Things Trump Did... Day 19 | Blog#42
The rampage and the lies go on...
Please keep a tab open to this post as it gets continuous updates, usually, several times an hour. Newest items appear at the bottom.
Yesterday’s post was updated late into the evening. You may want to look at the later entries.
Things Trump Did... Day 18 | Blog#42
Please keep a tab open to this post as it gets continuous updates, sometimes several times an hour. Newest items appear at the bottom.
Judge blocks Elon Musk, DOGE from accessing Treasury payment systems
A federal judge in an overnight ruling Saturday blocked Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems used to dole out trillions of dollars each year.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer’s ruling is more extensive than the agreement the administration reached earlier in the week to temporarily limit access to two DOGE personnel.
Engelmayer blocked the Treasury Department from providing access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties.” It explicitly prohibits special government employees and those detailed from outside the department.
Continue reading at The Hill
Judge orders sweeping restriction on DOGE access to sensitive Treasury payment systems
The judge limited access to “civil servants with a need for access” who have “passed all background checks and security clearances.”
A federal judge on Saturday issued a sweeping block on most Trump administration officials — including Elon Musk and his allies — from accessing sensitive Treasury records for at least a week while legal proceedings play out in New York.
Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued the middle-of-the-night order after an emergency request by 19 Democratic attorneys general warning that the efforts by Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency allies to take control of Treasury’s sensitive payment systems — which have access to personal information of millions of Americans and the government’s financial transactions — were putting their residents at risk.
Engelmayer said he agreed with the states’ assessment that the abrupt changes in policy implemented by the Trump administration had created a risk that sensitive data would be disclosed or that the system could be hacked. He also said the states were very likely to show that the new arrangement was legally improper.
Continue reading at Politico
State Department announces $7B arms sale to Israel after Congress blocked initial deal
The Trump administration announced a $7 billion arms sale to Israel, including munitions and missiles, just days after Congress blocked an initial deal.
The State Department said Friday that it approved $6.75 billion in munitions, guidance kits, fuzes and munitions support, including 2,166 GBU-39/B small-diameter bombs, for sale to Israel. In the other part of the package, the U.S. is sending 3,000 Hellfire missiles and other equipment at the estimated cost of $660 million.
The deliveries of the missiles are slated to start in 2028.
Continue reading at The Hill
Home prices up in nearly 90 percent of cities at end of 2024
Home prices up in 201 of 226 major metro areas
Midwest saw some of largest median price leaps
8 of top 10 most expensive areas are in California
The cost of homeownership rose in 201 of 226 — or 89 percent — of measured metro areas in the fourth quarter of 2024.
That’s according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors, which also showed a bump in 30-year fixed mortgage rates, from 6.12 percent to 6.85 percent.
It’s the latest price jump in an ever-increasing real estate market. From 2019 to 2024, the median home price climbed by just under 50 percent.
Continue reading at The Hill
EPA facing monumental battery cleanup after LA wildfires
EPA says biggest lithium ion battery cleanup in the history of the agency
Agency has 30 day deadline to complete cleanup
EPA removed 80 electric vehicles and bulk energy storage systems
(NewsNation) —The Environmental Protection Agency is facing a monumental challenge clearing up batteries after the California wildfires, a task they’re calling the biggest lithium-ion battery cleanup in the history of the agency.
Southern California is the nation’s biggest market for electric vehicles EV and hybrid cars. Each EV contains about 7 to 10,000 small batteries.
Cleanup consists of crushing and then taking the remnants to a proper site for toxic waste disposal.
Continue reading at The Hill
Who is part of DOGE leader Elon Musk’s family?
Elon Musk owns a compound in Austin, Texas
Five of Musk's children were mothered by his first wife
Musk has two sets of twins and a set of triplets
Here’s a breakdown of Musk’s immediate family and those closely associated with him.
Errol and Maye Musk
Musk is the son of Errol Musk, a South African engineer, politician and businessman, and Maye Musk (née Haldeman), a professional model.
Continue reading at The Hill
Vought takes helm at CFPB after Musk incursion
Trump’s newly confirmed budget director told CFPB staff in an email he was their new acting director, according to two people familiar with the move.
Russell Vought, the Project 2025 architect who President Donald Trump tapped to be his budget chief, has also taken the helm at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to two people familiar with the move.
Vought told staff on Friday that he is the acting director of the CFPB, an independent agency that polices financial institutions and nonbank entities, according to the people. Vought wrote a chapter of Project 2025, the controversial road map for Trump’s second term laid out by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, calling for a fundamental overhaul of the federal government.
