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"/news/ - Current News; is 4chan's board for current news.
Please note that news, news articles, and current events can also be discussed on /pol/; however /news/ is exclusively for recent news articles, and not general discussions of politics, social phenomenon, or world events.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-02-20-2025-4c2ffabae1771cff1a9542fddfaf7d07
Democrats are absolutely furious.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-declares-seven-crime-groups-as-terrorist-organizations/
Canada declares seven crime groups as terrorist organizations
The federal government has added seven transnational criminal groups, including Mexican drug cartels, to Canada’s terrorist list in an effort to shut off their profits and curtail the production and distribution of illegal opioids in this country and the United States.
Five of the crime groups are based in Mexico, such as the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, and the other two are Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua and MS-13 in El Salvador.
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday that listing them as terrorists under the Criminal Code will give the police additional legal powers to crack down on these drug cartels and violent street gangs.
“Transnational criminal organizations including cartels play a leading role in the production and distribution of fentanyl throughout Canada,” he told reporters.
Under terrorism laws, it is prohibited for anyone in Canada and every Canadian abroad to knowingly deal with the property of a terrorist group. It is also an offence to have any dealings, financial or otherwise, with a terrorist organization.
“We are going after the money,” Mr. McGuinty said. “To avoid criminal liability, banks and brokerages will freeze these entities’ assets.”
Washington has added eight Latin American crime groups to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. All but one of the groups – the Cártel del Noreste named by Canada – were also listed by the United States.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters that the listing will make it easier for law enforcement to tackle the cartels, including operatives outside Canada.
Mr. President: Putin is THE dictator and 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril
https://nypost.com/2025/02/20/opinion/putin-is-the-dictator-and-10-ukraine-russia-war-truths-we-ignore-at-our-peril/
Filip De Mott Feb 19, 2025, 12:37 PM ET
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bumble-stock-price-dating-apps-tinder-hinge-sell-users-revenue-2025-2
Bumble plunged almost 30% on Wednesday amid a disappointing outlook in its latest earnings report.
The dating app's stock has declined steadily since peaking shortly after its 2021 IPO.
Investors are discouraged by dating app user fatigue and less user spending.
Bumble stock plummeted Wednesday after shareholders were dismayed by the company's forward guidance, with the stock extending a brutal decline that's wiped out more than 90% of its market value in recent years.
Though the dating app company delivered a fourth-quarter revenue beat of $261.6 million, any positive reactions among investors were overshadowed by a weaker-than-expected outlook.
Bumble forecast sales to reach between $242 million to $248 million in the first quarter, short of consensus expectations of $256.9 million. The weaker guidance is the result of what Bumble says is a temporary drop in paying users amid the company's efforts aimed at a brand refresh.
Several officials working to contain America’s bird flu outbreak have accidentally been fired during efforts to cut the federal workforce, the US Department of Agriculture has revealed.
Dozens of cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been reported this month. Scientists fear that unless it is contained, a pandemic could develop, worsening a drastic shortage of eggs.
The average price of a dozen Grade A large eggs rose to a record high last month, jumping to $4.95, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May 2023, the same product cost $2.67.
Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and ally of President Trump, and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) have sacked thousands of workers across multiple departments and agencies.
On Tuesday, the agriculture department said it was working to rehire staff who had been fired in error, including officials working on the government’s bird flu response.
“Several job categories, including veterinarians, animal health technicians, and other emergency response personnel have been exempted from the recent personnel actions to continue to support the HPAI response and other animal health priorities,” the agency said.
“Although several positions supporting HPAI were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters.”
Tanya Chutkan, a Washington district judge, declined on Tuesday to immediately block Doge from directing the firings of federal workers or accessing government databases. She did say, however, that the case raises questions about Musk’s apparent unchecked authority.
Chutkan denied a request by more than a dozen states for a judicial order barring Doge from accessing computer systems at seven federal agencies or purging government workers while litigation plays out.
The United States and Russia moved toward a head-spinning reset of their relationship on Tuesday, agreeing to work together on ending the Ukraine war, financial investment and re-establishing normal relations. The meeting between senior officials from both countries was a striking display of bonhomie after three years of American efforts to isolate Moscow for its 2022 invasion.
After more than four hours of talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that both sides had agreed to work on a peace settlement for Ukraine as well as to explore “the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians,” both geopolitically and economically.
“We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other,” Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said. “I have reason to believe that the American side started to better understand our positions.”
The meeting, the most extensive negotiations in more than three years between the two global powers, was the latest swerve by the Trump administration in abandoning Western efforts to punish Russia for starting Europe’s most destructive war in generations. It signaled Mr. Trump’s intention to roll back the Biden administration’s approach toward Moscow, which focused on sanctions, isolation and sending weapons to Ukraine that helped kill tens of thousands of Russian soldiers.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, American officials did not dwell on Russia’s violation of international law in attacking Ukraine, its alleged war crimes or the three years of devastation that Russian shelling and bombardment had wrought in parts of Ukraine. Instead, they repeatedly lauded Mr. Trump for trying to stop the fighting by talking to Russia in a way that his predecessor did not.
By Jason Lange
February 19, 202511:31 AM EST Updated 18 hours ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-approval-rating-slips-americans-worry-about-economy-2025-02-19/
Approval of Trump's handling of the economy has sagged
His approval on immigration is little changed
Majority oppose new tariffs; mixed views on Chinese tariffs
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The six-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, showed 44% of respondents approved of the job Trump is doing as president, down from 45% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted January 24-26. Trump's approval rating stood at 47% in a January 20-21 poll conducted in the hours after the Republican's return to the White House.
The share of Americans who disapprove of his presidency has risen more substantially, to 51% in the latest poll, compared with 41% right after he took office.
Trump enjoys a relatively high rate of approval on his immigration policy, with 47% of respondents backing his approach that has included promises to ramp up deportations of migrants in the country illegally. The share was little changed from January.
8 cartels have been officially designated as terrorist organizations.
This will likely positively impact Mexico, where cartels are the fifth largest employer in their country, and negatively impact the Democrats, who not only rely on these cartels to smuggle illegals and fentanyl into the county, but are also absolutely furious that trump is taking steps towards fixing America's problems
https://www.newsweek.com/cartels-terrorist-organizations-designation-state-department-2033297
Here Are The Cartels the State Department Declared Terrorist Organizations
The United States Department of State branded eight cartels and criminal gangs as terrorist organizations on Wednesday, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a declaration entered into the Federal Register that there was enough evidence to change the definition of the groups, known for human smuggling, drug trafficking, and acts of violence against immigrants and American citizens.
Why It Matters
Designating cartels as terrorist groups will make it easier for the U.S. to use military force against them. It would put the groups in the same category as the Taliban and Hamas—extremist groups that the U.S. and its allies have gone to war with.
President Donald Trump ran for reelection on the promise of getting tough on border security, including tackling the criminal gangs known to have penetrated the U.S.-Mexico border, and said these groups were the main driver of illicit fentanyl into the country.
The move by the Department of State comes after an executive order signed by President Trump shortly after his inauguration, branding Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana are all now deemed FTOs.
President Donald Trump referred to himself as "king" in an eyebrow-raising all-caps Truth Social post on Wednesday.
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED," Trump wrote after it was announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation had pulled its support for the program, which aimed to use the revenue from congestion pricing to improve the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) system.
"LONG LIVE THE KING!" he added.
Trump's self-proclamation comes two days after thousands of Americans protested his sweeping executive orders that continue expanding his presidential powers, including firing thousands of federal employees, prosecutors and government watchdogs, per The New York Times.
Over the weekend, the president shared two posts quoting Napoleon Bonaparte, who declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804, further raising alarm bells.
"He who saves his Country does not violate any Law," the president wrote on Truth Social and X, seemingly in response to accusations that he's breaking the law.
"Donald Trump seems to believe he can do whatever he wishes in the name of 'saving the country,'" New York Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote in a follow-up X post, according to The Hill. "In our constitutional republic, the means matter more than the ends. The US Constitution trumps the policy preferences of President Trump."
by Judy Kurtz 02/18/25 09:57 AM ET
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5150778-musk-trump-shazam-zachary-levi-doge-jesse-watters-fox-news/
Actor Zachary Levi is appealing to Elon Musk to not “let everybody fall through the cracks” amid the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts to the federal workforce, with the “Shazam” actor saying there are “people that voted for Donald Trump who are losing their job.”
“I’m so grateful that the election went the way that it did, and specifically because people like [Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and [director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard] are now in there, and confirmed, and can do the work,” Levi, who supported Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, said Monday on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“DOGE is complicated,” Levi continued of the sweeping cost-cutting efforts led by tech billionaire Musk.
“There are a lot of people that are very afraid right now, because there are truly good, working people that work for the government that are getting lost in the cracks. And we have got to do something about that,” the 44-year-old “Unbreakable Boy” producer and star said.
“Please, Elon and all of your team and whatever needs to happen, please don’t let everybody fall through the cracks, as we are doing what is necessary, which is to get in there and cut a cancer out,” Levi told Watters.
He likened the cuts by DOGE to cancer patients undergoing surgery, saying, “You lose some good healthy tissue along with that. [Doctors] don’t want to do that, but it’s a part of extracting that darkness out of there. And right now, that’s what’s happening.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/17/g-s1-49341/eric-adams-justice-department-corruption-case-new-york-city-mayor
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signaled late Monday she may use her authority to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office.
Hochul acknowledged in a statement that ousting Adams, a fellow Democrat, would be a "serious step" but said "alleged conduct at City Hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored."
Hochul said she plans to meet with "key leaders" in Manhattan on Tuesday before issuing a decision.
This development comes after controversy surrounding Adams deepened on Monday as four of his top aides and deputy mayors announced they're resigning.
"The President and the Attorney General’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties," the order states, reported Washington Times.
This was part of three executive orders that Trump signed -- the other being order expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and a memorandum requiring federal agencies to report waste, fraud and abuse that's uncovered and to detail programs that are eliminated, the report added.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf was quoted as saying that the new order on the interpretation of the law "reestablishes a long-standing norm" in the US. This comes as Trmup's critics believe that he may ignore judicial orders.
As per the order, agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Communications Commission will have the power to impose fines and regulations. According to the report, the order mentioned that "previous administrations have allowed so-called ‘independent regulatory agencies’ to operate with minimal Presidential supervision."
>https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/donald-trump-latest-executive-order-only-president-attorney-general-pam-bondi-can-interpret-us-law-article-118371626
President Trump, who allegedly financed the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks on New York in order to make Trump Tower NY the tallest building in the city, was quoted saying "These losers have leeched off the system long enough, we cannot continue paying these crybabies medical bills. They may die, but their sacrifice will allow taxpayer funds to be freed for use on more pressing issues, such as construction of the Trump Resort and Casino Gaza, opening in 2027."
When asked for clarification, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. wheezed something incomprehensible before urinating of his father's grave, as he has done every since since his confirmation.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5151048-ny-democrats-rfk-jr-9-11-program-cuts/?tbref=hp
New York Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a Monday letter to newly minted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging him to reverse recent cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that impact a program for 9/11 first responders.
“To say funding for 9/11 first responders is government waste is outrageous and insulting. These brutal cuts mean layoffs for staff who have dedicated their careers to caring for our 9/11 survivors. It means delayed care for our sick first responders,” Schumer said in a Tuesday statement about the reported cut to the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP).
The program provides screenings, research and medications to more than 100,000 survivors diagnosed with conditions related to their service on 9/11 at no cost.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/elon-musks-father-slams-him-174526730.html
Elon Musk has been criticized by his father, Errol Musk, for his poor parenting amid news that the billionaire mogul has allegedly welcomed his 13th child.
The tech mogul was described as not being a "good dad" by Errol, who added that he pushes off the responsibility of parenting to his many nannies.
In the meantime, Elon Musk has yet to confirm that he has indeed welcomed his 13th child but has still found himself hit by claims of "ghosting" from the alleged baby mama, Ashley St. Clair.
During an appearance on the "Wide Awake" podcast, Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, claimed his son has poorly performed as a father to his kids.
"He hasn't been a good dad," the 79-year-old admitted about his son, who has welcomed 12 kids and an alleged 13th in over two decades, per Page Six.
Speaking further about his son's underwhelming parental skills, Errol shared that the billionaire mogul left all the work to nannies and wasn't even there when his first child died at 10 weeks old due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
"The first child was too much with nannies and died in the care of a nanny," the businessman said of Elon and his first ex-wife, Justine Wilson's firstborn.
He added, "Elon's gonna shoot me for saying this, but that's what I think. That's no good. They were too rich, too many nannies."
As the interview continued, Errol revealed more about his tech mogul son's use of nannies, disclosing that they had a dozen on their payroll when he divorced Wilson.
"When they got divorced [in 2008], the nannies were six on this side and six on that side," Errol shared.
Democrats double down on their promise to protect government fraud in every form by waging continual lawfare against anyone who attempts to interfere with their plans for fraud.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5151676-chutkan-musk-doge-federal-agencies/
Chutkan refuses to block Musk, DOGE from 7 federal agencies
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday refused the request of 14 Democratic state attorneys general to immediately impose wide-ranging restrictions on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The coalition of states, led by New Mexico, claims Musk’s far-reaching role heading DOGE is unconstitutional since he was not confirmed by the Senate, and the states sought to block DOGE from accessing seven federal agencies.
Chutkan refused their demand to do so at the current stage of the case, saying they had not made the necessary showing of irreparable harm.
“Plaintiffs legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight,” Chutkan wrote in her ruling.
“In these circumstances, it must be indisputable that this court acts within the bounds of its authority,” she continued. “Accordingly, it cannot issue a TRO [temporary restraining order], especially one as wide-ranging as Plaintiffs request, without clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm to these Plaintiffs. The current record does not meet that standard.”
However, in a footnote, the judge suggested that the Justice Department may have stretched the truth in court filings regarding the breadth of DOGE’s power over personnel issues.
"For fuck's sake man, you can basically do anything you want at this point. But you have to put in the BARE MINIMUM effort of at least pretending you have legitimate legal reason to fire this woman.", U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said while rubbing his temples. "You couldn't even bother to make something up? You've been back in office for three weeks, how are you already this checked out?"
Asked for comment, President Trump responded "Huh? Yeah, sure cut it." while lackadaisically scrolling on his smartphone at the Resolute Desk. Elon Musk's son X Æ A-Xii then urinated on his leg.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5151616-federal-judge-orders-reinstatement-of-merit-systems-protection-board-member/
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily reinstated a member of a three-person federal employee appeals board who was fired by President Trump.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said Cathy Harris, who chaired the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) during the Biden administration, must be reinstated to her position and returned full access to the benefits of her office until further order of the court. The judge also barred recognizing any other person as a member of the MSPB in Harris’s position.
