Trump to begin enforcing birthright citizenship order as early as this month, DOJ says

> Thread Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbFKr_kXnzA

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-begin-enforcing-birthright-citizenship-order-early-month-doj-says

> Trump administration lawyers told a federal judge Tuesday that they could begin enforcing President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship before the end of July — moving quickly to enforce the controversial order just days after a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

> Lawyers for the administration told U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman that they would not enforce Trump's executive order before July 27, in recognition of a 30-day stay ordered by the Supreme Court in its ruling last week.

> "The Court’s stay thus allows Defendants to immediately begin to 'develop and issu[e] public guidance about the executive’s plans to implement the executive order," Justice Department attorney Brad Rosenberg said Tuesday in a court filing.

> The update comes after Trump officials testified Monday at an emergency hearing in Maryland, where Boardman grilled government lawyers for details on how they plan to enforce the president's order.

> Trump's order, signed on the first day of his second White House term, directs all U.S. government agencies to refuse to issue citizenship documents to children born to illegal immigrants, or who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen of lawful permanent resident.

> It was almost immediately blocked by lower courts, before eventually making its way to the Supreme Court, which reviewed the case in May.

> The high court's 6-3 ruling Friday narrowly focused on the authority of lower courts' ability to issue nationwide injunctions and did not wade into the legality of Trump's executive order, which served as the legal pretext for the case.

https://www.wired.com/story/midjourney-generates-videos-of-disney-characters-amid-massive-copyright-lawsuit/

Midjourney’s new AI-generated video tool will produce animated clips featuring copyrighted characters from Disney and Universal, WIRED has found—including video of the beloved Pixar character Wall-E holding a gun.

It’s been a busy month for Midjourney. This week, the generative AI startup released its sophisticated new video tool, V1, which lets users make short animated clips from images they generate or upload. The current version of Midjourney’s AI video tool requires an image as a starting point; generating videos using text-only prompts is not supported.

The release of V1 comes on the heels of a very different kind of announcement earlier in June: Hollywood behemoths Disney and Universal filed a blockbuster lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging that it violates copyright law by generating images with the studios’ intellectual property.

Midjourney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Disney and Universal reiterated statements made by its executives about the lawsuit, including Disney’s legal head Horacio Gutierrez alleging that Midjourney’s output amounts to “piracy.”

Private employers unexpectedly cut 33,000 jobs in June, the latest signal of an intensifying slowdown in the US labor market.

On Wednesday, data from ADP showed private payrolls fell by 33,000 last month in June, below the 29,000 job gains seen in May and the 98,000 additions expected by economists.

This marked the first month of job losses in the private sector since March 2023. May's initial reading of 37,000 private payroll additions had been the lowest monthly total since March 2023.

"Though layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month," ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in the release. "Still, the slowdown in hiring has yet to disrupt pay growth."

Richardson told Yahoo Finance during a call with reporters on Wednesday it is now clear that hiring momentum has slowed in the US labor market. Still, that doesn't mean second half of the year will bring "consistent job declines," in Richardson's view

Wages continue to be a more positive indicator in the labor market, with ADP Pay Insights data showing Wednesday that wages for workers who changed jobs grew 6.8% in June while wages for those who stayed in the same job grew 4.4%. Both were down slightly from the month prior.

>https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-private-employers-cut-33000-jobs-in-june-the-latest-sign-of-a-slowing-labor-market-122409968.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/us/politics/trump-zohran-mamdani.html

President Trump on Tuesday floated an outlandish claim that Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York mayor, was an illegal immigrant and threatened to arrest him if he blocked immigration arrests in New York City.

Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda and has lived in New York City since 1998, when he was 7 years old. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018. If elected, Mr. Mamdani would also be the first Muslim to become mayor of New York City. There is no credible evidence to suggest Mr. Mamdani is not, or shouldn’t be, a U.S. citizen.

Mr. Trump’s attack on the mayoral candidate echoed language he has long used to lend credibility to falsehoods. “A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” he said of Mr. Mamdani. “We’re going to look at everything.”

When a journalist raised the possibility that Mr. Mamdani “will not allow” ICE to make immigration arrests, Mr. Trump replied, “Well then we’ll have to arrest him.”

“The president of the United States just threatened to have me arrested,” Mr. Mamdani said in a response on social media, adding that Mr. Trump’s statements “don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: If you speak up, they will come for you.”

He continued, “We will not accept this intimidation.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/06/23/fourth-of-july-bbq-food-cost/84325233007/
Your Fourth of July barbecue essentials are going to be slightly more expensive this year – that is, if you even plan to celebrate.

The Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute analyzed costs for hosting a classic Fourth of July gathering for 10 people and found that consumers can expect to pay $130 for the food and beverages. That's up 2.2% from the cost for the same gathering a year ago. USA TODAY got an exclusive look at the report.

But in another survey by Coupon Follow, only 1 out of 3 people plan to celebrate Independence Day at all.

How much will the typical Fourth of July cookout cost?

Wells Fargo took a look at the costs for hosting the classic Fourth of July gathering using data from NielsenIQ, which tracks food scanned at retailers across the U.S.

While the cost of $130 for a gathering of 10 people is 2.2% higher than last year, the devil is in the details, said Wells Fargo: in particular the costs of beef and eggs are higher this year.

The menu priced includes barbecued chicken breasts, beef sliders, hotdogs, fresh fruit, vegetable platter, potato salad, corn bread, cake, apple pie, ice cream, beer, wine soda and flavored sparking waters.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/18/trump-flag-poles-white-house/84257902007/
WASHINGTON ― Massive new flag poles hoisting United States flags have been installed on the White House grounds after President Donald Trump said they were desperately needed and that he would pay for them himself.

The placement of the two 88-foot-tall flagpoles — one on the north lawn and one on the south lawn — began early in the morning of June 18.

A U.S. flag was later raised on the south lawn around 1 p.m. at a ceremony that included Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The couple was at the White House to watch the swearing in of Charles Kushner, Jared's father, as U.S. ambassador to France.

Powell confirms that the Fed would have cut by now were it not for tariffs

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/01/powell-confirms-that-the-fed-would-have-cut-by-now-were-it-not-for-tariffs.html

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. central bank would have eased monetary policy by now if not for President Donald Trump’s tariff plan.

When asked during a panel if the Fed would have lowered rates again this year had Trump not announced his controversial plan to impose higher levies on imported goods earlier this year, Powell said, “I think that’s right.”

“In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,” Powell said at European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal.

Powell’s admission comes as the Fed has entered a holding pattern on interest rates despite mounting pressure from the White House.

The Fed last month held the key borrowing rate steady once again, keeping fed funds at the same range between 4.25% and 4.5% where it’s been since December.

The central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee indicated via its so-called dot plot of members’ projections that there could be two cuts by the end of 2025. However, Powell also said at a press conference last month that the Fed was “well positioned” to remain in a wait-and-see mode.

On Tuesday, Powell was asked if July would be too soon for markets to expect a rate cut. He answered that that he “really can’t say” and that “it’s going to depend on the data.” Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a more than 76% likelihood that the central bank once again holds rates steady at the July policy gathering, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

“We are going meeting by meeting,” Powell said during Tuesday’s panel. “I wouldn’t take any meeting off the table or put it directly on the table. It’s going to depend on how the data evolve.”

Attorney General Pamela Bondi just announced that her department has stopped the largest medical fraud in history, targeting $14.6 billion in public medical benefits.
Charges have been filed against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, bankers, in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the United States.
All individuals except 7 have been arrested.
The justice article is very informative but much too long for me to post.
The Newsweek article is posted simply to comply with the board rule of proving a news source
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-324-defendants-charged-connection-over-146
https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-says-its-uncovered-largest-medical-fraud-us-history-2092625
National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in 324 Defendants Charged in Connection with Over $14.6 Billion in Alleged Fraud
Monday, June 30, 2025

Largest Justice Department Health Care Fraud Takedown in History
More than Doubles Prior Record of $6 Billion
The Justice Department today announced the results of its 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the United States, for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving over $14.6 billion in intended loss. The Takedown involved federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country and represents an unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit patients and taxpayers.

Donald Trump brings Peace to the Middle East
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdr3yxgjd6ro
With possible Iran-Israel ceasefire, Trump's high-risk strikes may pay off

US President Donald Trump took a gamble by inserting the US into the worsening conflict between Israel and Iran, but it may have paid off - at least for now.

Trump announced on Tuesday evening that the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire that he said could lead to a lasting peace.

If the American president has in fact ended what he labelled the "12 Day War", it would make for a significant step back from the brink of a conflict that seemed on the verge of engulfing the region, along with pulling America further in after US airstrikes hit Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

"Provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement, "we have no intention to continue our response afterwards."

It may not be called a ceasefire, but as the 04:00 deadline arrived in Tehran the Israeli attacks reportedly came to a halt. The two parties appear to be on the verge of turning down the heat.

This development comes after a tumultuous day in the region, when Iran followed through on its promise to retaliate for Saturday's US strike.