Billionaire Gets Tariff Break After Investing in Don Jr.'s Company
Trump has broken his Iran peace deal promise 38 times, the DOJ is investigating the agency that fights employment discrimination, and Tennessee is checking the citizenship of child cancer patients
Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.
Donald Trump has claimed an Iran peace deal is “two or three” days away 38 times now. The Justice Department has decided the agency that fights workplace discrimination is itself the unconstitutional one. An Indian billionaire whom Trump was tariffing into oblivion poured nine figures into a startup backed by Donald Trump Jr. And Tennessee ordered health departments to check the immigration status of disabled children in a last-resort program that has kept them alive for 50 years.
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Now, let’s dive in.
Trump Has Promised an Iran Deal 38 Times
There is a kind of confidence that comes from never having to be right.
Speaking to reporters at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Trump claimed a peace deal with Iran was just “two or three” days away. He said it would stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “It’ll open up immediately upon signing,” he insisted.
This was not the first time he made the claim. It was the 38th.
The deal-touting began in March, a month into the war. On March 25, Iran wanted to “make a deal so badly.” On March 26, Iran was “begging to make a deal.” In April, the two countries were “very far along” and needed two weeks for “the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.” He called it “an Honor to have this long-term problem close to resolution.”
There was no resolution. The April ceasefire never became a permanent end to the fighting. Since the strikes began on Feb. 28, the war has driven up global energy prices and the cost of food.
The president has announced an imminent deal with Iran nearly 40 times. The strait remains closed, unlike the gap between what he says and what happens.
Trump’s DOJ Says the Anti-Discrimination Agency Is the One Breaking the Law
The Justice Department just discovered that the real discrimination was the anti-discrimination agency all along.
On Tuesday, the DOJ accused the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency that exists to enforce federal laws against workplace discrimination, of pressuring employers to engage in “race-based decisionmaking.”
The specific target is “disparate impact.” That is the long-standing principle that holds employers liable when a policy disproportionately harms people of a certain race, ethnicity, or gender, even without proof of intent.
The DOJ’s press release borrows the exact language conservatives use to attack any program meant to address centuries of racial discrimination. It claims the EEOC creates a “near insurmountable presumption” of discrimination wherever outcomes differ between groups.
The EEOC’s actual job is to answer complaints from workers who believe they were passed over for reasons that had nothing to do with their qualifications, and occasionally sue when the evidence is strong.
The practical effect is the part worth emphasizing. Employers can now use aptitude tests, criminal background checks, and other tools known to filter people out by race without fear of being charged.
This kind of story doesn’t make the front page. It lands in a press release on a Tuesday and gets buried under whatever else is happening. We read it so you don’t have to miss it. If that matters to you, consider subscribing.
Tariffs Disappeared After Billionaire Invested in Trump Jr.’s Company
The secret to getting out of paying tariffs to the United States? Investing in a Texas oil refinery that the president’s son quietly owns a piece of.
The Trump administration had spent months escalating tariffs against India, with the Ambani energy empire squarely in its sights. In late November, Donald Trump Jr. flew to Jamnagar, toured the Ambani family’s private zoo, and even performed a Gujarati folk dance with 30-year-old Anant Ambani.
Four months later, a floundering Texas startup called America First Refining announced a nine-figure investment from the Ambanis’ company, Reliance Industries. Trump Jr. had secretly acquired a stake in it, according to records and seven people familiar with the company.
In August, Trump had doubled tariffs on India to 50% over Reliance’s purchases of discounted Russian oil. In February, the administration struck a trade agreement dramatically lowering tariffs, reportedly gave Reliance a license to buy Venezuelan oil, and handed India a sanctions waiver to keep buying Russian crude.
Trump Jr.’s personal lawyer took credit on LinkedIn, posting that he was “just so proud to have been part of this one.” He later told ProPublica he had “zero involvement” in the deal.
Tennessee to Check the Immigration Status of Disabled Children
The newest test of a child’s eligibility for life-saving care in Tennessee is whether their parents can prove they are here legally.
Last week, the Tennessee Department of Health directed local public health departments to verify the immigration status of children in Children’s Special Services and report to the federal government.
The program is a last resort for kids with cancer, spina bifida, and terminal illnesses who have no other insurance. For more than 50 years, it has served children with severe disabilities regardless of immigration status.
Children in Tennessee have no comparable safety net. In Middle Tennessee alone, about 100 children without legal status are now at risk of losing coverage. The state has not said how many will be impacted overall, or whether it intends to disenroll families, report them to ICE, or both.
Among those affected is a 10-year-old boy born with spina bifida who uses a wheelchair and needs near-monthly medical trips. His mother, Gabriella, asked to be identified only by her first name, fearing the family’s pending asylum case could be jeopardized. “If we go back to Honduras, he’s not going to make it,” she said.
The party that won’t stop talking about protecting children has decided the first step is making sure they have the right paperwork.
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
California’s Reddest County Just Got Mapped Into a Bay Area Democrat’s District. Modoc County, the rugged northeast corner where about 8,500 people live and 70% have backed Trump across three elections, has been folded into a congressional district anchored by deep-blue Marin County. The change came after Proposition 50, which Modoc voters rejected by nearly 80% while Marin approved it by 80%. Ranchers in Adin, where the general store doubles as the town hub, described feeling their voice had been drowned out by roughly 250,000 largely liberal residents to the south. This is what political scientists call “more people.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker Hits Pause on Data-Center Tax Breaks. Pritzker announced Friday that beginning July 1, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will stop processing applications to the tax-incentive program for data centers. He had asked lawmakers earlier this year to suspend the incentives for two years while the state studied the centers’ impact on utility bills and water consumption. When the legislature didn’t act, he used the executive branch’s control over application processing. Pritzker is calling on data centers to “pay their fair share.” Somewhere, a server is generating an AI image of a dog and it costs more in water than your morning shower.
SoFi Stadium Workers Win a World Cup Contract and the Right to Walk Out Over ICE. Unite Here Local 11, which represents nearly 2,000 cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, and concession workers at the Los Angeles-area stadium, reached a tentative agreement with Legends Hospitality on Monday night, just days before SoFi’s first World Cup match. The workers had gone a year without a contract and voted 96% to authorize a strike that could have endangered eight scheduled games. The union says it won every major issue, including pay increases, protections against subcontracting,and the right to walk off the job if the union determines that federal immigration enforcement threatens worker safety.
FDA Approves a Sunscreen Ingredient Europe Has Had for Decades. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration added the compound bemotrizinol to its list of allowed sunscreen ingredients, the first new compound it has permitted in more than 20 years. The chemical has long been popular in Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia for its blocking both UVA and UVB rays, something no chemical filter currently sold in the U.S. does on its own. It is also far more stable, meaning it doesn’t break down in the sun, and it shows low absorption into the body. American consumers have finally been granted access to sunscreen the rest of the developed world bought at the drugstore years ago.