“The Court concludes that Harris has established a strong likelihood of success on the merits, that irreparable harm is likely to occur in the absence of injunctive relief and that the public interest weighs in favor of enjoining Defendants’ actions,” Contreras wrote. “Harris has thus carried her burden to establish that a temporary restraining order is warranted here.”
Probational federal employees who lost their jobs on Thursday as part of the Trump administration's mass firing of government workers expressed shock and anger at the terminations, which they contend will hurt the government's ability to provide services.
President Trump is moving quickly to shrink the U.S. federal government — the nation's largest employer — saying he is slashing wasteful spending and pushing to make the nation's civil workforce more responsive to his administration's policies. Federal workers in a probationary period typically have less than one year on the job and have not yet gained civil service protection.
Federal workers who received termination notices on Thursday described receiving nonpersonalized emails informing them they had been removed from their position, with little communication from their supervisors. The workers said they had entered public service because of a commitment to serve the public interest, whether by helping protect consumers from predatory financial services or by supporting veterans.
"We had all received these notices that cites probationary regulations and says we're being let go because 'you are not fit for continued employment because your ability and skills do not fit the agency's needs,'" Elizabeth Aniskevich, an attorney with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told CBS News.
A termination letter provided to CBS News by a former employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs informed the worker that his job was ending because "you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest."
The VA worker, who had previously held federal jobs across different agencies for more than a decade, said he was dismayed to learn that he was considered a probationary worker after taking the Veterans Affairs job last fall, as it reset his government employment.
In a declaration from Joshua Fisher, the director of the Office of Administration, Musk is described as a "Senior Advisor to the President" as a special government employee and is not an employee of the separate U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization tasked with improving government technology and cutting spending or staffing.
"In his role as a Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors," the filing reads. "Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President's directives."
The White House filing also says Musk is not the USDS administrator in charge of the DOGE effort, and did not mention who holds that position.
>https://www.npr.org/2025/02/18/g-s1-49450/elon-musk-doge-leader
A Bay Area archbishop took a swing at Elon Musk for having 13 children by four women.
Salvatore Cordileone went viral after he offered some relationship advice to Musk, 53, after the Tesla CEO claimed his biggest joy in life is his children.
'This is lovely. But marry first and love your babies' mom too,' the Catholic leader wrote on X earlier this month.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14406287/archbishop-bold-message-elon-musk-13-children-4-women.html
Got me the strangest woman
Believe me this trick's no cinch
But I really get her going
When I whip out my big 10 inch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00zuDUNTeXM BIG10
Neonazi socialists are literally imploding as their fraud schemes are about to come crashing down on them
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-raises-alarm-social-security-doge-2032052
Elon Musk Raises Alarm Over Social Security
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has taken issue with payments made by the Social Security Administration (SSA) as his spending task force investigates the government agency.
Why It Matters
Social Security benefits are paid to tens of millions of Americans every month, and help form the bedrock of income for many retirees, survivors of deceased claimants and disabled people.
Musk, who was selected by President Donald Trump to head the non-official Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked with streamlining government processes and cutting spending.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Musk presented a spreadsheet of data showing "the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE!"
It includes 46 million between the ages of 60 and 69, the period during which a person becomes eligible to collect retirement benefits. It also includes more than ten million listed as being above the age of 100, including one who is recorded as being between the ages of 360 to 369 years of age.
"Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security," Musk wrote.
Newsweek has been unable to verify the data Musk has presented. The total of the numbers included add up to considerably more than the number of beneficiaries that are paid by the Social Security Administration (SSA) every month, which was around 73 million as of January this year. It is also higher than the total U.S. population, which is around 341 million at the time of the last census in 2020.
Newsweek has contacted the SSA for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
The actor's opposition to reducing the federal workforce may be puzzling to some. Levi, who voted for Trump knowing full well this would happen, is a vocal libertarian who has championed the movement throughout his twenty years of being mistaken for the guy from The Office.
However the actor has clarified his position, saying recently his association with the libertarian movement is less about it's stance on government spending, and more about the movement's more lax stance on age of consent laws.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/doge-cuts-maga-workers-zachary-levi-b2700286.html
Appealing to “first buddy” Elon Musk during a Fox News appearance, Shazam! star Zachary Levi urged the world’s richest man to save the “good people” who are working for the federal government – specifically, the “people that voted for Donald Trump who are losing their job.”
Levi, who supported Donald Trump during this past election, also told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Tuesday night that he was “so grateful” that Trump defeated Kamala Harris, especially since it meant that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard were now in the Trump administration.
Promoting his upcoming faith-based film The Unbreakable Boy on Jesse Watters Primetime, Levi was first asked a sarcastic question about Harris and her recent visit to Broadway, prompting the actor to gush over Trump and his Cabinet picks.
“I was very supportive of Bobby Kennedy,” Levi declared. “That led me to Donald Trump. And I am so grateful. I am so grateful that the election went the way that it did, and specifically because people like Bobby and Tulsi Gabbard are now in there and confirmed and can do the work and listen.”
Over the last couple years over 1,000 navy seals have gotten sick from swimming in San Diego beach water.
https://www.newsweek.com/california-contaminated-ocean-water-sparks-health-concerns-navy-seals-2031591
California's Contaminated Ocean Sparks Health Concerns for Navy SEALs
Hundreds of Navy SEAL candidates became sick within a week of being exposed to contaminated ocean water at the Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) in Coronado, California, a report from the U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General found.
Why It Matters
Multiple times over the past six years, San Diego County's Beach and Bay Water Quality Program has issued beach closures for beaches near NAB Coronado after water testing revealed the presence of fecal indicator bacteria that exceeded safety limits in the ocean water. The county tests for the bacteria because "these bacteria are scientifically known to indicate the presence of other bacteria or viruses."
Exposure to contaminated water could cause acute gastrointestinal illnesses, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
What to Know
Between January 2019 and May 2023, 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illness were reported among Navy SEAL and Special Warfare Combat Crewman candidates at NAB Coronado, the inspector general report found. Of those, 457 were diagnosed within a week of being exposed to ocean water that was contaminated by bacteria that exceeded state limits.
Testing completed at a beach north of NAB Coronado between February 2024 and September 2024 found that bacteria in the water exceeded state safety levels 76 percent of the time. However, the U.S. Navy only relocated 12 Navy Seal candidate water training events of the scheduled 265 events during that same time, the report found.
"Many Americans will die horrific deaths in mid air collisions as a result of this decision, but rest assured I will waste no time blaming DEI and Joe Biden after every one of these easily preventable tragedies" the president said during his annual keynote speech at the 2025 NAMBLA convention in Tampa
https://apnews.com/article/doge-faa-air-traffic-firings-safety-67981aec33b6ee72cbad8dcee31f3437
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.
The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told the Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a brief statement Monday it was “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.”
Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent and classified early warning radar system the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program that was in part funded by the Department of Defense. It’s one of several programs that the FAA’s National Defense Program manages that involve radars providing longer-range detection around the country’s borders.
https://youtu.be/XhQcy2KeBVI?si=gldwwHBpJ4vCMmDE
>A Jewish man in Miami Beach was arrested Sunday and charged with two counts of attempted murder, a day after opening fire at a car in which he said he saw “two Palestinians” inside.
>However, police said that the victims were actually two Jewish Israelis visiting the US. The victims, Ari Rabey and his father, initially thought they were being targeted in an antisemitic attack..
>Mordechai Brafman, 27, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after he shot at the car 17 times with a semiautomatic handgun on Saturday.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-florida-man-arrested-after-shooting-2-israelis-he-thought-were-palestinians/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-us-taiwan-trump-change-fact-sheet-damaging-regional-peace/
a revised U.S. government fact sheet that removed a line on American opposition to independence for Taiwan. The United States "gravely backpedaled" on its position on Taiwan and sent the wrong message to "separatist forces" on the island, ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 during the civil war that brought the communists to power in China. The defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan and set up a rival government there. Taiwan has its own government and military but has never declared formal independence from China.
"We urge the U.S. to ... stop emboldening and supporting Taiwan independence and avoid further damaging China-U.S. relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait," Guo said when asked about the revision at a daily media briefing.
The Taiwan Strait is a narrow waterway that separates the island of Taiwan from China's east coast.
The U.S. State Department removed the phrase "we do not support Taiwan independence" from the fact sheet last week. The document on America's relations with the self-governing island is posted on its website.
Taiwan's government welcomed the move, though a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday did not mention the language specifically.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted that the U.S. State Department updated the 'Current State of U.S.-Taiwan Relations' page ... with text that is positive and friendly toward us, reflecting the close and amicable partnership between Taiwan and the United States," it said
What we have with the Trump Justice Department in New York City is the seeds of a scandal.
To recap: After the Justice Department signaled an intent to drop its corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams (D), multiple prosecutors resigned rather than carry out that order. At least seven resigned in total.
The ones who have spoken publicly said the justifications offered by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, Trump’s former defense lawyer, were nonsensical and have suggested this could amount to a political quid pro quo - the Trump administration dropping the charges in exchange for Adams participating in Trump’s illegal-immigration crackdown in his city.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/why-the-budding-trump-doj-scandal-is-a-big-deal/ar-AA1z7cvO
Current numbers are projecting to be a 60 year low in illegal border crossings, means that the numbers have dropped lower than bidens approval rating.
https://san.com/cc/illegal-border-crossings-drop-90-on-track-for-60-year-low-report/
Illegal border crossings drop 90%, on track for 60-year low: Report
Border crossings in February are on pace to be the lowest in at least 25 years. If the trend continues, they could hit a 60-year low.
Leaked Customs and Border Protection data shows a 90% decrease in daily migrant crossings compared to last year, coinciding with significant policy changes under the Trump administration.
Trump’s border policies include increased enforcement, deportations and international cooperation.
Full Story
Border crossings this month are on track to be the lowest in at least 25 years. If the trend continues, migrant crossings could reach a 60-year low.
Leaked CBP data reveals significant drop
The New York Post obtained leaked Customs and Border Protection data on illegal border crossings. According to the numbers from Feb. 1 to Feb. 11, an average of 359 migrants were caught crossing the southern border each day.
For comparison, the daily average during the same period last year was 4,850 migrants, a 90% decrease.
Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Post that this is the lowest the U.S. has seen in almost a lifetime, suggesting that if numbers remain at this level, border crossings could hit lows not recorded since 1968.
“If you kind of break down the numbers, divide them by 365, we haven’t had numbers this low since the 1960s. So we’re talking 60-year lows if it’s sustained, obviously.”
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/02/15/texas-measles-outbreak-update-gaines-county-vaccine-mmr/9311739646859/
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-handed-win-judge-he-wanted-impeached-2031754
Elon Musk Handed Win by Judge He Wanted Impeached
Tech billionaire Elon Musk was handed a legal win on Friday by federal judge John Bates who Musk previously called for his impeachment, ruling that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can continue to access sensitive records from at least three federal agencies
Why It Matters
DOGE's efforts, led by Musk, to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion has faced major legal challenges since President Donald Trump first entered the White House. Most recently DOGE has drawn sharp scrutiny for seeking unfettered access to the internal data of agencies across the government, including the Labor Department, U.S. Treasury, Office of Personnel Management, General Services Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Small Business Administration and more.
U.S. District Judge Bates, appointed by former President George W. Bush, previously blocked some of these efforts.
What To Know
In a Friday ruling, DOGE will maintain access to sensitive records from at least three federal agencies after Bates rejected a legal challenge seeking to block Musk's cost-cutting team from gaining access.
Bates issued the late-night ruling denying a request from unions and nonprofit groups to halt DOGE's access to records maintained by the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
At the core of the case was whether DOGE—created via executive order—has the legal authority to "detail" its personnel to specific federal agencies, effectively granting them access to confidential government records.
MONTEVIDEO (AP) — Argentine lawyers filed fraud charges against President Javier Milei in criminal court on Sunday for promoting a cryptocurrency on his social media, one of the lawyers told The Associated Press.
On Friday, Milei posted on X about $LIBRA, a coin that he said was aimed at “encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.”
He deleted the post a few hours later and the value of the currency collapsed, causing millions of dollars in losses to its brief investors, according to financial site Dexscreener.
The coin, developed by KIP Protocol and Hayden Davis, could be obtained by accessing a link that directed users to a website called vivalalibertadproject.com, referring to the well-known phrase with which Milei closes speeches and messages on his social media.
The President’s Office said in a Saturday statement that Milei was not involved in any stage of the cryptocurrency’s development and decided to remove the post to avoid speculation and limit further exposure, following the public reaction to the project’s launch.
>https://apnews.com/article/argentina-milei-cryptocurrency-fraud-charges-c0321f320a00cdb58edfb365ba8ce0f8
Around a dozen individuals appear to have in-person links to Ziz, some of whom worked at NASA and Google before the arrests began. Many of them advocate for veganism and identify as transgender. Some met through the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a Berkeley nonprofit buoyed by Peter Thiel and Sam Bankman-Fried .
LaSota, who goes by the name “Ziz,” was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1991. After studying computer science at the University of Fairbanks, where THEIR father is currently employed, Ziz interned at NASA and moved to California in 2016. “I moved to the Bay Area for proximity to the tech industry which I considered sort of my destiny,”
In 2017, Ziz and some associates sailed a rusty tugboat named “Caleb” from Alaska to Half Moon Bay, (see youtube link below)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TIqij2oyW9E
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/new-details-bay-area-zizians-death-cult-20165754.php
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-fires-hundreds-staff-overseeing-nuclear-weapons-report-2031419
President Donald Trump's administration has laid off between 1,200 and 2,000 employees at the Department of Energy (DOE), but appeared to partly backtrack amid safety concerns.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Department of Energy by email on Friday afternoon for comment.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has aggressively implemented cuts and layoffs across the federal government in an effort to trim fat and reduce spending. Trump campaigned on reducing the size of the federal government, which the public has greatly supported.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published at the end of January 2025 found that 61 percent of U.S. adults support the president's plan to downsize the federal government. The poll was conducted between January 24 and 26 among 1,034 adults, with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
However, Trump's means of achieving this goal has proven highly controversial: He initially ordered a freeze on federal grants and loans that would have cut billions of dollars in funding allocated to state and local governments, and the administration offered federal employees a "buyout" that would put them on paid administrative leave until September.
Published Feb 13, 2025 at 10:56 AM EST
Updated Feb 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM EST
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-gen-z-popularity-favorable-rating-yougov-2030595
President Donald Trump's favorable rating among Generation Z voters has dramatically fallen since the 2024 election, according to a poll.
A survey from The Economist/YouGov released Wednesday revealed the president's net favorability rating among those aged 18-29 is minus 18 points. This is a drop from the plus 19 favorable rating he scored among this demographic in the days following November's race.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Trump made significant gains among young and first-time voters in the 2024 election compared to 2020. This was cited as a potential ideological shift for the youth vote. The poll results suggest Republicans cannot rely on this historically Democratic-leaning voting bloc for support in future elections.
