Coffee Talk with Tiff

May 8, 2026 12:42 pm EDT Tiff Coffee Talk with Tiff 0
Image credit: AI-generated illustration created with ChatGPT

It’s Friday.

05/08/2026:


Random Thoughts Friday…

Four hours, seventeen tabs, and at least one existential crisis later, none of today’s rabbit holes were ready for prime time. So let’s do Random Thoughts Friday.

Tariffs

The United States Court of International Trade deemed Toddler’s latest attempt at slapping a ten percent tariff on basically the entire planet unlawful, proving once again that even the courts occasionally look at his trade policy and go, “What the hell is this supposed to be?”

A federal court on Thursday concluded that President Donald Trump’s global 10% tariffs are unlawful.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of judges on the Court of International Trade concluded that the Trump administration misread the law used to justify the sweeping tariffs. 

The ruling marks the second time the president’s tariff regime has been found to be illegal, with the Supreme Court earlier this year affirming a decision from the Court of International Trade blocking Trump’s first round of tariffs. 

The dispute boiled down to the definition of the phrase “balance-of-payments deficits.” The Court of International Trade rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the term “balance-of-payments deficits” in Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 is the same as a “trade deficit.” 

ABC News. 05/07/2026.

Economic Professor Justin Wolfers explained:

The Plague

Toddler in Charge took an unscheduled trip to the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool yesterday, because apparently empty pools are now part of the presidential workload.

After the field trip, Toddler in Charge stopped to speak to reporters where he was asked if he’d been briefed on the hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship. Because nothing says “steady leadership” quite like “we hope” repeated several times during a public health question.

Reporter: Can I ask you about the Hantavirus? Have you been briefed on the virus?

Toddler in Charge: Yes, I have.

Reporter: Can you tell us what you learn in these briefings? Should Americans —

Toddler in Charge: Well, I think you’re going to be told everything and you already have. Uh, it’s very much we hope under control. It was the ship and I think we’re going to make a full report about it tomorrow. We have a lot of people, it’s a lot of great people are studying it. It should be fine. We hope.

Reporter: Americans, should Americans be concerned that it’s going to spread? And how are you hoping —

Toddler in Charge: I hope not.

Reporter: — to get those people home?

Toddler in Charge: I mean, I hope not. We’ll do the best we can, yeah.

RollCall.com. 05/07/2026.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Countries around the world are preparing to deal with the 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands.

The vessel is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, early Sunday morning.

At least three passengers have died, and several other people have been infected.

Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure. The World Health Organization says the risk to the wider public from the outbreak is low, but the Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.

Authorities and the cruise operator have been providing updates, but some key information is still lacking.

AP News. 05/08/2026.

The rest of the AP News article focuses on the things we don’t know about this outbreak.

The X-files but stupider

The government has released UFO FILES.

State redistricting

This morning the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the states referendum to redraw the US House map.

The Virginia Supreme Court voided Democrats’ attempt to redraw the state’s US House map in an April referendum, a devastating blow to the Democratic Party’s efforts in the national redistricting battle launched by President Donald Trump ahead of this fall’s midterms.

The court ruled that the process of creating the referendum violated the state Constitution.

“The Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement,” Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote in the majority opinion, referring to a provision of state law that mandates how ballot referendums can be put to voters. “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.”

CNN. 05/08/2026.

Toddler in Chief celebrated the court’s ruling.

The Terribly written Counterterrorism Strategy report just dropped.

I hate it here…

This is an Open Thread

Try and have a nice weekend everyone.

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About Tiff 3610 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.