If America wants to see how successful tariffs can be in the automotive industry, they should look to Ukraine, where they were first implemented in the early 1990s. The goal was to protect domestic car producers after the collapse of the USSR, which saw an economic crisis followed by an influx of foreign vehicles. “In the best years, the Ukrainian car market had 623,000 new cars and was Europe's No. 7 car market, according to Autoconsulting,” @timkmak’s Counteroffensive reports. “Today, it is almost zero.” The only hope for the resurrection of production? Making tanks for Ukraine’s army.

https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/tariffs-destroyed-ukraines-automotive

#Tariffs #AutomotiveIndustry #TrumpAdministration #Ukraine #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

6/15

Remember when Nate Silver tipped New York City Mayor Eric Adams as a future U.S. president? How’s that going for you, Nate?

@nybooks takes a look at Adams’ hubris, the scandal that will likely come to define him, and how his mayoralty has “come to epitomize the spirit of Trump’s second term — from its ethos of aggrieved narcissism to its punitive approach toward the vulnerable.” [Story may be paywalled]

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2025/04/17/the-president-of-brooklyn/

#NewYork #EricAdams #TrumpAdministration #USLaw #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

7/15

As sea levels rise, living forests can become salinated. Sometimes they turn to mudflats with minimal plant life, and sometimes invasive flora species take over. But sometimes they turn to marshland, the best possible outcome as marsh plants can do some of the work of forests, such as buffering against storms and storing carbon. @KnowableMag reports on the expansion of these “ghost forests,” the near-impossibility of slowing the trend, and what coastal transition might look like.

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2025/ghost-forests-are-growing-sea-levels-rise-climate-change

#ClimateChange #Sea #CoastalGeography #Geography #Science #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

9/15

Roseline Mgbodichinma is mourning her aunt. In her beautiful essay for @thexylom, she writes about grief, the need for witnesses in death, and a Nigerian vegetable soup called egburegbu, the translation of which is “cut” or “kill.”

“[My aunt] loved egburegbu and on the days we cooked it, she would sit cross-legged in the kitchen, patiently waiting for a serving of her favourite soup. This is how I choose to remember her, as someone who loved without caring about the origins of the life around her, or how it will all end.”

https://www.thexylom.com/post/perspective-grief-grows-like-ugu

#Bereavement #Grief #Death #Essays #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

10/15

When she was 15, April Barber Scales was convinced by the man, twice her age, who had impregnated her, to set her grandparents’ house on fire. Her grandparents died, and Barber Scales received two consecutive life sentences without parole. In 2022, she had been in prison for 31 years when under a clemency program for juvenile lifers established by then North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, she was released. Since then, she has completed an associate’s degree and is now finishing a bachelor’s in criminal justice. She works, volunteers, studies, and thrives. @bolts reports on other successes from the program, and how those who remain in jail hope it continues under the governorship of Josh Stein.

https://boltsmag.org/north-carolina-juvenile-life-sentences/

#NorthCarolina #USPrisonSystem #Crime #USNews #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

11/15

Ever looked at the White House and thought: “You know what that needs? Gold cherubs.” Donald Trump sure did when he started his second term as U.S. president. Our @CultureDesk shared this Wall Street Journal story on how Trump’s gilty conscience is changing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-white-house-oval-office-gold-touches-6018016d?st=2mVtHM&mod=flipboard

#Design #Interiors #Architecture #DonaldTrump #WhiteHouse #OvalOffice #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

12/15

Mount Kenya is one of only a few mountains in Africa to have glaciers, the largest of which is Lewis Glacier. This has lost over 90% of its mass since 1934 as a result of climate change. @thecontinent shares photos from Luis Tato of the mountain, an extinct volcano that sits in the middle of Mount Kenya National Park. It’s home to delicate ecosystems that are now under threat as a result of the glacier’s decline.

https://continent.substack.com/p/photo-essay-breaking-the-ice

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Environment #Photos #Photography #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

13/15

A U.S. federal judge has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court over its failure to halt deportation flights to El Salvador. Cassandra Burke Robertson, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Professional Ethics, Case Western Reserve University, explains to @TheConversationUS what it all means.

“It’s not too late for the government to comply. One option for the government is called “purging the contempt,” meaning the administration complies with the court order and brings the individuals who were sent to El Salvador back into U.S. custody,” Burke Robertson says. “If the administration does that, there will not be any further contempt proceedings. Normally, that would be attractive to the government in this position.”

https://theconversation.com/federal-judge-finds-probable-cause-to-hold-trump-administration-in-contempt-a-legal-scholar-explains-what-this-means-254767

#USGovernment #TrumpAdministration #ElSalvador #Deportation #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

14/15

Lastly, the Canadian federal election is on April 28. @thetyee’s John MacLachlan Gray writes about wannabe Prime Minister Pierre Poilievre, aka Skippy.

“Politics may have nothing to do with morals, but even Machiavelli thinks that there comes a time in a country’s history when politics are not enough: when a leader is called upon to exemplify what it means to be — in this instance — a Canadian. And frankly I don’t think Skippy has given this much thought.”

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025/04/17/Skippy-Wants-Shatter-CBC/

#Canada #CanPoli #PierrePoilievre #CdnElxn2025 #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

15/15