National Nuclear Security Administration officials on Friday attempted to notify some employees who had been let go the day before that they are now due to be reinstated — but they struggled to find them because they didn't have their new contact information.
In an email sent to employees at NNSA and obtained by NBC News, officials wrote, “The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.”
The individuals the letter refers to had been fired on Thursday and lost access to their federal government email accounts. NNSA, which is within the Department of Energy and oversees the nation's nuclear stockpile, cannot reach these employees directly and is now asking recipients of the email, “Please work with your supervisors to send this information (once you get it) to people’s personal contact emails.”
The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
President Donald Trump's administration has acted with unprecedented speed — and in some cases, questionable legality — in seeking to cut large portions of the federal government, laying off staff and ending contracts. But that speed has resulted in complications, including firing people agencies actually want to keep.
The emails come after multiple staff — all civil servants — at the NNSA received termination notices late Thursday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the notifications. NBC News reviewed the termination notification, which included the subject line: “Notification of Termination During Probationary/Trial Period.”
The NNSA is tasked with designing, building and overseeing the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
Chuds will ignore that with deportations also down, ICE is shown to be a useless agency that lets in immigrants just to make deportation numbers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/02/15/ice-arrests-immigration-deportations/
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has launched an all-of-government immigration crackdown with the urgency of a wartime effort, a mobilization comparable in scope to the responses to the 9/11 attacks and the coronavirus pandemic.
But despite the rapid infusion of resources, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to arrest higher numbers of immigrants and falling far short of the administration’s goals.
The president wants federal agents from across the government — even the Internal Revenue Service — looking for potential deportees, and the FBI says “thousands” of its employees are now supporting immigration operations. Trump has sent hundreds of troops to the southern border and military transport planes loaded with immigrants to as far away as India. The Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, where U.S. forces once sent enemy combatants seized on the battlefield, is now a destination for immigrant detainees, many picked up at the Mexican border.
ICE officers stormed out of the gates during the first 10 days of the administration. The agency did highly publicized enforcement raids in “sanctuary” cities run by Democrats, bringing along television crews and celebrities like Dr. Phil. For several days, ICE published its daily arrest numbers on social media, which started in the several hundreds per day and reached 1,179 on Jan. 26.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/15/science/asteroid-2024-yr4-earth-tracking/index.html
Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has posted classified information about the size and staff of a U.S. intelligence agency on its new website, raising bigger concerns about where Musk’s programmers got this information and what they are doing with it.
DOGE, which President Donald Trump created to purportedly root out waste in the federal government, launched its website on Wednesday night with a feature allowing users to “trace your tax dollars through the bureaucracy.” People can navigate through all federal agencies and offices for details about their head counts, budgets and average ages of employees.
The website states in tiny print at the bottom that its database excludes information from U.S. intelligence agencies.
But an easy search shows that DOGE’s database provides details on the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal agency that designs, builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites. Not only are NRO’s budgets and head counts classified, but the prospect of Musk’s tech team meddling in sensitive personnel information is setting off alarms for some in the intelligence community.
“DOGE just posted secret NOFORN info on their website about [intelligence community] headcount, so currently people are scrambling to check if their info has been accessed,” said one Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from senior leaders.
NOFORN stands for “Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals,” meaning information in this category can’t be shared with any foreign governments, international organizations or foreign nationals without specific authorization.
NRO appears to be the only intelligence agency with its data publicly available on DOGE’s website.
The order requires a "DOGE Team Lead" to be stationed at every government agency, who will oversee hiring decisions.
Trump didn't create a new Cabinet-level department with DOGE, but rather renamed the previously existing United States Digital Service, which was created under former President Barack Obama.
That office launched in 2014 to improve the federal government's digital capabilities following the rocky rollout of the HealthCare.gov website.
Trump's order also moves the entity from the Office of Management and Budget to the Executive Office of the President, and directs it to modernize technology and software across the federal government.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/04/nx-s1-5286314/department-of-government-efficiency-doge-explainer-elon-musk
The Kremlin said on Friday it hoped the U.S. would clarify remarks by Vice President JD Vance that Washington had military as well as economic levers with which to press Russia to agree a good peace deal with Ukraine.
After Washington faced criticism from some European countries over a call this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vance said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal ahead of the Munich Security Conference that the U.S. had tools it could use to encourage Russia to reach a settlement to end the war.
"There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage" the U.S. could use against Putin, Vance said.
Asked about the reference to military levers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow wanted to know more.
"This was a new element about the (U.S.) position. We have not heard such formulations before, they have not been voiced before," Peskov told reporters.
"So, of course, during the very contacts that we have been talking about, of course, we hope to receive some additional clarification."
Trump said on Thursday that U.S. and Russian officials would meet in Munich on Friday and that Ukraine was also invited, however Kyiv responded that it did not expect to hold talks with Russia in the German city.
Peskov, when asked about Trump's remarks on the presence of Russian officials in Munich, said the Kremlin had nothing new to say about Ukraine peace efforts and that it would take some days to establish diplomatic contacts with the U.S. on Ukraine.
Separately, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Russian officials would not attend the Munich Security Conference because Russia has not been invited to the event which she accused of becoming a "destructive" pro-Ukrainian fixture.
https://x.com/alx/status/1889673202562957400
"can you look at me and tell me how many of my friends need to die before you do anything"
"i'm shaking right now I don't want to be here, I'm sorry am i taking too long pleading for my life?"
"make this space safe or I'll make an unsafe space"
In a historic vote against the perceived incoming attacks by president trump, Massachusetts’ second-largest city voted to become a sanctuary for transgender people. A recent hearing was held before Worcester’s city council to push the city into officially becoming a sanctuary city for LGBT members. In a vote of 9-2 the motion was passed and Worcester is now formally declared as a sanctuary state for LGBT members.
For any member of the LGBT group please migrate over and stay in Worcester do not push, do not pass go, do not collect 200$. Plenty of room and space is available for the endangered group, pending fears of further action towards the cause by the new administration.
when an Indian reporter asked him a question, Trump admitted he couldn't understand it, saying, “I can't understand a word he's saying. It's the accent; it's a little bit tough for me.”
The reported asked Donald Trump, “People in India will naturally welcome your decisions to extradite Tahawwur Rana to India back home. In that context we want to ask that in the last few years, we have seen several groups in US being raising anti-India voice calling about separation, terrorism activities in India. Do you think that should continue here in US as well?”
While it said that the U.S. The Supreme Court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023, “but serious questions remain about the lack of meaningful, objective enforcement mechanisms and the strength of the new rules themselves.”
Other Western nations on the decline included France, which dropped four points to 67 and five places to 25th; and Germany, down three points to 75 and six places to 15th. It tied with Canada, which was down one point. https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/163307/corruption-index-world-us-climate-survey-transparency
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024/
A drone armed with a warhead hit the protective outer shell of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, damaging the structure and briefly starting a fire, in an attack Kyiv blamed on Russia. The Kremlin denied it was responsible.
Radiation levels at the shuttered plant in the Kyiv region — site of the world’s worst nuclear accident — have not increased, according to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, which said the strike did not breach the plant’s inner containment shell.
The IAEA did not attribute blame, saying only that its team stationed at the site heard an explosion and was informed that a drone had struck the shell.
Fighting around nuclear power plants has repeatedly raised fears of a nuclear catastrophe during three years of war, particularly in a country where many vividly remember living through the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 30 people and spewed radioactive fallout over much of the Northern Hemisphere.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is Europe’s biggest, has occasionally been hit by drones during the war without causing significant damage.
The strike came two days after President Donald Trump upended U.S. policy on Ukraine, saying he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war. The move seemed to identify Putin as the only player that matters and looked set to sideline Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as European governments, in any peace talks.
The hit on Chernobyl occurred as Ukraine is being slowly pushed back by Russia’s bigger army along parts of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line and is desperately seeking more Western help.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/g-s1-48571/trump-administration-order-400-million-worth-of-armored-teslas
The Trump administration is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a new State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is a top White House official who has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency, a unit focused on shrinking the federal workforce and ferreting out corruption.
The document does not specify what Tesla vehicles will be purchased by U.S. officials, but Musk's Cybertruck, with its militaristic design and stainless steel exterior, could be an option.
After reports circulated Wednesday night of the State Department's intent to purchase Tesla vehicles, the document was edited, at 9:12 p.m., and now says the federal contract is for $400 million worth of "armored electric vehicles," but the word "Tesla" was removed.
The State Department and Musk did not return requests for comment.
Musk, who spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to help elect Trump, has used an X account devoted to DOGE to highlight what he views as excessive or unnecessary federal contracts.
As Musk's deputies have gained access to nearly two dozen federal agencies, ethics experts have raised concern about the billionaire running into conflicts of interest, since Musk runs six companies, some of which are under investigation by government authorities. Musk's companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, also have multibillion-dollar contracts with the federal government.
Most of the federal money Musk has received has gone to SpaceX, the rocket company, for projects including work for NASA to launch Musk's Starship with astronauts to the moon.
https://nypost.com/2025/02/12/us-news/lee-zeldin-demands-return-of-20b-parked-at-a-financial-institution-by-biden-epa-to-dole-out-to-climate-groups/
Lee Zeldin demands return of $20B ‘parked’ at a financial institution by ‘Biden EPA’ to dole out to climate groups
Wednesday that he’s found $20 billion in taxpayer money that the Biden administration “parked” at a financial institution — in an apparent effort to prevent the Trump administration from cutting grants to “far-left activist groups.”
Zeldin, 45, explained in a video posted on X that the Biden administration’s obfuscation was unprecedented and he demanded that the unnamed financial institution immediately return the funds to the EPA.
“Shockingly, roughly 20 billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA,” Zeldin said. “This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight
The $20 billion appears to be money that was appropriated to the EPA under the Inflation Reduction Act, which boosted government spending on environmental projects.
The EPA administrator and former New York Republican congressman said the massive pot of money was “awarded to just eight entities that were then responsible for doling out” the funds to non-governmental organizations “at their discretion.”
One of the eight entities, Climate United Fund, received just under $7 billion from the Biden EPA to dole out, according to
>hearing link to watch/listen to
https://youtu.be/iCW945Y3HVM?feature=shared
USAID spent….
>$4.8 million to Ukraines public affairs office to fund social media influencers
>$2.1 million to Paraguay to strengthen their boarder
>unspecified amount to send Ukrainian women designers to the Paris fashion show
>$2million on transgender surgeries hormone therapy and gender affirming care in Guatemala
>$3million to Brazil for Girl centered climate action
>$25 thousand on Columbia transgender opra
>$32 thousand to Peru to fund a comic book featuring a trans hero
>$20 thousand to Ecuador for funding a drag show
>$20 million to Iraq to fund a Sesame Street show there
>$6 million to Egypt to build sustainable tourism
>$50 million on boosting tourism to Tunisia
>$87.9 million to 72 Afghan farmers some of which grow poppy
>$70 thousand for Ireland DEI live musical
>$330 thousand to UK based disinformation index, they blacklist news outlets
>$54 million to Eco Health alliance to collect underground bat viruses and transport them to wuhan
Money on funding Wuhan’s lab according to doge findings
https://youtu.be/YI1jsHpgRc4?feature=shared
>Rand Paul festivus report for fy24
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/FESTIVUS-REPORT-2024.pdf
>Rand Paul goes over spending
https://youtu.be/D1Ost6s14GA?feature=shared
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, said on social network VKontakte.
"Has Germany decided to launch a subtle protest against the new US administration? In any case, this is how Scholz's call to the Bundestag to declare a state of emergency in connection with the situation on the territory of former Ukraine can be interpreted," he wrote.
Medvedev said Scholz’s alarmist statement was actually dictated by two factors: "the desire to extort money under the flag of resentment at the sharp reversal of the course of [US President] Donald Trump in Europe" and "the main thing, the elections to the Bundestag, where the SDP (Social Democratic Party of Germany - TASS) seems to have no chance against the CDU/CSU of [Friedrich] Merz … A disintegrating Ukraine is quite secondary here."
Drawing parallels with the fable by Ivan Krylov The Elephant and The Pug, he illustrated a further course of events.
"The offended German Pug decided to perform its best part of barking loudly at the republican Elephant in the hope of receiving domestic political dividends in the kennel: 'Here! I can do more than just wag my tail, as the head of a huge and very dangerous country figuratively said. I've got my voice back, and sometimes I even bark pugnaciously at the main Elephant. Choose me, not another yard dog. I am now barking on behalf of the entire pan-European kennel!'" he wrote.
https://tass.com/politics/1913245
Terminally online "people" are having a meltdown over this.
>“Using his son as a prop. Elon Musk doesn't belong in U.S. government,” one user posted on X.
>“Elon Musk’s son stole the show in the Oval Office today. I love the pro-child message this sends. ‘Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work,’” another user posted.
>“You know Trump believes children are important work. That's why he went down to Epstein's Island so many times - you know, the place where men went to rape underage girls? Yep, important work for Donald,” one user commented.
What do YOU think, /news/? Should a nose-picking child be in the oval office?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/politics/musk-trump-oval-office-analysis/index.html
President Donald Trump appears with Elon Musk in the Oval Office, a rare joint appearance between the Republican commander-in-chief and his most powerful adviser as they defended their actions to slash the federal government.
https://apnews.com/video/trump-and-musk-defend-actions-to-overhaul-federal-government-ca221342aee7433c806e705de8ddabfc
“We will swap one territory for another,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Guardian published Tuesday, saying Kyiv would yield part of the Kursk region it has held since its surprise August incursion into Russia.
As for which Russian-occupied areas Ukraine would demand in return, the Ukraine leader refused to be drawn: “I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority.”
"Zelensky makes similar statements in order to hide the true scale of the disaster for the Armed Forces in this direction."
Russian forces occupied an additional 3,600 square kilometers of Ukraine's territory last year and now control about 20 percent of the country. Kyiv's troops, by contrast, control about 500 square kilometers in Russia’s far-west Kursk region.
https://www.politico.eu/article/voloodymyr-zelenskyy-russia-donald-trump-trade-kursk-progress-war-drones/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Fogel
The state charges a special tax to all private insurers to fund a state operated home owners insurance provider named FAIR. FAIR has stopped paying out claims to homeowners because they have no money. Peak Democrat policy right here, another wasted useless tax.
https://abc7.com/post/californias-insurer-people-private-coverage-needs-1-billion-more-la-fires-claims/15895227/
California's insurer for people without private coverage needs $1 billion more for LA fires claims
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's plan that provides insurance to homeowners who can't get private coverage needs $1 billion more to pay out claims related to the Los Angeles wildfires, the state Insurance Department said Tuesday.
The FAIR Plan is an insurance pool that all the major private insurers pay into, and the plan then issues policies to people who can't get private insurance because their properties are deemed too risky to insure. The plans provide high premiums and basic coverage. There were more than 452,000 policies on the Fair Plan in 2024, more than double the number in 2020.