Chris Young, an ally of Trump adviser Elon Musk who was recently embedded at the CFPB, forwarded to some of the agency’s staff a message from Vought stating that he was the acting director. In the email, which was viewed by POLITICO, Young said employees at Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency were authorized to “begin work on all unclassified CFPB systems.”
Continue reading at Politico
How spending $153M to pay its bills put USAID in DOGE’s crosshairs
Aides to the president and Elon Musk suspected USAID officials were trying to go around a funding freeze.
It was Thursday, Jan. 23, and the Trump administration official had discovered that the U.S. Agency for International Development recently made $153 million in payments for a range of expenses. Marocco, who was effectively running the agency from the State Department, demanded to know why the money was sent, according to five people familiar with the incident.
Just three days earlier, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump had issued an executive order halting new foreign aid spending, and Marocco was already drafting a diplomatic cable, due to go out the next day, that specified even current foreign aid funds had to be frozen for at least three months, pending a review. Was USAID trying to do an end-run?
In meetings over the next 24 hours, USAID officials tried to explain the situation. The $153 million, they pointed out, covered numerous payments, including a key set of employee salaries and money owed to organizations for work already done. In the USAID officials’ view, the payments did not violate the Trump foreign aid freeze.
Continue reading at Politico
New York lawmakers moving to deny House GOP a key vote
A new proposal would allow New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to set a special election for later in the year.
ALBANY, New York — New York Democrats are poised to delay until November the special election to fill Rep. Elise Stefanik’s House seat — a move that would deny House Republicans a crucial vote in the closely divided chamber.
State lawmakers on Friday introduced a bill that would allow Gov. Kathy Hochul to schedule special elections under some circumstances until the November general election. The Democratic-led Legislature is expected to approve the bill Monday, touching off a bitter feud with New York Republicans in a hyper partisan era. President Donald Trump tapped Stefanik to become the United Nations ambassador.
Top Albany Democrats are framing the proposal — which follows consultations between state lawmakers and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ office — as a way to save money for local governments. Republicans decried the measure as an attempt to deny a rural, deep red House district representation in Washington and called for a RICO investigation of Democratic lawmakers.
Continue reading at Politico
Elon's X army takes the wheel
Elon Musk is enlisting the help of his X army as he seeks to hack away at the U.S. government, responding directly to users who recommend specific cuts and posting an X poll to justify reinstating a staffer who resigned over racist tweets.
Why it matters: Now the most powerful bureaucrat in America, Musk is leaning not only on access to sensitive government systems but also on his legions of fervently loyal, often-anonymous X followers as he weighs the fate of billions of dollars in spending.
The big picture: Donald Trump broke new ground in his first term by carrying out the nation's business via tweet decrees.
Musk, who typically posts between 50 and 100 tweets per day, is taking the bottom-up approach by letting foot soldiers supply suggestions that get seen — and acted on — by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Continue reading at Axios
NIH chops support for some medical research costs
The National Institutes of Health sent shockwaves through academic research circles late Friday, saying it will dramatically cut the rate it pays for universities' administration and overhead costs to save the government more than $4 billion.
Why it matters: The reductions will particularly hit elite institutions including Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins and fulfill a long-sought conservative goal that was included in the Project 2025 blueprint.
Trump proposed a similar change during his first term, but Congress didn't act. Project 2025 says the reimbursements "cross-subsidize leftist agendas" and that universities use the funds to pay for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Driving the news: NIH, as of Monday, will cap the indirect cost rate on all new and current grants at 15% of the total cost. It said the reimbursements have averaged between 27% and 28%, with some institutions receiving more than 50%.
Continue reading at Axios
Why Trump's in-your-face campaign will never end
It's not just wild 5 a.m. tweets from Donald Trump anymore.
Three weeks into his second term, Trump's White House is pumping out personal insults to his political enemies, provocative videos and flame-throwing social media attacks like no administration before it.
Why it matters: During Trump's first term, he was something of a lone wolf on Twitter. But in Trump 2.0, it's like the 2024 campaign never ended: An entire team is his avatar — a smash-mouth, 24-7 PR operation that seems bent on juicing political divisions.
Zoom in: Much of Trump's offensive plays out through a "Rapid Response 47" account the White House has set up on X, which according to its bio is focused on "supporting POTUS's America First agenda and holding the Fake News accountable."
On Jan. 31, the Rapid Response account posted a message portraying House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) as violent for promising that Democrats will "fight" Trump's agenda "legislatively… in the courts, and … in the streets."
