Freezing $1 billion in food aid given to schools and food banks. USDA cancels $1 billion in funding for schools and food banks to buy food from local suppliers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is cutting two federal programs that provided about $1 billion in funding to schools and food banks to buy food directly from local farms, ranchers and producers, part of what the agency said was a decision to "return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives.". Canceling about $660 million in funding this year for the Local Food for Schools program, which is active in 40 U.S. states, as well as about $420 million for a second program called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, which helps food banks and other local groups provide food to their communities.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usda-cancels-local-food-purchasing-food-banks-school-meals/
Another round of firings hit immigration courts in Massachusetts, California and Louisiana, as the Trump administration continues its twin efforts of downsizing the government and increasing immigration-related arrests. At least eight immigration judges received notices that they would be put on leave and their employment would be terminated on April 22, according to two people familiar with the firings and to the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers union, which represents immigration judges. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The judges who received the notices weren't given a reason for the terminations. They were at the end of their two-year probationary period with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, which is part of the Justice Department. EOIR declined to comment on personnel matters.
Shortage of immigration judges could slow down Trump deportation goals
The administration has moved to fire probationary workers at a score of other federal agencies. But getting rid of judges adds to criticism of the Trump administration for not giving migrants or noncitizens enough due process before they're deported. Trump's own comments this week prompted similar concerns.
"We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years," Trump posted on social media on Monday. "We would need hundreds of thousands of trials for the hundreds of thousands of Illegals we are sending out of the Country. Such a thing is not possible to do. "There are about 700 immigration judges across the country's 71 immigration courts and adjudication centers. These judges are the only ones who can revoke someone's green card and issue a final order of removal for those who have been in the country for more than two years and are in the deportation process. Public sectors unions are among the plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over the firings of probationary employees.
PoliticsAppeals court clears the way for Trump to fire probationary federal workers once again
The latest firings comes as dozens of courts around the country are already facing vacancies after the Trump administration laid off or received resignations from over 100 court staff, including over two dozen judges. Earlier this month, EOIR posted several openings for immigration judge positions across the country, including in courts where judges were fired.
Matt Biggs, president of the union representing judges, said firing judges adds to the courts' backlog of millions of cases.
"This is pure hypocrisy. We shouldn't be firing judges, we should be hiring them," he said.
NPR spoke to immigration experts and lawyers and reviewed government documents to break down the steps of the U.S. deportation process and its cost.Law
How does deportation work, and how much does it cost? We break it down
Thirteen judges already fired since Trump started his second term filed a class appeal earlier this month, asserting that they had been wrongfully terminated.
"These immigration judges were appointed to serve the American people and uphold the rule of law—and they were fired by President Trump in violation of long-standing civil service protections," Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement at the time of the filing.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5372681/trump-immigration-judges-fired
FDA firings and rehiring. As part of its plans to shrink HHS by 20,000 people, officials announced in late March that 10,000 employees would be laid off across the department, which includes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the FDA. More than one-third of the layoffs, 3,500, affected FDA staffers. Those firings gutted the FOIA divisions across HHS.
The layoffs decimated the workforce that processes FOIA requests across FDA centers overseeing vaccines, drugs, tobacco, medical devices, and food, said current and former employees. Operations to release public records requests largely ground to a halt, according to half a dozen current or former employees. Employees said FOIA workers were fired despite being involved in furnishing government records under court-ordered deadlines in response to litigation.
A notice from FDA to an affected FOIA staffer said the HHS’ “Reduction in Force” was being rescinded but did not provide a rationale for reinstatement, according to a copy viewed by KFF Health News. However, the worker said an FDA official had told them their job was “mission critical.”
Two current or former employees noted that the FDA missed several court-ordered deadlines to produce documents in April. Other FOIA workers were told they were being reinstated, two employees said.
...layoffs had to be undone. Conducting illegal mass layoffs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as part of a significant restructuring, firing roughly two-thirds to over 90% of its workforce, ending 50 years of programs that protected coal miners and firefighters, and helped reduce workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Some layoffs (328) had to be undone.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/worker-safety-agency-niosh-lays-off-most-remaining-staff/
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-5398092/niosh-reinstates-occupational-health-workers
https://oecm.ucsf.edu/news/staff-cuts-niosh-jeopardize-occupational-health
...without the Child Tax Credit. Cuts to Veterans affairs, taking away health coverage and food assistance from many millions of people, including veterans. One out of every four veterans lived in a household receiving food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or health coverage from Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Additionally, an estimated 680,000 children of working veterans would be left out of the bill’s expanded $2,500 Child Tax Credit. ACA premiums are drastically increasing due to the cuts.