The plan says it's expecting a loss of roughly $4 billion from the Eaton and Palisades Fires, which sparked Jan. 7, destroyed nearly 17,000 structures and killed at least 29 people. Roughly 4,700 claims have been filed as of this week, and the plan has already paid out more than $914 million.
All insurers doing business in California will have to bear half the cost and can pass on the rest to all policyholders in the form of a one-time fee as a percentage of premiums. Insurers can collect that cost in the next two years. The state Insurance Department must approve those costs.
The plan also expects to receive $1.45 billion in reinsurance to help pay out claims.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmedTulsi Gabbardas President Donald Trump’sdirector of national intelligenceafter Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.
Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country’s 18 different intelligence agencies, givenher past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting sheheld with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assadand her previous support for government leakerEdward Snowden.
Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a 52-48 vote, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority. The only “no’ vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
She is the latest high-ranking nomineeto win Senate confirmationas the new administration works to reshape vast portions of the federal government, including the intelligence apparatus.
Staffers at the CIA and other intelligence agencies have receivedbuyout offers, while lawmakers and security experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiencyaccessing databasescontaining information about intelligence operations.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the move would trigger "firm and proportionate countermeasures" while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also pledged to "stand up for" Canadian workers and businesses.
The comments came after the US president ordered a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US, ending previous exemptions for allies including Canada and the EU and marking a major expansion of trade barriers.
Trump said he was "simplifying" the rules and the measures would boost domestic production.
"This is a big deal, the beginning of making America rich again," Trump said, signing the proclamation, which said the measures would come into force on 12 March.
"Our nation requires steel and aluminium to be made in America, not in foreign lands," he added.
The US is the world's largest importer of steel, counting Canada, Brazil and Mexico as its top three suppliers.
Canada alone accounted for more than 50% of aluminium imported into the US last year.
The tariffs will raise the cost of bringing the metals into the US, sparking concern among businesses in the US that rely on the imports and many world leaders because it will make it more expensive for companies to sell their products in the world's largest economy.
>https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c360dz384n5o
Ukraine’s "independent media", a collection of small regional outlets, muckraking investigative websites and internet news platforms, have been reeling since the USAID announcement, with some organizations saying that they are just weeks away from slashing staff or closing down entirely.
“We risk losing the achievements of three decades of work and increasing threats to Ukraine’s statehood, democratic values, and pro-Western orientation,” Detector Media(fact checker of MI6), a journalism watchdog, said in a statement on its website last week.
Many of these organizations have struggled to make ends meet in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, which caused a drastic drop in advertising revenue and forced them to turn to foreign assistance programs to stay afloat.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/independent-media-in-russia-ukraine-lose-their-funding-with-usaid-freeze/ar-AA1yBFzi
Would /you/ try it?
Why?
Why not?
"Two years after treatment, most of the initial improvements in gut symptoms remained. In addition, parents reported a slow, steady reduction of ASD symptoms during treatment and over the next two years. A professional evaluator found a 45% reduction in core ASD symptoms (language, social interaction and behavior) at two years post-treatment compared with before treatment began."
It's official: The Gulf of Mexico is no more (at least in the United States, anyway).
Workers at the federal Board on Geographic Names have formally changed the name to the Gulf of America per one of President Donald Trump's first executive orders. The change doesn't affect what other countries call it, and Mexico's president has promised to ignore it and asked others to do the same.
Trump on Sunday flew in Air Force 1 over the Gulf while attending the Super Bowl, and declared the day as the "first-ever Gulf of America Day." Traveling with the president, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared on social media an official USGS map image showing the new name.
While some U.S agencies immediately began using the new name upon Trump's Jan. 20 order, it's now effective across all the federal government because it's been changed in the centralized Geographic Names Information System.
Google has also updated its maps. Apple ignored a request for comment for whether it would honor the change, and had not swapped in the new name by 5 p.m. on Monday.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo joked that she's going to start calling the United States "Mexican America" in retaliation. International practice is to use whatever place name is preferred by the country a specific geographic feature belongs to, but the gulf touches Mexico, the United States, Cuba and several other island nations.
There is precedent for different names for the same places: A contested chain off islands off the coast of South America is known by the British as the Falkland Islands, while Argentina, which also claims the islands, calls them the Islas Malvinas. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, sparking a vicious two-month battle won by the British.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum changing the base's name once again, this time to Fort Roland L. Bragg.
Dropping the name of a Confederate leader, Fort Bragg is becoming Fort Liberty
Bragg, a private first class with the 17th Airborne Division, isn't exactly a household name. The DoD describes him as a "World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge."
Johnny Reb confederate General Braxton Bragg is not much to brag about, and is is generally considered among the worst generals of the Civil War. Most of the battles he engaged in ended in defeat. Bragg was extremely unpopular with both the officers and ordinary men under his command, who criticized him for numerous perceived faults, including poor battlefield strategy. The losses suffered by Bragg's forces are cited as highly consequential to the ultimate defeat of the Confederate States of America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braxton_Bragg
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293246/hegseth-fort-bragg-liberty-name
The MP, not having a perfect control of the Ukrainian language, tried to say that the parliamentarians were late with the initiative, but called him a "liar", which made the deputies laugh.
"The initiative has fizzled out a bit," said Arakhamia and continued his speech, despite the laughter in the audience.
https://korrespondent-net.translate.goog/ukraine/4755435-arakhamyia-rassmeshyl-radu-znanyiamy-ukraynskoho?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
"In exchange for Fogel, a Russian citizen imprisoned in the United States will be returned to Russia in the coming days," Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said on Wednesday.
With an American flag draped over his shoulders, Marc Fogel, the American "teacher" freed from a Russian prison, arrived at the White House on Tuesday night and was welcomed by President Donald Trump.
Fogel, 63, had been serving a 14-year prison sentence in a Russian prison colony after being arrested in 2021 on drug charges.
"I am not a hero," Fogel said, addressing reporters from the White House. "President Donald Trump is a hero."
At times overcome with emotion, Fogel thanked his family -- including his 95-year-old mother, who pleaded his case to Trump at a campaign rally last year.
He also thanked President Putin, who played a key role in negotiating Fogel's release.
https://www.state.gov/release-of-marc-fogel/
>For years, the US State Department’s Near East Regional Democracy fund (NERD) has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into covert operations aimed at toppling Tehran’s government – without success. Details on where this money goes and who benefits are typically concealed. However, this leak provides a rare glimpse into NERD’s latest regime-change blueprint.
>The document in question is a classified US State Department invitation for bids from private contractors and intelligence-linked entities such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID.
>Circulated discreetly in August 2023, it solicited proposals to “support Iranian civil society, civic advocates, and all Iranian people in exercising their civil and political rights during and beyond” the next year’s electoral period, “in order to increase viable avenues for democratic participation.”
>NERD viewed Iran’s 2024 election cycle and the campaigning period as “opportunities” for civil society infiltration. The plan envisioned a network of “civic actors” engaged in electoral strategies ranging from “electoral participation” to “electoral non-participation” – in other words, either mobilizing voters or undermining turnout.
>Once in place, this network of Iranian regime change operatives would, it was hoped, organize “mock national referendums” and other “unofficial” political action outside the Islamic Republic’s formal structures to highlight the alleged disparity between government action and public will.
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/28854
The personal savings rate scale is at the very low end of the global range. You cannot, at the same time, have a society where economic success depends on mass consumerism that will ever not coexist with a trade deficit. What part of this do Trump and his team not comprehend?
As part of this consumerism, the U.S. is the only major country with neither a national sales tax nor a value-added tax. It is, therefore, completely natural for a country that pursues consumer-oriented spending to be the one with trade deficits.
The balance of payments must always balance, so if Trump crushes the current account deficit, he ipso facto crushes the capital account surplus. That, in turn, means financial conditions will have to tighten.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The Trump administration could well force a voluntary debt restructuring, but that doesn’t address the underlying issue, which is that even excluding interest costs, the deficit would top US$1 trillion.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/david-rosenberg-united-states-blaming-153950629.html
Even The Daily Beast agrees that Americans are aligned with his leadership in the second term and probably think he is making good on his promises.
This only further proves that the lefties will continue to have melties until their morale improves.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/whoa-whoa-whoa-trumps-high-approval-rating-stuns-cnns-harry-enten/
‘Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!’: Trump’s High Approval Rating Stuns CNN’s Harry Enten
CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten has been left stunned by President Donald Trump’s high approval ratings in his second stint at the White House.
The senior data reporter noticed that Trump’s approval numbers for his first three weeks were much higher than those during his first term, the New York Post reported.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Entire first term. Just 11 days, Donald Trump had a net positive approval rating” during his first term, Enten said during a segment of Monday’s CNN News Central with co-anchor Sara Sidner. Comparatively, the president now has enjoyed a net positive approval rating for 21 days in his second term
“Every single day of Trump’s second term so far, he has been on the positive side of the ledger. Twenty-one days, all three weeks. That’s already 10 more days than it was in his entire first term!” the CNN political analyst noted.
A new CBS poll captured the historical surge in Trump’s approval ratings, which shows that he has reached a 53 percent level, showing a majority of Americans are happy with the man in the Oval Office.
The shift also indicates that Americans are aligned with his leadership in the second term and probably think he is making good on his promises. This is in stark contrast with the April 2017 poll that indicated only 46 percent of Americans believed he was staying true to his word. By Feb. 2025, that number rose to 70 percent.
President Trump warned the Hamas terror group Monday night to release all remaining hostages by noon Saturday, or he would allow Israel to cancel the ongoing cease-fire and “all hell is going to break loose.”
Hamas announced earlier Monday it was scrapping a scheduled hostage release, arguing that Israel had not lived up to its side of the deal.
Trump, 78, made the comment while signing executive orders in the Oval Office, repeating a line he has used before to directly threaten the terror group controlling the Gaza Strip.
https://thehill.com/homenews/5134820-andy-kim-democrats-government-shutdown-trump/
Democratic senator says his party is ready to shut down government over Trump’s actions
Democratic Sen. Andy Kim (N.J.) said he and his fellow Democrats are ready to shut down the federal government over President Trump’s recent actions.
Kim joined the show on Sunday to discuss the ongoing action stemming from Trump and his administration. As Democrats grow frustrated with the changes, many are calling on them to protest.
He argued that his party is ready to shut down the federal government over the various actions, including shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) having access to federal payment systems.
Trump has received sharp criticism over the administration’s recent actions, including saying he wants to take over Gaza. Some Democrats have said the idea would amount to “ethnic cleansing” and say it’s a distraction from all of the action within federal agencies.
Last weekend, DOGE officials gained access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system, which controls $6 trillion annually and has access to Americans’ tax records
Kim argued that Republicans need Democrats to help fund the government ahead of the March deadline.
“In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution and they should not count on that this time,” Kim said.
You may recognize Donald J. Trump as "The President of the United States of America", while Taylor Swift may be recognizable as "that one famous pop star who dates that football guy and didn't support trump in 2024"
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/taylor-swift-booed-eagles-super-bowl-trump-b2695121.html
Taylor Swift booed by Eagles fans at Super Bowl – while Trump is cheered
Taylor Swift received a negative welcome from Philadelphia Eagles fans throughout this year’s Super Bowl.
The Grammy winner attended this year’s game to show her support for her boyfriend Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on Sunday in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome. However, the Eagles fans were quick to show support for their team as they began to boo her.
After the “Karma” singer was shown on the jumbotron, the crowd erupted in boos which she appeared to be unbothered by. Swift quickly reacted as she looked over at the people she invited into her suite — Ice Spice and the Haim sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana — before giving the camera a side eye.
However, Serena Williams ended up defending the singer on social media as she told her to disregard the negative crowd energy.
“I love you @taylorswift 13 don't listen to those boos!!!” she wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
While Swift was getting a negative reaction from the crowd, the opposite happened when Donald Trump also appeared on the jumbotron, with the crowd breaking into cheers.
Trump is the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl in person which has largely resulted in a positive reaction from the players.
The president went on to post on his Truth Social platform about the crowd booing Swift as he shared a post from an account called “Libs of TikTok” which read “Trump gets massive cheers at the Super Bowl while Taylor Swift gets booed.”
“The world is healing!”
The announcement comes amid the prospect that public television funding will be targeted by the current administration and Republicans in Congress. In his first term, Trump sought to zero out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but the proposal went nowhere, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill restored it.
In a memo to employees, PBS President Paula Kerger wrote that “to ensure that we are complying with the president’s executive order we have closed our DEI office, and Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow are leaving PBS.”
Kerger added, “Our mission to educate, engage and inspire the wide variety of American communities we serve will continue to be at the center of our work, and we’ll also continue to ensure that PBS remains a welcoming place for everyone.” The New York Times first reported on the DEI office closure.
PBS is closing an office dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, following Donald Trump‘s series of executive orders targeting such programs.
The announcement comes amid the prospect that public television funding will be targeted by the current administration and Republicans in Congress. In his first term, Trump sought to zero out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but the proposal went nowhere, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill restored it.
In a memo to employees, PBS President Paula Kerger wrote that “to ensure that we are complying with the president’s executive order we have closed our DEI office, and Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow are leaving PBS.”
https://deadline.com/2025/02/pbs-trump-dei-1236284982/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/oxford-teleportation-quantum-computing-supercomputer-b2695137.html
The breakthrough centres on the so-called scalability problem of quantum computing, with the researchers claiming it will allow the next-generation technology to be realised on an industry-disrupting level.
The field of quantum computing has been around for decades, but only in recent years have significant advances been made towards realising them on a practical scale.
The FAA’s focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices has resulted in the employment of less qualified air traffic controllers (ATCs) and a staffing shortage, former ATC's say. This, in addition to an “immunity program” that fails to hold ATCs accountable for their mistakes, are likely contributing factors American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter on Jan. 29 that resulted in both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River near the Washington, D.C.-area airport. All 67 people aboard died.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Thursday that the helicopter’s advanced tracking system was turned off at the time of the crash. As for the FAA, an ATC tried unsuccessfully to contact the helicopter less than 30 seconds before the collision, according to audio from air traffic control.
Warned about dangers
The FAA was warned in a 2023 report that air traffic controllers were increasingly making last minute flight adjustments to deal with traffic and shortages of controllers in a trend that raised safety concerns. The safety expert report that warned America’s air traffic control system is suffering from quality-control issues and staffing shortages that put safety at risk.
The November 2023 report also warned that personnel shortages among air traffic controllers were forcing people to work longer hours and make sudden, last-minute changes to flight plans that increased risks.
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/air-traffic-controllers-warn-faa-hiring-practices-immunity-program-led
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said his administration was examining U.S. Treasury debt payments for possible fraud and suggested that the country's $36 trillion debt load might not be that high.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said administration officials who have been combing through payment records in an effort to identify wasteful spending have turned their attention to the debt payments that play a central role in the global financial system.
"We're even looking at Treasuries," Trump said. "There could be a problem - you've been reading about that, with Treasuries and that could be an interesting problem."
