NewsFlash

CNN -  Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after attempting to refuse officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.

According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said. The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.

Three sources told CNN that the DOGE personnel were eventually able to access the headquarters. ....

[snip]

Around 60 senior USAID staff were put on leave last week on accusations of attempting to circumvent the executive order on foreign aid. Another senior official was put on leave for trying to reverse that move after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.  One source said the entire USAID public affairs office was put on leave and locked out of their systems.

more here https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/usaid-officials-leave-musk-doge/index.html

A day after signing steep new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, President Donald Trump acknowledged what economists, members of Congress and even some of his own aides — in their previous lives — have been saying all along: Americans may find themselves paying the costs.

“THIS WILL BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA! WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump posted, in all capital letters, on his Truth Social platform.

The message, which appeared in the hour before Trump arrived to his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf club for the second day in a row, amounted to an advance warning. Trump is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises to end illegal immigration, curb the flow of deadly drugs and rebalance continental trade.  But doing so will be uncomfortable, Trump is suggesting, and could serve to undermine another of his top campaign vows: lowering costs for Americans.

“WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID,” Trump wrote. “WE ARE A COUNTRY THAT IS NOW BEING RUN WITH COMMON SENSE — AND THE RESULTS WILL BE SPECTACULAR!!!”

Instead of the new trade war lowering grocery or fuel prices, Trump on Sunday pointed to a result he never mentioned when he was running for president: annexing Canada as an American state. “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!” he said, repeating an idea he’s floated repeatedly since winning the election late last year.

[snip]

Trudeau said Saturday he’d been trying to reach Trump since the inauguration, but his calls have not been returned.

Briefing reporters Saturday evening, White House officials declined to lay out specific benchmarks that Canada or Mexico could reach in tightening their borders or curbing fentanyl flows that would allow the tariffs to be lifted.

And Trump himself told reporters late Friday he wasn’t looking for any concessions at all. In his social media posting Sunday morning, his rationale for the tariffs extended well beyond punishment for the illicit flow of fentanyl.

“The USA has major deficits with Canada, Mexico, and China (and almost all countries!), owes 36 Trillion Dollars, and we’re not going to be the ‘Stupid Country’ any longer,” he wrote. “MAKE YOUR PRODUCT IN THE USA AND THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!”


https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/us-tariffs-americans-pay-imports/index.html

Top F.B.I. Agent in New York Vows to ‘Dig In’ After Removals at Agency

By Adam GoldmanWilliam K. RashbaumMaggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush
    Feb. 2, 2025Updated 7:56 p.m. ET

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 because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,” wrote James E. Dennehy, a veteran and highly respected agent who has run the largest and arguably the most important field office in the bureau since September.  Mr. Dennehy, through a representative in New York, declined to comment.

The email, viewed by The New York Times, came after the Justice Department ordered the F.B.I. on Friday to collect the names of bureau personnel who helped investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, raising the possibility that Mr. Trump’s political appointees plan to purge career bureau officials, including rank-and-file field agents. That number could reach 6,000 — or about a sixth of the bureau’s 38,000 employees, according to the F.B.I. At least nine high-ranking officials have been forced out since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, plunging the bureau into confusion. Mr. Dennehy wrote that those removals had spread “fear and angst within the F.B.I. ranks.”

That sense of dread was stoked by a remarkable questionnaire sent to bureau employees, asking them to describe what, if any, role they had in investigating and prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters.  The form requires the employees to say if they collected evidence, provided support services, interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants or testified at trial — basic activities of F.B.I. employees during the normal and lawful course of their duties. They have until 3 p.m. Monday to complete the forms.

[SNIP]

The Society of Former Special Agents of the F.B.I., which represents thousands of retirees, called the forced resignations “illegal actions” that violated civil service laws and the due process rights of employees. The Justice Department has not accused any of those targeted with improper conduct, and has based most of the personnel actions on the president’s discretion under the Constitution.

