FEDERAL BUDGET
As Republicans in Congress look for ways to slash spending, some
legislators are floating new taxes on college scholarships, an end to student
loan repayment plans and a big hike in taxes on university endowments. The ideas
affecting higher education are among many in circulation among House committees
that are exploring ways to cover the cost of extending and expanding tax cuts
passed in President Donald Trump’s first term.
Washington Post: NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding,
effective immediately.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
“The Trump administration this week eliminated much of the federal
government’s front line of defense against foreign interference in U.S.
elections,” (the Washington Post reports) [...] alarmed state election officials and election security experts, who
warned that safeguarding Americans from foreign disinformation campaigns will be
difficult if no one at the federal level is doing that work.”
Trump’s executive order reauthorizing sanctions against international
criminal court (ICC) personnel reflects a disgraceful effort to ensure that no
American, or citizen of an ally such as Israel, is ever investigated or
prosecuted.
US-Panama relationship was ‘very strong’. Then Trump upended the diplomatic
playing board
Quote of the Day February 9, 2025 at 10:51 am EST
“I don’t think
there’s any plans to invade Canada.” — National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, on
Meet the Press.
THE CULTURAL WORLD ACCORDING TO TRUMP
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Donald Trump says he is firing members of the board of trustees for
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and naming himself chairman.
He also indicated that he would be dictating programming at one of the nation’s
premier cultural institutions, specifically declaring that he would end events
featuring performers in drag.
ON THE DOMESTIC FRONT
Parents pull kids from childcare as immigration fears hit US’s
youngest
Childcare workers also nervous to go to jobs due to deportation threats as
Ice raids rampant in Trump era
MEANWHILE
Early Traders Had Speedy Profit on Trump Coin
February 9, 2025 at 7:06
am EST By Taegan Goddard
“The curious trade came a little past 9 p.m. on Jan. 17 — a $1,096,109 bet
less than two minutes after the soon-to-be president of the United States posted
on his social media account that his family had issued a cryptocurrency called
$Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“In those first minutes, a crypto
wallet with a unique identification code beginning 6QSc2Cx secured a giant load
of these new tokens — 5,971,750 of them — at the opening sale price of just 18
cents each, starting a surge in the $Trump price that would soon reach $75 per
token.”
“This early trader, whose identity is not known, walked away with
a two-day profit of as much as $109 million.”
