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Smelt test: Trump order overrides California's fish-protecting rules to maximize water supply

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to allow federal agencies to override state policies to maximize water amid the Los Angeles wildfires.
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President Donald Trump is taking executive action to override California's "actively harmful" state and local environmental policies in an effort to maximize water supply in the aftermath of January's deadly wildfires.

In an executive order issued Sunday, Trump called on federal agencies to overrule California regulations on endangered species to create more water availability, expedite the removal of debris in the areas affected by the fires, and conduct investigations into the city of Los Angeles' use of federal grants.

Trump also asked the attorney general to launch an investigation into Los Angeles' "misuse" of federal preparedness grants. "These Federal preparedness grants shall not be used to support illegal aliens," the executive order reads.

The city was recently criticized for cutting the fire department budget by $17 million while hundreds of thousands of dollars were allocated to fund programs such as a "Gay Men’s Chorus" and housing for the transgender homeless.
 

WOW!!! SMFH..CLUELESS​

Trump makes moves to expand his power, sparking chaos and a possible constitutional crisis​


Just a little over a week into his second term, President Donald Trump took steps to maximize his power, sparking chaos and what critics contend is a constitutional crisis as he challenges the separation of powers that have defined American government for more than 200 years.

The new administration’s most provocative move came this week, as it announced it would temporarily halt federal payments to ensure they complied with Trump’s orders barring diversity programs. The technical-sounding directive had enormous immediate impact before it was blocked by a federal judge, potentially pulling trillions of dollars from police departments, domestic violence shelters, nutrition services and disaster relief programs that rely on federal grants. The administration on Wednesday rescinded the order.

Though the Republican administration denied Medicaid was affected, it acknowledged the online portal allowing states to file for reimbursement from the program was shut down for part of Tuesday in what it insisted was an error.

Legal experts noted the president is explicitly forbidden from cutting off spending for programs that Congress has approved. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to appropriate money and requires the executive to pay it out. A 50-year-old law known as the Impoundment Control Act makes that explicit by prohibiting the president from halting payments on grants or other programs approved by Congress.
“The thing that prevents the president from being an absolute monarch is Congress controls the power of the purse strings,” said Josh Chafetz, a law professor at Georgetown University, adding that even a temporary freeze violates the law. “It’s what guarantees there’s a check on the presidency.”



Democrats and other critics said the move was blatantly unconstitutional.

“What happened last night is the most direct assault on the authority of Congress, I believe, in the history of the United States,” Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said Tuesday.
While some Republicans were critical, most were supportive.

“I think he is testing the limits of his power, and I don’t think any of us are surprised by it,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican who is close with Trump.

At first blush, the Trump administration appeared to be following the correct procedures in identifying potential spending cuts, and the Impoundment Control Act outlines a procedure for how they could become permanent, said Rachel Snyderman, a former official at the Office of Management and Budget who is now at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Congress must eventually sign off on any cuts the administration wants to make, Snyderman said, though she noted that no president since Bill Clinton, a Democrat, has been successful in getting that done. Congress did not act on $14 billion in impoundment cuts Trump proposed during his prior term, she said.

“We have to see what the next steps are,” Snyderman said.

The attempt to halt grants came after Trump, who during the campaign pledged to be “a dictator on day one,” has taken a number of provocative moves to challenge legal constraints on his power. He fired the inspectors general of his Cabinet agencies without giving Congress the warning required by law, declared that there is an immigrant “invasion” despite low numbers of border crossings, is requiring loyalty pledges from new hires, challenged the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship and is moving career staff out of key positions at the Department of Justice to ensure his loyalists control investigations and prosecutions.
 
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Trump signs Laken Riley Act into law as first legislative victory in new administration

The Laken Riley Act directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants arrested or charged with theft-related crimes, or those accused of assaulting a police officer.
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President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law Wednesday, marking the first piece of legislation to become law in his second administration.

"This horrific atrocity should never have been allowed to happen," Trump told reporters Wednesday ahead of signing the legislation. "And as president, I'm fighting every single day to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again."

Riley's mother, Allyson Phillips, expressed her gratitude at the signing for everyone who pushed to advance the legislation.

"We also want to thank President Trump for the promises he made us," Phillips said. "He said he would secure our borders and that he would never forget about Laken. And he hasn't. He's a man of his word."
 
Pretty typical. Sad.

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Democrat politician berates police officer during traffic stop: 'Pulling over your boss'

Body camera footage captured a New Jersey official berating a police officer and claiming that he was the officer's boss in a profanity-laden exchange.
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A longtime New Jersey elected official was caught on body camera footage berating a police officer and spewing profanities during a routine traffic stop.

