The Conversation -- February 28, 2025
Chandelis Duster of NPR: "An organization is calling for a national boycott in the form of an 'economic blackout' on Friday, urging Americans not to shop for 24 hours. This movement, spearheaded by The People's Union USA, a grassroots group, follows the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at several companies, including Target. The boycott coincides with protests against ... Donald Trump's plans to reduce the government workforce and mass firings at federal agencies." Thanks to RAS for the reminder. MB: I am going out today and had planned to make some small purchases, and now I won't.
Mark Landler of the New York Times: “The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, presented ... [Donald] Trump with a royal invitation and scored several political wins. But his top goal — a security guarantee for Ukraine — remained elusive.... With Mr. Trump on the brink of an epochal split with Britain and the rest of Europe over how to deal with Russia’s war on Ukraine, Mr. Starmer apparently calculated that a little royal stardust might bridge the gap — or at least paper it over.... Mr. Trump gave Mr. Starmer little comfort on his biggest ask: that the United States provide a security 'backstop' for British and European troops that could keep the peace after a potential Trump-brokered settlement between Ukraine and Russia.... Mr. Trump insisted Mr. Putin would 'keep his word' if a peace deal was reached.... But he won Mr. Trump’s endorsement of a deal relinquishing British sovereignty over a string of strategically important islands [the Chagos islands] in the Indian Ocean. And he got a welcome sign that Britain might wriggle out of American tariffs.” ~~~
~~~ Victor Goury-Laffont of Politico: “Former French President François Hollande said the United States government under ... Donald Trump is 'no longer an ally.' '[Trump] is no longer an ally, he is consorting with our adversaries,' Hollande, current President Emmanuel Macron's predecessor, said in a blunt interview with Le Monde published Friday. 'Even if the American people remain our friends, the Trump administration itself is no longer our ally.'”
NYT Says Stupid Trump Tricks Are Straining the Economy. Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: “The United States economy is starting to show signs of strain as ... [Donald] Trump’s abrupt moves to shrink federal spending, lay off government workers and impose tariffs on America’s largest trading partners rattle businesses and reverberate across states and cities. Funding freezes and firings of federal workers combined with the prospect of costly trade wars are souring consumer sentiment, raising inflation expectations and stalling business investment plans, according to recent economic surveys. Local economies are also bracing for a sudden withdrawal of fiscal support, forcing officials to contemplate tax increases or municipal bond offerings to stabilize their budgets. While Mr. Trump has acknowledged that his policies could bring some initial pain, the early warning signs suggest that his blunt approach could come with more ominous risks to the economy.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Nevertheless, He Persists. Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico would go into effect on March 4 'as scheduled...,' [Donald] Trump said on Thursday morning, claiming that those countries were still not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. China will also face an additional 10 percent tariff next week, on top of the 10 percent he imposed earlier this month, the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,' he said. 'A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.' He added that the levies were necessary until the flow of drugs 'stops, or is seriously limited.'... The post Thursday appeared to be an attempt by Mr. Trump to clarify his plans, after his remarks at the White House on Wednesday sowed confusion about whether the tariffs had been delayed.” MB: Because Trump doesn't know WTF he's doing. This is an item in a liveblog. Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Everything Trump Does Is Wrong. Annabelle Timset of the Washington Post: “Openly transgender service members will be disqualified from serving in the U.S. military and will soon be removed from the ranks, according to a Pentagon memo that marks a significant shift from previous Defense Department policy that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. The memo was made public Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ rights groups against an executive order signed last month by ... Donald Trump, which stated that the 'medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria' were 'inconsistent' with the high standards expected of U.S. troops. An earlier memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said that people with a history of gender dysphoria would no longer be able to join the military, but that they would be 'treated with dignity and respect.' The new memo goes a step further in stating that current service members will be removed if they have gender dysphoria or a history of it.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “Five former defense secretaries on Thursday denounced ... Donald Trump’s firing last week of the Joint Chiefs chairman and several other senior military officials, urging Congress to hold hearings and declaring they have concluded the officers were 'fired for purely partisan reasons.' The extraordinary public appeal was signed by Lloyd Austin, Jim Mattis, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta and William Perry — who served in Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to the 1990s — after Trump’s Friday night firings caused an uproar on Capitol Hill and among many military veterans.... 'The President offered no justification for his actions, even though he had nominated these officers for previous positions and the Senate had approved them,' the letter says. 'These officers’ exemplary operational and combat experience, as well as the coming dismissals of the Judge Advocates General of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, make clear that none of this was about warfighting.'” The AP report is here.
