Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 53 | Blog#42
News worth repeating
60 percent of voters unhappy with DOGE handling of federal workers
A majority of voters are unhappy with the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) handling of federal workers, according to a new poll.
When asked about “the way Elon Musk and DOGE are dealing with workers employed by the federal government,” 60 percent of respondents in the Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters said they are not supportive of it. Thirty-six percent said they are supportive of the way Musk and DOGE are dealing with federal workers.
Musk and DOGE have been trying to slash their way through the federal government, offering buyouts to and laying off scores of workers. Many of their actions are now the subject of lawsuits.
Continue reading at The Hill
Johns Hopkins to slash 2,200 jobs after Trump admin's USAID cuts
Johns Hopkins University said Thursday it's axing more than 2,200 jobs in the U.S. and overseas due to the Trump administration ending over $800 million in USAID funding.
The big picture: The Baltimore-based university that's the largest private employer in Maryland appears to be among the hardest-hit research institutions affected by the Trump administration's federal cuts.
Johns Hopkins said the cuts have forced it to "wind down critical work" in Baltimore and internationally.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this week the Trump administration was canceling 83% of USAID programs.
Driving the news: "We can confirm that the elimination of foreign aid funding has led to the loss of 1,975 positions in 44 countries internationally and 247 in the United States in the affected programs," the university said in an emailed statement Thursday evening.
"An additional 29 international and 78 domestic employees will be furloughed with a reduced schedule."
The university said it's proud of the work at places impacted by the cuts.
Continue reading at Axios
Lower-income customers struggling to afford "basic essentials," CEO says
Lower-income American consumers are feeling stretched as they shop for basic items, according to two leading discount retailers.
Why it matters: Financially distressed individuals are at the greatest risk when the economy begins wobbling.
The big picture: Walmart and Dollar General are raising red flags.
"Many of our customers report that only have enough money for basic essentials, with some noting that they have had to sacrifice even on the necessities," Dollar General CEO Todd J. Vasos said Thursday on an earnings call.
Walmart has seen a similar trend. "You can see that the money runs out before the month is gone," CEO Doug McMillon told the Economic Club of Chicago two weeks ago. "You can see that people are buying smaller pack sizes at the end of the month."
Zoom in: Dollar General — which stands to benefit from a rise in the number of budget-conscious customers — exceeded revenue expectations in its most recent quarter reported Thursday.
Continue reading at Axios
Majority of Americans think Trump is too close to Russia
A majority of Americans think President Trump is too closely aligned with Russia, including more than a quarter of Republicans, a poll released Thursday found.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey found 56 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the president is too close to Moscow, which included 27 percent of Republicans and 89 percent of Democrats.
Forty-four percent of Americans surveyed said they support Trump’s plan to condition military aid to Ukraine and the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, the poll found. That support included two-thirds of Republicans and 1 in 5 Democrats.
The poll was conducted over two days this week and completed on Wednesday, amid negotiations over a U.S.-proposed ceasefire deal aimed to end the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump's tariffs spark "Boycott USA" backlash
President Trump's tariffs that targeted Canada, Mexico and China before being expanded to all steel and aluminum imports have not only triggered trade wars, they're also leading to a "Boycott USA" global consumer backlash against U.S. goods.
The big picture: "Boycott USA" has spiked on Google in the past seven days, with four EU countries and Canada topping the search list and multiple countries have large Facebook groups dedicated to boycotting U.S. products.
Zoom in: One of the biggest regions for this pushback is Denmark, where Trump's talk of taking over its semi-autonomous territory Greenland has provoked anger.
The Danish "Boycott goods from the U.S." Facebook page has nearly 73,000 members and Denmark had the second-highest search number of searches for "Boycott USA" this week after Luxembourg.
In neighboring Sweden, the fourth-biggest "Boycott USA" search region on Google, a Facebook page that says using a U.S. platform is "the best weapon" in the drive against U.S. goods has nearly 80,000 members.
France ranked at no.3 on Google for "Boycott USA" searches. The country's "BOYCOTT USA: Buy French and European!" Facebook page has more than 20,000 members.
Canada is another top backlash spot due to Trump making the closest ally of the U.S. a top tariff target and his desire to make the North American country the 51st state, ranking at no.5 on Google for "Boycott USA" searches.
Continue reading at Axios
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Yesterday’s post
Your financial support is what will keep me going…
I publish a daily news post, updated all throughout the day (and night), seven days a week. I publish it free to all because it is more important to me to keep us all informed, but it does take me from 04:00 through the evening to curate the news. I also publish 2-4 opinion pieces per week, also free. I am committed to doing this work for the duration of this administration.
Please support me by subscribing for $5 a month.
Thank you.
Today’s news
Trump rolls back over a dozen Biden-era executive orders, actions
Trump signed an executive order late Friday that rescinded 18 executive actions signed by Biden during his four-year term in an effort to “reverse damaging policies and restore effective government,” according to a White House official.
With Friday’s executive order signed, Trump has reversed nearly 100 executive actions in his first two months back in office as he moves to reshape the federal government.
Trump rescinded Biden’s executive action that “elevated radical gender ideology in U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid.” Since returning to office, Trump has sought to roll back transgender rights, including signing an executive order recognizing only two sexes.
The previous administration also authorized the Department of Energy to utilize the Defense Production Act (DPA), first enacted in 1950, to expand the U.S. manufacturing of clean energy technology. That was ended Friday, including “mandates” for electric heat pumps and solar panels.
Trump also revoked an executive order, signed by Biden in 2024, focused on bettering labor standards. Biden’s order directed federal agencies to prioritize various labor practices, including high wages, a pathway to joining a union and safety in the workplace.
Continue reading at The Hill
Starmer tells Putin to ditch ‘delaying tactics’ as UK hosts fresh Ukraine allies call
British prime minister will on Saturday try to firm up so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ meant to give a ceasefire teeth.
