NewsFlash

Last Friday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins stated on X that a $600,000 grant to Southern University in Louisiana was being revoked for studying "menstrual cycles in transgender men," in the latest mischaracterization of a grant that was then canceled by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency team, known as DOGE.  DOGE highlighted the Rollins post, reposting it on the official doge.gov website and on X.

The grant was actually intended for research on the potential health risks posed by synthetic feminine hygiene products and for developing alternatives using natural fibers and fabrics, according to the project's documentation, which was publicly filed on the USDA website.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-mischaracterizes-study-as-transgender-usda-cancels-it/

Russia denies talks with the US will happen in Saudi Arabia

With Secretary of State Marco Rubio en route to Saudi Arabia for meetings with Ukrainian representatives on ending Russia's invasion, the Kremlin said on Monday that no talks are planned between Russia and the U.S. there this week. "We are at the initial stage of the path to restore our bilateral relations. The path is quite long, difficult, but at least two presidents have expressed political will in this direction," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Peskov denied reports about plans to hold a new round of talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia, saying "it is not true,"

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/trump-2nd-term-live-updates-trump-defends-tariff/?id=119625202

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The acting chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday he has directed staff to look at ways to abandon a plan that would have widened the definition of alternative trading systems to include some cryptocurrency firms. The SEC in 2022 proposed requiring some crypto firms to register as alternative trading systems, drawing criticism from the sector in the face of potentially heightened oversight and additional rules. Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda told an audience of bankers he has instructed staff to look at ways to abandon that portion of the plan, which has yet to be finalized.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-sec-move-away-requiring-crypto-firms-register-trading-systems-chief-says-2025-03-10/

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON, March 10 - Nate Powell-Palm, an organic farmer outside Belgrade, Montana, was relying on a $648,000 grant from USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service to help build a feed mill - an economic lifeline for about 150 area organic grain farmers. But construction is on hold following the Trump Administration's freeze on some agricultural grants and loans as it conducts a broad review of federal spending. Now, about 500 tons of baled alfalfa sits untouched in stacks in his fields, and a bill from a Colorado equipment manufacturer is past due. Last week, he traveled with a group of farmers to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers and try to get their frozen USDA grant funding released. Farmers and food organizations across the country are cutting staff, halting investments and missing key funding amid a USDA freeze on a broad swath of grants, more than two dozen farmers and agricultural support groups in seven states told Reuters.

All this comes as Trump has imposed new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, sparking trade wars with the biggest buyers of U.S. farm products. Trump on March 6 said he would exempt farm products like potash fertilizer from the tariffs until April 2. But if they eventually go into effect, the tariffs would hurt the $191 billion American agricultural export sector, raise costs for farmers struggling with low crop prices and send consumer grocery prices higher, farm groups warn.

"As the president said, farmers need to start growing crops to sell here in the U.S.," Powell-Palm said, referencing a March 3 post by Trump on his Truth Social website in which Trump said farmers should prepare to sell more domestic product. "This is what we are trying to do. We just need our approved grant funding to be released." Trump has historically enjoyed widespread support across the U.S. Farm Belt, where he won most states in the November election. But recent actions - like a freeze on most humanitarian aid and a broad review of federal spending that paused disbursements - have disrupted some agricultural markets and caused stress and confusion in farm country. For example, some agricultural production lines have been halted. Two farmers, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personal financial matters, told Reuters they were weeks away from being forced to file for bankruptcy because of the USDA freeze.

SNIP

Dave Walton, a row crop farmer in Muscatine County, Iowa, said farmers had expected Trump's administration to improve the federal safety net, not slash it.  "In farming, your word means something. If you sign a contract, that means something," said Walton, who said he's waiting on $6,000 from a USDA-funded program for climate-friendly farming. Grain farmer Steve Tucker was awarded a $400,000 grant through Agricultural Marketing Service, which promotes domestic and foreign farm markets, to build a mill in southwest Nebraska. He had planned to grind this year's sorghum crop into flour and sell it to U.S. snack manufacturers, but now that's on hold.

