HoosLeft This Week 7/13/25

National Stories * Headlines * More Trump Tariff Uncertainty * Earlier this week, Trump sent dozens of letters to a variety of longtime US trading partners informing them that they could soon face tariffs ranging from a minimum of 25% all the way to a whopping 50%. And, in an NBC News interview that aired Thursday, Trump suggested hiking blanket tariffs on most countries. Collectively, the tariffs Trump has threatened to enact on August 1 would mark the highest average tariff rate America has seen in over a century, according to multiple estimates. * Related: Trump Threatens Brazil With Tariff Over Bolsonaro Trial * President Donald Trump is framing his threat to slap a bruising 50 percent tariff on Brazil as a quest for justice for his friend and ally, far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. * But it was his displeasure at a gathering of emerging market nations in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend that tipped the president over the edge, convincing him to send a letter laying out the new levies, according to four people familiar with the situation granted anonymity to share details. * The White House concluded that other methods of punishing Brazil for its perceived mistreatment of Bolsonaro and its alleged censorship on social media, like sanctions, would take too long or were too complex, according to two of the people. But “BRICS tipped the scale,” * Musk’s Grok AI Goes Full “MechaHitler” * Grok's behavior appeared to stem from an update over the weekend that instructed the chatbot to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated," among other things. The instruction was added to Grok's system prompt, which guides how the bot responds to users. xAI removed the directive on Tuesday. * It's not the first time Grok has sparked outrage. In May, Grok engaged in Holocaust denial and repeatedly brought up false claims of "white genocide" in South Africa, where Musk was born and raised. * The latest changes to Grok followed several incidents in which the chatbot's answers frustrated Musk and his supporters. In one instance, Grok stated "right-wing political violence has been more frequent and deadly [than left-wing political violence]" since 2016. (This has been true dating back to at least 2001.) Musk accused Grok of "parroting legacy media" in its answer and vowed to change it to "rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors." Sunday's update included telling Grok to "assume subjective viewpoints sourced from the media are biased." * CEO Yaccarino Resigns * Linda Yaccarino, who was hired two years ago as chief executive officer of X, said on Wednesday she was stepping down from the social media platform. * Khalil Sues Trump Admin for $20M * Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist who was detained by the Trump administration for months, have filed a claim for $20m in damages against the administration, alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests. * The filing – a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act – names the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the state department. * Khalil, 30, was released from US immigration detention last month after having been held for more than three months over his activism against Israel’s war on Gaza. * Trump administration officials had accused Khalil of antisemitism and of pro-Hamas advocacy, although they did not provide evidence at any point during his arrest or detention. * Measles Cases Reach 33-Year High * Measles cases have surpassed a recent 2019 record to reach the highest level since 1992, with at least 1,289 cases reported in 39 states. * There have been 3 confirmed deaths from measles in 2025. * Measles is one of the most contagious diseases and can spread rapidly among unvaccinated people. * WHO had declared measles eliminated from US in 2000. * State Department Lays Off 1300 Employees * As fired employees packed their belongings, dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others spent a warm, humid day protesting outside. Holding signs saying, “Thank you to America’s diplomats” and “We all deserve better,” they mourned the institutional loss from the cuts and highlighted the personal sacrifice of serving in the foreign service. * FBI Director Patel Polygraph Testing Agents * Agents have expressed concerns that they are at risk of losing their jobs if found to have said anything even remotely critical about Patel or Bongino. * Dozens of FBI officials have reportedly been subjected to polygraphs under Patel’s leadership, though it’s unclear how many were interrogated specifically about bad-mouthing the boss. * TikTok to Create M2 American Version?? * TikTok is pushing back against a Reuters report that claims the company is working on a standalone version of its app for the U.S. market, complete with a separate algorithm and data infrastructure. * The report said this version would operate independently from the global app, using only U.S. user data to train its recommendation algorithm. * Reuters framed the effort as part of TikTok’s response to a 2024 U.S. law requiring its parent company, ByteDance, to divest U.S. operations. * Scott’s Story: Texas Floods * More than 100 people have died, with hundreds more reported as still missing. * Who’s to Blame? Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) - “I believe there have been failures at every level of government, from the county to the state and the federal,” to anchor Ali Velshi on MSNBC. * Trump admin failures * NWS/NOAA cuts * “The National Weather Service (NWS), in particular, has lost close to 600 staff at a time when 40 percent of national weather forecast offices are facing significant staff vacancies. Specifically for the Austin/San Antonio forecasting office, which covers areas affected by the Texas floods, the Trump administration’s recent DOGE layoffs included a warning coordination meteorologist position that plays a critical role in communication coordination between forecasters, emergency managers, and the public.” * “Prior to this past weekend’s events, the National Weather Service had been warning about the coming rains and potential for flash floods for days, but a few key local NWS positions had been vacant since the first round of DOGE cuts and buyouts. The vacant warning coordination meteorologist position, in particular, is “responsible for working with emergency managers and the public to ensure people know what to do when a disaster strikes.” Yet the person who had served in that role for decades was among hundreds of NWS employees who accepted an early retirement offer, leaving the agency at the end of April.” * Noem’s personal approval needed for any contract over $100K * Abbott admin failures * 'Who's to blame?' Know this. That's the word choice of losers. Let me explain one thing about Texas. And that is, Texas, every square inch of our state cares about football. You can be in Hunt, Texas, Huntsville, Texas, Houston, Texas, any size community, they care about football. High school Friday night lights, college football, or pro. Every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones who try to point out who is to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, 'Don’t worry about it, man, we got this.' We're going to make sure that we go score again and we're gonna win this game. The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions." * “The Texas Division of Emergency Management denied Kerr County’s 2017 application, meeting minutes show. Kerr County applied again in 2018, when more federal funding became available after Hurricane Harvey. But meeting minutes indicate that Texas’ emergency authority again did not approve it.” * Local govt failures * “Local leaders have talked for years about the need for a warning system. Kerr County sought a nearly $1 million grant eight years ago for such… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.projectnextindiana.com