DN Speak Daily: March 2025

Saturday, March 1, 2025

The News Roundup – Domestic and International (The 1A) 2025-02-28

Domestic

The so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, posted a list of “receipts,” of government misspending on federal contracts. After reporters found multiple inaccuracies, the department quietly deleted five of its biggest examples of savings.

Several House Republicans are cancelling constituent town halls following backlash at previous events across the country.

Gene Hackman, a Hollywood legend, passed away this week at the age of 95.
Interview:

https://the1a.org/segments/doge-receipts-gene-hackman/

International

This week marked three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. European leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv in a show of support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The right won the German elections held on Sunday, in its best showing in decades. The AfD party, Alternative for Germany, the country’s most anti-immigration party, made historic gains.

Tensions are simmering between Israel and Hamas. The two sides find themselves in a standoff over hostage body and prisoner exchanges. The handover would complete the first phase of ceasefire which expires this weekend.
Interview:

https://the1a.org/segments/trump-russia-germany-afd/

Printing Labels Using Mac Pages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGQFu3jMaU

Trump administration retreats in fight against Russian cyber threats | US national security | The Guardian

Recent incidents indicate US is no longer characterizing Russia as a cybersecurity threat, marking a radical departure: 'Putin is on the inside now'…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/trump-russia-hacking-cyber-security

DOJ spokesperson resigns, citing ‘toxic work environment’

"Simply put, I cannot continue to serve in such a hostile and toxic work environment, one where leadership at the highest levels makes clear we are not welcomed or valued, much less trusted to do our jobs," wrote Stueve, who is not a political appointee and has served in administrations run by both parties...

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5168952-justice-department-spokesman-resigns/

Trump's cuts to federal workers and VA programs alarm veterans

"It turns out that a sizable portion of the people fired were veterans. Now, the Republican Party must confront the fact that Trump's and Musk's actions will (not may) come back to haunt them in the midterm elections and beyond…"

https://thehill.com/opinion/5167018-trump-musk-va-cuts-veterans/

What to know as the deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown creeps closer | PBS News

The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to appropriate money and requires the executive to pay it out. A 50-year-old law known as the Impoundment Control Act makes that explicit by prohibiting the president from halting payments on grants or other programs approved by Congress.

Democrats have sought to place in the spending bill some guarantees the administration would follow what Congress intended…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-know-as-the-deadline-to-avoid-a-partial-government-shutdown-creeps-closer

GOP's plans to cut health spending get a reality check

If anything, it's worse now for Republicans than it's ever been, as more and more of their voters include the low-income working class people who depend on Medicaid (and more hospitals benefit from expanded Medicaid coverage).

The program covers 1 in 5 Americans, including low-income people, people with disabilities and millions of children. It also accounts for a fifth of all health care spending and more than half of long-term care spending, per KFF…

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/28/gops-health-cuts-reality-check

The Putinization of America - The Atlantic

We are barely a month into the second presidential term of Donald Trump and he has made his top priorities clear: the destruction of America's government and influence and the preservation of Russia's...

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/02/putinization-america/681837/

FBI takes up EPA probe amid pushback from judge, prosecutors - The Washington Post

"It's certainly unusual for any case to involve two different U.S. attorney offices declining a case for lack of probable cause and to have the Department of Justice continue to shop it. That's very unusual. And certainly it would be unusual to continue to shop it after a judge turned it down," he said. "You can't seize a truck, you can't seize a backpack, you can't seize a pair of socks without probable cause."…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/27/trump-fbi-epa-grant-investigation/

Pentagon relaxes rules on airstrikes, raids against adversaries - The Washington Post

Jason Dempsey, a former Army officer and adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, took a dimmer view of the Trump administration's new approach. Killing people, he said, has never been difficult for the U.S. military, but even targeted airstrikes can sow hostility aimed at the United States.

"Lack of imagination, I guess, is really what gets me," said Dempsey, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "The operators on the ground and people like Hegseth are like: 'I just need to kill these terrorists.' And it's often shortsighted."…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/28/trump-pentagon-hegseth-airstrikes-rules/

Trump can’t fulfil his promise to fix the economy, so he’s blaming workers instead | Malaika Jabali | The Guardian

While Trump hasn't fulfilled his campaign promise, he is living up to his usual brand of politics: the blame game. And this blame, as usual, is rooted in generating anger against "undeserving" Americans. Trump pits immigrants against other working people.

This time, the undeserving are federal workers and poor people who get nominal benefits from the federal government – like Snap, which administers food stamps, and Medicaid. To fix so-called waste, the president apparently has no choice but to crack down on spending (and enlist help from Elon Musk), an issue that barely registered in the public consciousness in the past 10 years but is somehow now a rampant problem, according to Trump...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/trump-economy-broken-promises

Shock Doctrine of Discovery (Conspirituality podcast, Episode #246)

Trump has decreed it’s the Gulf of America, and Google agrees, at least for US users. Rep Buddy Carter has introduced HR 1161, the Red White and Blueland Act of 2025 to rename Greenland. And then, of course, there's making Canada the 51st state.

Pay attention to shit like this: it's a magic spell.

Trump is speaking in the old language of the Discovery Doctrine. That’s what we’ll excavate today.
Interview:

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/246-shock-doctrine-of-discovery