Latest news with #Anti-american
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Voice of America employees file lawsuit against the Trump administration after president dismantled agency
Voice of America (VOA) employees filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration and Kari Lake on Thursday after Trump ordered the agency to be dismantled earlier this month. "In many parts of the world, a crucial source of objective news is gone, and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void," the VOA employees argued in the lawsuit. Trump signed an executive order in March that commanded the dismantling of seven government offices, including the United States Agency for Global Media, which is the parent company of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Trump named Lake as a special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media after he won the election. "The second Trump administration has taken a chainsaw to the agency as a whole in an attempt to shutter it completely," the lawsuit read, according to the Associated Press. Musk And Doge Have Another Perfect Target: More Taxpayer-funded, Anti-american Media "The non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law," Trump's executive order read. Read On The Fox News App Lake told employees to "check your email" for more information on the future of their employment in a post on social media. The U.S. Agency for Global Media and Lake issued a press release on March 15 saying the agency is "not salvageable." "From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule," the U.S. Agency for Global media's press release said. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture "What is happening to the VOA Journalists is not just the chilling of First Amendment speech; it is a government shutdown of journalism, a prior restraint that kills content before it can be created," the lawsuit read. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment. "Tragically, Kari Lake lives in the MAGA fantasy world, but she makes decisions that have real-world consequences for hundreds of journalists," David Seide, the VOA employees' attorney, told NPR. Patsy Widakuswara, the White House Bureau chief at VOA, and Jessica Jerreat, the press freedom editor at VOA, are the lead plaintiffs in the article source: Voice of America employees file lawsuit against the Trump administration after president dismantled agency
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US equal opportunity commission demands 20 law firms disclose DEI employment practices
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is requesting data from 20 law firms about employment practices to increase diversity, equity and inclusion, which the federal agency warns may be illegal. The commission's acting chair, Andrea Lucas, sent letters to the firms seeking detailed information on DEI programs that may be in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Some of the companies have made legal challenges to President Donald Trump's policies targeting DEI or have connections to his political opponents. Perkins Coie; Hogan Lovells; Ropes & Gray; and WilmerHale are among the firms currently representing plaintiffs in lawsuits against the Trump administration. Lucas said some of the firms had made public statements expressing their commitment to diversity in their workforces. At least two of the firms had numerical goals for recruiting lawyers based on their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. Trump Equal Opportunity Commission Puts Employers 'On Notice' To Stop 'Anti-american Bias' She expressed concern that the firms' employment practices "may entail unlawful disparate treatment in terms, conditions, and privileges of employment, or unlawful limiting, segregating, and classifying" based on race, sex and other protected characteristics. Read On The Fox News App "The EEOC is prepared to root out discrimination anywhere it may rear its head, including in our nation's elite law firms," Lucas said in a statement. "No one is above the law—and certainly not the private bar." The letters requested information about the internships, scholarships and fellowships the firms offer to law students, as well as the firms' hiring and compensation practices. Lucas also asked for the name, sex and race of every lawyer who has worked at or applied for a job at one of the firms since 2019 and wanted to know if each of them participated in diversity programs. Some of the information was asked to be included in a "searchable Excel spreadsheet." 'Unlawful Dei-motivated' Workplace Discrimination To Be Rooted Out By Trump's New Acting Eeoc Chair The EEOC can investigate companies' employment practices and file lawsuits over allegations of discrimination, but only after a worker or one of the agency's five commissioners brings a formal complaint. The agency gave no indication that Lucas had filed complaints against any of the firms. Trump has sought to eliminate DEI programs across the country, including in the federal government, higher education and the private sector. The president has also taken action against high-profile law firms over their DEI practices. Trump issued executive orders this month targeting Perkins Coie as well as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison over the two firms' alleged discriminatory internal diversity policies and previous work for his political opponents. The orders revoked security clearances for lawyers at the firms and restricted their government access and federal contracting work. The order targeting Perkins Coie also directed Lucas to "review the practices of representative large, influential, or industry-leading law firms" even though the commission was designed to operate independently of the White House. Perkins Coie sued on allegations that the order violated its rights under the U.S. Constitution. A judge temporarily blocked parts of the order last week. Some companies have previously adopted policies to encourage diversity from their outside law firms. Lucas, in the letters, asked law firms to identify clients since 2019 that have had "diversity requirements" or stated preferences for employee staffing. She also asked for the firms' actions in response to the client requirements, including producing related documents. Reuters contributed to this article source: US equal opportunity commission demands 20 law firms disclose DEI employment practices
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump orders the dismantling of government-funded, 'propaganda'-peddling media outlet
