Waltz Out at NSA, Attack on Science
A day after taking part in one of Trump’s unctuous song and dance cabinet meetings in which members try to outdo each other in their praising of the president, National security adviser Michael Waltz appears to be facing the music and getting ousted from his spot and instead has been nominated as UN Ambassador. For now, Marco Rubio will be cutting in and stepping into the NSA role in addition to leading the State Department. (Double the genuflecting for the same price.) Waltz is most famous for his inadvertent inclusion of The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on the Yemen attack planning Signal chat heard around the world. While Waltz had two left feet when it comes to securing classified chats, he also was out of step with the administration. For example, he had some relevant experience before being nominated for his job. And he had some traditional conservative views. For example, “Republicans in Congress who favor continued U.S. military aid to Ukraine viewed Waltz as a counterweight to Vice President J.D. Vance and others in the administration who have a more skeptical view of Kyiv and its cause.” If the rest of the cabinet is any indication, the next NSA head on the dance card will be even worse.
+ “Waltz was one of the more respected and expert hands on Trump’s team, and that would have doomed him sooner or later.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Mike Waltz Was Doomed From the Start.
+ “The tensions that led to Waltz’s departure began before the so-called Signalgate affair, according to four people familiar with the situation. One of those people told Semafor that Waltz’s traditionally hawkish views of national security created tension with more isolationist players in the White House — and said that the former Green Beret was on the outs in Trump’s network even before the group chat flap.” Semafor: Trump’s national security adviser ousted amid ideological tensions.
Right as Reign
During the same cabinet roundtable, Attorney General Pam Bondi told her dear leader that his “first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country. Ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you.” She then added that Trump’s border policies have “saved — are you ready for this, media? — 258 million lives.” (Wow. Even the combination of UV light, injected disinfectant, and Ivermectin never numbers like that!) In addition to that quote being absurd enough to make Kim Jong Un blush, it’s also, as is so often the case, the opposite of reality. The administration is adopting policies that will cost lives, at home and abroad. It turns out the funding and science (not sickeningly sycophancy) is what saves lives. Science: NIH Under Siege.
+ Amid DOGE-induced turmoil, National Science Foundation in crisis.
+ “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., declared chronic diseases an ‘existential threat.’ Then his agency terminated one of the world’s longest-running diabetes trials.” The New Yorker: A Life-Changing Scientific Study Ended by the Trump Administration.
+ NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths.
+ This is just a small subsection of today’s news about the science cuts at home that, especially when paired with the attack on university research, will have massive longterm implications in America. The implications of our policies are already costing lives abroad. “For 15 years, Chanda has been meeting truckers in dusty parking lots at the border of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to give them their HIV medications. Now, he says, he doesn’t know what to tell them. He’s lost his job as a community health worker. The U.S.-funded program he worked for — which supported the mobile clinic where he collected the medications for distribution — shut down.” NPR: What Trump’s first 100 days has meant for these truck drivers and sex workers.
+ NBC News: Calling it ‘illegal DEI,’ Trump shut down program to end human waste backing into Alabama homes. (Sometimes the metaphor just writes itself.)
Case Invaders
“A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelans it alleges are members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua … Rodriguez wrote in his 36-page opinion that the Trump administration’s use of ‘invasion’ does not match the historical use of the term, which has typically been used in connection with military endeavors or warfare.” (At this point, there’s less confusion about what courts will decide on these matters than there is about whether those decisions will be followed by the administration.)
+ “Carlos Uzcategui is one of more than 250 Venezuelan men the U.S. has sent to El Salvador to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center, or Cecot. The U.S. contends that the men are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. In this video, The Wall Street Journal investigated Uzcategui’s story, and found no criminal record or ties to any gang. Our review found no evidence to suggest he should be held in a foreign prison with no indication that he will ever be released.” WSJ (Gift Article): He’s Held in El Salvador’s Mega-Prison, Without Any Criminal Charges.
