administration 'deserves an enormous amount of credit' for securing the U.S.-Mexico border — dismissed Cain's role as a PR move. 'You know, look, it's like he said: 'I'm getting sworn in,' right?' Abrams said Thursday. 'When you talk about getting sworn in, he's not really going to be an ICE agent. I mean, he's going to go on some ICE raids, he'll be an honorary member, et cetera.' Jennings noted earlier in the discussion that there's 'a massive amount of recruitment' at ICE because the agency now has 'a huge amount of money' to hire new agents. Abrams agreed, but said he hopes the quality of these recruits exceeds that of their current peers. 'I just hope that they have that reasonable suspicion that we've been talking about,' he said about ICE agents. 'I hope they're not just going in and grabbing a bunch of people because they happen to be waiting outside the Home Depot looking to earn a living that day.' Related... Former Superman Actor Dean Cain Joins ICE — And Fans Are Not Having It Trump's Latest 'Bats**t Crazy' Remark Has People Fuming Trump Throws Absolute Fit In Middle-Of-The-Night Meltdown At Ex-GOP Official
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Playbook PM: It's Russia decision time for Trump
Presented by THE CATCH-UP BREAKING: 'Trump administration seeking $1 billion settlement from UCLA,' by CNN's Betsy Klein: 'Officials from UCLA have returned to the negotiating table … and have made clear they would like to reach a deal to restore [$584 million in] funding. The Trump administration, in turn, is laying its marker for a high-dollar settlement. … [It] would mark the biggest settlement it's received from a higher education institution — [and] requires a resolution monitor to oversee the school, as well as a new senior administrator who will be focused on compliance with anti-discrimination laws.' TO RUSSIA, WITH LOVE: President Donald Trump set today as the deadline for Russia to stop its war on Ukraine or face major economic reprisals. But as Washington and Moscow circle a potential summit next week, it's unclear if Trump will indeed spring for more secondary sanctions — or instead strike a deal that would give Russian President Vladimir Putin control of Ukrainian territory. The latest talks: The U.S. and Russia are discussing an agreement for a pause in the war, under which Russia would stop attacking but retain most or all of the land its military has occupied, Bloomberg's Donato Paolo Mancini and colleagues report. Talks for a lasting peace deal would follow. Putin wants Ukraine to agree to give up all of the Donbas — including parts Russia hasn't yet seized — and Crimea. That would be 'a major win for Putin,' and it remains to be seen whether Ukraine or Europe would agree to it, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 'risks being presented with a take-it-or-leave-it deal to accept the loss of Ukrainian territory.' Recent polling has shown the Ukrainian public increasingly inclined toward negotiations rather than continued fighting, but there's also broad opposition to accepting Russia's terms. Russia killed at least three more people in strikes overnight. The summit: Though Trump has become fed up with Putin's intransigence, he also strongly wants to broker a deal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Nothing is final for if and when a Trump-Putin summit may come together, CNN's Kevin Liptak reports. Zelenskyy may take part too. CBS' Jennifer Jacobs reports that the United Arab Emirates, Rome and Hungary are all possible locations. The punishments: So far, Trump has announced secondary sanctions for buying Russian oil only on India, to take effect toward the end of August. There's no word yet on penalties for other leading importers like China and Turkey. But as NYT's Anatoly Kurmanaev notes, Russia's war effort may be able to withstand the choking off of oil revenue even despite an economic slowdown. Bridge Colby strikes again: 'New Pentagon policy could divert weapons built for Ukraine back into US stockpiles,' by CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen: 'A memo written by the Pentagon's policy chief last month gives the Defense Department the option to divert certain weapons and equipment intended for Ukraine back into US stockpiles … a dramatic shift that could see billions of dollars previously earmarked for the war-torn country go toward replenishing dwindling American supplies.' How we got here: From Minsk, Time's Simon Shuster has an illuminating interview with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko about his role as a quiet back channel between the U.S. and Russia all year. While Putin blustered publicly, Lukashenko repeatedly reassured sometimes-skeptical U.S. officials that Putin actually wanted peace and would negotiate. 'Even if you can't make sense of Putin, treat him like a human being,' Lukashenko says, encouraging Trump to show Putin some respect or deference. 