politics

Summary

Within hours of Maine Gov. Janet Mills publicly defying Donald Trump’s ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, the U.S. Education Department launched a Title IX compliance probe targeting Maine’s transgender-inclusive policies.

Trump threatened to withhold federal funding if Maine did not comply. Mills firmly responded, “We’ll see you in court.”

She condemned the investigation as political retaliation and an unconstitutional use of federal power.

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey vowed to fight back.

LGBTQ+ advocates praised Mills for standing up for students, saying Trump’s bullying would be legally challenged.

Summary

Donald Trump fired Gen CQ Brown Jr, the Black chair of the joint chiefs of staff, continuing a purge of leaders supporting diversity in the military.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had insisted on ousting Brown due to his role in “woke” DEI programs, questioning Brown’s selection as possibly based on race.

Brown, praised for his achievements and role in deterring China, was replaced by Lt Gen Dan “Razin” Caine, bypassing statutory prerequisites.

The move signals sweeping Pentagon changes, including further high-level firings and a dramatic shift in America’s defense priorities.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/38388581

Simultaneous purging of the chief generals of all three branches.
They are ensuring the military has no cohesiveness to stage a future coup against the Executive Branch, and are replacing all control with their own loyalists.

Summary

The Supreme Court declined Donald Trump’s emergency request to immediately fire Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, while litigation continues.

Trump fired Dellinger on Feb. 7, but U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson temporarily reinstated him, citing legal protections requiring cause for removal.

The Justice Department argued that blocking the firing undermines presidential authority. The Court will reconsider the case after a Feb. 26 hearing.

The ruling marks the first Supreme Court response to Trump’s aggressive efforts to reshape government.

🚂 first stop in the national tour to fight oligarchy

Summary

Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE staffer recently promoted to a senior adviser role in the State Department, is reportedly the grandson of former KGB spy Valery Martynov.

Martynov was executed in the Soviet Union after being exposed as an FBI informant. Coristine, an alleged former cybercriminal, previously worked in the General Services Administration and now has potential access to sensitive diplomatic data.

Concerns have been raised over his background and apparent lack of a security check.

The situation fuels fears about foreign influence in U.S. government operations.

The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists.

The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., 10 days after the White House began restricting access to the news agency.

The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case not changing its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.

For eight decades, America’s alliances with other democracies have been the bedrock of American foreign policy, trade policy, and cultural influence. American investments in allies’ security helped keep the peace in formerly unstable parts of the world, allowing democratic societies from Germany to Japan to prosper, by preventing predatory autocracies from destroying them. We prospered too. Thanks to its allies, the U.S. obtained unprecedented political and economic influence in Europe and Asia, and unprecedented power everywhere else.

The Trump administration is now bringing the post–World War II era to an end. No one should be surprised: This was predictable, and indeed was predicted. Donald Trump has been a vocal opponent of what he considers to be the high cost of U.S. alliances, since 1987, when he bought full-page ads in three newspapers, claiming that “for decades, Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the United States.” In 2000, he wrote that “pulling back from Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually.”

In his first term as president, Trump’s Cabinet members and advisers repeatedly restrained him from insulting allies or severing military and diplomatic links. Now he has surrounded himself with people who are prepared to enact and even encourage the radical changes he always wanted, cheered on by thousands of anonymous accounts on X.

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The Trump administration has not fully complied with a court order pausing the freezing of foreign assistance grants and contracts, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali last week ordered the administration to allow the disbursement of U.S. foreign assistance after hearing claims from federal contractors challenging an executive order signed by President Donald Trump pausing nearly all foreign assistance.