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  • Federal Judge Orders ‘Very Limited’ Pause on Trump-Musk USAID Purge

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    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Tributes are placed beneath the covered seal of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., on February 7, 2025. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

    “Frankly, there is zero harm to the government,” in a pause, said the Trump-appointed federal judge, who pressed administration lawyers to prove their claims of USAID fraud and corruption.

    A federal judge said Friday that he would issue a “very limited” pause on the Trump administration’s midnight deadline for the U.S. Agency for International Development to place thousands of agency staff on leave.

    Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia—an appointee of President Donald Trump—said he would approve a limited temporary restraining order preventing 2,200 USAID employees from being put on administrative leave at midnight. Nichols also said he would decide whether the 500 workers who have already been placed on leave will be reinstated.

    “They should not put those 2,200 people on administrative leave tonight,” Nichols said, according to The Hill.

    BREAKING: Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from placing 2,000+ USAID workers on leave as litigation continues.

    — Democracy Docket (@democracydocket.com) 2025-02-07T21:58:55.706Z

    Nichols’ move came in response to claims by two unions—the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and American Federation of Government Employees—that their members would suffer “irreparable harm” as a result of Trump’s order. The unions said that the effort led by the Trump administration and unelected Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk constitutes an “ongoing, illegal scheme to gut” USAID.

    “This is not something the president can unilaterally do,” Karla Gilbride, an attorney representing the unions, told Nichols during a Friday hearing.

    Nichols said that “frankly, there is zero harm to the government” from a temporary pause. The judge pressed Trump administration attorneys to show proof of their claims of widespread fraud and corruption within USAID, which provides foreign aid and development assistance but also has a dubious history of funding subversion, drug trafficking, forced sterilization, Central American death squads, and torture during its 64-year existence.

    Musk—whose DOGE has locked USAID employees out of internal systems and recalled thousands of personnel to the U.S. in recent days—has promoted conspiracy theories about the agency. Earlier this week, he posted on his X social media platform that it’s “time for it to die.”

    Trump posted Friday on his Truth Social online platform: “USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY, AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE WAY IN WHICH THE MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT, SO MUCH OF IT FRAUDULENTLY, IS TOTALLY UNEXPLAINABLE. THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!”

    Responding to Nichols’ reprieve, AFSA president Tom Yazdgerdi said in a statement that “this ruling is a crucial first step in halting a reckless assault on USAID and in supporting the dedicated professionals who serve our country.”

    “We will continue to fight to protect the professionals who advance America’s values and leadership abroad,” Yazdgerdi added.

    Lauren Bateman, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group, said that “tonight’s ruling proves temporary relief for the over 2,000 workers set to be put on leave by the Trump administration. It is a step forward in our fight against the unconstitutional and illegal attempt to break the back of USAID.”

    “Trump and Musk’s attempt to disrupt aid around the world is unfathomably cruel, and the ruling tonight pumps the brakes on the destruction of a vital tool of humanitarian relief and American diplomacy,” Bateman added. “The Trump administration must abide by the ruling, or it risks catapulting the entire U.S. government into chaos.”

    Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

  • Tesla Sales Plummet in Germany Amid Musk’s Support for AfD

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    “Elon Musk is a Fascist—Stop Tesla” is written on a poster at a protest against the tech mogul in Berlin on January 27, 2025. (Photo: Annette Riedl/picture alliance via Getty Images)

    “Nobody wants to be associated with it,” said one researcher in the automotive industry.

    “Limiting yourself to AfD supporters as customers comes at a cost it seems,” said one Germany-based political scientist on Wednesday, referring to the far-right political party Alternative for Germany, as Tesla sales were shown to have plummeted in the country last month amid CEO Elon Musk’s show of support for the party.

    In January, the company’s electric vehicle (EV) sales were down 59% in the Germany, the only European country where Tesla’s cars are manufactured.

    EV makers saw sales fall in Germany over the past year as the country ended a subsidy program—but other companies in the sector experienced have experienced at least a partial rebound in sales, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

    German buyers purchased electric cars from domestic and Chinese companies, which saw a 54% increase in sales last month.

    The Daily Beast reported Thursday that Germans who already own Musk’s EVs have been overwhelming at least one business owner with orders for a bumper sticker that reads, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”

    Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center Automotive Research Institute in Germany, told AFP that Tesla’s plunging sales numbers were almost certainly tied to Musk’s support for AfD, which has been classified as a suspected extremist group by the country’s domestic intelligence agency and multiple courts.

    “Tesla and Musk are almost inextricably linked.”

    Comments like those Musk made at a rally for AfD last month, where he said “there is too much focus on past guilt” in Germany over Nazism and the Holocaust, have been “extremely damaging,” said Dudenhoeffer.

    “Nobody wants to be associated with it,” he said. “Tesla and Musk are almost inextricably linked.”

    Earlier in January, Musk stood in front of the U.S. presidential seal on stage at an inaugural event for President Donald Trump and displayed what appeared to be the Sieg Heil salute that was used as a greeting among Nazis. The gesture has been outlawed in Germany since the end of World War II.