'Everything now is in Donald's hands … And he can screw it all up because of that character of his,' Lukashenko says, dismissing Trump's deadline for Putin and sanctions threats as 'foolish' and 'all pure emotions.' Shuster writes: 'The story of the backchannel through Belarus, in other words, could become the preamble to Ukraine's capitulation.' What Trump is focused on: The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia will be at the White House shortly this afternoon to sign what the U.S. has billed as a peace agreement. The two countries, just south of Russia, have fought on and off for decades over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@ 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1. WEAPONIZATION WATCH: 'DOJ opens investigation into New York AG's office that brought fraud case against Trump,' by NBC's Ryan Reilly and colleagues: 'Federal prosecutors are in the early stages of an investigation into the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James … The probe is focused on whether or not the New York attorney general's office caused a deprivation of legal rights under the color of law through its civil suits against Trump and his businesses as well as the National Rifle Association … It is being run out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York.' James lawyer Abbe Lowell responds, via the NYT: 'the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign.' The retaliation campaign rolls on: AG Pam Bondi has now tapped Ed Martin as a special prosecutor to undertake mortgage fraud investigations into James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Fox News' Peter Doocy scooped. 2. REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott keeps escalating his fight against Democrats in the GOP drive to gerrymander the state further. In an interview with NBC's Ryan Chandler and Bridget Bowman, Abbott pledged that he'll call 'special session after special session after special session' to prevent Dems who left the state from running out the clock. They'd have to remain out of state 'until like 2027 or 2028' to avoid giving Republicans a quorum in Austin, he vowed. And on the 'Ruthless' podcast, Abbott said that if Democrats don't return, he may expand from snatching five congressional seats to six, seven or eight. The big picture: Republicans' unprecedented, Trump-fueled power grab across the country could ultimately flip a dozen or more seats to the party — across Texas, Florida, Ohio, Missouri and Indiana — before voters even have a say, Punchbowl's Jake Sherman and colleagues tally up. Democrats can try to make up some of that ground, seizing as many as eight seats if California Dems succeed. Dems are setting aside their longtime reform goals to fight fire with fire and avoid being gerrymandered out of power for good, POLITICO's Nick Wu and Andrew Howard report. But but but: Democrats' path is much more difficult, since Democratic-led states have disproportionately opted for good-government changes to remove partisanship from redistricting. And in California, the prospect of a snap election to push through a gerrymander in response to Texas has local election officials concerned about the complicated logistics, AP's Michael Blood reports. 3. CONTEMPT CONTRETEMPS: In a 2-1 ruling, Trump appointees on a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel today vacated Judge James Boasberg's contempt finding over Trump administration officials flouting his Alien Enemies Act ruling, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. Boasberg's move 'raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions,' they wrote. A scathing dissent warned that '[o]ur system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity.' 4. THE CARTEL CRACKDOWN: In a significant escalation of his fight against Latin American drug cartels, Trump has now quietly instructed the military to start going after them, NYT's Helene Cooper and colleagues report. This could lay the groundwork for the U.S. military to take action in foreign countries against cartels the U.S. has labeled terrorist groups — which could raise legal, constitutional and diplomatic concerns. Another avenue: The FBI wants to start adding people linked to those cartels to the terrorist watch list, Reuters' Sarah Lynch and colleagues scooped. Local law enforcement agencies were asked by the bureau earlier this year to start providing names of such people and their family members or associates. This has the potential to expand the watch list significantly, including with many more Americans. 