Politics Current Events Feb 27

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NIH & TRUMP ADMIN LAW-SKIRTING/BREAKING

Inside the Collapse at the NIH​

Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

GIFT LINK 🎁 —> Inside the Collapse at the NIH

“… The lights at the NIH are on; staff are at their desks. But since late January, the agency has issued only a fraction of its usual awards—many in haphazard spurts, as officials rushed grants through the pipeline in whatever limited windows they could manage. As of this week, some of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers are still issuing no new grants at all, one NIH official told me. Grant-management officers, who sign their name to awards, are too afraid, the official said, that violating the president’s wishes will mean losing their livelihood. (Most of the officials I spoke with requested anonymity, out of fear for their job at the agency, or—for those who have left—further professional consequences.)

NIH lawyers have told officials at the agency that to comply with court orders, they must restart grant awards and payments.

But HHS officials have handed down messages too, several current and former NIH officials told me: Hold off. Maintain the pause on grants.

And the NIH’s acting director, Matthew Memoli, who until January was a relatively low-ranking flu researcher at the agency, has instructed leadership to stick to what HHS says.

Memoli, HHS, and the NIH did not respond to requests for comment. …”
 
nycfan said:
ALLEGED ANTI-DEI

Art Museum of Americas cancels shows of Black, LGBTQ artists following Trump orders​

Participants said the museum, run by the Organization of American States, shut down two upcoming exhibitions featuring major American and international artists.


“The Art Museum of the Americas, a cultural venue run by the Organization of American States that is steps from the White House and the National Mall, has canceled two upcoming shows, one featuring Black artists from across the Western Hemisphere and the other showcasing queer artists from Canada. According to participants in those shows, museum officials canceled the exhibitions to comply with Trump administration orders to stamp out federal funding for “diversity, equity and inclusion” efforts.

Cheryl D. Edwards, the curator for the survey of Black artists that had been slated to open on March 21, said the decision follows executive orders from the Trump administration to eliminate federal funding for diversity initiatives.

She said she received a call on Feb. 6 from Adriana Ospina, the director of the D.C. museum, notifying her that the institution had been forced to call off the exhibition.

“‘I have been instructed to call you and tell you that the museum [show] is terminated,’” Edwards says, recalling the message from Ospina. “Nobody uses that word in art — terminated.”

… Featuring artworks by African American as well as Afro-Latino and Caribbean artists, “Before the Americas” aimed to track the influence of the transatlantic slave trade and African diaspora across multiple generations of modern and contemporary artists. The survey ranged from artists born in the 1890s to the 1990s, among them Wifredo Lam, the Cuban modernist painter and the subject of a forthcoming retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, and Elizabeth Catlett, an American and Mexican sculptor whose retrospective at the National Gallery of Art opens in March.

… The only reason Edwards was given for the show’s cancellation, she says: “Because it is DEI.” The president and conservative lawmakers have used the term as a catchall pejorative for efforts aimed at addressing social inequalities. …”
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DOGE / BIRD FLU / EGGS

🥚

Trump administration struggles to rehire fired bird flu employees​

USDA supervisors are being asked to justify rehires and some employees still haven’t gotten their laptops back.


“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.

The dismissals have already helped trigger a partial shutdown at one of the department’s research facilities, according to two USDA employees, interrupting some workers’ efforts to fight bird flu and help livestock recover from illness.
Now, agency officials are running into logistical challenges in reinstating its bird flu staff — and convincing them to return to jobs while the president repeatedly attempts to squeeze government workers.

Bird flu is spreading beyond poultry and is infecting dairy herds across more than a dozen states, with no end in sight. That’s made the staffing woes at USDA a key concern, with the past few weeks revealing how much easier it is to fire employees than it is to bring them back, even when their jobs are crucial for public health.

… Supervisors at USDA have been told they need to write a justification for every bird flu employee called back, said one person familiar with the process. Some of those who were rehired this week still don’t have their laptops. And it’s not clear all of the ousted workers have received return offers, or that they plan to accept them, potentially leaving key offices understaffed on the response to the outbreak. …”
 
nycfan said:
DOGE / BIRD FLU / EGGS

🥚

Trump administration struggles to rehire fired bird flu employees​

USDA supervisors are being asked to justify rehires and some employees still haven’t gotten their laptops back.


“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.

The dismissals have already helped trigger a partial shutdown at one of the department’s research facilities, according to two USDA employees, interrupting some workers’ efforts to fight bird flu and help livestock recover from illness.
Now, agency officials are running into logistical challenges in reinstating its bird flu staff — and convincing them to return to jobs while the president repeatedly attempts to squeeze government workers.

Bird flu is spreading beyond poultry and is infecting dairy herds across more than a dozen states, with no end in sight. That’s made the staffing woes at USDA a key concern, with the past few weeks revealing how much easier it is to fire employees than it is to bring them back, even when their jobs are crucial for public health.

… Supervisors at USDA have been told they need to write a justification for every bird flu employee called back, said one person familiar with the process. Some of those who were rehired this week still don’t have their laptops. And it’s not clear all of the ousted workers have received return offers, or that they plan to accept them, potentially leaving key offices understaffed on the response to the outbreak. …”
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“… The White House’s and billionaire Elon Musk’s effort to rapidly shrink the federal government — and inability to immediately rehire terminated employees — has also held up major research initiatives on combating bird flu, other animal diseases and helping livestock recover from illness.