The broader grant freeze has also affected some farmers' customers. Ed and Becky Morgan scrimped for years to grow their livestock herd as demand for their sausage varieties boomed, thanks to local public schools hungry for lunchtime links. But the fate of USDA grants that help schools buy foodstuffs from local farmers - like the Morgans' flavored sausages - remains uncertain, said Spencer Moss, the executive director of the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition in Charleston, West Virginia.

Some of the frozen USDA money is linked to soil and water conservation, organic and local food, regional and rural food systems, and minority and women farmers, according to Reuters interviews with farmers and farm organizations. Food and farm groups with grants unrelated to conservation also told Reuters they were not receiving promised funds. The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition received about 80% of its funding from federal sources, including USDA nutrition programs that help low-income consumers buy more produce, Moss said. The group, which works with local farmers markets and provides technical assistance to farmers, said it was still waiting for guidance from the USDA on its invoices, Moss said. The group has been paid for some grant-related invoices, but has been told it won't - at least for now - be paid for expenses incurred after January 19, after Trump took office. "We've made promises to our farmers, because the federal government signed contracts with us," Moss said.

SNIP

MORE at https://www.reuters.com/world/us/farmers-put-plans-investments-hold-under-trump-usda-spending-freeze-2025-03-10/

At Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, late last month, Elon Musk sheepishly admitted that DOGE had “accidentally canceled very briefly” Ebola-prevention programs. After a nervous chuckle, he claimed that the oversight had been swiftly corrected. But it wasn’t. The truth is far more disturbing—this administration didn’t just pause a line item; it has actively dismantled the infrastructure the country relies on to detect and confront deadly pathogens.

MORE at - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/diseases-doge-trump/681964/

Within days of taking office, President Trump fired 16 inspectors general from across the federal government.
They Were the Watchdogs

President Trump has sworn to root out corruption within the government, yet one of his first acts as president was to fire over a dozen independent watchdogs who did exactly that. We spoke to seven of them about the abuses they uncovered, what they really think about DOGE and what all this means for the future of American democracy.

Video here  -  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/06/opinion/trump-doge-fires-inspectors-general.html

Elon Musk is blaming a "massive cyberattack" for disruptions on X. Musk commented when responding to a post that said "X is down." According to Downdetector, thousands of users began reporting outages around 3 a.m. on Monday. The reports appeared to subside over the next few hours but peaked again at around 9 a.m. Musk noted that X gets "attacked every day," adding that this hit was done with "a lot of resources." He also speculated about who could be behind the attack. "Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved," Musk said. "Tracing."

Musk purchased X in 2022 for $44 billion and continues to run the platform. However, he has taken on a growing role in the Trump administration, serving as an adviser to the president. He leads the Department of Government Efficiency, which is focused on streamlining the federal government and reducing its size.

FROM - https://www.10news.com/science-and-tech/social-media/musk-says-x-facing-massive-cyberattack-as-users-report-outages


So, ~if~ it's an outside attack, who stands to gain?
If it's a false flag, who stands to gain?

EDIT - Scuttlebutt says it's the Anonymous Collective gone to war against Fascism.  Operation DreadNought. Dark Storm Team is also claiming this one.
Well, how about them apples?
      

Wouldn't actually be surprised if it was Russia, as some of the IP addresses are said to be from Ukraine. Which can be a VPN address, and who wants to piss the US leadership off in regards to Ukraine right now? Yerp.

Taking a break 11 March unless something eye-stabby pops up.

It was warm enough today outside to go out without gloves, hat, scarf, and arctic jacket for the first time this year. Stopped in at the allotment and there's an eagle nesting nearby. Several truly impressive wings of geese flew overhead headed north, as did a rather large flock of small black birds. Some of the Siberian garlic is up. The ground is thawed. Things are very wet but workable, so I will be drawing faces representing certain individuals in the soil and then using a turning fork on them, while muttering a few "special" things. The fences all need redoing and the drainage needs re-trenching, too.

I figure next week will probably bring a polar vortex, the way things are working lately, so I want to get as much done out there this week as I can. The world will continue to turn without me providing a narrative of America's schizophrenia here for a bit.