LONDON — Keir Starmer urged Vladimir Putin to stop “playing games” or face more economic pain, as he prepared to host a call with allies Saturday on policing any ceasefire agreed for Ukraine.
The British leader — who has been among those trying to assemble a "coalition of the willing" to give a Ukraine deal meaningful security guarantees — accused the Russian president of “trying to delay” peace by laying out a host of conditions before a ceasefire can take place.
“The world needs to see action, not a study or empty words and pointless conditions," Starmer said. He warned that if Russia fails to engage, Ukraine's allies will need to ramp up the economic pressure on Moscow to comply.
“We can’t allow President Putin to play games with President Trump’s deal," Starmer said in a statement released by No. 10 Downing Street Friday evening. "The Kremlin’s complete disregard for President Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace."
In a televised address Thursday, Russia’s president laid out a raft of caveats for accepting the proposal put forward by the U.S. and Ukraine to end the Kremlin’s war. Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the U.S. has “some cautious optimism” that a ceasefire deal could succeed.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
US expels South African ambassador, saying he 'hates' Trump
Washington (AFP) – The US decision to expel South Africa's ambassador was "regrettable," the office of the South African president said Saturday, after Washington's top diplomat accused the envoy of hating America and President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that South Africa's ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, was "no longer welcome" in the United States.
Rasool is "a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS," Rubio posted on X, referring to Trump by his White House X account handle.
"We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA."
South Africa's presidency said in a statement it had "noted the regrettable expulsion" and urged "all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter."
"South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America," the presidency said.
Continue reading at France 24
Russia and Ukraine launch aerial attacks amid proposed ceasefire talks
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded heavy aerial blows overnight Saturday, with both sides reporting more than 100 enemy drones over their respective territories.
The attack comes less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine,
Volgograd regional Gov. Andrei Bocharov confirmed that falling drone debris had sparked a fire in the Krasnoarmeysky district of the city close to a Lukoil oil refinery, but provided no further details. Nearby airports temporarily halted flights, local media outlets reported. No casualties were reported.
The Volgograd refinery has been targeted by Kyiv’s forces on several occasions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, most recently in a drone attack on Feb. 15.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Hamas says it will only release American-Israeli hostage if truce agreement is implemented
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas said Saturday it would only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements the existing ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, calling it an “exceptional deal” aimed at getting the truce back on track.
A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Why Trump is singling out South Africa and accusing it of being anti-white and anti-American
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The Trump administration’s decision to expel the South African ambassador is its latest move against a country it has singled out for sanctions and accused of being anti-white and anti-American.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was “no longer welcome in our great country” and said he was “a race-baiting politician” who hates America and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rubio’s post didn’t explain what was behind the decision but linked to a story by the conservative Breitbart news site. The story reported on a talk Rasool gave Friday on a webinar where he said the Make America Great Again movement could be seen as being a response to “a supremacist instinct.”
Trump had already issued an executive order last month cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the Black-led South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Where Gen Zers are buying homes
More Gen Zers are looking to break into the home market, new data shows.
Why it matters: High housing costs and a supply crunch have made it harder, especially for younger people, to become homeowners.
The big picture: Gen Z represented 13% of U.S. home mortgage applications in 2024, up from 10% in 2023, according to an analysis by CoreLogic, an industry data provider.
Relatively affordable parts of the Midwest and South saw the highest Gen Z shares, while pricey coastal metros lagged behind.
Between the lines: Gen Zers, those roughly ages 12–28 today, are expected to make up a bigger piece of the homebuying pie as they get older.
CoreLogic researchers analyzed 2024 mortgage applications, accepted or not, and they excluded investors, second-home buyers and cash buyers.
Reality check: Many who take the plunge get help from Mom and Dad.
Continue reading at Axios
Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of Ukraine war, new polls show
The polls this week show doubt among voters, as Trump looks to close a deal with Russia to end the war.
A majority of Americans disapprove of how President Donald Trump is engaging with Russia and Ukraine to end the war between the two countries, according to two new polls released this week.
Trump has cast himself as the central figure in brokering a peace in the yearslong war that Russia started. Trump has been hot and cold on the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, since entering office, and has also repeatedly thrown blame on Ukraine for the war. He has also sought to normalize relations with the Kremlin — while occasionally threatening devastating economic sanctions — and has repeatedly touted his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A new poll from CNN released Friday found 59 percent of Americans said it’s not too likely, or not at all likely, that Trump’s approach will bring long-term peace to Ukraine, with 41 percent saying it’s at least somewhat likely. Another 59 percent disapprove of Trump’s handling of the U.S.’ relationship with Russia — and 55 percent disapprove of how he’s handled “the situation” in Ukraine.
Half of the Americans polled said Trump’s approach to the war is bad for the U.S., with 29 percent saying it’s good for the country, and the balance said it didn’t make a difference.
Continue reading at Politico
Charlamagne tha God: Schumer, Jeffries should step down
Radio host Charlamagne tha God on Friday slammed Democrats leadership in Congress, calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to step aside.
“The party of inaction, the Democrats, have failed to protect the interest of the American people,” he said on his radio show “The Breakfast Club.” “And you know why Dems suck at messaging? Because they never talking about nothing and they do nothing.”
“Dems don’t just have a messaging problem. They got a leadership problem,” he continued. “The Chuck Schumers of the world, the Hakeem Jeffries’s, they should all step down.”
His comments come amid internal turmoil within the party, which was only exacerbated further when Schumer broke with his party’s ranks to vote to advance the GOP-backed spending bill in the Senate.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump says ISIS chief killed in Iraq
President Trump on Friday announced that ISIS’s second in command was killed in Iraq this week, touting it as an example of his administration’s “peace through strength” military philosophy.
