Month: March 2025

President Donald Trump announced retaliatory tariffs against Canada on Tuesday, saying he will double the tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum by an additional 25%, bringing the total duties to 50%.

Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning: “Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on “Electricity” coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD .. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th”

The President also called on Canada to drop tariffs on various U.S. dairy products, and said he will be declaring a “national emergency on electricity” in the areas affected by Canada’s electricity surcharge. New York, Minnesota and Michigan, which border Canada, were targeted by Ontario’s surcharge. Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned after Trump’s announcement that Canada would shut off its supply of electricity to the United States if the trade war continues to escalate.

According to CNBC, Canada is the largest exporter of steel and aluminum to the United States. It exported 6.6 million net tons of steel and 3.5 million tons of aluminum to the United States in 2024. Brazil exported 4.5 million tons of steel to the United States.

Meanwhile,  newly appointed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Trump’s threats “an attack on Canadian workers, families, and businesses. My government will ensure our response has maximum impact in the U.S. and minimal impact here in Canada, while supporting the workers impacted.”  Carney said Canadian tariffs on U.S. goods would remain in place “until the Americans show us respect and make credible, reliable commitments to free and fair trade.”

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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a legal challenge to a law in Colorado that bans “conversion therapy” aimed at LGBTQ+ minors. At least 23 states and the District of Columbia ban conversation therapy for minors.

Conversion therapy, as defined by the state, is an attempt to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

Colorado enacted the Minor Conversion Therapy Law in 2019 following what the state said was a growing mental health crisis among young people in the state and “mounting evidence” that conversion therapy is tied to increased depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. The law prohibits “any practice or treatment [upon minors] … that attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

The high court agreed to hear the legal challenge brought by the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom in opposition to the state law. The Alliance Defending Freedom group is representing Christian counselor Kaley Chiles, who has argued that Colorado’s law violates First Amendment rights by “censoring” client conversions.

Kristen Waggoner, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement: “The government has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government’s biased views on her clients.” 

A federal judge and the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of the state. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, wrote in a statement:  “In Colorado, we are committed to protecting professional standards of care so that no one suffers unscientific and harmful so-called gay conversion therapy. States have long regulated medical practices to protect patients from harmful professional conduct. Colorado’s law protecting young people from unscientific and cruel gay conversion therapy practices is human, smart, and appropriate.”

The case will be heard in the Supreme Court’s next term, which begins in October, with a decision expected by the end of June 2026.

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Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he’s asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, which aimed to reduce the prison terms of the Menendez brothers.  Erik and Lyle are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of their parents in 1989.

Hochman said at a news conference Monday that “we are prepared to go forward” with the hearing regarding their resentencing case, adding: “however, we are asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney’s motion for resentencing, because we believe there are legitimate reasons and the interests of justice justifies that withdrawal.”  The request to withdraw the resentencing motion is “based on the current state of the record and the Menendez brothers’ current and continual failure to show full insight and accept full responsibility for their murders. If they were to finally come forward and unequivocally and sincerely admit and completely accept responsibility for their lies of self-defense and the attempted suborning of perjury they engaged in, then the Court should weigh such new insight into the analysis of rehabilitation and resentencing — as will the People.” The resentencing hearing is set for March 20-21.

In October, former-LA County District Attorney George Gascón said he supported resentencing for the brothers and recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed. Gascón stated the brothers should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life; and because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.

The announcement comes weeks after Hochman said he opposed a separate effort from Erik and Lyle Menendez that sought to challenge their convictions with what their lawyers described as new evidence in the case.  Additionally, it comes just days after one of the brothers’ cousins, Tamara Goodell, slammed the DA in a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division, with accusations that Hochman was being “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” during two meetings in January with family members who want the brothers released. She said the “lack of compassion was palpable, and the family left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized.” Goodell wants Hochman removed and the case turned over to the attorney general’s office.

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, shot and killed their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home back in 1989.  While the defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors alleged that the Menendez brothers killed their parents for money. Their first trial ended in a mistrial; however, the brothers were both convicted in 1996 after heir second trial, and sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.

The brothers have also sought their freedom through clemency, which has been submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.. Last month, Newsom announced that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released. Newson said at the time: “there’s no guarantee of outcome here, but this process simply provides more transparency … as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”

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