Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in freezing Congress’ funding for USAID, judge says– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in freezing almost all spending on U.S. humanitarian and development work abroad, a federal judge ruled, saying the administration could no longer simply sit on the tens of billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated for foreign aid.
But Judge Amir H. Ali stopped short of ordering Trump officials to use the money to revive the thousands of contracts they have abruptly terminated for U.S. aid and development work around the world.
Ali’s ruling Monday evening came hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the administration had finished what has been a six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, cutting 83% of them. Rubio said he would move the remaining aid programs under the State Department.
Rubio made his announcement in a post on X, in one of his few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by Trump political appointees at the State Department and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams.
Rubio in the post thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.
Zelensky Says ‘Sorry’ To Trump For Oval Office Showdown: Big Revelation Before U.S.-Ukraine Talks – The Times of India Source Link Excerpt:
U.S. President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has said that the Ukrainian President apologized to Trump in a letter after the unruly public argument during an Oval Office meeting. “Zelensky sent a letter to the president. He apologized for that whole incident that happened in the Oval Office,” Witkoff told Fox News, adding that that was an important step toward rapprochement between both sides. The revelation comes just hours before Zelensky is set to meet Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia for talks to end Russia’s war.
Donald Trump’s tariffs hurting US business, Republican lawmakers warn – US politics live | Donald Trump– www.theguardian.com Source Link Excerpt:
US president Donald Trump has not treated Greenlanders with respect since expressing his renewed interest in acquiring the vast, mineral-rich Arctic island, Greenland’s prime minister was quoted on Monday as saying.
Trump reiterated his interest in acquiring the island during his address to Congress last Tuesday, painting a picture of prosperity and safety for the “incredible people” of Greenland, an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, Reuters reported.
Trump reaffirmed that message in a Truth Social post early on Monday, writing: “We will continue to keep you safe, as we have since World War II. We are ready to invest billions of dollars to create new jobs and make you rich.”
Greenland’s prime minister Mute Egede told Danish public broadcaster DR in an interview aired on Monday: “We deserve to be treated with respect, and I don’t think the US president has done that recently since he took office.”
“I think that the recent things the American president has been doing means that people don’t want to get as close to (the US) as they might have wanted in the past,” he added.
“We need to draw a line in the sand and put more effort into (cultivating relations with) the countries that show us respect for the future we want to build,” said Egede, in comments aired a day before Greenland holds a general election.
Alawite Genocide in Syria as Local Journalist Says ‘Only Israel Stands by Us’ – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com Source Link Excerpt:
The conflict in Syria took a gruesome turn as reports emerged on Sunday of a large-scale massacre of Alawites in northern Syria. Witnesses and analysts describe an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing, with the Alawite minority being targeted in what some are calling a genocide.
Islamists aligned with Syria’s interim government massacred hundreds of ethnic Alawites after members of that minority attacked security forces loyal to the interim government in the Latakia province. The Assad family, which ruled Syria from 1971-2024 are Alawites, an ethnic minority who make up 12% of Syria’s population. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 745 unarmed Alawite civilians have been killed, along with 150 armed Alawites and 125 members of the newly established Syrian regime.
At least 6 killed in a militant attack on a hotel in Somalia– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A car bomb exploded Tuesday at a hotel in the central Somali city of Beledweyne in a militant attack that killed at least six people, including two prominent traditional elders, according to witnesses.
The explosion targeted the Cairo Hotel, which houses traditional elders and military officers currently involved in coordinating the government’s offensive against the militant group al-Shabab.
The blast triggered intense gunfire as attackers stormed the hotel, engaging security forces.
“Six people, including two well-known traditional elders, were killed in the attack,” said Muhsin Abdullahi, a resident who spoke to The Associated Press by phone. He added that several wounded were hospitalized.
