Why the SCOTUS Roundup Ruling Is Dangerous

The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration some significant wins yesterday. Its ruling on border security is a win for all America. But its ruling on pesticides is a victory for a dangerous German company.

The pesticide Roundup, manufactured by Monsanto, which is owned by the German chemical giant Bayer, is accused of causing a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

[BRIEF]

• Bayer has already paid out $11 billion in legal judgments. One man was awarded $2.1 billion in damages. With over 100,000 lawsuits in various stages of going through the courts, this could be very expensive for Bayer.

The Supreme Court bailed it out. The Environmental Protection Agency has not concluded that glyphosate—the key ingredient in question—causes cancer. The Supreme Court ruled that federal law, which did not require a cancer warning, supersedes any state laws, which may have required one.

• Some of the judges I respect most were split over the decision. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito both sided with the majority, while Neil Gorsuch, unusually, joined Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissenting. The Trump administration had signed an amicus brief siding with Bayer.

There are good arguments on both sides, and I don’t think it’s as simple as saying the Supreme Court got it wrong.

• The Trump administration warned that a decision against Bayer would lead a “state-by-state cacophony” of regulations. We also live in age where too few take personal responsibility for their actions and are quick to blame and sue.

But the outcome of this case establishes America’s reliance on Germany for its most basic necessity: food.

• Bayer is one of the parent companies of IG Farben. That firm played a key role in the rise of the Nazis, helping arrange a business bailout of the Nazi party in 1933. Known as “the devil’s chemist,” IG Farben made the Zyklon B gas for the gas chambers, and used 35,000 slaves, mostly Jews, in its factories.

Bayer paid $66 billion for Monsanto in 2016. Monsanto was already infamous for its unethical business practices. Bayer’s purchase was a gamble: In 2015 the World Health Organization sounded the alarm about glyphosates in Roundup, and there was a risk that lawsuits could put the company out of business.

• Ten years later, Bayer’s gamble has paid off. Glyphosates are here to stay in America. The threat of lawsuits is lifted. Bayer’s share price jumped almost 20 percent after the ruling. America’s farming industry will continue to rely on Bayer.

To feed its people, America is depending on the company that made poison gas for the Nazis. That’s a shocking and dangerous relationship.

The Bible prophesies that famines will come to America. Some of that will be caused by our own flawed farming practices—reaping what we have sown as we have chased short-term gains and destroyed the health of our soil and our people. But could some of it come deliberately? Our article “When the Harvest Fails” shows what the Bible says about the dangers to American food.

SCOTUS Upholds Border Security

The United States Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for President Donald Trump’s administration to start turning back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border before they physically enter the country.

In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative majority overturned a lower court order that had blocked a Trump administration policy limiting the number of people who can apply for asylum each day at ports of entry.

• Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, held that migrants blocked on the Mexican side have not “arrived in” the U.S. under the asylum statute and therefore are not entitled to apply for asylum at that point.

This ruling revives a practice known as “metering,” first used under President Barack Obama and expanded in Trump’s first term to manage overcrowding at border facilities.

• Critics say metering created a humanitarian crisis as thousands of people settled in unsafe makeshift shelters to await their turn to apply for asylum. The Trump administration said it is necessary to deal with an increase of asylum seekers at the border.

A separate 6-3 ruling issued the same day allowed the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.

• Two days earlier, on Tuesday, the same 6-3 majority ruled that border officers can treat returning green-card holders as new applicants and block them from entering the country if they are accused of committing a serious crime involving “moral turpitude.”

During the Biden administration, border agents encountered more than 6,000 immigrants a day trying to cross the border illegally. Those daily numbers have dropped to about 370 under President Trump.

• The support the Trump administration is receiving from the Supreme Court is a big reason for President Trumps’ success in securing America’s southern border.

In his article “Is America’s Supreme Court in Bible Prophecy?” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry highlighted a prophecy in Amos 7:13 about the “king’s court,” which would be better translated as “kingdom’s court.” He explained why he believes this refers to the U.S. Supreme Court, and how this indicates that, though it is not personally loyal to America’s end-time Jeroboam (President Trump), it does favor his fight against left-wing lawlessness.

Is Iran the War’s Big Winner?

Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called America’s memorandum of understanding “America’s declaration of defeat” Wednesday. Even if this is overstated, Iran is treating the war’s conclusion as a time for new opportunities.

In foreign policy, successfully withstanding the world’s superpower seems to be giving Iran new clout:

• Pakistan has gone from almost going to war with Iran to becoming the main mediator protecting Iran’s interests.
• Despite Qatar’s overtures of nonaggression, Iran attacked the Gulf state, prompting a counterattack. Yet like Pakistan, Qatar has turned into a mediator that circumstantial evidence suggests is using its leverage to soften the U.S.’s position on Iran.
• Ghalibaf is soon due to visit China, which can now receive Iranian oil exports again per the memorandum’s provisions.

Regarding its nuclear program, Iran also seems to have achieved a victory. Despite the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency claiming otherwise, Iran has said there are no plans to allow international nuclear inspectors into the country.

• The nuclear issue is President Donald Trump’s main sticking point. He threatened earlier this week to resume bombing if Iran doesn’t open up to international inspectors. But he has so far refused to carry out his threat, as he has most of his threats since peace talks began.

Trump’s constantly shifting positions are arguably Iran’s biggest public relations win. President Trump entered the war with maximalist demands, including regime change. He has now settled for letting Iran determine the negotiating terms, constantly updating his position depending on what the Iranians do.

Iran is battered. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, its current leadership is sensing opportunity. It’s hard to argue with Ghalibaf: America has lost the Iran war.

IN OTHER NEWS

North Korea launched largest warship: Kim Jong-un led a ceremony Tuesday launching the Choe Hyon warship at the port of Nampo. The 5,000-ton vessel is the largest North Korea has ever built and is said to be armed with nuclear missiles, marking a significant step in Kim’s effort to transform his navy from a coastal defense force into a power that can threaten regional sea lanes far beyond the Korean Peninsula.

The German and Israeli navies conducted a joint exercise near Haifa yesterday. According to the Israeli military, this marked “a further step toward strengthening professional and operational relations between the two navies.”

German jets were used to celebrate Independence Day: Over Berlin on Tuesday, German Eurofighters flew alongside American F-16s as the American Embassy celebrated Independence Day in advance.

Americans don’t support the Iran deal: A Quinnipiac University poll released June 24 found that 59 percent of respondents lack confidence “President Trump’s deal with Iran will work,” and 40 percent of those polled are “not confident at all.”