Today
THE DOJ ACTIVATED A SECRET COURT THAT SAT EMPTY FOR 30 YEARS, THE HOUTHIS DECLARED A NAVAL BLOCKADE ON SAUDI ARABIA, TRUMP HIT CANADA WITH 50% TARIFFS USING A 1930 LAW — AND THE EBOLA DEATH TOLL NEARLY DOUBLED TO 930

For 30 years, a secret court sat empty inside the federal system. Congress created it in 1996. No administration ever used it. Last week, the Trump Justice Department filed the first case in its history.

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was built for one purpose: to deport people the government calls terrorists using classified evidence that the target may never see. Five judges sit on the panel. Chief Justice John Roberts picks them. The application filed on July 15 is sealed. The cover sheet is marked classified. The name of the person it targets has not been made public.

Normal rules of evidence do not apply. The law allows the government to use evidence obtained illegally. The court can order deportation of the target and their immediate family. A 9/11 Commission staff report found that the DOJ had considered over 100 cases for this court by the year 2000… and rejected every one. Normal charges were always enough.

Chief Judge Joan Ericksen… a George W. Bush appointee… held a hearing on July 16. She told the DOJ to come back with a “more thoughtful” filing. The court is not a rubber stamp. But it is now open for business.

A court that allows secret evidence, bars the public, and can deport families… sat dormant for three decades because no one thought it was needed. Now the machine has dusted it off.

CREATED IN 1996. NEVER USED. SEALED APPLICATION. CLASSIFIED CONTENTS. THE TARGET HAS NOT BEEN NAMED.

BREAKING

The Houthis Declared a Naval Blockade on Saudi Arabia — If They Close the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, 7% of the World’s Oil Supply Stops Moving

On Monday, Yemen’s Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. Effective immediately. No warning period. No talks. The group’s armed forces called it a “maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of an eye for an eye.”

The Houthis control the coast near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait… the gateway to the Red Sea. If they close it, most Saudi oil exports to Asia stop. Analysts say that would cut roughly 7% of global oil supply. Oil briefly jumped above $90 a barrel on the news before falling back after Iran said mediators had proposed a 10-day ceasefire.

The Strait of Hormuz is already shut. Fourteen ships a day versus 130 before the war. Now the Bab-el-Mandeb is under threat. Two of the world’s most important oil chokepoints… both in play at the same time. That has not happened in the modern era.

Trump said Monday the U.S. would “take care of” the Houthis if the Red Sea is blocked. Thousands of Houthi supporters rallied in Sanaa. One protester told Al Jazeera: “They have blockaded us for 12 years. A blockade for blockade. Airports for airports. Ports for ports.” The war that started with two countries now touches at least eight.

EXPOSED

Trump Hit Canada with 50% Tariffs Using a 1930 Law — the Steepest Duties Since the Supreme Court Struck Down His Broader Tariffs

On Monday, the president signed three orders imposing 50% tariffs on Canadian goods. Wine. Hockey sticks. Cement. Nearly $20 billion in imports. The duties take effect in 30 days. They cover products that were supposed to be protected under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. The White House says they apply anyway.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s most sweeping tariffs. Many governments believed the risk was over. It was not. Trump used Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930… a law that has rarely been invoked… to go around the ruling. CNN called it “a warning to the rest of the world: you could be next.”

The White House said Canada “discriminated” against American cars, dairy, and alcohol. Nine of ten Canadian provinces had stopped selling U.S. liquor in their government-run stores. Canada’s trade deficit with the U.S. was $46.4 billion last year. Energy and oil make up most of it… and those are exempt from the new tariffs.

Senator Patty Murray called it “yet another absurd and harmful escalation in Trump’s idiotic trade war with our close friend and ally.” Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would “intensify” trade talks. The midterms are four months away. Gas is at $4. Oil is above $88. And the president just started a second trade war… with the country next door.

“They have blockaded us for 12 years. A blockade for blockade. Airports for airports. Ports for ports.”

— Houthi supporter in Sanaa, after the Saudi blockade was declared

DEVELOPING

The Ebola Death Toll Nearly Doubled in 12 Days — 930 Dead, No Vaccine, and the World Moved On

Two and a half weeks ago, the Ebola death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo stood at 506. As of Monday, it is 930. Nearly double. The WHO said the outbreak is “still expanding.” There is still no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain causing it.

Health workers in the worst-hit province of Ituri remain on strike over unpaid wages. The first clinical trial of a possible vaccine started on July 2… but results are months away. More than 10,000 contacts are being tracked. Cases have now been confirmed in five provinces.

This week, the U.S. opened a secret court, declared a trade war with Canada, and watched a new naval blockade form in the Red Sea. The Ebola outbreak that is killing hundreds got a paragraph in the WHO’s weekly report. No summit. No task force. No tariffs. No blockade. Just a disease spreading through a country the machine has no use for.

NATO members committed €70 billion to Ukraine’s military this month. The WHO’s entire emergency budget is $2.9 billion a year. The math tells you everything.

 Connecting the Dots 

▸ The Bigger Picture

Four stories from one Monday. The Justice Department opened a court that sat empty for 30 years… filed a sealed, classified case against an unnamed person… and the judge told them to try harder. The Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening to shut down a second global oil chokepoint. The president used a 95-year-old law to slap 50% tariffs on the country next door. And Ebola killed over 400 more people in two and a half weeks while the world argued about hockey stick tariffs and shipping lanes.

The press covers each on its own page. A “legal development.” A “Middle East escalation.” A “trade dispute.” A “health update.” But the thread is the same in every one.

The machine builds new tools when the old ones aren’t enough. A normal court won’t do… so it opens a secret one. A trade agreement won’t hold… so it digs up a 1930 law. One chokepoint closes… and a second is now under threat. And a disease that has killed 930 people in real time does not get a court, a tariff, a blockade, or a headline. It gets a weekly PDF. The machine responds to power. It does not respond to need. And this week, it made that clearer than ever.

When the tools run out, the machine makes new ones. That’s the Seventh Floor.

They rely on the shadows.
It’s time to turn on the lights.