In his message to employees, Mr. Dennehy described those who had left as “extraordinary individuals,” saying, “I mourn the forced retirements.” Mr. Dennehy likened the current situation to his days as a Marine in the early 1990s, when he dug a small foxhole five feet deep and hunkered down for safety.  “It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/us/politics/fbi-new-york-email-trump.html

The Trump administration’s freeze of foreign aid and dismantling of the agency that oversees it is putting at risk thousands of jobs in the US and abroad, industry sources told CNN.  The fallout is already being felt at kitchen tables around the country with hundreds, if not thousands, of aid workers dealing with the reality that they could be out of work because of the aid freeze and potential downsizing of the workforce at USAID, which has been de-facto subsumed by the State Department.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined the freeze on almost all foreign assistance, which included immediate stop-work orders on existing work, in a directive less than two weeks ago. It has brought work around the world to a halt and also stopped disbursements of money to aid organizations and contractors. The move has already had immense repercussions, sources told CNN.  “People are losing their jobs, left and right,” a humanitarian official said. “There’s going to be a ripple effect.”

Federal contractors that are members of one Washington, DC-area trade association have racked up about $350 million in unpaid bills, forcing them to furlough some 2,000 staff in the area, a source familiar with the trade association told CNN.  “You’re talking about thousands of people here and abroad, American companies that what they do is implement USAID programs,” said Dany Bahar, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, a think tank. “A lot of the money from USAID is helping [foreign] countries grow and develop stronger commercial ties with the US.”

[snip]

Established by law in 1961, USAID distributes billions of dollars worldwide annually to help alleviate poverty, treat diseases and respond to famines and natural disasters. It also promotes democracy building and development by supporting non-government organizations, independent media and social initiatives.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has led the Trump administration’s effort to weaken USAID, falsely calling it a “viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/usaid-cuts-thousands-american-jobs/index.html

see also

[snip]

The United States is the world’s largest source of foreign assistance by far, although other countries give a bigger share of their budgets. It provides 4 out of every 10 dollars donated for humanitarian aid. “The aid community is grappling with just how existential this aid suspension is,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, one of the few aid officials willing to speak publicly about the impact of the freeze following Trump administration warnings not to.  The Trump administration placed more than 50 senior officials with the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave Monday as many were helping organizations deal with the freeze. USAID’s acting head said he was investigating whether the officials were resisting Trump’s orders.

[snip]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-foreign-assistance-freeze-684ff394662986eb38e0c84d3e73350b

see also



Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders. In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the program’s director. Medical supplies, including drugs to stop hemorrhages in pregnant women and rehydration salts that treat life-threatening diarrhea in toddlers, cannot reach villages in Zambia because the trucking companies transporting them were paid through a suspended supply project of the United States Agency for International Development, U.S.A.I.D.  Dozens of clinical trials in South Asia, Africa and Latin America have been suspended. Thousands of people enrolled in the studies have drugs, vaccines and medical devices in their bodies but no longer have access to continuing treatment or to the researchers who were supervising their care.

[snip]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/health/trump-aid-malaria-tuberculosis-hiv.html


And then there's the impact on the people of the countries to where this aid was flowing.... Sorry dudes and dudettes, we're not going to pay you what we already owe you and buh-bye. Too bad about your dead kid, lady. I'm sure you'll have another one to watch die from disease or starvation. Oh, are you in a hospital bed with an implant? I'm sure one of your relatives will wander in and take care of you as you die soon....        JeezusHKeyrist this makes my blood boil.   

The news is full of articles like this. [See Above]

Strangely, there are not a lot of articles about mass deportations and the demonstrations against them going on all over the country in the national news. And there are protests. Some of the local news stations around the country are carrying it.  Too many other disasters (a scatter-gun approach, like using a shotgun on a crowd instead of a single shot rifle, metaphorically speaking) going on that are keeping people turning from point to point before they can decide what to do about the first one.