Continue reading at Axios
Trump's defamation and media litigation spikes
Since President Trump began his political career in 2015, the number of media and defamation lawsuits involving him or his businesses as either the plaintiff or defendant quadrupled compared to the prior three decades, according to an Axios analysis of public databases.
Why it matters: The growing volume shows how, since turning into a political figure, Trump has become bolder about using the courts in media and free speech cases.
How it works: One observer notes a theme in Trump's increasing legal attacks.
Each case is unique yet connected, Kevin Goldberg, vice president at Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan nonprofit fostering First Amendment freedoms, tells Axios.
"The consistent theme is his willingness to use the court system, even as a public figure and a public official, to silence people, to force them to correct statements, to just generally make them uncomfortable," Goldberg says.
Continue reading at Axios
Scoop: TikTok quietly disappears from smart TVs
Streaming TV companies including Samsung, LG, Vizio, Amazon, Google and Apple have removed TikTok from their smart TV systems and app stores, complying with the ban law that went into effect January 19, an Axios investigation found.
Why it matters: While the public's focus has mostly been on mobile companies, the removal of the app across the streaming TV ecosystem shows that corporate America is mostly determined to follow the law, despite President Trump's executive order promising the ban won't be enforced for 75 days.
State of play: Three of the country's most popular smart TV manufacturers, LG, Vizio, and Samsung, have deleted the TikTok app after the ban went into effect, Axios confirmed.
LG Smart TV users were notified that the TikTok app wouldn't be available on LG's content store beginning January 19.
Amazon removed the app from its Fire TV operating system, which uses Amazon's app store for app downloads. "You are not eligible to purchase this app due to geographical restrictions," TikTok TV's page reads on Amazon's web page for its app store.
Continue reading on Axios
Feds turn to prisons, local jails to hold immigrants
The Trump administration's scramble to find more detention space for unauthorized immigrants has led the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin holding some of those who've been arrested, Axios has learned.
The move comes as President Trump's team already is pressing local law enforcement agencies to help house immigration detainees.
Why it matters: Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have ramped up under Trump, but immigration detention facilities are packed — and top Trump aides are getting impatient.
Congress has given ICE enough money to hold roughly 40,000 immigrants in detention, and the average number detained last month was already near capacity.
Meanwhile, Trump's plans to deport "millions and millions" of unauthorized immigrants is leading to as many as 1,000 arrests a day — below the administration's goals but far more than the system can hold in detention.
Continue reading at Axios
Book bans could escalate after Department of Education dismisses censorship complaints
The U.S. Department of Education is stepping away from the fight over book bans, a move civil rights groups warn could give local officials more power to censor books on race, gender and identity.
Why it matters: Librarians and legal experts argue that book bans threaten First Amendment rights, warning that government censorship jeopardizes free speech and silences marginalized voices.
"If you want to control people, you interfere with their access to information," Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association (ALA), told Axios.
"That's why we're telling people to come together and unite against book bans. Everyone has the power to resist — whether by voting, showing up at board meetings, or supporting their local libraries."
Catch up quick: On Jan. 24, the DOE's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) dismissed 11 complaints related to book bans and rescinded guidance that had previously suggested such bans could violate civil rights laws.
Continue reading at Axios
Where the fight over USAID’s future stands
The future of the government’s foreign assistance agency hangs in the balance after a federal judge temporarily paused the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of employees on leave Friday night.
Unions representing federal employees took the fight to save the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the courts after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took a sledgehammer to the agency, which the billionaire tech executive called a “ball of worms” that must “die.”
“The administration’s sudden dismantlement of USAID, an agency that has been performing life-saving work around the world, without any notice to its thousands of employees or to the people that it serves is a profound moral stain,” Lauren Bateman, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group, which brought the case on behalf of the unions alongside Democracy Forward, told reporters Thursday evening.
Continue reading at The Hill
FEC commissioner ‘considering all of my options’ after ouster by Trump
The former Federal Election Commission (FEC) chair Ellen Weintraub said during an interview that she is weighing her choices after her ouster from the post by President Trump earlier this week.
“Well, I’m still considering all of my options at the moment, but I will tell you that my email has been turned off. My computers have been taken. My pass, I believe, no longer gets me into the building,” Weintraub said during her Friday night appearance on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show.”
Weintraub, a Democrat, who was appointed to the bipartisan commission by former President George W. Bush in 2002, received a brief letter from the president on Thursday notifying her that she was fired.
