Extra, Extra
National Security Councigliere: Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff is ousted, in the latest sacking at the Pentagon. But it’s not just Hegseth. The whole national security apparatus is breaking. “The disorder at the NSC, officials told me, stems from Trump’s impatience with process, disregard for the law, and insistence on loyalty in place of expertise. They also said it reflects the president’s distrust of Waltz, a former Florida congressman and Green Beret who served in the George W. Bush administration as an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.” The Atlantic: Inside the Fiasco at the National Security Council.
+ Buyer Beware: “The companies that make our food and home essentials are officially sounding alarms about what lies ahead for the U.S. shopper.”
+ Cost of Savings: “Federal law and previous government shutdowns offered Mr. Musk a legal playbook for reducing the federal work force, a goal that most Americans support. But Mr. Musk chose similar lightning-speed, blunt-force methods he used to drastically cut Twitter’s work force after he acquired the company in 2022.” An expert on the federal work force estimates that the speed and chaos of Mr. Musk’s cuts to the bureaucracy will cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year. (And this is an account we can’t delete.)
+ Getting a Case Lift: “Federal prosecutors said at trial that former Nevada state lawmaker Michele Fiore, 54, had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent some of it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding.” Trump just pardoned her.
+ Spurious George: Ex-US Rep. George Santos sentenced to over 7 years in prison for fraud and identity theft. (Harkens back to a time when politicians committing crimes was illegal…)
+ Tunnel Vision: “Most underwater tunnels – including the 50km Channel Tunnel between the UK and France – burrow through bedrock beneath the seafloor. Here instead, 90 individual elements will be linked up, piece by piece, like Lego bricks.” The record-breaking tunnel being built from Denmark to Germany.
