Trump slams ‘kangaroo court’ as SCOTUS debates birthright citizenship

President Donald Trump Thursday posted “Kangaroo Court!!!” in an apparent jab at the Supreme Court after it heard oral arguments in a case over birthright citizenship.

Although he didn’t elaborate, Trump’s two-word early morning outburst on his social media site seemed a reference to the conservative justices who sounded very skeptical of his administration’s effort to scrap the century-long legal precedent that anybody born on American soil is a citizen.

Trump himself made a brief but historic appearance in the Supreme Court chamber Wednesday to listen to the court, including a six-justice conservative majority and three of his own appointees, pepper an administration lawyer with tough questions about his effort to end birthright citizenship.

It was the first time a sitting president attended Supreme Court proceedings. Conservatives joined their liberal colleagues in sharply questioning the validity of Trump’s order, which declares that children born to undocumented immigrants or non-permanent residents are not American citizens.

—New York Daily News

A year after ‘Liberation Day,’ what did Trump’s tariffs achieve?

WASHINGTON — One year ago, Donald Trump stood in a sun-kissed, unpaved Rose Garden and defiantly announced a new era of global trade, raising tariffs on countries worldwide and sending shock waves through the global economy.

The president promised short-term pain rippling through American households would make way for a U.S. economy that would soon take off. But experts say they are still waiting for receipts — and question whether they will ever come.

Tariff rates shifted so unpredictably for so long — across countries and with remarkable speed — that companies are still struggling to build stable, long-term supply chains capable of supporting future planning and growth. U.S. markets recorded one of the most volatile years in history, marked by extreme swings and modest gains driven by a handful of stocks for tech companies largely inoculated from import duties.

Federal customs duties brought in tens of billions of dollars. But a study published this week by the European Central Bank found that U.S. importers and consumers, not foreign exporters, bore the brunt of the costs that paid for it — and that an even larger share of the burden will fall on American households and companies the longer Trump’s tariff policies stay in place. Despite the president’s pronouncements, tariff earnings have barely made a dent in the federal debt.

—Los Angeles Times

NASA’s No. 1 priority: Artemis II toilet fixed before trip to moon

The four astronauts on the Artemis II mission around the moon got some relief overnight after troubleshooting a malfunctioning toilet on the Orion spacecraft.

It’s not as if there was a plumbing backup on the toilet that will make history as the first ever in deep space. Instead, the crew reported a blinking fault light.

“We had a controller issue with the toilet when they spun it up. So we’ve got to work through that. That’s going to take up maybe a few hours of troubleshoot,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya when asked Wednesday about any minor problems on the spacecraft.

It was that comment that caught people’s attention amid other details such as a short-lived communication issue, a water tank valve that had shut and an electrical current failure. A NASA update early Thursday morning confirmed that the 10-day mission to fly around the moon will be one that will not require alternative waste operations.

—Orlando Sentinel

UK's Cooper blasts Iran's ‘recklessness’ in talks to reopen strait

LONDON — U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has condemned “Iranian recklessness” for “hitting global economic security” in talks with a coalition of countries aimed at reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane for oil.

Britain is seeking to lead a diplomatic initiative, including countries such as France, Germany and some Gulf nations, to restore access to the maritime route being throttled by Iran in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli campaign against it.

It comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said countries that rely on the strait should “build up some delayed courage” and “just grab it,” and suggested that after the Iran conflict was over, the critical waterway would “just open up naturally.”

In a video call with counterparts and representatives from more than 40 countries on Thursday, the foreign secretary said: “In today’s meeting, we are focusing on the diplomatic and international planning measures, including collective mobilization of our full range of diplomatic and economic tools and pressures, reassurance work with industry, insurers and energy markets, and also action to guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and effective coordination that we need across the world to enable a safe and sustained opening of the strait.”

—dpa