IRS Layoffs, which will cost the U.S. more in revenue loss than the savings claimed from the overall cuts, which were much lower than originally promised. -$500 Billion vs. $150 Billion saved, while using the umbrella term "waste, fraud, and abuse", which was not found with evidence and no where close to the $2 trillion, then $1 trillion claimed to have been going on. Net effect is lost jobs, more tax loop holes and rich people getting away with it, while the general population feels the affects from the cuts the most.
...firing decisions.
A right-wing political activist who's spread conspiracy theories and used hate speech has become a central figure in the hirings and firings of Trump administration staffers.
Laura Loomer has successfully lobbied to remove aides from several key government roles, including the National Security Council. Despite her close alliance with the president, she's drawn some foes within the Republican Party, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. "She regularly utters disgusting garbage." That's how Republican Senator Thom Tillis once described the self-styled journalist Laura Loomer.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized Loomer for mocking Harris' Indian heritage. Loomer said on X that if Harris wins, "the White House will smell like curry."
Greene wrote on X, "This is appalling and extremely racist. It does not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA. This does not represent President Trump. This type of behavior should not be tolerated ever."
Vance's April 2025 statements on Tariff dealings with the UK, which included a statement to a UK media outlet that "There’s a real cultural affinity. And of course, fundamentally America is an Anglo country.” This choice of word, "fundamental" should not be overlooked. As the VP of the U.S.A, words matter. He could have easily said historically an Anglo country, but no, he said fundamentally. Couple this with the Easer message Vance gave at the Vatican, which The Pope, chose to give a rebuttal to Vance's off-base comments. This coupled with the declaration of English as the official language. Coupled with the amplifying false claims against Haitian migrants in Ohio, eating pets in Oct 2024-- Admitting it was not true, but that the 'story still holds to prove a point', Coupled with JD Vance's past statements and connection to Curtis Yarvin. Now, we can add in there Vance's Oct 2025 excusing of horrific racial, antisemitic, and misogynistic slurs by Young Republican leaders’ chat group, downplaying who they really were, calling them college students / kids, which was not true at all. These men in GOP staffer positions were joking about gas chambers, slavery, and rape. Read the messages yourself, and realize that yes, working professionals should be allowed to joke around and have fun, even with some satire, but this pattern of behavior was not isolated, nor just satire and Vance, as sitting VP couldn't even muster up any sense of set an example for others about how this bad behavior.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/pope-vance-wrong-migrants-letter.html
Messaging in all caps, “THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!”.
... to make nearly 2 million additional annual trips for wasteful and unnecessary in-person assistance. Staffing cuts and office closures at the Social Security Administration (SSA), driven by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are estimated to force seniors to make nearly 2 million additional annual trips for wasteful and unnecessary in-person assistance, according to a new study.
Social Security provides vital support to nearly 69 million Americans each month, including retired workers and disabled individuals. Record backlogs and rising demand from an aging population, in addition to reduced staffing and cuts to long-held phone services, could hit rural seniors and disabled Americans the hardest—forcing beneficiaries, some with mobility issues or lack of technology access, into long lines at SSA offices or risking benefit interruptions.
Researchers at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), in new data released Tuesday, say DOGE cuts plus revised SSA protocols are estimated to require people to make over 1.93 million additional trips annually to understaffed field offices each year—equating to more than 1 million wasted hours on unnecessary travel every year.
...comments criticizing Denmark when visiting were not reflective of the base. The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired after she reportedly sent an email distancing herself from Vice-President JD Vance's criticism of Denmark.
The US military's Space Operations Command said Col Susannah Meyers had been removed from her role at Pituffik Space Base due to a "loss of confidence in her ability to lead".
Last month, Vance said Denmark had "not done a good job" for Greenlanders and had not spent enough on security while visiting the Danish territory.
The alleged email, released by a military news site, told staff Vance's comments were "not reflective" of the base. A Pentagon spokesman cited the article, saying "undermining" US leadership was not tolerated. Polls show that the vast majority of Greenlanders want to gain independence from Denmark - but do not wish to become part of the US.