“He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters,” the president wrote on Truth Social Friday evening. “His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
U.S. Central Command confirmed the March 13 operation on Friday. According to officials, U.S. forces in coordination with Iraqi forces conducted a precision airstrike in the Al Anbar province and killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as “Abu Khadijah.”
Continue reading at The Hill
What court orders? Trump’s moving full steam ahead to slash more federal workers
White House officials were unfazed.
White House officials call court rulings to reinstate fired federal workers’ judicial activism. Federal agencies — from the Department of Defense to the Energy Department — are giving wildly varied guidance. Even sacked workers don’t know if they’ll return to the job.
Far from clarifying the issue, the White House and federal agencies are handling two sweeping Thursday court rulings to rehire fired probationary federal workers with disparate responses — a sign that the confusion created by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will likely continue as the administration vows to continue its push to overhaul Washington.
At the White House, officials were unfazed by a major legal setback to Musk. Two people familiar with the White House plans, granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, say the administration plans to appeal the rulings. But in the meantime, they say this is not going to impact how the White House does business.
When it comes to reducing the size of government, “planning is moving full steam ahead,” one of the people said. In fact, they say the court rulings are helpful communication tools to build a “narrative about out of control liberal judges telling the executive who they can hire and fire.”
Continue reading at Politico
Dems' bitter debate: Fight vs. fold
The most urgent divide within the Democratic Party is less ideological than tactical: if the Dems stand and fight on every front or pick their battles.
Why it matters: The split is epitomized by the feud over whether Democrats should have let the government shut down on Friday, but it's bigger than that. The base is bracing for a four-year political war against a power-hungry president, but their representatives aren't all in battle formation.
As Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's chief of staff Anne Caprara put it, it's "team fight" vs. team "cave," and "team fight stretches across the ideological spectrum."
The other side of the debate argues that fighting for the sake of fighting — including by triggering a shutdown that empowers President Trump to wreak further havoc across the federal government — is a fool's errand.
Driving the news: The most glaring example of that split is between two prominent New York Democrats.
Continue reading at Axios
Extreme weather expected Saturday gets rarely used ‘high risk’ designation
ATLANTA (AP) — A dynamic storm system threatening to spawn powerful tornadoes and hail as big as baseballs has earned a relatively rare designation from forecasters: A “high risk” day of severe weather.
Parts of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois saw some of the most extreme weather on Friday, with the system forecast to take aim Saturday at southern states including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which should be long-track and potentially violent, are expected on Saturday afternoon and evening,” the federal Storm Prediction Center said in its latest forecast.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Trump signs order to dismantle seven federal agencies focused on media, libraries, homelessness
President Trump on Friday signed an executive order that aims to eliminate seven federal agencies, including ones that focus on media, libraries, museums and ending homelessness.
The president directed the government entities “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” insisting they “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel.” It ordered the heads of each entity submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance within seven days.
[…]
He also dismantled the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, which aims to prevent and end homelessness in the U.S., the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which focuses on preventing, minimizing, and resolving work stoppages and labor disputes, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which aims to expand economic opportunity for underserved communities, and the Minority Business Development Agency, which promotes growth of minority-owned businesses.
Amid questions over the future of VOA, Trump had picked former Arizona gubernatorial and Senate candidate Kari Lake to lead the outlet. The Trump ally said at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month the international state media broadcaster won’t be “Trump TV” under her watch.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump pulls security clearance of Paul Weiss law firm
President Trump has continued his attack against prominent law firms, pulling the security clearances of attorneys at New York-based Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (Paul Weiss), and restricting their employees from entering government buildings and receiving funds from federal contracts.
Trump signed the order on Friday, directing that the security clearances of Paul Weiss employees be pulled “pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest,” terminate any contract for which the law firm was hired to perform “any service” and limit government employees from engaging with the firm’s workers while in official capacity.
He also ordered that agency officials should “refrain” from hiring Paui Weiss’s employees “absent a waiver from the head of the agency.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Leavitt says she’ll skip White House Correspondents’ Association dinner
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she will skip the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner slated for late April this year.
“I will not be in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ dinner and that’s breaking news for the Sean Spicer Show,” Leavitt said during her Friday appearance on the show hosted by Sean Spicer, who served as President Trump’s first press secretary during his first term in office.
In early February, Leavitt, who is the youngest White House press secretary, told reporters that the White House had not ruled out the possibility of attending the April 26 dinner at the Washington Hilton.
“I have the president’s invitation on my desk. I have the invitation for myself on my desk as well. Haven’t talked to the president about it,” Leavitt said on Feb. 5.
Continue reading at The Hill
Economic alarm bells are ringing everywhere
The big picture: The cautions about the outlook keep piling on top of each other, including from surveys of consumers and businesses, corporate earnings, and financial markets.
It all suggests that the economic ground may — emphasis on may — be shifting beneath our feet.
But the evidence so far is all in the realm of anecdotes, or "soft data," not the kind of definitive, "hard data" evidence of a downturn that would make economists believe a recession is commencing.
Zoom out: A confluence of forces emanating from Washington is driving the vibe shift.
The threat of new tariffs far larger than those enacted in the previous Trump term is part of it, as is the erratic, on-again/off-again pattern through which they are being implemented.
Cuts to the federal workforce and government contracting may be leading some wary consumers to slow their spending (as is already evident in credit card data for the Washington, D.C. area).
It all adds a layer of uncertainty for companies trying to decide whether to engage in new capital spending or hiring.
Zoom in: On Friday, the University of Michigan's preliminary survey of consumer sentiment for March plunged for the third straight month, showing sharply lower expectations for the future among Democrats and Republicans alike.
Continue reading at Axios
Colleges are feeling the financial shock of Trump’s push against antisemitism
The Trump administration laid out a list of major conditions Thursday Columbia University would have to meet if it wanted its $400 million in federal research money turned back on.
President Donald Trump has changed everything in the span of seven weeks.
