Diogenes-Light: Friday, March 21, 2025

Friday, March 21, 2025

March 21, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Trump goes to bat for Tesla as backlash, financial woes escalate . . . The White House is going to bat for Tesla as Elon Musk's electric vehicle (EV) company suffers from financial woes and faces increasingly violent backlash. President Trump and top administration officials have touted Teslas on the White House lawn and urged Americans to buy the company's struggling stock. The Trump administration has also labeled vandalization of Tesla dealerships and vehicles as "domestic terrorism," and has filed federal charges against those suspected of destructive acts. The Hill

Tesla vandals face up to 20 years in prison, says attorney general . . . US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday that three defendants accused of vandalism targeting Elon Musk's Tesla electric vehicle company could face up to 20 years in prison. Bondi said the damage to Tesla cars, dealerships and charging stations was "domestic terrorism". Arrests and charges against the three suspects were previously announced by prosecutors. BBC

Dems who have spoken passionately against domestic terrorism go silent as Tesla torchers are charged

A New Kind of 'Hate Map' May Be Directing the Domestic Terrorism Against Tesla . . . The Left cannot tolerate dissent, but it absolutely hates a heretic. Elon Musk has transformed from climate hero to anti-bureaucratic villain, and the Left's shock troops are wielding Molotov cocktails at the most accessible symbol of his influence: the Tesla. Of course, in doing so, these vandals harm the men and women who purchased the electric cars Musk's company created. These electric car owners may be more likely to agree with leftist causes, but it seems the vandals aren't afraid to target their own allies in their mad hatred. Daily Signal

Politics

Democrats face frustrated voters at raucous town halls . . . Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) clashed with pro-Palestinian attendees at a town hall on Wednesday, leading police to shut down the forum. That followed Rep. Glenn Ivey's (D-Md.) town hall on Tuesday, where he faced criticism for being too "calm" in the face of the Trump administration. And in California, Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros faced constituents angry about Social Security, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, potential cuts to Medicaid and fired federal workers. The Hill

Democrats Face Their Own Tea Party Revolt

Trump Eyes Sweeping Changes to FEMA, Disaster Relief Efforts . . . Trump on Tuesday signed a little-noticed executive order aimed at "achieving efficiency through state and local preparedness," ordering national security adviser Mike Waltz and the heads of relevant agencies to establish policies to bolster America's resilience to natural disasters and "move away from an all-hazards approach." The executive order also states that the Trump administration is moving to give individual states greater authority over disaster preparations. Daily Caller

Trump rescinds order targeting Paul, Weiss law firm after securing commitments . . . The law firm was just one of several legal firms that Trump has targeted in recent weeks because of its alleged ties to his political rivals. Other firms Trump has targeted include Perkins Coie, and Covington & Burling, which is providing pro bono services to former special counsel Jack Smith. The president said he agreed to rescind the order for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, known more simply as Paul, Weiss, because the firm promised not to deny representation to clients based on political views. Just the News

Former 'Squad' Rep. Cori Bush's husband charged with wire fraud related to COVID relief funds . . . Former Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush's husband on Thursday was charged with two counts of wire fraud over allegedly accepting $20,000 in payments from the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. Federal prosecutors accused Bush's husband, Cortney Merritts, of falsifying information to get loans from the Small Business Administration during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The alleged lies include the number of people he allegedly employed and the business' revenue, per Fox News. Just the News

Trump moved to abolish the Education Department: What comes next . . . While Trump can effectively hollow out the DOE to the point that exists merely on paper, he cannot formally abolish it without congressional approval. Trump appears to already have a degree of support for finalizing the department's end within Congress. A proposal by Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., formally abolishes the DOE and transfers the Federal Pell Grant Program, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, the Federal Perkins Loan Program, and several others to the Treasury. Just the News

Culture

Transgender runner blows out competition, sets season records in girls' races at Oregon high school track meet . . . Ada Gallagher, running as a 10th-grader at McDaniel High School in Portland, finished in first place in 200M and 400M races during the 6A-1 Portland Interscholastic League Championship in 2024. Now an 11th-grader, Gallagher was back on the track for a Portland Interscholastic League meet at the athlete's home track, where Gallagher was spotted blowing out the competition, especially in the 400M, where the athlete finished more than seven seconds better than the rest of the field. Fox News

Pro-Life Group, Catholic Diocese Sue Illinois for Violating Their Rights . . . A new Illinois law prevents pro-life organizations from hiring based on their pro-life views, meaning they could be forced instead to hire abortion advocates whose views violate their core religious beliefs. Now, a pro-life pregnancy resource center that wants to hire a nurse to counsel women facing unplanned pregnancies and a Catholic diocese are challenging the law in federal court as a First Amendment violation. The Daily Signal

National Security

Everyday tattoos got Venezuelan men ID'd as gang members and deported, lawyers say . . . A crown over a soccer ball. An eyeball that "looked cool." Flowers. Those are some of the everyday tattoos that defense lawyers say helped lead to the sudden weekend deportation of roughly 200 Venezuelan men who are accused of being members of the ruthless gang Tren de Aragua. President Donald Trump ordered the men removed from the U.S. and sent to a notorious El Salvadoran prison under an 18th century wartime law that allows noncitizens to be deported without due process. Associated Press

Meet the pro-CCP Marxist revolutionary group behind the Mahmoud Khalil protests

International

Huge fire shuts down UK's Heathrow Airport — up to 100,000 impacted, planes turned away . . . London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, shut down operations all of Friday — disrupting over 1,000 flights across the globe — after a massive fire at a nearby electrical substation cut off power to the airport. Flyers are being advised to avoid the airport for the entire day as planes had already begun being diverted away from the British travel hub in the early hours. "Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage," Heathrow said in a statement posted to X. New York Post

Russian sabotage?

Money

Tesla makes largest ever Cybertruck recall . . . Thousands of Tesla Cybertrucks have been recalled in the US due to concerns about part of the electric car's trim falling off in the model's eighth and largest ever recall. The issue affects more than 46,000 trucks made starting in November 2023, which analysts say amounts to nearly all Cybertrucks. It comes as Tesla, which did not respond to a request for comment, grapples with falling sales amid a backlash against the firm and its boss Elon Musk. BBC

Guilty Pleasures

UK court finds men who stole $6M gold toilet guilty . . . It turns out that a porcelain throne can also be made of gold. At least, that was the vision behind Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's artwork titled America, created in 2016. The installation featured a fully functional toilet cast in 18-karat gold. It was initially displayed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and later at Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom where it was stolen in 2019. This week, two of the people involved in the theft were convicted in a U.K. court. NPR