DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Trump Campaign Promises Part III

Hopefully the result is more companies staying put in America instead of shipping all the jobs out of this country.

why would they? Even American made products are really just American 'assembled'. The commodities needed to make the product itself are mostly created overseas, then shipped here for the final touch. GM, our country is reliant on private businesses building the factories/refineries necessary to have our products truly American made, but what have you and i heard for years now?


"oh, its gonna take too long to build the infrastructure" , "it doesn't make economic sense" and blah blah blah. funny enough, if they started building the infrastructure a couple decades ago when they were complaining about it, it would be done already and these companies would make even more profit than they are now, and we'd still be in a win/win situation. But nope, our country and it's people decided that the best economic policies for this country is the one where we wait around HOPING that the wealthy do something productive for the majority of americans, not just for themselves. rugged individualism is also practiced at the highest levels of our institution, and we've been seeing the effects of that for a while now.

Welp...last week we had a memo that said Return to Office by Feb 10. Today, we just received a memo from the drunkard talk show host SecDef that we have to be back by Thursday. There is absolutely no way work stations will be ready. People will be walking around twittling their thumbs.

They are doing everything they can to get us to walk out of the door. I really hate this.

And now you have a POTUS that thinks companies should do AS HE SEES FIT. Some might call that socialism, I would call it a nationaist-socialistic-fascist regime. Sound familiar? It should.

what's crazy is that's not even socialism. that's straight up commie rhetoric.

better make it work bro, or Elon is gonna come fire you directly.

I’m wondering if Elon wanted access to the treasury computer for the personal data to do social media checks on everyone receiving payments from the government. Think about how scary that could get. With his own massive AI infrastructure, he could parse that in days and purge anyone who hates Trump or any other datapoints they want to make disqualifying from future payments. The MAGA base would eat that up.

Well, if he's checking out my posts on here, I'm really screwed.

60 plus percent of Americans would be screwed. Becoming the underclass.

USAID personnel told to stay away from DC headquarters after Elon Musk's shutdown comments

Elon Musk said in the early hours Monday that he and President Donald Trump are shutting down the agency, which serves as the U.S. government’s main international humanitarian and development arm.

Employees of the United States Agency for International Development based out of the nation's capital were ordered overnight not to come into the office Monday and to work from home.

"At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025," said an email sent to staff overnight, according to a copy obtained by NBC News.

The message said agency personnel who normally work at USAID's headquarters "will work remotely tomorrow" except for people who perform essential on-site and building maintenance duties. "Further guidance will be forthcoming," it said.

The e-mail provided no reason for the work-from-home directive, but it comes after tech billionaire Elon Musk, who's been closely advising President Donald Trump after being tapped to lead his Department of Government Efficiency, said in the early hours Monday that he and the president were in the process of shutting down USAID.

Trump administration officials are actively considering placing USAID under the State Department's authority, more than a dozen current and former officials and sources familiar with the discussions have said. As of Monday, USAID’s website no longer loads on the web, resulting in a message that its server IP address cannot be found.

USAID was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy and has been the U.S. government's main international humanitarian and development arm.

According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, more than 10,000 people work at the agency, with about two-thirds serving overseas. In recent years, USAID has "provided significant humanitarian, development, and economic support to Ukraine and countries affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as humanitarian assistance in Gaza and elsewhere," the report says.

Musk has been leading Trump's effort to cut down the federal government's bureaucracy, running what is called the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an official agency.

On Saturday, USAID's director of security and his deputy were put on administrative leave after they attempted to block people working with DOGE from accessing the agency's secure systems.

“No one feels safe to go anywhere near the Ronald Reagan building,” one USAID official told NBC News. “We just had Elon Musk call us a criminal organization. Our security chief was escorted out. We know we are being surveilled by DOGE.”

In his announcement Monday that he was working to shut down USAID, Musk said that Trump supported the move.

“With regard to the USAID stuff, I went over [it] with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said of the president. “I actually checked with him a few times [and] said, ‘Are you sure?’” Musk added that Trump responded, “Yes.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/wh...rs-elon-musks-shutdown-commen-rcna190405

China will fill the void and further increase their global influence.

Another well thought out plan...not

Some migrants arrested in Trump's immigration crackdown have been released back into the U.S.
Space constraints and court orders have led ICE to release migrants on monitoring programs after they’re arrested.
ICE Agents Carry Out Raid On Undocumented Immigrants In Chicago
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago on Jan. 26. Christopher Dilts / Bloomberg / Getty Images


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Feb. 3, 2025, 7:00 AM EST
By Julia Ainsley
The Trump administration aggressively publicized the arrests of more than 8,000 immigrants by federal agents since Inauguration Day, with the promise that those detained would be part of a historic mass deportation. But NBC News has learned that some have already been released back into the United States on a monitoring program, according to five sources familiar with the operations.

Since he took office, President Donald Trump and his allies have promoted immigration operations in cities like Chicago and New York, where agents across federal agencies were called in to increase the number of arrests.