Be safe and well, wherever you are.

Enjoy your break Nan.

God, I leave for a few hours... (the ground is still frozen at the two-inches below the surface level, so I could only do some minor cleanups).

Trump doubles metal tariffs on Canada and presses anew for it to join the U.S.

President Trump escalated his fight with Canada on Tuesday, saying that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and threatening to inflict even more pain on one of America’s closest traditional allies as he pressed Canada to become part of the United States. His comments sent jittery markets tumbling, with the S&P 500 down about 1 percent in early morning trading. In a post on his social media platform, Mr. Trump wrote that Canadian steel and aluminum would face a 50 percent tariff, double what he plans to charge on metals from other countries beginning Wednesday. He said the levies were in response to an additional charge that Ontario placed on electricity coming into the United States, and he threatened more tariffs if Canada didn’t drop various levies it imposes on U.S. dairy and agricultural products. “If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” he threatened.

Mr. Trump went on to say that “the only thing that makes sense” is for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state.   

MORE at - https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03/11/us/trump-news#trump-canada-tariffs-metal

[Aaaand there goes my 403b....] 

Yep, they're trying to shut down higher ed, and using the "Jewish" excuse again.


March 10, 2025


U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Sends Letters to 60 Universities Under Investigation for Antisemitic Discrimination and Harassment. Letters warn of potential enforcement actions if institutions do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities. The letters are addressed to all U.S. universities that are presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.

“The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.” 

The schools that received letters from the Office for Civil Rights include: 

    American University
    Arizona State University
    Boston University
    Brown University
    California State University, Sacramento
    Chapman University
    Columbia University
    Cornell University
    Drexel University
    Eastern Washington University
    Emerson College
    George Mason University
    Harvard University
    Illinois Wesleyan University
    Indiana University, Bloomington
    Johns Hopkins University
    Lafayette College
    Lehigh University
    Middlebury College
    Muhlenberg College
    Northwestern University
    Ohio State University
    Pacific Lutheran University     
    Pomona College
    Portland State University
    Princeton University
    Rutgers University
    Rutgers University-Newark
    Santa Monica College
    Sarah Lawrence College
    Stanford University
    State University of New York Binghamton
    State University of New York Rockland
    State University of New York, Purchase
    Swarthmore College
    Temple University
    The New School
    Tufts University
    Tulane University
    Union College
    University of California Davis
    University of California San Diego
    University of California Santa Barbara
    University of California, Berkeley
    University of Cincinnati
    University of Hawaii at Manoa
    University of Massachusetts Amherst
    University of Michigan
    University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
    University of North Carolina
    University of South Florida
    University of Southern California
    University of Tampa
    University of Tennessee
    University of Virginia
    University of Washington-Seattle
    University of Wisconsin, Madison
    Wellesley College
    Whitman College
    Yale University

Background:

The Department’s OCR sent these letters under its authority to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964), which prohibits any institution that receives federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color, and national origin. National origin includes shared (Jewish) ancestry.

Pursuant to Title VI and in furtherance of President Trump’s Executive Order “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,” the Department launched directed investigations into five universities where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported. The 55 additional universities are under investigation or monitoring in response to complaints filed with OCR. Last week, the Department, alongside fellow members of the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism including the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. General Services Administration, announced the immediate cancelation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school’s continued inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination. Last Friday, OCR directed its enforcement staff to make resolving the backlog of complaints alleging antisemitic violence and harassment, many which were allowed to languish unresolved under the previous administration, an immediate priority.


https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-sends-letters-60-universities-under-investigation-antisemitic-discrimination-and-harassment#:~:text=Pursuant%20to%20Title,students%20from%20discrimination

[I note they are not pursuing any institution for violating the civil rights of Palestinian students, who have been subjected to some horrific abuse.]

All Department of Education offices will be closed Tuesday evening and Wednesday for unspecified “security reasons,” according to a memo sent to all employees and obtained by CNN.

