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Trump’s talking about shutting down FEMA. Republicans oppose the idea

Trump’s talking about shutting down FEMA. Republicans oppose the idea

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s suggestions that he might shut down the federal agency charged with responding to disasters are running into trouble with Republican lawmakers. Deeply red states are experiencing some of the costliest disasters, and lawmakers from those states fear that eliminating Federal Emergency Management Agency would leave them on the hook for increasingly expensive bills. So while they’re open to overhauling FEMA, congressional Republicans said they flatly reject the idea of abolishing the agency. “FEMA can’t go…

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Trump ally Peter Marocco behind evisceration of USAID: ‘He’s a destroyer’

Trump ally Peter Marocco behind evisceration of USAID: ‘He’s a destroyer’

Ya'll remember Merritt Corrigan and Peter Marocco?#SeditionHunters #Acountability #Jan6thInsurrection pic.twitter.com/giIb4IebTp — Not Sandy 📛 (@K2theSky) November 4, 2024 In November, D Magazine reported: Pete Marocco, the executive director of Dallas HERO, and his wife, Merritt Corrigan Marocco, have been accused by citizen investigators of entering the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021, insurrection. A group of semi-anonymous, volunteer sleuths that has become known as the Sedition Hunters identified the couple by scouring social media, video footage, and by using…

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What every American should know about U.S. foreign aid

What every American should know about U.S. foreign aid

George Ingram wrote in 2019: Seventy-five years of U.S. foreign assistance has produced more fiction than fact when it comes to how American tax dollars are being spent around the world. In the interest of providing taxpayers with information about the value of their federal investment in this regard, it might be helpful to look at some of the top myths surrounding foreign aid, and how these myths compare with reality. Myth #1: America spends too much on foreign aid…

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What it’s been like inside USAID, an agency that Trump and Musk decided to eliminate

What it’s been like inside USAID, an agency that Trump and Musk decided to eliminate

A USAID employee, who has requested anonymity for fear of retribution, writes: Working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — the conduit for American soft power across the globe — demanded I prepare for frightening things that thankfully most Americans don’t need to worry about. Defensive driving techniques to escape from a terrorist attack. How to spot where landmines might be in the field. Emergency first aid in the event of a shooting or other attack, including in…

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Elon Musk is staging a cyberattack and a coup

Elon Musk is staging a cyberattack and a coup

  Cathy Gellis writes: People sometimes think that cybersecurity is just about defending computer systems from remote adversaries. But it’s broader than that; cybersecurity has always been about protecting computer systems more generally from any sort of misuse, no matter how the adversary might access them. So that Elon Musk and his minions have managed to walk right into government offices to take over computer systems where they had no legitimate authorization or entitlement needs to be understood as a…

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Musk’s team of young DOGE disruptors have been unmasked

Musk’s team of young DOGE disruptors have been unmasked

The Daily Beast reports: One is a 19-year-old college freshman and heir to a popcorn fortune. Another was hosting Model UN sessions in 2019 and a third was given money by his parents to invest in stocks while at his high school in Silicon Valley. The world’s richest man lashed out at an X account which suggested the six young men, who now have access the Treasury Department’s payment system, among other things, should be “paid a visit” by FBI…

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Why Trump’s tariffs can’t solve America’s fentanyl crisis

Why Trump’s tariffs can’t solve America’s fentanyl crisis

By Rodney Coates, Miami University Americans consume more illicit drugs per capita than anyone else in the world; about 6% of the U.S. population uses them regularly. One such drug, fentanyl – a synthetic opioid that’s 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine – is the leading reason U.S. overdose deaths have surged in recent years. While the rate of fentanyl overdose deaths has dipped a bit recently, it’s still vastly higher than it was just five years ago….

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Top FBI agent in New York vows to ‘dig in’ rather than capitulate during ongoing witch hunt

Top FBI agent in New York vows to ‘dig in’ rather than capitulate during ongoing witch hunt

The New York Times reports: The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York field office vowed in a defiant email to his staff to “dig in” after the Trump administration targeted officials involved in the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack — and praised the bureau’s interim leaders for defending its independence. “Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted…

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The young, inexperienced engineers helping Musk seize control of federal infrastructure

The young, inexperienced engineers helping Musk seize control of federal infrastructure

Wired Reports: Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy. WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the…

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Trump is waging war against his own government

Trump is waging war against his own government

NBC News reports: Less than two weeks into his term, President Donald Trump is waging war against his own government, creating a deep sense of fear in the federal workforce — and recipients of federal aid — as he tests the limits of his power to alter the scope, function and nonpartisan nature of government without Congress. Primarily using two little-known agencies — the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management — Trump has tried to…

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Ontario Premier Ford announces ban on American liquor in response to U.S. tariffs

Ontario Premier Ford announces ban on American liquor in response to U.S. tariffs

CBC reports: Ontario Premier Doug Ford has ordered the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to strip its shelves of American products in response to the U.S. imposing 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports starting Tuesday. “Every year, LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of American wine, beer, spirits and seltzers. Not anymore,” said Ford in a statement Sunday morning. Ford says American liquor will be removed from LCBO shelves “starting Tuesday.” The premier said the LCBO, as the…

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The far-right is rising at a crucial time in Germany, boosted by Elon Musk

The far-right is rising at a crucial time in Germany, boosted by Elon Musk

By Matt Fitzpatrick, Flinders University With only a few weeks until Germany’s election, Elon Musk has unambiguously thrown his support behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In a video address to a party rally last week, he appeared to urge Germans to “move on” from any “past guilt” related to the Holocaust. It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything. Troublingly, the AfD…

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Wyden warns Bessent: Political meddling in Treasury payments risks severe economic damage to U.S.

Wyden warns Bessent: Political meddling in Treasury payments risks severe economic damage to U.S.

U.S. Senate Committee On Finance: Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent today following a report that personnel affiliated with Elon Musk have sought access to a highly sensitive Treasury Department payment system. That system, which is maintained by non-political staff, disperses trillions of dollars each year, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax credits for individuals and businesses, grants and payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with…

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Mark Carney vows Canada will ‘stand up to bully’ as Trump imposes 25% trade tariffs

Mark Carney vows Canada will ‘stand up to bully’ as Trump imposes 25% trade tariffs

  The Guardian reports: Mark Carney, the favourite to replace Justin Trudeau as the Canadian prime minister, has vowed that his country is “going to stand up to a bully” after Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods coming in from Canada. There are now 25% tariffs on goods coming into the US from Canada and Mexico, while China is being hit with tariffs of 10% on imported goods, leading some economists to fear the outbreak of a full-on, tit-for-tat…

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