+ As I mentioned yesterday: “After 100 days of jackhammering America’s norms, values, laws, finances, allies, and what’s left of the psyche of the average news curator, it’s hard to narrow things down to Trump’s worst affront so far. But there is one transgression that seems to best encapsulate where we’ve been dragged: The sending of potentially innocent Venezuelans to a gulag-like prison in El Salvador.” In Abroad Daylight.
Working the System
“Wijckmans didn’t know it yet, but he’d stumbled onto the edges of an audacious, global cybercrime operation. He’d unwittingly made contact with an army of seemingly unassuming IT workers, deployed to work remotely for American and European companies under false identities, all to bankroll the government of North Korea. With a little help from some friends on the ground, of course.” Wired: North Korea Stole Your Job. “For years, North Korea has been secretly placing young IT workers inside Western companies. With AI, their schemes are now more devious—and effective—than ever.” (If any of them are good with news-related puns, please apply within.)
Extra, Extra
Protect the Dolls: “Fewer massive container ships have been plying the ocean between Chinese and American ports, and in the coming weeks, far fewer Chinese goods will arrive on American shores.” A Tidal Wave of Change Is Headed for the U.S. Economy. CNBC: Port of Los Angeles says shipping volume will plummet 35% next week as China tariffs start to bite. Meanwhile, Trump, on Tariffs, Says ‘Maybe the Children Will Have 2 Dolls Instead of 30.’
+ Bully Market: Ukraine and the US have finally signed a minerals deal. What does it include? (Aside from exploiting an ally when they need you the most…)
+ Bro Code(breaker): “A lover of puzzles and crosswords while growing up in Pittsburgh during the Great Depression, Mrs. Parsons deciphered German military messages that had been created by an Enigma machine, a typewriter-size device with a keyboard wired to internal rotors, which generated millions of codes. Her efforts provided Allied forces with information critical to evading, attacking and sinking enemy submarines.” NYT (Gift Article): Julia Parsons, U.S. Navy Code Breaker During World War II, Dies at 104. Also from the NYT (Gift Article): The Six Triple Eight: Black, Female Soldiers Honored for World War II Success. Meanwhile, Hegseth announces he’s ending Pentagon involvement in Trump initiative empowering women championed by Ivanka Trump and Rubio.
+ Case and Point: “When big law firms attacked by President Trump decided to make a deal with him rather than fight, many did so because their leaders feared that clients would abandon a firm caught on the administration’s bad side. Now that logic may be getting less compelling. A major company, Microsoft, has dropped a law firm that settled with the administration in favor of one that is fighting it.” Microsoft Drops Law Firm That Made a Deal With Trump From a Case.
+ There’s a Slap for That: “Epic Games v. Apple judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers just ruled that, effective immediately, Apple is no longer allowed to collect fees on purchases made outside apps and blocks the company from restricting how developers can point users to where they can make purchases outside of apps. Apple says it will appeal the order.” The judge was decidedly not pleased with Apple. More from Daring Fireball: Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers Rules, in Excoriating Decision, That Apple Violated Her 2021 Court Order Regarding App Store Anti-Steering Provisions.
+ Sludge Report: The Trump administration goes full state media with a Drudge-like website that promotes Trump.
+ Lash Out: “From stopping dust and dirt getting into the eyes to prompting our blink reflex, eyelashes do more than just look pretty. Which makes it hard to explain the social media trend of men trimming down — or even entirely shaving off — their eyelashes in a bid to look ‘more masculine.'” (What fake hair, extra long ties, and orange makeup weren’t already doing the trick?)
Bottom of the News
Dropping the dime: An avalanche of 8 million freshly minted dimes spilled from an overturned truck and closed a Texas highway for almost 14 hours. Man, if I had a nickel for every dime that dropped.
+ Scientists once thought only humans could bob to music. Ronan the sea lion helped prove them wrong. (FWIW, scientists also once thought only humans were named Ronan.)
