News From Around the Web
#10 Michigan Legislator Says She Underwent Sterilization to Avoid Pregnancy During Trump Presidency - Andrew Roth for Michigan Advance, Collin Rugg, Eric Daugherty, and American AF on X
Michigan state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) said Wednesday that she underwent surgery earlier this year to become voluntarily sterile out of fear for the future of reproductive health care access with President Donald Trump back in office.“Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America,” Pohutsky said. “I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate.“If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future.”
#9 Unacceptable: CDC Fails to Back Up Claim That COVID-19 Jabs Do Not Alter DNA - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, Aaron Siri/Paul Oosterhuis, and Kevin McKernan/Sashalatopova on X
As humanity nervously awaits to see what will transpire from Big Tech’s frightening recent announcement of individualized, AI-created mRNA vaccines to cure cancer, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unable to supply Del Bigtree’s Informed Action Consent Network (ICAN) with any records to support its bold claim that the mRNA “COVID-19 vaccines do not alter DNA.” In addition to that, the CDC also failed to provide ICAN with documents to back up its claim that “nearly all the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines are also ingredients in many foods—fats, sugars, and salts.” In part one of a two-part report on the CDC’s failure, ICAN announced...#8 Trump Administration Slashing USAID Workforce to Fewer Than 300 Employees - Taylor Giorno for The Hill, George/Think for Yourself, The Seeking Seagull, Mike Martinez, ABC 12 Houston, and CTV National News on X
The government’s foremost foreign aid agency is being gutted. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) workforce is being slashed from more than 10,000 employees to fewer than 300, according to reports published in Wired, Reuters, The New York Times and NPR. The State Department declined to comment. Neither USAID nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment from The Hill. Essential personnel was to be notified by 3 p.m. EST Thursday, per a message posted on the USAID website, which has been otherwise dark since last weekend when Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) started shutting thousands of employees out of internal systems, causing chaos and concern about the future of the more than 60-year-old agency...
#7 US Federal Election Commission Chair Says Trump Tried to Fire Her Illegally - Kanishka Singh for Reuters, Mario Nawfal/Kristen Meghan, Right Angle News Network, and Ellen Weintraub/Toni on X
U.S. Federal Election Commission Commissioner and Chair Ellen Weintraub said on Thursday she received a letter from President Donald Trump that purports to fire her but added that the action was illegal.In a post on X, Weintraub attached the January 31 letter signed by Trump, which said: "You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately." Since taking office last month, Trump, a Republican, has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants and top officials at agencies in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists...
#6 Trump and Musk Demand Termination of Federal Office Leases Through General Services Administration - Meg Kinnard and Joshua Goodman for AP News, Benny Johnson, Eric Daugherty, Liz Wheeler, and Bo Loudon on X
One of the next moves in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space. Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee...#5 Fed Judge Limits DOGE Access to Treasury Department Payment Records as Member of Musk’s Team Quits Over Offensive Posts - Victor Nava for New York Post, Elizabeth Warren, Mike Engleman, Amuse, and Whole Mars Catalog on X
A federal judge temporarily limited members of the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system the day before a DOGE employee who was linked to offensive social media posts quit. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the order Wednesday after three union groups — the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union — filed a lawsuit against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, accusing him of illegally sharing their members’ information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team...
#4 John Fetterman Reveals How He’ll Vote on Trump’s Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. Nominations - Alex Nitzberg for Fox News, Nicole Shanahan, BowTiedRanger/Jack Poso, and Shawn Farash/Sen. John Fetterman on X
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., announced that he will vote against confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to serve in President Donald Trump's cabinet. Trump tapped Kennedy to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence. "I have met with most of the cabinet nominees and have carefully watched their confirmation hearings. After considering what’s at stake, I have voted against moving forward to the confirmation of Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Kennedy, and will be voting NO on their confirmations," Fetterman declared Thursday night in a post on X...
#3 Casey Desantis Considers Running for Florida Governor Amid Push From Top Donors - Matt Dixon for NBC News, Cryptid Politics, The Calvin Coolidge Project, Steve Deace, Stinson Norwood, and WFLA News on X
Republican donors at a gathering last week in Palm Beach County openly discussed the prospect of Casey DeSantis' running for governor in 2026, and for the first time, Florida’s first lady is seriously considering the idea. Gov. Ron DeSantis, her husband, faces term limits and cannot seek re-election. There has long been speculation about whether Casey, a mainstay on the campaign trail for her husband, would herself one day run for office, but those plans seem to be coming closer to reality, five people directly familiar with the donor event and Casey DeSantis' thought process told NBC News...
#2 FCC Chair Says It’s ‘Really Concerning’ That a Soros-Backed Radio Station Exposed Undercover ICE Agents - Brian Flood for Fox News, Liz Churchill, UltraTrumpWins1776, Homeland Security News and Craig M. Wax D.O. on X
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr said it’s "really concerning" that a radio station backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros broadcast live locations of undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Carr’s FCC is looking into San Francisco-based KCBS 740 AM, which has come under fire for revealing live locations of undercover ICE vehicles and agents that were conducting deportation operations in the area. "I try to look on the bright side of things, and here I think that’s the fact, that we were having an unprecedented number of deportations taking place in this country, and for that, thank goodness for President Trump," Carr told Brian Kilmeade on Thursday on "FOX & Friends.