President Donald Trump ordered the dismantling of news agency Voice of America, the U.S.'s state-funded media outlet that Trump has railed against for promoting biased media reports. "Voice of America has been out of step with America for years. It serves as the Voice for Radical America and has pushed divisive propaganda for years now," a senior White House official told Fox News Digital. Trump signed an executive order on Friday that commands the dismantling of seven government offices, including the United States Agency for Global Media, which is the parent company of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "The non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law," the EO reads. Musk And Doge Have Another Perfect Target: More Taxpayer-funded, Anti-american Media Kari Lake, whom Trump named as the VOA's next chief in December, is currently serving as senior advisor at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and told employees to "check your email" for more information on their employment futures. Read On The Fox News App "The President has issued an Executive Order titled Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy. It affects USAGM and its outlets VOA and OCB. If you are an employee of the agency please check your email immediately for more information," Lake, who is also a former news anchor and Republican Arizona political candidate, posted to X. OCB refers to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which is a Spanish language, government-funded radio and TV broadcaster that operates Radio and TV Martí in Miami, Florida. Employees received an email on Saturday detailing that their employment was terminated, the Wall Street Journal reported, though it is unclear how many employees were affected. White House Says Federally Funded News Service 'Spends Your Money To Promote Foreign Propaganda' The seven government agencies targeted in the order include: the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; the U.S. Agency for Global Media; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and the Minority Business Development Agency. Voice of America has come under scrutiny for promoting biased content, including for allegedly "sanitizing" Hamas when the outlet neglected to note in an article in January that residents in Gaza cheered the terrorist group when it brought out coffins holding the remains of Israeli hostages, including children. Trump Announces More Nominations, Including Kari Lake As Director Of Voice Of America Broadcast "Let's get the facts straight: Hamas paraded the dead bodies of innocent Israelis, including two children, in front of cheering crowds. American taxpayers should not be paying the salaries of Hamas apologists who spout terrorist propaganda," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told National Review at the time of VOA's coverage. Just days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, VOA told its employees to "avoid calling Hamas and its members terrorists, except in quotes," National Review reported that year. Taxpayer-funded Voice Of America Under Fire For Sharing Campaign-like Biden Video The government-funded news outlet has also come under fire for other stories across the years, including running an article in 2020 that asked, "What Is 'White Privilege' and Whom Does It Help?" It was also criticized over publishing a story and video that was compared to a Biden campaign video in 2020, and downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop controversy that rocked the 2020 presidential campaign in its waning days. "I have monitored the agency's bureaucracy along with many of its reporters and concluded that it has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media," a former VOA employee wrote in an op-ed last year calling for the outlet's dismantling. "It has sought to avoid accountability for violations of journalistic standards and mismanagement."Original article source: Trump orders the dismantling of government-funded, 'propaganda'-peddling media outlet
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
VP JD Vance speaks on 'fundamental goal' of Trump administration at CPAC address
Speaking at the opening session of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) on Thursday morning, Vice President JD Vance touted the Trump administration's success in its first month of restoring "safety and prosperity" to the American people, which he said is the president's "fundamental goal." A week after his fiery speech to European political leaders in Munich, Vance spoke before a packed house at National Harbor, Maryland, in a conversation-style address with a CPAC organizer. He said Trump recognizes that "we have a historical mandate on a few issues," which he said were cracking down on illegal immigration, restoring American energy dominance and cutting the rampant waste of taxpayer dollars through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He quipped that in his first 30 days in office, President Donald Trump signed "more executive orders than CNN has viewers." Activists In Mexico Report Flow Of Migrants Has 'Enormously Decreased' One Month Into Trump Admin Addressing the migrant crisis, Vance said: "We have to secure the southern border and thanks to [Trump's] actions, border crossings are down well over 90%, and we're just getting started." On the heels of the administration designating several migrant criminal groups — including Tren de Aragua and MS-13 — as foreign terrorist organizations, Vance said Trump's message to migrant criminals is "get the hell out of our country because your free ride is over… you're not welcome." Read On The Fox News App Regarding American energy and the economy, Vance said Trump "recognizes that we have to really unlock the engine of American growth." "We've got to get back to having a growing economy that creates good jobs and high wages for the American people and a lot of that goes back to 'drill, baby, drill,'" he said as the crowd broke into applause. Trump Equal Opportunity Commission Puts Employers 'On Notice' To Stop 'Anti-american Bias' The vice president also criticized wasteful government spending under the Biden administration. "Why are we spending money on progressive, modern art projects centered around toilets in Afghanistan? That's actually something that your tax dollars were funding until very recently," said Vance. "And I think all of us are sitting around and asking, 'What the hell are we doing with the American people's money for the last four years?'" "It is easy, unfortunately, to burn the house down. It takes a little bit of time to build it back up and that's what we have to do," he continued. "Look, the fundamental goal of our immigration policy, of our border policy, of DOGE saving taxpayer money, the fundamental goal is we want your children and grandchildren to be able to raise a family in security and comfort in the country that we all love," Vance explained. "That is the whole goal of President Trump's agenda." President Trump: Founding Fathers 'Spinning In Their Graves' Because Of Birthright Citizenship Abuse Vance received a massive standing ovation after the CPAC organizer mentioned his Munich speech, in which he spoke about the need for Europe to follow Trump's example of restricting illegal immigration and restoring free speech. "We cannot rebuild Western civilization; we cannot rebuild the United States of America or Europe by letting millions and millions of unvetted illegal migrants come into our country. It has to stop. Thank God it stopped here. But it's got to stop there," he said. "The Biden administration did more to destroy free speech, not just in the United States, but also in Europe, than any administration in American history," he went on. "I'm not even blaming the Europeans. I'm actually saying you followed the lead of Joe Biden into censorship and mass migration. Follow the lead of Donald J. Trump and that's free speech, borders and sovereignty. That is the future for our shared civilization."Original article source: VP JD Vance speaks on 'fundamental goal' of Trump administration at CPAC address
