https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/02/09/what-is-elon-musk-getting-up-to-with-americas-payment-system
ON THE MORNING of January 28th April Mullins-Datko, the director of ADVOCAP, a social-services provider in Fond Du Lac, a city of 40,000 people in Wisconsin, put in her usual request to draw down $250,000 to pay staff salaries and other expenses connected with Head Start, a federal programme that provides child care, education and food to families on low incomes. Every other time ADVOCAP has done this the money has arrived within 48 hours.

This time it did not. As of February 9th ADVOCAP has received just $44,000 of the $250,000 they were expecting. To pay their workers, they have had to use bank credit. If the money does not materialise soon, they will have to begin laying off staff and shutting down their Head Start programme. The result will be 202 children without services and 80 staff members without jobs.

ADVOCAP appears to be a victim of Donald Trump’s seizure of the federal government’s payment systems. Its money should not be missing, according to the White House. A memo that froze much government funding, issued late on January 27th, was quickly rescinded after an outcry and a court ruling. Yet ADVOCAP’s money has not turned up and nobody seems able to explain why.

Ms Mullins-Datko says she has been calling anyone she can, but “they’re not responding. I’ve heard nothing from them.” She has received only one insight: “I called the Office of Head Start central office in DC and they said, ‘Oh, we’re sorry. This isn’t an Office of Head Start problem. This is a Treasury Department issue.’” Guidance sent to NGOs by the National Head Start Association, which represents service providers, confirms they too have been told that the problem is with the Treasury.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/who-is-kash-patel-donald-trumps-fbi-director-pick-and-all-about-his-personal-life/ar-AA1xNqOG

A prominent figure in American politics, Patel is an Indian-origin lawyer, who has been at the helm of many key positions in the US government.

Ever since Trump's nomination, Patel has been in the spotlight, and everyone is eagerly waiting to see how he adds to the President's 'America First' agenda. His speech, “My name is Kash Patel, and I ain’t going anywhere,” at the inauguration ceremony emphasizing his commitment to values and principles that define the American dream has grabbed the attention of the world.

Expand article logo Continue reading

As all eyes are on Kash Patel, let’s take a look at his early life.

Kash Patel has roots back in India. He was born on February 25, 1980, to Gujarati parents in New York. He graduated from the University of Richmond. After that, he earned a Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law. Patel, who began his career in law as a public defender, and has handled multiple sensitive cases ranging from murder, narco-trafficking, to complex financial crimes in jury trials in state and federal courts.

Is Kash Patel married?

There is no credible information about Kash Patel being married although there have been rumors of a secret Hindu ceremony.

‘Students at public institutions of higher education who are members of religious student groups will be free to select their own leaders’

A federal court recently ended a four-year-old court battle waged by an atheist advocacy group seeking to reverse a Trump-era regulation barring universities from restricting students groups’ religious freedoms on college campuses.

The U.S. District Court for the District Court of Columbia on Jan. 15 ruled in favor of Trump’s 2020 “Free Inquiry Rule,” which allows student groups to have leaders who reflect the organization’s beliefs.

The Secular Student Alliance had sued Biden’s Department of Education in 2021 seeking to overturn the rule, arguing it is discriminatory.

“The rule gives religious student clubs the absolute right to use religion to discriminate while still receiving official university recognition and funding,” the alliance previously stated.

“The rule thus undermines the nondiscrimination policies that many colleges and universities have enacted to ensure that clubs don’t reject students from membership or leadership positions on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other protected characteristics.”

The lawsuit had been placed on hold in the courts as the U.S. Department of Education considered revoking the Free Inquiry Rule through the proper administrative channels, but still had not concluded that process at the time of Trump’s reelection.


https://www.thecollegefix.com/court-ruling-kills-atheist-groups-lawsuit-seeking-to-restrict-college-students-religious-rights/

Current and former air traffic controllers warn that the Federal Aviation Administration’s hiring practices and “immunity program” have led to problems, such as those that may have resulted in the recent midair collison near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The FAA’s focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices has resulted in the employment of less qualified air traffic controllers (ATCs) and a staffing shortage, former ATC's say. This, in addition to an “immunity program” that fails to hold ATCs accountable for their mistakes, are likely contributing factors American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter on Jan. 29 that resulted in both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River near the Washington, D.C.-area airport. All 67 people aboard died.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Thursday that the helicopter’s advanced tracking system was turned off at the time of the crash. As for the FAA, an ATC tried unsuccessfully to contact the helicopter less than 30 seconds before the collision, according to audio from air traffic control.
Warned about dangers

The FAA was warned in a 2023 report that air traffic controllers were increasingly making last minute flight adjustments to deal with traffic and shortages of controllers in a trend that raised safety concerns. The safety expert report that warned America’s air traffic control system is suffering from quality-control issues and staffing shortages that put safety at risk.

The November 2023 report also warned that personnel shortages among air traffic controllers were forcing people to work longer hours and make sudden, last-minute changes to flight plans that increased risks.


https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/air-traffic-controllers-warn-faa-hiring-practices-immunity-program-led

At the Superbowl, Donald Trump was cheered on by the attendees, while Taylor Swift was booed.
You may recognize Donald J. Trump as "The President of the United States of America", while Taylor Swift may be recognizable as "that one famous pop star who dates that football guy and didn't support trump in 2024"
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/taylor-swift-booed-eagles-super-bowl-trump-b2695121.html
Taylor Swift booed by Eagles fans at Super Bowl – while Trump is cheered

Taylor Swift received a negative welcome from Philadelphia Eagles fans throughout this year’s Super Bowl.

