Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
What, we still can’t say Merry Christmas??!!:
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to root out “anti-Christian bias” in the U.S., announcing that he was forming a task force led by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the “targeting” of Christians.
Speaking at a pair of events in Washington surrounding the the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump said the task force would be directed to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI — terrible — and other agencies.”
Trump said Bondi would also work to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”
Second news item
Tucker Carlson outs himself, yet again, as a Putin cheerleader:
“The first trait of a dictator is that he is not elected,” Carlson exclaimed while mocking Morgan’s support of the Ukraine leader. “Zelensky is not elected. He has also banned a religious denomination, killed his political opponents, and banned a language group. To me, these all seem like traits of a dictatorship. The governments of the USA and the UK support this dictator.”
To which President Zelensky responded:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into Tucker Carlson for calling him a “dictator” who has banned free elections, telling Piers Morgan on Tuesday that the former Fox News star should “stop licking” Vladimir Putin’s “a**” and “stop working” for the Russian leader.
P.S. Tucker Carlson was seen entering the White House today. . .
Third news item
USAID will cut nearly all staff, reducing its workforce from over 10,000 employees to 290.
Trump and Musk have criticized USAID for being wasteful and supporting liberal causes.
USAID spent $32.5 billion in 2024, focusing on health and humanitarian aid.
Federal workers are suing to stop the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which faces cuts to nearly all of its over 10,000 staff by Friday.
The cuts would reduce employment numbers to 294, Randy Chester, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association at USAID, said in a press conference on Thursday announcing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and members of his administration that seeks injunctive relief to halt the cuts.
Sadly and frustratingly, “the stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.”
P.S. And for godsake, Republicans, get your USAID stories straight if you’re going to try and sell this to the American people because we’re all just rolling our eyes at the lunatic claims: USAID spent $15 million for condoms for the Taliban!! USAID spent $50 million for condoms in Gaza!! Or maybe it was $100 million like President Trump allegedly said!!
Fourth news item
Trump nominee invested in Chinese company accused of using slave labor, won’t divest:
Trump nominee Kash Patel disclosed he’s receiving $1 million-$5 million in shares of a Cayman Islands holding company directly tied to a Chinese corporation the Senate & a pro-Trump nonprofit accuse of “slave labor.” Patel says he won’t divest.
Patel’s disclosure says that his shares in the company—Elite Depot Ltd—would begin vesting Feb. 1, two days after his Senate confirmation hearing, will continue to vest through November, and that he won’t back out.
But Patel appears to have lied about or misrepresented the company on his disclosure, claiming under penalty of perjury it was a “fashion management company.” But it filed as an “equity holding company” in the Cayman Islands. Equity in what, you ask?
Fifth news item
A federal judge on Thursday paused the Trump administration’s “buyout” offer for federal employees hours before it was set to expire.
Multiple judges have now ordered freezes on President Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship.
Lawsuits involving Elon Musk’s takeover of federal agencies are just getting started, but they’re already resulting in some limits on the DOGE team.The big picture: The courts are one of the only real threats to slow or stop substantial parts of Trump’s agenda — and they’re doing it.
Sixth news item
Raise your hand if you’re surprised:
At least 12 people pardoned by President Donald Trump in his first and second terms—including two last week—have since been apprehended by the police.
. . .
Trump pardoned 238 people in his first term and has already pardoned more than 1,500 Capitol rioters following his reelection, as well as seven people involved in blockading a Michigan abortion clinic in 2020.
At least 10 people pardoned between 2016 to 2021, and two people pardoned last week, were charged again on new crimes after their presidential release from prison. A third Capitol rioter remains on the run from police due to a prior warrant.
Seventh news item
So essentially helping Putin:
Since Moscow began to systematically demolish Ukraine’s energy system with missiles and drones around October 2022, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has played a critical role in supporting Kyiv to rebuild its grid. It has committed at least $800 million to procure and deliver transformers, power cables, gas generators, and other hardware, nearly matching the $1 billion raised by Europe’s Ukrainian energy support fund. That work is now in jeopardy after US President Donald Trump abruptly froze aid payments, put thousands of USAID employees globally on leave, and is considering shutting the agency altogether.
As temperatures drop and massive attacks triggering blackouts persist, emergency energy-equipment deliveries are stuck in Poland, Western officials told Semafor — and hundreds of expats tasked with putting it to use are leaving Ukraine because they can’t function without USAID funding and oversight.
Eighth news item
Another anti-Putin Russian “accidentally” falls out window to his death:
A Russian singer who called Vladimir Putin an “idiot” and allegedly donated to the Ukrainian military has died after falling from the window of his 10th-floor apartment, according to reports.
Vadim Stroykin fell to his death during police searches over his alleged links to Ukraine, Russian media outlets said on Thursday.
He was facing up to 20 years in prison if charged and convicted of supporting a terrorist organisation for his alleged backing of the Ukrainian army, they said.
Mr Stroykin is said to have stepped into his kitchen for a glass of water before being found dead on the ground outside.
—Dana