Ha Ha. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "A hot mic caught ... Donald Trump telling a Fox News host to praise his first cabinet meeting as the press filed out — a moment that was cut off in the official White House feed.... TRUMP [to Lawrence Jones of Fox]: 'Lawrence, say we did a great job, please. Okay? Say it was unbelievable!'" MB: Oh, and that bit that didn't make it into the White House feed: it came from the AP -- you know, the news outlet Trump banned from some availabilities. Thanks to Akhilleus & RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to retract directives that prompted the firing of thousands of federal workers, saying that those directives were 'illegal' and suggesting that the layoffs be stopped. The ruling, by Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California, stopped short of ordering a halt in the firings and added to the confusion for federal employees, who have been rattled by the mass firings in recent days. But Judge Alsup found that the government’s human resources division had exceeded its authority when it issued a pair of memos outlining steps to fire an estimated 200,000 probationary workers. That division, the Office of Personnel Management, is meant to guide agencies but not order them to take action, he said. But government agencies responded to the O.P.M. memos with sweeping firings, a first step in the drastic overhaul of the federal bureaucracy ... [Donald] Trump promised to carry out alongside Elon Musk.... The judge’s decision was limited to the agencies and offices that employ workers represented by a coalition of unions that had brought the lawsuit.” The Guardian's report is here. Politico's report is here.
Federica Coco of the Washington Post: “Unemployment claims in Washington, D.C., jumped to 2,046 for the week ending Feb. 22, a 20 percent increase from the previous week as ... Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service rolled out federal layoffs and buyouts. Since Trump assumed office, some 8,730 workers in the city have filed for unemployment insurance. It is unknown how many are federal workers.” (Also linked yesterday.)
This loss of talent at NOAA is going to set the agency back years and compromise the integrity of missions that directly support human health and safety, economic prosperity and national security.... This is not a move toward efficiency; it’s a move toward putting Americans in danger every day. -- NOAA Policy Analyst, on mass firings at the agency ~~~
~~~ Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has begun firing employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world’s premier centers for climate science. The firings are expected to cost more than 800 people their jobs, out of a total of about 13,000 staff members, according to two people familiar with the situation who declined to be identified for fear of retribution. The notifications went out on Thursday afternoon. A policy analyst at the National Ocean Service, a NOAA agency office near Washington, described a scramble as supervisors frantically tried to help probationary employees download relevant documents like pay slips and performance reviews before they lost access to computers.” ~~~
~~~ Scott Dance of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Thursday informed hundreds of probationary employees responsible for producing critical weather forecasts, maintaining radar systems, gathering data from satellites and monitoring key commercial fisheries that they were fired.... The terminations come days before a potential severe weather outbreak in the southeastern U.S. — and just months ahead of the next Atlantic hurricane season.... In many cases, fired employees had years of tenure working with the agencies, but they were on probationary status because they had been working as contractors and had only recently become federal employees.” The CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ James Fallows explains that the U.S. has a viable aircraft-making industry only because it has so many other successful factors working together. Just one of those factors he lists is "a precise and reliable weather forecasting system, since bad weather is aviation’s worst enemy." Of course weather forecasting is by no means all NOAA does, but the point is that many different systems work together to make the aviation industry possible here. Marie: Of all people -- Musk, who owns Starlink & SpaceX, should know that. Yet he's willing to tear it all down so he can avoid dealing with regulators -- who -- as Fallows points out -- are one of the many integral parts of what makes aircraft manufacturing work. Thanks to RAS for the link.
