Latest news with #JustSecurity
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Even Trump supporters are creeped out by his plans to merge Americans' data
Happy Tuesday! Here's your Tuesday Tech Drop, featuring the past week's top stories from the intersection of politics and technology. Even far-right influencers are creeped out by President Donald Trump's reported plan to work with MAGA-friendly tech company Palantir on merging data on Americans from different agencies into a single location — a development that could lead to the federal government having unprecedented power to spy on, and harass, Americans. Newsweek highlighted worried responses from Nick Fuentes, the Hodgetwins and other influencers who are sounding the alarm. Read more at Newsweek. The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its lawsuit against Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange. Trump and his family have financial ties to Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, and Senate Democrats have demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi about the administration's relationship with the company. Read more at CNBC. Under Trump, the federal government appears to be dropping the ball in its duty to protect Americans' personal information from foreign 'data brokers,' who often will collect said info and sell it to third parties. A new piece in Just Security by Kevin Moriarty, a privacy and data security attorney, argues that the administration has demonstrated 'concerning' inaction in enforcing the Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, which was signed into law last year by President Joe Biden. Read more at Just Security. The White House hosted what was essentially a going-away party for Elon Musk last week, but few people — including Trump himself, along with Vice President JD Vance — seem to think much will really change in terms of Musk's influence over the White House. The affair seemed more like a publicity stunt than anything else. Read my blog at MSNBC. The Trump administration has largely gutted the units within the Food and Drug Administration responsible for overseeing the promotion of pharmaceutical drugs, leading some people to worry how the federal government will effectively police such advertising going forward. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is seeking answers from the administration on that front. Read more at STAT News. The Trump administration has created a new AI chatbot it's calling 'chatCBP,' which apparently will help implement the president's immigration policies. This continues a disturbingly fast uptake of generative artificial intelligence tools at federal agencies. Read my blog at MSNBC. A Romanian man who'd been charged with using 'swatting' calls and fake bomb threats to target a number of political figures, including an unnamed former president and members of Congress — including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — has pleaded guilty. Thomasz Szabo did so in federal court Monday, on one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats. Read more at The Associated Press. The NAACP is demanding that Musk's supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, stop its work. The project has drawn scrutiny in the area over its pollutants. In a letter to officials in Shelby County, where the project is housed, the NAACP wrote: 'While we applaud research and innovation, there must be limits that ensure that communities are healthy and alive to enjoy the benefits of any potential innovation.' Read more at NBC News. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Oh God!': James Carville Marks Trump's First 100 Days In 'Big Time' Fashion
James Carville chuckled on Tuesday when asked to grade the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second term. 'Oh god,' said the longtime Democratic strategist in an appearance on MSNBC's 'The Beat with Ari Melber.' Carville, citing his history as aninstructor at a number of colleges and universities, claimed he 'never gave an F' in his entire career. 'I'd say, 'If you make an A, you've got to earn it. But if you make an F, you've really got to earn it,'' he said. 'I've got to say, he's earned an F. Dude, you get something that no student of mine ever did in 16 years. You earned an F, big time!' Carville's interview with Melber arrived on the same day as Trump rang in his 100th day in office with abysmal approval ratings, finding himself underwater in several polls and wading throughsourtakeaways of the start of his second term. Trump — whose chaotic presidency has been marked by his widespread tariffs, deportation policies and federal budget cuts — fumed on his Truth Social platform Monday over what he described as 'FAKE' polls and claimed that pollsters 'should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD.' Melber, after summing up the start of Trump's second term with a brutal supercut, asked Carville if it feels like 100 days. 'It feels like 100 years,' replied Carville, adding that the clips serve as a reminder of the 'disaster' caused by the Trump administration. The MSNBC host later noted that the Trump administration, per NBC News/Just Security, has faced 212 legal challenges since the president took office. He then pointed out the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked Trump's effort to seize wartime powers to fuel his deportations. Carville, a lead strategist on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, said Democrats need to stay focused on what they can 'illustrate' and let matters work themselves out in the courts. ″$4.5 trillion they want middle class people to pay, $4.5 trillion so they can give Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos another tax cut. Just stay on that,' Carville said. 'Just stay on that.' Stocks Set For Worst 100 Day Start Since Nixon As Trump Injects Semi-Permanent Uncertainty Trump Dismisses 'Fake' Polls Showing His Approval Rating At Record Lows Trump To Offer Automakers Some Relief On His 25% Tariffs
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Oh God!': James Carville Marks Trump's First 100 Days In 'Big Time' Fashion
