The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to pause a lower court’s order restricting affiliates of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Social Security Administration data, arguing in a Friday filing that the judicial order limits President Donald Trump’s executive authority.
“This emergency application presents a now-familiar theme,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote. “A district court has issued sweeping injunctive relief without legal authority to do so, in ways that inflict ongoing, irreparable harm on urgent federal priorities and stymie the Executive Branch’s functions.”
Sauer urged the court to lift an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander blocking DOGE from accessing the data, which includes Social Security numbers, medical records and tax and banking information.
Tag Archives: White House
Reuters: White House seeks to cut TSA funding and boost air, rail safety
The White House said on Friday it wants to cut funding for the Transportation Security Administration by $247 million, while boosting spending on rail and air safety.
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In its proposal on Friday to cut TSA officer levels, the White House said, “TSA has consistently failed audits while implementing intrusive screening measures that violate Americans’ privacy and dignity.” It was not immediately clear how many positions the White House wants to cut.
And:
The proposal also calls for cutting funding by $308 million for Essential Air Service, which subsidizes commercial air service to rural airports and is popular with Republican lawmakers.
I’m no fan of TSA, but cutting a quarter billion dollars out of their budget hardly seems likely improve aviation security. Focus on their procedures and methods, not on their people.
Cutting Essential Air Service will be disastrous for many rural communities. It will also hit airlines hard while they’re also feeling the loss of international tourists thanks to the actions of King Donald & Co.
Guardian: Mass resignations at labor department threaten workers in US and overseas, warn staff – as more cuts loom
Last month Jihun Han, chief of staff to the US secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, sent a staff-wide email warning they could face criminal charges for speaking to journalists about agency business.
“All of the core aspects of working life can no longer be assumed, because the Department of Labor was chronically underfunded for a long time, and eliminating half the staff, or whatever their goals are, will cause it to be absolutely dysfunctional,” the BLS employee said. “I think it’s catastrophic.”
Paranoid, anyone?
Ever heard of the First Amendment?
Associated Press: Trump brands his opponents as ‘communists,’ a label loaded with the baggage of American history
For years, President Donald Trump blamed “communists” for his legal and political troubles. Now, the second Trump administration is deploying that same historically loaded label to cast his opponents — from judges to educators — as threats to American identity, culture and values.
If opposing King Donald makes me a communist, I’ll wear the label proudly!
In fact I have been a Republican for 50 of my 70 years. The current group of corrupt clowns who have taken over the Republican parts just aren’t my type of Republicans. I’ll cast my lot with any commie or lefty who can throw these bums out.
LGTBQ Nation: Donald Trump says America should “forget about” the separation of church and state
Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday establishing a “religious liberty commission” at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and present strategies to eliminate “threats to domestic religious liberty.” During his comments on the order, Trump said that he doesn’t know if there’s a separation of church and state and that we should “forget about that for one time.”
F*ck*ng r*t*rd needs to crawl out from under his rock!
Daily Beast: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hits Jackpot Under New Trump Budget Plan
President Donald Trump‘s new budget proposal would give SpaceX, Elon Musk‘s rocket company, a huge payday—despite making steep cuts to many areas of government spending.
Trump said in the proposal, sent to Congress Friday, that he wants to make “a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield” that SpaceX will help build, The New York Times reported.
That project alone could generate billions in federal contracts for the company, the Times observed.
The spending plan also makes Musk’s ambitions to reach Mars a top priority for the government, arguing that “U.S. space dominance” will “strengthen U.S. national security and strategic advantage.”
The corruption continues unabated.
NBC News: Germany hits back at Rubio’s defense of far-right AfD party
Germany rebuked Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he slammed the country’s intelligence agency for classifying the far-right political party Alternative for Germany a “proven-right wing extremist organization.”
“We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped,” Germany’s foreign office wrote on X, in direct reply to Rubio.
AfD, whose staunch supporters include Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk, was already under surveillance for suspected extremism by Germany’s intelligence services, which on Friday classified the party as a “proven right-wing extremist organization.”
Marco Rubio & J.D. Dunce & F’Elon Musk seem to thing that neo-Nazis are cool. Thankfully Germany has learned from its past mistakes and has no intention of repeating history.
BBC: Tariffs on car parts entering the US come into force
A 25% import tax on engines, transmissions and other key car parts has come into force in the US, raising pressure on an industry finding its way through a thicket of policy changes.
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The US president has said the new tariff, along with a 25% import tax on cars that went into effect last month, is intended to push carmakers to do more manufacturing in the US.
But analysts said any immediate expansions in the US were likely to come at the expense of production elsewhere, while also leading to higher costs for the businesses – and ultimately higher prices for customers.
“American made” cars still rely on foreign-made parts — we’re screwed by these tariffs either way.
More here:
Financial Times: Donald Trump’s ‘Marie Antoinette moment’: call for national sacrifice falls flat
President faces backlash after warning Americans they will have to make do with fewer toys at Christmas
Here was the president acknowledging his trade war might cause real hardship for voters — many of whom elected him to bring down the cost of living and boost growth.
Trump’s enemies could hardly believe their luck. They mocked him on social media as a modern-day “Grinch who stole Christmas” and “Scrooge McTrump”. One television presenter, channelling the Sopranos, called him “Donny 2 Dolls”.
“‘Your family will have less, but it’ll be more expensive’ is definitely a solid economic pitch,” the stand-up comic Mike Drucker wrote on X.
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Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA Entertainment, the largest toymaker in the US, said the tariffs will be “disastrous”, predicting a “30-40 per cent drop in sales”.
The company gets 65 per cent of its products from Chinese factories, and the tariffs will force them to massively raise prices — from $15 to $29-$30 for a Bratz doll, one of its most popular items.“If the tariffs are not reduced we’re going to be forced to lay off people, including people in our factory here actually manufacturing toys in the US,” said Larian, who said he voted for Trump last November.
Daily Mail: Trump takes sledgehammer to NASA budget to fund Elon’s billion-dollar dream
The White House has announced the largest cut to NASA‘s budget in its history.
The Trump administration has slashed research funding, terminated multiple missions and allocated $1 billion toward Elon Musk‘s dream of sending humans to Mars.
The $6 billion cuts include scrapping the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, which has already cost NASA billions and aimed to bring samples collected from the Martian surface back to Earth to be studied.