    Nonpolitical factors, like the impending arrival of the Model Y Tesla, could be at play. But Schmidt Automotive Research wrote in a report that German customers “may well be reacting to Musk’s comments.”

    Some segments of the German public expressed disgust with Musk before the EV sales numbers were released this week, with activists projecting an image of the CEO’s salute and the word “Heil” on the outside of a Tesla factory near Berlin after Trump’s inauguration.

    In recent days, protests have cropped up across the U.S. as Musk, through his advisory body to the Trump administration, the Department of Government Efficiency, has attempted a takeover of numerous federal agencies and their data on millions of Americans, including a payment system at the Department of Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Education, and the National Institutes of Health.

    Signs displayed at demonstrations on Wednesday took aim at the Tesla CEO as much as President Donald Trump, with some reading, “Arrest Elon Musk” and “De-MusKKK the U.S.”

    Some have started directing their outrage at Tesla, as German activists have. On Tuesday, Tesla campus recruiters arrived at Michigan State University to talk to potential future employees, only to be greeted by protesters carrying signs that read, “Don’t be a Musk-Rat!!” and “SUPPORT STUDENTS NOT FASCISTS!!”

    Journalist Robinson Meyer mused this week on the social media platform Bluesky that protests at Tesla dealerships across the U.S. could soon follow as Musk continues his efforts to dismantle federal agencies.

    Other users shared images of small public actions at a dealership in Burbank, California and elsewhere, as well as graffiti that was recently scrawled on the outside of the company’s office in Seattle, saying, “Nazi Scum.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

  • ‘A Disgrace’: Trump Admin Targets Multiple Environmental Justice Offices

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    Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    The Environmental Protection Agency flag flies outside the EPA headquarters in Washington on Thursday, February 6, 2025. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

    “Donald Trump has decided that we do not deserve clean air or water, and our right to a livable and safe planet comes second to further enriching his fossil fuel friends and donors,” said one environmentalist.

    The Trump administration plans to place over 100 workers who are employed with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights on administrative leave, according to Wednesday reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources.

    Other outlets have since reported on the development, including The Washington Post, which wrote Thursday that Trump appointees at the EPA told staff that they plan to close the office.

    This move targeting the EPA, one the latest efforts by the Trump administration to drastically reshape federal agencies, was panned by multiple environmental organizations, who accused the White House of turning its back on vulnerable communities.

    “The EPA’s environmental justice office was created to challenge the historic pattern of pollution disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color,” said Chitra Kumar, managing director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Kumar was also formerly an official with the EPA Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.

    “Once again, the Trump administration is sidelining both science and the nation’s most overburdened people,” she added.

    Meanwhile, the Trump administration is also reportedly working to “remake” the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, which defends the U.S. government’s environmental actions in court and brings cases against individuals who violate federal environmental law. The Washington Post reported that Trump appointees at the Department of Justice said they plan to fire roughly 20 workers at the division, “among other actions that have sent morale there plummeting.”

    The Office of Environmental Justice within the division has already “been eliminated,” and the five people working in that office have already been put on administrative leave, according to the outlet.

    And in one of her first acts as U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi undid a Biden-era directive ordering the Department of Justice to emphasize enforcement of environmental laws in disadvantaged and low-income communities.

    Trump administration attacks on what the White House deems “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) initiatives were expected. On his first day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the end of all federal DEI programs, goals, mandates, and plans. The order also specifically called for the termination, “to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions.”

    “By shuttering these offices, Donald Trump has decided that we do not deserve clean air or water, and our right to a livable and safe planet comes second to further enriching his fossil fuel friends and donors,” said Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous in a Thursday statement. “Trump has been on the job for less than a month, but every single day he is making our communities less safe.”

    Like Kumar at the Union of Concerned Scientists, senior VP of environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council Matthew Tejada (also an alum of the EPA’s environmental justice office) said that the country’s most vulnerable communities would lose out.

    “Shuttering the environmental justice office [at the EPA] will mean more toxic contaminants, dangerous air, and unsafe water in communities across the nation that have been most harmed by pollution in the past,” said Tejada. “Trump EPA is turning its back on those who need a cleaner environment more than anyone. This is a disgrace.”

    Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.

  • Israel begins ‘preparations’ for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-begins-preparations-for-the-removal-of-palestinians-from-gaza

    A man walks between tents for displaced Palestinians next to destroyed buildings following the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, February 6, 2025

    ISRAEL publicly began “preparations” for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza today despite international rejection of US President Donald Trump’s proposal to empty the territory of its population.

    Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes warning any such action would put its peace deal with Israel at risk, officials said.

    The Trump administration has already dialled back aspects of the suggestion given its frosty international reception, saying any relocation of the region’s 2.3 million people would be temporary.

    US officials have provided few details about how or when the plan could be imposed on Palestinians.

    In a social media post, President Trump said today that Israel would turn Gaza over to the US after the war and no US soldiers would be needed for his plan to redevelop it.

