By Harmeet Kaur, CNN

(CNN) — When the Trump administration registered the domains Aliens.gov and Alien.gov in March, UFO conspiracy theorists wondered whether they might finally get answers they’d long awaited.

But coming on the heels of the Pentagon’s anticlimactic release of files related to UFOs and extraterrestrial life, the debut of Aliens.gov last week proved even more disappointing: The website was no “Disclosure Day,” but a parody, serving no apparent purpose but to disparage undocumented immigrants.

“THEY WALK AMONG US,” the site declares in large, neon green text. Crawling type then starts to fill the screen: “For 60 years, the U.S. government has kept a closely guarded secret. Aliens have been walking among us, living in our neighborhoods, and interacting with us in our daily lives.”

Along with fake “declassified” labels and a clunky reference to “The X-Files,” the website also features an interactive map tracking “alien encounters,” or purported arrests of immigrants, and asks users to report “suspicious aliens.”

In announcing the new site on X, the White House also posted an AI-generated animation depicting a UFO beaming up an undocumented immigrant over the southern border wall. It’s not the first time Trump and his administration have engaged in wordplay around “aliens:” The president recently shared an AI-generated image showing him walking alongside a chiseled alien in shackles.

Long before “alien” conjured images of otherworldly beings, the word was used to denote something other, strange or foreign to one’s own sphere. “Alien” entered into English from Latin and French around the 14th century and over the years took on a specific legal meaning. Black’s Law Dictionary defines an alien as “a person who resides within the borders of a country but is not a citizen or subject of that country.”

Other forms of “alien” convey key dimensions of the human experience — to feel “alienated” is to experience a sense of loneliness and nonbelonging; a spouse who claims a third party has damaged their marriage can sue them for “alienation of affections.” But on the Trump administration’s new website, “alien” is used to mean inhuman: “They’ve shopped in the same stores, attended the same classes as our children, and lived seemingly normal human existences. With one exception — they do not belong here.”

In US jurisprudence, “alien” appears in the nation’s first immigration law, the Naturalization Act of 1790, which stipulated that “any Alien being a free white person” of good character and who has lived in the US for at least two years could become a citizen. The word also figured heavily in the Alien and Sedition Acts, a set of four 18th century laws that restricted citizenship, expanded the president’s authority to detain and deport foreigners, and criminalized dissenting speech. (Trump continues to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, against Venezuelan men.)

In early US history, “alien” functioned largely as a bureaucratic term. Around the 1940s, the word began to shift into general use in reference to Mexican laborers on temporary US visas, says Michael Lechuga, a University of New Mexico professor and author of “Visions of Invasion: Alien Affects, Cinema, and Citizenship in Settler Colonies.” He says some workers discov

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Por David Goldman, CNN

El presidente Donald Trump prometió restaurar su régimen arancelario tras los reveses en la Corte Suprema y otros desafíos legales. Y eso es lo que está haciendo, pero no de la manera fanfarrona e improvisada (con publicaciones nocturnas en MAYÚSCULAS) que una vez definió su política arancelaria.

El nuevo enfoque de Trump hacia los aranceles —silencioso, metódico y paciente— es deliberado. Las herramientas que ahora está usando para reconstruir su motor arancelario son mucho más precisas que las anteriores.

Pero si tiene éxito, sus más recientes aranceles podrían ser tan drásticos como los anteriores. Y más duraderos.

A última hora del martes por la noche, el Representante de Comercio de Estados Unidos (USTR, por sus siglas en inglés), Jamieson Greer, publicó un informe de 98 páginas que detalla el resultado de una investigación de varios meses sobre las políticas de los socios comerciales respecto a la compra de bienes fabricados con trabajo forzoso.

El informe concluyó que 60 economías con las que Estados Unidos hace negocios no han logrado imponer o hacer cumplir de manera efectiva prohibiciones para importar a sus países artículos que fueron fabricados por personas que trabajaban contra su voluntad o por una remuneración insuficiente. Otros, dijo Greer, han tomado “pasos iniciales” para restringir el trabajo forzado, pero afirmó que cada socio comercial de Estados Unidos debe resolver el problema con mayor rapidez.

“El fracaso de nuestros socios comerciales más importantes a la hora de abordar la importación de bienes fabricados con trabajo forzado es inaceptable”, dijo Greer en un comunicado. “Esto crea una dinámica en la que los trabajadores estadounidenses se ven obligados a competir globalmente en un terreno de juego desigual”.

Como remedio, Greer propuso un arancel mínimo del 10 % generalizado para todos los socios comerciales que la administración investigó, citando la autoridad de la Sección 301 de la Ley de Comercio de 1974. Varios bloques comerciales que anteriormente habían entablado negociaciones comerciales con Estados Unidos, incluidos Canadá, México, la Unión Europea, Ecuador, Indonesia y Pakistán, estarían sujetos al nuevo arancel del 10 %.