Employees are instructed to take their laptops with them and vacate the building starting at 6 p.m. ET. The offices are set to reopen on Thursday, according to the memo sent by James Hairfield from the department’s office of security, facilities and logistics. Hairfield did not specify the security reasons in the memo, and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. The memo comes as the department is weighing large-scale cuts, along with agencies across the federal government, and as President Donald Trump has threatened to shutter the Department of Education entirely.

Several Department of Education employees told CNN that the latest news hit them hard, and they are nervous about impending mass layoffs and the looming executive order from Trump. In the memo, Hairfield said the shutdown of offices applied to the Department of Education’s headquarters in Washington, DC and regional offices. The directive allows employees to work from home on Wednesday and instructs them to take their laptops when they leave work Tuesday. Longtime department staffers told CNN they can’t remember a time that all offices were closed, even when significant VIPs have been on site.

FROM - https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/11/politics/department-of-education-offices-to-close-security-reasons/index.html

See Also - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/education-department-staff-offices-closed/


[I smell a rat. They're about to do something awful.]


Dismantling of Education Department puts future of trillions of dollars in student loans in question

As President Donald Trump prepares to order the dismantling of the Department of Education, the financial arm of the agency – which makes loans directly to borrowers and manages trillions of dollars in student debt – faces an uncertain future, with steep staff cuts and lack of communication exacerbating the uncertainty, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former department employees. The $1.64 trillion financial portfolio is managed separately from the department’s policy apparatus, the latter of which Trump has sought to wind down or reassign to other agencies. But Trump acknowledged Thursday that the massive loan balance was a complicating factor in his effort to shutter the agency. “We’ve actually had that discussion today,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, suggesting that the debt could land at Treasury, Commerce, or the Small Business Administration. He said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler “would really like to do it.”

And then there is the question of whether the government will stay in the business of lending money to students directly. Project 2025 – the Heritage Foundation effort that was authored by many Trump allies, though Trump tried to distance himself from it during last year’s campaign – suggested a new agency should be established to extend loans going forward, run by a Senate-confirmed leader and board of trustees. But the government would get out of the business of making the loans directly, instead reverting back to a role as guarantor of loans underwritten by other companies. The new agency would be funded by Congress, with a goal of “treating taxpayers like investors,” with loans that could have better terms for certain academic disciplines or professions.

“Easy access to federal student loans and grants … does not give students the incentive, necessarily, to make sure they are pursuing careers or degrees that will lead to careers with a solid return on investment,” Lindsey Burke, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy and author of the corresponding Project 2025 chapter, told CNN in an interview. In Project 2025’s vision, old loans should be moved to the Treasury Department, which would manage defaults and collections. How Treasury would manage the portfolio is unclear. Roughly 40% of the loans are currently delinquent, or behind in payment, according to people familiar with the data; after 90 days, the missed payments are reported on a borrower’s credit report, and after 270 days without payment, the loan officially goes into default.

Experts warn that an avalanche of new defaults could be approaching as borrowers come to terms with the end of a multi-year pause on loan payments and changes to more affordable payment programs. “It’s a tidal wave coming for an unprepared village,” said one former senior Education Department employee who departed recently. “The fallout is not even hypothetical now.”

MORE at https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/politics/student-loans-education-trump


[Universities will be unable to function without student loans readily available for the student body. They're literally attacking higher ed here. And those still trying to pay off their loans.]

The US Education Department will start sweeping layoffs beginning Tuesday evening, three sources familiar with the plan told CNN, as President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the agency altogether.

The department is expected cut about 50% of its workforce with notices starting to go out Tuesday evening, the sources said. The department employs around 4,400 workers. Tuesday’s expected cuts follow similar layoffs at other federal agencies as part of Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s continued efforts to shrink the size of the federal government. CNN reported last week that White House officials have prepared an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department. Earlier Tuesday, the department told employees that its offices will be closed Tuesday evening and Wednesday for unspecified “security reasons,” according to a memo sent to all employees and obtained by CNN.