But arresting more people inside the United States on allegations of immigration violations means they need to be held somewhere. And significant space constraints in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities — and federal court orders forbidding indefinite detention — have forced the agency to release some of those arrested in the roundups rather than hold them until deportation.

ICE posts arrest figures daily on X, but it does not disclose how many of those arrested are released, remain in detention or have been deported.

In a statement to NBC News, an ICE spokesperson acknowledged federal court cases limit ICE from detaining people indefinitely if their countries refuse to take them back, which can lead ICE to release them.

“The agency’s federal law enforcement officers do everything they can to keep our communities safe,” the spokesperson said. “In some cases, ICE is required to release certain arrested aliens from custody.”

Those released are being kept on a monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention, the five sources familiar with the releases said, which has for more than a decade been used to keep track of where migrants are as they make their way through the immigration system. ICE can track them by ankle monitors or wrist bands or through telephonic check-ins.

As he did in his first administration, Trump vowed when he took office last month to end so-called catch-and-release policies under which migrants apprehended at the southern border are released back into the United States while their immigration cases are pending.



Trump’s ban on “catch and release” appears to be in effect at the southern border, where few migrants are being processed for asylum claims. But because ICE is funded for only 41,500 beds nationwide, it is still releasing some migrants who were detained in the interior of the country.

Fox News reported in December that the incoming Trump administration was aware of the capacity issues in ICE detention and was considering expanding the ankle monitor program.

ICE policy prioritizes immigrants deemed to be public safety threats for detention and allows officers to use their discretion when they decide to release migrants who do not have serious criminal convictions. There are no indications that the Trump administration has released anyone convicted of a serious crime.

When they decide who should be detained, ICE officers also consider whether immigrants come from countries that refuse to take them back. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States, for example, could not be deported and were considered for release if they were not deemed threats to public safety.

On Saturday, Trump announced that Venezuela had agreed to take back its nationals who had emigrated to the United States.

Other detainees may be released for medical reasons or if they are the only caretakers of children, three sources familiar with the decisions said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/na...gration-crackdown-released-us-rcna186360

Europe Politics
Putin says Europe will ‘stand at the feet of the master’ as Trump’s tariffs alarm allies
Published Mon, Feb 3 20257:13 AM ESTUpdated 2 Hours Ago
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Holly Ellyatt
@HollyEllyatt

Commenting on Trump’s decision to impose trade duties on America’s closest trading partners at the weekend, the Kremlin on Monday said it is keeping a close eye on “tensions” from the sidelines.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised President Donald Trump on Sunday, saying his second administration would “restore order” in Europe.
European leaders are gathering on Monday, with the threat of tariffs likely to be high on the agenda.
TOGLATTI, RUSSIA - JANUARY 28 (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during his meeting with workers, while visiting the AvtoVAZ automobile plant, January 28, 2025, in Togliatti, Russia. Putin is having a one-day trip to Samara Oblast region and visited the largest Russia's car manufacturer AvtoVAZ (Lada), owned by the state. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during his meeting with workers, while visiting the AvtoVAZ automobile plant, January 28, 2025, in Togliatti, Russia.
Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Russia’s Vladimir Putin warned Europe will quickly “stand at the feet of the master” after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, provoking a global markets meltdown and alarm among European allies.

Following Trump’s decision at the weekend to impose trade duties on America’s closest trading partners, Russian President Putin said Sunday that Trump’s second administration would “restore order” in Europe.

“I assure you: Trump, with his character, with his persistence, he will restore order there quite quickly. And all of them, you will see — it will happen quickly, soon — they will all stand at the feet of the master and will wag their tails a little. Everything will fall into place,” Putin told pro-Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin, who presents the primetime “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on the Rossiya-1 state TV channel. The comments were reported by state news agency RIA Novosti and translated by Google.

Putin did not give any further explanation as to how Trump could “restore order” — and it’s uncertain what he was referring to with his comments — but Moscow has expressed hopes that its own relationship with the U.S. could improve under Trump.

Then President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a joint press conference after their summit on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki, Finland.
Chris McGrath | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Kremlin on Monday said it was watching on as “tensions” build between the U.S. and its allies.

“You know, there are many tensions there, so, of course, we have no desire to be associated with all this in any way or to evaluate it in any way,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters in his daily press briefing.

“Let those countries that are participating in this process sort it out,” he said, according to comments reported by RIA Novosti, and translated by Reuters.

Trump sent global markets into a tailspin Monday after he announced a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% levy on goods from China. The tariffs are set to come into effect Tuesday.

The president said tariffs on the European Union could follow “pretty soon,” but said there could be a deal with the U.K. which, unlike the U.S.′ other largest trading partners, has a more balanced trading relationship with its trans-Atlantic ally.

Officials from the EU have previously suggested that the bloc could respond to U.S. tariffs “in a proportionate way,” with the European Commission on Sunday stating that it would “respond firmly” to any U.S. duties.

While under the enormous weight of international sanctions due to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia stands to benefit from U.S. tariffs on its trading partners as they are likely to suffer a steep economic hit.

