Tue, March 18, 2025

by: CounterPunch

Conservatives and Liberals Have a Common Enemy

Don't let the billionaires behind the curtain distract you while they steal your money and your freedom. George W. Bush believed that replacing theocratic

by: Gizmodo

MAGA's Tesla Embrace Means EV Politics Will Never Be the Same Again

President Donald Trump, the same man who once said that people promoting electric vehicles should "ROT IN HELL," bought his own EV this week. He showed off his new Tesla Model S — red, like the Make America Great Again hats — outside the White House on Tuesday,

by: Forbes

The Polls And Politics Of Inequality

Is inequality back as a political issue? Senator Bernie Sanders seems to think so. He is leading a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour that has drawn thousands of people.

by: Insider

I left my job at the White House and landed a role in the private sector. Here's my advice for federal workers making the switch.

After working in government for years, including as press secretary to the former First Lady, Hannah August pivoted to private sector work.

by: BBC

What does UK benefits overhaul mean for Scotland?

Significant reforms restricting some sickness and disability benefits will be announced at Westminster.

by: Snopes

Social Security falsely declared 82-year-old man dead, stopped benefits

Ned Johnson and his wife Pam confirmed the details of the story in a telephone interview and provided an update.

by: Newspoint

8th Pay Commission: Big Salary Boost for 1 Crore Government Employees and Pensioners!

Government Begins Preparations for 8th Pay Commission, Salary Hike Expected by 2026 There's great news for nearly 1 crore government employees and pensioners in India! The government has kickstarted the process for the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC),

by: CNN

Getting paid not to work: Federal probationary workers put on paid leave

Days after a Maryland federal judge ruled that terminated probationary workers must be temporarily reinstated, multiple federal agencies have told their staffers that they are complying with the decis
Mon, March 17, 2025

by: KGW

Federal workers plead for protection after Trump-era firings in Oregon town hall

Federal employees fired under President Donald Trump's administration called on Oregon's federal lawmakers to protect them during a town hall meeting.

by: MassLive

Mass. lawmakers plan to extend remote meeting rules

The latest extension, originally put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, could reach Gov. Maura Healey's desk by Thursday.

by: KSAT

Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president

An in tray of Olympic challenges spanning political, social, sporting and operational issues awaits the next International Olympic Committee president.

by: ArtNews

Trump Moves to Axe 7 Federal Agencies, Including Key Library and Media Funds

President Trump signed an executive order Friday to dismantle seven federal agencies, including the one overseeing Voice of America (VOA) and other government-funded media outlets. The order demands that agency heads eliminate all non-mandatory functions and scale back required ones to the legal minimum.

by: WVXU

Kentucky GOP pushes through anti-trans bills and Medicaid changes in 11th hour

As midnight and the governor's veto period approached Friday night, the Kentucky General Assembly pushed through several highly controversial bills, including one that cuts gender-affirming hormone treatments from Medicaid.

by: Yahoo

'Nothing to do with politics': How Hezbollah photos led to RI doctor's controversial deportation

Alawieh reportedly told customs officials that she followed the religious teachings, but not politics, of late Hezbollah leader.

by: WUNC

Why are North Carolina's judicial races partisan? Disputed high court race raises questions

Bitzer, author of Redistricting and Gerrymandering in North Carolina: Battlelines in the Tar Heel State, bolstered Gerry Cohen's contention that Democratic lawmakers in the 1990s wanted to stem the tide of GOP gains in judicial elections.

by: Newsweek

Chuck Schumer Cancels Book Tour Events Amid Funding Vote Backlash

Chuck Schumer has canceled book tour events this week because of security concerns amid a backlash over his support for Republicans in preventing a government shutdown last week. "Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer's book events are being rescheduled," a statement said.

by: RealClearPolitics

Democrats Should Have Shut Down the Government

I've been working hard getting our NCAA Tournament forecasts ready for Selection Sunday. So I'd barely been paying attention to the drama in the Senate, where Republicans were trying to gather votes for a budget resolution to avert a government shutdown by midnight tonight.