Continue reading at The Hill
Democrats call stop work order at CFPB ‘illegal’
Democrats are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cancel his stop work order for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after employees with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted the agency as part of their overhaul of federal spending.
Top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters (Calif.) led members in a letter to Bessent on Saturday, calling the order “illegal.”
“We urge you to immediately rescind what appears to be an illegal stop work order and allow the public servants at the CFPB to get back to work for the American people as required by law,” Waters and other Democrats wrote.
Continue reading at The Hill
The US relies on China for key medicines. They won’t be spared from tariffs
President Trump’s tariffs in China are in place and hitting all products imported from the country — including a number of pharmaceutical drugs that Americans rely upon.
Chinese imports account for a significant proportion of U.S. prescriptions and over the counter drugs. Many of the Chinese-produced drugs are generics, which account for 91 percent of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S.
“The Chinese market is a key supplier for key starting materials and [Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API)] to the generic supply chain,” said John Murphy, president and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM).
Continue reading at The Hill
CDC Researchers Ordered to Retract Papers Submitted to All Journals
— Banned terms must be scrubbed from CDC-authored manuscripts
The CDC has instructed its scientists to retract or pause the publication of any research manuscript being considered by any medical or scientific journal, not merely its own internal periodicals, Inside Medicine has learned. The move aims to ensure that no "forbidden terms" appear in the work. The policy includes manuscripts that are in the revision stages at journal (but not officially accepted) and those already accepted for publication but not yet live.
In the order, CDC researchers were instructed to remove references to or mentions of a list of forbidden terms: "Gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female," according to an email sent to CDC employees (see below)."
Continue reading at MedPageToday
Public Anticipates Changes With Trump but Is Split Over Whether They Will Be Good or Bad
55% of Republicans say GOP congressional leaders do not have an obligation to support Trump’s policies and programs if they disagree with him
Less than a month into Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the American public is evenly divided over the impact his new administration will have on the federal government: 41% say Trump’s administration will improve the way the federal government works, and 42% say it will make things worse.
And while Trump is a familiar figure in political life, the number and scope of his executive actions in these first few weeks have still defied many Americans’ expectations:
For nearly three-in-ten adults (28%), his actions so far have been better than expected.
But for a larger share (35%), his actions have been worse than expected.
Another 36% say his early actions have been what they expected.
Continue reading at Pew Research Center
Tracking the prices of grocery staples amid trade talks, avian flu outbreaks
(CNN) The cost of food in the US increased significantly amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the steep inflation that followed. While prices have stabilized more recently, new factors have already driven up the costs for eggs and threaten to increase them for other common household foods.
The price of eggs could increase by as much as 20% this year, according to one government forecast, after detections of avian influenza among the nation’s poultry flocks have strained supply. And the looming prospect of new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada — two of the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the US — could have a major impact on the cost of filling American pantries. President Donald Trump halted the enactment of those tariffs until early March.
CNN is tracking price trends for various household staples each month. Select a product below to see how its costs have shifted over time.
Continue reading at CNN
Playbook: JD Vance carves out his portfolio
WHAT HAPPENED AT USAID — Nahal Toosi and Robbie Gramer have a must-read report this morning detailing what happened to precipitate President Donald Trump’s stunning near-total shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development. In short, agency officials sent $153 million in owed payments for work already done out the door despite a Trump-ordered funding freeze, and acting agency head Peter Marocco went ballistic.
In practice, the “dismantling of USAID and the freeze on foreign aid spending may have already put lives in danger in places from Ukraine to the Thai-Myanmar border,” they write in their account based on interviews with 20 current and former USAID staffers and other officials. It’s a dramatic look at two weeks of rapid-fire chaos that illustrated just what the Trump-Elon Musk complex can do.
NEXT UP — “Vought takes helm at CFPB after Musk incursion,” by Holly Otterbein and Megan Messerly … Much more on DOGE’s doings below
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — JD Vance knew he had a problem brewing.
Sen. Todd Young, one of the key swing votes on Trump’s troubled nomination for director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was on the phone complaining about an onslaught from the online MAGA right as he weighed his decision.
Musk had just sicced many of them on the Hoosier after he posted to X that Young was a “deep state puppet.” And Young had had it.
In a sign of his dexterity to reach all ideological corners of his party, Vance had long maintained a relationship with Young, who did not endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign but praised his selection of Vance as his running mate, calling him a “thoughtful legislator.” The two had also spoken before the Army-Navy football game last year.