The tariffs also sow disarray among erstwhile allies — partners who, like the U.S. under former President Joe Biden, have looked to weaken Russia’s leadership and economy with punitive measures designed to stymy Moscow’s economic and geopolitical power.

Moscow hopes for a more favorable relationship with Washington now that Trump is back in power, given that he and Putin have had cordial relations in the past, with both leaders expressing admiration for each other, previously.

Putin: European leaders lack conviction
The U.S.′ allies in Europe fear the president will stop U.S. military funding for Ukraine and could push Kyiv into peace talks to end the war, which is approaching its third anniversary. Putin said last month that he hoped he and Trump could meet soon to discuss the war and energy prices.

Ukraine warns that it could be pushed into a “bad” peace deal in which it’s forced to concede territory to Russia, and that Moscow will regroup before targeting it again in the future.

European leaders are expected to discuss the impending threat of U.S. tariffs when they meet in Brussels on Monday although, ostensibly, the key theme of the meeting is strengthening their defense strategy.

Trump has already warned European leaders that they need to be responsible for their own security, lambasting NATO allies for not meeting defense spend commitments and saying last month that he could ask them to spend even more on defense.


If Trump pulls U.S. funding for Ukraine, Europe will have to confront a decision whether to shoulder the financial burden of Ukraine alone. A number of leaders — particularly those in Eastern Europe who are seen to be on friendlier terms with the Kremlin — are already skeptical of more sanctions on Russia and funding for Ukraine.

Criticizing his European counterparts on Sunday, Putin said European leaders on the Continent lacked conviction in their beliefs.

Praising former European leaders such as France’s Charles De Gaulle, Jacques Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder, Putin said such leaders “had their own opinion and the courage to fight for this opinion, to express it, to talk about it and to try to at least implement it in practical work.”

“Today, there are practically no such people there,” Putin said, RIA Novosti reported.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/03/put...-of-master-as-trump-imposes-tariffs.html

Putin thinks his comrade is doing an excellent job acting as another dictator.

Thinks his efforts to install a puppet manchurian candidate will finally pay off.

jc


so one thing that's been bothering me about the EO's. It's clear he's gonna go the EO route regardless, so why hasn't he written one that puts a ban on investment firms from buying single family homes? that would be a layup, right?

Or one that bans Congressional stock trades or adds Congressional term limits...

Putin says Europe will ‘stand at the feet of the master’ as Trump’s tariffs alarm allies

Russia’s Vladimir Putin warned Europe will quickly “stand at the feet of the master” after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, provoking a global markets meltdown and alarm among European allies.

Following Trump’s decision at the weekend to impose trade duties on America’s closest trading partners, Russian President Putin said Sunday that Trump’s second administration would “restore order” in Europe.

“I assure you: Trump, with his character, with his persistence, he will restore order there quite quickly. And all of them, you will see — it will happen quickly, soon — they will all stand at the feet of the master and will wag their tails a little. Everything will fall into place,” Putin told pro-Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin, who presents the primetime “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on the Rossiya-1 state TV channel. The comments were reported by state news agency RIA Novosti and translated by Google.

Putin did not give any further explanation as to how Trump could “restore order” — and it’s uncertain what he was referring to with his comments — but Moscow has expressed hopes that its own relationship with the U.S. could improve under Trump.

The Kremlin on Monday said it was watching on as “tensions” build between the U.S. and its allies.

“You know, there are many tensions there, so, of course, we have no desire to be associated with all this in any way or to evaluate it in any way,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters in his daily press briefing.

“Let those countries that are participating in this process sort it out,” he said, according to comments reported by RIA Novosti, and translated by Reuters.

Trump sent global markets into a tailspin Monday after he announced a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% levy on goods from China. The tariffs are set to come into effect Tuesday.

The president said tariffs on the European Union could follow “pretty soon,” but said there could be a deal with the U.K. which, unlike the U.S.′ other largest trading partners, has a more balanced trading relationship with its trans-Atlantic ally.

Officials from the EU have previously suggested that the bloc could respond to U.S. tariffs “in a proportionate way,” with the European Commission on Sunday stating that it would “respond firmly” to any U.S. duties.

While under the enormous weight of international sanctions due to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia stands to benefit from U.S. tariffs on its trading partners as they are likely to suffer a steep economic hit.

The tariffs also sow disarray among erstwhile allies — partners who, like the U.S. under former President Joe Biden, have looked to weaken Russia’s leadership and economy with punitive measures designed to stymy Moscow’s economic and geopolitical power.

Moscow hopes for a more favorable relationship with Washington now that Trump is back in power, given that he and Putin have had cordial relations in the past, with both leaders expressing admiration for each other, previously.
Putin: European leaders lack conviction

The U.S.′ allies in Europe fear the president will stop U.S. military funding for Ukraine and could push Kyiv into peace talks to end the war, which is approaching its third anniversary. Putin said last month that he hoped he and Trump could meet soon to discuss the war and energy prices.

Ukraine warns that it could be pushed into a “bad” peace deal in which it’s forced to concede territory to Russia, and that Moscow will regroup before targeting it again in the future.