The US Is Undergoing a Corporate Coup. Sudan Shows How Dangerous It Can Become. – Truthout Source Link Excerpt:
Now, in the U.S., another corporate coup is unfolding. In recent months, Elon Musk has increasingly acted as an unelected power broker, using his economic and political might — including his influence in the spheres of telecommunications, militarism and artificial intelligence — to undermine democratic institutions and reshape the government in his own image.
Musk’s influence extends far beyond the private sector. His power manifests through private ventures that dictate public policy — from X’s (formerly Twitter) control over the public conversation to Starlink’s role in global conflicts. His satellites control critical military and civilian communications. His companies, including Tesla, StarLink, SpaceX and StarShield, SpaceX’s military subsidiary, are deeply embedded in national security infrastructure, while his growing AI and data collection through X gives him unprecedented political sway. Now, Musk is openly using his wealth and influence to stage what can only be described as a corporate coup.
Meta built content censorship system to break into China, report says– mashable.com Source Link Excerpt:
Mark Zuckerberg tried to get Facebook into China, where it is blocked, for well over a decade. According to a whistleblower report, Zuckerberg and Meta considered some fairly unsavory tactics to make it happen, including a censorship system and sharing user data.
The whistleblower in this case is Sarah Wynn-Williams, who filed a 78-page complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The report, obtained exclusively byThe Washington Post, alleges Facebook considered giving China’s ruling party the ability to censor content and squelch dissent. Also included in the report was Meta’s willingness to share user data with China.
The complaint from Wynn-Williams reportedly alleged that Facebook, in 2015, created a censorship tool for China that would allow it to remove content or shut down the site during “social unrest.” The complaint from Wynn-Williams, who was fired in 2017 from her job working on a team that worked on China policy, reportedly contains internal Meta documents.
Mashable Light Speed
The complaint also alleges that Facebook faced pressure to store Chinese users’ data in China, which could’ve made it easier for the government to access the information. Facebook also allegedly considered weakening privacy protections for Hong Kong users in an effort to appease China.
Mark Zuckerberg Offered China Full Censorship Control And User Data Access, Says Meta Whistleblower: ‘Working Hand In Glove With The Chinese Communist Party’ – Benzinga Source Link Excerpt:
A former Meta Platforms, Inc. executive has accused the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of going to extraordinary lengths—including enabling censorship and offering data access—to gain a foothold in China.
What Happened: In a whistleblower complaint filed with the SEC in April, Sarah Wynn-Williams, Meta’s former global policy director for China, made these allegations.
She stated that the company, formerly Facebook, developed a China-specific censorship system in 2015 and proposed installing a “chief editor” to manage and potentially shut down content during periods of social unrest.
The 78-page whistleblower complaint, reviewed by The Washington Post, claims Meta was prepared to give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) oversight of all Facebook content in China and store user data locally—making it more accessible to government surveillance.
ICE Arrested Legal U.S. Resident for Protesting the Genocide of Palestinians at Columbia – Jezebel Source Link Excerpt:
On Saturday evening, following reports of ICE agents in Columbia University student housing, recent graduate Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in front of his wife, who is eight months pregnant. During Khalil’s time as a student at Columbia, he was a vocal pro-Palestine student activist and leading figure in organizing student encampments to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Columbia’s ties to Israel. Khalil served as a key negotiator with the university during the encampment protests last spring, which drew horrific police violence sanctioned by the university.
ICE officers approached Khalil and his wife, who is an American citizen, at the entrance of their student housing building around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. The agents reportedly told Khalil, who is Palestinian and graduated in December, that the State Department had revoked his student visa, even though Khalil has a green card and is a legal resident. His wife went to their apartment to retrieve his green card, while Khalil put his lawyer, Amy Greer, on the phone and tried to have the agents speak to her. The agents claimed Khalil’s green card had been revoked, too. When Greer tried to ask why Khalil was being detained, if the agents had a warrant, and also repeated that he has a green card, the agents hung up.