He added: "It could be that a lot of those things don't count. In other words, that some of that stuff that we're finding is very fraudulent, therefore maybe we have less debt than we thought."
It was not clear whether Trump was referring to debt service or other government payments made by the Treasury Department.
The United States currently has $36.2 trillion public debt outstanding, according to the U.S. Treasury, equal to more than 120% of GDP. Because the U.S. government spends more money than it collects, Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress will have to authorize more borrowing sometime this year to avert a debt default that could have catastrophic consequences.
Trump's proposed tax cuts would add trillions of dollars more in debt, independent budget watchdogs say.
Trump has tasked Elon Musk with an ambitious overhaul of the federal government, sparking street protests in Washington and accusations that the Trump administration is breaking the law.
Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" has disrupted operations at several federal agencies and has raised privacy and security concerns while accessing sensitive payroll and spending records.
ON THE MORNING of January 28th April Mullins-Datko, the director of ADVOCAP, a social-services provider in Fond Du Lac, a city of 40,000 people in Wisconsin, put in her usual request to draw down $250,000 to pay staff salaries and other expenses connected with Head Start, a federal programme that provides child care, education and food to families on low incomes. Every other time ADVOCAP has done this the money has arrived within 48 hours.
This time it did not. As of February 9th ADVOCAP has received just $44,000 of the $250,000 they were expecting. To pay their workers, they have had to use bank credit. If the money does not materialise soon, they will have to begin laying off staff and shutting down their Head Start programme. The result will be 202 children without services and 80 staff members without jobs.
ADVOCAP appears to be a victim of Donald Trump’s seizure of the federal government’s payment systems. Its money should not be missing, according to the White House. A memo that froze much government funding, issued late on January 27th, was quickly rescinded after an outcry and a court ruling. Yet ADVOCAP’s money has not turned up and nobody seems able to explain why.
Ms Mullins-Datko says she has been calling anyone she can, but “they’re not responding. I’ve heard nothing from them.” She has received only one insight: “I called the Office of Head Start central office in DC and they said, ‘Oh, we’re sorry. This isn’t an Office of Head Start problem. This is a Treasury Department issue.’” Guidance sent to NGOs by the National Head Start Association, which represents service providers, confirms they too have been told that the problem is with the Treasury.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/claims-about-usaid-funding-are-spreading-online-many-are-not-based-on-facts/ar-AA1yCpAD
To be clear, the article states that USAID did not fund the opera, though the taxpayer did fund such an opera. I'll post more below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdw31c6HPCI
Where can one obtain this transgender opera? Was it ever written? Does an English translation exist?
Joe Biden? Check.
Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken? Check.
New York Attorney General Letitia James? Check. (Note: she also lost her membership cards to The Waffle House and Golden Corral)
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg? Check.
former national security adviser Jake Sulivan? Check.
Biden's deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco? Check.
Lawyers Andrew Weismann? Mark Zaid? Norm Eisen? Triple check.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-revokes-security-clearance-letitia-james-alvin-bragg-2028357
Donald Trump said in an exclusive interview with the New York Post on Saturday that he revoked the security clearance for some former Democratic officials and current legal authorities, following his decision to do the same for former President Joe Biden earlier this week.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment by email on Saturday afternoon.
Why It Matters
Trump announced on Friday that he had revoked Biden's security clearance and discontinuing the daily intelligence briefings that Biden had been receiving—retaliation for Biden doing the same to Trump in 2021 due to "erratic behavior" and the concern he would disclose sensitive information.
Traditionally, former presidents continue to receive intelligence briefings even after leaving office. However, in a post on Friday, Trump claimed that Biden used his tenure to instruct the intelligence community to prevent Trump from accessing national security information after he left office.
Trump on Saturday told the New York Post in an exclusive interview that he would revoke the clearance of eight additional Democrats, which the newspaper wrote was meant to "punish" them. Without their clearance, the officials will not be allowed to access classified information or enter federal facilities.
Each of those listed were at some point involved with investigations into Trump.
Christian School Teacher and Conservative Writer Who Accused LGBTQ People of 'Grooming' Kids Charged with Molesting Student
The man described himself on X as "Christian, Conservative, Educator, podcaster, Writer."
A Christian school teacher and conservative writer who accused LGBTQ+ people of "grooming" kids was arrested and charged with molesting a child.
Aaron Craig Gleason, 39, was arrested on Tuesday in Okaloosa, Florida, and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under the age of 12, according to jail records.
In addition to being a teacher and a soccer coach, Gleason was also a writer who had pieces published in conservative news outlets, such as The Daily Wire, The Federalist and The Imaginative Conservative, as reported by LGBTQ Nation.
Gleason's author page still remains active for The Federalist, but has since been taken down from The Daily Wire, the outlet reported citing internet archives.
The 39-year-old described himself as "Christian, Conservative, Educator, podcaster, Writer," according to his X account. In one tweet from June 2024, Gleason appeared equate posting the Ten Commandments in a classroom to hanging a pride flag.
Gleason also commented on a video shared by Timcast News, which is led by anti-LGBTQ+ influencer Tim Pool, of protestors at New York City's 2023 Drag March shouting, "We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children."
The judge ordered that DOGE cannot access the systems until another judge reviews the case of Feb 14, and orders them to destroy all of their work
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-temporarily-blocks-musks-doge-accessing-payment-systems-2025-02-08/
US judge temporarily blocks Musk's DOGE from accessing payment systems
A federal judge early Saturday temporarily blocked billionaire Elon Musk's government efficiency team and Trump administration political appointees from accessing government systems used to process trillions of dollars in payments, citing a risk that sensitive information could be improperly disclosed.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan issued the order, opens new tab after a coalition of 19 mostly Democratic-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit late Friday arguing Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has no legal power to access the U.S. Department of Treasury systems.
The lawsuit said Musk and his team could disrupt federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and other programs, and that Republican President Donald Trump could use the information to further his political agenda.
The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, said the states' claims were "particularly strong" and warranted him acting on their request for emergency relief pending a further hearing before another judge on February 14.
Engelmayer's order bars access from being granted to Treasury Department payment and data systems by employees outside the Treasury Department.
The judge also directed that anyone prohibited under his order from accessing those systems to immediately destroy anything they copied or downloaded.
.
A federal court recently ended a four-year-old court battle waged by an atheist advocacy group seeking to reverse a Trump-era regulation barring universities from restricting students groups’ religious freedoms on college campuses.
The U.S. District Court for the District Court of Columbia on Jan. 15 ruled in favor of Trump’s 2020 “Free Inquiry Rule,” which allows student groups to have leaders who reflect the organization’s beliefs.
The Secular Student Alliance had sued Biden’s Department of Education in 2021 seeking to overturn the rule, arguing it is discriminatory.
“The rule gives religious student clubs the absolute right to use religion to discriminate while still receiving official university recognition and funding,” the alliance previously stated.
“The rule thus undermines the nondiscrimination policies that many colleges and universities have enacted to ensure that clubs don’t reject students from membership or leadership positions on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other protected characteristics.”
The lawsuit had been placed on hold in the courts as the U.S. Department of Education considered revoking the Free Inquiry Rule through the proper administrative channels, but still had not concluded that process at the time of Trump’s reelection.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/court-ruling-kills-atheist-groups-lawsuit-seeking-to-restrict-college-students-religious-rights/
A Houston man who was recently pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has been arrested on an outstanding child sex crimes charge.
Andrew Taake, 36, was taken into custody on Thursday after spending more than two weeks as a fugitive, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said. He had previously been charged with online solicitation of a minor stemming from a 2016 incident in which he allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl.
Taake was among the roughly 1,600 people, including 120 Texans, who were charged for their roles in the U.S. Capitol riot, which ultimately resulted in five deaths, injuries to 140 police officers, at least $2.8 million in damage and roughly 1,575 federal criminal cases.
Federal prosecutors said Taake used bear spray and a metal whip to assault officers, and that he was caught after bragging about the incident to a woman he met on an online dating app. Screenshots of his messages to the woman, who later alerted law enforcement, show that he sent a selfie of himself to the woman that he said was taken “about 30 minutes” after the incident, according to court records.
In June, he was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty in 2023, but was released from federal prison in Colorado following Trump’s sweeping Jan. 20 pardon of those charged for partaking in the melee.
Taake’s release was condemned by Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who said that his office had faxed a copy of Taake’s outstanding warrant to the Federal Bureau of Prisons five days before he was pardoned. After about two weeks on the lam, Taake was located and arrested at a residence in Leon County, Texas, the Harris County DA said Thursday.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-world-leaders-2027934
Donald Trump's Approval Rating Is Better Than Most World Leaders
Donald Trump's approval rating is better than most world leaders, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by Morning Consult between January 21 and 27, showed Trump beating all but four world leaders.
Why It Matters
Trump's strong approval ratings compared to other world leaders highlights his enduring political influence, both domestically and internationally.
What To Know
The poll showed that Trump's approval rating stands at 52 percent, while 38 percent disapprove of him. Ten percent of those polled answered that they don't know if they approve or disapprove of him.
Only four world leaders beat Trump in the rankings: Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, Argentine President Javier Milei, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi had the highest approval rating of all the world leaders, with 75 percent saying they approved of him and 19 percent disapproving. He was followed by Sheinbaum with 66 percent approval and 26 percent disapproval.
Milei was next with an approval rating of 65 percent and a disapproval rating of 30 percent, while Keller-Sutter had an approval rating of 56 percent and a disapproval rating of 20 percent.
Among the least popular world leaders were Canada's Justin Trudeau, with whom Trump has been embroiled in a row over tariffs. Just 22 percent of those polled said they approve of Trudeau, who announced last month that he would resign after facing growing calls from within his own party to quit. His disapproval rating was 71 percent.
Germany's Olaf Schulz and France's Emmanuel Macron were also near the bottom. Only 20 percent said they approve of Schulz, and 18 percent said they approve of Macron.
https://www.newsweek.com/la-protest-teenager-stabbed-amid-trump-immigration-policy-demonstration-2028182
ALos Angeles protest against President Donald Trump's mass deportations has been shut down after a teenage boy was stabbed.
Aerial footage from KTLA television captured the aftermath of the confrontation, revealing a bloodied individual.
Newsweek has reached out to the LAPD via email for comment.
Why it matters
The new Trump administration has vowed to conduct the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.
Since returning to office, Trump has signed numerous executive orders on immigration. They include deploying the military at the border, deporting migrants directly back to their country of origin, and expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) powers.
Those new powers allow ICE to target migrants at sensitive locations, like schools and churches, for arrests and potential deportations.
While 55% of Americans broadly support Trump's deportation plans, the ICE raids and arrests across the country at sensitive locations have faced strong backlash.
Just before 2 p.m. PT, the LAPD reported that a Hispanic teenage male had been stabbed at Grand Park, located outside city hall.
He was promptly transported to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
Video from the scene captured a violent confrontation between several individuals during the march shortly before the stabbing incident.
Local media reports that a teenage suspect has been arrested in connection with the stabbing, while the protest was shut down and declared an "unlawful assembly" by the LAPD.
Neither the victim nor the suspect have been named.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the primary U.S. nonprofit fighting child sexual exploitation, said Friday that it is removing all references to transgender people from its public materials.
The move is in accordance with an executive order President Trump signed last week, which bars federal funding that goes to “gender ideology” and makes it the official policy of the federal government not to recognize their gender identity.
“Earlier this week, like many federally funded non-profits, NCMEC was directed by DOJ to comply with Executive Order 14168,” a NCMEC spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We are responding to this direction in a balanced way reviewing our publicly facing materials to ensure compliance while not impacting our 40-year mission of child protection.”
As a nonprofit, NCMEC relies heavily on grant money from the Department of Justice. It is the nation’s largest private sector organization to search for missing and exploited children, and it coordinates with law enforcement and tech companies to identify and remove child sexual abuse material.
Derrick Driscoll, NCMEC’s chief operating officer, told NBC News in a phone interview that the organization’s primary operations would not change, but the executive order compelled it to remove materials that mentioned transgender adults and children. He declined to speak about specific reports.
“The direction from DOJ, our grantor, was specifically to review our public-facing platforms and materials for compliance,” he said. “Our ability to locate and recover missing children and to protect victims of child sexual exploitation remains unchanged and will remain unchanged.”
News of the shift at NCMEC was first reported by independent reporter Marisa Kabas.
The White House and Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/02/07/congress/mike-johnson-shutdown-threat-00203080
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries “seemed to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown.”
“We have been negotiating in good faith, trying to get a top-line number. But so far as I know, they’ve been unresponsive the past two days or so,” Johnson said.
The speaker weighed in as anxieties are spiking about the coming March 14 deadline for extending government funding. Democrats have grown wary about cutting a deal with Republicans as President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk move swiftly to unilaterally cut agency funding
Top appropriators have been negotiating in recent weeks about a top-line spending number — a necessary first step toward passing funding for the remainder of fiscal 2025. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee, in fact, said Friday — contra Johnson — that those talks are ongoing.
“That’s not true, he doesn’t know that," Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said when asked about Johnson's comment. "I mean, we heard [from Democrats] yesterday."
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (R-Conn.), said much the same Friday: "The speaker is mistaken. No one has walked away from the table. We sent them an offer yesterday. He should give Chairman Cole a call for a status update."
According to a person familiar with the private talks who was granted anonymity to describe them, Republicans have put multiple topline offers on the table but the House and Senate GOP numbers are still not aligned.
The cost of clean power technologies such as wind, solar and battery technologies are expected to fall further by 2-11% in 2025, breaking last year’s record. According to a latest report by research provider BloombergNEF (BNEF), new wind and solar farms are already undercutting new coal and gas plants on production cost in almost every market globally. Meanwhile, China’s clean technology manufacturing overcapacity has led to rising protectionism in the form of import tariffs by countries to avoid cheap imports upending their own energy markets.
Trade barriers could temporarily stall cost declines, but BNEF still expects the levelized cost of electricity for clean technologies to fall 22-49% by 2035.
BNEF’s Levelized Cost of Electricity report indicates that the global benchmark cost for battery storage projects fell by a third in 2024 to $104 per megawatt-hour (MWh), as a glut in supply due to slower electric vehicle sales led to cheaper prices for battery packs. Meanwhile, the cost of a typical fixed-axis solar farm fell by 21% globally last year. Modules were sold at or below the cost of production, with no signs of the overcapacity in the solar supply chain easing in 2025. Batteries will cross the $100/MWh watershed in 2025, while global benchmarks for wind and solar generation are also set to fall 4% and 2%, respectively.
“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” the account posted in July, according to the Journal’s review of archived posts.
You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the account wrote on X in September. “Normalize Indian hate,” the account wrote the same month, in reference to a post noting the prevalence of people from India in Silicon Valley.
The account, @nullllptr—a misspelling of a keyword in the C++ programming language—was deleted in December, but hundreds of brash, sometimes-sophomoric posts have been archived.
