News

Summary

IRS worker Robert McCabe, a Trump voter, expressed shock after being among 7,000 laid off by DOGE, an initiative under the Trump administration led by Elon Musk.

McCabe stated DOGE is acting like a “wrecking ball and destroying people’s lives for no reason.”

The layoffs, targeting probationary employees with less than a year of service, affect hundreds at the IRS and are part of a broader effort to shrink the federal workforce.

The cuts raise concerns about impacts on tax collection during a critical season.

Some private schools have shut down because of a rapidly escalating measles outbreak in West Texas. Local health departments are overstretched, pausing other important work as they race to limit the spread of this highly contagious virus.

UnitedHealthcare is in hot water again as the insurance giant grapples with a reported government investigation of its Medicare billing practices, pursues employee buyouts and potential layoffs, and clashes publicly with billionaire Bill Ackman.

Those developments in recent days extend a tumultuous past year for its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, marked by the killing of a top executive, a costly cyberattack against its subsidiary and high medical costs in its insurance arm. UnitedHealth Group is the biggest health-care conglomerate in the U.S. based on revenue and its more than $420 billion market cap, and UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest private insurer.

Shares of UnitedHealth Group have tumbled roughly 23% over the last three months.

A new executive order from the Trump Administration commands the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to terminate the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID.

In a clip from ESPN sports talkshow Get Up that went viral last week, former National Hockey League player PK Subban weighed in on the differences between the culture in the NHL and NBA. Usually, comparing the two is a game of numbers: revenue, viewers, salaries, that kind of thing. But over the past 10 days, passion has emerged as a differentiator. “You can step on to an NBA floor and go through the motions,” Subban said on ESPN. “You can’t do that in hockey – you can’t. Like, the culture of our sport, you have to play it with passion. You have to be willing to fight. You have to be willing to leave it on the ice. That’s what fans are investing in.”

That investment has paid off most recently with the 4 Nations Face-off tournament, which wrapped up on Thursday night in Boston. The thrilling final between Canada and the US was a rematch of last Saturday’s marquee round-robin clash, a contest marked by three fights in the opening nine seconds. The rest of the game was pretty good, too, ending with a US win. On Thursday, the tables turned. It was Canada that scored first – again – and last. Canada won the game narrowly 3-2, after the US left Connor McDavid, the best player on the planet, open in the slot in sudden-death overtime. He made no mistake.

Yet, at the same time, hockey is one of Canada’s most effective tools of soft power. It would be overstating it to say that the x-factor Subban was talking about – that thing that most agree after watching the 4 Nations Face-off seems to be missing from other North American sports cultures – is Canadians (after all, there are Canadian teams in the NBA, MLB and MLS). But it would not be wrong to suggest that what all those other leagues might lack is Canadian-ness. The tenacity and drive to compete against all odds – to literally fight when called to. This thing that hockey has and others don’t could only have come from up here, somewhere along this northern territory. Trump can try to co-opt hockey into his skewed vision of America, but the reality is that no matter where you’re from, when you step on to the ice, something about you will always be Canadian.

US President Donald Trump's remark that his country spent $21m to boost voter turnout in India's elections has triggered a political slugfest in the country.

He made the remark days after a team led by Elon Musk said it had cancelled the payout as part of its crackdown on a US agency providing foreign aid.

India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the payout an "external interference" and accused the opposition Congress party of seeking this intervention.

The Congress denied the allegation, calling Trump's claims "nonsensical". The US has not provided any evidence to support its claim.

I’m going to editorialize a bit here. The DoD was ready to fire every probationary employee today. An AF Lieutenant General came to tears yesterday breaking the news to staff. And this is not just first year employees as the media keeps pointing out- this changed this to two years in 2015 for the DoD. For many excepted employees, it actually takes three years to leave the probationary period. Doing rough math (3 years out of a 30 year career- that’s 10% of that particular population). It took “woke” CNN to point out the law that you can’t just fire ~6% of the workforce without first determining what will break.

Too bad this wasn’t law for the IRS and other agencies.

The Trump administration issued an order on 27 January freezing payment on all federal grants and loans, but lawsuits challenging its legality were filed soon after, placing the order on hold. The fact that payments still aren’t going out because Trump’s team has halted grant-review meetings is exploiting a “loophole” in the process...

To further complicate grant-review efforts, the Trump administration laid off more than 1,100 employees at the NIH in the past week, representing about 6% of the agency’s workforce. Many of these workers were programme officers, grant-management specialists and scientific-review officers who help to screen grant applications, conduct grant reviews and perform oversight on the 60,000 funding awards the agency issues each year.

