Good morning,
Welcome to MSNBC's Sunday Spotlight, where you can find a selection of the week's most interesting and important stories. In the wake of Texas' deadly flooding, President Donald Trump's desire to slim down the federal government appears premature. Meanwhile, a high-profile tariff threat seems more personal than strategic, the Department of Justice is sending a chilling message with two new criminal investigations, and airport security just got a little more convenient. Plus, you might want to think twice before hyping this 2010s fashion brand online.
Don't forget to check out more top columns and videos from the week below. |
Emergency mismanagement: After deadly flash floods in Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency should have played a highly visible role in recovery efforts. Instead, FEMA Acting Administrator David Richardson has been AWOL, writes Jarvis DeBerry. That's in keeping with the Trump administration's desire to reduce the agency's mission dramatically and to leave states to their own devices after major natural disasters. After all, a highly visible and effective FEMA would undermine Trump's case. Read more.
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Jair's tariff: One of Trump's latest trade threats — a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil — feels more personal than others. In a letter to Brazil's president, Trump said that he was imposing the massive spike partly because of the country's trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro on charges of attempting to illegally overturn the 2022 election, writes Hayes Brown. Though Trump has been on a tariff tear lately, the missive was far more aggressive in tone than many of the others sent this week, which might be attributed to his closeness to the polarizing Bolsonaro. Read more.
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Warning sign: The Department of Justice has opened criminal investigations into two longtime targets of Trump's ire. That mere existence of criminal probes helps the president accomplish his goal of undermining former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, who previously looked into his troubling ties to Russia, writes Zeeshan Aleem. It also suggests that anyone who raises questions about Trump's conduct in the future could be punished similarly, no matter how flimsy the evidence. That's bad for democracy, of course, but it could even rewrite history. Read more.
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Shoeless joke: The Transportation Security Administration finally rescinded its policy requiring most airport travelers to remove their shoes as part of regular security screenings. Implemented after a hapless terrorist tried to light a bomb hidden in his shoes, writes Anthony L. Fisher, the policy has contributed to longer security lines, higher stress levels for both passengers and TSA employees and pointless confrontations, often involving elderly and disabled travelers. The kicker? There's little proof this despised piece of security theater actually made anyone safer. Read more.
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American appalling: Young shoppers in the early 2010s loved American Apparel for the lower cost, trendy styles and notoriously suggestive ad campaigns. But a new Netflix documentary raises troubling questions about founder Dov Charney, who was ousted in 2014 due to an investigation into reports of sexual harassment and violence toward employees, writes Hannah Holland. (Charney has denied the allegations.) The company filed for Chapter 11 in 2015, but its clothes are making a comeback on TikTok as young people show off their secondhand finds. Read more.
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A former patient recently sent Dr. Kavita Patel a message to ask if the government has been hiding vaccine side effects and whether she should stop getting them. While these kinds of concerns feel increasingly common, Patel writes that she was shaken to hear them from this particular patient, who has never indicated any such skepticism in more than 15 years. Patel blames Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is currently being sued by a coalition of America's leading medical organizations for changing immunization recommendations without input from an expert panel. The problem extends beyond just vaccinations. "When patients can't trust that their government is providing evidence-based guidance, or that their private health information will be protected, the entire system suffers," she writes. Read the column here.
— Ryan Teague Beckwith, newsletter editor |
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