CURRENT EVENTS - May 1 - May 6

Trump’s Space Budget Reflects Influence of Elon Musk and SpaceX​

SpaceX, already one of the biggest NASA and Pentagon contractors, could win billions of dollars in new contracts if President Trump’s budget proposal is approved by Congress.


“… President Trump is delivering on Mr. Musk’s wish list at both NASA and the Pentagon to reorient federal spending on space in a way likely to drive billions of dollars in new business to Mr. Musk’s space technology company, if Congress signs off on the budget plan.

At the Pentagon, Mr. Trump is calling for a massive jump in spending, an extraordinary 13 percent increase, almost entirely through allocations in a Congressional budget reconciliation plan under consideration.

The jump would happen while many other federal agencies would be slashed, in part to supercharge federal spending in two areas where SpaceX is positioned to profit: a vast missile defense system and space missions to Mars and the moon. …”
 

Trump administration plans major downsizing at U.S. spy agencies​

The planned cuts include 1,200 positions at the CIA, along with thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community.


“… The administration recently informed lawmakers on Capitol Hill that it intends to reduce the CIA’s workforce by about 1,200 personnel over several years and cut thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community, including at the National Security Agency, a highly secretive service that specializes in cryptology and global electronic espionage, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

… The CIA does not publicly disclose the size of its workforce, but it is believed to be about 22,000. It is unclear which parts of the spy agency would be most affected. The downsizing is happening even as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has pledged to put more agency resources on China and on cartels smuggling fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States. …”
 

Out at the E.P.A.: Independent Scientists. In: Approving New Chemicals.​

The Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced the agency was “shifting its scientific expertise.”


“… Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the changes to the E.P.A. in a video, saying the agency was “shifting its scientific expertise” to focus on issues he described as “mission essential.”

Most of the immediate changes will affect the Office of Research and Development, the E.P.A.’s main research arm that conducts studies on things like the health and environmental risks of “forever chemicals” in drinking water and the best way to reduce fine particle pollution in the atmosphere.

An internal document previously reviewed by The New York Times outlined the Trump administration’s recommendation to eliminate that office, with plans to fire as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists working on health and environmental research. …”
 

Out at the E.P.A.: Independent Scientists. In: Approving New Chemicals.​

The Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced the agency was “shifting its scientific expertise.”


“… Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the changes to the E.P.A. in a video, saying the agency was “shifting its scientific expertise” to focus on issues he described as “mission essential.”

Most of the immediate changes will affect the Office of Research and Development, the E.P.A.’s main research arm that conducts studies on things like the health and environmental risks of “forever chemicals” in drinking water and the best way to reduce fine particle pollution in the atmosphere.

An internal document previously reviewed by The New York Times outlined the Trump administration’s recommendation to eliminate that office, with plans to fire as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists working on health and environmental research. …”
“… One hundred and thirty jobs will be moved to an office at the agency tasked with approving new chemicals for use, Mr. Zeldin said. Chemicals industry groups have long complained of a backlog in approvals, which they say is stifling innovation.

At an all-hands staff meeting late Friday, Nancy Beck, a former lobbyist at the American Chemistry Council who now heads the E.P.A.’s chemicals office, told stunned scientists that it was “a very exciting time.”

“I encourage everyone throughout the agency to apply for these positions,” she said. …

The E.P.A. under Mr. Zeldin is revising or repealing more than 30 regulationsaimed at protecting the air, water and climate. The administrator also is overseeing an effort to dismantle the legal underpinning for most climate regulations, known as the endangerment finding.…”
 
Trump Admin giving Babbitt’s mom an as yet undisclosed amount to settle her wrongful death suit against the government … cooperating to give the family a cash settlement in a loser case. It became public b/c Babbitt’s husband made a filing to demand he get a share of the settlement (he sued separately).
 
From my home state...

Sentencing for the first of several Gilbert Goons for, among many things, the murder or Preston Lord.

Some incredibly, incredibly sad shit.




He got 17 years. 12 for his role in the Preston Lord murder and five for the many other crimes he committed.
 

