CURRENT EVENTS - Easter - April 24



Weird that DogeAI (an AI-run DOGE super-fan account) is assailing the move … except maybe b/c they aren’t implementing the DOGE (Marocco) cuts plan?
 
Trump Admin Launches the Biggest Shake-Up ‘In Decades’ at the State Department

Internal documents obtained by The Free Press detail plans to close 132 offices, including those launched to further human rights, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes.

www.thefp.com

Revealed: Trump Admin Launches the Biggest Shake-Up ‘In Decades’ at the State Department

Internal documents obtained by The Free Press detail plans to close 132 offices, including those launched to further human rights, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes.
www.thefp.com www.thefp.com

“… Separately, under secretaries at the State Department are also being instructed within 30 days to present plans to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15 percent, according to a senior State Department official. These include six top offices employing thousands of people. The reorganization comes as the Trump administration seeks to drastically reduce the size and scope of the federal government.

… The programs that the State Department is cutting are among those that do not require approval from Congress, the second senior State Department official stressed. Top offices at the agency will have 30 days to devise plans for how they will implement the changes, the second official said.

… One notable part of the restructuring will involve an office called the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, also known as the agency’s “J programs.”

… The J office, the documents show, is being overhauled and renamed as the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance and Human Rights. There, officials plan to abolish its Office of Global Criminal Justice, which was formed in 1997 to advise on U.S. policy related to genocide, war crimes, and other grave human rights violations.

In the past, the Office of Global Criminal Justice has worked with the Department of Justice on investigating atrocities committed in Syria, and has aided Balkan countries in setting up war crime tribunals, according to a former State Department official. This March, the office met with a group of Syrians to discuss human rights issues.

… Another office on the chopping block is the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, or CSO. It received $336 million between 2016 and 2023, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent agency examining how federal funds are spent.

The CSO was established in 2011 to help anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflicts that may threaten U.S. national security, according to a press release upon its launch.

… The State Department also has plans to eliminate “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE) activities at the Bureau of Counterterrorism, the documents say. CVE refers to “actions to counter efforts by violent extremists to radicalize, recruit, and mobilize followers to violence and to address specific factors that facilitate violent extremist recruitment and radicalization to violence,” the State Department said in a 2016 report.

… The broader restructuring at the State Department will also see the elimination of a nuclear nonproliferation envoy role at a bureau working to prevent weapons of mass destruction.

According to the internal documents, the State Department is planning to create an office called the Bureau of Emerging Threats. It will focus on cyber threats to the U.S., the second senior State Department official said. …
 
Large bureaucracies often have overlapping missions and years of grafting new programs onto existing structures can lead to maddening inefficiencies. So, conceptually, a thoroughly considered reorganization at State to eliminate overlap seems like good management.

Details are still trickling out, and the rubber will really meet the road when the 30-day cuts suggestions come back from the various departments (plus the inevitable restructuring of foreign operations that follows will be even more telling).

But the framing by Rubio and information that is available on what is being eliminated rather than reorganized is discouraging.
 
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1) interesting lack of reference to Gaza or Hamas hostages.

2) I doubt they are on the “same side” on tariffs

3) I very much doubt they are in agreement on Iran because the only thing Bibi wants there is to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites.
 
nycfan said:


Weird that DogeAI (an AI-run DOGE super-fan account) is assailing the move … except maybe b/c they aren’t implementing the DOGE (Marocco) cuts plan?
Click to expand...

It reads to me like they just turned on their language model.

Remember: Grok was critical of Elon (still is?). Elon could shut that down but I think he likes the publicity.
 
superrific said:
It reads to me like they just turned on their language model.

Remember: Grok was critical of Elon (still is?). Elon could shut that down but I think he likes the publicity.
Click to expand...
You sort of have to see how much of a DOGE fanboy site that account is — that State Department post is a pretty striking departure overall, though the bot also did a similarly critical series of posts about Noem having her purse stolen.

Musk and Rubio have been in an ongoing dispute about how to make cuts at State, so would not be surprised if some Rubio skepticism or animus is built into the DOGEai bot. Musk has also chaffed at Corey Lewendowski, who has had some unflattering public descriptions of Musk’s weirdness, so some built in skepticism of Lewandoski’s “protege” also would be unsurprising (other rumored relationships but Lewandowski is my many accounts the shadow chief of staff, if not real shadow secretary, of DHS due to his close relationship with Noem, who he promoted as VP and then for DHS).
 
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Closing arguments are over and a jury gets to decide this case (a second time).

Sarah Palin’s defamation suit retrial against the New York Times raises first amendment concerns​

She lost the first trial in 2022, but she gets ‘second bite of the apple’ due to a judge’s procedural errors

www.theguardian.com

Sarah Palin’s defamation suit retrial against the New York Times raises first amendment concerns

She lost the first trial in 2022, but she gets ‘second bite of the apple’ due to a judge’s procedural errors
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

“… Palin’s case might not be a referendum on the first amendment outright as “the actual malice standard, which requires the plaintiff to prove that the false information published about them was done either knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth, is not an easy standard, which is why plenty of libel plaintiffs like Governor Palin do not win defamation lawsuits”, he added.

If Palin loses again, however, this does not equate to an automatic victory for first amendment rights. “She will almost certainly appeal again and keep appealing,” Gutterman said. “Appellate courts set precedent, so we might still be a ways away from seeing how strong the first amendment ultimately is these days.”