According to the department’s spokesperson, “about a dozen … probationary employees whose roles were primarily administrative and were not deemed essential to the functions of the lab” were fired at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas, which studies zoonotic and foreign animal diseases.

USDA’s U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, one of the most prominent agricultural research facilities in the country, lost more than a quarter of its staff under the initial firings, jeopardizing millions of dollars’ worth of federally-funded research, according to two people familiar with the situation.

They said USDA has since asked two employees who were working on bird flu and several scientists to come back to the center. Though some of those employees have returned to the office this week, they don’t have their laptops, rendering them unable to adequately complete their work.

Like at NBAF, USDA declined to bring back people who support the research but are not lead scientists. But without those staff, Dairy Forage still isn’t fully operational, two people said.

Just this week, a technician’s absence prompted chaos: A machine used for testing certain plant and soil samples and primarily managed by one of the fired technicians, caught on fire, forcing Dairy Forage employees to evacuate. …”

——
Reminds me of this from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

“These tales of impending doom allowed the Golgafrinchans to rid themselves of an entire useless third of their population.

The story was that they would build three Ark ships. Into the A ship would go all the leaders, scientists and other high achievers. The C ship would contain all the people who made things and did things, and the B ark would hold everyone else, such as hairdressers and telephone sanitisers.

They sent the B ship off first, but of course the other two-thirds of the population stayed on the planet and lived full, rich and happy lives until they were all wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone.”
 
nycfan said:
Trump Admin secures release of Andrew Tate, brings him to USA:



“… Andrew and Tristan Tate, who have U.S. and U.K. citizenship, have been barred from leaving Romania since 2022, when they were put under investigation. On Thursday, Romania’s special prosecutor’s office said it gave the brothers permission to travel but that they were still under investigation and that they would be expected to return to the country at a later date.

…
Tate, who has over 10 million followers on X, has built a loyal following by promoting a hypermasculine lifestyle, built around fast cars and women, while vocally rejecting feminism. The former kick-boxer supported President Trump during the election campaign and the brothers’ case has been championed by several right-wing commentators.

Earlier this month, Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said he met with U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell in Munich and that Grenell expressed an interest in the Tates’ case. “In no way did I perceive what he said as a form of pressure,” Hurezeanu told Euronews Romania. …”

Nervous Gordon Ramsey GIF by BBC
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FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say​

Patel suggested he wants UFC to help agents improve their fitness, sources said.

abcnews.go.com

FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say

Newly-installed FBI Director Kash Patel has proposed enhancing the FBI with help from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, say sources who were told of the proposal.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com

“… 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.

The virtual meeting with each field office's special-agent-in-charge has long been a weekly occurrence, but this week's call was the first led by Patel, who was sworn in as director on Friday.

… Though Patel's UFC proposal stood out to some who heard about the meeting, Patel addressed a range of issues on the call, according to sources.

… During Wednesday's call, Patel expressed his own concerns about that email and with confusing follow-up messages from the Trump administration's new Department of Government Efficiency, which has been guided by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, sources said.

… [On the call, Patel] warned them that he would not tolerate "leaks" or what he sees as other forms of insubordination.

Nevertheless, it was Patel's proposal to ask the UFC for help that quickly created some buzz within the FBI community. …”
 
nycfan said:
Trump Admin secures release of Andrew Tate, brings him to USA:



“… Andrew and Tristan Tate, who have U.S. and U.K. citizenship, have been barred from leaving Romania since 2022, when they were put under investigation. On Thursday, Romania’s special prosecutor’s office said it gave the brothers permission to travel but that they were still under investigation and that they would be expected to return to the country at a later date.

…Tate, who has over 10 million followers on X, has built a loyal following by promoting a hypermasculine lifestyle, built around fast cars and women, while vocally rejecting feminism. The former kick-boxer supported President Trump during the election campaign and the brothers’ case has been championed by several right-wing commentators.

Earlier this month, Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said he met with U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell in Munich and that Grenell expressed an interest in the Tates’ case. “In no way did I perceive what he said as a form of pressure,” Hurezeanu told Euronews Romania. …”

Nervous Gordon Ramsey GIF by BBC
Click to expand...

 
nycfan said:
Trying something different — my attempt to split related current even stories into their own threads means a lot of the threads I started end up on the first page (and we have multiple threads on Trump, Musk and DOGE, for instance, which several posters indicate they find frustrating.

It actually takes me longer to try to figure out where to post a particular news item than it would to just post a news aggregator daily and dump in what I find interesting.

So, going to try a daily political news aggregation thread where any of us who spot a potentially interesting news item can post a link.

I think it would become frustratingly chaotic if this same thread is used to discuss all those items at once, so suggest that if folks see an item worth discussing, start your own thread about it. That will mean a bunch of new threads potentially, but the goal is to give room for other discussions to occur without feeling crowded out by news aggregation posts.

my plan is to lock up the daily thread and start a new one at the beginning of each day.

Some will see how it works.
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I like it - couldnt find my own posts "wait which Elon thread was it in?"

I do think Maybe a single Trump/Maga thread and a single dedicated Elon thread are good too.

But then maybe instead of daily you do weekly, so that way some convos keep going? just a thought
 
Seems like there is a new interest in using mercenaries …



 
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