Some schools have already started rescinding admissions offers amid Trump’s hold on research money and purge of diversity programs. But in the days since his Friday blitz against Columbia, Harvard University instituted a hiring freeze and Johns Hopkins University plans to cut 2,000 jobs — reactions that have stunned faculty across the country and angered anti-war activists.
In what Trump officials say is an effort to crack down on antisemitism, the Education Department this week launched similar investigations into 60 additional schools, a move that could spark a new round of tensions on campuses.
Trump’s unprecedented decision to yank $400 million from Columbia and detain protest leader Mahmoud Khalil has fundamentally changed universities’ outlook and livelihoods. The president’s moves show how financially and politically exposed many of the nation’s most sought-after schools are — raising questions about their dependence on Washington, the next generation of scientists and the fundamentals of free speech and discrimination.
“I don’t think they will be appeased by any changes in policy or pledges to do better,” said Ted Mitchell, the former president of Occidental College who now leads the American Council on Education, said of the Trump administration. “I think that in some way, shape or form, they need to see the institutions experiencing pain and for there to be some blood on the floor.”
Continue reading at Politico
Democrats are already jockeying for the 2028 nomination
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is stirring speculation that he's floating a potential bid to be the 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, after bowing out of local races this week.
The big picture: Democrats eyeing runs for the White House in 2028 have largely remained coy about their intentions, though their actions indicate they're preparing for primaries.
Potential top 2028 contenders include Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
Here's a closer look:
Pete Buttigieg
Buttigieg made his national ambitions clear when he launched an ultimately unsuccessful presidential run in 2020 while mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
He served in the Biden cabinet as transportation secretary, where he was forced to contend with a pile-on of crises.
Buttigieg was considered a strong contender in Michigan's gubernatorial or Senate elections next year, but he ruled himself out of both races on Thursday.
Gavin Newsom
Newsom has long been considered a likely Democratic presidential candidate, and has been building a nationwide network of supporters and donors in recent years while garnering more national attention.
After President Trump won the 2024 election, Newsom called for a special legislative session in California to raise money to prepare to challenge the Republican leader in the courts.
He has pitched himself as a moderate in recent months and sought to broaden his appeal.
In a recent conversation with right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on the governor's new podcast, Newsom broke with many Democrats when he said transgender athletes competing in girls' and women's sports was "deeply unfair."
Rahm Emanuel
Emanuel, who served as the ambassador to Japan under former President Biden, has fueled speculation of a bid for president.
Continue reading at Axios
Data Broker Brags About Having Highly Detailed Personal Information on Nearly All Internet Users
The advertising industry is immensely powerful, and disturbingly opaque.
The owner of a data brokerage business recently put out a creepy-ass video in which he bragged about the degree to which his industry could collect and analyze data on the habits of billions of people.
In 2019, the data broker Epsilon was acquired by French advertising conglomerate Publicis Groupe. Then, earlier this month, Publicis also acquired Lotame, another data and advertising firm, and announced it plans to integrate it with Epsilon’s business. At the time, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun said that the new corporate integration would allow his company to deliver “personalized messaging at scale” to some 91 percent of the internet’s adult web users.
To deliver that kind of “personalized messaging” (i.e., advertising), Publicis must gather an extraordinary amount of information on the people it serves ads to. In a newly released video, Sadoun breaks down what kind of information his company claims to have its hands on. The video, which concerns a software program, CoreAI, shows the degree to which the company can analyze and predict the habits and behavior of individual consumers.
To demonstrate this, Sadoun introduces the audience to “Lola,” a hypothetical young woman who represents the typical web user that Publicis now has data about. “At a base level, we know who she is, what she watches, what she reads, and who she lives with,” Sadoun says. “Through the power of connected identity, we also know who she follows on social media, what she buys online and offline, where she buys, when she buys, and more importantly, why she buys.”
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Bill Gates Is Giving Up on Climate Change as Trump Drains the Woke Out of Washington
Looks like banking on billionaires to solve climate change isn't gonna do the trick.
As if there was any doubt, we can go ahead and officially add climate change to the list of things that we can’t count on billionaires to figure out for us. According to the New York Times, Breakthrough Energy, a joint venture between Bill Gates and a handful of other billionaires who at least nominally care about the environment, is laying off a significant portion of its staff, which will likely neuter its capability to lobby and influence policy.
Now, on one hand, there’s some logic behind the shift in strategy for Breakthrough Energy, which was founded in 2015 and had its coffers filled with $1 billion worth of ammunition to pour into high-risk, high-reward climate solutions and innovations. The organization is slashing its policy staff—particularly in the United States—per the Times, reasoning that it’s unlikely they’ll be able to make much headway in shaping laws during the Trump administration.
That’s probably not a bad call, as Trump famously does not believe climate change is a real thing. He’s already reversed course on several major climate policies, is removing references to climate change from government documents and websites, and is trying to freeze climate-related spending from the Inflation Reduction Act. He’s also appointed Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and his whole thing seems to be trying to accelerate the conditions that would exacerbate climate change, so probably not a lot of opportunity for collaboration there.
But also…what are you gonna do with the money, Bill? You can’t take it with you when you’re gone. So, policy is a bit of a money pit right now. Start lobbying at the state level instead. Make inroads in municipalities where the political landscape is favorable, but fossil fuel interests are able to overwhelm them with dark money. Take Rhode Island, for example. Democrats have held all three branches of government for over a decade, but efforts to pass a carbon pricing law kept getting thwarted by massive lobbying efforts.
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Note from Rima: I thought this might be of interest since RFK Jr. is a fan of tallow and will likely force it on all of us in some form…
I Have Beef With Tallow
What happens when you swap your Vanicream for rendered cow fat? I tried it so you don’t have to.
