Blue 812 News Issue 82 - August 23

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It’s been a while, but a new trade war just dropped! This time: we’re back at it with Canada, and America’s hat is about to flip its lid. After last‑minute negotiations collapsed, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, roughly 5% of Canada’s exports to the US in total. The list of targeted items reads like someone raided a Canadian Tire aisle blindfolded: wine, furniture, dairy, cement, clothing, fishing rods, hockey equipment — basically everything except maple syrup and polite apologies. Canada announced it will hit back “dollar for dollar” starting September 8, with retaliatory tariffs aimed squarely at US steel, dairy, electronics, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp, and paper, and they are not sorry aboot it.

Washington insists Canada is being “foolish” for thinking it can win a trade war when the U.S. buys about 70% of everything Canada exports. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, is not exactly in a folding‑chair mood. He says the U.S. ambushed the talks with “unacceptable” last‑minute demands — including restrictions on Canada’s ability to make trade deals with other countries and even alleged “threats” to the French language and Quebec culture. His response: “You’re at war when you get attacked.” A bold statement for a country whose national brand is “nice.”

Meanwhile, President Trump fired back on Truth Social, declaring that “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” and accusing Canada of charging U.S. farmers “massive amounts” of tariffs for years. With both sides now shouting across the border like divorced parents arguing over who gets custody of the dairy sector, experts warn the new tariffs will raise prices for households in both countries. No further talks are scheduled, trust has evaporated, and the U.S.–Canada relationship is now held together mostly by maple syrup and inertia.

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Remember a couple weeks ago, how weird it was that Trump took that military plane back not with his cabinet members, but with a 35-year-old aide named Natalie Harp? All while leaving Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller in the “decoy plane” that he apparently thought could be shot down by Iran? Her official title is special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president, and she collects a taxpayer-funded salary of $150,000, but apparently her actual job is basically as Trump’s main conduit of information and #1 cheerleader. MS Now reported that she worked at the White House for over a year without security clearance (Yikes!). So, why is she there? One White House adviser said, “[Trump] likes the attention and the fact that she is 100% committed and loyal… She doesn’t second-guess, doesn’t question.”

100% committed might be… an understatement? She once rode in the trunk of an SUV in Trump’s motorcade when there wasn’t a seat for her, hasn’t taken a single day off during his second term, and wrote him a letter saying: “You are all that matters to me.” The Daily Beast released copies of two of her letters in full, and they’re honestly weirder than I thought they’d be, and I thought they’d be pretty weird!

Well last weekend, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) invoked her name during a speech on Trump on Sunday: “He doesn’t want to do the job,” Ossoff said. “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.” This ignited a firestorm on the right with commentators like Scott Jennings pretending to be shocked and appalled, saying that Ossoff had “unleashed a comment so vile against a young Republican woman working in politics, that every woman in this country, no matter your ideology, ought to listen carefully and never forget it.” Please, take a moment to re-read what Jon Ossoff said: “travel with Natalie.” Wow. Vile.

Gov. Mike Braun is requesting President Donald Trump declare a major disaster in Indiana to help fund what’s shaping up to be a costly flood cleanup effort. Braun finally applied for a Major Disaster Declaration Thursday evening, nearly 10 days after the first floods impacted Indiana. It’s a critical ask for the state, which drained a large part of its state disaster relief fund attending to previous disasters, but federal resources have also been strained by increasingly frequent natural disasters across the country, including here in Indiana. What could be causing them, I wonder…

Without a major disaster declaration, Hoosiers without flood insurance won’t be able to apply for individual federal assistance. While many Hoosiers don’t have flood insurance (typically excluded from regular homeowners’ insurance) leaving thousands in limbo, Indiana is likely to continue to see increased flooding from climate change. Might be a good time to contact your insurance company and review your policy.

Pair these exterior factors with the homegrown ones: after over twenty years of Republican control, Indiana’s wetlands network is smaller than ever before, and has lost considerable acreage in the past ten years alone. As our state experiences more and more historic flooding and weather events, the need for these natural water collection reservoirs will continue to grow. In 2021, Republicans targeted isolated wetlands and allowed them to be developed with little-to-no state oversight. In 2024, the Republican supermajority went even further by eliminating protections for a much larger number of wetlands, and limiting what local governments can do to protect them.

In a story finally getting some national attention, over 75,000 residents of Gary, a majority Black city, have been without power for almost two weeks following a series of storms in the region. If you have any money to spare, the Legacy Foundation is raising money so Gary residents can eat, replace damaged goods, buy water (many of them are on wells, which require electricity to pump), and more. The donation page is here.

