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Trump Alienates G7 Allies

Trump refuses to sign G-7 statement and calls Trudeau ‘weak’ NYT: "President Trump upended two days of global economic diplomacy late Saturday, refusing to sign a joint statement with America’s allies, threatening to escalate his trade war on the country’s neighbors and deriding Canada’s prime minister as 'very dishonest and weak.'... Literally moments after Mr. Trudeau’s government proudly released the joint statement, noting it had been agreed to by all seven countries, Mr. Trump blew apart the veneer of cordiality that had prevailed throughout the two days of meetings in a resort town on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The president’s outburst had been foreshadowed for days leading up to the Canada summit, with Mr. Trump and his counterparts trading sharp-edged barbs that included threats of punches and counterpunches on tariffs. President Emmanuel Macron of France accused Mr. Trump of being willing to remain isolated from the world. That was followed by 48 hours of tense and often confrontational closed-door discussions between Mr. Trump and the leaders of America’s closest allies — France, Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany — in the hopes of resolving a brewing trade war among friends. Instead, the gathering apparently served to further inflame Mr. Trump’s belief that the United States is being treated unfairly by countries with which prior presidents had long ago negotiated trade agreements for the flow of goods and services. The result was a slow-rolling collapse of the fragile alliances that officials at the summit — and even Mr. Tump’s own White House advisers — insisted throughout the day could be maintained in the face of fundamental disagreements."

Judge Temporarily Blocks Pizza Man's Deportation

Immigrant delivery man can stay in U.S. for six weeks. WaPo: "A federal judge has given a last-minute reprieve to a New York restaurant worker who was fast-tracked for deportation this month after he showed up at an Army base with a delivery of pasta and the wrong type of ID. Pablo Villavicencio, along with his wife and two young American daughters, has become a live chip in the political fight over deportations since he was arrested on a years-old immigration warrant less than two weeks ago. Saturday’s court order temporarily halting Villavicencio’s immediate removal to Ecuador means his allies, including New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Democratic lawmakers, will have at least another month to try to free him from federal custody... The judge ordered the federal government to submit reasons Villavicencio should be immediately deported and scheduled a hearing for July 20, buying the jailed Ecuadoran and his supporters a few more weeks to look for a way to keep him in the country. The ruling is 'a reminder that the judiciary can still serve as a powerful check when other branches of government make hasty, cruel and reckless decisions,' Legal Aid’s supervising immigration attorney told the Associated Press."

Judge Quashes IN Voter Suppression

Federal judge stops Indiana from implementing controversial voter purge law. The Hill: "A federal judge in Indiana blocked the state on Friday from implementing a law that would purge Indiana voters from the state's voter rolls if they appeared on a controversial voter tracking system. Reuters reported that U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday, finding that the law violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The law relies on the Kansas Secretary of State's Crosscheck system that matches voters by name and date of birth and flags potential duplicate voters. Critics of the Crosscheck system say it reports a majority of false positives — particularly among minority voters — and leads to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. 'While the defendants have a strong public interest in protecting the integrity of voter registration rolls and the electoral process, they have other procedures in place that can protect that public interest that do not violate the NVRA,' Pratt wrote in granting a preliminary injunction. With Pratt's injunction, the state is not allowed to enforce the law while the lawsuit makes its way through the court. The ACLU lauded the court victory in a statement to Reuters, condemning officials who administer the Crosscheck system of trying to 'suppress the vote.'"

Judge Wants Evidence For Pruitt's Climate Denial

Judge rules Pruitt must provide evidence for his climate denial. DailyKOS: "On Friday, US District Court judge Beryl Howell ordered the EPA to produce the evidence upon which Pruitt based his comments. This could be a tall order, because, of course, there is no good evidence to suggest humans aren’t driving climate change. At least none solid enough to hold up in court... And let’s not forget that deniers have already tried, and failed, to prove their denial in court. Perhaps, then, the courtroom will house the Red Team attack on climate science Pruitt has long tried to get going. But instead of being used to attack regulations, Pruitt will be playing defense. Looks like Pruitt might get a chance to go to the (used) mattresses after all."

Kobach, Bannon Demanded Census Citizenship Test

Documents shed light on decision to add census citizenship question. NPR: "In a Jan. 19 internal memo prepared for Ross, the Census Bureau's chief scientist, John Abowd, wrote that adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census "is very costly, harms the quality of the census count, and would use substantially less accurate citizenship status data than are available" from existing government records at other federal agencies. Ross has said that he believes the cost of this last-minute change to the 2020 census would not be significant and has been factored into updated cost estimates... In a July 2017 email to Ross's chief of staff, Wendy Teramoto, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says Steve Bannon — the former White House strategist — directed Kobach to speak on the phone with Ross in 2017 during the early months of the Trump administration about the then lack of a citizenship question on the census. Kobach had once helped lead Trump's now-dissolved voter fraud commission."

More from OurFuture.org:

Will South Korean Doves or Washington Hawks Prevail at Summit? Miles Mogulescu: "Donald Trump's narcisissm leads him to thirst for a Nobel Prize as a peacemaker in Korea. Meanwhile his top advisor, John Bolton, seeks the overthrow of the North Korean regime. Let's hope Trump’s Nobel dreams control his actions, and the Summit is the beginning of a peace process and not a catastrophe that leads the world closer to war."

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