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Trump team asks three US senior career diplomats to resign, sources say

(Reuters) Aides to President-elect Donald Trump have asked three senior career diplomats who oversee the U.S. State Department's workforce and internal coordination to step down from their roles, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said, in a possible signal of deeper changes ahead for the diplomatic corps. The team overseeing the State Department's transition to the new administration, the Agency Review Team, has requested that Dereck Hogan, Marcia Bernicat and Alaina Teplitz leave their posts, the sources said.

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

President Biden sounds alarm about threats to U.S. in final address to the nation

sarchasm

Democrats and the Ruthless Aggression Era

(The Bulwark) Democrats in Washington are, as a matter of governing, irrelevant for the next year. They cannot pass or propose legislation. They cannot hold hearings. They are in no position to stop the Trump administration from doing whatever it wants. The job of the Democratic party, then is to get into position to get into position. That job comes in two parts. First: Do not help Republicans. Not in any way. On any issue. Republicans can’t pass a budget, or raise the debt ceiling? Tough luck. Do not provide them any bailout votes on any issue. Period, the end. Second: Make Donald Trump own every bad outcome that happens, anywhere in the world while paying special attention to areas where Republicans are particularly vulnerable.

demmiblue

House Dems tell Garland to do whatever it takes to release final report on Trump's classified docs

(Politico) House Judiciary Committee Democrats are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland, in his final days in office, to release special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling and concealment of classified documents — even if it means dropping criminal charges against his alleged accomplices. “It is essential that the American people and Congress understand how Mr. Trump mishandled our nation’s most sensitive classified information, especially because he will be sworn in as Commander-in-Chief and take leadership of our national security apparatus in just five days,” the Committee Democrats, led by write ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), wrote in a letter obtained by Politico.

KS Toronado

Thursday carTOONS

In It to Win It

Former Presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush won't attend Trump's inaugural lunch

(NBC News) Former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will not attend President-elect Donald Trump's traditional inaugural lunch. Obama received an invitation but declined to attend, according to a source familiar with the matter. Clinton also was invited but does not plan to attend, according to a second source familiar with the matter, while Bush's office said it was not tracking an invitation to the luncheon.

BumRushDaShow

Democrats press for long-delayed plaque to honor Jan. 6 victims, police heroes

(CBS News) President-elect Donald Trump won't have to walk beneath a plaque honoring Jan. 6 heroes when he takes the oath of office on the west front of the Capitol Monday. That's because more than four years after the Capitol riot, a new dispute is emerging over a plaque to honor the heroes and victims of the assault. A 2022 law passed by Congress, and signed by President Biden, required a plaque to be placed on the west front of the Capitol complex by March 2023. Republican House leaders, all of whom are closely aligned with Trump, have yet to erect the plaque, nor have they offered any timetable to do so.

Jose Garcia

California's Newsom will join GOP governors in raising flag for Trump inauguration

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom will join Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and some GOP governors around the country in directing U.S. flags be raised to full height on Inauguration Day. Newsom’s spokesperson Izzy Gardon confirmed Wednesday that the governor would temporarily direct the raising of flags at the state Capitol in Sacramento for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Flags at the U.S. Capitol and at statehouses around the country have been l ...

BumRushDaShow

Meta's pivot to the right sparks boycotts and a user exodus

Jan. 15, 2025, 2:52 PM EST After Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of changes that shifted the company and its policies to the right ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, some users are fleeing the company’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. In the barrage of changes made in recent weeks, the company ended its third-party fact-checking program in the United States and said it would pull back on content moderation around political discourse ...

C0RI0LANUS

Letter from President Joe Biden to the American People

Four years ago, we stood in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities. We were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. But we came together as Americans, and we braved through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure. Today, we have the strongest economy in the world and have created a record 16.6 million new jobs. Wages are up. Inflation continues to ...

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Latest Breaking News

Trump's billionaire Treasury chief nominee says minimum wage should stay at $7.25 per hour

9 min ago - January 16, 2025 1:42PM ET Billionaire businessman Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Treasury Department, argued that the federal minimum wage should remain at $7.25 an hour. During his confirmation hearing before the Sen ... (Raw Story)

Judgment in Trump's New York fraud case stands at $502 million ahead of inauguration

41 min ago - January 16, 2025 / 1:44 PM EST Quietly, just before the calendar turned for the new year, an already whopping debt tentatively owed by President-elect Donald Trump and co-defendants in his New York civil fraud case hit an eye-popping, interest-accumu ... (CBS News)

Michael Flynn asks Florida Supreme Court to hear defamation lawsuit over being called a 'Putin employee'

1 hr ago - Jan 16th, 2025, 10:57 am Michael Flynn is asking the Florida Supreme Court to review a defamation lawsuit he brought against political strategist and Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson, who accused the former national security adviser to Donald Tru ... (Law & Crime)

Georgia State Sen. Colton Moore arrested for attempting to enter House chambers after he was banned

1 hr ago - Georgia State Patrol officers arrested Republican Georgia State Sen. Colton Moore on Thursday for trying to enter the House chambers after House Speaker Jon Burns banned him from the floor. Multiple Georgia State Patrol officers and the doorkeeper of ... (WABE public radio)