Who needs vaccines and Vanicream, when you have raw milk and beef tallow? That’s what the internet thinks, anyway. TikTok (or TallowTok) is currently slathered with devotees hailing beef tallow (yes, the rendered fat from a cow) as a miracle moisturizer. As of March 2025, there have been more than 68.5 million posts on tallow. Brands cash in, while influencers flaunt before-and-after transformations, render tallow from suet, or smear beef lard on their skin, thinking it’s tallow (it’s not).
The backlash against industrialized beauty mirrors anxieties about ultra-processed food. The same people avoiding seed oils in their diets are now seeking beef-fat balms for their faces—it’s not a coincidence that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is selling “Making Frying Oil Tallow Again” merch. But in a rush to eliminate toxins and stick it to big corporations, you may have overlooked other risks. I bought some on the internet and smeared it on myself to figure it out.
A Brief History of Tallow
Cow fat as face cream is not as far out as you might think. For centuries, terrestrial animal fats—beef tallow, lard, and lanolin—were staples in skin care. The Babylonians used ash and rendered fat to craft soap. Over time, tallow found its way into early-candle-making and medicinal remedies. Nineteenth-century ointments relied on them to treat everything from burns and chapped skin to wounds and ingrown nails. Traditional soap was a mix of tallow and coconut oil, and early lipsticks blended animal fat and beeswax. Some tattoo artists will still recommend beef tallow soaps to better preserve ink.
Continue reading at Wired
Emerging from 2024 loss, Tim Walz holds a town hall in an Iowa Republican’s district
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stood before hundreds of Iowans on Friday and admitted he doesn’t have all the answers about issues facing the country.
“If I did, we wouldn’t be in this goddamn mess,” Walz said.
Walz is back on the road to talk to voters, but he’s no longer a vice presidential candidate. He isn’t any kind of candidate, at least not for now.
Walz is reemerging after last year’s election loss, granting interviews to national media and speaking to hundreds attending the Montana Democratic Party’s annual dinner earlier this month.
Now, he’s kicking off a tour of town halls in competitive congressional districts represented by Republicans, launched by a post on social media in response to guidance from House Speaker Mike Johnson that GOP representatives skip out on town halls, saying demonstrations outside of them were the work of “professional protesters.”
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Ukraine allies plan meeting of military chiefs next week
Britain’s Starmer announced the London meeting after a call with 29 allies — but not the U.S. Still he insisted any Ukraine peace plan needs an American security backstop.
LONDON — Military chiefs from about 30 Kyiv allies will hold a fresh “operational planning meeting” in London on Thursday to game out how they would commit peacekeeping troops to a post-war Ukraine.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the British-French-led talks after he hosted a call Saturday morning with the leaders of Ukraine, 25 other allied nations, NATO, the EU and the European Council — but not the U.S.
Starmer, with French President Emmanuel Macron, is pulling together a “coalition of the willing” of allied nations to protect Ukraine after any peace deal. But major questions remain about what that will look like if a deal is signed without U.S. aerial intelligence and air cover, as the U.K. and French leaders are lobbying the White House to provide.
Starmer told fellow leaders that allied nations should be “prepared to defend any deal ourselves.”
He added that he believed “sooner or later” Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to “come to the table and engage in serious discussion, but … we can't sit back and simply wait for that to happen. We have to keep pushing forward and preparing for peace, and a peace that will be secure and that will last,” he said.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Vance: Musk has made some ‘mistakes’ with DOGE’s federal worker firings
Vice President Vance said during an interview that senior President Trump adviser Elon Musk has made some “mistakes” with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) firings of federal government workers, adding that he thinks there are “a lot of good people” who work in government.
“Elon himself has said that sometimes you do something, you make a mistake, and then you undo the mistake. I’m accepting of mistakes,” Vance said in an interview with NBC News published on Friday.
“I also think you have to quickly correct those mistakes. But I’m also very aware of the fact that there are a lot of good people who work in the government — a lot of people who are doing a very good job,” the vice president added. “And we want to try to preserve as much of what works in government as possible, while eliminating what doesn’t work.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Playbook: Reeling, fuming, gloating
In her new “Corridors” column out last night, POLITICO’s Capitol bureau chief and senior Washington columnist Rachael Bade laid bare the remarkable rift between the Senate minority leader and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who refused to throw his fellow Brooklynite a lifeline in a wild press availability yesterday.
A Democratic strategist with close ties to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and granted anonymity to speak frankly texted Rachael to say that he’s “afraid Jeffries is letting the Caucus’ emotional response get the best of him and his relationship with his home state counterpart.”
“Sure we’ve had disagreements in the past … but I cannot recall a moment when our bicameral leadership went this hard against each other,” the person added.
THE STEPBACK: “Trump had given the party a gift — the economy is tanking, his tariff wars are devastating Americans’ pocketbooks, and the courts are finally checking his authority — yet we’ve found a way to squander it,” Ashley Etienne, a former top comms strategist for Pelosi, tells Rachael. “To beat Trump, we need clarity of purpose, discipline and coordination. It’s clear none of that exists right now.”
“I don’t know who the leader of the Democratic Party is, but I know who runs it. It’s Donald Trump,” Scott Jennings, the Republican strategist and vocal Trump defender, told POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Meredith Lee Hill.
There are pressing questions about what the fallout means for Washington’s most powerful figures:
Can Trump and Hill Republicans keep up their winning streak? “His biggest fights are ahead, including wrangling a massive funding bill needed to accomplish Trump’s tax and immigration priorities,” Megan and Meredith write.
What does this mean for Schumer? The Senate Democratic leader is facing existential criticism from his own party. So much so that one Dem senator granted anonymity to share private discussions told us that conversations are starting about whether Schumer should be their leader going forward. “There’s a lot of concern about the failure to have a plan and execute on it,” the senator told POLITICO’s Holly Otterbein, Lisa Kashinsky, Jordain Carney, Elena Schneider and Brakkton Booker in their sharp look at Schumer’s perilous moment. “It’s not like you couldn’t figure out that this is what was going to happen.”