An example of keeping your comments relevant: Indiana’s law banning transgender youth from girls school sports has emerged as a potential wedge issue in the race for secretary of state — despite the office having no role in the topic. Republican nominee Max Engling and his campaign jumped on comments from Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard saying he regarded the law adopted in 2022 as “unnecessary,” characterizing the former Republican Indianapolis mayor’s position as out of touch with conservatives. Okay, fine, a Republican and a third-party candidate are fighting, so what? Well, then Beau Bayh, the Democratic candidate, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that he also supported the state’s ban. “I think we should not have men playing women’s sports, and our state has already passed a law outlawing this,” Bayh said in an interview. “So, in fact, it’s a nonissue in our state.” Just going to add here that Bayh’s late grandfather, U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, championed the 1972 Title IX federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports, and it’s telling that he calls transgender women ‘men’ in his statement. Dear Beau, next time someone asks you a question like that, your answer should be something like: “It’s not a state or federal decision, and it also has nothing to do with office of the Secretary of State.” Between this and the sniper ad… it really reminds you the Democratic party is a big tent.

In 2001, the U.S. Forest Service adopted the Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect national forests from roadbuilding and logging. Since then, there have been various debates and arguments and modifications and specific exclusions, but approximately 30% of national forest land (59 million acres) is roadless, safeguarding the habitats and species within it. But roads are needed for logging, so Trump and the GOP are trying to ditch the rule as another gift to corporate America.

Last week, the Department of Agriculture formally introduced a rollback of the roadless rule in what the Center for Biological Diversity is calling the “largest evisceration of public lands protection in American history.” It’s now been published on the Federal Register. We can submit public comments opposing this destruction here through September 21st. We can find language we can work from via EarthJustice here and here, and a rundown of arguments we can use here.

There was a bit of lively discussion this week on Facebook about Flock cameras on/near school grounds in Vigo County, and what can be done about them. The ACLU has also rolled out a “Get The Flock Out” toolkit, consulting with the folks who have gotten ALPRs removed in their area and pulling together tools, resources and best practices to help push back against the surveillance. We can use it to find where ALPRs are deployed in our area (here’s another map I’ve used), give us model bills and tools to pressure our state and local governments to cancel their contracts and outline steps to keep them from expanding their reach. Check it out and put it to use here.

Last week, one of my podcasts featured a website, ThatNoisyTrump.com - a searchable record of every day of Trump’s current term, documenting pardons, executive orders, tariffs and everything else with links to primary or reputable secondary sources (we appreciate citations!) so we can keep track of the receipts Honestly, it’s really comprehensive and well-laid-out, so if you’re into all that, it’s a great resource.

I also enjoyed this guide in the Washington Post (free link provided!) that helps you decide which native plants you can grow that would help local bird, butterfly, and bee populations. Go touch some grass, people!

visit the Blue812News Local Events calendar to see all upcoming events

Monday, August 24th at 7pm: Want to volunteer with a campaign, but not sure where to start? Join the National Democratic Training Committee on Monday, August 24th from 7-8:30 pm ET for a free virtual live training on How to Canvass, Phone Bank, and Text Bank. More info & register here.

Tuesday, August 25th at 6pm: Nasty Women of Vigo County meeting in Room A of the Vigo County Public Library from 6-7:30pm.

Tuesday, August 25th at 6pm: Vermillion County Commissioner's Rescheduled Meeting (Vermillion County Courthouse Auditorium) Public comments welcome regarding a Vermillion County data center ordinance after microphone issues and crowding prevented public comments at the meeting August 3. View the full ordinance at the link.

Wednesday, August 26th at 6:30pm: MADVoters Project 2026: Take Back the Statehouse virtual training. This online workshop will explore the 2026 Community Conversation and Canvassing Guide in real-time, offering you the opportunity to discuss community outreach plans with the MADVoters team as well as your fellow Hoosiers.

Saturday, August 29th at 10am: Canvassing & Phone-banking for Mary Allen. Meet at VigoDems Headquarters (817 Wabash) for canvassing/phone-banking. More info & register here for canvassing. More info & register here for phonebanking.

A federal court ruled that Indiana cannot prohibit doctors from telling minor patients where they can receive an abortion out-of-state.

CBP announced that construction activity at Big Bend National Park has paused following public outcry.

That experimental mRNA vaccine that scientists have been raving about this week is being hailed as a potentially massive breakthrough in the fight against cancer. Fingers crossed!

Progressive State Sen. Aisha Wahab won a contentious special election for former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s House seat in the Bay Area – she will be the nation’s first Afghan American member of Congress.

Can sweltering temperatures in underground subways be used to heat office buildings in the winter? New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city is looking into that, starting with an $800,000 study inside one subway station. If all goes well, the city could begin designing a thermal energy network as soon as next year.

Prescription drug prices saw their steepest annual price drop in 60 years last month. Trump’s team, naturally, took credit for the drop. But experts say a Biden-era policy that requires Medicaid to negotiate the prices is a more likely explanation, the Post reports.

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