The good:
In a victory for Voice of America staffers, a federal judge
ruled Saturday that Kari Lake unlawfully ran the US Agency for Global
Media (USAGM) for several months last year.
The mass layoffs and other actions undertaken during that
time “are void,” US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote.
The ruling was a remarkable rebuke of Lake, a failed Arizona
gubernatorial and US Senate candidate and fierce loyalist of President
Trump.
Lake immediately called the judge an “activist” and said the agency would appeal.
The plaintiffs who sued Lake to save their jobs and defend
the agency amid Trump’s attempts to dismantle it said they felt
“vindicated and deeply grateful.”
“The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no
force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has
inflicted on this American institution that we love,” the plaintiffs,
Patsy Widakuswara, Kate Neeper, and Jessica Jerreat, said.
“Even as we work through what this ruling means for
colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to
the next phase of our fight: restoring VOA‘s global operations and
ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda,” the
plaintiffs added.
Reporters Without Borders, which joined the staffers in
filing suit, said the case was “proof that fighting for press freedom
matters."...
Lake is now a failed administrator in addition to being a failed gubernatorial and senatorial candidate. If this ruling has any chance of restoring the professional journalism to VOA and squashing MAGA propaganda, it indeed is a victory for freedom of the press. Let's hope it withstands appeals.
The bad:
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday would not commit to
blocking any additional funding for the war in Iran, saying the
president has so far failed to justify the war but “we’ll cross that
bridge when we get to it.”
The New York Democrat was asked
on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether House Democrats would move to
block a funding request if the White House were to ask for more money
for the military.
Jeffries
said the administration has so far “failed to make its case ... for
this war of choice in the Middle East,” and unless President Donald
Trump provides a “compelling rationale,” he’s “going to have a difficult
case to make on Capitol Hill.”
Congress
last year approved a $900 billion defense spending bill as part of
routine annual budget appropriations, and the president signed the bill into law in December. But since the U.S. began its military operation in Iran, lawmakers have been considering the need to pass additional defense spending to bolster the U.S. military.
On
Tuesday, following a classified briefing for senators about the war,
several lawmakers including Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told reporters
that they expect the Trump administration will ask for supplemental funding
for the war effort. Coons added that he would support additional
funding for troops, but, like Jeffries, he demanded more information
from the administration about the war...
There's no excuse for this behavior from Democratic "leaders." To participate in any way in the Malignant Fascist's Operation Epic Epstein Fury is to be 100% complicit. If Democrats are lucky enough to win back the House (and avoid an MF coup), Jeffries needs to go. If lightning strikes and Dems win the Senate, Sen. Schumer needs to go, too. If this country is ever to be reconstructed, these enablers and quivering, turtling Democrats must be sidelined and tough, junkyard dog Democrats who'll fight the fascists must lead.
The ugly:
President Donald Trump promised that 2026 would be a bumper year for economic growth, but instead it has kicked off with job losses, rising gasoline prices and more uncertainty about America’s future.
In his State of the Union address
less than two weeks ago, the Republican president confidently told the
country: “The roaring economy is roaring like never before.” The latest
batch of data on jobs, pump prices and the stock market suggests that
Trump’s roar has started to sound far more like a whimper.
There
is a gap between the boom that Trump has predicted and the volatile
results he has produced — one that could set the tone in this year’s
midterm elections as he tries to defend his party’s majorities in the
House and Senate. With Trump’s tariffs drama ongoing, the war in Iran
has suddenly created inflationary concerns regarding oil and natural
gas. To the White House, it is still early in the year and stronger
growth is coming.
“WOW! The Golden Age of America is upon us!!!” Trump posted on social
media Feb. 11 after the monthly jobs report showed gains of 130,000
jobs in January.
Since then, the job market has evaporated in worrisome ways.
Friday’s
employment report showed job losses of 92,000 in February. The January
and December figures were revised downward, with December swinging to a
loss of 17,000 jobs. Monthly data can be rocky, but a trend has emerged
that shows an enduring weakness. Without the health care sector, the
economy would have shed roughly 202,000 jobs since Trump became
president in January 2025. Still, his administration notes that
construction job gains outside of the housing sector point to future
hiring growth...
"The Golden Age of America!" The Golden Age of the Epstein Class more like it. But, Commander Cankles is taking a "so what!" approach the signs of collapse all around him. He'll somehow manage, we're sure.