The user appeared to have a special dislike for Indian software engineers. “99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs, they’re going back don’t worry guys,” the user posted in December, referring to large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
In June, the user weighed in on the conflict in the Middle East, offering some sympathy for Israel but also posting, “I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.”
The deleted @nullllptr account previously went by the username @marko_elez, a review of archived posts shows. The user behind the @nullllptr also described themselves as an employee at SpaceX and Starlink.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-posts-d9f11a93
Trump is the real deal.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-signs-executive-order-aimed-south-africa-white-house-official-says-2025-02-07/
During Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Senate confirmation hearing on 30 January, Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic senator from Maryland, pressed the nominee on his past claims that Black people have a stronger immune system than white people and thereby, should receive vaccines on a different schedule than them. “What different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?” Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked the health secretary nominee. Kennedy then referenced a “series of studies” showing that “to particular antigens, Blacks have a much stronger reaction”.
The exchange is cause for alarm for many, as it signified how close a man who holds medically racist beliefs was to becoming the country’s leading health official. Dr Richard Kennedy – an author of the study referenced at the hearing, who is not related to Kennedy – told NPR that while it’s true the immune response to vaccination can vary by race, sex and “potentially dozens of other factors”, the data does not support a change in vaccine schedule based on race.
Alsobrooks went on to characterize the nominee’s incorrect interpretation of medical research as “dangerous”, noting the potential for the misinformation to have far-reaching and tangible effects on people’s lives. Shannon Cavanagh, the department chair of sociology at University of Texas, Austin, agreed with this sentiment, telling the Guardian that ideas like Kennedy’s could be used to rationalize the lack of care for an under-served population. She noted that even though false claims that Black people possess a stronger immune system or higher pain tolerance persist, the demographic actually suffers from higher maternal mortality rates and lower life expectancy than other groups.
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/nasa-dei-website-20146613.php
NASA, which is currently led by a woman, doesn't want its websites to mention women in leadership. The space agency is being quite thorough in its compliance with President Donald Trump's executive order against programs promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). Per a Jan. 22 directive obtained by 404 Media, space agency employees were recently told to purge public sites of mentions of DEI, Indigenous people, environmental justice, and women in leadership.
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cg7zp1dgmxmo
Not only is there water and forestry horribly mismanaged, but this is yet another instance of one of their utility companies burning down entire towns full of people.
California literally can't even bring people electricity without murdering them.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/06/us/southern-california-edison-hudson-hurst-fire/index.html
California utility company says its equipment may have sparked a Los Angeles-area wildfire
California utility company Southern California Edison on Thursday said its equipment “may be associated with” the ignition of the Hurst Fire, which burned alongside the Eaton and Palisades fires during January’s Los Angeles firestorms.
The admission came amid a required filing with the state’s utility regulators
Last month, the company acknowledged fire agencies were investigating if its equipment may have started the Hurst Fire, which burned approximately 799 acres in Los Angeles County. The fire burned for eight days before being fully contained on January 16, but it did not destroy any structures or lead to any deaths, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.
“Absent additional evidence, SCE believes its equipment may be associated with the ignition of the Hurst Fire,” Thursday’s filing said. SoCal Edison said it continues to cooperate with authorities as the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Los Angeles County’s Coordinated Joint Information Center and the Los Angeles County Fire Department both declined to comment on the filing.
CNN has also reached out to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass for comment on the company’s admission.
>No tax on tips
>No tax on overtime
>Tax cuts for 'Made in America' projects
>No tax break for rich sportsclub owners
Not even you democrat voters and shills can hate this.
A self-proclaimed democrat "strategist" has claimed to of lost 50 pounds since Donald trump begun his term, due to being unable to afford food. the whale has used her story of losing a jaw dropping 50 pounds within 2.5weeks to rally followers at democrats protests against the republican president.
"i'm actually down 50 pounds since i can't afford to eat in trump's economy"
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1887565645031874721
On a side note Olivia Julianna has admitted to being on ozempic and when it was brought up, responded with half of the woman in the republican party" are on it too.
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transgender-athletes-3606411fc12efffec95a893351624e1b
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at a signing ceremony in the East Room that included lawmakers and female athletes who have come out in support of a ban, including former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order “upholds the promise of Title IX” and will require “immediate action, including enforcement actions, against schools and athletic associations” that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms.
Well, she wiggles like a glow-worm, she dances like a spinning top
Yeah, she got a crazy partner, you should have seen her reel and rock
Long as she got a dime, the music will never stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqm4Nus6qZI CHUCK + ELO = FIDDLE
As billionaire Elon Musk and his team of young tech engineers rip through the federal government -- forcing scores of federal employees to be put on administrative leave, pressuring more to take buyouts, and crippling agencies that support some of the poorest people in the U.S. and around the world -- he is doing it all with his signature trolling, mocking his critics and targets along the way.
Musk has been essentially live-tweeting his Department of Government Efficiency efforts targeting agencies -- posting nearly 200 times in a 24-hour period alone from Tuesday into Wednesday, according to a review by ABC News.
He has relentlessly mocked his detractors, whether they be members of Congress or affected federal workers and posting about which agencies he plans to target next.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/musk-trolls-critics-federal-workers-doge-targets-us/story?id=118503181
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.
“If they did that they would be obliterated,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters while signing an executive order calling for the U.S. government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”
If Trump were assassinated, Vice President JD Vance would become president and would not necessarily be bound by any instructions left by his predecessor.
Federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years.
Trump ordered the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, who led the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
A threat on Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania where Trump was shot in the ear, according to U.S. officials. But officials at the time said they did not believe Iran was connected to that assassination attempt.
The Justice Department announced in November that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.
The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.
Iranian officials, at the time, dismissed the allegation, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei calling the report a plot by Israel-linked circles to make Iran-U.S. relations more complicated.
Investigators were told of the plan to kill Trump by Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintained a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots, according to the complaint.
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/06/doge-treasury-payments-system-access-trump-musk
The proposed order would limit Treasury Department employees affiliated with DOGE to just two individuals with "read-only" access to the data. This comes in response to a lawsuit aiming to block DOGE's access to sensitive information.
The big picture: The suit that was brought by three federal employees unions alleges Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed DOGE representatives to illegally access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which manages the U.S. government's accounting, central payment systems and public debt.
The order would permit Tom Krause and Marko Elez, who are described in the proposal as "special government employees" in the Treasury Department, access as needed for the performance of their duties, "provided that such access to payment records will be 'read only.'"
Per the proposal, the "Defendants will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service."
Potentially it will be a major investor in TikTok, sharing in its massive profits.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/03/trump-signs-order-to-establish-a-sovereign-wealth-fund-that-he-says-could-buy-tiktok.html
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-orders-plan-for-a-united-states-sovereign-wealth-fund/
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that outlines plans for a government-run sovereign wealth fund to serve as an economic development tool and perhaps be used to buy TikTok.
Among the aims for the fund would be developing infrastructure such as airports and highways, and it could help the U.S. extend its influence in areas such as Panama and Greenland.
“We’re going to stand this thing up within the next 12 months. We’re going to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a media parley. “There’ll be a combination of liquid assets, assets that we have in this country as we work to bring them out for the American people.”
There were no other details for a fund Trump said during his campaign could back “great national endeavors.” He has said tariffs could help provide funding. Other nations use taxes on natural resources, financial transactions and carbon use as funding mechanisms.
A discussed deal in which the U.S. would become a partner in social media platform TikTok would be one potential use, Trump said. Trump signed an order allowing it back for a 75-day period during which it likely will have to divest itself of Chinese interests.
Nations with the funds include China, Norway and Singapore. A U.S. fund could help it compete with those countries and might make the government less dependent on issuing Treasury debt to raise money.
How Trump arrived at his stunning idea to ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip
Trump administration officials are hurrying to catch up to the president’s audacious and improbable plan for the United States to take ownership of Gaza and redevelop it into a “Middle Eastern Riviera,” trying to wrap their heads around an idea that some hope might be so outlandish it forces other nations to step in with their own proposals for the Palestinian enclave.
President Donald Trump’s idea — announced Tuesday evening at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — was formulated over time, people familiar with the matter said, and appeared to originate with the president himself. It was only the latest reminder that policy ideas often start with Trump, rather than slowly build through national experts before ultimately reaching the Oval Office for discussion.
At its root, officials said, this suggestion was intended in part to spur action on an issue Trump viewed as moribund, with no other nations offering reasonable solutions for how to rebuild an area that has been obliterated by Israeli bombardment following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/02/elon-musk-bureaucratic-coup/681559/
Elon Musk is not the president, but it does appear that he—a foreign-born, unelected billionaire who was not confirmed by Congress—is exercising profound influence over the federal government of the United States, seizing control of information, payments systems, and personnel management. It is nothing short of an administrative coup.
As the head of an improvised team within the Trump administration with completely ambiguous power (the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, in reference to a meme about a Shiba Inu), Musk has managed quite a lot in the two weeks since Inauguration Day. He has barged into at least one government building and made plans to end leases or sell some of them (three leases have been terminated so far, according to Stephen Ehikian, the General Services Administration’s acting administrator). He has called in employees from Tesla and the Boring Company to oversee broad workforce cuts, including at the Office of Personnel Management (one of Musk’s appointed advisers, according to Wired, is just 21 years old, while another graduated from high school last year). During this time, OPM staffers, presumably affiliated with DOGE, reportedly set up an “on-premise” email server that may be vulnerable to hacking and able to collect data on government employees—one that a lawsuit brought by two federal workers argues violates the E-Government Act of 2002 (there has not yet been a response to the complaint). Musk’s people have also reportedly gained access to the Treasury’s payments system—used to disburse more than $5 trillion to Americans each year (a national-security risk, according to Senator Ron Wyden, a democrat from Oregon)—as well as computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of civil servants.
Libshits have been continually imploding nonstop for like 15 straight days now.
https://apnews.com/live/trump-presidency-updates-day-15
JUST IN: Canada’s Trudeau says Trump tariffs will be postponed by at least 30 days after he promises more cooperation on border
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is seeking to withdraw all papers involving its researchers that are being considered for publication by external scientific journals to allow for a review by the Trump administration, a federal official told Reuters.
The sweeping order came in an email from the CDC's chief science officer on Friday addressed to all division heads at the agency, the official, who has seen the email, told Reuters. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The review is aimed at removing language to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order saying the federal government will only recognize two sexes, male and female. Officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
The withdrawal order, first reported by the Inside Medicine Substack, goes beyond an initial directive on Jan. 21 that federal health agencies pause their own public communications to allow for a review of those materials by Trump appointees.
Inside Medicine published a list of specific words targeted for removal in the communications review, including gender, transgender, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and nonbinary. The federal official said that such a list went out from CDC to its divisions.
The Friday withdrawal order involves all manuscripts written or co-written by CDC scientists. If CDC scientists are co-authors on a paper that originated outside of the agency, they are asked to take their names off the paper, the official said.
Public health experts said the removal of such terms threatens their ability to address all kinds of medical needs as they affect different groups, including those with HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
Nobody was injured in the shooting, which happened around 6.00 am (0500 GMT), at the Clemenceau metro station in central Brussels, prosecutors said, adding there were no indications of a terrorist motive in the incident.
Police initially launched a manhunt in the tunnels of the metro system, which was partially closed after two men carrying machine guns were seen fleeing into the Clemenceau station.
Broadcaster VRT said the shooting was probably drug-related and said the shooters had aimed at one person but had missed.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/several-brussels-metro-stations-closed-after-shooting-2025-02-05/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/33203672/belgian-train-station-gunmen-tunnel-manhunt/
Can we even handle this much winning, bros?
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/03/trump-tariffs-mexico-canada-china-sheinbaum-responds.html
Trump pauses Mexico tariffs for one month after agreement on border troops
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said the United States agreed to pause for one month the implementation of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods from her country.
Sheinbaum said Mexico will immediately reinforce its northern border with 10,000 National Guard soldiers “to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl.”
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that the United States has agreed to pause for one month the implementation of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods from her country.
Sheinbaum also said in a tweet, that after speaking with Trump, Mexico “will immediately reinforce” its northern border with the U.S. with 10,000 National Guard soldiers “to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl.”
“We had a good conversation with President Trump with great respect for our relationship and sovereignty; we reached a series of agreements,” Sheinbaum wrote in the tweet, according to a translation from Spanish.
“The United States is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico,” she wrote.
Just a little over a week into his second term, President Donald Trump took steps to maximize his power, sparking chaos and what critics contend is a constitutional crisis as he challenges the separation of powers that have defined American government for more than 200 years.
The new administration’s most provocative move came this week, as it announced it would temporarily halt federal payments to ensure they complied with Trump’s orders barring diversity programs. The technical-sounding directive had enormous immediate impact before it was blocked by a federal judge, potentially pulling trillions of dollars from police departments, domestic violence shelters, nutrition services and disaster relief programs that rely on federal grants. The administration on Wednesday rescinded the order.
Though the Republican administration denied Medicaid was affected, it acknowledged the online portal allowing states to file for reimbursement from the program was shut down for part of Tuesday in what it insisted was an error.
Legal experts noted the president is explicitly forbidden from cutting off spending for programs that Congress has approved. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to appropriate money and requires the executive to pay it out. A 50-year-old law known as the Impoundment Control Act makes that explicit by prohibiting the president from halting payments on grants or other programs approved by Congress.
“The thing that prevents the president from being an absolute monarch is Congress controls the power of the purse strings,” said Josh Chafetz, a law professor at Georgetown University, adding that even a temporary freeze violates the law. “It’s what guarantees there’s a check on the presidency.”
Democrats and other critics said the move was blatantly unconstitutional.
>we were gonna d-do that anyway!
"we were gonna d-do that anyway!" bros... i got nothing... when is the next democrat party narrative update dropping? We need it and fast.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-wants-early-us-talks-avert-trump-tariffs-2025-02-04/
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-02-02-2025-90db60e88f955a8bb57cb05e99d574d6
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will discuss “victory over Hamas,” countering Iran and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries in his meeting with President Donald Trump.
Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal.
Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from far-right governing partners to resume the war after the first phase ends in early March. He has said Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured in the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/new-bill-to-effectively-kill-anime-other-piracy-in-the-u-s-gets-backing-by-netflix-disney-sony/ar-AA1ykmad?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=7ea107930a654277bb401c7c6035a54a&ei=11
The Motion Pictures Association, comprising Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Sony and more, has backed a new bill bolstering efforts to ban access to anime, live-action, novel, music and other forms of 'piracy' sites in the U.S. and potentially beyond.
Via Torrent Freak, on Jan. 29, 2025, U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) tabled H.R. 791, the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA). If enacted, copyright holders and exclusive licensees (collectively referred to as petitioners) will be able to petition a U.S. District Court to issue a "preliminary" order to certain U.S. service providers, i.e. Google, Cloudflare and broadband providers -- an initial step to forcing them to block customer access to foreign 'piracy' platforms (websites, apps)."