The scientific review officer said he could describe the impact of these layoffs on the agency’s ability to review grant applications and fund research in two words: “We’re fucked.”

This is the first time I've seen scientist swear on an official news interview btw.

Try this link if there is soft paywall: https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-025-00540-2

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/33197558

BBC News - Apple pulls data protection tool after UK government security row

• "In a statement Apple said it was "gravely disappointed" that the security feature would no longer be available to British customers."

Washington post - Apple yanks encrypted storage in U.K. instead of allowing backdoor access

Summary

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against Target, alleging that the retailer misled investors by promoting its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The suit contends that Target's previous DEI efforts, including its Pride month merchandise, sparked backlash that harmed sales and shareholder returns.

Uthmeier, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, claims the company violated the Securities Exchange Act by failing to disclose the known risks associated with its DEI strategy.

He vowed to use the state's legal power to challenge what he described as “offensive political theatre” and push for an America-first corporate agenda.

Summary

Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is set to appear in a New York courtroom Friday for a hearing on evidence exchange and a potential trial date.

He faces state murder charges with a terrorism enhancement, carrying a life sentence without parole.

Mangione also faces federal charges, including one with a potential death penalty, and separate charges in Pennsylvania. His defense claims political bias in the case.

In a statement, Mangione thanked supporters for their letters from across the country and the world.

Summary

Members of Elon Musk’s private security team have been deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service, granting them federal law enforcement privileges.

The move follows heightened security concerns and death threats against Musk.

While the Marshals Service routinely deputizes officers, deputizing private security is highly unusual.

The extent of their authority remains unclear, but they may carry weapons and make arrests.

Summary

Planes flying between Australia and New Zealand were diverted as China conducted a rare military drill in the Tasman Sea, coming as close as 150 nautical miles from Sydney.

The exercise, with a frigate, cruiser, and supply tanker, was closely monitored by both nations.

Qantas, Virgin Australia, and Air New Zealand altered routes after receiving a last-minute alert from Chinese authorities. Australian officials did not receive a notice.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles described the notice as “unusual,” while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese assured there was “no imminent danger.”

Martin is probing top elected officials over their hostile rhetoric against conservative figures. Martin recently sent letters to elected Democrats over their criticism of Musk, DOGE, and the Supreme Court. Those letters were sent to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York), the Post reports.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250221123201/https://gizmodo.com/top-maga-lawyer-launches-operation-whirlwind-to-look-into-democrats-over-threats-against-elon-musk-2000566398

However, the Justice Department indicated Thursday that one of the prospective asylum seekers, identified only as N.S. in public court filings, may already be en route back to Ecuador, where she says her husband — a police officer who she says has raped her, beat her and held her at gun point — might kill her.

Lawyers for the asylum seekers say the Trump administration has flagrantly ignored federal laws that require people who have “credible fear” of persecution and violence in their home countries be given a chance to legally seek shelter in the United States.

Archived at https://archive.is/INnk3

Nearly 100 migrants, recently deported by the United States to Panama where they had been locked in a hotel, were loaded onto buses Tuesday night and moved to a detention camp on the outskirts of the jungle, several of the migrants said.

It is unclear how long the group, which was deported under the Trump administration’s sweeping effort to expel unauthorized migrants, will be detained at the jungle camp.

Conditions at the site are primitive, the detainees said. Diseases, including dengue are endemic to the region, and the government has denied access to journalists and aid organizations.

“It looks like a zoo, there are fenced cages,” said one deportee, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old migrant from Iran, after arriving at the camp following a four-hour drive from Panama City. “They gave us a stale piece of bread. We are sitting on the floor.”

The group includes eight children, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak on the record. Lawyers have said it is illegal to detain people in Panama for more than 24 hours without a court order.

Archived at https://archive.is/2025.02.21-010442/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/world/americas/us-migrants-panama-jungle-camp.html

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250221123448/https://gothamist.com/news/gov-hochul-wont-remove-nyc-mayor-adams-from-office-for-now-source-says

Archived at https://archive.is/KAhp8

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250221122429/https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/rnc-asks-north-carolina-supreme-court-to-resume-proceedings-in-election-challenge/

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250221123938/https://aldailynews.com/juror-robin-rocky-myers-is-innocent-ivey-should-spare-his-life/

Archived at https://archive.is/IJQoR