5. WE HARDLY KNEW YA: California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, one of the top Democratic gubernatorial contenders, is dropping out of the crowded field and switching to run for state treasurer, POLITICO's Dustin Gardiner reports. With Kounalakis and Kamala Harris out of the race, the remaining candidates could now compete for a significant San Francisco donor base. A new Emerson poll finds Katie Porter and Republican Steve Hilton in the early lead, but with many voters undecided. … In Michigan, Democratic state Rep. Joe Tate announced he'll exit the Senate race, as he struggled to keep up with Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, AP's Isabella Volmert reports from Lansing. Primary colors: 'Team of Rivals? Inside the Weird Super PAC Pitch in the Kentucky GOP's Senate Race,' by NOTUS' Reese Gorman: 'Some allies of Daniel Cameron have pitched Rep. Andy Barr's team on a super PAC to take down Nate Morris.' For your radar: Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is considering a campaign for Texas AG, The Hill's Mychael Schnell scooped. 6. WITH ALLIES LIKE THESE: Trump's trade wars — and even tentative deals — continue to strain relationships with a number of key U.S. allies in Asia, with India foremost among them. After Trump imposed steep tariffs, New Delhi has now frozen a plan to buy American missiles, combat vehicles and aircraft, and scrapped a trip to D.C. by its defense minister, Reuters' Shivam Patel and Aftab Ahmed scooped. India denied this reporting as false. How we got here: The U.S.-India relationship remains tense, a pivot that Bloomberg's Sudhi Ranjan Sen and colleagues report began after a difficult June phone call, in which PM Narendra Modi pushed back on Trump taking credit for an India-Pakistan ceasefire. Though a trade deal looked close earlier this summer, Trump's frustration grew over India's reluctance to lower its high trade barriers as much as other countries, POLITICO's Daniel Desrochers and Megan Messerly report. Big in Japan: After talks with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Japan's top trade negotiator said the U.S. had agreed to fix an 'extremely regrettable' mistake in stacking 15 percent tariffs on top of others, per the FT. With Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba under political fire at home for questions about the trade agreement's specifics, he explained to lawmakers this week that 'the other party [Trump] is not a normal person,' WaPo's Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Chie Tanaka report. Trouble in Taiwan: Lacking a deal and now facing steep U.S. tariffs, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te is increasingly struggling with domestic political opposition, NYT's Meaghan Tobin and colleagues report. 7. CLIMATE FILES: A major EPA database that allows companies to see their carbon footprint and emissions will no longer be updated, after the researcher in charge of it was suspended for criticizing the administration's scientific research cuts, NYT's Harry Stevens reports. At the same time, the Justice Department has significantly slowed down civil enforcement against polluting companies that violate environmental laws, NYT's Maxine Joselow and Stevens report. The pushback: After the Trump administration tapped a handful of dissenting researchers to put out a report that undermined the widely accepted scientific consensus on climate change, dozens of top scientists are coordinating an organized effort to respond, CNN's Ella Nilsen and Andrew Freedman report. TALK OF THE TOWN JD Vance and David Lammy went carp fishing, though only Vance's kids were successful, in the U.K. TRANSITIONS — The Institute for Global Affairs at the Eurasia Group is adding Rudina Hajdari and Elizabeth Shackelford as acting program directors to run the International Democracy Fellowship and the Summer Geopolitics Academy, respectively. Hajdari is a former Albanian member of Parliament and Eliot Engel alum. Shackelford is a former U.S. diplomat who previously was at the Dickey Center at Dartmouth. SUNDAY SO FAR … Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures': VP JD Vance … Rep James Comer (R-Ky.) … Miranda Devine. FOX 'Fox News Sunday': New York Gov. Kathy Hochul … Texas Gov. Greg Abbott … Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) … Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). Panel: Francesca Chambers, Horace Cooper, Matt Gorman and Marie Harf. NBC 'Meet the Press': Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker … Eric Holder … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Panel: Lanhee Chen, Neera Tanden, Carol Lee and Tony Plohetski. MSNBC 'The Weekend: Primetime': Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) … Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.). CBS 'Face the Nation': Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) … Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova. CNN 'State of the Union': Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Panel: Kristen Soltis Anderson, Ashley Allison, Scott Walker and Mo Elleithee. NewsNation 'The Hill Sunday': Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.). Panel: Tyler Pager, Margaret Talev, Charles Lane and Sabrina Siddiqui. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
