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1,600 USAID staff in US fired, another 4,700 abroad put on paid leave as court lifts restraining order

REMARK: 'The New' Trump's America First policy and his determination to reduce wasteful expenditure with a view to turning the US administration more relevant and effective for the good of the people offers a study in contrast with India's destructive behemoth the crooked vote bank politicans nurture at the expense of 80 crores of the country's poor.

WASHINGTON, Feb 23: In a remarkable display of immense courage, the Trump adminstration on Sunday told the employees of the USAID (US Agency for International Development) posted abroad that they are placed on leave with effect from Monday and another 1,600 employees within the country that they are being fired. The number of full-time employees on paid administrative leave is 4,700.

The latest figure of those US-based being fired is 1,600 on USAID’s website as Trump-appointed deputy administrator Pete Marocco said he wants to keep 600 staff to execute the closure order. The memo to all was sent by Marocco.

The action follows the Federal court on Friday lifting a temporary restraining order he had issued on the foreign aid freeze and forced leave of staff ordered by Trump earlier this month. US District Judge Carl Nichols rejected the employees unions' plea to keep the Government plan on hold. Nichols is a Trump appointee. The court permission is a big boost for Trump-Musk plan for cost-cutting.

However, another judge on a different petition had last week ordered to de-freeze foreign aid.

USAID memo

“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” according to the notices sent to USAID workers.

"Concurrently, USAID is beginning to implement a Reduction-in-Force that will affect approximately 1,600 USAID personnel with duty stations in the United States," added the email that's now posted on USAID's website.

Wasteful expenditure

The move is in line with Trump's America First policy to slash the size of the Federal Government machinery to make it more efficient and reduce wasteful expenditure. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE ) headed by billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump associate, was created for the purpose soon after the President's inauguration. The DOGE cost-cutting across all federal agencies is continuing vigorously.

There have been several petitions against the Trump adminstration's move to disband USAID. The Government employees unions, who were the main petitioners, argued that the move to place the USAID employees on leave and wind up the agency was unconstitutional as the agency is a program funded by the Congress. The court had then paused the Government order. Trump had frozen all foreign aid programs, which he called wasteful expenditure.

The Trump-Musk plan includes shutting down the agency headquarters in Washington and closing the thousands of aid and development programs worldwide.

Meanwhile, hundreds of USAID contractors also received letters of termination.

The USAID was established in 1961.

Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, delivered a stirring eulogy in which she declared "I forgive him", Tyler Robinson, the man who killed her husband. “I choose forgiveness,” she said through tears, “not because it’s easy, but because Charlie believed in grace over vengeance.” Her words drew a standing ovation and left many in the crowd visibly moved.


The shooting has also sparked a wave of false alarms. On Thursday, the US Naval Academy and the University of Massachu-setts Boston were both locked down temporarily due to unfounded reports of active shooters, underscoring the climate of fear gripping the country.


The timing of the revocation has drawn public scrutiny. Harris is set to embark on a 15-city promotional tour for her forthcoming memoir, '107 Days', which chronicles her brief presidential campaign after Joe Biden's withdrawal and reflections on public service. The tour, beginning in mid-September, will bring Harris back in the national spotlight after months of relative quiet following her electoral defeat to Trump in 2024.


Trump invoked a clause in the Fed’s founding statute that allows him to remove members of the board with "cause" although the Fed is independent. But a "cause" can be arbitrary and challegeable in the court. Cook said Trump has no authority to sack her and she will not go. "I will continue to carry out my duties."


He was fired in 2019. The inquiry began in 2020 with the disclosure of national secrets in his scathing book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Trump had tried to stop its publication. After leaving office thereafter, he has been critical of Trump's policies. Even as the raid was on, on Friday, Bolton wrote: The "meetings (Ukraine) will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize."


Shouting profanities at the police officers deployed by Trump's executive order taking over the city police department, calling them “fascists” and yelling, “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!,” Sean Dunn hurled the wrapped footlong Subway sandwich he was holding at one officer, hitting him square in the chest, all the ingredients squirting out, before attempting to flee on foot.


Trump was accompanied by his architect who will add a ballroom to the White House. He was also inspecting the largescale decorations he has already done to the complex, including flagpoles in the north and the south lawns, which are in fact a security risk, being identifiables for the White House from afar aerially.(See footnote)


India is not currently listed, but the list may evolve. India’s B1/B2 overstay rate in 2023 was 1.29%, well below the threshold that triggered the bond for other countries. The initiative is part of President Trump’s renewed immigration enforcement strategy.


Under the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), in the first round 870 employees (4.8% of workforce) and in the second round 3,000 employees (16.4%), a total of 3,870 staff, will leave, reducing NASA’s civil servant headcount from 18,000 to 14,000, NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner said in a statement.


"... it was getting bigger and bigger, and we got it solved through trade. We said, you guys want to make a trade deal. We're not making a trade deal if you're going to be throwing around weapons..."


“These (NASA) employee terminations, like the layoffs of nuclear workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, bird flu workers at USDA, wildfire GIS workers at the Forest Service, and weather forecasters at NOAA, will only make America weaker,” George Whitesides, NASA’s former Chief of Staff, said in a post on X.


Like he threatened Elon Musk that he will be deported, Trump now threatens Mamdani, only to turn him into a national hero. In fact, Trump was incensed by Mamdani's pledge to stop ICE raids in the city if elected. Mamdani's childish, stupid, populist ideas of fare-free buses, rent freezes and city-owned grocery, in a city like New York, had already inflamed Trump.