....Mars. Cut NASA budget. End Webb telescope next versions. Detection of life.
...adding that it “depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.” Just the very idea alone that Stephen Miller is thinking this way is alarming. White House adviser Stephen Miller saying the government was “actively looking at” suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus, adding that it “depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.” Then, CNN confirmed the seriousness of those comments by reporting that “two people familiar with the consideration” said President Donald Trump himself was involved in such conversations.
Miller’s comments made clear what the 45th and 47th president alluded to during a press briefing in late April — that the Trump administration is increasingly frustrated with court orders barring the summary deportation of undocumented immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act.
POTUS, without citing evidence, that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration -- under Democratic presidents -- were partly to blame for the tragic plane and helicopter collision in Washington on Wednesday night.
The air disaster occurred as an American Airlines passenger jet approaching Reagan Washington National Airport collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on a routine training flight.
When asked in the earlier briefing by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce whether he was saying the crash was the result of diversity hiring, Trump said, "we don't know" what caused the crash, adding investigators are still looking into that. "It just could have been. We have a high standard. We've had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else."
Even as he made unfounded claims about the FAA's diversity initiatives being a factor in the disaster, he said the Army helicopter crew could be at fault -- and claimed he wasn't blaming the air traffic controller who communicated with the helicopter.
When asked how he could come to the conclusion that FAA diversity policies had something to do with the disaster, he said, "Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately a lot of people don't."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/business/dc-plane-crash-reagan-airport.html
...wasted trillions of gallons of water for political revenge and grand-standing. Completely misunderstanding the California water situation, ordering the opening of a damn by the Army Corp of Engineers that wasted trillions of gallons of water. It was quickly decided to close it back up again. All this done for political purposes and blaming the State for all of its fires claiming that holding the water back was the reason. Sending this extra water down just flooded some plains and evaporated and was no where near where it would have been needed to fight the fires. “All the currently dry canals will be brimming and used to irrigate everything, including your own homes and bathrooms and everything—you’re going to be happy and I’m going to get it done fast,” Trump said. “They say that there’s so much water up north that I want to have the overflow areas go into your forests and dampen your forests because if you dampen your forests you’re not going to have these forest fires that are burning at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.”
Rescind Bidens drug price reduction only to try to redo it in a stupid and illegal way. Executive order asking drug makers to lower prices but not really, just get reimbursed by less from insurance companies. No actual enforceable law. No attempt to work with the law makers that his own party is in charge of.
...privatize it illegally, as it was set up by Congress. Nominating a FedEx board member and former Waste Management CEO David Steiner was confirmed Friday by USPS board members as the new Postmaster General. Fed Ex being a direct competitor to the USPS. The announcement comes amid President Donald Trump's plans to overhaul the United States Postal Service (USPS). Previously stating plans to move it into the Department of Congress and privatize much of it's services, when USPS was set up by Congress and is thus illegal to make such changes.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-overhaul-usps-postmaster-general-2070084
Ending the reporting of Bio-Diversity loss. That left the project more vulnerable. It became one of a slew of Biden-era environmental orders that Mr. Trump revoked on his first day in office. Mr. Trump has also frozen climate spending, begun withdrawing the United States from the main global pact to tackle climate change and launched an assault on wind energy while seeking to expand fossil fuels.
...propaganda, dismantling public records, guidance, and information. More than 85 American and international scientists have condemned a Trump administration report that calls the threat of climate change overblown, saying the analysis is riddled with errors, misrepresentations and cherry-picked data to fit the president’s political agenda.
The scientists submitted their critique as part of a public comment period on the report, which was to close Tuesday night.
“No one should doubt that human-caused climate change is real, is already producing potentially dangerous impacts, and that humanity is on track for a geologically enormous amount of warming,” the scientists wrote. They compared the administration’s report to efforts by the tobacco industry to create doubt around the health links between smoking and cancer.
The five researchers who prepared the administration’s July report were handpicked by Chris Wright, the energy secretary, and they all reject the established scientific consensus that the burning of oil, gas and coal is dangerously heating the planet. They acknowledged that the Earth is warming but said that climate change is “less damaging economically than commonly believed.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/climate/climate-science-report-energy-department.html
put it back up with chalk, then State Police arrested them for chalking the sidewalk
... imbalance gets to a certain point which it has never ever gotten close to, yet that detail is skipped and POTUS claims that we are just fairly fighting back.