Democratic Paulsboro, New Jersey Councilman Theodore D. Holloway II was stopped for allegedly running a stop sign shortly after 10 a.m. on Jan. 4 at Penn Line Road and West Adams Street. The routine traffic stop deteriorated into a profanity-laden debate.

The councilmember proceeded to call Kille from his car.

"You actually pulled over an elected official," Holloway added before calling the chief. "You’re not pulling over a random. You’re pulling over your boss. I am literally your boss!"
 

‘It’s absurd’: Mexicans mock and shrug off Trump’s order to rename Gulf of Mexico​


By Michael Rios, CNN, and Verónica Calderón and Fidel Gutierrez, CNN en Español


When Google announced it was complying with US President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, many Mexicans responded with a laugh and a long, exhausted sigh.

At her daily press briefing on Tuesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum largely shrugged off Google’s move, noting that Trump’s order only applies to the US continental shelf, suggesting that her country would not abide by it.

“The Gulf of Mexico is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.

Another resident told CNN that “many Veracruzanos express annoyance, others confusion, and for many it is amusing … because people do not care that the name of the Gulf of Mexico will soon change, and they find it fun to play with the name change.”

Another Mexico City resident called Trump’s order “so childish,” telling CNN, “Obviously it is not right.”

Google said on Monday its move was in line with its “practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.” The company noted that the change would be applied only in the United States. Users in Mexico will continue to see the “Gulf of Mexico” on Google Maps. The rest of the world will see both names.


Trump, in his executive order last week, said he directed that the body of water be renamed the Gulf of America “in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our nation’s economy and its people.” The order calls for all federal government maps and documents to reflect the change.

He also ordered that the nation’s highest mountain, Denali, change its name back to Mount McKinley, in honor of President William McKinley. Google said it would also update the name of its maps when the Geographic Names Information System, a government database of names and location data, is updated.

Sheinbaum responded with ridicule at the time. At a press conference, she presented a 1607 map that labeled parts of North America as “Mexican America,” and dryly proposed that the gulf should be renamed as such.

She said: “It sounds nice, no?”

LOL...WHAT A CLOWN SHOW
 
movetheboat said:

‘It’s absurd’: Mexicans mock and shrug off Trump’s order to rename Gulf of Mexico​


By Michael Rios, CNN, and Verónica Calderón and Fidel Gutierrez, CNN en Español


When Google announced it was complying with US President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, many Mexicans responded with a laugh and a long, exhausted sigh.

At her daily press briefing on Tuesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum largely shrugged off Google’s move, noting that Trump’s order only applies to the US continental shelf, suggesting that her country would not abide by it.

“The Gulf of Mexico is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.

Another resident told CNN that “many Veracruzanos express annoyance, others confusion, and for many it is amusing … because people do not care that the name of the Gulf of Mexico will soon change, and they find it fun to play with the name change.”

Another Mexico City resident called Trump’s order “so childish,” telling CNN, “Obviously it is not right.”

Google said on Monday its move was in line with its “practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.” The company noted that the change would be applied only in the United States. Users in Mexico will continue to see the “Gulf of Mexico” on Google Maps. The rest of the world will see both names.


Trump, in his executive order last week, said he directed that the body of water be renamed the Gulf of America “in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our nation’s economy and its people.” The order calls for all federal government maps and documents to reflect the change.

He also ordered that the nation’s highest mountain, Denali, change its name back to Mount McKinley, in honor of President William McKinley. Google said it would also update the name of its maps when the Geographic Names Information System, a government database of names and location data, is updated.

Sheinbaum responded with ridicule at the time. At a press conference, she presented a 1607 map that labeled parts of North America as “Mexican America,” and dryly proposed that the gulf should be renamed as such.

She said: “It sounds nice, no?”

LOL...WHAT A CLOWN SHOW
Click to expand...
it's not just the Mexicans.....
 
longcast said:
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Trump signs Laken Riley Act into law as first legislative victory in new administration

The Laken Riley Act directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants arrested or charged with theft-related crimes, or those accused of assaulting a police officer.
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President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law Wednesday, marking the first piece of legislation to become law in his second administration.

"This horrific atrocity should never have been allowed to happen," Trump told reporters Wednesday ahead of signing the legislation. "And as president, I'm fighting every single day to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again."

Riley's mother, Allyson Phillips, expressed her gratitude at the signing for everyone who pushed to advance the legislation.

"We also want to thank President Trump for the promises he made us," Phillips said. "He said he would secure our borders and that he would never forget about Laken. And he hasn't. He's a man of his word."
Click to expand...

If the Biden administration had written this law he'd be making all illegal criminals take anger management classes.
 