European leaders are expected to discuss the impending threat of U.S. tariffs when they meet in Brussels on Monday although, ostensibly, the key theme of the meeting is strengthening their defense strategy.

Trump has already warned European leaders that they need to be responsible for their own security, lambasting NATO allies for not meeting defense spend commitments and saying last month that he could ask them to spend even more on defense.

If Trump pulls U.S. funding for Ukraine, Europe will have to confront a decision whether to shoulder the financial burden of Ukraine alone. A number of leaders — particularly those in Eastern Europe who are seen to be on friendlier terms with the Kremlin — are already skeptical of more sanctions on Russia and funding for Ukraine.

Criticizing his European counterparts on Sunday, Putin said European leaders on the Continent lacked conviction in their beliefs.

Praising former European leaders such as France’s Charles De Gaulle, Jacques Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder, Putin said such leaders “had their own opinion and the courage to fight for this opinion, to express it, to talk about it and to try to at least implement it in practical work.”

“Today, there are practically no such people there,” Putin said, RIA Novosti reported.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/03/put...-of-master-as-trump-imposes-tariffs.html

Trump, a man truly after Putin's own heart. Well done comrades.

Trump's Justice Department shutters specialized FBI team combating foreign election interference threats

The FBI is preparing to disband a team of specialists charged with combating foreign threats to US elections, a source familiar tells CNN.

The shuttering of the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force and planned reassigning of team members follows a directive from incoming and newly sworn in US Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolving the team.

“To free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risks of further weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion, the Foreign Influence Task Force shall be disbanded,” Bondi wrote in a memo issued Wednesday.

The special task force was established by former FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2017 following a wave of foreign influence operations targeting the US electoral process, including Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election that Trump won.

Wray previously said the purpose of the team was “to identify and counteract the full range of malign foreign influence operations targeting our democratic institutions and our values. The task force now brings together the FBI’s expertise across the waterfront — counterintelligence, cyber, criminal, and even counterterrorism — to root out and respond to foreign influence operations.”

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-gaza-news-02-06-25#cm6srdiyc00053b6mju3tx6qj

Federal judge issues injunction on birthright citizenship, putting it further on hold

The preliminary injunction is the second temporary hold against Trump’s executive order and puts efforts to end birthright citizenship on indefinite pause.

A federal judge issued a nationwide hold on Wednesday indefinitely blocking President Donald Trump’s order to restrict birthright citizenship as the case makes its way through the courts, saying that “U.S. citizenship is a right no less precious than life or liberty.”

“The executive order conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year-old binding Supreme Court precedent and runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth,” U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman said during a hearing in Greenbelt. “No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation. This court will not be the first.”

The order was set to go into effect on Feb. 19.

Wednesday’s preliminary injunction is the second temporary hold against Trump’s executive order. It follows a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the immigrant services organization CASA and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law on behalf of five pregnant women and ASAP and CASA’s members. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the judge’s order.

“Citizenship is a most precious right, expressly guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution,” Boardman said Tuesday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/birthright-citizenship-second-injunction-indefinite-boardman-rcna190887

It's a much longer article which is available at the link above....

Trump's Justice Department shutters specialized FBI team combating foreign election interference threats
From CNN's Josh Campbell
The FBI seal is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, DC.
The FBI seal is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, DC. Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images/File
The FBI is preparing to disband a team of specialists charged with combating foreign threats to US elections, a source familiar tells CNN.

The shuttering of the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force and planned reassigning of team members follows a directive from incoming and newly sworn in US Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolving the team.

“To free resources to address more pressing priorities, and end risks of further weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion, the Foreign Influence Task Force shall be disbanded,” Bondi wrote in a memo issued Wednesday.

The special task force was established by former FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2017 following a wave of foreign influence operations targeting the US electoral process, including Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election that Trump won.

Wray previously said the purpose of the team was “to identify and counteract the full range of malign foreign influence operations targeting our democratic institutions and our values. The task force now brings together the FBI’s expertise across the waterfront — counterintelligence, cyber, criminal, and even counterterrorism — to root out and respond to foreign influence operations.”

Nothing to see here!

Judge temporarily blocks Trump's federal government employee buyout

The ruling came just hours before the deadline for employees to take the offer.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration and DOGE head Elon Musk from implementing their "Fork in the Road" federal employee buyout offer until at least Monday afternoon.

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. set a Monday afternoon hearing to consider blocking the buyout offer further.

"I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called 'Fork Directive' pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues," said O'Toole. "I believe that's as far as I want to go today."

The judge described the brief hearing as a "table setting session" just to schedule arguments for Monday afternoon. He did not say anything about the merits of the dispute over the buyout.

Lawyers for the Department of Justice said they would notify every federal employee who is subject to the buyout.

More than two million federal employees had faced a midnight Thursday deadline to accept the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" offer as O'Toole considered an eleventh-hour request to block the buyout from moving forward.

Three unions representing a combined 800,000 federal civil servants argued that the offer is unlawful, arbitrary, and would result in a "dangerous one-two punch" to the federal government.

