An obama-appointed judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James conspire to stop DOGE from reducing government spending.
The judge ordered that DOGE cannot access the systems until another judge reviews the case of Feb 14, and orders them to destroy all of their work
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-temporarily-blocks-musks-doge-accessing-payment-systems-2025-02-08/
US judge temporarily blocks Musk's DOGE from accessing payment systems

A federal judge early Saturday temporarily blocked billionaire Elon Musk's government efficiency team and Trump administration political appointees from accessing government systems used to process trillions of dollars in payments, citing a risk that sensitive information could be improperly disclosed.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan issued the order, opens new tab after a coalition of 19 mostly Democratic-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit late Friday arguing Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has no legal power to access the U.S. Department of Treasury systems.
The lawsuit said Musk and his team could disrupt federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and other programs, and that Republican President Donald Trump could use the information to further his political agenda.

The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, said the states' claims were "particularly strong" and warranted him acting on their request for emergency relief pending a further hearing before another judge on February 14.

Engelmayer's order bars access from being granted to Treasury Department payment and data systems by employees outside the Treasury Department.

The judge also directed that anyone prohibited under his order from accessing those systems to immediately destroy anything they copied or downloaded.
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https://www.npr.org/2025/02/21/nx-s1-5305226/ap-sues-white-house-gulf-of-america-mexico-trump
The Associated Press has sued the Trump administration for barring it from major presidential events over its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

President Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office renaming the Gulf which directly affects usage by the federal government but holds no force outside the U.S.

The AP serves audiences and news organizations across the globe. The news agency says its guidance recommends that its journalists and the news organizations that rely on it reflect the Gulf's historic name, but acknowledge Trump's desired shift in language. In its lawsuit, the AP said that the White House's retaliation was a threat to freedom.

"The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government," reads the AP's lawsuit, filed by attorneys from the Ballard Spahr law firm. "The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American's freedom."

After it was barred, there had been a flurry of appeals and private protests by several media outlets and diplomatic overtures to resolve the matter, even as both sides indicated they would not budge.

The AP says its journalists remained blocked from major events at the Oval Office, Air Force One, Trump's private estate in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, and other spots where journalists with White House press credentials are routinely welcomed. Such events as Trump's press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was off limits to AP reporters, as was Trump's press conference at which he explained he would keep the ban on AP reporters to key events in place.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters, "We're going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it's the Gulf of America."

Donald Trump's Gen Z Popularity Plunges
Published Feb 13, 2025 at 10:56 AM EST
Updated Feb 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM EST

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-gen-z-popularity-favorable-rating-yougov-2030595

President Donald Trump's favorable rating among Generation Z voters has dramatically fallen since the 2024 election, according to a poll.

A survey from The Economist/YouGov released Wednesday revealed the president's net favorability rating among those aged 18-29 is minus 18 points. This is a drop from the plus 19 favorable rating he scored among this demographic in the days following November's race.

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email.

Why It Matters
Trump made significant gains among young and first-time voters in the 2024 election compared to 2020. This was cited as a potential ideological shift for the youth vote. The poll results suggest Republicans cannot rely on this historically Democratic-leaning voting bloc for support in future elections.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-seeks-clarification-jd-vance-comment-military-levers-2025-02-14/
The Kremlin said on Friday it hoped the U.S. would clarify remarks by Vice President JD Vance that Washington had military as well as economic levers with which to press Russia to agree a good peace deal with Ukraine.

After Washington faced criticism from some European countries over a call this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vance said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal ahead of the Munich Security Conference that the U.S. had tools it could use to encourage Russia to reach a settlement to end the war.

"There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage" the U.S. could use against Putin, Vance said.

Asked about the reference to military levers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow wanted to know more.
"This was a new element about the (U.S.) position. We have not heard such formulations before, they have not been voiced before," Peskov told reporters.
"So, of course, during the very contacts that we have been talking about, of course, we hope to receive some additional clarification."

Trump said on Thursday that U.S. and Russian officials would meet in Munich on Friday and that Ukraine was also invited, however Kyiv responded that it did not expect to hold talks with Russia in the German city.