Elon Musk said his “DOGE team” of government efficiency enforcers is shutting down payments to federal contractors, suggesting that the world’s richest man may have access to sensitive systems used at the US Treasury Department.
“The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted on X on Sunday, saying officials reporting to his so-called Department of Government Efficiency are “rapidly shutting down” payments to a Lutheran charity.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to questions about the extent of Musk’s access. President Donald Trump has put the Tesla CEO — and largest donor to his election effort — in charge of an effort to modernize federal information technology.
Musk’s weekend statements follow last week’s departure of David Lebryk, the Treasury Department’s most senior career official, who had been in charge of payment systems at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
Those systems are tightly controlled, and could contain sensitive information on taxpayers, contractors and beneficiaries. Treasury officials have long maintained that its role is to serve as the federal government’s checkbook — and that the decision about whether to approve or deny payment belongs to individual agencies based on funds appropriated by Congress.
“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once,” Musk wrote on X, the social platform he owns.
Musk said DOGE was shutting down payments by the US Department of Health and Human Services to Lutheran Family Services, a faith-based charity that has been providing social services to refugees.
In footage captured by a local sports journalist Bruce Garrioch, loud booing can be heard as Ottawa musician Mandia sang the final bars of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. The jeering became louder as she finished
https://thehill.com/homenews/5121556-watch-fans-boo-us-national-anthem-nhl-game-canada/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u3ce_bOFmds&pp=ygUzQ2FuYWRpYW4gRmFucyBib28gVVMgYW50aGVtIGF0IE5ITCBnYW1lIG92ZXIgdHJhZGUg
You may remember USAID from such films as "We Forced Peru to Sterilize It's Citizens" and "Working Undercover With the CIA To Destabilize Governments"
Musk investigated their spending, and concluded it was so rotten the agency shouldn't even exist.
Democrats are literally imploding over the fact they won't be able to covertly destabilize foreign nations as easily.
https://www.newsweek.com/usaid-shutting-down-elon-musk-2024959
USAID 'Shutting Down'—Elon Musk
Elon Musk said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will be shut down.
The billionaire said during an X Spaces stream early on Monday discussing the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that President Donald Trump "agreed" with him that the agency should be shut down.
"I actually checked with him a few times. Said 'Are you sure?' Yes, so we're shutting it down," Musk said.
Foreign assistance accounts for about 1 percent of the federal budget, and USAID has been one of the agencies targeted by the Trump administration in a crackdown on the federal government and many of its programs.
Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office imposing an unprecedented freeze on foreign assistance that shut down many of USAID's programs, saying his administration will review spending to ensure money is distributed in line with his "America First" foreign policy.
Musk, who formed DOGE with the Trump administration with the aim of finding ways to slash federal spending, claimed during the stream that USAID's work was "incredibly politically partisan" without offering evidence.
"As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm it in but hat we have actually just a ball of worms," Musk said.
"USAID is a ball of worms, there is no apple. And when there is no apple... you've just got to basically get rid of the whole thing. That is why it's got to go. It's beyond repair."
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-tariffs-presidency-news-02-03-25/index.html
President Donald Trump said he agreed to “immediately pause” tariffs on Mexico for a month after speaking with the country’s president. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced US tariffs on his country will also be paused for 30 days. With the tariffs on Mexico and Canada paused, it appears now that just extraordinary new tariffs on China are scheduled to take effect at midnight ET as previously announced.
"OTTAWA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Canada will retaliate against President Donald Trump'snew tariffs with 25% levies on a raft of U.S. imports, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday, warning Americans that Trump's actions would have real consequences for them.
As relations between the long-time allies who share the world's longest land border reach a new low, Trudeau told a news conference he was slapping tariffs on C$155 billion ($107 billion) of U.S. goods. Those on C$30 billion will take effect on Tuesday, the same day as Trump's tariffs, and duties on the remaining C$125 billion in 21 days, he said.
Trudeau's announcement came just hours after Trump ordered 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10% on goods from China, risking a trade war that economists say could slow global growth and reignite inflation.
Trump said he would impose 10% tariff on all energy imports from Canada.
The Canadian leader said tariffs would include American beer, wine and bourbon, as well as fruits and fruit juices, including orange juice from Trump's home state of Florida. Canada would also target goods including clothing, sports equipment and household appliances.
Trudeau said the coming weeks would be difficult for Canadians but that Americans would also suffer from Trump's actions.
"Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities," Trudeau said, addressing U.S. citizens during a press conference in Ottawa.
"They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery store and gas at the pump."
Canada is considering non-tariff measures, potentially relating to critical minerals, energy procurement and other partnerships, Trudeau said."
U.S. consumers will see higher prices at the gas pump from President Donald Trump’s decision on Saturday to apply tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil, according to analysts and fuel traders.
The likely hike in fuel prices reflects the double-edged nature of Trump’s trade protections which are designed to bolster domestic business and pressure U.S. neighbors to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling, but which will also run counter to his promises to tackle inflation.
The U.S. imports some 4 million barrels per day of Canadian oil, 70% of which is processed by refiners in the Midwest. It also imports over 450,000 bpd of Mexican oil, mainly for refiners concentrated around the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Tariffs on those imports mean higher costs for making finished fuels like gasoline, much of which is likely to be passed along to U.S. consumers.
“Expect fuel prices will rise noticeably if oil and refined products are not exempt,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said in a post on social media. He told Reuters in a telephone interview the hit to consumers will get worse the longer the tariffs drag on.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association, which represents U.S. refining companies, said on Saturday it hopes the tariffs are lifted before consumers start to feel the impact.
Trump on Saturday ordered 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10% on goods from China starting on Tuesday to address a national emergency over fentanyl and illegal aliens entering the U.S., White House officials said.
Energy products from Canada will have only a 10% duty, but Mexican energy imports will be charged the full 25%, the officials told reporters.
Trump had initially planned a 25% tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico but cut the Canadian oil tariff in an effort to ease the impact on energy prices, the officials said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/united-states-allow-resumption-mexican-beef-imports-says-mexican-minister-2025-02-01/
The United States will permit Mexican beef imports to resume after signing memorandums to lift a temporary suspension, Mexico's agriculture chief wrote in a post on social media site X on Saturday.
Last November, a Mexican official notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that a positive detection of New World screwworm had been detected in Mexico, triggering the suspension in Mexican beef exports to its northern neighbor.
Mexican Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegue said the USDA's animal and plant health inspection agency had signed the first memorandums to allow the suspension to be lifted, describing the move as an example of collaboration between the two governments.
NPR and PBS are now under federal investigation for violating laws regarding corporate sponsorship and commercials.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-s1-5281162/fcc-npr-pbs-investigation
Trump's FCC chief opens investigation into NPR and PBS
President Trump's new head of the Federal Communications Commissionwaffen has ordered an unfounded investigation of NPR and PBS, with an eye toward unraveling federal funding for democracy.
"I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials," Chairman Brendan Carr shouted this baseless accusation on Wednesday to the presidents and chief executives of NPR and PBS, Katherine Maher and Paula A. Kerger, respectively. "In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements."
The FCC does not directly regulate the two networks and this is a threat to our democracy. Instead, it evaluates the actions of roughly 1,500 public broadcasting stations across the country, which hold licenses granted by the FCC for use of public airwaves for radio and television, even in the digital age.
Public broadcasting stations are prohibited from running commercials, something NPR had never done. Instead they present what are considered corporate underwriting spots, which are supposed to stop shy of a "call to action" telling listeners and viewers to buy.
Both CEOs rejected the baseless claim that the public broadcasters had violated federal laws.
"PBS is proud of the noncommercial educational programming we provide to all Americans through our member stations," Kerger said in a statement shared with NPR. "We work diligently to comply with the FCC's underwriting regulations and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Commission."
South Africa recently passes its land expropriation bill, allowing for the government to seize land without compensation—likening back to a similar land reform bill passed in Zimbabwe years ago, which saw the government seizing farmland without compensation from whites who owned the majority.
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/zimbabwe-takes-back-land-from-blacks-who-were-given-farms-owned-by-white-settlers
In hindsight, Zimbabwe's land reforms were an utter failure, and plunged the country into economic destitution. And with this as the prime example, many fear the same events will unfold in South Africa next (which could see more devastating consequences given South Africa’s larger population to Zimbabwe’s)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/02/trump-cut-aid-south-africa-00202018
In response to this, Trump took to TruthSocial to voice his disapproval of South Africa’s decision, saying it would be a violation of human rights, and threatened to cut off any future aid from the United States to South Africa in protest. In any case, South Africa seems like another powder keg that could go off in the world.
Trudeau told a news conference he was slapping tariffs on C$155 billion ($107 billion) of U.S. goods. Those on C$30 billion will take effect on Tuesday, the same day as Trump's tariffs, and duties on the remaining C$125 billion in 21 days, he said.
Trudeau's announcement came just hours after Trump ordered 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10% on goods from China, risking a trade war that economists say could slow global growth and reignite inflation.
Trump said he would impose 10% tariff on all energy imports from Canada.
The Canadian leader said tariffs would include American beer, wine and bourbon, as well as fruits and fruit juices, including orange juice from Trump's home state of Florida. Canada would also target goods including clothing, sports equipment and household applianceshttps://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-trade-china-mexico-canada-inflation-753a09d56cd318f2eb1d2efe3c43b7d4
WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
Since taking office 11 days ago, President Donald Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
Musk, the billionaire Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab CEO and X owner tasked by Trump to slash the size of the 2.2 million-strong civilian government workforce, has moved swiftly to install allies at the agency known as the Office of Personnel Management.
The two officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said some senior career employees at OPM have had their access revoked to some of the department's data systems..
SACRAMENTO, California — President Donald Trump declared victory on Friday in his long-running water war with California, boasting he sent billions of gallons south — but local officials say they narrowly prevented him from possibly flooding farms.
“Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago — There would have been no fire!” he said in a post on his social media site.
Local officials had to talk the Army Corps of Engineers down after it abruptly alerted them Thursday afternoon it was about to increase flows from two reservoirs to maximum capacity — a move the agency said was in response to Trump directing the federal government to “maximize” water supplies.
Before the Corps ratcheted down its plan, local authorities scrambled to move equipment and warn farms about possible flooding, said Victor Hernandez, who oversees water management on one of the rivers, the Kaweah in Tulare County. He said the Corps gave him one hour notice on Thursday.
“I’ve been here 25 years, and I’ve never been given notice that quick,” Hernandez said. “That was alarming and scary.”
>https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/trump-california-water-00201909
Pentagon agency bans Black History Month in compliance with Trump’s anti-DEI push
Just days before the start of Black History Month, employees from the Pentagon’s intelligence agency received a memo notifying them that all activities related to the annual commemoration were now banned.
According to a memo obtained by NBC News, the Defense Intelligence Agency ordered a pause of all activities and events related to 11 “special observances” in compliance with President Donald Trump’s ban on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs in the federal workplace.
By
Mabinty Quarshie
February 1, 2025 10:48 pm
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/3307825/david-hogg-wins-election-vice-chair-dnc/
https://www.floridadems.org/2025/02/01/14002/
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Parkland, Florida, high school shooting survivor David Hogg won his bid to become one of three vice chairs during the Democratic National Committee election on Saturday.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-email-system
BUT HER EMAILS...
Email Empowerment
Turns out that putting underqualified kids in charge of the federal government's HR agency wasn't the smartest move. Last night, an exploit in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) new home-cooked email server seems to have made it possible for anyone with an email address to blast messages to vast numbers of federal employees.
As a result, over 13,000 employees with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found their inboxes bombarded with spam and messages from vulgar trolls. Some users signed the NOAA up for newsletters from entities like the Church of Scientology, or the Perfect Jean — "Welcome to Jean Perfection," a screenshot reads. One particularly vulgar email offered pointers on Trump's alleged performance at a sexual act. An "Important Weather Alert" warned that the next four years have a 99 percent chance of fecal showers. "Aren't you tired of working for a complete c***?" asked one sender. A missive from a sender identified as "Craig" simply reads "yo."
Ken Klippenstein, the national security reporter who revealed the breach, once again took the opportunity to plug his infamous newsletter with the subject line: "urgent, time sensitive."
If you feel this paints a pretty grim picture of the state of our government agencies, you're not alone. "Goes to show you how fast this [new comms system] was cobbled together," one NOAA employee told Ken Klippenstein. "No security or screening on this address."
Spam of God
The whole thing apparently stems from an overhaul at the OPM led by oligarch-in-chief Elon Musk. On Tuesday, Wired reported that Musk had been given free reign to replace the agency's high-level staff with lackeys from his previous ventures.
![[Aesir]Kamen_Rider_Gaim_-_23HD[F00B8404].mkv_snapshot_18.03_[2014.03.27_10.41.11]](https://i.4cdn.org/news/1738294930526074s.jpg)
>Along with a new year comes a new political direction for the country and a warning to the city's Democratic old guard that "the times, they are changin'."
>Toy has lived in San Francisco's Chinatown for 45 years and she was happy to see so many people visiting her neighborhood. But she was also happy to see so many of her neighbors coming out to vote in the November presidential election.
>"They were in their 80's, 90's–old ladies, old men–they all came out to vote," she said. "Because the way it is happening in America, it is going downhill. For example, with the crime rate going up."
>Toy is a proud supporter of President Trump and it looks like she has a lot of company in the Asian community. The city's Republican Party is reporting a huge swell in GOP registrations of people from Asian countries since the pandemic.
>"What I see is that regular citizens, such as I, we are all fed up with the corruption here in San Francisco and also in California. We are all fed up," she said. "I'm not surprised that they're doing that," said Nancy Yu Law, about the voting shift. "All my friends have changed this year, so I'm not surprised."
>As progressives, Democrats like to see themselves as the party of change. This is one change they may not have seen coming.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Multiple casualties have been reported after a small plane crashed in a residential neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia.
It happened near Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard just after 6 p.m. Friday.
According to the FAA, a Learjet 55 departed from Northeast Philadelphia Airport en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri when it went down.
Police say the plane was on a medical assignment.
There were reportedly six people on board, according to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.
The FAA had initially reported there were two people on board. The agency did not have any update on their condition.
"It was just horrific. I was just driving down the street, coming to Wendy's and I just saw a plane basically hit the building and it exploded. The sky light up and I pulled over and basically it was just real bad around here," said one witness, who described the incident as "Earthquakish.
"It lit up the whole sky," he added.
A large fire burned in the wake of the crash, prompting a significant response. Vehicles could also be seen on fire.
The Philadelphia Fire Department advised residents to avoid the area of Calvert and St. Vincent streets.
The FAA issued a ground stop at Northeast Philadelphia Airport due to "an aircraft incident."
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said his team is communicating with local officials and first responders and is "offering all Commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly."