The judge set the Thursday afternoon hearing to consider a request by three federal unions to issue a temporary restraining order that would suspend Thursday's deadline for the buyout and require the Office of Personnel Management to provide a legal basis for the unprecedented offer, which offered to continue to pay federal employees through Sept. 30, 2025, if they resigned by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.

"First, the government will lose expertise in the complex fields and programs that Congress has, by statute, directed the Executive to faithfully implement," the lawsuit said. "And second, when vacant positions become politicized, as this Administration seeks to do, partisanship is elevated over ability and truth, to the detriment of agency missions and the American people."

The judge's ruling's comes as at least 40,000 federal workers -- roughly 2% of the civilian federal workforce -- have already accepted the deferred resignation offer to leave the federal government since last week, ABC News has reported.

The three unions -- the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Association of Government Employees, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- argue that the OPM violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide a legal basis for the buyout offer and leaving open the possibility that the government might not follow through with the buyout once federal employees agree to resign.

The lawsuit added that the buyout's promise of payments through September violates the law because the current appropriation for federal agencies expires in March. Moreover, the buyout is unfair because it was made alongside a threat of future layoffs, the lawsuit said.

The buyout offer, part of Elon Musk's effort to trim the size of government through the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, was sent out under the subject line "Fork in the Road" -- the same language Musk used when he slashed jobs at Twitter after taking over that company in 2022.

"To leverage employees into accepting the offer and resigning, the Fork Directive threatens employees with eventual job loss in the event that they refuse to resign," the unions' lawsuit said.

Overall, the lawsuit alleged that the OPM rushed the offer with a questionable legal basis, largely mimicking Elon Musk's management style following his takeover of Twitter.

"OPM's rapid adoption of Musk's private-sector program confirms that the agency took very little time to consider the suitability of applying an approach used with questionable success in a single for-profit entity to the entirety of the federal workforce," said the lawsuit.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-req...nment-employee-buyout/story?id=118535508

Layoffs hit contractors and small businesses as Trump cuts take effect
Story by Abha Bhattarai • 3h • 6 min read


Layoffs hit contractors and small businesses as Trump cuts take effect
© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Private-sector employers and nonprofits are starting to lay off workers as a result of the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts and funding freezes, unleashing a wave of job losses that economists say could pick up steam in the coming weeks, threatening the broader labor market.

The tally appears to be about several thousand private-sector jobs lost in the past two weeks since federal funding cuts and freezes took hold. More than 7.5 million Americans work in jobs directly connected to the federal government, according to the Brookings Institution, as contractors or grant workers — some of whom are already out of a job. And there are millions more who work in positions indirectly connected to federal funding delays.

So far, the fallout includes rescinded contracting jobs in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Austin; layoffs at an independent-living facility in West Virginia that relies on federal funding to pay staffers; and furloughs at after-school programs in Maine and community health centers in Virginia facing federal funding delays.

“Having funding yanked so quickly means government contracts are at risk, health research is on hold, and millions of employees are getting conflicting messages about their jobs,” said Harry Holzer, a professor at Georgetown University and former Labor Department chief economist. “We don’t know where this is going to end up, but we can’t dismiss its effects on the economy.”


Still, the labor market remains strong, and economists say it could take weeks or months before government-related job losses show up in national data. At 4. 1 percent, unemployment is low, and there are more open positions than people looking for work. New figures Friday are expected to show that job growth continued in January, with employers adding an estimated 165,000 new positions.

Even so, economists say the new president’s funding cuts, tariff threats and deportations could quickly change the economic picture. The Trump administration has taken dramatic steps to shrink the federal workforce by making it easier to fire employees, putting nearly 10,000 USAID employees on leave and offering buyouts to millions of federal workers.

The White House has warned that additional public-sector layoffs are “likely” if enough of the 2.3 million-person federal workforce doesn’t leave voluntarily. As of Wednesday evening, some 40,000 federal workers had agreed to resign, though a federal judge on Thursday paused the deadline for the buyout program. A hearing on the matter is set for Monday.



In the meantime, government contractors are scrapping projects and announcing layoffs. Chemonics International, an international development firm based in D.C., has furloughed more than 600 U.S. workers and cut hours for an additional 300 employees as a result of the government’s “stop-work order” for USAID-funded projects. A spokeswoman for the company said it is still waiting for millions of dollars in funding from invoices filed as far back as November. Another firm, DAI Global in Bethesda, Maryland, has furloughed nearly 400 of its workers, accounting for roughly 70 percent of its American workforce.

Sarah Nichols was furloughed from her job at an economic development consultancy last week, after its contracts with USAID were put on hold. The 29-year-old filed for unemployment on Tuesday and is making plans to move back in with her parents after her lease expires this month. But even that feels rocky: Both of her parents work for the federal government and are worried about losing their jobs, too.


“My LinkedIn feed is just thousands of people in the industry who have been laid off or furloughed,” said Nichols, who lives in Arlington, Virginia. “I’m applying for jobs, but if I want to do something in education or public health that’s federally funded, it’s like, ‘Am I going to get this job and then just laid off again?’”