What Schumer is saying: “I’ll take some of the bullets,” Schumer told NYT’s Annie Karni. Schumer also told CNN he is not concerned with his leadership position: “I have the overwhelming support of my caucus. And so many of the members thanked me and said, ‘You did what you thought was courageous, and we respect it.’”
WHAT’S NEXT: Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told my colleagues that “active conversations” are taking place among liberal groups about how to make Schumer pay. He said Schumer will likely face protests over his support for the GOP bill at his tour stops next week for his new book, “Antisemitism In America: A Warning” ($28). “He has to be made an example of to enforce Democratic backbone going forward,” Green said.
Continue reading the Politico Playbook newsletter
Trump says ‘decisive’ military action against Houthis in Yemen is underway
West Palm Beach, FloridaCNN —
President Trump says he has ordered a “decisive” military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, opening a new salvo against the Iran-backed group that has targeted shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Trump said the US would deploy “overwhelming lethal force” against the group “until we have achieved our objective.”
“They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He said US personnel were carrying out aerial attacks on Houthi bases, leaders and missile defenses “to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom.”
“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” Trump wrote.
Trump approved the Houthi strike plan — which he requested to be drawn up several weeks ago — late last week, and the final order was given on Saturday to begin what officials describe as a sustained attack on the group’s positions in Yemen.
Some members of Congress received briefings from the White House on Saturday.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Trump picks his next Big Law target
The expanded attack on major firms comes just days after a judge ruled that a similar order was unconstitutional.
Trump’s new order seeks to suspend the security clearances of attorneys with the firm and limit their access to government buildings, ability to get federal jobs and receive money from federal contracts.
The order is the third targeted move against a big firm. Trump has signed similar orders aimed at Seattle-based Perkins Coie, which regularly represents Democratic entities including the Democratic National Committee, and any employee at Covington & Burling who provided free legal services to special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two criminal cases against Trump.
As POLITICO first reported, some top firms are considering publicly supporting the firms under attack by the Trump administration. But the show of solidarity has been hard to build as privately, firms worry that they could be next on the president’s hit list.
Big firms aren’t the only object of Trump’s retribution. The Friday night order also singled out lawyer Mark Pomerantz, who had previously investigated the president, calling him an “unethical attorney.”
Just hours prior to signing the order, Trump delivered a vengeful speech at the Department of Justice in which he railed against his political opponents — including Pomerantz, whom he named — calling them “really bad people” and threatening retaliation against them.
A spokesperson for Paul, Weiss told POLITICO that Pomerantz had not been affiliated with the firm since his retirement in 2012. Years after his departure from the firm, Pomerantz investigated and built a case against Trump at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, but ultimately resigned after District Attorney Alvin Bragg chose not to pursue those charges.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge blocks Trump from deporting 5 Venezuelans in anticipation of administration invoking wartime law
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued the urgent ruling Saturday morning, citing “exigent circumstances.”
A federal judge has preemptively barred the Trump administration from deporting five Venezuelan nationals, as the administration prepares to deploy a rarely used law meant to quickly remove foreigners during wartime or invasion.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued the urgent ruling Saturday morning, citing “exigent circumstances,” just hours after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of five Venezuelan men who say they have been cued up for deportation within hours or days as a result of Trump’s expected decision to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Boasberg, the chief judge for the federal district court in Washington, D.C., also called for a hearing Saturday afternoon on the lawsuit’s effort to ensure anyone else targeted by Trump’s expected invocation is protected from immediate deportation.
The lawsuit, filed by Democracy Forward and the ACLU, emphasizes that the Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked during wartime — the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Continue reading at Politico
VOA journalists put on administrative leave after Trump axes parent agency
Journalists at Voice of America (VOA) were put on administrative leave on Saturday, a day after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at eliminating the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), VOA’s parent company.
Reporters at VOA were placed on “administrative leave with full pay and benefits until otherwise notified,” according to a copy of an internal memo that was obtained by The Hill, adding that it is “not being done for any disciplinary purpose.”
The memo was sent out by the human resources executive from USAGM on Saturday morning. The total number of recipients is unclear, but one source familiar with the matter told The Hill that “most” VOA employees were put on administrative leave.
VOA workers were instructed not to enter their work premises or access USAGM internal systems without permission from the human resources executive or “prior” permission from their supervisors.
Continue reading at The Hill
DOGE representatives visit US Institute of Peace, are turned away
U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) officials said several members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) arrived unannounced with FBI agents on Saturday but were denied access to the building after being approached by their counsel.
“They were met at the door by the Institute’s outside counsel who informed them of USIP’s private and independent status as a non-executive branch agency. Following that discussion, the DOGE representatives departed,” Gonzo Gallegos, USIP’s director of communications, said in a statement to The Hill.
DOGE has ordered mass firings at a wide range of federal agencies and departments while working to cancel government contracts in an effort to reduce spending levels.
USIP is a national non-partisan organization created by Congress and dedicated to protecting U.S. interests by helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad according to their website.
Continue reading at The Hill
Sinema takes revenge on Democrats over filibuster hypocrisy
Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a Democrat turned independent, is taking revenge on Democrats who criticized her longstanding push to keep the Senate filibuster.
Why it matters: This week's Democratic campaign to shut down the government called for using the filibuster, which some Democrats spent the last few years arguing shouldn't exist.
Zoom in: The filibuster is a procedural rule that forces the Senate to have 60 votes to advance most legislation.
Republicans have 53 Senate seats, but the filibuster meant they needed 60 votes to advance the government funding resolution that passed Friday.
Back in 2022, Sinema and former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia resisted calls to abolish the filibuster so Democrats could pass gun control, voting rights and abortion rights laws, despite only having 50 Senate seats.
Both Sinema and Manchin started as Democrats, but left the Democratic Party while in the Senate.