Muchos otros países enfrentarían un arancel más alto del 12,5 %, incluidos China, Brasil, Japón e India. Esos son los socios comerciales que USTR sostiene que ni siquiera han dado pasos iniciales para erradicar el trabajo forzado de sus economías en lo referente a bienes importados.

Los aranceles no entrarán en vigor de inmediato: han entrado en un período de comentarios públicos que se extenderá hasta el 6 de julio, y USTR celebrará audiencias sobre la propuesta el 7 de julio.

Trump ha señalado durante mucho tiempo que usaría métodos alternativos para imponer sus aranceles, incluso antes de que la Corte Suprema en febrero declarara que Trump no tenía autoridad para usar poderes de emergencia para imponer impuestos a las importaciones.

Inmediatamente después del fallo de la Corte Suprema, Trump anunció un arancel universal del 10 % por 150 días en virtud de la Sección 122 de la Ley de Comercio de 1974. Pero a principios de mayo, un panel de jueces del Tribunal de Comercio Internacional de Estados Unidos determinó que la administración carecía de justificación para promulgar aranceles.

Eso siempre estuvo destinado a ser una medida temporal. Y la administración ha señalado que podría usar la Sección 301 como una solución más permanente.

La Sección 301 permite a la USTR investigar a países que potencialmente estén violando acuerdos comerciales u otras prácticas que perjudiquen a las empresas estadounidenses. Trump utilizó la Sección 301 durante su primer mandato para aumentar los aranceles sobre varias importaciones chinas, junto con aeronaves y otros bienes de la Unión Europea.

Y, a diferencia de la Sección 122, no hay lími

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - More than 200 representatives from non-profits in Santa Barbara County have come together with many looking at collaborations in the future.

This comes at a time when federal funds are being cut back on many levels, and the impacts are being felt in local communities.

In a special gathering called "State of Non-Profits," the Santa Barbara Foundation brought leaders with ideas and plans together in one room. It took place Tuesday morning at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.

Those attending were especially concerned about funding cuts, future needs, expectations, trends and working with similar groups.

Among those sharing an example was Steve Windhager the CEO of the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens. Windhager says they have a botanist who will be working with the National Park Service on the recovery efforts involving sensitive species at the 18,000 acre Santa Rosa Island fire. This comes as that government position is not currently filled and the non profit has the resources locally.

Another collaboration involved groups working together to get a special school bond passed in Lompoc to upgrade facilities. It had previously failed.

Leaders said they are frustrated with the impacts of housing costs and pay limitations (with rising inflation) when it comes to hiring the staff they need.

Several leaders said working together is "absolutely" critical right now.

(More details, photos and video will be added later today.)

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

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By Daniel Dale, CNN

(CNN) — Another softball interview. Another series of obvious lies from the president.

President Donald Trump’s conversation with conservative New York Post columnist and podcaster Miranda Devine, released on Wednesday morning, featured some of Trump’s longest-debunked false claims about elections, the economy and immigration. As with his inaccurate comments in a Fox News interview that aired on Saturday, which was conducted by his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, these assertions went unchallenged.

Here is a fact check of some of his remarks in the Post interview. This is not intended as a comprehensive list.

Elections

Mail-in ballots: Trump falsely claimed, as he has on numerous previous occasions, “We’re the only country in the world that has mail-in ballots. No other country does it anymore.”

In fact, dozens of countries  — including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Switzerland  — allow some or all voters to vote by mail, though the specifics of their policies vary.

The 2020 election: Trump repeatedly uttered his familiar lie that the 2020 election was “rigged,” this time adding that “it’s been proven to be rigged.” Trump lost fair and square to Joe Biden, the election wasn’t “rigged,” and – five-and-a-half years later — there is no proof for Trump’s assertion.

Trump also said of Biden: “Should have never been president. He lost the election in a landslide.” Biden actually won the election 306 to 232 in the Electoral College, and he earned more than 7 million more votes than Trump did.

Trump’s election performance: Trump lied of his election performance: “I won it three times.” Trump won the 2016 and 2024 elections and lost the 2020 election.

The 2024 election: Trump described the 2024 election he won as “a great election,” but then said, “They had a lot of rigging going on there too,” adding, “There were areas that were just rigged. I could see it. In other words, rigged against me.” There is no basis for these claims, either; Trump won the election legitimately but lost some communities and states legitimately.

Democrats and elections: Trump repeated his lie that Democrats “couldn’t win” without cheating, also saying, “If they didn’t cheat, they could not win because their policies are so bad” and that “if they didn’t cheat you wouldn’t have them in.” This is simply baseless; Democrats, like Republicans, win elections legitimately.

Ballots in California: Reprising a false claim he made in May, Trump said, “You know, in California, they mail out 38 — I think 38 million ballots.” He added, “And some people get three, four, five ballots. Republicans get, oftentimes, none.” Both of these claims are incorrect. California had about 22.6 million voters registered as of about two weeks prior to the last presidential election and about 23.2 million voters registered Read more