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Tag: executive order

  • ‘A Complete Takeover’: New Trump Order Entrenches Musk-Led ‘Shadow Government’

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

    Protesters rally against Elon Musk-led attacks on civil servants outside the U.S. Capitol on February 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
     (Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

    President Donald Trump’s latest executive order “gives Elon Musk, an unelected, hyper-partisan billionaire, unfettered authority over this country’s civil service,” warned one advocacy group.

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order handing an Elon Musk-led commission sweeping power to oversee federal hiring across non-military departments, entrenching what’s been described as a “shadow government” spearheaded by an unelected billionaire.

    The new order states that the leader of each non-military federal agency “shall develop a data-driven plan” in coordination with the Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), an advisory body that has infiltrated departments across the U.S. government—and accessed highly sensitive data—as part of an unprecedented effort to gut spending and the federal workforce.

    “This hiring plan shall include that new career appointment hiring decisions shall be made in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, consistent with applicable law,” the order continues. “The agency shall not fill any vacancies for career appointments that the DOGE Team Lead assesses should not be filled, unless the Agency Head determines the positions should be filled.”

    The order also instructs agency directors to prepare for “large-scale” cuts to the federal workforce.

    “It’s a complete takeover of the federal government by Musk,” investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr wrote in response to the executive action.

    Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office with Musk at his side, Trump on Tuesday called the order “very important” and attacked federal judges who “want to try and stop us,” alluding to court orders against DOGE’s attempt to access vital government systems.

    Musk, who is leading DOGE while simultaneously heading companies that are benefiting directly from his work inside the Trump administration, insisted he’s not orchestrating a “hostile takeover” of the federal government, declaring that the public voted for “major government reform” and “they are going to get what they voted for.”

    The mega-billionaire also falsely claimed DOGE has been transparent as it rampages through the federal government.

    “In reality,” The Guardian noted, “Musk has taken great pains to conceal how DOGE has operated, starting with his own involvement in the project. Musk himself is a ‘special government employee,’ which the White House has said means his financial disclosure filing will not be made public. The DOGE team involves about 40 staffers, but the actual number is not known. Staffers have tried to keep their identities private and refused to give their last names to career officials at the agencies they were detailed to.”

    Trump’s latest executive order (EO) is poised to supercharge the Musk-led assault on and total dismantling of federal agencies, from the U.S. Agency for International Development to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    “This new EO signed today appears to create DOGE as a shadow government across the entire federal government,” Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo wrote late Wednesday, adding that the order “seems to make Elon as head of DOGE functionally the president or perhaps something more like a prime minister.”

    Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the advocacy group Democracy Forward, warned in a statement that “this latest attack on public service gives Elon Musk, an unelected, hyper-partisan billionaire, unfettered authority over this country’s civil service.”

    “People and communities across the nation depend on a non-partisan, committed civil service,” said Perryman. “Democracy Forward will pursue all legal options available to protect our civil service and the American people from harms that would stem from this executive order.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson 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.

  • ‘No chance’: South Africa says won’t withdraw Israel genocide case despite Trump threats

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    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. I

    Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of South Africa Ronald Lamola answers the questions of press members related to the public hearings of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands on January 11, 2024 [Dursun Aydemir – Anadolu Agency]

    South Africa has vowed not to withdraw its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), despite the Trump administration’s threats and aid cut.

    There is “no chance” South Africa could withdraw the case it filed in December 2023, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told the Financial Times.

    “Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences, but we remain firm that this is important for the world, and the rule of law,” he added.

    South Africa was the first nation to drag Israel to the ICJ over its genocidal war on Gaza that has claimed more than 48,000 lives and reduced the enclave to rubble. A ceasefire that took hold on 19 January is currently in place.

    Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting financial aid to South Africa in retaliation for a new land appropriation law it claims seizes property from the country’s White minority, as well as the ICJ case against Israel.

    The US also alleges that South Africa is working with Iran to “develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements.”

    “The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its ‘undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests,” the order read.

    “While we do have a good relationship with Iran, we don’t have any nuclear programmes with them, nor any trade to speak of,” Lamola said.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed the expropriation bill into law, which will allow the state to expropriate land without compensation if it is “just, equitable and in the public interest.”

    The government says the law aims to address apartheid’s past injustices, and that Trump’s accusations are lies, distortions and misinformation.

    According to Ramaphosa, the country was only receiving HIV/AIDS prevention funding from the US.

    After South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel alleging violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip, several countries joined the case including Nicaragua, Colombia, Cuba, Libya, Mexico, Spain, Belize and Turkiye.

    The International Criminal Court has separately issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Trump has also sanctioned the ICC for investing Israeli officials.

    READ: Israel will stay in south Lebanon, says military spokesperson

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. I

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

  • A Third of the Arctic’s Landmass is Now a Source of Carbon: Study

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

    The study was published as President Donald Trump was blasted for an executive order that one critic said shows he wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the “the world’s largest gas station.”

    For thousands of years, the land areas of the Arctic have served as a “carbon sink,” storing potential carbon emissions in the permafrost. But according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change Tuesday, more than 34% of the Arctic is now a source of carbon to the atmosphere, as permafrost melts and the Arctic becomes greener.

    “When emissions from fire were added, the percentage grew to 40%,” according to the Woodwell Climate Research Center, which led the international team that conducted the research.

    The study, which was first reported on by The Guardian, was released the day after President Donald Trump issued multiple presidential actions influencing the United States’ ability to confront the climate crisis, which is primarily caused by fossil fuel emissions, including one directly impacting resource extraction in Alaska, a section of which is within the Arctic Circle.

    Sue Natali, one of the researchers who worked on the study published in Nature Climate Change, told NPR in December (in reference to similar research) that the Arctic’s warming “is not an issue of what party you support.”

    “This is something that impacts everyone,” she said.

    As the permafrost—ground that remains frozen for two or more years—holds less carbon, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere that could “considerably exacerbate climate change,” according to the study.

    “There is a load of carbon in the Arctic soils. It’s close to half of the Earth’s soil carbon pool. That’s much more than there is in the atmosphere. There’s a huge potential reservoir that should ideally stay in the ground,” said Anna Virkkala, the lead author of the study, in an interview with The Guardian.

    The dire warning was released on the heels of Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing the Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” that calls for expedited “permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska,” as well as for the prioritization of “development of Alaska’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region.”

    The order also rolls back a number of Biden-era restrictions on drilling and extraction in Alaska, which included protecting areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas leasing.

    “Alaska is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, a trend that is wreaking havoc on communities, ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and ways of life that depend on healthy lands and waters,” said Carole Holley, managing attorney for the Alaska Office of the environmental group Earthjustice, in a statement Monday.

    “Earthjustice and its clients will not stand idly by while Trump once again forces a harmful industry-driven agenda on our state for political gain and the benefit of a wealthy few,” she added.

    Trump wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the “the world’s largest gas station,” said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, in a statement Monday. “Make no mistake, Trump’s rushed and sloppy actions today are an existential threat to these lands and waters, and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.”

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

    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
    Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.