The first shooting took place at Senator Hoffman's home in Champlin, where he and his wife suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Shortly after, the other shooting occurred at Representative Hortman’s residence in Brooklyn Park. Both Hortman and husband were killed. Political motive is suspected.


Higher tariffs will have a cascading effect, raising the costs of everything like housing, cars and household items in the US market. However, local steel makers are cheerful as they made huge gains in share prices following the announcement on May 30. Trump says it is intended to protect America’s national security and industries.


The Bill would extend corporate and individual tax cuts passed in 2017 during Trump's first term and reduce eligibility for health and food programs for the poor in order to reduce spending, but boosts spending on military and border security. It heads to the US Senate for a debate and vote.


Moody's has forecast that restoring the AAA rating would be possible if only Government revenues grow and spending cuts are effected. But, even as the downgrade has triggered a fiscal responsibility debate, the Republicans are negotiating a diametrically opposite package of tax cuts and higher spending which would further worsen the situation.


The drug manufacturers will be given a timeframe of 30 days to voluntarily implement the programme, failing which the administration will take unilateral actions to cut the prices.


Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold additional charge of National Security Adviser as an interim arrangement, Donald Trump said. Mike Waltz had come under scrutiny after mistakenly adding The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief to a Signal chat discussing military plans of attack on Houthis. He resigned.


As Trump stopped Federal funding and the returns from its private equity funds stakes is falling, Harvard, faced with a liquidity crunch, has stopped hiring, sold $750 million bonds and is selling $ 1 billion of its endowment stakes.


Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World's Great Universities or Colleges..." Harvard president Alan Garber reacted, refusing to “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”


Earlier, an orthodox Kennedy used to advocate Vitamin A treatment for measles and there were occasions when cases of measles admitted to hospitals had to be treated first for Vitamin A toxicity, according to BBC. Following the deaths of unvaccinated kids he has almost taken an about-turn because of public outcry.


During the Republican presidential campaign Kennedy had vowed to hollow out the CDC and the NIH, the top beacon for biomedical research around the world. To make the US healthcare more efficient! We don't know what prompted this idea. Now that he is the Health Secretary, although not the President, he is in charge to deliver what he pledged and the birth of DOGE has made matters easy for the anti-science conservative. Meanwhile, the threat from measles and bird flu is looming large and Kennedy has famously declared that vaccine is only a personal preference.

Footnote: Blindly chopping the staff is not the prescription to raise the efficiency bar! Scrapping a department that is not in one's domain is a different issue. Kennedy and his ilk can't be expected to see the real problems, let alone finding their solutions.


President Trump has accused the South African Government of racial discrimination and violence against the Whites. He had also accused South Africa of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Recently, the State Department had denied visa to its envoy and expelled him from the US.


Trump had been reckless making abnormal pronouncements bordering delusions of a megalomaniacal tyrant. Examples are he just out of the blue, without any occasion, and in quick succession, declares soon after he took office that America is going to annexe Canada, buy Greenland, take back Panama canal, deport all illegal immigrants (they may number millions), he will slash all Fed funds, ask millions of workers to resign, sell citizenship as gold cards, one bluff on Ukraine, another on Gaza and so on and so forth. Now he says he was joking!


The incident took place shortly after midnight at 17th and G Street NW, a block west of the White House near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.


Trump has suspended imposition of the 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods till April 2 when another set of a global regime of reciprocal tariffs will come into being.


French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday Paris will continue intelligence sharing with Ukraine although CIA Director John Ratcliffe had said on Wednesday the US was pausing suppoprt to Kyiv.


Reacting to Trump's move, Ukrainians said, Trump is "pushing us towards capitulation," accepting Russia's demands. "To stop aid now means to help Putin." The vengeance also dates back to his first term when Zelensky did not agree on a probe against Joe Biden.


REMARK: 'The New' Trump's America First policy and his determination to reduce wasteful expenditure with a view to turning the US administration more relevant and effective for the good of the people offers a study in contrast with India's destructive behemoth the crooked vote bank politicans nurture at the expense of 80 crores of the country's poor.


Trump sanctions impose visa restrictions on the ICC officials. But the US and Israel are not members of the court. The President issued the executive order on Thursday following Netanyahu's visit to Washington. The ICC said it "stands firmly" by its personnel.


Donald Trump downplayed China’s retaliatory tariffs and also said, "in no rush" to talk to Xi Jinping. He had started the trade war with China in 2018 during his first term when the deficit hit a record US$418 billion.


About Greenland he said its acquisition is an absolute necessity for purposes of security. Trump is also proposing merger of Canada in the USA as its 51st State.


There are growing rumblings of resentment inside the defence establishment over the nomination as large-scale changes are underway. Pete has stated the top brass at Pentagon will go.


"I mean honestly, we did so well, we had such a great...” And the former President cast doubt on the integrity of the coming election too.


Trump wants to be back in the White House “not to focus on your problems, but to focus on his,” Harris cautioned her countrymen in her 'Closing Argument' at the Ellipse.


A Saturday Night show had striking references to Harris' fall from a coconut tree and Trump's dance at an Oaks, Pennsylvania, town hall...


When Trump vowed a cruel, massive deportation of illegal migrants on his Day 1, Harris could instead propose a more positive plan of action to prevent illegal immigration once and for all with ...
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a Bill to ban Tik Tok. The Senate had passed it late Tuesday.


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