Peskov, when asked about Trump's remarks on the presence of Russian officials in Munich, said the Kremlin had nothing new to say about Ukraine peace efforts and that it would take some days to establish diplomatic contacts with the U.S. on Ukraine.

Separately, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Russian officials would not attend the Munich Security Conference because Russia has not been invited to the event which she accused of becoming a "destructive" pro-Ukrainian fixture.

The full extent of the layoffs across NOAA were not immediately clear, but Democratic legislators said hundreds of scientists and experts had been notified of terminated employment. NOAA — which includes the National Hurricane Center and the Tsunami Warning Center — is the latest in a string of federal agencies targeted for cuts by billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/meteorology/mass-firings-across-national-weather-service-noaa-ignite-fury-among-scientists-worldwide/ar-AA1zX4Z3

New Jersey judge Peter Warshaw rules that corrupt Democrat power broker George Norcross is legally allowed to extort and threaten people for criminal gain. Claims that there is "nothing wrong in using fear to obtain property"
You may remember George Norcross from such films as "the most corrupt Democrat in New Jersey history"
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/racketeering-charges-new-jersey-democratic-power-broker-george-norcros-rcna193943
Judge dismisses racketeering indictment against New Jersey Democratic power broker, co-defendants
The judge found the prosecution’s allegations that Norcross and five others used their influence to craft legislation to serve their own interests did not amount to criminal coercion or extortion, and are time-barred

TRENTON, N.J. — A state judge on Wednesday agreed to toss out racketeering charges against New Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross and those charged alongside him.

Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw granted Norcross’ and other defendants’ motion to dismiss a state grand jury’s indictment on racketeering charges brought by Attorney General Matt Platkin.

Platkin said in a statement he plans to appeal the judge’s ruling.

The charges stem from a June 2024 indictment, announced by Platkin at a news conference at which Norcross himself took the unusual step of appearing at in person and sitting directly in front of the attorney general. The charges accused Norcross and five other defendants of running “an enterprise” going back to 2012 to use their political influence to craft legislation to serve their own interests.

“Defendants correctly argue that when considering private parties negotiating economic deals in a free market system, threats are sometimes neither wrongful or unlawful. In these situations, there may be nothing inherently wrong in using economic fear to obtain property,” Warshaw wrote.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/27/us/connecticut-aleysha-ortiz-illiterate-lawsuit-cec/index.html

The Supreme Court of Ukraine has the power to annul Vladimir Zelensky’s illegitimate decisions, but the head of the court was put in prison after trying to do so on several occasions, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out.

Speaking at a Russian Defense Ministry board meeting, Putin stated that the Kiev regime is completely illegitimate, and pointed out that the Ukrainian judicial system is nowhere to be found.

"But where is the Supreme Court? Where is the Constitutional Court? That's a good question. The head of the Supreme Court is in prison. This is being hushed up, nobody talks about it. But he was put behind bars," Putin said, describing the situation in Ukraine.

He noted that "the Supreme Court’s powers include the annulment of illegitimate presidential decisions."

"There were several annulments. And then he was put in prison. And the head of the [Kiev] regime announced on the same day: [the head of the Supreme Court] will stay behind bars. As you know, in all civilized countries, only a court can decide whether a person is guilty or not. No. Here, an executive power representative said: 'he will stay behind bars,'" Putin said.

The Russian president also described the situation with the Constitutional court of Ukraine: security barred its chairman from entering his office.

"They simply won’t let him go to work. In the end, the Constitutional Court became paralyzed. And the Chairman of the Constitutional Court went abroad, where, as far as we know, he has been provided with state security detail due to a present threat to his life," the Russian leader said.

He pondered whether one could call Ukraine a legitimate country.

"No. This is actually a display of the loss of statehood. This is why crimes are being committed one after another," Putin stated.

https://tass.com/politics/1888241

https://abcnews.go.com/US/noaa-adjusts-historical-weather-data/story?id=118987611

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/21/whats-nycs-congestion-pricing-and-why-does-trump-want-it-dead/79319522007/
fucking bullshit regressive tax