Anyway, ICE is definitely rounding people up. I'm not sure they've got many more "bad guys" than they did under Biden, but I'm afraid it's ordinary working people they're hauling away.

[A little backstory - California has seasonal rain. They store rain during the "rainy" season - usually November to maybe late Spring - and then release it slowly over the dry season to the central valley and other areas where crops are grown and also to cities as required. There are a series of interconnected reservoirs served by aqueducts, which also carry the water to agricultural areas and cities. The title of the following article might as well be "Holy Collapsing Summer Crops and Shortages, Batman!"  The Central Valley  produces 1/4 of the country's food, including 40% of the Nation's fruits, nuts, and other table foods. The predominate crop types are cereal grains, hay, cotton, tomatoes, vegetables, citrus, tree fruits, nuts, table grapes, and wine grapes. ]



2.2 billion gallons of water flowed out of California reservoirs because of Trump’s order to open dams

The US Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams on Friday in Central California and let roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs, after President Donald Trump ordered the release with the misguided intent to send water to fire-ravaged Southern California. Trump celebrated the move in posts to Truth Social post on Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”

There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.  “They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.”

On Friday, Trump posted that 1.6 billion gallons was being released adding that “in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons.”  About 2.2 billion gallons were released from Friday to Sunday, local water districts said in a statement released Monday. That water was discharged into the dry lakebed of Tulare Lake, according to a letter from Sen. Alex Padilla to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.  “Downstream entities used these releases for limited irrigation demand and groundwater recharge,” the statement said.  “This release is extremely concerning,” Cooley said. “It’s providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months.”


https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/climate/trump-california-water-dams-reservoirs/index.html


Days after President Trump startled some of his most ardent supporters in California’s San Joaquin Valley by having the Army Corps of Engineers suddenly release water from two dams, many in the region and beyond were still perplexed. Acting on an order from Washington, the corps allowed irrigation water to flow down river channels for three days, into the network of engineered waterways that fan out among farm fields in the San Joaquin Valley. Coursing from rivers to canals to irrigation ditches, much of the water eventually made its way to retention basins, where it soaked into the ground, replenishing groundwater.

[snip]


“It would have been better utilized if we could keep it there and use it this summer for irrigation,” Barcellos said. The loss of that water — equivalent to about two days of maximum water use during the summer irrigation season — amounted to “not a lot of harm, not a big foul,” he said. Still, he said: “I believe someone in D.C. got a little overzealous.”

The sudden, unplanned release of water from the dams has led to criticism from some residents, water managers and members of Congress, who say the unusual discharge of water seems to have been intended to make a political statement — to demonstrate that Trump has the authority to order federal dams or pumps to send more water flowing as he directs.  “These kinds of shenanigans, they hurt smaller farmers,” said Dezaraye Bagalayos, a local water activist. Small growers have already been struggling, and the release of water from the dams means they will have less when they need it, Bagalayos said. “The last thing in the world California water management needs is somebody like Trump calling shots when he doesn’t know how anything works,” Bagalayos said. “It’s making an already hard situation very, very difficult. We don’t have a lot of wiggle room in the state of California to be messing around with our water supply like this.”

The Army Corps of Engineers abruptly began releasing large flows on Friday, sending water streaming from Terminus Dam into the Kaweah River near Visalia and from Schafer Dam into the Tule River near Porterville. The high flows continued for a day, then lessened somewhat, and ended Sunday.


https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-03/trump-administration-dams-release-water

Protonmail, a highly encripted email service, appears to be having problems in the USA and UK today.   Routing through a foreign VPN seems to allow users to access their email and other services.  ProtonMail encrypts all data on the server so that it is rendered useless to anyone without the key to decrypt it. In the case of a security breach, data swiped from ProtonMail's servers wouldn't be of any use. Not even ProtonMail can read your email.  This isn't the case with standard webmail providers like Gmail, which only encrypts data between your browser and its servers. Google will use AI to "read" your email ...

