Friday, March 14, 2025

March 14, 2025

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Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Judge orders Trump to reinstate probationary employees who were fired . . . A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to bring back thousands of fired probationary employees, saying their ousters were illegal. U.S. District Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee who sits in California, said the Office of Personnel Management had no authority to direct other agencies to fire the employees. "It is sad, a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," the judge said in ruling from the bench. Washington Times

Trump's DOJ asks Supreme Court for help against judges it calls 'activist' and 'overreaching' . . . The Trump administration on Thursday filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, asking it to narrow the scope of injunctions against its immigrations policies and to thwart the emerging use of local District Court judges to issue nationwide blocks on its policies. "[Broad injunctions] compromise the executive branch's ability to carry out its functions," Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote. Just the News

Politics

Senate Dems brace to vote for a bill they hate — to block Elon Musk . . . Senate Democrats appear poised to vote for a spending bill they hate to avoid a worse fate: Allowing a government shutdown that could enable President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to make deeper cuts to federal agencies. The announcement late Thursday by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would support the House GOP's seven-month stopgap measure was an acknowledgment that Democrats have little choice if they want to avoid empowering Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative to unilaterally halt more federal programs under the cover of a shutdown. Politico

Democrats in uproar over decision

Bill would force $1B cut to local DC budget

White House withdraws nomination for David Weldon to head CDC . . . The White House on Wednesday withdrew Dave Weldon's nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Weldon, a physician and former congressman, said he learned about the decision 12 hours before he was to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about his qualifications and views on vaccine safety. He said pushback from at least two Republicans on the committee made his nomination untenable. Washington Times

Leading Senate Republican Has Questions About Oz Record on Trans and Life Issues as Major Hearing looms . . . With the Senate Finance Committee preparing to interrogate Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump's nominee to be Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, Friday morning, one Senate Republican says Oz's record on transgenderism and abortion are "concerning." Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told EWTN that Oz "promoted, I know, trans doctors and activists on his show a number of times." "My hope would be he would come into alignment with the President's position," Hawley said. Daily Signal

Trump Reacts to Biden Autopen Controversy: 'Who Was Signing All This Stuff? . . . Former President Joe Biden's consistent use of an autopen e-signature during his presidency has become the talk of Washington, after a Heritage Oversight Project report called into question the validity and legal standing of Biden's actions. An autopen, or signing machine, is a device that reproduces a signature without the signatory having to be present. "He signs by autopen," said President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday. Daily Signal

Biden issued many commutations using an autopen. It's clear he had a little idea what was going on, and his powerful staff was pushing the button on the automatic signature. Yes, autopens are used, but to let drug dealers out of jail?

Jewish protesters flood Trump Tower's lobby to demand Mahmoud Khalil's release . . . Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at Columbia University. The demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace wore red shirts reading "Jews say stop arming Israel" and held up banners as they chanted "Bring Mahmoud home now!" on the lower level of the Fifth Avenue building's public atrium. Associated Press

They support a Hamas sympathizer. Imagine what Hamas would do to them if they did this in Gaza . . .

Democrat Congressman Raul Grijalva Dies Of Cancer . . . Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) passed away on Thursday after losing the battle to cancer, his office said in a statement. He was 77 years old.

Grijalva, who served in Arizona's 7th Congressional District, died due to "complications of his cancer treatments," his office said.

His office highlighted his "kind and humble nature" while stating that he "cared deeply for and was proud of his staff." Daily Wire

It's the second death of a Democrat this year, temporarily increasing the GOP's margin in the House.

Culture

Muslims, Republicans, lesbians ask SCOTUS to protect parental rights against LGBTQ school mandates . . . SCOTUS agreed to take the case, scheduled for oral argument next month, after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the religious parents, finding that no one was forced "to change their religious beliefs or conduct" when their children were exposed to "Pride storybooks" through English Language Arts lessons. The books feature sex workers, kink, drag, gender transitions and elementary-age same-sex romance. Montgomery County Public Schools reversed itself a day after promising parents for the second time it would notify and let them opt out their kids, claiming that's only required under state law for sex education, not ELA lessons. Just the News

Pete Buttigieg Pushed For 'Transit Equity' Amid Uptick In Airplane Close Calls

First things first . . .

Trans House Member Torched For Claiming Republicans Are 'Weird' And 'Bizarre' . . . Trans-identifying lawmaker Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) took some serious backlash on Thursday for claiming that the Republican Party was focusing on "culture war" issues to the point of being "bizarre." "We will not take a lecture on decorum from a party that incited an insurrection," McBride began, waving aside criticism of Democrats' behavior both during and since President Donald Trump's address to the joint session of Congress. Daily Wire

National Security

Trump to invoke wartime powers as Guantanamo Bay readies for heavy influx of illegal aliens . . . A source familiar with the administration's plans told Just the News that Trump is planning to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as early as Friday in an effort to combat the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and other criminal aliens and to use Guantánamo Bay to detain them. The source spoke only on condition of anonymity because the source wasn't authorized to talk to the news media. Just the News

Trump Orders Military To Draw Up Plans To Retake Panama Canal . . . U.S. Southern Command is developing potential plans from partnering more closely with Panamanian security forces to the less likely option of U.S. troops' seizing the Panama Canal by force, the officials said. Whether military force is used, the officials added, depends on how much Panamanian security forces agree to partner with the United States. The Trump administration's goal is to increase the U.S. military presence in Panama to diminish China's influence there, particularly access to the canal, the officials said. NBC News

International

Netanyahu slams UN report claiming sexual violence by Israelis . . . United Nations-backed human rights experts on Thursday accused Israel of "the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence" in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the Human Rights Council, a U.N.-backed body that commissioned the team of independent experts, as an "anti-Israel circus" that "has long been exposed as an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting, and irrelevant body." His statement did not address the findings themselves. Associated Press

British man killed by president's convoy in Kenya hit-and-run

You should also know

Columbia Disciplines Student Radicals Nearly a Year After They Stormed Campus Building . . . Columbia University disciplined radical student activists nearly a year after they stormed a campus building, imposing multi-year suspensions, expulsions, and temporary degree revocations. The Ivy League institution, mired in anti-Semitism scandals in the aftermath of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, announced Thursday evening that its University Judicial Board (UJB) issued the sanctions on the students involved in the April storming of Hamilton Hall. Washington Free Beacon

American Airlines plane catches fire at Denver International Airport . . . An American Airlines plane suddenly burst into flames after it diverted to Denver International Airport on Thursday night – forcing evacuating passengers onto the wing of the aircraft as thick black smoke consumed the tarmac. The Texas-bound Boeing 737-800 was rerouted to the airport shortly after taking off from Colorado Springs when crew members reported engine vibrations, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. New York Post

Guilty Pleasures

Cheese puff maker declares himself mayor of Long Island town . . . A peculiar power struggle is unfolding in the small village of Sea Cliff, where one prominent resident is asserting himself as the new mayor, despite resistance from local officials. Robert Ehrlich, the well-known founder of the snack company Pirate's Booty, has declared that he has created a new village within Sea Cliff, calling himself the mayor. However, village leaders are pushing back, asserting that his claims have no legal standing. The drama came to a head earlier this week in a tense standoff at Village Hall. News 12

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