    The Palestinians have strongly rejected Mr Trump’s proposal, which amounts to ethnic cleansing.

    …

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he has ordered the military to make preparations to facilitate the emigration of large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza through land crossings as well as “special arrangements for exit by sea and air.”

    …

    Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-begins-preparations-for-the-removal-of-palestinians-from-gaza

  • Trump Sanctions on ICC Decried as ‘Lawless Israel First’ Policy

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    Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 4, 2025. (Photo: Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “Instead of kowtowing to Israel and doing the bidding of its genocidal government, the president should act in the interests of our nation,” said one critic.

    Amid global outrage over U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to take over the war-torn Gaza Strip, the Republican also faced criticism on Thursday for his executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court.

    “Bullying the International Criminal Court is a desperate tactic to intimidate those who uphold international law and seek accountability for Israeli war crimes in Gaza,” said Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad in a statement.

    “It’s a ‘lawless Israel first’ policy that further damages the reputation of the United States, which has already been harmed greatly by our nation’s complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” he continued. “Instead of kowtowing to Israel and doing the bidding of its genocidal government, the president should act in the interests of our nation.”

    According to NewsNation, which first reported on Trump’s order, it was “originally set to be signed Tuesday and pushed back due to a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over Israel’s assault on Gaza.

    “It is obvious that President Trump wants no oversight of his actions or those of the far-right Israeli government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.”

    The ICC in November also issued related warrants for former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri. Neither Israel nor the United States—which arms Netanyahu’s government—are parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the tribunal for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.

    The court “has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” Trump’s order claims. “The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting” Netanyahu and Gallant.

    “The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the armed forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest,” the order adds, citing a 2002 U.S. law that opponents call the Hague Invasion Act, which empowers the president to use military force to free any American or citizen of an ally held by the court.

    “Americans want more oversight on those in power, not less,” Awad argued. “From his firing of independent U.S. inspector generals to this order, it is obvious that President Trump wants no oversight of his actions or those of the far-right Israeli government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. American greatness relies on check and balances, never on one man’s whims.”

    https://twitter.com/jjz1600/status/1887568531975229712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1887568531975229712%7Ctwgr%5E0167c718b16605fcd3f0d6b6938f35900bb36994%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-icc

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    During Trump’s first term, he sanctioned ICC officials and revoked the chief prosecutor’s visa. His new order, NewsNation reported, “will put financial and visa sanctions on individuals and family members who help the ICC investigate U.S. citizens or allies.”

    According to NBC News, a White House fact sheet on the order says that “the ICC was designed to be a court of last resort,” and “both the United States and Israel maintain robust judiciary systems and should never be subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC.”

    Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement that “victims of human rights abuses around the world turn to the International Criminal Court when they have nowhere else to go, and President Trump’s executive order will make it harder for them to find justice. The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone. This is an attack on both accountability and free speech.”

    Sanctioning ICC staff and their families “because they did their job in investigating U.S. torture and advancing justice for Palestinians in the face of Israel’s 15-month total assault on Gaza is a direct attack on the rule of law,” declared Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The broad scope of the executive order is intended to embolden perpetrators across the world and to inhibit the pursuit of international justice against the most powerful.”

    Center for International Policy’s vice president of government affairs, Dylan Williams, argued that Trump’s order “continues his march to make America a pariah state” and “provides succor to brutal dictators, aggressors, and other human rights abusers around the world whom he admires.”

    “It is not a coincidence that Trump’s move against the ICC comes just hours after he proposed that the United States carry out a crime against humanity in Gaza.”

    “It is not a coincidence that Trump’s move against the ICC comes just hours after he proposed that the United States carry out a crime against humanity in Gaza, while standing next to a man wanted by the court to answer for war crimes in that territory,” Williams said. “The objective of attacking the court is to ensure absolute impunity for those, like both of them, who seek to act unrestrained by any law.”

    “States that are party to the Rome Statute should reaffirm and carry out their obligations with respect to the court, including the consistent enforcement of its duly issued warrants and orders,” he continued. “American lawmakers should treat this attack on a judicial body and its officers as they do Trump’s efforts to destroy domestic institutions of justice, independent of the fact that they may disagree with certain rulings or actions of such bodies.”

    Williams added that “defending the legitimacy of the ICC is an inseparable part of the fight to protect the rule of law in the United States and around the world from the forces of autocracy and oligarchy. Those who fail to firmly oppose Trump’s attack on the court—or worse, support it—are proving themselves to be only fair-weather friends to democracy and human rights at best, or complicit in their destruction outright.”

    Netanyahu and Gallant’s visits to the U.S. this week have been met with protests and calls for their arrests.

    Punchbowl News‘ Max Cohen reported that Netanyahu met with and pressured U.S. senators to pass a federal ICC sanctions bill that was advanced early last month by the House of Representatives’ Republican majority and 45 Democrats.

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Cohen said, “reiterated Dems are eager to get a bipartisan compromise and Netanyahu agreed there should be a compromise.”

    This post was updated with additional comment and details after the White House released the executive order.

    Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.