Out at the E.P.A.: Independent Scientists. In: Approving New Chemicals.​

The Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced the agency was “shifting its scientific expertise.”


“… Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the changes to the E.P.A. in a video, saying the agency was “shifting its scientific expertise” to focus on issues he described as “mission essential.”

Most of the immediate changes will affect the Office of Research and Development, the E.P.A.’s main research arm that conducts studies on things like the health and environmental risks of “forever chemicals” in drinking water and the best way to reduce fine particle pollution in the atmosphere.

An internal document previously reviewed by The New York Times outlined the Trump administration’s recommendation to eliminate that office, with plans to fire as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists working on health and environmental research. …”
Project 2025.

But he’ll never do it.
 
Project 2025.

But he’ll never do it.
Courts aren't going to let him get away with "science." DC Circuit will be on the case, and DC Circuit will not have any of it. Maybe if a case gets to Supremes, maybe. But I don't see that happening. Supreme has already taken one bite at that unappealing apple.
 


“… Elon Musk’s rocket-and-satellite business is poised to re-create the company town. On Saturday, an election is set to decide whether the properties that informally make up Starbase, home to SpaceX’s Starship rocket, should be incorporated into a new municipality.

… Turning Starbase into a town would make it easier to provide amenities for employees and permit a public entity to oversee a number of local services, Starbase general manager Kathy Lueders wrote in a letter last December. SpaceX currently handles those, including education and road management.

Some locals fear the move will give SpaceX more power across the Rio Grande Valley. They worry the approximately 280 people living in Starbase and eligible to vote will make decisions that affect a broad number of people nearby.

… State legislators have proposed giving Starbase, assuming it incorporates as a town, powers to temporarily close beaches during weekdays. SpaceX has worked with county officials to keep the public off the beach during rocket operations….”
 

C.I.A. Fires Top Doctor Targeted by Far-Right Activist​

The director of the agency’s Center for Global Health Services was dismissed a month short of qualifying for full federal retirement benefits, according to a lawsuit.


“… Late last year, the C.I.A. recruited the doctor, Terry Adirim, to take a top medical job as the director of the agency’s Center for Global Health Services. Within days, Ivan Raiklin, a far-right provocateur, accused her of being the “architect” of the Pentagon’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

Dr. Adirim, 61, had served in a top medical role in the Defense Department in 2021 when Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III mandated that all service members receive a Covid vaccination.

Mr. Raikin, who has called himself President Trump’s “secretary of retribution,” is a former Green Beret who became an intense critic of the Covid vaccine. He published a “Deep State Target List” of 350 individuals he accused of treason. According to the suit, Mr. Raiklin also singled out Dr. Adirim for criticism.

… According to the lawsuit, Dr. Adirim was fired two days after Lara Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist, visited the White House and demanded that several national security officials be dismissed. Ms. Loomer later took credit for the firing of Gen. Timothy Haugh, the director of the National Security Agency….”
 

The U.S. and Maine Reach Deal to Restore Funds in Feud on Transgender Athletes​

The state’s attorney general said the federal dollars paid for food for schoolchildren and other essential services.



The Trump administration and Maine reached an agreement that restored funding for schoolchildren, Maine’s attorney general said Friday, part of a feud between the president and the state’s governor over policies on transgender athletes.

The state’s attorney general, Aaron M. Frey, said his office had withdrawn a lawsuit it filed in objection to the funding freeze, which had held up around $3 million, he estimated, and was initiated by the Agriculture Department last month. The federal dollars, Mr. Frey said in an interview, pay for food preparation in schools and child care centers, and also assist in feeding disabled adults in congregate settings….”

——
Apparently, based on limited info in the article, details of the deal are not yet public (?)
 

R.E.M. Releases New ‘Radio Free Europe’ EP, With Proceeds Benefiting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Amid Trump Cuts​



“… The EP, coming more than four decades after the 1981 release of “Radio Free Europe” on college radio, coincides with the 75th anniversary of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as well as World Press Freedom Day (which falls on May 3). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was established 75 years ago and currently broadcasts news and information in 27 languages to 23 countries where a free press is either banned by the government or under threat….”
 
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