Trump tells Cabinet members they’re in charge of staffing as business leaders and Republicans complain about Musk – CNN– news.google.com Source Link Excerpt:
Somali cabinet cracks down on terrorist support networks and misinformation – Hiiraan Online Source Link Excerpt:
Somalia’s Council of Ministers, led by Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama, reaffirmed a resolution on Thursday aimed at intensifying efforts to combat misinformation and disrupt networks that provide direct or indirect support to terrorist groups. The move is part of the government’s broader strategy to bolster national security and counter extremist narratives.
The resolution outlines stringent measures targeting individuals and entities found guilty of aiding terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab. It criminalizes providing housing, logistical support, or any form of assistance to extremists, with severe legal repercussions, including asset seizures and extended prison sentences.
The Somali government has increasingly focused on tackling misinformation, which it views as a tool used by extremist groups to manipulate public perception and undermine state-led counterterrorism efforts. In January 2025, the Cabinet approved new social media regulations to curb the spread of terrorist propaganda. The decision follows previous actions, including the August 2023 ban on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram, which authorities accused of facilitating the dissemination of extremist content. Online
Hamas says continued closure of Gaza crossings a ‘war crime’ requiring international intervention – Yeni Şafak English Source Link Excerpt:
Hamas on Friday condemned Israel’s continued closure of Gaza’s border crossings calling it an “extension of the ongoing genocide” against Palestinians in the besieged enclave and a “war crime” that necessitates international intervention.
“Tightening the siege on Gaza, closing the crossings for the sixth day in a row, and preventing the entry of humanitarian aid are forms of the genocide that has not ceased against our people,” said Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou in a statement.
He added: “Israel’s policies of starvation and collective punishment are a blatant violation of international and humanitarian laws, and a war crime that the world must stop and hold its perpetrators accountable.”
Qanou renewed calls for the international community and human rights organizations to “compel the Israeli occupation to open the crossings, allow humanitarian and medical aid into Gaza, and end the suffering of Palestinians in the Strip.”
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro Threatens ‘All Necessary Measures’ to Get ExxonMobil out of Guyana – Breitbart Source Link Excerpt:
Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro threatened on Wednesday to take “all necessary measures” to stop American oil company ExxonMobil’s operations in the Essequibo region, historically contested by Venezuela and Guyana.
The Essequibo is a 61,600-square-mile region rich in oil and other natural resources currently administered by Guyana that represents roughly two-thirds of Guyana’s entire territory. Neighbors Venezuela and Guyana maintain an over 120-year-old territorial dispute over the contested region that is yet to reach a final, conclusive ruling at international organizations.
Trump says he is suspending tariffs on many Mexican goods for one month – US politics live | Trump administration– www.theguardian.com Source Link Excerpt:
President Donald Trump has announced that after speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum he has agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on anything that falls under the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement until 2 April.
His post reads:
After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!
Starmer praises sacrifice of British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq in oblique rebuke to Vance– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday praised the hundreds of British troops who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq “alongside our allies,” in an oblique rebuke of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who has questioned the merits of a potential European peacekeeping force in Ukraine following the signing of any peace agreement between the country and Russia.
In his opening remarks before the start of a weekly parliamentary question session, Starmer specifically paid tribute to six British soldiers who died on patrol in Afghanistan when their vehicle was struck by an explosive. Thursday marks the 13-year anniversary of their deaths.
“These men fought and died for their country, our country,” Starmer told the House of Commons. “And across the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 642 individuals died fighting for Britain alongside our allies, many more were wounded.”
Without directly referencing Vance, the prime minister said he and all lawmakers will “never forget their bravery and their sacrifice.”
Senators Demand Docs on Planned Parenthood’s COVID-19 Cash– www.dailysignal.com Source Link Excerpt:
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Two U.S. senators are demanding documents from the Small Business Administration regarding how much COVID-19 relief aid Planned Parenthood chapters received.
Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., sent the letter Friday to Kelly Loeffler, the SBA’s administrator. The letter concerns funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, a creation of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020, which provided forgivable loans to small businesses struggling with economic disruption from the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“Not a single tax dollar should fund abortions,” Ernst told The Daily Signal. “The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help Americans struggling during the pandemic, not to go to ineligible recipients fueling abortion-on-demand.”
Aid operations in Gaza imperiled as millions of promised USAID dollars do not arrive– timesofindia.indiatimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
JERUSALEM: The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups, leaving them paying out of pocket to preserve a fragile ceasefire, according to officials from the U.S. humanitarian agency.
The cutbacks threaten to halt the small gains aid workers have made combatting Gaza‘s humanitarian crisis during the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. They also could endanger the tenuous truce, which the Trump administration helped cement.
USAID was supposed to fund much of the aid to Gaza as the ceasefire progressed, and the Trump administration approved over $383 million on Jan. 31 to that end, according to three USAID officials.
But since then, there have been no confirmed payments to any partners in the Middle East, they said. The officials, who have survived multiple rounds of furloughs, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Reuters takes USAID money, attacks India– www.americanthinker.com Source Link Excerpt:
India’s on the rise — a tech powerhouse and a vital U.S. ally against China’s dominance. So why’s it being smeared as a cybercrime hub?
Reuters, once a respected outlet, is accused of sloppy journalism funded by $9 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — money that’s fungible, blurring lines between aid and influence. The Association for Appin Training Centers, a network of Indian software trainers, calls it more than bad reporting — it’s a deliberate, state-funded campaign to tarnish India’s reputation.
The target is Appin, a defunct New Delhi cybersecurity firm Reuters branded a “hacking for hire” kingpin from the early 2010s. Vikram Sharma of the Association calls it bunk — shoddy reporting twisting old classroom slides into “evidence” and leaning on a 2013 Norwegian study that never conclusively linked Appin. “The word ‘Appin’ appears in isolated contexts, but we’re not suggesting inappropriate activity by the company,” the Norman Shark report noted, even speculating that Appin could have been a victim of falsified evidence.
Pope Francis suffers new respiratory crises, back on ventilation: Vatican – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
Pope Francis suffered two new acute respiratory crises Monday and was put back on noninvasive mechanical ventilation, in another setback to his battle to fight pneumonia, the Vatican said.
Doctors extracted “copious” amounts of mucus from his lungs during two bronchoscopies, in which a camera-tipped tube was sent down into the airways with a sucker at the tip to suction out fluid. The Vatican said the mucus was the body’s reaction to the original pneumonia infection and not a new infection, given laboratory tests don’t indicate any new bacteria.
Francis remained alert, oriented and cooperated with medical personnel. The prognosis remained guarded. Doctors didn’t say if he remained in stable condition, though they referred to the crises in the past tense, suggesting they were over.
The crises were a new setback in what has become a more than two-week battle by the 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed, to overcome a complex respiratory infection.
Story continues below advertisement
In a late update, the Vatican said the episodes were caused by a “significant accumulation” of mucus in his lungs and bronchial spasms. “Copious secretions,” were extracted during the bronchoscopies and the pope was put back on noninvasive mechanical ventilation, a mask that covers his nose and mouth and pumps oxygen into the lungs, the Vatican said.
Pope calls meeting with cardinals as health remains critical
The Vatican hasn’t released any photos or videos of Francis since before he entered the hospital on Feb. 14 with a complex lung infection. This has become the longest absence of his 12-year papacy.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The Vatican has defended Francis’ decision to recover in peace and out of the public eye. But on Monday one of Francis’ closest friends at the Vatican, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, urged him to let his voice be heard, saying the world needs to hear it.
“We need men like him who are truly universal and not only one-sided,” Paglia said, speaking after a press conference to launch the annual assembly of his Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican’s bioethics academy, which has as this year’s theme “The End of the World?”