‘It was leaked to us:’ Army in chaos over Trump orders​

Confusion around the new administration’s spending freezes and executive orders has caused disarray inside the Pentagon.

The Army rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s executive orders this week, sparking so much confusion that top officials directed a halt on new contracts and then walked it back — the latest muddled response to a series of chaotic actions by the White House.
 
JUST IN,,,,

White House response adds to confusion on federal funding freeze​

UPDATED JANUARY 29, 20254:01 PM ET

The Office of Management and Budget has rescinded its call for a pause on payments for federal grants and other programs, according to a copy of an agency memo shared by Democracy Forward, which led a legal challenge over the effort. But the White House said that only the original memo calling for the freeze had been rescinded — not its effort to review federal spending.

The new memo says the heads of executive departments and agencies should contact their general counsels "if you have questions about implementing the President's Executive Orders."

"Facing legal pressure from our clients and in the wake of a federal judge ruling in our case last evening, the Trump-Vance administration has abandoned OMB's ordered federal funding freeze," Democracy Forward said in a statement on Wednesday. "We are proud of our courageous clients — who represent communities across the nation — for going to court to stop the administration's unlawful actions."

But Karoline Leavitt, the White House's spokeswoman, told reporters that the move simply meant a rescinding of the original Monday directive.

Efforts to "end the egregious waste of federal funding" will continue, according to Leavitt, who said the OMB memo was rescinded "to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage."

After widespread confusion from the initial memo calling for a halt in federal assistance, pending review, the White House tried Tuesday to further clarify which programs would not be affected, later specifying that the halt would not impact Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for example.

This latest statement from the White House is likely to add to the confusion rather than clarify it. Leavitt said the administration expects that rescinding the memo will end the court case against it, but that executive orders on funding reviews issued by President Trump "remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments."

Wednesday's developments follow a federal judge's order Tuesday that temporarily blocked the effort to pause federal payments for grants and other programs.

Under the original OMB memo obtained by NPR, a temporary pause in funding was set to take effect Tuesday evening, but a senior administration official said that the pause could be as short as a day if an agency determined its programs were in compliance.
The official said the directive should not be interpreted as a full funding freeze. The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the internal memo, said that agencies are supposed to review their grants, loans and programs to ensure that they align with the new administration's priorities.

Administration officials have insisted that the impacts are misunderstood, but the actual text of the memo is far-reaching and the follow-up guidance has been criticized as vague. On Tuesday afternoon, the White House issued a fact sheet that said "the pause does not apply across-the-board" and that "any program that provides direct benefits to Americans" — like Social Security, Medicare and food stamps — "is explicitly excluded."

The memo quickly drew legal challenges on Tuesday.

The nonprofit organizations that won the temporary stay Tuesday had claimed in their filing that the memo "fails to explain the source of OMB's purported legal authority to gut every grant program in the federal government." The groups also said that the memo failed to consider the interests of grant recipients, "including those to whom money had already been promised."

Shortly after the decision by the federal judge on Tuesday, a group of attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a separate challenge in federal court.

Congressional reaction​

The order provided an early litmus test for just how willing Republicans in Congress would be to cede their power of the purse in deference to the leader of their party — even temporarily.

The order came late Monday night, as House Republicans were gathered at an annual conference in Trump's backyard at his Trump National Doral Golf Club.

As Democrats like Washington's Sen. Patty Murray denounced the measure as "brazen and illegal," most congressional Republicans who spoke about the memo said it was a means to an end to implement Trump's agenda, which is his prerogative.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called it "an application of common sense" and said it would "be harmless in the end."

At least one person at the retreat, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said a heads-up would have been helpful.

"How are we supposed to defend [it] if we don't know what's coming out and what it really means? And I've got constituents calling, so it's just part of life," he said.

Back on Capitol Hill, Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, stopped short of criticizing the memo on Tuesday, saying she was "surprised by its breadth." On Wednesday, she said she was pleased it was rescinded.

"While it is not unusual for incoming administrations to review federal programs and policies, this memo was overreaching and created unnecessary confusion and consternation," she said in a statement.

As chair of the committee, Collins will be one of the lawmakers directly responsible for negotiating federal spending under Trump.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., acknowledged that the move questions the authority of Congress, but said he wasn't concerned.

"[Trump's] testing his own authority," Cramer told reporters Tuesday. "He's getting some guidance that presidents have more authority than they'd traditionally used."

Cramer said he supports a pause to reevaluate spending, but acknowledged the memo represented a "major test of separation of powers."

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, put it more bluntly.

"For all of you who haven't noticed, this is a different day in Washington, D.C.," he told reporters Tuesday.

S H I T S H O W
 
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