South Korea's New President Is a Big Bernie Fan - The Wednesday AM Quickie 6/4/25

By Corey Pein — Jun 4, 2025

I don't know whether messaging around some new Wall Street jargon is really going to motivate people to support the Democratic Party, but I do question whether it's wise to taunt Trump for always "chickening out"? Isn't it good when he chickens out on doing something bad? Why discourage that? - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

World Tour: Trump's 50 Percent Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Take Effect Today; Price Spikes to Follow

New South Korean President Lee Jae-myung Is a Leftist Former Child Factory Worker-Turned-Human Rights Lawyer Who Modeled His Campaign on Bernie Sanders At his swearing-in, Lee vowed to defend democracy after last year's rightwing martial law fiasco and "build a new nation of hope." via the New York Times, the Guardian, the Associated Press, and the Financial Times.
Dutch Fascist Geert Wilders Blows Up Rightwing Coalition Government, Vows to Become Prime Minister Former coalition partners complain that Wilders' ambition "will hand the Netherlands over to the left on a silver platter." via the Washington Post and the Financial Times.
Mexico's Ruling Party Wins Control of Supreme Court in First-Ever Judicial Elections That Saw Only 13 Percent Turnout "My strong guess is that [President Claudia] Sheinbaum now dominates all three branches of government and is essentially able to pass whatever laws and constitutional reforms she wants. We're seeing a tremendous concentration of power in the presidency," says Kenneth Greene, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. via the AP and the Los Angeles Times.
Ukraine Has Lost 400,000 Troops, and Russia Nearly 1 Million, Since Feb. 2022 Invasion, British Study Says Meanwhile, a Human Rights Watch report documents Russia's use of drones to drop banned antipersonnel mines in civilian areas in Ukraine. via the New York Times, the AP, NBC News, and Politico.
Fake Israeli 'Aid' Outfit Halts All Deliveries in Gaza After Latest Civilian Killings By IDF "Going back to the aid distribution is a huge risk and a potential death sentence, but everyone who went had no other choice. If they aren't killed by bullets or shelling, they will die of hunger," says Fadi Abu Mohammad, whose lost a relative to gunfire at an aid site yesterday. via the AP, Al Jazeera, and the Guardian.
Possible Trump Deal Could Be Even More Favorable to Iran Than Obama's The proposal written by Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff "raises the possibility of US help in facilitating the construction of a nuclear power reactor in Iran." via the New York Times and Reuters.
China Aims to Take Advantage of US 'Shooting Itself in the Foot' with MAGA Attacks on Science Meanwhile, carmakers in the US, Europe, and Japan are warning that China's export restrictions on rare-earth magnets will force them to shut down production within weeks. via the New York Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg News.
Lula Calls Out Bolsonaro's Son for 'Licking the Boots' of Trump and Lobbying for Sanctions Against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has threatened to impose sanctions on Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen criminal investigations into the fascist former President Jair Bolsonaro and penalized Elon Musk's X for its role in Bolsonaro's 2022 coup attempt. via Reuters and Bloomberg.

MORE STORIES TO WATCH

Elon Musk Tries to Sabotage GOP's Big Bogus Bill as Trump Pushes for Speedy Passage

The knives have come out in the Republican power struggle to write national policy while the party's dotard figurehead, Donald Trump, muses about his college days, his golf game, and whether Joe Biden was secretly executed years ago and replaced with a soulless robotic clone. Nazi-saluting oligarch Elon Musk yesterday attacked Trump's signature, safety net-killing policy bill, now working its way through the Senate, as a "disgusting abomination." Anonymous White House officials respond that they are "disappointed" with Musk, whom they say is really mad that Republican lawmakers didn't preserve an electric vehicle tax credit and other programs that would enrich his businesses. Despite the public spat, Trump aides are working to expand the DOGE service, despite Musk's formal departure from government, and to make more than $9 billion in program cuts DOGE has made permanent through a process called "rescission." Trump, meanwhile, has been personally lobbying GOP Senators to pass his bill by the July 4 recess, which should give them time to actually read it, unlike their House peers.