by: KOMO

Trump is fired up about the economy, immigration and the Russia/Ukraine war: Exclusive

President Donald Trump ran through his top priorities for the country, including immigration, the economy and the war in Russia and Ukraine, during a half hour

by: WBEZ

Amid backlash against Elon Musk and DOGE, Tesla owners say they're caught in the middle

Tesla owners have been victims of vandalism, rude behavior and assumptions about their politics since CEO Elon Musk joined the Trump administration and began slashing jobs.

by: Politico

Baraka taps into Dem dissatisfaction

Look at this CNN poll from Sunday. The Democratic Party's favorability rating is 29 percent. That's in part because just 63 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents give it positive ratings — down from 81 percent four years ago. Baraka has been successful at tapping into that sentiment, as has Steve Fulop.

by: PennLive

Trump signs order to gut staff at Voice of America, other US-funded media organizations

On Friday night, shortly after Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba.

by: KOSU

Gov. Kevin Stitt boasts about DOGE OK savings, lawmakers worry about staff cuts and redundancy

Gov. Kevin Stitt says action to reduce wasteful government spending is officially underway. Total savings are just shy of $1.2 million, per the new DOGE-OK website.

by: WXPR

WI's 'nonpartisan' Supreme Court race is anything but

University of Wisconsin-Madison mass communications professor Michael Wagner said the state's rule about justices making their own decisions about when to recuse themselves from cases makes the electi

by: dw

A look back: East Germany's first freely elected parliament

Germany's reunification.On March 18, 1990, the Christian Democratic Union emerged as the strongest party after the election for the East German parliament, the People's Chamber. Germany's reunification central to campaign.

by: IOL

Ideological Enforcement and the Rise and Fall of Trans Autocracy

Exploring the complex dynamics of LGBTQI+ rights, Gillian Schutte delves into how elite interests can co-opt social movements, transforming genuine struggles into tools for control.

by: Reuters

Trump says no exemptions on US steel and aluminum tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has no intention of creating exemptions on steel and aluminum tariffs and said reciprocal and sectoral tariffs will be imposed on April 2. Last month, Trump raised tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to a flat 25%,

by: Euronews

Brussels hosts Syrian foreign minister for talks on country's political and economic transition

The EU is hoping to rally further support for Syria's fragile transition, days after sectarian violence erupted in the country's coastal regions. View on euronews

by: Slate

How American Bureaucrats Became Public Enemy No. 1

Condon took the lectern at a meeting of the American Physical Society in Washington. If not as famous as his former boss at the Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Condon was held in nearly equal esteem by his scientific colleagues: A pioneering figure in nuclear physics,

by: KCUR

Kansas City is voting on a sales tax to fund a new jail. Here's what to know about Question 1

Kansas City's public safety sales tax has been used to support the police department and emergency and medical services. Mayor Quinton Lucas and other officials want voters to renew it so the city can use the money to build a new jail and rehabilitation center.

by: LBC

Council tax to rise for most people in England - see the full list of increases

Council tax is set to increase for a majority of households in England after all councils confirmed their plans.

by: KLCC

City of Bend sees surge of interest in Human Rights and Equity Commission

Central Oregon elected officials are taking opposite approaches to the Trump administration's targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

by: BBC

No-one mentions Reform UK spat, says councillor

The public spat between Nigel Farage and one of his sidelined MPs is a "Westminster bubble story" and no-one mentions it on the street, a Reform UK councillor has said. Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, was suspended from the party over allegations of making verbal threats and workplace bullying.

by: CNN

White House denies ignoring court order halting Venezuelan deportations

The White House is denying that it violated a judge's order Saturday to halt the deportations of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which, if it did occur, would take legal showdowns over the administration's claims of vast presidential power closer to the edge of a constitutional crisis.

by: briefly

What Julius Malema said about the budget speech and joining the GNU

The president of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, said he was willing to engage the African National Congress on the budget speech and GNU.
Sun, March 16, 2025

by: Newsweek

French Lawmaker Demands US Return Statue of Liberty

Center-left French lawmaker Raphael Glucksmann accused the U.S. of abandoning the values that made it a strong ally to Europe.