Story continues below advertisement
Pope Francis Making Slow Recovery from Double Pneumonia
Francis wrote a message to the assembly in which he lamented that international organizations are increasingly ineffective to combat the threats facing the world and are being undermined by “short-sighted attitudes concerned with protecting particular and national interests.” It was dated Feb. 26 and signed “from Gemelli Polyclinic.”
Trending Now
Trump says tariffs on agricultural products coming April 2
As Trump tariffs loom within hours, how the coming days could play out
Doctors often use noninvasive ventilation to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation. Francis has not been intubated during this hospitalization. It’s not clear if he has provided any advance directives about the limits of his care if he declines or loses consciousness.
Catholic teaching holds that life must be defended from conception until natural death. It insists that chronically ill patients, including those in vegetative states, must receive “ordinary” care such as hydration and nutrition, but “extraordinary” or disproportionate care can be suspended if it is no longer beneficial or is only prolonging a precarious and painful life.
Story continues below advertisement
Pope Francis’ health brings ‘anxiety and concern’ about Catholic Church’s future
Francis articulated that to a meeting of Paglia’s bioethics body in 2017, saying there was “no obligation to have recourse in all circumstances to every possible remedy.” He added: “It thus makes possible a decision that is morally qualified as withdrawal of ‘overzealous treatment.’”
Paglia, whose office helps articulate the Catholic Church’s position on end-of-life care, said Francis is like any other Catholic and would follow church teaching if it came to that.
“Today the pope is giving us an extraordinary teaching on fragility,” he added. “Today the pope, not through words but with his body, is reminding all of us, we elderly people to begin with, that we are all fragile and therefore we need to take care of each other.”
Francis’ 17-night hospitalization is by no means reaching the papal record that was set during St. John Paul II’s numerous lengthy hospitalizations over a quarter century.
Suicidal Girl Wasn’t Bullied Over Immigration Status, Instead Was Sexually Molested, Say Friends– www.westernjournal.com Source Link Excerpt:
The tragedy of an 11-year-old Texas girl’s passing was not only that she took her own life last month, but that she suffered so much while she lived.
The reality of little Jocelynn Rojo Carranza’s torment was obscured when her death was used as a pawn to criticize the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
CNN, for example, proclaimed that “she was bullied about her family’s immigration status.” Over on X, one poster sermonized, “Stop dehumanizing immigrants. Stop celebrating shackled immigrants being led onto airplanes back to war zones and crime scene scenes.”
But her life was infinitely sadder, according to a report by Gainesville School District Superintendent DesMontes Stewart that revealed the truth.
Texas school district issues update on Jocelynn Rojo Carranza’s death https://t.co/YwFmKPrhCO
As Trump’s allies blast hero Zelensky for his clothes, desperate Ukrainian war medics ask Don: ‘Should WE wear a suit’?– www.thesun.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
HERO surgeons on Ukraine’s frontline have mocked their US critics by asking “should we wear a suit?”
Frontline docs hit back after President Zelensky was accused of disrespecting America by wearing combat fatigues to the White House.
Quantum properties in atom-thick semiconductors offer new way to detect electrical signals in cells– www.sciencedaily.com Source Link Excerpt:
For decades, scientists have relied on electrodes and dyes to track the electrical activity of living cells. Now, engineers at the University of California San Diego have discovered that quantum materials just a single atom thick can do the job — using only light.
A new study, published on Mar. 3 in Nature Photonics, shows that these ultra-thin semiconductors, which trap electrons in two dimensions, can be used to sense the biological electrical activity of living cells with high speed and resolution.
Scientists have continually been seeking better ways to track the electrical activity of the body’s most excitable cells, such as neurons, heart muscle fibers and pancreatic cells. These tiny electrical pulses orchestrate everything from thought to movement to metabolism, but capturing them in real time and at large scales has remained a challenge.