Scammers Exploit California Wildfires, Posing as Fire Relief Services

1 hr ago - The recent California wildfires have not only devastated communities but have also become a lucrative event for cybercriminals. Exploiting the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the disaster, these malicious actors are employing sophisticated phishing ... (Hack Read)

Rudy Giuliani avoids trial by settling with Georgia election workers he defamed

2 hrs ago - Updated 2:27 PM EST, Thu January 16, 2025 CNN -- Rudy Giuliani has reached a settlement with two Georgia election workers that he defamed on their pursuit to collect on a $150 million debt, according to a court filing on Thursday. Giuliani was abou ... (CNN Politics)

House GOP's Budget Hawks Now Want A $4 Trillion Debt Limit Hike

2 hrs ago - Jan 16, 2025, 11:41 AM EST The House Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-right conservative and libertarian Republicans, wants a $4 trillion hike in the nation’s debt limit as part of the GOP’s big but still-developing tax and spending cut plan ... (Huff Post)

Vivek Ramaswamy emerges as a surprise prospect for Vance's old Senate seat

2 hrs ago - CLEVELAND — Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur positioned to help oversee President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to cut government spending, is in discussions about filling Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Senate seat in Ohio, two ... (NBC News)

David Lynch Dies: 'Twin Peaks', 'Blue Velvet', 'Elephant Man' & 'Eraserhead' Visionary Was 78

3 hrs ago - One of Hollywood’s worst weeks in just got worse. David Lynch, the four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Wild at Heart, The Elephant Man and others who also created the Showtime drama Twin Peaks, h ... (Deadline)

NAACP report finds Trump AG pick Pam Bondi 'undermined' voting rights

3 hrs ago - 01/16/25 12:34 PM ET Pam Bondi, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ), has a history of “undermining” voting rights, according to a report opposing Bondi from the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund. The rep ... (The Hill)

First to ABC: Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi won't attend Trump's inauguration

4 hrs ago - A spokesman did not disclose a reason why she is skipping the event. By Lauren Peller January 16, 2025, 9:53 AM ........... While she broke her hip on an international trip to Luxembourg late last year, Pelosi returned to the Capitol for both the ... (abc)

Major oil ports are threatened by rising sea levels

4 hrs ago - Published January 16, 2025 5:12AM (EST) According to a recent report by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), a worldwide group of scientists who study Earth’s frozen regions, the rapidly accelerating melting of all our ice is ... (Salon)

Exclusive: A.G. Garland withdraws federal execution drug protocol following review

4 hrs ago - Exclusive: A.G. Garland withdraws federal execution drug protocol following review "[T]here is significant uncertainty about whether the use of pentobarbital as a single-drug lethal injection for execution treats individuals humanely," Garland wrote. ... (Law Dork)

Some immigrants are already leaving the US in 'self-deportations' as Trump's threats loom

4 hrs ago - TRACY, Calif. (AP) — Michel Bérrios left the United States a few days before the new year, giving President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign for mass deportations a small victory before they even started. A former leader of a Nicaraguan ... (Associated Press)

Bob Uecker dies at 90: Iconic Brewers broadcaster called games for 54 years, starred in 'Major League'

4 hrs ago - Legendary broadcaster and former big-league player Bob Uecker died on Thursday at age 90, the Milwaukee Brewers announced. He had been battling small cell lung cancer since early 2023, his family revealed. "It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the p ... (CBS)

Jeff Bezos' New Glenn rocket reaches orbit on first test flight

4 hrs ago - Space Jeff Bezos' New Glenn rocket reaches orbit on first test flight All seven main engines fired at liftoff as the rocket blazed through the predawn sky to the delight of spectators lining nearby beaches. Blue Origin envisions six to eight New Glen ... (NBC News)

Gov. DeSantis says James Uthmeier will be next Attorney General

4 hrs ago - With Attorney General Ashley Moody headed to the U.S. Senate to replace Marco Rubio, who will be Secretary of State in the Donald Trump administration, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that his Chief of Staff will become the state’s new top cop. ... (Florida Politics)

Democrats press for long-delayed plaque to honor Jan. 6 victims, police heroes

5 hrs ago - January 15, 2025 / 11:59 PM EST President-elect Donald Trump won't have to walk beneath a plaque honoring Jan. 6 heroes when he takes the oath of office on the west front of the Capitol Monday. That's because more than four years after the Capitol r ... (CBS News)

DeSantis picks Florida attorney general to replace Marco Rubio in Senate

6 hrs ago - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said he would appoint Ashley Moody, his state’s attorney general, to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate, elevating a close ally. Moody, 49, was elected to the state attorney general’s office in 2018, the ... (Washington Post)

Former Presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush won't attend Trump's inaugural lunch

6 hrs ago - Wed, January 15, 2025 at 11:15 PM EST Former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will not attend President-elect Donald Trump's traditional inaugural lunch. Obama received an invitation but declined to attend, according to a sou ... (Yahoo! News/NBC News)