by: HuffPost

Rubio Refuses To Say If There's Evidence Justifying Mahmoud Khalil's Arrest

The secretary of state is the latest Trump official to avoid answering what specific terror-supporting actions the permanent resident took that justifies deportation.

by: KOIN

Lewis & Clark's Ben Gaskins gives outlook for President Trump's second term

The U.S. Presidency is one of the areas that Ben Gaskins pays close attention to. He is associate professor of political science at Lewis and Clark College and has a PhD from Florida State.

by: CNN

Flags, figurines and gold everywhere: Trump transforms the Oval Office into a gilded gallery

As President Donald Trump works to dramatically reshape the federal government, he is also in the middle of transforming another historic aspect of the presidency: the Oval Office.

by: Benzinga

Elon Musk's Tariff Concerns For Tesla And Space, Trade Tensions, And Government Shutdown Threats: This Week In Politics

As the week drew to a close, the business world was buzzing with a series of impactful stories. From Elon Musk's concerns over tariffs to escalating trade tensions and the looming threat of a government shutdown,

by: LiveLaw

IPR Law And Atrocities Act: Intersectionality Of Identity Politics And Knowledge Economy

On 24 January 2025, a seminal judgement on the scope of intellectual property law and its correlation with human rights and criminal law came from the Supreme Court. In the case titled

by: briefly

EFF's Julius Malema Willing To Engage ANC Over Budget Speech and Possibly Join GNU

The president of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, said he was willing to engage the African National Congress on the budget speech and GNU.

by: Politico

Trump's next agency cuts include US-backed global media, library and museum grants

On the list is the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

by: Euronews

Trump cuts off funding for pro-democracy media outlets VOA and RFERL

President Trump's administration has cut off funding for Voice of America, Radio Liberty and other pro-democracy media that broadcast to undemocratic states. View on euronews

by: Reuters

Protesters flood Belgrade in one of biggest anti-government rallies

More than 100,000 protesters descended on Serbia's capital Belgrade on Saturday in one of the largest rallies in decades, with students and workers facing riot police and supporters of President Aleksandar Vucic.

by: dw

Ukraine: US and Russia's top diplomats discuss 'next steps'

Indicating a thaw in US-Russia relations, Marco Rubio and Sergey Lavrov spoke about further efforts to ending the war in Ukraine as overnight aerial strikes continue. Follow DW for more.

by: UPI

U.S. military launches 'decisive and powerful' strikes against Houthis

President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered the U.S. military to begin military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

by: Alternet

'Down nearly 40 percent': Musk's far-right MAGA politics are sinking Tesla

Billionaire Elon Musk, head of Tesla, SpaceX and X.com and leader of the Department of Government Accountability (DOGE), has become a very polarizing figure on both the left and the right. Liberals and progressives are vehemently critical of the mass layoffs of federal government workers he is pushing via DOGE,

by: BBC

Call for dedicated minister as tourism costs rise

The head of a regional tourism industry body is calling for a dedicated minister to help the sector to grow and raise its profile within government. Pete Waters, executive director of Visit East of England, says tourism is worth £12bn pounds a year to the local economy and could grow very quickly with the right encouragement.

Council tax to rise for most people in England - see the full list of increases

Council tax is set to increase for a majority of households in England after all councils confirmed their plans.

The article from LBC discusses the impending council tax rises across the UK, highlighting the financial pressures faced by local councils due to inflation, increased service demands, and reduced government funding. It mentions that many councils are planning to increase council tax by the maximum allowed without a referendum, which is 4.99% for most councils. This increase is intended to help fund essential services like social care, waste collection, and libraries, amidst a backdrop of economic recovery post-COVID and rising costs. The article also touches on public reaction, with many residents expressing frustration over the hikes, especially during a cost of living crisis. Furthermore, it notes that some councils are at risk of issuing a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy, if they cannot balance their budgets. The piece includes comments from local government leaders and residents, illustrating the tension between necessary service funding and the burden on taxpayers.

Read the Full LBC Article at:
https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/uk-politics/council-tax-rises/


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