Monday, February 24, 2025

February 24, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Tulsi Gabbard joins Kash Patel in defiance of Elon Musk . . . DNI Tulsi Gabbard became the latest Trump official to defy 'first buddy' Elon Musk after he emailed federal workers demanding they list and explain five things they accomplished last week. They joined a growing list of department heads who have told their employees to ignore the request from Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. 'Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, I.C. employees should not respond to the OPM email,' read the message from the former Hawaii congresswoman. Daily Mail

Musk reveals the real reason behind bombshell email to federal workers . . . Elon Musk revealed the truth behind his email to all federal staffers demanding they list five tasks they completed last week after a Pentagon official described it as 'the silliest thing he'd seen in 40 years.' The billionaire Tesla founder revealed on Sunday he was simply eager 'to see who had a pulse and two working neurons' amid concerns that some government workers have it so good that they don't even check their emails. Daily Mail

Trump posts SpongeBob meme to poke fun at outrage over Musk's email

Politics

Dan Bongino named FBI deputy director . . . Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, was named as the FBI's next deputy director. President Trump congratulated Mr. Bongino on Sunday night and described him in a Truth Social post as a man with "incredible love and passion for our country." Mr. Bongino, a native of New York's Queens borough like Mr. Trump, is also a former NYPD police officer and has bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from the City University of New York and a master of business administration degree from Penn State. Washington Times

The Sneaky Way Government Unions Rake in Taxpayer Money . . . While public-sector unions file lawsuits to block President Donald Trump's reforms to the bureaucracy, federal government workers are getting paid by the taxpayer for time they spend doing work for those very same unions. The little-known practice of "official time" allows bureaucrats to bill the taxpayer for hours they spend doing work for the union. Daily Signal

Trump set to meet with world leaders in DC during busy week as Russia-Ukraine peace talks continue . . . President Donald Trump is set to have another busy week meeting with foreign leaders in the nation's capital as administration leaders continue working out a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Trump will meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in his fifth week back in the Oval Office. Fox News

Annoying work. Trump meets with Macron so you don't have to.

Culture

Books Banned in Prisons, but Allowed in Schools? Texas Mom Wants Them Out . . . "Someone showed me a picture from a book, and the book is called 'Gender Queer,' and it's by … an author named Maia Kobabe … and it was in our library," Bonnie Wallace told The Daily Signal. "Gender Queer" contains graphic depictions of sex and discusses topics such as "gender identity" and sexual preference. During her investigations into Texas public school libraries, Wallace said she found books containing QR codes that link to online sex shops, Planned Parenthood, and a website called "F***ing Trans Women." The Daily Signal

National Security

"We will kill you": Trump Official Lays Out New Counterterrorism Strategy . . . Sebastian Gorka, senior director for counterterrorism for President Donald Trump, is "recalibrating" the whole intelligence community toward one message, he said. "The No. 1 thing the president and [National Security Advisor Mike] Waltz cares about, whichever region of the world you're talking about," he told The Daily Signal, "is whether it is being used to plan and plot mass casualty attacks on the United States or against our servicemen anywhere in the world." Daily Signal

"We will kill you." Sounds like a plan.

International

New German leader signals seismic shift in transatlantic relations . . . Germany's chancellor-in-waiting didn't wait for the final results of his country's election on Sunday to herald a new era in Europe. Declaring the US indifferent to this continent's fate, Friedrich Merz questioned the future of Nato and demanded Europe boost its own defences. Quickly. This tone from the close US ally - and from Friedrich Merz who is known to be a passionate Atlanticist - would have been unimaginable even a couple of months ago. BBC

We're not indifferent to Europe's fate. We just ask that Europe care about it too.

Pope is awake, resting on 10th day of hospitalization after early stages of kidney problem detected . . . Pope Francis woke up and was continuing his therapies Monday after a quiet night, on the 10th day of his hospitalization for a complex lung infection that has provoked the early stages of kidney insufficiency, the Vatican said. "The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting," it said. The 88-year-old pope is continuing to feed himself and is not receiving artificial or liquid nutrition, the Vatican said, adding that he was in good spirits. Associated Press

Netanyahu says Israel won't allow Syrian forces 'south of Damascus'

A French surgeon is on trial accused of raping or abusing 299 people, mostly child patients . . . A former surgeon is set to stand trial in France on Monday for the alleged rape or sexual abuse of 299 victims, most of them children who were his patients, in what investigators and his own notebooks describe as a pattern of violence spanning over three decades. Joël Le Scouarnec, now 74, will face hundreds of victims during a four-month trial in Vannes, Brittany. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, on top of 15 years he has been serving after being found guilty in 2020 of rape and sexual assault of children. Associated Press

Are you kidding me? He faces 20 years for this? And the French consider themselves more civilized than we.

You should also know

MSNBC cancels Joy Reid show as part of overhaul under new administration . . . MSNBC is canceling Joy Reid's evening news show as part of the network's overhaul under the new presidential administration. Reid's final show is planned for sometime this week, a source familiar with the changes said. Symone Sanders Townsend, Michale Steele and Alicia Menendez, who currently host the network's "The Weekend," will now be anchoring in Reid's former 7 p.m. slot, sources at MSNBC said. Jen Psaki will reportedly be anchoring one of the week's primetime hours. The Hill

One of the legendary Trump haters goes down.

Guilty Pleasures

Ozempic takes over Hollywood . . . Yet it was the red carpet displays that had social media alight on Sunday night as fans remarked on several of the actresses showcasing noticeably slimmer figures. Several stars turned heads with their body transformations as they descended upon the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The Ozempic craze has reached new heights, with countless celebrities either openly crediting the medication for their transformations or sparking speculation with their visibly trimmer appearances. Daily Mail

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