Gov. Evers: “I Want Wisconsin to Become the First State in America to Start Auditing Insurance Companies over Denying Healthcare Claims” – Urban Milwaukee Source Link
Delta plane flips on landing at Toronto airport, injuring 18– japantoday.com Source Link Excerpt:
A Delta Air Lines regional jet flipped upside down upon landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday amid windy weather following a snowstorm, injuring 18 of the 80 people on board, officials said.
Three people on the flight that originated at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport suffered critical injuries, among them a child, authorities added.
Delta said a CRJ900 aircraft operated by its Endeavor Air subsidiary was involved in a single-aircraft accident with 76 passengers and four crew aboard. The CRJ900, made by Canada’s Bombardier, can seat up to 90 people.
Canadian authorities said they would investigate the cause of the crash, which was not yet known.
“The aircraft is upside down and burning,” an emergency worker told the air traffic control tower after a controller noted that some passengers were walking near the crashed plane, according to a recording of the incident posted on liveatc.net.
Ukraine resumes fire suppressing efforts on Chernobyl nuclear plant after smoke detected – TVP World Source Link Excerpt:
Firefighters in Ukraine have resumed efforts to put out smoldering fires on the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as workers start dismantling part of the plant’s protective structure, which was damaged by a Russian drone attack.
Last week, a drone hit one of the plant’s outer domes, igniting a fire which was later believed to have been extinguished.
On Monday, however, renewed smoldering was detected in two hotspots and fire suppression efforts resumed. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported on the responders’ efforts on Telegram.
“At 12:00 on February 18, emergency responders were actively working to contain the fire and uncover parts of the [protective] sarcophagus structure,” the post read.
Palestine demonstrators cover BBC London offices in red paint in protest against complicity in genocide – Peoples Dispatch Source Link Excerpt:
On Monday, February 17, activists with UK-based solidarity direct action network Palestine Action covered BBC offices in Portland Place, London with red paint and broke windows in protest against what they claim is the BBC’s complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people, through pro-Israel bias in media coverage.
Palestine Action accuses the BBC of failing “to provide a platform for Palestinian voices” or to “accurately represent the scale of Israel’s violence.”
“The BBC’s biased reporting isn’t a simple case of poor journalism—it’s a matter of life and death. By downplaying Israeli war crimes, the BBC is complicit in the genocide unfolding in Gaza,” said a spokesperson for Palestine Action. “This isn’t just about the news—it’s about the role of the media in shaping global complicity. The BBC has blood on its hands, and today’s action is part of a wider campaign to hold them accountable. We will not stand by as the BBC sanitizes genocide.”
Many have pointed out BBC’s skewed coverage on the genocide against the Palestinian people. Journalist Alan Macleod drew attention to a February 8 BBC headline which read: “Palestinian prisoners released by Israel after Hamas frees hostages.”
“A perfect encapsulation of media bias in one headline,” Macleod wrote on X. “Israel takes ‘prisoners’ while Palestinians take ‘hostages.’”
The Associated Press Busted for Peddling Fake News About the FAA Layoffs– townhall.com Source Link Excerpt:
They updated their story, but the tweet says it all: the Associated Press, now banned from Air Force One and the Oval Office, tried to manufacture a narrative of chaos and incompetence regarding the Trump administration’s popular initiative to whittle down the federal bureaucracy through targeted spending cuts. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been the point of the lance in exposing waste and potential fraud.
So, the Associated Press decided to hurl this out on social media, which got slapped down by the Trump White House:
FAA staff fired over the weekend included personnel that worked radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, among others. Hundreds were fired, just weeks after a fatal mid-air collision in DC killed 67. One employee said they were harassed on Facebook…
For starters, DOGE doesn’t have a Facebook page. The updated story has an even more laughable narrative: that the firing of government workers, also known as AP’s readership, might lead to the collapse of American society:
The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Probationary workers were targeted in late-night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.
The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told The Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.