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Federal Court Strikes Down Trump’s 10 Percent Global Tariffs

A U.S. trade court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s 10 percent global tariffs.

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled 2-1 that a 1970s law doesn’t allow the president to enact sweeping tariffs worldwide.

The State of Oregon, a spice company called Burlap and Barrel, and a toy company named “Basic Fun Inc.” challenged the tariffs.

Article 1, Section eight of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to levy duties, collect taxes, and more.

Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives some of that power to the president. It allows the president to impose temporary surcharges up to 15 percent.

On Feb. 20, Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on imports effective on Feb. 24 through July 24. 

Trump justified the tariffs because the U.S. runs a trade deficit with many other countries.

The plaintiffs claimed that the president doesn’t have the authority to invoke those tariffs “because large and serious balance-of-payments deficits cannot occur in a floating exchange rate monetary system,” according to the 88-page ruling.

The plaintiffs suffered economic harm, price erosion, a loss of goodwill, damaged reputation, and more, the court ruled.

“Finally, considering the balance of hardships, a remedy in equity is warranted, and the public interest would be served by a permanent injunction,” the ruling said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled against Trump’s tariffs. That ruling ordered the U.S. to refund tariffs, which is expected to cost about $166 billion.  

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California’s ‘Billionaire Tax’ Could Reach Far Beyond Billionaires

Last week, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced it had gathered more than 1.5 million signatures — nearly double what it needed — to put a sweeping new wealth tax on California’s November ballot. The initiative is called the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act.

The name is designed to make you stop reading. Don’t.

SEIU has spent months positioning itself as the champion of nurses, teachers and caregivers. What it has actually done is run a $24 million campaign to put a measure on the ballot that could eventually be used to tax virtually any Californian who owns assets — with no return trip to the ballot box required.

The measure would impose a 5 percent tax on the total net worth of California residents worth more than $1 billion as of Jan. 1, 2026. Buried in the fine print is a provision allowing the California legislature to expand the tax — lowering the threshold, adding asset categories — by simple majority vote, without voter approval.

The Tax Foundation has warned that the measure’s design could push the effective rate on some taxpayers well above the advertised 5 percent.

SEIU leaders will tell you pensions and retirement accounts are excluded. That’s true … for now. What the union won’t tell you is what happens to those pension funds when California’s investment climate deteriorates.

CalPERS — the pension system for California public employees — manages roughly $556 billion in assets and is already facing more than $179 billion in unfunded liabilities.

CalSTRS, the pension fund for California’s teachers, manages a portfolio of more than $400 billion. Both depend on a functioning private economy and stable financial markets.

When founders and investors are forced to sell equity stakes to pay a tax bill, and when the state’s wealthiest residents continue to leave, the damage doesn’t stop with them.

It reaches the pension checks of the workers the SEIU claims to speak for.

The Hoover Institution estimates the permanent loss of income tax revenue from departing residents will leave California worse off — not better off — by $25 billion.

Nearly 30 percent of the billionaire tax base had already left the state before the initiative even qualified for the ballot. Six billionaires departed publicly before the Jan. 1 residency deadline, including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

More have reportedly followed without any fanfare.

Every departure costs the state years of income tax revenue, capital gains and related economic activity California can’t afford to lose.

SEIU and its enablers call this a healthcare funding measure — a response to federal Medicaid reforms. It isn’t.

California already has the highest income tax rates in the nation. Its budget problems aren’t a revenue problem. They’re a spending problem that’s outpaced even California’s substantial tax base for years.

SEIU claims to speak for hundreds of thousands of workers whose retirement security runs through CalPERS, CalSTRS and a California economy that keeps generating jobs and investment.

A measure that accelerates capital flight and weakens pension fund returns, then hands Sacramento the tools to expand asset taxation without a vote is not a benefit to those workers.

California voters should read past the name of this initiative before they decide whether to support it. The SEIU is counting on them not to.

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‘Super-hot’ orbs chased US fighter jets in terrifying close encounter reported in UFO files

The UFO files have revealed chilling encounters involving swarms of mysterious orbs chasing US military aircraft and sightings of four-foot-tall beings emerging from unidentified craft.

The bombshell FBI documents, released by the Trump administration, detailed incidents spanning decades, from humanoid occupants reported in the 1960s to a dramatic confrontation involving intelligence agents last year.

One heavily redacted FBI report described a senior US intelligence officer recounting a nighttime mission in a remote mountain range near a classified government site.

According to the report, intelligence personnel, federal agents and helicopter crews were dispatched after local staff repeatedly reported seeing strange glowing ‘orbs’ and hearing loud ‘thuds’ near the mountains.

But when the team arrived, they allegedly encountered swarms of highly maneuverable objects that appeared extremely hot on thermal cameras despite flying through the darkness.

The report stated that the unidentified orbs easily outran military helicopters before later pursuing fighter aircraft called in to intercept them.