Although government employees and contractors tend to have higher levels of education than the rest of the workforce and are typically quick to be snapped up by other employers, economists say the sheer scale of the latest job losses complicates the picture. People who work in international development, for example, or environment and climate-related positions are likely to have a hard time finding new employment when much of the industry is at a standstill.

The most recent job losses among contractors and other small businesses, economists say, will probably show up in official jobs numbers in the next month or two. Although federal workers have generally been told that they will be paid through September if they resign now, that is not the case for private-sector and nonprofit workers who rely on government funding, said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.

“It’s the private-sector contractors who don’t have protections and will probably suffer the earliest blows,” she said. “These jobs are pretty heavily concentrated in administration and program work, information management — and in those areas, we really could see an increase in unemployment and depression in wages.”

Frederic, a project manager for a defense contractor in central Virginia, was laid off this week, along with 70 percent of his team. His special project for the Army was put on hold, he said, making it tough for his employer to keep him on the payroll.

“I didn’t expect a Trump win to cause me to lose my job, but that’s what happened,” said Frederic, who spoke on the condition that only his middle name be used to share internal details about his job, because he feared he would lose future employment opportunities. “I went from making $140,000 a year to having to tap into my 401(k).”

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed dozens of executive orders, including one that required agencies “immediately pause” green-energy-related funding allocated by the Biden administration. Although that funding could be reinstated after a 90-day review, the looming uncertainty has been enough to hobble some small businesses.

Zero Emissions Northwest, a consulting firm in Spokane, Washington, that works with agricultural and rural businesses, furloughed all three of its staffers last week after its contracts with the Agriculture Department were essentially frozen overnight. CEO David Funk submitted his last invoice to the government on Jan. 15 and was told weeks later that “the payment is not coming,” he said.

“As soon as I found out, we had to take action quickly,” he said of the furloughs. “As a small business, I can’t afford to pay my employees while we wait months for funding that might never come.”

The D.C. region, which relies on the federal government for 40 percent of its economy, is likely to face the biggest hit from government-related job losses. But the rest of the country isn’t immune: Every five federal government jobs that are lost typically wipe away an additional two jobs nationwide, according to Terry Clower, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.

“There are real spillover effects here,” he said. “If a scientist working at a university lab loses their funding, they’ve lost their job, they’ve lost their household spending, and that affects other jobs across the economy.”

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, Marie’s dream job at a USAID contracting firm was rescinded just days before she was set to start. Marie, who spoke on the condition that only her middle name be used because she fears blowback from future employers, had been working toward the job for years, taking on global health projects and finishing a master’s degree while her husband was deployed.

Now, instead of starting a new job, which was set to begin this week, she’s making plans to deliver food through DoorDash and is contemplating pulling her young children out of day care to save money.

“I was really looking forward to this year being stress-free for the first time in years,” she said. “But now I don’t know when I’m going to be able to find work again.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/l...802bfd21754ac9c8c43c64e046902d&ei=14

Morale was REALLY low in the office today. Today was the first day back for all. Getting through the gate took forever. Parking was even worse. The offices that didn’t have enough work stations for people had to use folding tables and chairs or cram people 2-3 to a desk.

There were two signs next to the off ramp. Collectively they said “Like this traffic? Thank a Trump voter.”

Senate confirms Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget


https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-confirms-russell-vought-lead-003553998.html

i hope all the trump supporters who claimed project 2025 was fake will pay attention to this. This guy is one of the main creators of project 2025.

And he's not the only one.......................

After Trump’s Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles

https://apnews.com/article/trump-pr...ominees-843f5ff20131ccba5f056e7ccc5baf23

We’ll be lucky if any payments go out or we have a country left after Elon’s team’s coups on multiple computer systems now. He could technically turn it all off and create massive chaos at any time.

He's also on the record for wanting to cause trauma to federal employees so that's fun...

Trump’s Justice Department ends Biden-era task force aimed at seizing assets of Russian oligarchs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s Justice Department has disbanded a Biden-era program aimed at seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs as a means to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The move to disband Task Force KleptoCapture is one of several moves undertaken by the Justice Department under the new leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi that presage a different approach toward Russia and national security issues.

The department also ended the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was established in the first Trump administration to police influence campaigns staged by Russia and other nations aimed at sowing discord, undermining democracy and spreading disinformation. The U.S. government in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election aggressively moved to disrupt propaganda campaigns by Russia, which officials have assessed had a preference for Trump.

In a memo addressed to all employees Wednesday — the first day of Bondi’s tenure — the attorney general’s office stated that “attorneys assigned to those initiatives shall return to their prior posts, and resources currently devoted to those efforts shall be committed to the total elimination of Cartels and TCOs” — an acronym for Transnational Criminal Organizations.

The Trump administration has made combating the illicit flow of fentanyl into the U.S. a priority. The opioid is blamed for some 70,000 overdose deaths annually.

The Justice Department on Wednesday also shifted its approach to enforcement of a World War II-era law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people to disclose to the government when they lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments -- including Russia -- or political entities. Under the policy change, prosecutors were directed to focus criminal enforcement on acts of more traditional espionage rather than registration violations.

