CURRENT EVENTS - FEBRUARY 2026

whatntarnation said:
Why compete with everybody else to report the realities of the world, when you can give them a alternate reality that suits your interests and appeals to their fallible human emotions.
Click to expand...
The Murdochs and Roger Ailes understood a great truth and built a network based on that truth, which is simply that there has always been a vast number of people who don't want to hear about the world as it really is or to hear straight, credible news reports. They want to see the world presented to them as they already believe it to be, and to watch "news" which only tells them what they already want to hear and which confirms their biases and beliefs.

And they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams and have built a massive GOP propaganda machine that is both enormously profitable and enormously influential. And it may have also helped bring about an end to the Republic - but for people like the Murdochs that's a small price to pay for all of the wealth and power they have gained.
 


🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...9?st=Jr7Gmi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“…The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, is set to issue a final rule on Thursday that creates a category of worker for high-ranking career employees whose work focuses on executing the administration’s policies. Workers who fall into that category would no longer be subject to rules that for decades have set a high bar for firing federal employees.

The change is part of a far-reaching effort by the administration to overhaul federal agencies and reduce the size of the government’s workforce. Senior political appointees, spurred on by President Trump’s longstanding contention that a “deep state” is undermining his agenda, have shut down government programs, fired thousands of employees and offered others voluntary separation agreements.

Office of Personnel Management officials said the rule is aimed in part at disciplining federal workers who stand in the way of Trump’s policies. OPM said the new category applies to senior positions that are policy-determining, policymaking or policy-advocating in nature.…”

——
Dems should fight this in court now but also plan to use it to purge the Trump hires if/when they retake the Executive Branch — and only after doing so, change the rules back (preferably via legislation).
 
nycfan said:


🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...9?st=Jr7Gmi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“…The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, is set to issue a final rule on Thursday that creates a category of worker for high-ranking career employees whose work focuses on executing the administration’s policies. Workers who fall into that category would no longer be subject to rules that for decades have set a high bar for firing federal employees.

The change is part of a far-reaching effort by the administration to overhaul federal agencies and reduce the size of the government’s workforce. Senior political appointees, spurred on by President Trump’s longstanding contention that a “deep state” is undermining his agenda, have shut down government programs, fired thousands of employees and offered others voluntary separation agreements.

Office of Personnel Management officials said the rule is aimed in part at disciplining federal workers who stand in the way of Trump’s policies. OPM said the new category applies to senior positions that are policy-determining, policymaking or policy-advocating in nature.…”

——
Dems should fight this in court now but also plan to use it to purge the Trump hires if/when they retake the Executive Branch — and only after doing so, change the rules back (preferably via legislation).
Click to expand...

“…
The roughly 50,000 employees that OPM says could be affected by the rule change account for a relatively small subsection of the 2.3 million people working for the federal government in civilian jobs.

Civil-service revisions put in place in the 19th century turned federal employment from a partisan spoils system into a professional workforce that is largely insulated from partisan interference.

OPM officials said the administration won’t discipline employees based on their political party or ask who they worked for. They said the rule won’t be used as a justification for mass layoffs, adding that the administration will adhere to federal rules that protect whistleblowers.…”
 
Mulberry Heel said:
The Murdochs and Roger Ailes understood a great truth and built a network based on that truth, which is simply that there has always been a vast number of people who don't want to hear about the world as it really is or to hear straight, credible news reports. They want to see the world presented to them as they already believe it to be, and to watch "news" which only tells them what they already want to hear and which confirms their biases and beliefs.

And they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams and have built a massive GOP propaganda machine that is both enormously profitable and enormously influential. And it may have also helped bring about an end to the Republic - but for people like the Murdochs that's a small price to pay for all of the wealth and power they have gained.
Click to expand...
murdoch is australian/british. hell, bringing about an end to the republic was probably one of his goals.

the oligarchs are power and money hungry in ways that transcend any sense of loyalty to any country, imo. they see themselves as nation states, essentially. to their personal fortunes and ideals alone are they faithful.
 
nycfan said:
Click to expand...

“…
  • Two of the sources cautioned that the draft plan still needed approval from both presidents. An additional source confirmed that negotiations had been taking place over the past 24 hours in Abu Dhabi, but not that an agreement had been reached.
Why it matters: New START is the last major guardrail constraining the nuclear arsenals of the two countries that together hold some 85% of the world's warheads.…”
 
nycfan said:
IMG_4580.jpeg

🎁 —> Congress Nixes Visas for Afghan Partners, Closing Off a Key Path
Click to expand...
“… But last year, Mr. Trump froze the special visa program that gave Mr. Ghafoori and other Afghans who worked with the American government over two decades of war with the Taliban a path to legal status in the United States. The president did so hours after an Afghan national who had fought in a paramilitary group linked to the C.I.A. and entered the United States on a two-year grant of parole in 2021 shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., one of them fatally.

Then on Tuesday, Congress quietly closed the door to the program altogether when it cleared a spending package that authorized no new visas for it….”
 
nycfan said:
“… But last year, Mr. Trump froze the special visa program that gave Mr. Ghafoori and other Afghans who worked with the American government over two decades of war with the Taliban a path to legal status in the United States. The president did so hours after an Afghan national who had fought in a paramilitary group linked to the C.I.A. and entered the United States on a two-year grant of parole in 2021 shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., one of them fatally.

Then on Tuesday, Congress quietly closed the door to the program altogether when it cleared a spending package that authorized no new visas for it….”
Click to expand...
This is an absolute disgrace. An American betrayal of the highest order.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top