Employees are instructed to take their laptops with them and vacate the building starting at 6 p.m. ET. The offices are set to reopen on Thursday, according to the memo sent by James Hairfield from the department’s office of security, facilities and logistics. Hairfield did not specify the security reasons in the memo, and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

MORE https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/11/politics/department-of-education-cuts/index.html

https://abcnews.go.com/US/department-education-faces-50-layoffs-after-closure-notice/story?id=119690524

National Democrats asked a judge Tuesday to issue a preliminary injunction halting an executive order signed by President Trump that gives him more control over the Federal Election Commission.

The Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a federal civil lawsuit last month challenging the executive order, alleging it was a naked power grab by Mr. Trump to assume more control over U.S. elections.   In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to curtail the authority of independent regulatory agencies. "The independent regulatory agencies officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people's elected President," his order said.

Under the order, the president and Attorney General Pam Bondi would "provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch." Further, any proposed and "final significant regulatory actions" from executive departments and agencies, "including so-called independent agencies," are to be submitted for review to the president before they could be published in the Federal Register. The Democratic campaign groups allege they're already suffering harm because of the executive order. They argue that their employees fear that their fundraising and communications strategies may trigger an FEC complaint against the committees, "as has occurred in previous election cycles."

They say that the order violates the Federal Election Campaign Act, known as FECA, by demanding that commissioners and their employees defer to Mr. Trump and Bondi's interpretations of the law and prohibiting them from "'advanc[ing] any interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General's opinion on a matter of law.'"  Democrats noted that the executive order grounds its directive in the Article II authority of the president, but they argue that under controlling precedent, "Congress may create expert commissions like the FEC that are insulated from direct Presidential control, and therefore confirms the constitutionality of the relevant provisions of FECA.

Last month, Ellen Weintraub, the current Federal Election Commission Chair and one of three Democratic members on the committee, said Mr. Trump had illegally removed her as a member of the FEC. 

The case is assigned to Biden-appointed federal Judge Amir Ali.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-judge-trump-order-that-would-give-him-more-control-over-fec/

[Watch this - he wants to find a way to either not have mid-term elections, or else negate their outcome. And he wants a way to not have further presidential elections at all. Betcha.]

Washington—U.S. Agency for International Development employees have been directed to clear out classified safes and personnel documents from the Ronald Reagan Building, where the agency is housed, and shred or burn the records, according to two sources' screenshots of an email sent to USAID staff and obtained by CBS News. USAID staffers received an email from USAID acting executive secretary Erica Carr directing them to clear out classified safes and personnel documents, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. The shredding instruction regarding sensitive documents was first reported by ProPublica.

"Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break," the email reads. If you need to use the burn bags, do not overfill, and ensure the burn bag can be closed with staples at the top. The only labeling required on the burn bags are the words 'SECRET' and 'USAID/(B/IO)' in dark sharpie if possible. If you need additional burn bags or sharpie markers, please let me or the SEC InfoSec team know."

The documents being ordered destroyed could be evidence for multiple court filings against the Trump administration and the government aid agency, one source familiar with the instructions about the handling of USAID records told CBS News.

USAID staff also received another email around midday, Tuesday, instructing them to come by the USAID annex offices in Washington this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to retrieve personal belongings. The email obtained by CBS News reads, "Staff will be given 15 minutes to complete this retrieval and must be finished removing items within their time slot only." The email also appears to contradict the other email on how records should be handled. "While collecting their items, staff must ensure that proper records management practices are employed when identifying and/or disposing records, pursuant to the Federal Records Act and ADS 502," the email said.

On Tuesday, Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a motion for an emergency temporary restraining order to stop what they called the unlawful destruction of federal records at USAID.

The State Department has so far not responded to CBS News' requests for comment on either the email or the list of USAID grants that have been terminated by the State Department. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted from his personal X account confirming that 83% of USAID programs have been canceled.

In response to a question from CBS on if and when the full list of terminated grants will be made available to the public during last week's State Department press briefing, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she did not yet have an answer on this. She added, "It's important, because many Americans have questions about the nature of the details of what's happening."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usaid-staff-instructed-to-shred-or-burn-classified-safe-documents/