Despite the disbanding of the task force, Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have called for a more aggressive stance on Russia. During his confirmation hearing, Bessent advocated for stronger sanctions on Russian oil, saying the Biden administration’s sanctions regime wasn’t “muscular” enough.

“I believe the previous administration was worried about raising U.S. energy prices during an election season,” he said.

Trump has said he will bring about a rapid end to the war in Ukraine and said talks are ongoing to bring the conflict to a close. “We made a lot of progress on Russia, Ukraine,” Trump said earlier this week. “We’ll see what happens. We’re going to stop that ridiculous war.”

https://apnews.com/article/russia-s...j-bondi-85ccedf25d5146db74d83dce01c9958c

Rumor has it that Putin sent him a thank you note.

Yeah, trump didn't know anything about project 2025..



https://apnews.com/article/trump-ru...ct-2025-7d1c476694176876256e95cecbd49231

He's been lying to them since he came down that escalator in 2015 and still they parrot what he tells them.

Trump announces plans to gut the Kennedy Center board and appoint himself chairman

President Donald Trump announced an aggressive plan Friday evening to gut the existing board of trustees at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and oust its chairman, billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein, a remarkable move aimed at remaking the nation’s cultural center.

Trump said he would be appointing himself as chairman of the board.

“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social. “We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”

Trump has sought to reshape the use of executive authority since taking office last month, and this effort amounts to a striking and personal example of retribution aimed at political enemies.

Rubenstein, the board’s current chairman, is an ally of former President Joe Biden.

Trump’s announcement also dove directly into the culture wars as he called out the center’s programming.

Trump continued, “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”

Presidents appoint members to the board on a rolling basis. It was not immediately clear who would be impacted by the news.

“The Kennedy Center is aware of the post made recently by POTUS on social media,” the center said in a statement. “We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees. We are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration.”

The center acknowledged that its governing statute did not bar the new administration from replacing board members but noted, “This would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”

CNN has reached out to several members who were appointed by Democratic presidents for comment and to a spokesperson for Shonda Rhimes, who serves as the board’s treasurer.

Reached for comment Friday evening, one member of the board who was appointed by a Democratic president said they had not yet received any communication from the Kennedy Center about their status on the board.

Current members appointed by Trump include Lee Greenwood, Paolo Zampolli, and Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

Last week, the Kennedy Center’s president, Deborah Rutter, announced plans to step down at the end of the year. The board had started a search for her replacement and retained a headhunter. Choosing her successor, it appears, will fall to the president.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/07/politics/trump-kennedy-center-board/index.html

Retribution and revenge tour 2025 continues. And the petulant child keeps rolling along................

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9 Feb 2025 07:53:21 UTC

Federal Financial Watchdog Ordered to Cease Activity
In an email to staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency’s acting director ordered workers to cease “all supervision and examination activity.”


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Orders to employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau effectively stopped all activity.Credit...Ting Shen for The New York Times
Ryan MacStacy Cowley
By Ryan Mac and Stacy Cowley
Published Feb. 8, 2025
Updated Feb. 9, 2025, 1:06 a.m. ET
Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were instructed to cease “all supervision and examination activity” and “all stakeholder engagement,” effectively stopping the agency’s operations, in an email from the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, on Saturday evening.
Mr. Vought, who was confirmed this week to lead the Office of Management and Budget, was on Friday named acting director of the consumer protection bureau, the federal government’s financial industry watchdog. In his email to staff on Saturday, he reaffirmed earlier instructions from the previous acting director, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who ordered last week that staff should not issue any new rules or guidance and cease all investigations.
“As acting director, I am committed to implementing the president’s policies, consistent with the law, and acting as a faithful steward of the bureau’s resources,” Mr. Vought wrote in the email, which was obtained by The New York Times.
The agency, created by Congress in 2011 as a financial industry watchdog, cannot be closed without congressional action, but its director can freeze most of its actions by halting enforcement, weakening or repealing regulations and softening its supervision of banks and other lenders. The agency did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Saturday.
The agency has issued a number of high-profile regulations and enforcement actions over the years, seeking to strengthen safeguards on mortgages, credit cards, loans and other consumer finance. Most recently, the bureau sued Capital One in mid-January, arguing that the bank misled customers in promoting a high-yield savings account that it then kept at a near-zero interest rate.
In a Saturday evening post on X, Mr. Vought, an author of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for radically remaking the federal government, wrote that he had notified the Federal Reserve that the finance bureau “will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not ‘reasonably necessary’ to carry out its duties.” (The agency is directly funded by the Federal Reserve, outside the usual congressional appropriations process.)
Image
People stand outside wearing medical masks. Some carry signs, one of which says “Musk and DOGE out of CFPB.”
Members of the union representing the consumer protection bureau’s employees protested outside the agency’s Washington headquarters on Saturday.Credit...Nathan Howard/Reuters
“The Bureau’s current balance of $711.6 million is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment,” he added in his post. “This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” he said, using the agency’s initials.
On Saturday, some members of the union representing the consumer protection bureau’s employees protested outside the agency’s Washington building with signs mocking Elon Musk, whose government efficiency effort has wreaked havoc across various federal agencies. Several members of Mr. Musk’s team arrived at the agency on Friday morning and gained access to its headquarters and computer systems.
Later that day, Mr. Musk posted “CFPB RIP,” with an emoji of a gravestone, on X. Hours after Mr. Musk’s post, the home page of the bureau’s website was updated with a “404: Page not found” message.