⭐Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: “Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department in Washington around the world, landing in inboxes for refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, polio vaccination projects and thousands of other organizations that received crucial funding for lifesaving work. 'This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,' they began. The terse notes ended funding for some 5,800 projects that had been financed by the United States Agency for International Development, indicating that a tumultuous period when the Trump administration said it was freezing projects for ostensible review was over, and that any faint hope American assistance might continue had ended. Many were projects that had received a waiver from the freeze because the State Department previously identified its work as essential and lifesaving.... The projects terminated include H.I.V. treatment programs that had served millions of people, the main malaria control programs in the worst-affected African countries and global efforts to wipe out polio.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Why doesn't Marco Rubio have the guts to stand up for these programs? Is his huge fancy office & limo service so enticing that it's worth killing one child, let alone tens of thousands? Trump & Musk have no sense of decency, but how is it that a whole Cabinet full of -- ha ha ha -- public servants won't en masse tell Trump & Musk to lay off? ~~~
~~~ Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times suggest that a few Cabinet secretaries are “uncomfortable” about the Trump/Musk chainsaw massacre, but they haven't the guts to stand up and say so: “Cabinet secretaries at major agencies found themselves struggling to figure out how to respond to a directive [ordering each employee to list five things she had accomplished] from the president’s most powerful adviser without compromising their own staff.... [FBI Director Kash] Patel was the first to push back publicly.... At his first cabinet meeting [on Wednesday], Mr. Trump responded to a reporter’s question ... by asking, 'Is anyone unhappy with Elon?' After a few awkward moments, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, started clapping loudly. The rest of the cabinet members followed soon after with their own applause for Mr. Musk. It was a collective endorsement under pressure and with Mr. Trump right there watching. Some of the secretaries looked uncomfortable as Mr. Musk lectured them about his activities at the president’s invitation.” ~~~
~~~ Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: “A handful of Republican senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in expressing alarm over the Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze and gutting of USAID, writing to Marco Rubio that they believe the State Department is not operating in accordance with the law by neglecting to notify and consult with Congress during the process, according to correspondence obtained by The Washington Post. The senators have also asked Rubio to defend the freeze in a hearing on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks.... GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote to Rubio earlier this month with their Democratic colleagues that although they supported the secretary of state’s right to review federal programs and eliminate waste and abuse, they were 'concerned' that Rubio and the State Department had not notified and consulted with Congress as it gutted USAID and canceled foreign aid programs, which they noted is required by law.” ~~~
~~~ Lisa Rein & John Hudson of the Washington Post: “The watchdog for the U.S. Agency for International Development has yet to release two critical reports on the consequences of President Donald Trump’s funding freeze on crucial services in Africa and the Middle East, amid fears of retaliation from the White House, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Post. One of the unreleased reports says the cutbacks threaten the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, jeopardizing more than $300 million in humanitarian aid for the devastated Palestinian enclave.... And an unpublished global audit found security dangers, risks of widespread looting and disease, and tens of millions of dollars in new costs brought about by the withdrawal of foreign aid and mass relocation of USAID staff, according to documents and interviews. Conditions are particularly dire across southern Africa, South Sudan and Senegal, where initial findings by auditors in the field predict heightened hunger and desperation caused by the ongoing dismantling of USAID, documents show.” ~~~
~~~ Ellen Knickmeyer, et al., of the AP: “The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration. The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.... Wednesday’s disclosures also give an idea of the scale of the administration’s retreat from U.S. aid and development assistance overseas, and from decades of U.S. policy that foreign aid helps U.S. interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances....
“Widely successful USAID programs credited with containing outbreaks of Ebola and other threats and saving more than 20 million lives in Africa through HIV and AIDS treatment are among those still cut off from agency funds, USAID officials and officials with partner organizations say. Meanwhile, formal notifications of program cancellations are rolling out.” (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Sam Stein of the Bulwark: “On Thursday morning, foreign aid officials woke up to see the details of [Marco Rubio's] cuts [to USAID program]. The reaction was justified shock. Programs that the administration had suggested it believed were worth continuing were now being terminated. That includes efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic — such as George W. Bush’s famed PEPFAR program — that have been a source of bipartisan pride for decades.... It wasn’t lost on those inside the agency that news of the terminations was leaked to the Free Beacon, the conservative outlet that has become a clearinghouse for critical reporting on USAID functions.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Marcia Brown of Politico: “The Trump administration touted a nearly $1 billion plan Wednesday to combat the spread of avian flu and mitigate skyrocketing egg prices as the outbreak rips through poultry flocks across the United States. But the measures come as the Agriculture Department is struggling to rehire key employees working on the virus outbreak who were fired as part of the administration’s sweeping purge of government workers. Roughly a quarter of employees in a critical office testing for the disease were cut, as well as scientists and inspectors.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Aaron Weiner of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is giving federal agencies until mid-April to suggest relocations of bureaus and offices out of the D.C. region, a move that would have widespread impacts on the local economy. In a guidance issued Wednesday to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management laid out steps for compliance with ... Donald Trump’s order to eliminate 'waste, bloat and insularity' in the government. Part of that is a directive to submit 'any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country' by April 14.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I propose moving the White House and all executive offices to Guam. (Sorry, Guam.) It's "where America's day begins" and the weather is pretty nice, so Trump & the Trumpettes should be fine in tents. (Hope they do okay in the typhoons.) Guess they'll have to get used to the "biodiversity." (Don't worry, Donald; it's not what you think!) But the beach-front real estate development potential is phee-nominal!
Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times on “how Elon Musk executed his takeover of the federal bureaucracy[:] The operation was driven with a frenetic focus by the billionaire, who channeled his resentment of regulatory oversight into a drastic overhaul of government agencies.... Without ceding control of his companies, the richest man in the world has embedded his engineers and aides inside the government’s critical digital infrastructure. Already, his Department of Government Efficiency ... has inserted itself into more than 20 agencies.... Mr. Musk’s strategy has been twofold. His team grabbed control of the government’s human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, commandeering email systems to pressure civil servants to quit so he could cull the work force. And it burrowed into computer systems across the bureaucracy, tracing how money was flowing so the administration could choke it off.”
Understanding Elon. William Shoki in a New York Times op-ed: “He is a white South African, part of a demographic that for centuries sat atop a racial hierarchy maintained by violent colonial rule. That history matters.... He is in fact a distinctly ideological figure, one whose worldview is inseparable from rearing in apartheid South Africa.... [For instance,] in response to a bill passed in January that allows in specific circumstances the expropriation of land without compensation, Mr. Musk used his platform to suggest that white South Africans are uniquely persecuted.... In effect, his politics reprise apartheid’s economic principles on a global scale: maintaining zones of privilege under the guise of “free enterprise” while resisting any moves toward redistribution as threats.”
Marie: About that Essential Minerals Shakedown where Ukraine must fork over its valuable minerals in exchange for, well, nothing from the U.S. It's been irritating the hell out of me and maybe for no good reason: ~~~
~~~ digby: It turns out those essential minerals may not be so valuable, after all. "Trump will claim that he just made a thousand trillion dollar deal that will make America rich and end the war and bring peace on earth or whatever. But in reality, it looks like it’s much less than meets the eye. If it guaranteed continued support for Ukraine, it would definitely be worth it. But as it stands it’s just another fluff job to make Dear Leader feel like a winner. But since Trump’s almost completely drive by a seething desire for revenge against people he believes have wronged him (and Zelensky is one of them) maybe it makes sense for Zelensky to pretend like he’s been forced to grovel and capitulate to Trumps demands in order to at least keep him from making things worse." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. MB: I really, really hope digby is right. (Also linked yesterday.)
More News from the Kleptocracy. Rebecca Crosby & Judd Legum of Popular Information: “In March 2023, the SEC charged [Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin] Sun and three of his companies, accusing him of marketing unregistered securities and 'fraudulently manipulating the secondary market” for a crypto token. The SEC accused Sun of wash trading, which involves buying and selling a token quickly to fraudulently manufacture artificial interest. Sun was also charged with paying celebrities ... for endorsing his crypto 'without disclosing their compensation,' which violates federal law.... In December..., Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), a new venture backed by ... Donald Trump and his family. Sun’s purchase resulted in a cash windfall for Trump. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Sun sent a joint letter to a federal judge, asking for a stay of Sun's case. Today, the judge granted the SEC's request.... Now, the SEC seems poised to negotiate a favorable settlement with Sun or drop the case entirely.”
Big Shock. Pam Bondi Is a Phony. Matthew Goldstein & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “For days, Attorney General Pam Bondi had talked about releasing the 'Epstein files,' supposedly secret documents the federal government has on some of the powerful men who were in the orbit of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. But the roughly 200 pages of documents that Ms. Bondi released on Thursday contained little new information pointing to wrongdoing by anyone other than Mr. Epstein, a registered sex offender who died in jail. The document dump largely consisted of flight logs for Mr. Epstein’s planes — long ago made public — and contact information for hundreds of associates, along with brief descriptions of items found at his residences. The release was billed as a gesture ushering in a new era of transparency at the Justice Department. But the hyped first release of documents (which Ms. Bondi teased as 'breaking news' in a Fox News appearance on Wednesday night) appeared to be mostly political theater.” The AP's story is here.
Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: “FBI agents this week questioned Environmental Protection Agency employees regarding a Biden administration grant program for climate and clean-energy projects, escalating a criminal probe that already caused one veteran prosecutor to resign.... The move came after the Justice Department in recent weeks took unusual steps to advance the investigation, having a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney submit a warrant request when career prosecutors were unwilling and seeking prosecutors in other offices who would agree to participate in the case.... The Trump-appointed EPA administrator has alleged publicly that the money was awarded with little oversight and said the agency would try to claw back the money from Citibank, which was tasked with disbursing the funds.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The scandal here is not that the prosecutor was forced to resign in disgrace or something; rather, the scandal is the investigation itself: “... a senior career prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned rather than carry out the administration’s demand to freeze the funds over possible wire fraud.... Interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin then personally submitted a seizure warrant application without any other prosecutors in his office that was rejected by a U.S. magistrate judge in D.C., who found that the request and accompanying FBI agent affidavit failed to establish a reasonable belief that a crime occurred.... Meanwhile, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove’s office approached at least one other U.S. attorney’s office in the southeastern United States to launch a grand jury investigation and seek a court-ordered bank freeze, but prosecutors in the office again refused the warrant request.... But at least three groups that had been awarded money said their accounts have been frozen, and the bank won’t tell them why.”