Continue reading at Politico Playbook
Trump slams Biden over paper straws, declares mandate ‘is dead’
President Trump in an early Saturday post slammed former President Biden over what he called the previous administration’s mandate against plastic straws.
“Crooked Joe’s MANDATE, ‘NO PLASTIC STRAWS, ONLY PAPER,’ IS DEAD!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Enjoy your next drink without a straw that disgustingly dissolves in your mouth!!!”
The post comes a day after Trump said he plans to sign an executive order promoting plastic straws, after Biden sought to phase out single-use plastics — including items for food service, events and packaging — from government operations by 2035.
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: Trump started ranting about the straws yesterday…
JD Vance Aced His First Test. The Next One Will Be Tougher.
The vice president wrangled a few holdout senators. Now he’s faced with taming an unruly House.
Sen. Todd Young needed to vent, and a former colleague was ready to listen.
One of the key swing votes on President Donald Trump’s troubled nomination for director of national intelligence, the Indiana Republican had told Republican leaders he was leaning no on confirming Tulsi Gabbard. And then Trump’s most powerful ally, Elon Musk, went online Sunday to call him a “deep state puppet” — unleashing a tide of MAGA fury.
He found a sympathetic ear in Vice President JD Vance, who spoke with Young shortly after Musk’s posting, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
Vance quickly made it clear to his team, legislative affairs staffers and others in the White House: Time to call off the dogs.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
Generative AI models are known to amplify prejudice – can they be fixed?
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are known to reproduce and amplify human prejudice about race or gender, but correcting such discriminatory bias has proved challenging. US President Donald Trump’s return to power appears to have nipped in the bud any hopes of progress – unless Europe can stand up to the deregulatory wave.
Dilapidated buildings, streets littered with trash, and cheerless residents sporting dirty clothes with holes in them. That’s how the AI-powered image creator Midjourney portrayed France's suburbs, the banlieues, in 2023, peddling negative stereotypes about the suburban neighbourhoods surrounding French cities.
The disparaging portrayal of French suburbs was the subject of a viral campaign by ride-hailing app Heetch, which invited residents to send postcards to Midjourney’s developers urging them to remove banlieue bias from their AI model.
As the campaign showed, searches for “banlieue school” or “banlieue wedding” revealed startling prejudice, contrasting sharply with images representing non-suburban France.
Continue reading at France 24
Note from Rima: While this is about France, the same issues raised here apply to us.
OpenAI CEO to issue warning to world leaders at AI Action Summit
At a global AI summit in Paris next week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will warn world leaders they need to widen their AI mindset from risk — the typical focus of European gatherings on AI — to also include growth and opportunity, an industry source tells Mike.
Why it matters: For the past six months, Altman escalated his insistence on the need for U.S.-led, democratic AI, so a world built on U.S.-led AI rails can prevail over Chinese-led AI.
Zoom in: Vice President JD Vance, who had a stint in tech investing, will attend the AI Action Summit, which will gather heads of state and top government officials at the Grand Palais museum in Paris on Monday and Tuesday.
Altman and other executives will hold meetings with heads of state and other government leaders where they'll share data and insights about AI users and developers in their countries.
Zoom out: Encouraged by the response to a demo Altman led for U.S. government leaders in Washington last week, OpenAI plans events in New York and Texas with its "Innovating for America" message.
Continue reading at Axios
GOP gains in voter registration raise red flags for Democrats
Republican gains in voter registration are raising red flags for Democrats in key states, underscoring the inroads the GOP made across the country in 2024.
Active registered Republicans now outnumber Democrats in battleground Nevada for the first time in nearly two decades, according to January data from the state. The GOP has also gained recent ground in New Jersey, a traditionally blue state, and Trump this week celebrated that the voter registration majority in Florida’s Hillsborough county switched from blue to red.
Continue reading at The Hill
Tracking Trump: 5 moves this week with lasting impact
Trump moves you may have missed this week
A timeline that outlines key events involving Trump from Feb. 3 to Feb. 6, 2025. Notable actions include the agreement to shut down USAID and plans for a U.S. takeover of Gaza.
Feb. 3, 2025
Trump agrees to shut down USAID
Feb. 4, 2025
Trump plans U.S. takeover of Gaza Strip
Feb. 5, 2025
Trump pauses tariff plan
Feb. 5, 2025
Trans women banned from competing in women's sports
Feb. 6, 2025
Trump admin blocks EV charging program
The whirlwind of activity surrounding President Trump and his inner circle hasn't stopped spinning since Inauguration Day.