The FAA and NTSB say it is investigating.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/plane-crash-dca-potomac-washington-dc-01-29-25
Dozens of people are feared dead after a passenger plane traveling from Kansas collided with a military helicopter near Reagan Airport in Arlington, Virginia, and plunged into the Potomac River.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed early Thursday that “both aircraft are in the water,” and that 64 people were aboard the American Airlines plane and three were in the military helicopter.
President Donald Trump said early Thursday morning that the midair collision between a US Army helicopter and American Airlines passenger plane was a “bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented.”
heres the FAA statement on their website about the incident.
A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. local time. PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines. It departed from Wichita, Kansas. The FAA and NTSB will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation.
sources say its 18 fatalities so far as of this post. any thoughts?
Gustavo Petro is ordering all Colombian illegal immigrants to return back to the country. He is offering to pay cash to illegal aliens if they return home immediately .
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/colombian-president-asks-undocumented-colombians-united-states-return-rcna190129
Colombian president asks undocumented Colombians in the United States to return
Colombian air force planes carrying deportees from the U.S. have arrived in Bogota this week.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday urged undocumented Colombians in the United States to quit their jobs “immediately” and return to Colombia.
He added in a post on X that the Department of Social Prosperity would offer credits to returnees who enroll in its programs
Colombian air force planes carrying deportees from the U.S. have arrived in Bogota this week.
Petro over the weekend averted an economic disaster after diplomats from his government and the U.S. reached a deal on deportation flights in a dispute that had led both countries to threaten tariffs and the U.S. to impose visa measures.
An opinion poll indicated that 85% of Greenlanders do not wish their Arctic island - a semi-autonomous Danish territory - to become a part of the United States, with nearly half saying they see interest by U.S. President Donald Trump as a threat.
Trump said earlier this month that Greenland was vital to U.S. security and Denmark should give up control of the strategically important island.
The survey by pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, showed only 6% of Greenlanders are in favour of their island becoming part of the U.S., with 9% undecided.
The poll showed that 45% viewed Trump's interest in Greenland as a threat, with 43% saying they see it as an opportunity, leaving 13% undecided.
Greenland enjoys many of the same welfare benefits as Denmark such as universal healthcare and free education.
Only 8% of those polled said they would be willing to change their Danish citizenship to American, 55% said they would prefer to be Danish citizens, and 37% were undecided.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday she had given full backing to the principle of maintaining respect for international borders, following meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO chief Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
"I am pleased if the survey is an expression that many Greenlanders would like to see a continued close cooperation with Denmark. Probably in a different form than what we know today, because everything changes over time," she told Berlingske in response to the poll.
Denmark said on Monday it would spend 14.6 billion crowns ($2.04 billion) on boosting its military presence in the Arctic.
Living in the U.S.A.
Stand back, dietician
Stand back, television
Stand back, politician
Stand back, mortician
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyV41-tFPcQ Somebody give me a cheeseburger
DC plane crash victims: What we know about those on AA Flight 5342, Army Black Hawk
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/dc-plane-crash-victims-what-we-know-about-those-on-aa-flight-5342-army-black-hawk/ar-AA1y8y0S?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Dozens of people are dead after a regional jet collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night over Washington, D.C., officials said, the nation's first major commercial airline crash since 2009. The aircraft went down in the frigid Potomac River, breaking into multiple pieces. The flight -- which had departed from Wichita, Kansas -- was approaching Reagan National Airport at the time of the collision, officials said.
top kek, learn to code, trannies
Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab is increasing its advertising on billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The major shift comes after the e-commerce giant withdrew much of its advertising from the platform more than a year ago due to concerns over hate speech.
In 2023, Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab also pulled all of its advertising from X and has recently been in discussions about testing ads on the platform, the report said.
Several ad agencies, tech and media companies had also suspended advertising on X following Musk's endorsement of an antisemitic post that falsely accused members of the Jewish community of inciting hatred against white people.
Monthly U.S. ad revenue at social media platform X has declined by at least 55% year-over-year each month since Musk bought the company, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022. He had acknowledged that an extended boycott by advertisers could bankrupt X.
Musk has become one of the most influential figures following President Donald Trump's re-election. He now leads the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to cut $2 trillion in government spending.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday had this stunning finding: While Americans were about evenly split in their views of the Republican Party (43 percent favorable to 45 percent unfavorable), negative views of the Democratic Party outpaced positive ones by 26 points — 31 percent favorable to 57 percent unfavorable. That’s not only a huge imbalance but also an unprecedented one. In fact, Democrats’ 57 percent unfavorable rating is their highest ever in Quinnipiac’s polling, dating back to 2008, while the GOP’s 43 percent favorable rating is its highest ever.
And while this is just one poll, it builds on evidence from other polls. Tracking polling from YouGov, for instance, shows the Democratic Party more unpopular than at any point since January 2017. Similarly, a CNN poll released last week showed that a record-low 33 percent of Americans had a favorable view of the party.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/democrats-brutal-poll-problem/ar-AA1y51Hh
Boeing is working with Trump advisor Elon Musk on ways to deliver delayed, overbudget Air Force One replacements sooner, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Tuesday.
The pair of Boeing 747s that will serve as the next Air Force One aircraft are more than $2 billion over budget and years late, which the company has attributed to design changes, labor constraints and supply chain problems. President Donald Trump struck a deal for the aircraft during his first term, after threatening to “cancel order!” before he took office in 2017, complaining about high costs.
“We’ve been engaged with Elon” on the Air Force One program to eliminate costs and deliver the aircraft earlier, Ortberg said in an interview with CNBC’s Phil Lebeau on “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday, after Boeing released full-year results and its 2025 outlook.
It is not clear whether the aircraft will be delivered before Trump’s current term is up. An Air Force spokesperson told CNBC that an updated delivery schedule from Boeing is expected in the spring.
Trump cut a cake adorned with a model of Air Force One — in a new paint scheme — with a sword at his Jan. 20 inaugural ball.
Musk, whose company SpaceX competes with Boeing’s space unit, has worked closely with Trump in recent months. The billionaire is also heading Trump’s commission that he tasked with reducing government spending.
Musk and the White House didn’t immediately comment.
“The president wants those planes sooner so we’re working with Elon to see what can we do to pull up the schedule of those programs,” Ortberg said.
Boeing in the last quarter took $1.7 billion in pretax charges in its defense and space unit, including for the Air Force One program. Ortberg, who became CEO in August, replaced the head of that business in September with an internal, interim leader.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/business/chickens-avian-flu/index.html
At her first White House briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made an unusual claim about the inflation that has stung American shoppers for years: Leavitt said egg prices have continued to surge because “the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage.”
That’s not exactly correct, and it needs some context.
Those “killings” are required by the Department of Agriculture to contain the spread of the highly contagious avian flu that has afflicted 100 million birds since 2022, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The egg-laying birds either die naturally or are culled to avoid the spread of the deadly virus. It is up to farmers to report an outbreak to state officials and the Department of Agriculture, which will eliminate the impacted flock. Farmers can apply for financial assistance from the USDA if they lose their flocks.
https://files.catbox.moe/iafw5c.mp4
In a scene straight out of Nightcrawler, CBS WUSA9 Anchor pressures man seeking information about his (assumed-dead) wife to show his wife's last text to the camera. The woman (assumedly) died yesterday when her flight, Flight 5342, collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter.
The insensitive thug-shaker's faux pas has thus sparked quite the outrage online, with the video having been deleted from WUSA9's website & YouTube channel.
In October, an employee at Fifth Third Bank on Holcomb Bridge Rd. called 911 to report that another employee, 33-year-old Fedrick Jeffries, had been stealing money from the bank and opening fraudulent accounts.
Investigators learned that between May and October 2024, Jeffries had opened five checking accounts and gotten an unsecured loan of $24,500.
Cont'd:
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/gwinnett-county/gwinnett-bank-teller-accused-stealing-26-million-fraud-scheme/3UOB4MVO7ZAK7LYYZUNSKKN7XY/
here goes:
Mass Effect
Bioware FIRED their Dragon Age team and start to create a new Mass Effect game
https://muropaketti.com/pelit/peliuutiset/bioware-keskittyy-jatkossa-tayspaivaisesti-seuraavaan-mass-effectiin-ylimaaraiset-tyontekijat-heitettiin-studiolta-menemaan/
Gary McKay said "we dont need a studio full of people anymore"
"we will concentrate only on mass effect"
It is unknown how many person Bioware has at this point
Corinne Busche, a female, directed the whole dragon age game, which was not all that well received by gamers, and she left the studio and afterwards rest of the dragon age team was fired by Gary
Mass Effect will be created by males:
Mike Gambler, Preston Wattamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Leyy, Dong Schwarzeh
A Mint Hill man who was pardoned for his conviction from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack was also arrested last fall on child pornography charges.
According to the federal court documents, the FBI and Mint Hill Police carried out a search warrant in November 2023 for the home of David Daniel related to the Jan. 6 allegations. During the search on assault and trespassing charges, agents also recovered his iPhone and several other electronic devices.
Federal investigators were made aware that Mint Hill PD had an open case regarding an alleged sexual assault of a minor. The minor, who was under the age of 12, accused Daniel of taking pictures of her while naked between 2015 and 2019, forcing her to shower with him and performing sexual acts.
A federal search warrant authorized reviewing the electronics seized from the local investigation. The federal affidavit says the contents of a laptop were consistent with the minor’s statements during the forensic interview.
Furthermore, there was an open statutory rape investigation in Forsyth County. During a review of the iPhone seized, the records indicate sexual images of a second minor were observed.
Daniel was charged and arrested on Sept. 20, 2024, on possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a minor related to sexual assault and trafficking of child pornography.
On Jan. 8, 2025, Daniel pleaded guilty to the Jan. 6 charge of assaulting or resisting a police officer. The conviction carried a maximum of eight years in prison; however, President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons quickly cleared the vast majority of the Capitol offenders.
Khalif Rhodes says Daniel’s attorney could argue the pornography charges should be dropped since the images would have never been found if not for the Capitol breach investigation.
While all new presidential administrations bring a swath of fresh faces to government offices, President Donald Trump’s Office of Personnel Management will reportedly have a handful of wide-eyed Gen Zers taking top spots within the agency.
Among the new hires for the body overseeing federal hiring and firing is a 21-year-old and a 2024 high school graduate, Wired reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources within the federal government. The 21-year-old will serve as a senior advisor to Scott Kupor, Trump’s pick for the director of OPM, and the newly graduated high schooler will directly report to the agency’s chief of staff Amanda Scales, according to the outlet. Wired did not name the two individuals out of sensitivity to their ages.
The incoming Trump administration is evidently not opposed to hiring young people. Karoline Leavitt, who made her debut as White House press secretary Tuesday, is the youngest person to hold the position, at 27.
The onslaught of unconventional new hires reflects Trump’s sweeping approach to hirings, firings, and freezes that has so far shuffled at least 240 government employees. These changes are complementary to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency Services, which replaced the Obama-era U.S. Digital Services. DOGE’s goal is to overhaul federal bureaucracy through cost-cutting, and eliminating what the administration sees as unnecessary roles.
New hires with ties to Musk
https://www.rp.pl/praca-emerytury-i-renty/art41723041-ujawniono-wnioski-z-tajnego-raportu-zus-milionom-polakow-grozi-emerytalne-ubostwo
This is kinda the same boat most of Europe is in now
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/29/white-house-rescinds-federal-funds-freeze-memo.html
The White House on Wednesday formally rescinded a controversial memo that had ordered a freeze on federal grants and loans to give agencies time to review programs for their compliance with President Donald Trump's agenda, NBC News reported.
The freeze, which had been set to take effect late Tuesday afternoon, was paused by a federal judge until Monday to give her time to consider arguments by nonprofit groups challenging its legality.
The memo ordering the freeze had been issued by the Office of Management and Budget. It immediately sparked confusion about which programs would be affected and was suspected of causing Medicaid reimbursement portals to go offline for all 50 states on Tuesday.
Acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth, in a new memo issued Wednesday, wrote, "OMB Memorandum M-25-13 is rescinded. If you have any questions about implementing the President's Executive Orders, please contact your agency General Counsel."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Wednesday, "As you know, Donald Trump just rescinded his horrible OMB freeze," and called on Trump to "rescind Russell Vought's nomination" for director of OMB.
"Russell Vought is the chief cook and bottle washer," Schumer said. "We believe they'll come back and try to do this in other ways. Russell Vought sat in my office and said he was going to do it."
"We don't believe they'll stop," Schumer said. "This has been their goal, to hurt what they're basically doing is being lawless, to hurt families, to help their billionaire friends. And so they're going to keep at it. We're going to keep at it. I don't think this would have happened except for the outcry throughout America."
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/29/politics/bob-menendez-sentencing/index.html
Former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison following his conviction on bribery and corruption charges after taking cash, a Mercedes Benz and gold bars as bribes in exchange for helping three businessmen and the Egyptian government.
The sentencing marks a dramatic fall for the lawmaker born to Cuban emigres who got his start in politics in Union City, New Jersey, and became one of the most powerful senators as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez was convicted last year of 16 felony counts for the long-running corruption scheme, making him the first US senator charged and convicted of acting as an agent of a foreign government.
“The public cannot be led to the belief that you can get away with bribery, fraud and betrayal,” said District Judge Sidney Stein.
“I don’t know what led you to this – greed was certainly part of it,” Stein added. “But that can’t be it, I don’t think that explains everything. Hubris was part of it, I don’t know. You’ll have to try to figure that out yourself over time.”
Menendez teared up as he spoke in court. “You have before you a chastened man,” he told the judge.
“Other than family, I have lost everything I ever cared about,” he added. “For someone who spent his entire life in public service, every day I’m awake is a punishment.”
Adam Fee, Menendez’s attorney, argued in court that the former senator deserved credit for his decades in public service.
“For nearly 50 years he’s been tireless servant of his community, his state and his country,” Fee said. “Despite his decades of service he is known more widely as ‘Gold Bar Bob.’”
A bill to add a carving of President Donald Trump to Mount Rushmore has been introduced by a MAGA politician.
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna announced the bill Tuesday calling for Trump to be added to the South Dakota monument with the message: "Let's get carving."
Newsweek has contacted the White House and Luna for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
The proposal is the latest attempt to commemorate the Republican following his return to the White House, signaling that Trump's staunch supporters continue to show strong support for the president in his second term.
Luna, who represents Florida's 13th Congressional District, introduced a bill calling for a carving of Trump to be included on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial alongside former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
The bill is unlikely to receive the bipartisan support needed to pass Congress.
North Carolina Representative Addison McDowell introduced a bill last week to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump.
Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles also introduced a long-shot bill to amend the Constitution to allow Trump to run for a third term.
Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who carved the Mount Rushmore memorial, selected the four presidents because they represented the "most important events" in U.S. history, according to the National Park Service.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/google-reclassifies-us-as-sensitive-country-like-china-russia-.html