DOE Establishes Snitch Line. Russell Payne of Salon: “The Department of Education is teaming up with the far-right activist group Moms for Liberty, launching a portal Thursday where parents can submit tips to the department to investigate as part of the crusade to end diversity and inclusion efforts in schools. In a press release, the department announced it was launching the portal so that anyone can 'submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools,' which the department would then use as a guide 'to identify potential areas for investigation.'” The idea here is to create a clearing-house where parents -- or whoever -- can accuse teachers of promoting diversity & then the feds can “investigate” (harass) these miscreants.
Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “... the economic agenda Republicans are now putting together on Capitol Hill would by and large help rich Americans, all while teeing up cuts to programs that provide health care and food to the poor.... Democrats ... are hammering Republicans for planning to take from the poor to give to the rich.... 'They’re cutting taxes in a regressive manner and cutting spending, which is also regressive,' said Kyle Pomerleau, who studies tax policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "For ambitious women who wanted to climb the ranks of Republican politics, anti-feminism has long been the steadiest of ladders. The propaganda value of their gender outweighed their party's larger hostility to women in leadership. But now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and Donald Trump is back in the White House, many on the right feel they no longer need to hide the naked sexism fueling their movement.... There has been growing support in Christian nationalist circles 'for the repeal of the 19th Amendment and support a "household vote" system in which men vote on behalf of their families.' Hegseth's former sister-in-law reports she heard him echo similar sentiments.... House Republicans passed a bill (which stalled in the Senate) this session to require citizens to have a passport or birth certificate matching their name to vote. This would be a back-door ban on voting for any woman who took her husband's last name and doesn't have a passport, an estimated 69 million women.... Similarly, there's been a slowly rising volume on the right of talk about banning no-fault divorce...." Read on. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Christine Hauser of the New York Times: “The singer and songwriter Katy Perry and the broadcast journalist and show host Gayle King will be among the all-female crew on the next mission of New Shepard, the space tourism rocket that is operated by Jeff Bezos’ private company, Blue Origin.” MB: Perry and especially King, who plays a journalist on teevee, should be ashamed of themselves.
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Iowa. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “Iowa lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday that would end state civil rights protections for transgender people. Advocates for L.G.B.T.Q. rights said that Iowa would become the first state to remove such broad and explicit protections for trans people if the Republican-backed measure was signed into law. The bill, which now goes to the desk of the Republican governor, passed 18 years after the state, then led by Democrats, enshrined those discrimination protections into Iowa code. The debate this week in Des Moines, where protesters and Democrats tried without success this week to persuade Republican lawmakers to reconsider, reflected how much the discourse over transgender issues has shifted in the country, and how much Iowa has changed.” An AP story is here.
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Reader Comments (6)
The Moms for Liberty, accompanied by a few Pops, managed to sneak into control of two local school boards in the last few years and wreaked havoc.
Two superintendents have resigned rather than cave to their looney wishes, and backlash from the sane has built. I suspect the schools ships will right themselves, but only after a painful period that didn't have to be. It shouldn't have to be this way. The voters weren't paying attention.
But why would school board elections be any different from last November?
Will Hulk Hogan also be given a job by Fat Hitler?
"Newly-installed FBI Director Kash Patel, whose proclaimed plans to overhaul the nation's premier law enforcement agency have rattled many within the bureau, has proposed enhancing the FBI's ranks with help from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the martial-arts entertainment giant whose wealthy CEO, Dana White, helped boost President Donald Trump's reelection, according to sources who were told of Patel's proposal.
On a teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI's 55 field offices, Patel suggested that he wants the FBI to establish a formal relationship with the UFC, which could develop programs for agents to improve their physical fitness, said sources who had been briefed on Wednesday's call."
What was accomplished yesterday by the Democrats
Can I sell my citizenship for $5 million?
Navarro
"White House official threatens to redraw Canadian border
Peter Navarro is pushing negotiators to discuss reworking country’s boundaries
Proposals also put forward by Mr Navarro include expelling Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, the most important intelligence-sharing network in the world."
Guardian
More Boycotts
"Seized, settled, let: how Airbnb and Booking.com help Israelis make money from stolen Palestinian land
As Israel deploys tanks in the West Bank for the first time in 20 years, we reveal how two of the world’s biggest travel companies are helping settlers commercialise stolen land"