March 25, 2025 at 12:12 PM EDT
'Maximum chaos': Ex-FEMA official details pitfalls of Trump's disaster preparedness policy

Several days after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would "begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling" the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) -- and consider "maybe getting rid of FEMA altogether." Trump proposes shifting emergency response to individual states. Axios, in an article published on March 25, reported that Texas "could face greater financial burdens than most other states" if Trump "slashes federal resources for disaster relief."

March 25, 2025 at 12:06 PM EDT
When your regime is part mafia spoof, part constitutional crisis, things stop being funny

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight was a 1971 movie starring Robert DeNiro about a mafia family in New York that's led by a buffoon who surrounds himself with other incompetents and thus seems to always screw everything up. It's the perfect metaphor for the Trump administration. Over a period of several years, I did consulting work for one of the three-letter federal agencies that keeps our nation secure. It was back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and I was the CEO of an Atlanta advertising agency; this work involved how that federal department.

March 25, 2025 at 11:01 AM EDT
Why Trump's effect on retirement accounts are 'far more severe' than you realize: ex-Wall St. banker

Between draconian cuts to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) and fears that President Donald Trump's economic policies -- including steep new tariffs -- will cause 401k accounts to plummet in value, many older Americans have major concerns about their ability to retire. In an op-ed published by the New York Times on March 24, William D. Cohan -- a founding partner of Puck Media and former Wall Street banker -- warns older Americans that their retirement accounts may be in very bad shape in the months to come.

March 25, 2025 at 10:32 AM EDT
Trump shrugs off use of unsecured messaging app -- backs advisor at center of national security scandal

After initially claiming ignorance of a bombshell national security breach, President Donald Trump is now dismissing the allegedly potentially criminal use of an unsecured messaging app""and the possible sharing of classified information""by 18 top defense officials, calling it a "non-issue." He's also voicing support for his National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, who is at the center of the growing scandal. "Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man," the Commander-in-Chief told NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Garrett Haake, who reports that the President told him he still has confidence in Waltz.

March 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM EDT
'We're dead in the water': Disgusted' farmers are reeling from Trump's attacks

Jason Myers-Benner wants answers. Most of the time, the Virginia farmer feels "unsettled" by the lack of communication and clarity surrounding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's funding freeze. During the quieter moments he's spent staring at an empty inbox, awaiting word about his pending grant, he's felt "disgusted" by how the government has treated him and many of his peers. "It's a sort of powerlessness, that it doesn't feel like there's anything that I can do about it," said Myers-Benner. "Like, can you count on these systems or not?"

March 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM EDT
'So concerning': Expert explains why the group chat on Houthi attack plans are so worrying

A report in The Atlantic this week sent shockwaves through Washington and beyond: senior US officials shared military operations for a bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen in a Signal group chat that inadvertently included the magazine's editor. Military planning of this nature is highly classified, which is why some media outlets are characterising it as "an extraordinary breach of American national security intelligence".

March 25, 2025 at 3:25 AM EDT
1.5 million-year-old bone tools discovered in Africa rewrite the history of human evolution

The ancestors of humans started making tools about 3.3 million years ago. First they made them out of stone, then they switched to bone as a raw material. Until recently, the earliest clear evidence of bone tool making was from sites in Europe, dated to 400,000 years ago. But archaeologists have now found and dated bone tools in Tanzania that are a million years older. The tools are made from the bones of large animals like hippos and elephants, and have been deliberately shaped to make them useful for butchering large carcasses.

March 24, 2025 at 10:16 PM EDT
ICE wants to deport 21 year-old green card holder because of her 'protesting'

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently attempted to arrest and deport a 21 year-old legal permanent resident who has been in the United States since she was a child. She's now suing President Donald Trump's administration over the attempted arrest. The New York Times reported Monday that Yunseo Chung, whose family emigrated to the U.S. when she was seven years old, is suing Trump and other top administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others after federal agents raided her Columbia University dormitory on March 13. The lawsuit describes how ICE agents "executed search warrants" between 9 PM and 10 PM under the so-called "harboring" statute, looking for documents regarding her affiliation with Columbia, lease agreements and any immigration paperwork.

March 24, 2025 at 9:29 PM EDT
'This is an active CIA officer': Journalist reveals 'astonishing' detail in war plans chat

Earlier this month, a journalist was inadvertently included on a group text with more than a dozen Cabinet-level officials in President Donald Trump's administration. He's now carefully sharing some of the more scandalous revelations that were shared before he removed himself from the chat. On Monday, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote an article explaining how we was invited to a group text thread on the encrypted text messaging app Signal by White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. He recalled how the top national security officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe shared highly classified operational details about airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

March 24, 2025 at 7:43 PM EDT
'Do better': GOP panicking as Dem House candidate raises almost 20x more than Republican

One upcoming special election in a typically red district has some Republicans nervous about their prospects due to the latest fundraising numbers by the Democratic candidate. According to a Monday report in NBC News, Democrat Josh Weil is vastly out-raising Republican Randy Fine in the special election in Florida's 6th Congressional District. The network reported that Weil has brought in nearly $10 million for his campaign war chest, while Fine -- who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump -- has raised just $561,000.

March 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM EDT
'Fired on the spot': How Trump officials caught leaking war plans reacted to Clinton emails

Several high-profile officials in President Donald Trump's administration were recently caught in a scandal after text messages discussing classified war plans made their way to a journalist. Now, their past remarks over a different scandal involving classified information are coming to light. The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg wrote an article on Monday entitled: "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans," which set off a firestorm of criticism over the information security practices of the administration's senior-level officials. In the group text that inadvertently made its way to Goldberg, several Trump Cabinet officials like National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, are seen discussing details involving airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

March 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM EDT
'Who exactly is running the government?' Trump's war plans leak denial backfires

President Donald Trump's claim that he was unaware of a cabinet-level breach of classified information""an incident reportedly involving up to 18 top national security officials discussing sensitive details of a planned military strike""appears to have backfired, raising questions about his knowledge of the actions of his top officials, and, as Commander-in-Chief, his knowledge of U.S. national security and military operations.