Disappearances: Wife and Five Kids of Suspected Colorado Attacker Detained By ICE; Their Deportation May Be Illegal

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Sues Federal Prosecutor Over His Arrest at ICE Concentration Camp New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, meanwhile, responded to a Republican city councilwoman who called for him to be deported, saying, "Enough. This is what Trump and his sycophants have wrought." via the Associated Press and the New York Times.
San Diego Officials Denounce ICE Use of Flashbang Grenades Against Crowd of Locals Who Denounced Them as 'Nazis' "'This was an unnecessary and alarming show of force deployed by those federal agents at a restaurant in a residential neighborhood,' Councilmember Stephen Whitburn [says]. 'Setting aside the debate over immigration policy, I would like to know the justification for sending dozens of agents, wearing masks, carrying machine guns and handcuffing all the workers to execute a warrant for somebody who might be undocumented. Are you serious?'" via the Los Angeles Times.
Wisconsin Man Charged in Scheme to Frame and Deport Mexican Migrant Over Fake Threats to Trump Demetric Deshawn Scott allegedly hoped to keep Ramon Morales-Reyes from testifying in a robbery case – and his plan almost worked, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasting last month about the arrest of "this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump." via the New York Times and NBC News.
Homeland Security Shamed Into Allowing 4-Year-Old Mexican Girl to Receive Lifesaving Medical Care in California "'We cannot ignore the systemic challenges that brought Sofia to the brink,' the [family's] attorneys said, using a pseudonym for the girl. 'Her parole was terminated without warning ... It took an international outcry and pressure from elected officials to get a response—something that used to take a single phone call.'" via the AP.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

Trump Revokes Biden Rule Requiring Hospitals to Provide Abortion Access in Emergencies "'It basically gives a bright green light to hospitals in red states to turn away pregnant women who are in peril,' Lawrence O. Gostin, a health law expert at Georgetown University, said of the Trump administration’s move." via the New York Times and HuffPost.
Corrupt Regime Plans to Eliminate Chemical Safety Board in Latest Gift to Industry "If Trump gets his way, this will mean more chemical disasters choking our communities with toxic fumes, upending lives, and threatening the health and property of those living and working close by," Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who serves on a chemical safety subcommittee, says. "I will do everything I can to prevent this gutting of funds." via the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Pentagon Orders US Navy to Rename Ship Honoring LGBTQ Martyr Harvey Milk Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who ordered the changes, is meanwhile skipping a meeting on Ukraine's defense with military leaders from 50 other countries in Brussels today. via CBS News and the Associated Press.
Did Eric and Don Jr. Get Swindled By Business Partner's Launch of 'Official' $TRUMP Crypto Wallet? Skeptical Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are warning that the passage of industry-friendly weak crypto regulation could spark "a financial crisis grease fire." via the New York Times, Talking Points Memo, and Politico.

SOME NUMBER

$17.28

That's the hourly minimum wage in Los Angeles, $11 less than what a single person working full-time without children must earn to afford rent, transportation, and food. California labor groups this week launched a campaign to raise the minimum wage in LA County to $25 across all industries, the LA Times reports.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

6/4: It’s Hump Day!

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

SCHUMER AND JEFFRIES MUST GO

Maybe we should let them try more of the same, have you thought about that?

Republican Posts Fake Apology for Saying Everyone Is 'Going to Die'

The calculation about what goes over well with GOP primary voters really boggles the mind.

PARTING WORDS

"Donald Trump should realize that an independent judiciary is to his benefit too, because if it weren't for Federalist Society judges, he would be in jail right now because it was the Roberts Court that said former presidents just can't be prosecuted for crimes."

-- Rightwing University of California law professor John Yoo, best known for writing memos authorizing the use of torture during the George W. Bush administration, speaking to the Wall Street Journal about why Trump's recent attack on the Federalist Society and its leader, Leonard Leo, was ill-advised.

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