If you struggle to keep pace with the week's key Trump 2.0 developments, catch up here.
Continue reading at Axios
Scientists, researchers work to archive federal health data purged by Trump administration
Scientists, researchers and private health organizations scrambled to preserve as much federal public health data and guidelines as possible last week after news reached them that the Trump administration planned to pull down federal agency websites.
Many have taken that data and moved it to personal websites or Substack accounts, while others are still figuring out what to do with what they have gathered.
These often-anonymous archivists are now facing the colossal task of connecting with one another to figure out just how much information has been saved and how to re-create a centralized network of websites where it can be easily accessed by the public again.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump says he won’t deport Prince Harry: ‘He’s got enough problems with his wife’
President Trump said on Friday that he is “not interested” in deporting Harry, who currently resides in Montecito, Calif., with his wife, Meghan Markle.
“I don’t want to do that,” Trump told the New York Post. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
In February last year, Trump accused former President Biden’s administration of “protecting Harry,” adding that he wouldn’t do the same if he wins the White House.
“He betrayed the queen. That’s unforgivable,” Trump told the U.K.’s Daily Express in an interview, adding that Harry “would be on his own” if reelected.
Continue reading at The Hill
A tax credit worth up to $7,830 often goes unclaimed: See who qualifies for the EITC
(NEXSTAR) – There is a sizable tax credit for low- and moderate-income families, but the IRS estimates a fifth of eligible taxpayers fail to take advantage of the tax break each year.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) was signed into law and is designed to “lift many financially challenged families out of poverty,” according to the IRS.
Depending on the number of dependents one has, the maximum credit for tax year 2024 is $7,830. In the previous year taxpayers received an average EITC amount of $2,743.
Continue reading at The Hill
How Democrats lost the DEI war
Conservatives won the culture war by riding the backlash to Black Lives Matter protests.
By Brakkton Booker (bio)
Donald Trump’s move to rapidly eradicate diversity efforts from the federal government marks the culmination of a widespread conservative backlash to the antiracism movement of 2020.
Five years ago, as “END RACISM” was emblazoned on professional football fields and Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima caricatures disappeared from grocery shelves, a growing number of voters bristled at what they saw as a performative attack that went far beyond that police brutality symbolized by the killing of George Floyd. As hiring managers across the country embraced diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Republicans waged a culture war over the “woke agenda” and rode it to victory, from local school board contests to sweeping Trump back into the White House.
The politics of race has changed in just a few years. And now Trump’s capitalizing on it.
Continue reading at Politico
NIH slashes funding for research overhead, leaving universities scrambling
It’s the Trump administration’s latest blow to the American higher education system, which Republicans for years have blasted for churning out liberal-minded graduates.
The National Institutes of Health late Friday dramatically slashed grants to support research institutions, in a move that could send shockwaves through American higher education as universities scramble to fill the gap.
The NIH, which said it sent more than $35 billion in grants to over 2,500 institutions in fiscal year 2023, announced it would cap the rate the grants pay for “indirect funding,” which can cover universities’ overhead and administrative costs, at 15 percent — down from an average of nearly 30 percent, with some universities charging over 60 percent.
Continue reading at Politico
Democrats call stop work order at CFPB ‘illegal’
Democrats are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cancel his stop work order for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after employees with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted the agency as part of their overhaul of federal spending.
Top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters (Calif.) led members in a letter to Bessent on Saturday, calling the order “illegal.”
“We urge you to immediately rescind what appears to be an illegal stop work order and allow the public servants at the CFPB to get back to work for the American people as required by law,” Waters and other Democrats wrote.
Continue reading at The Hill
Springfield, Ohio, sues neo-Nazi group that it says led Haitian intimidation
DAYTON, OhioAP —
An Ohio city that was racked with chaos and threats last year related to an influx of Haitian immigrants filed a lawsuit on Thursday against a neo-Nazi group that it alleges was at the heart of the onslaught.
The city of Springfield, Mayor Rob Rue and several others sued the Blood Tribe, leaders Christopher Pohlhaus and Drake Berentz and seven unnamed followers in U.S. District Court in Dayton.
They accuse the group of “engaging in, and inciting, a campaign of harassment and intimidation, motivated by ethnic and racial hatred, against those who supported Springfield’s Haitian community in the face of Defendants’ racist attacks.”
With legal help from the Anti-Defamation League, the plaintiffs are asking the court for a jury trial seeking to block the group from making further threats and to impose damages.