James Carville chuckled on Tuesday when asked to grade the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second term. 'Oh god,' said the longtime Democratic strategist in an appearance on MSNBC's 'The Beat with Ari Melber.' Carville, citing his history as aninstructor at a number of colleges and universities, claimed he 'never gave an F' in his entire career. 'I'd say, 'If you make an A, you've got to earn it. But if you make an F, you've really got to earn it,'' he said. 'I've got to say, he's earned an F. Dude, you get something that no student of mine ever did in 16 years. You earned an F, big time!' Carville's interview with Melber arrived on the same day as Trump rang in his 100th day in office with abysmal approval ratings, finding himself underwater in several polls and wading throughsourtakeaways of the start of his second term. Trump — whose chaotic presidency has been marked by his widespread tariffs, deportation policies and federal budget cuts — fumed on his Truth Social platform Monday over what he described as 'FAKE' polls and claimed that pollsters 'should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD.' Melber, after summing up the start of Trump's second term with a brutal supercut, asked Carville if it feels like 100 days. 'It feels like 100 years,' replied Carville, adding that the clips serve as a reminder of the 'disaster' caused by the Trump administration. The MSNBC host later noted that the Trump administration, per NBC News/Just Security, has faced 212 legal challenges since the president took office. He then pointed out the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked Trump's effort to seize wartime powers to fuel his deportations. Carville, a lead strategist on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, said Democrats need to stay focused on what they can 'illustrate' and let matters work themselves out in the courts. ″$4.5 trillion they want middle class people to pay, $4.5 trillion so they can give Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos another tax cut. Just stay on that,' Carville said. 'Just stay on that.' Stocks Set For Worst 100 Day Start Since Nixon As Trump Injects Semi-Permanent Uncertainty Trump Dismisses 'Fake' Polls Showing His Approval Rating At Record Lows Trump To Offer Automakers Some Relief On His 25% Tariffs
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As courts block tens of thousands of government firings, Pentagon plans up to 60,000 civilian job cuts
March 19 (UPI) -- Massive government job cuts by the Trump administration continued Tuesday as the Pentagon said 50,000-60,000 civilian jobs will be slashed. That's a 5%-8% defense workforce reduction. But since courts have halted many government firings, the Pentagon will turn to voluntary workforce reductions to eliminate the jobs. ABC News quoted a senior defense official as saying, "The number sounds high, but I would focus on the percentage, a 5% to 8% reduction is not a drastic one." The official added Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "is confident can be done without negatively impacting readiness." The Pentagon will use a combination of firings, resignations and a hiring freeze while attempting to incentivize employees to leave. Some 5,400 probationary employees will be fired. So far, 21,000 civilian employees have resigned, and they will be paid through Sept. 30. Without a freeze in place, the Pentagon normally hires 6,000 people a month so that attrition will add to the numbers of jobs cut. According to the Just Security tracker, as of Wednesday 129 lawsuits have been filed against Trump administration actions, alleging they are illegal. Dozens of cases are about the mass firings. While judges have stopped some of the layoffs while the suits are heard in court, not all of the dismissals have been stopped. Tuesday U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Elon Musk and DOGE attempts to shut down USAID "likely violated the U.S. Constitution in multiple ways." Chuang ordered DOGE to reinstate USAID employee and contractors' access to email, payment and other electronic systems. On March 13 Judge William Alsup ordered the Trump administration to reinstate tens of thousands of illegally fired federal workers in six agencies. On Monday U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit lost an appeal seeking to overturn Alsup's ruling. Twenty state attorneys general sued the Trump administration March 7 alleging the mass firings are illegal and causing nationwide chaos in government. The suit also asserted that the firings are putting burdens on states, including more unemployment claims, a decrease in tax revenue and an increased need for social services. On Feb. 27 Alsup, in a case brought by the American Federation of Government Employees, ordered the Trump administration to rescind a memo from the Office of Personnel Management that directed agencies to determine whether employees should be fired. Alsup's ruling said the memo was "illegal" and that it "should be stopped, rescinded."
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Supreme court hands Trump first win over $1.5bn USAid payment freeze
The US supreme court has handed Donald Trump a temporary victory by overturning a lower court's decision demanding his administration immediately pay for $1.5bn in work already completed on behalf of the US Agency for International Development (USAid). John Roberts, the chief justice, issued an 'administrative stay' late on Wednesday, removing a midnight deadline on the Trump administration to release the funds. The money has been frozen since day one of Trump's second term in the presidency, when he signed an executive order halting US spending abroad. The supreme court order was made in response to an emergency appeal from the Trump administration protesting the deadline to release the funds. The decision is temporary, in effect buying the justices time to come to a more considered ruling. But it represents the first victory for Trump awarded by the supreme court amid the welter of lawsuits that the president has provoked in his aggressive return to the Oval Office. There have so far been 94 legal challenges to the administration's actions, according to the Just Security tracker. USAid has been a major target for the Trump administration's campaign to tear up long established government practices and fire thousands of federal employees. The president has argued that the agency, which was founded in 1961 by John F Kennedy and provides disaster and poverty relief as well as environmental protections around the world, is out of step with his 'America first' objectives. Trump and the tech billionaire Elon Musk have made false claims and aired conspiracy theories about rampant fraud and waste at the agency. The supreme court's action overturns the ruling of a federal judge, Amir Ali, who had ordered the Trump administration to keep funds flowing to thousands of USAid contractors and non-profit organisations. The contractors had complained that they were being deprived of compensation that had already been agreed and carried out. When the judge discovered that the funds were still largely frozen despite his order, he set the Wednesday midnight deadline that the supreme court then lifted. Almost all of the 10,000 USAid employees have been placed on leave. Many have been given a 15-minute window on Thursday and Friday in which they are allowed to return to their workplaces to clear their desks.