Just sayin.

Oh. And I have no hard proof on this one, but scuttlebutt says  "Musk’s staffers are using space characters to identify information leakers within government agencies. Before sharing any information, please use a checker to detect and remove these. Avoid directly leaking images; instead, request that the information be rewritten and the image recreated."

If true, I'm sure those staffers are just following orders. 



And, hey, I'm really not trying to be dramatic here. But if my posts ever stop without my saying goodbye to all, it's because I was forced to stop.

I really can't imagine I've attracted "anyone's" ire by posting already published material, but they are starting to go after people on X, Bluesky, and other venues who have posted things that were a bit ... let's say edgier.... than I post. Musk's people now have access to everyone's social security and other government accounts, the IRS, are going after federal student data for kids at colleges/universities, and the military, so.... who knows where things are going. Lawsuits are flying faster than bullets, but laws only matter to people who are law abiding really.

Since there's beginning to be a rather substantial backlash to what's going on my concerns are probably pretty overblown - at present.  But strange things have happened over the last 100 years (cue Deutschland Uber Alles) and so it's always a floating concern. I stop posting, it was not voluntarily. There will have been a cease-and-desist order, or some electronic bot thingy will cause mayhem for people it flags up, who knows?  I can't believe the world is in such a place that I'd ever actually consider the need to type those words. But there it is. 

A friend works in a hospice in NYS - they were funded by the NIH and are now already cutting services due to lack of funds. That man is evil incarnate and I do not know how they will tally the deaths he is causing globally in this tirade. Impeachment needed to happen last week.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

He's already said that the disabled and seriously ill would be better off dead (even members of his own extended family) or, rather the people who have to pay for their care would be better off. So....as long as the Republicans have a majority in Congress and follow him rank-and-file (which they seem to be doing, no matter what he does), we're screwed. There will be no impeachment.

Today's jollies:

He's had the Post Office stop accepting packages from Hong Kong and China.  There is a HUGE small business environment here in the USA, independent merchants, small shops (think everything from stationery to jewelry to cosmetics to clothing) and side-hustles that relies on the China Post getting their product to them.  It had previously been exempt from any customs examination if it was under $800 in value, and a lot of people were making a living or part of one trading in these. Think ebay, Etsy, etc.  They are now not going to be able to get their product.

OOOH, wait. They've just changed their minds. Perhaps someone clued them in to the absolute uproar it would have caused....  so now they'll be allowed in, but have to go through customs where as before they did not. It'll be a nightmare, but with at least a whisper of hope that the goods might arrive - eventually. Although the price will have to be jacked up substantially and that will also hurt those entrepreneurs.


The US Postal Service on Wednesday morning announced it will continue accepting incoming international parcels from China and Hong Kong — after saying late Tuesday night that it would suspend them.

Although no reason was given for the initial suspension of package deliveries from China, the Postal Service suggested Wednesday it was related to broad-based new tariffs imposed Tuesday and elimination of the de minimis exemption. This exemption had allowed anyone, including exporters, to ship packages worth less than $800 to the United States without duties or needing to undergo inspections. Inspecting incoming parcels to collect the new import taxes could prove extremely difficult.

“The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery,” the Postal Service said in a statement Wednesday.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/business/us-postal-service-suspends-parcels-china-intl-hnk/index.html

The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday became the first major national security agency to offer so-called buyouts to its entire workforce, a CIA spokesperson and two other sources familiar with the offer said, part of President Donald Trump’s broad effort to shrink the federal government and shape it to his agenda.  The offer — which tells federal employees that they can quit their jobs and receive roughly eight months of pay and benefits — had up until Tuesday not been made available to most national security roles in an apparent cognizance of their critical function to the security of the nation.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/cia-workforce-buyouts/index.html



Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave - The president met with the Israeli prime minister at the White House, meeting in person with another world leader for the first time since returning to power.