At one point during the encounter, a co-pilot aboard the lead helicopter reportedly watched one orb split into two separate objects before another object suddenly ’emerged’ from the formation and shot away at high speed.

Another section of the FBI records detailed alleged encounters with mysterious crewmen said to be between three and a half and four feet tall, ‘wearing what appear to be space suits and helmets,’ who reportedly exited unidentified flying objects.

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DNA test uncovers kidnapping, mob, police corruption

A Henderson man named Paul Fronczak had no idea that his entire life would be turned upside down when he bought a home DNA test kit. The results of that test took away his name, his family, and everything he knew about his life to that point.

It also opened up a multi-layered rabbit hole involving an infamous kidnapping, police corruption, the mob, and dark secrets buried for six decades.

8 News Now chief investigator George Knapp has followed this very twisted tale for decades and pushed to get answers to mysteries long thought unsolvable.

Paul Fronczak’s quest started with a single objective: find a kidnapped baby

This then exploded into a Byzantine maze of twists and subplots, too improbable even for a true crime miniseries. In the 14 years since he first contacted us for help, he’s dug up solid answers, but each answer led to more head-spinning questions. He still uses the name Paul Fronczak, but after years of searching, he sometimes feels as if he’s been living someone else’s life.

The initial mystery started at a Chicago hospital in 1964.  One day after the birth of Paul Fronczak, a woman dressed as a nurse kidnapped the baby and vanished. Police, the public, and the FBI conducted a massive manhunt. The story made international headlines, but the baby was gone.

Nearly two years later, an infant found abandoned on a sidewalk in New Jersey was presented by law enforcement to the brokenhearted Fronczak parents, who took one look and said that’s their missing boy.

The child grew up in a loving home but had nagging questions about why he looked so different from the rest of the Fronczak family.  

Fast forward to 2012, the adopted Paul Fronczak was living in Henderson and, almost as a lark, took a DNA test along with his parents. The test showed he was not the Fronczaks’ son and was not the kidnapped baby.

So who was he, and what happened to his namesake? That was the start of his quest, despite the official investigation from the FBI ending decades ago.

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FBI files reveal reports of ‘four-foot tall’ beings emerging from UFOs

Newly released FBI files have revealed shocking details of mysterious four-foot-tall crewmen exiting a UFO in the 1960s.

The documents, released Friday as part of the Trump administration’s UFO disclosure, detailed how investigators reviewed reports that 1965 marked ‘the year of the greatest number of UFO sightings’ observed by multiple witnesses across the world.

The FBI summarized reports of metallic craft capable of hovering silently, reaching ‘fantastic speeds’ and interfering with electromagnetic equipment.

The files also referenced that wreckage from crashed saucers had been recovered on multiple occasions, including materials described as unknown metals containing microscopic spheres.

But one of the most startling sections involved testimonies of encounters with apparent occupants of the craft.

‘A few witnesses have reported seeing crewmen who had landed from the objects,’ the document stated, describing the beings as ‘three and a half to four feet tall, wearing what appear to be space suits and helmets.’

The FBI records were among hundreds of newly released files, photographs and videos published Friday under President Donald Trump’s long-awaited UFO transparency initiative.

Hundreds of records, photos and videos were uploaded to the Department of War’s website, including NASA mission transcripts, military incident reports and infrared images captured during aerial encounters. 

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Mysterious footage captures peculiar ‘eight-pointed star’ streaking across sky: UFO files

Mysterious footage released in the Pentagon’s UFO files on Friday appeared to capture a bizarre “eight-pointed star” streaking across the sky several years back.

The infrared clip, submitted by US Central Command personnel, showed the strange-shaped object appearing to float around in 2013, according to the newly released files.

The footage, which lasts nearly two minutes, was apparently shot from an “infrared sensor aboard a US military platform.”

“This video depicts an area of contrast resembling an eight-pointed star with arms of alternating length,” a description on the UFO files website reads.

A note on the site later warns that the video description is for informational purposes and that “readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination.”

The footage was among the trove of 162 files made public when the Department of War unveiled its highly anticipated website dedicated solely to UFOs.

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UFO files reveal jaw-dropping claim of a secret flying saucer capable of reaching 1,500mph built by the Nazis

The bombshell documents, released Friday as part of the Trump administration’s UFO disclosure initiative, detailed interviews with a man identified as Paul L Peyrer, who stated he worked around a top-secret German weapons project involving disk-shaped flying craft. 

According to the files, Peyerl told the FBI he observed a ‘saucer-shaped vehicle approximately 50 feet in diameter with a dome above’ while assigned to a classified project in the Black Forest region of Germany in 1943 – two years before the Second World War ended.

The newly released memo stated the object was ‘radio-controlled’ and equipped with multiple jet engines mounted around the exterior of the craft.

