Bits n pieces
East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.
A recent sampling:
According to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post, Trump and people at the Pentagon are considering creating a full-time “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” to quickly quash civil unrest and protest.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians, and says the pro-Israel group, AIPAC, is unduly influencing Congress on the matter. Mediaite said Greene points out that “Israel is not hurting”: they have taxpayer funded healthcare and college, less than $400 billion in debt and they are nuclear armed. Americans are “fed up” with support of Israel, Greene said.
The un-housed formula used to be prioritizing mental health and substance abuse treatment, with housing later. But, Mother Jones reports, many treatment recipients returned to the streets, leading to Housing First, which was twice as successful, and cut veterans’ homelessness in half.
The Trump Administration claims DOGE saved taxpayers $52.8 billion by cancelling contracts. But Politico’s analysis of federal spending records shows the amount saved is closer to $1.4 billion.
Over 50 Democrat lawmakers from Texas prepared to return to the state after being gone nearly two weeks. They left to obstruct a quorum that would have rigged their voting district maps to favor adding five more Republicans to back Trump in Congress, thereby removing five seats held by Democrats. The Dems said they would return as long as Texas’ first special session was adjourned and California introduced its own new congressional map to offset gains rigged by Republicans, The Guardian reported.
Republicans in Texas currently have 25 of the state’s 38 congressional districts. Gaining more seats is important to Republicans, since mid-term elections often do not favor the president’s party, and the House has a slim Republican advantage of just three seats. To activate the temporary rigging of California’s maps will require voter approval. That state’s governor says failure to react to Trump’s map-rigging “risks destabilization of our democracy.”
On Fox News one of the Texas state Dems who left to avoid a vote on gerrymandering, denied Fox’s accusations of abandoning his seat. The Democrat asked “If Republican policies are popular, why do they need to redraw these maps? Why can’t they run on their policies?” The interview was cut short.
President Donald Trump wants to eliminate the 33-year-old Energy Star program, but a coalition of business interests disagrees. Grist says the program has saved $40 billion annually in energy costs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reposted a video about Christian nationalist pastors he supports who oppose the right of women to vote. A Pentagon spokesperson said Hegseth doesn’t agree.
Putin-Trump headlines: ‘We just want peace’: Alaskans across the state rally in support of Ukraine; Putin won in Anchorage. Now Zelenskyy and Europe are in an even more perilous position; Suited and full of praise, Ukraine and allies woo Trump away from Putin. Axios reported that Putin “no longer thinks a ceasefire is necessary,” that Putin wants more land to shift from Ukraine to Russia, and Putin says “it’s up to President Zelensky to make peace.” When Trump talked to Zelensky about his meeting with Putin, Zelensky told him Putin misrepresented the war situation.
The National Weather Service will hire back hundreds of employees after losing 500 to Trump’s “re-shaping” of the federal government, The New York Times reported.
Axios: FBI crime stats show 13 of the 20 cities with the highest murder rates are in Republican-led states. And eight of the top 10 cities with the highest murder rates are in red states. Border city crime dropped below the national average in 2024 -- all stats contrary to Trump’s claim of murder being especially bad in Democrat-run cities and border towns.
Jacobin research: 1% of the population enrolled in Medicaid works less than 80 hours a month. Pertinent headlines: Goldman Sachs warns consumers Trump tariffs "pain" has only just started; North Koreans tell BBC they are being sent to work "like slaves" in Russia; Tlaib Introduces “Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores bill [to stop corporate “surveillance pricing,” used to decide who can be charged more]; "God will pull the plug on us" if we don't support Israel, warns Lindsey Graham; Israel wants to resettle Palestinians from Gaza to [unstable war-torn] South Sudan [Israel indicates they would pay for creation of tent cities -- Palestinians reject any permanent displacement]; Group of health officials call for RFK Jr. to be removed [Defend Public Health says the first Make America Healthy Again report distracted from true causes of poor health, such as poverty, and used non-existent references].
Blast from the past: In 2009 Trump bought a golf club on the Potomac River. He had a plaque put up claiming many soldiers -- North and South -- died “at this spot,” causing the river to become known as “The River of Blood.” Multiple experts say it never happened. Per executive order Trump now wants to restore “Truth and Sanity to American History” and is leaning on the Smithsonian to revise the nation’s history to align with his historical ideas, erasing subjects such as racism.