[snip]

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference Tuesday evening. “We’ll own it and be responsible” for disposing of unexploded munitions and rebuilding Gaza into a mecca for jobs and tourism. Sounding like the real estate developer he once was, Mr. Trump vowed to turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/politics/trump-gaza-strip-netanyahu.html

A friend works in a hospice in NYS - they were funded by the NIH and are now already cutting services due to lack of funds. That man is evil incarnate and I do not know how they will tally the deaths he is causing globally in this tirade. Impeachment needed to happen last week.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

The Daughter is still working for a major research university. They had a "town hall" meeting yesterday. Things are grim, although, as usual, the uni admin tried to slap lipstick on it and did a lot of "we just don't know" responses (which is probably true, at this point). The institution is excruciatingly dependent on federal research grants and contracts (roughly $3.972B system-wide), which are now all dead in the water.  We assume she will only be working for a couple of more months. Thank the gods she's home now and not out in Cali - the maximum unemployment check there is $240 a week, and slum rents are in the $2,000 a month range for one room. I'd have had to go out and bring her home anyway, so I'm glad I did this past summer.  At least here in NY she'll be eligible for NY State medicaid, whatever there is left of it, and won't have to worry about paying rent. Unless they dick around with my Social Security. Even then, there will be a buffer period. Given the carnage that will be happening to the economy, I'm not 100% confident that my Cali state pension won't be impacted at some point, either. 

And I'm not sure that we have a real option to go overseas. There might well be a ban put on paying pensions/social security to people living overseas. As it is my Cali pension has to be paid (and always had to be paid) into a USA bank. They could also put a ban on US bank accounts for people living overseas. If we were overseas, and they pulled that kind of scenario, we'd be thrown on the mercy of our "host" country's social welfare system. Except that I believe we would technically not be eligible for any assistance.  It's a real dilemma that has to be considered.  Six months ago I would never have even remotely entertained any thoughts along these lines. It's kind of coming down to "would you rather be hanged until dead, or have the firing squad, or just slowly starve".

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-trump-column-read.html



This cannot keep on. The damage that's happening is just astounding.

And more.... (see attachment)

Gen Michael Hayden‬ ‪@genmhayden.bsky.social‬
·
1h
That’s just great….
“The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the last two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal work force, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries.”

I don't even know where to begin this morning.   

https://www.democrats.senate.gov/news/press-releases/leader-schumer-floor-remarks-sounding-the-alarm-on-russell-voughts-nomination-as-omb-director-as-democrats-hold-the-senate-floor-all-night-in-opposition-to-right-wing-author-of-project-2025

https://bsky.app/profile/davidcorn.bsky.social/post/3lhhdpx4o6s2g

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/chuck-schumer-democrats-trump-nominees-protest.html

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/06/ny-protestors-cry-for-action-from-dems-in-face-of-trump-agenda-photos-charles-chuck-schumer/78281944007/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russ-vought-senate-confirmation-vote-office-of-management-and-budget/

https://www.whec.com/local/it-just-causes-panic-sen-schumer-speaks-out-on-head-start-funding-freeze-affecting-families/

And, of course, the Fox News conglomerate has come down squarely on Trump/Musk's side. Reading the supportive comments posted there (which could be manufactured, but probably are not) it's really apparent that the authors have no idea what the actions are actually doing to the country and, trickle-down, to them.

I am running out of easily-available stores to shop at, after cutting ties with those who supported that side and/or who are removing all references to DEI from their policies. But there are enough. In the grand scheme it won't do much, but at least I can see that my money goes elsewhere. 

EDIT:  Ah, there go Target and Aldi. Too bad, I liked Target.

‪NPR‬ ‪@npr.org‬

NSA museum covered plaques honoring women and  people of color, provoking an uproar
·
4h

Following a White House anti-DEI order, the National Cryptologic Museum covered up exhibits of women and people of color in its Hall of Honor. The NSA reversed course after former employees mobilized.
www.npr.org