More guardrails to protect average Americans removed. What better gift could trump give to corporations than to stop our government from overseeing the abuse they inflict on consumers? But then when you have billionaires running the show they're protecting the billionaires, not any of us. Musk is shutting down the people keeping an eye on Musk.

Obviously no conflict of inerest there.

In the latest aviation news, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency plans to make quick repairs to the nation’s air traffic control system; a New York Times investigation details the depth of the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controller shortage; worldwide air travel hit a record last year; new California routes come from American Airlines, Allegiant, United, Breeze and Southwest; Delta and Taiwan’s Starlux announce new California transpacific routes; United is set to resume service to Israel next month; Delta elaborates on the addition of DraftKings to its in-flight entertainment lineup; Frontier Airlines opens a website for the sale of travel packages; Lufthansa Group moves quickly to integrate Italy’s ITA Airways into its network; the Palm Springs City Council approves a master plan for expanding the city’s airport; and Alaska Airlines reopens its airport lounge at Anchorage.

As many air travelers remain jittery about flying following the Jan. 29 midair crash of an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter near Washington, D.C., Elon Musk and his band of twenty-something DOGE techies are coming to the rescue. Sean Duffy, President Donald Trump’s new transportation secretary, said on X this week that the DOGE team members “are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.” Musk confirmed the news, stating, “With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system.” He added no details and did not explain how his DOGE employees, none of whom apparently have any aviation safety experience, might accomplish this. The website Wired reported this week that Musk’s DOGE engineers are ages 19-24, with the youngest one still in college. They have been busily poking into the data centers of several government agencies in recent days, causing consternation among many in Washington about data security and illegal access.


Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to Duffy’s post by observing that Musk’s DOGE employees “have no relevant experience. Most of them aren’t old enough to rent a car. And you’re going to let them mess with airline safety that’s already deteriorated on your watch?” Meanwhile, Trump said this week that the FAA’s air traffic control network relies on “an old, broken system” and called for its replacement, according to the Associated Press. “I think what is going to happen is we’re all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers. Brand new — not pieced together, obsolete,” he said.

It’s been common knowledge for many months, and has even been acknowledged by the FAA, that the nation is facing a serious shortage of air traffic controllers. That concern has come into sharp focus following the recent midair crash in the crowded skies around Washington’s Reagan National Airport, and a new investigation by the New York Times shows just how serious the staffing shortage is — especially in the northeast. Based on staffing data that it got from the air traffic controllers’ union, the Times concluded that at 285 of the nation’s 313 air traffic control locations, including airport towers and other facilities, controller staffing numbers “were below thresholds set by the F.A.A. and the union. At 73 of those facilities, staffing is so low that at least a quarter of the work force is missing.” News reports after the crash over the Potomac said that one DCA air traffic controller was doing the work normally handled by two that night. The Times said the shortage is “particularly severe” in the greater New York area, where two air traffic control facilities on Long Island “are operating with nearly 40% of the positions unfilled.”


David Zalubowski/AP
Surging demand for air travel wasn’t just a U.S. phenomenon last year — it was happening all around the world. In its year-end statistical roundup, the International Air Transport Association — a trade group of the world’s airlines — said that total worldwide air traffic in 2024 increased 10.4% over the previous year, setting a record that exceeded even the last pre-pandemic year of 2019 by 3.38%. Overall capacity rose by 8.7%, pushing up the average load factor (percentage of total seats occupied) to 83.5%, another record. Looking only at international routes, IATA said, passenger traffic grew by 13.6% last year, and capacity was up 12.8%. “Looking to 2025, there is every indication that demand for travel will continue to grow, albeit at a moderated pace of 8.0% that is more aligned with historical averages,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh.

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/musk-doge-tapped-overhaul-air-traffic-control-20149118.php

That’s really bad. I can say with certainty I successfully filed three complaints to the CFPB and all were successful. They would not have been successful otherwise.

One was for a credit card that did not honor the signup bonus that they advertised. Ended up getting the signup bonus plus a $200 credit. All that was after I made three attempts to resolve the matter on my own with the credit card company.

Two was for a cable company that sent me an email confirmation of our negotiated rates and then reneged, but didn’t tell me until I got the bill. Refused to acknowledge the rates that they negotiated with me. Sent the whole package to CFPB and cable company conceded.

Three was way back in the day for student loan repayment. The whole thing was a blunder. Everything about it was bad. Again, made at least three attempts to resolve directly with provider and it got slow-rolled. Filed a complaint and resolved within a month.

Losing them will hurt.

this is a good one. the penny has more than run its course.