Continue reading at CNN
Kemp keeps Republicans on edge as he mulls Georgia Senate bid
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is at the center of intense speculation as Republicans wait to see whether the popular two-term governor will run against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) next year.
Republicans believe Kemp would clear the field and be the party’s most formidable candidate against Ossoff, a first-term senator who beat a Trump-backed Republican in one of the biggest upsets of the 2020 election cycle.
Continue reading at The Hill
What has Donald Trump not done yet? Here are some policy areas where he might act next
ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump’s second administration has put forth an avalanche of policy changes and political pronouncements that have jolted Washington and the world.
That agenda is taken largely from his “Agenda 47” campaign proposals, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and other hard-right influencers with juice in Trump’s White House. There is much more, however, that the president and those groups discussed on the campaign trail but have yet to attempt.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Generations later, a remedy to destroying Black neighborhoods is fulfilled in Michigan
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) — Leslie Knox was a young girl in the 1960s when her Detroit-area city was accused of destroying neighborhoods to get rid of Black residents.
Decades later, the retired nurse has returned to Hamtramck, settling into a new two-story home on Gallagher Street and watching TV from a fold-up chair while she figures out how she wants to furnish it. She has no mortgage to pay, just property taxes and insurance.
Knox is one of the last people to benefit from an extraordinary legal settlement that requires the small city to build 200 homes for the victims of discrimination or their families. A lawsuit filed in 1968 became one of the longest-running civil rights cases over housing in the United States.
And it’s finally over.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Schiff calls for firefighter exemption from federal hiring freeze
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Friday urged the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exempt federal seasonal firefighters from President Trump’s federal hiring freeze.
In a letter to both departments, he noted that the move has stalled the onboarding of thousands of seasonal firefighters.
“This morning, I received notice that the federal hiring freeze has stalled the onboarding of thousands of seasonal firefighters,” Schiff wrote in his letter to the OMB and the USDA.
Continue reading at The Hill
Most say misusing campaign funds, dodging subpoenas worst behavior for a president: Poll
Americans consider using campaign money for personal legal issues and ignoring subpoenas the worst actions a president could take, a new survey found.
The YouGov survey included 26 potential presidential actions and asked Americans if they were acceptable or unacceptable to them.
Seventy-eight percent of Americans believe that using campaign funds for personal legal disputes is unacceptable behavior for a president. In comparison, 69 percent feel the same way about refusing to respond to subpoenas.
Continue reading at The Hill
Musk says he has no plans to buy TikTok
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he is not interested in acquiring the video-sharing app TikTok, and has no plans regarding what he would do if he owned it.
Musk made the remarks during a virtual session at the WELT Economic Summit held on Jan. 28, as seen in a video released by The WELT Group on Saturday.
“I haven’t made a bid for TikTok, nor do I have any plans regarding what I would do if I owned it,” Musk said.
Continue reading at The Hill
‘That Would Give Trump Pause’: How to Game Out the Next Trade War
Trump vs. Xi: Who will win?
Donald Trump launched a two-year trade war against China during his first term in the White House, and he’s poised to do it again.
Even before being sworn in, Trump threatened China with 60 percent tariffs to cut its trade surplus, 10 percent tariffs if it didn’t halt fentanyl shipments and 100 percent tariffs if it tried to create a rival currency to the dollar. On his second day in office, he announced the first wave of tariffs would hit China on Feb. 1.
Of course, this may be bluster or a negotiating tactic. But with Trump you never know, which makes his tariff threats that much more effective. During the first trade war, he deployed tariffs on a scale not seen since the 1930s to try to get China to bend to his will and China replied in kind. U.S. tariff rates on Chinese goods rose six-fold to 19.3 percent, while Chinese tariff rates on U.S. goods nearly tripled to 21.1 percent, all of which shook markets, hurt U.S. companies that depended on those imports and lifted inflation somewhat.
The clash ended in an inconclusive Phase One trade deal, where China made some regulatory changes in agriculture and finance but didn’t come close to buying the vast amounts of U.S. goods it pledged to purchase. Trump wanted a Phase Two deal where China would agree to more dramatic changes.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
How ‘Sour Raspberry Gummy Bear’ — and Other Chinese Vapes — Made Fools of American Lawmakers
Everyone seems to agree candy-flavored vapes are bad for kids. So why can’t lawmakers find a way to block their sale?
America has a teenage vaping problem. In a recent survey, 1,630,000 middle and high schoolers in America reported vaping. The top three vape brands they choose are all disposable Chinese vapes that seem designed to appeal to kids: Brightly colored, they come in hundreds of candy and fruit flavors and some even feature LED screens loaded with games. There is widespread consensus that this is bad for kids: A single vape can pack as much nicotine as 590 cigarettes.