Sinema resurfaced comments by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who said Thursday she's feeling "outrage and betrayal" over Senate Dems not using the filibuster.
Back in 2022, AOC said "we could protect Roe tomorrow, but Sinema refuses to act" to get rid of the filibuster.
"Change of heart on the filibuster I see!" Sinema posted on Saturday.
Continue reading at Axios
The filibuster once tore Democrats apart. They’re doing it all over again.
The filibuster is once again pitting Democrat against Democrat.
Democrats’ blowup over funding the government isn’t just triggering a fight about the future of the party. It is reopening old wounds they had hoped to move past, too.
After an ultimately unsuccessful effort to eliminate the filibuster during former President Joe Biden’s term roiled Democrats, the party is now once again relitigating the Senate procedural move.
Democrats across the ideological spectrum have sharply criticized Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision Friday to break a filibuster and advance the Republican-backed stopgap funding bill, illustrating a growing divide both across the two congressional chambers and intergenerationally.
“The same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster ‘for when we need it’ do not, in fact, use it when we need it,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted to X on Saturday.
The New York progressive was responding to a post from former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — who was reviled by much of the Democratic base in part because of her opposition to eliminating the filibuster — who has been calling out Democrats online Saturday for their past criticism of her.
“Change of heart on the filibuster, I see!” Sinema wrote on X, referring to an article where Ocasio-Cortez said she felt a “deep sense of outrage and betrayal” at Schumer. She included an old post where Ocasio-Cortez slammed her for supporting the filibuster, calling for Sinema to be primaried.
Continue reading at Politico
Note from Rima: The difference between Sinema and Ocasio-Cortez is who Sinema was acting on behalf of and the current context.
Here’s where Trump’s approval rating stands on key issues
Analysts said it’s not a given that Trump’s approval will fully drop underwater, but recent historical trends indicate a frustration that sets in with sitting presidents after a grace period.
“This would have been for [former Vice President] Harris, as well,” said Scott Tranter, the director of data science for Decision Desk HQ. “Ever since 2016, the phenomenon is, it’s not a Democrat or Republican thing. [People] just don’t like the person in power.”
Here’s what voters think of Trump’s job performance on major issues:
Overall job approval
Trump started his second administration with some of his highest approval ratings of either term, at times receiving majority support, almost completely unseen throughout his first term.
A CBS News poll taken just a few weeks into the second term put his approval rating at 53 percent, while a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey found it to be 52 percent at the one-month mark.
But polls with his disapproval rating higher than his approval rating have started to become a bit more common. Trump’s approval rating fell lower than his disapproval rating for the first time in his second term in RealClearPolitics’s average on Wednesday.
The first Gallup poll of Trump’s second term put his net job approval at -1 point, but the second one a few weeks later found it to be -6 points.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump invokes sweeping wartime authority to target members of Venezuelan gang
The Trump administration Saturday invoked a sweeping wartime authority, which has been used only three times before, to speed up the deportations of migrants affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The little-known 18th-century law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, gives the president tremendous authority to target and remove undocumented immigrants. The law is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country, or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so. For that reason, legal experts have argued it would face an uphill battle in court.
In a presidential proclamation, released Saturday, the White House cited its designation of Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, saying many of them have “unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”
The proclamation calls for all those subject to the measure to be immediately arrested, detained, and removed.
The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times in US history – all during war – according to the Brennan Center. During World Wars I and II, it was used to justify detentions and expulsions of German, Austro-Hungarian, Italian and Japanese immigrants. The law played a role in the infamous US policy of Japanese internment during World War II, according to the non-partisan law and policy institute.
Earlier Saturday, a federal judge temporarily barred the removal of some undocumented immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, hours before the Trump administration invoked the law. The temporary restraining order applies only to those who filed a lawsuit Saturday, but the judge will hold a hearing Saturday evening about whether to apply the order more broadly.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Judge blocks Trump administration from implementing Alien Enemies Act
A federal judge expanded his ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 on Saturday preventing the removal of Venezuelan undocumented immigrants presumed to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
The order issued by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg will halt deportations for all individuals deemed eligible for removal under President Trump’s proclamation for 14 days as a result of the lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward and the ACLU.
“I think there’s clearly irreparable harm here given these folks will be deported,” Boasberg said at the virtual Saturday hearing.
“A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm,” said Boasberg, an appointee of President Obama.
Continue reading at The Hill
What is the Alien Enemies Act Trump invoked to speed deportations?
The Alien Enemies Act — part of the Alien and Sedition Acts that Congress adopted in 1798 — gives the federal government additional authority to regulate non-citizens in times of war. It has been used just three times in the past, during the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II, as the Congressional Research Service detailed in a February report.
Largely intended to combat enemy espionage, it served as part of the legal justification for the creation of now-reviled World War II internment camps where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals were incarcerated because of their ancestry in the 1940s.
Trump frequently said on the campaign trail last year that he planned to invoke the 227-year-old law to root out migrants in the country illegally, including during an October rally in Albuquerque, N.M., where he said he would use it to target “savage gangs.”
“That’s an old one. You have to go back that far because, as we’ve grown and grown, our politics and politicians have become weaker and weaker,” he said. “Our laws don’t mean anything.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Voice of America channels fall silent as Trump administration guts agency and cancels contracts
The Voice of America may not live up to its ambitious name for much longer.
Michael Abramowitz, the director of VOA, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he was placed on leave, along with “virtually the entire staff” of 1,300. The announcement comes one day after President Trump signed an executive order to gut VOA’s parent agency.
Some of VOA’s local-language radio stations have stopped broadcasting news reports and switched over to music to fill the airtime, according to listeners.