The Grammy winner attended this year’s game to show her support for her boyfriend Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on Sunday in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome. However, the Eagles fans were quick to show support for their team as they began to boo her.

After the “Karma” singer was shown on the jumbotron, the crowd erupted in boos which she appeared to be unbothered by. Swift quickly reacted as she looked over at the people she invited into her suite — Ice Spice and the Haim sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana — before giving the camera a side eye.

However, Serena Williams ended up defending the singer on social media as she told her to disregard the negative crowd energy.

“I love you @taylorswift 13 don't listen to those boos!!!” she wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

While Swift was getting a negative reaction from the crowd, the opposite happened when Donald Trump also appeared on the jumbotron, with the crowd breaking into cheers.

Trump is the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl in person which has largely resulted in a positive reaction from the players.

The president went on to post on his Truth Social platform about the crowd booing Swift as he shared a post from an account called “Libs of TikTok” which read “Trump gets massive cheers at the Super Bowl while Taylor Swift gets booed.”

“The world is healing!”

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/trump-says-us-might-have-less-debt-than-thought-2025-02-09/
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said his administration was examining U.S. Treasury debt payments for possible fraud and suggested that the country's $36 trillion debt load might not be that high.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said administration officials who have been combing through payment records in an effort to identify wasteful spending have turned their attention to the debt payments that play a central role in the global financial system.

"We're even looking at Treasuries," Trump said. "There could be a problem - you've been reading about that, with Treasuries and that could be an interesting problem."
He added: "It could be that a lot of those things don't count. In other words, that some of that stuff that we're finding is very fraudulent, therefore maybe we have less debt than we thought."

It was not clear whether Trump was referring to debt service or other government payments made by the Treasury Department.

The United States currently has $36.2 trillion public debt outstanding, according to the U.S. Treasury, equal to more than 120% of GDP. Because the U.S. government spends more money than it collects, Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress will have to authorize more borrowing sometime this year to avert a debt default that could have catastrophic consequences.

Trump's proposed tax cuts would add trillions of dollars more in debt, independent budget watchdogs say.
Trump has tasked Elon Musk with an ambitious overhaul of the federal government, sparking street protests in Washington and accusations that the Trump administration is breaking the law.

Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" has disrupted operations at several federal agencies and has raised privacy and security concerns while accessing sensitive payroll and spending records.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/04/trump-says-us-will-own-and-develop-gaza-strip.html

Who's had their security clearances revoked this week?
Joe Biden? Check.
Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken? Check.
New York Attorney General Letitia James? Check. (Note: she also lost her membership cards to The Waffle House and Golden Corral)
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg? Check.
former national security adviser Jake Sulivan? Check.
Biden's deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco? Check.
Lawyers Andrew Weismann? Mark Zaid? Norm Eisen? Triple check.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-revokes-security-clearance-letitia-james-alvin-bragg-2028357
Donald Trump said in an exclusive interview with the New York Post on Saturday that he revoked the security clearance for some former Democratic officials and current legal authorities, following his decision to do the same for former President Joe Biden earlier this week.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment by email on Saturday afternoon.

Why It Matters
Trump announced on Friday that he had revoked Biden's security clearance and discontinuing the daily intelligence briefings that Biden had been receiving—retaliation for Biden doing the same to Trump in 2021 due to "erratic behavior" and the concern he would disclose sensitive information.

Traditionally, former presidents continue to receive intelligence briefings even after leaving office. However, in a post on Friday, Trump claimed that Biden used his tenure to instruct the intelligence community to prevent Trump from accessing national security information after he left office.

Trump on Saturday told the New York Post in an exclusive interview that he would revoke the clearance of eight additional Democrats, which the newspaper wrote was meant to "punish" them. Without their clearance, the officials will not be allowed to access classified information or enter federal facilities.

Each of those listed were at some point involved with investigations into Trump.

Unfortunately, retarded MAGA shills will lap this up, because they love being lied to.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/02/07/congress/mike-johnson-shutdown-threat-00203080

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries “seemed to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown.”

“We have been negotiating in good faith, trying to get a top-line number. But so far as I know, they’ve been unresponsive the past two days or so,” Johnson said.

The speaker weighed in as anxieties are spiking about the coming March 14 deadline for extending government funding. Democrats have grown wary about cutting a deal with Republicans as President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk move swiftly to unilaterally cut agency funding

Top appropriators have been negotiating in recent weeks about a top-line spending number — a necessary first step toward passing funding for the remainder of fiscal 2025. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee, in fact, said Friday — contra Johnson — that those talks are ongoing.

“That’s not true, he doesn’t know that," Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said when asked about Johnson's comment. "I mean, we heard [from Democrats] yesterday."

The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (R-Conn.), said much the same Friday: "The speaker is mistaken. No one has walked away from the table. We sent them an offer yesterday. He should give Chairman Cole a call for a status update."

According to a person familiar with the private talks who was granted anonymity to describe them, Republicans have put multiple topline offers on the table but the House and Senate GOP numbers are still not aligned.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/28/economy/trump-inflation-price-promises/index.html