And if Palin were to land a shocking win, “it would not be great for the New York Times or the free press altogether. Even if she wins a nominal amount of money, both sides might still keep appealing,” Gutterman said. …”

IMG_6594.jpeg
 
Living in Europe, I have gotten used to these (no plastic straws allowed). Now obviously, some are better than others, but I don`t plan on leaving a straw in my drink for an hour, so that aspect doesn't bother me. I just don¡t like the ones that your lips stick to because of the moisture located therein.
 

At Least 24 Tourists Reported Killed by Gunmen in Kashmir​

The attack, in a picturesque district of India, was the worst assault against civilians in the restive region in years, its leader said.

www.nytimes.com

At Least 24 Tourists Reported Killed by Gunmen in Kashmir

The attack, in a picturesque district of India, was the worst assault against civilians in the restive region in years, its leader said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… The Kashmir region, divided in 1947 between India and Pakistan, has been the site of separatist violence for decades, claiming thousands of lives.

The bloodshed has declined in recent years, after Mr. Modi revoked Kashmir’s special status and his government began directly administering the Muslim-majority region from New Delhi.

The Indian government has ruled Kashmir with a heavy hand, keeping order with huge security forces and for years suspending democracy in the region.

Domestic tourism to Kashmir has flourished as the Modi government has promoted visits to the region, part of an effort to project an image of stability there.”

 
nycfan said:

At Least 24 Tourists Reported Killed by Gunmen in Kashmir​

The attack, in a picturesque district of India, was the worst assault against civilians in the restive region in years, its leader said.

www.nytimes.com

At Least 24 Tourists Reported Killed by Gunmen in Kashmir

The attack, in a picturesque district of India, was the worst assault against civilians in the restive region in years, its leader said.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… The Kashmir region, divided in 1947 between India and Pakistan, has been the site of separatist violence for decades, claiming thousands of lives.

The bloodshed has declined in recent years, after Mr. Modi revoked Kashmir’s special status and his government began directly administering the Muslim-majority region from New Delhi.

The Indian government has ruled Kashmir with a heavy hand, keeping order with huge security forces and for years suspending democracy in the region.

Domestic tourism to Kashmir has flourished as the Modi government has promoted visits to the region, part of an effort to project an image of stability there.”

Click to expand...

A lot of wild claims on social media about what happened (and calls for retaliation), but sounds like Muslim terrorist targeted Hindu tourists in the region in a mass murder campaign that has killed as up to two dozen people.
 


“… The parties included a 7-year-old boy, wearing a shirt emblazoned with a pizza cartoon, who spun a toy windmill while the judge spoke. There was an 8-year-old girl and her 4-year-old sister, in a tie-dye shirt, who squeezed a pink plushy toy and stuffed it into her sleeve. None of the children were accompanied by parents or attorneys, only shelter workers who helped them log on to the hearing.

… The Trump administration on March 21 terminated part of a $200 million contract that funds attorneys and other legal services for unaccompanied children, who arrived in the United States without parents or legal guardians. While that action is being challenged in court, immigrant advocates say the impact is already being felt, as lawyer groups pull back on services – leaving some children on their own.

… The now-terminated contract paid for attorneys to represent 26,000 children across the country and “friend of the court” programs for children, which provide attorneys in court to help pro se respondents navigate the court process. The figures were provided by the Acacia Center for Justice, the nonprofit that manages the contract and doles out money to other providers across the country.

… Kraft said that before the contract was terminated, [In NY] she saw 30% to 40% of children in a given docket without lawyers. Now, she said, the number has increased to 50% to 60%. …”
 
nycfan said:


“… The parties included a 7-year-old boy, wearing a shirt emblazoned with a pizza cartoon, who spun a toy windmill while the judge spoke. There was an 8-year-old girl and her 4-year-old sister, in a tie-dye shirt, who squeezed a pink plushy toy and stuffed it into her sleeve. None of the children were accompanied by parents or attorneys, only shelter workers who helped them log on to the hearing.

… The Trump administration on March 21 terminated part of a $200 million contract that funds attorneys and other legal services for unaccompanied children, who arrived in the United States without parents or legal guardians. While that action is being challenged in court, immigrant advocates say the impact is already being felt, as lawyer groups pull back on services – leaving some children on their own.

… The now-terminated contract paid for attorneys to represent 26,000 children across the country and “friend of the court” programs for children, which provide attorneys in court to help pro se respondents navigate the court process. The figures were provided by the Acacia Center for Justice, the nonprofit that manages the contract and doles out money to other providers across the country.

… Kraft said that before the contract was terminated, [In NY] she saw 30% to 40% of children in a given docket without lawyers. Now, she said, the number has increased to 50% to 60%. …”
Click to expand...

“… In recent years, the number of unaccompanied children arriving in the United States reached record highs, peaking at nearly 129,904 in the fiscal year ending in 2022, according to Office of Refugee Resettlement data. Last fiscal year, 98,356 unaccompanied children entered the country, still tens of thousands higher than the numbers that came in 2020 and the years prior.

The vast majority of the unaccompanied children are Spanish speakers, hailing from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador or Mexico.

… A federal judge recently ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore the contract, but funding still isn’t flowing to legal providers, who continue to face difficult decisions about how to move forward. …”
 
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