Even more troubling, though, is that the flavored vapes kids are smoking are supposed to be illegal, not just for kids but for adults too.
What’s going on? States have whiffed in their efforts to combat the problem, writing laws that have been riddled with loopholes that ultimately defeat the lawmakers’ intent to control the sale of flavored products.
Just look at Oklahoma.
In April of 2021, long before most state legislatures woke up to the issue of kids and disposable vapes, Oklahoma passed a simple, two-page bill to create a list of legal vapes that stores could lawfully sell.
Continue reading at Politico Magazine
Kash Patel had a roster of foreign clients. Their interests could clash with FBI he hopes to lead
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, holds more than $1 million of stock in a fashion company founded in China. He established a nonprofit that spent big on promotion but little on its mission. And he advised a roster of foreign clients, including a Czech arms maker that top Republicans have criticized for being too tight with U.S. adversaries.
Patel entered Trump’s orbit as a congressional staffer of modest means. But the years since have been unquestionably lucrative as Patel parlayed proximity to Trump and a zeal for self-promotion into consulting contracts, corporate board seats and a role as a sought-after MAGA commentator. It all helped swell his net worth to as much as $15 million, according to an Associated Press analysis of his government financial disclosure forms.
As Patel awaits Senate confirmation to become the next FBI director, his private-sector work is drawing renewed scrutiny from ethics experts and Democrats who say the interests of his former clients could conflict with those of the law enforcement agency he’s likely to soon lead.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
US Guns To Mexican Cartels: What Does Trump's 'Dealmaking' Mean For CA
Firearms trafficked from the U.S. to Mexico are fueling America's drug crisis, many argue. Will the countries' presidents make a pact?
CALIFORNIA — The president of Mexico said this week that her U.S. counterpart agreed to curb the trafficking of U.S. firearms to her country.
President Donald Trump has neither confirmed nor denied the statement. What would it mean for California and the country if he implemented firearms provisions to appease Mexico? Would those efforts dent drug cartel violence, cut down on illegal drugs into the United States and slow the flow of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border?
The Deal
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to social media Monday to comment on a 30-day pause on trade tariffs between her country and the United States.
"Mexico will reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard immediately, to stop drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, in particular fentanyl. The United States commits to work to stop the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico," Sheinbaum wrote.
Continue reading at Patch.com
VA lists more than 130 jobs ineligible for Trump buyout plan
The majority of nurses, doctors, and other personnel providing care to military veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs do not qualify for the deferred resignation offer from the Trump administration, according to an email from the Veteran Affairs (VA) leadership sent on Friday.
Nurses were part of the group that initially received the offer, but their unions advised against accepting it. They were warned that a mass departure would significantly impact the care provided to the 9.1 million veterans enrolled.
Continue reading at The Hill
What’s Next on Trump’s Chopping Block? Look at Pete Hegseth’s Venmo
Hegseth’s Venmo account gives a terrifying insight into what he’s planning.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s shockingly not-private Venmo account shines a light into the shadowy corners of the supposedly antiestablishment warrior’s completely establishment inner circle—and also illuminates the path forward for Donald Trump’s Defense Department, according to a new report from The American Prospect.
The cast of characters listed under Hegseth’s friends on the mobile payment app, which includes Washington elites, defense contractors, and private health care executives, suggests that he plans to steer the Defense Department toward widespread privatization.
Continue reading at The New Republic
'Reboot' Revealed: Elon Musk's CEO-Dictator Playbook
In 2022, one of Peter Thiel's favorite thinkers envisioned a second Trump Administration in which the federal government would be run by a “CEO”
The Point: In 2022, one of Peter Thiel's favorite thinkers envisioned a second Trump Administration in which the federal government would be run by a “CEO” who was not Trump and laid out a playbook for how it might work. Elon Musk is following it.
The Back Story: In 2012, Curtis Yarvin — Peter Thiel’s “house philosopher”—called for something he dubbed RAGE: Retire All Government Employees. The idea: Take over the United States government and gut the federal bureaucracy. Then, replace civil servants with political loyalists who would answer to a CEO-type leader Yarvin likened to a dictator.
“If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia,” he said.
Continue reading at The Nerd Reich
** Nerd Reich is written by journalist Gil Duran
Note from Rima: This will likely make it very difficult for Zaid to represent clients in classified cases
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