Even top editors at VOA have been ordered to stop working, so employees expect the broadcaster’s worldwide news coverage to grind to a halt, according to half a dozen sources who spoke with CNN on the condition of anonymity.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Trump’s next agency cuts include US-backed global media, library and museum grants
On the list is the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The order also names the Minority Business Development Agency and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, both of which promote economic development for minority businesses and low income communities, respectively. Trump has crusaded against departments and agencies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, and signed an executive order upon entering office to eliminate DEI from the government.
The rest of the agencies include the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services funds grants to libraries and museums across the country. The group EveryLibrary — a nonprofit that has advocated for public library funding and fought against book bans — decried the looming cuts to the agency, arguing that the IMLS is statutorily required to send federal funds to state libraries, based on an act passed by Congress.
“This core work cannot be disrupted by DOGE,” they wrote in a statement.
Continue reading at Politico
America’s automakers aren’t rushing to move production to US factories to avoid tariffs
New York (CNN) — President Donald Trump has said that automakers can avoid his tariffs by simply moving production to American plants. But it’s not that easy. Not by a long shot.
A wide variety of tariffs have either already hit, or are about to hit, the auto industry, potentially adding thousands of dollars to the cost to build and buy a new car. Duties of 25% on steel and aluminum imports went into effect this week, and levies on cars from Asia and Europe are set to go into effect next month. Perhaps most damaging to automakers, import taxes on all goods, including cars and parts imported from Canada and Mexico, have been announced – and put on hold – twice since Trump took office, and are set to be put in place once again in April.
The Trump administration has listened to pleas from automakers to spare them from tariffs, and said there’s an easy answer – just build cars in the United States.
“He told them they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America, where they will pay no tariff,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this month, after Trump delayed tariffs on most Canadian and Mexican goods from taking effect for a month. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
Continue reading at CNN.com
Liberal group calls for Schumer to step down as minority leader after spending bill vote
The request by Indivisible indicates just how much his decision has angered the Democratic grassroots.
The liberal organizing group Indivisible said Saturday it was calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from his leadership role, the latest fallout after he backed a GOP bill to keep the government open.
The group’s call is the latest sign of just how much Schumer’s decision to vote for a Republican bill Friday has angered a Democratic grassroots itching for a fight with President Donald Trump.
Many Democrats saw a potential government shutdown as one of the party’s sole points of leverage on the government funding bill as Trump and Elon Musk have moved to shutter programs and cancel spending previously allocated by Congress. But Schumer and a handful of Democrats aligned with him argued doing so would only give the pair more power, and that the consequences of a shutdown would be worse than the bill.
Still, Schumer’s decision roiled Democrats who noted the party had been near-united in the House in opposing it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries deflected Friday when asked whether he had lost confidence in Schumer, while saying his conversation with the fellow New York Democrat would remain private.
The statement from Indivisible, which launched during Trump’s first administration, is a sign that the anger among Democrats extends beyond the halls of Congress. In a Saturday release, Indivisible said 82 percent of its leaders in New York and 91 percent nationwide had voted to call for Schumer to step aside.
“After weeks of constituents demanding that Democrats use this rare, precious point of leverage on the government funding bill, Schumer did the opposite,” the group’s co-executive director Ezra Levin said in the release. “He led the charge to wave the white flag of surrender. But Indivisible has no intention of surrendering to Trump, Musk, and congressional Republicans.”
Continue reading at Politico
At least 32 dead in massive US storm after Kansas reports 8 fatalities
Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the U.S., wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that has killed at least 32 people as more severe weather was expected late Saturday.
The number of fatalities increased after the Kansas Highway Patrol reported eight people died in a highway pileup caused by a dust storm in Sherman County on Friday. At least 50 vehicles were involved.
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that six people died in three counties and three more people were missing. There were 29 injuries across the state, he added in a nighttime post on the social platform X.
Missouri recorded more fatalities than any other state as it withstood scattered twisters overnight that killed at least 12, authorities said. The deaths included a man whose home was ripped apart by a tornado.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Russia and Ukraine trade overnight aerial attacks after Putin sets out conditions for ceasefire
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded heavy aerial blows overnight, with both sides on Saturday reporting more than 100 enemy drones over their respective territories.
The attacks comes less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine.
Putin told a press conference on Thursday that he supported a truce in principle but set out a host of details that need to be clarified before it is agreed. Kyiv has already endorsed the truce proposal, although Ukrainian officials have publicly raised doubts as to whether Moscow will commit to such a deal.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Saturday, after virtual talks between Western allies hosted by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy voiced Ukraine’s support for the 30-day full ceasefire proposal to discuss a longer-term peace plan, but said Russia would attempt to derail talks with conditions and “buts”.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Canada to review the purchase of US-made F-35 fighter jets in light of Trump’s trade war
TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked Defense Minister Bill Blair to review the purchase of America’s F-35 fighter jet to see if there are other options “given the changing environment,” a spokesman for Blair said Saturday.
Defense ministry press secretary Laurent de Casanove said the contract to purchase U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin’s F-35 currently remains in place and Canada has made a legal commitment of funds for the first 16 aircraft. Canada agreed to buy 88 F-35’s two years ago.
Carney, who was sworn in on Friday, has asked Blair to work with the military “to determine if the F-35 contract, as it stands, is the best investment for Canada, and if there are other options that could better meet Canada’s needs,” de Casanove said.
“To be clear, the F-35 contract has not been canceled, but we need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces,” de Casanove said.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
US prepares to deport about 300 alleged gang members to El Salvador
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration will pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison for one year about 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, in one of the first instances of the Central American country taking migrants from the United States.
The agreement follows discussions between El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio about housing migrants in El Salvador’s notorious prison. Bukele’s government has arrested more than 84,000 people, sometimes without due process, since 2022 as part of his crackdown on gang violence in the small country.
Memos detailing the transfer did not disclose how the Trump administration identified the roughly 300 people as members of Tren de Aragua, a gang Trump repeatedly highlighted in the campaign and declared to be a terrorist organization.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
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