Peyerl allegedly claimed the aircraft could ‘rise vertically, maneuver sideways and hover motionless in the air’ before reaching reported speeds of 1,500mph and altitudes of 40,000 feet.

‘According to Peyerl, the object was designed and engineered by scientists working for Germany during World War II,’ the FBI report stated.

The files further claimed the saucer-like craft was part of a secret Nazi weapons program developed to attack Allied forces near the end of the conflict.

The startling allegations were among hundreds of newly released records, photographs and videos uploaded Friday to the Department of War’s website under President Donald Trump’s long-awaited UFO transparency order.

The documents were dated June 8, 1967, and originated from the FBI’s Miami field office, which forwarded Peyerl’s claims to FBI headquarters in Washington for review.

One internal memo described Peyerlas appearing ‘genuinely concerned about the existence of vehicles of allegedly Nazi origin operated since November 1944.’

The report noted that the FBI decided to forward the information to the US Air Force because of increasing public interest surrounding UFO sightings during the 1960s.

According to the files, Peyerl first approached the FBI in 1957 after attempting to contact the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regarding his alleged knowledge of the mysterious aircraft.

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European Commission Official Touts 17 Investigations as Proof the Digital Services Act “Delivers”

The European Union’s Digital Services Act is a censorship and surveillance law dressed in the language of safety. It gives unelected officials in Brussels the power to decide what hundreds of millions of people are allowed to say online and it is building the infrastructure to verify their identities before they’re permitted to say it.

But at POLITICO’s AI & Tech Week summit in Brussels this month, Renate Nikolay, the European Commission’s Deputy Director-General at DG CONNECT, celebrated the law’s growing enforcement record. Seventeen ongoing investigations and one non-compliance decision, she told the audience, prove the DSA “delivers.”

What the DSA delivers is pressure. Pressure on platforms to censor more speech, faster, with fewer questions asked. Pressure to open their algorithms and internal systems to government inspection without a court order. And, increasingly, pressure on individual users to prove who they are before they’re allowed to participate in public discourse online.

Nikolay presented these enforcement numbers as proof of success. They are proof of something but not what she thinks.

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Meta Will Fight Ofcom Over the Math, Just Not the Censorship

Meta filed a judicial review against Ofcom in London’s High Court on Thursday over how the regulator calculates fees and fines under the Online Safety Act, the UK’s online censorship law. The company isn’t challenging the law’s censorship powers, its ability to compel scanning of encrypted messages, or its elastic definition of online “harm.” It is challenging the size of the fine.

The dispute centers on whether Ofcom should base penalties on Meta’s global revenue or just what it earns in the UK and the gap between those two figures is enormous. Meta reported roughly $201 billion in worldwide revenue last year, and the Online Safety Act lets Ofcom fine companies up to 10% of “qualifying worldwide revenue,” which puts Meta’s theoretical penalty ceiling near $20 billion. Calculated on UK-only revenue, that number collapses.

“We and others in the tech industry believe [Ofcom’s] decisions on the methodology to calculate fees and potential fines are disproportionate,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We believe fees and penalties should be based on the services being regulated in the countries they’re being regulated in. This would still allow Ofcom to impose the largest fines in UK corporate history.”

Ofcom pushed back in a statement, saying: “Disappointingly, Meta are objecting to the payment of fees, and any penalties that could be levied on companies in future, that are calculated on this basis.”

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Ancient Settlement Older Than The Pyramids Discovered; Rewrites North American History

An ancient Indigenous settlement unearthed near Sturgeon Lake in Saskatchewan is challenging long-held views about early human presence in North America.

Dating to around 11,000 years ago and predating Egypt’s Great Pyramid by more than 6,000 years, according to the official timeline, the site provides evidence of long-term habitation rather than temporary camps.

Archaeologists working with Sturgeon Lake First Nation uncovered stone tools, fire pits, toolmaking materials, and remains of the extinct Bison antiquus. Charcoal layers point to controlled fire management, aligning with oral traditions. The findings suggest a sophisticated society with advanced hunting strategies, including buffalo jumps.

The site, known as Âsowanânihk (“a place to cross” in Cree), lies about five kilometres north of Prince Albert along the North Saskatchewan River. It was first spotted by avocational archaeologist Dave Rondeau through riverbank erosion exposing artifacts.

Rondeau said: “The moment I saw the layers of history peeking through the soil, I felt the weight of generations staring back at me. Now that the evidence has proven my first instincts, this site is shaking up everything we thought we knew and could change the narrative of early Indigenous civilizations in North America.”

Dr. Glenn Stuart of the University of Saskatchewan added: “This discovery challenges the outdated idea that early Indigenous peoples were solely nomadic. The evidence of long-term settlement and land stewardship suggests a deep-rooted presence. It also raises questions about the Bering Strait Theory, supporting oral histories that Indigenous communities have lived here for countless generations.”

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