Human Rights Experts: Meta's Trump-Friendly Policies Could Be 'Conduit' for 'Genocide'

"Rather than learning from its reckless contributions to mass violence in countries including Myanmar and Ethiopia, Meta is instead stripping away important protections that were aimed at preventing any recurrence of such harms."


Mark Zuckerberg (C), CEO of Meta, attends the inauguration ceremony where Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025.
(Photo: Shawn Thew / POOL / AFP

Olivia Rosane
Feb 17, 2025

COMMON DREAMS

An expert on technology and human rights and a survivor of the Rohingya genocide warned Monday that new policies adopted by social-media giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, could incite genocidal violence in the future.

On January 7, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to Meta policies that were widely interpreted as a bid to gain approval from the incoming Trump administration. These included the replacement of fact-checkers with a community notes system, relocating content moderators from California to Texas, and lifting bans on the criticisms of certain groups such as immigrants, women, and transgender individuals.

Zuckerberg touted the changes as an anti-censorship campaign, saying the company was trying to "get back to our roots around free expression" and arguing that "the recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward, once again, prioritizing speech."

"With Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs lining up (literally, in the case of the recent inauguration) behind the new administration's wide-ranging attacks on human rights, Meta shareholders need to step up and hold the company's leadership to account to prevent Meta from yet again becoming a conduit for mass violence, or even genocide."

However, Pat de Brún, head of Big Tech Accountability at Amnesty International, and Maung Sawyeddollah, the founder and executive director of the Rohingya Students' Network who himself fled violence from the Myanmar military in 2017, said the change in policies would make it even more likely that Facebook or Instagram posts would inflame violence against marginalized communities around the world. While Zuckerberg's announcement initially only applied to the U.S., the company has suggested it could make similar changes internationally as well.

"Rather than learning from its reckless contributions to mass violence in countries including Myanmar and Ethiopia, Meta is instead stripping away important protections that were aimed at preventing any recurrence of such harms," de Brún and Sawyeddollah wrote on the Amnesty International website. "In enacting these changes, Meta has effectively declared an open season for hate and harassment targeting its most vulnerable and at-risk people, including trans people, migrants, and refugees."

Past research has shown that Facebook's algorithms can promote hateful, false, or racially provocative content in an attempt to increase the amount of time users spend on the site and therefore the company's profits, sometimes with devastating consequences.

One example is what happened to the Rohingya, as de Brún and Sawyeddollah explained:
We have seen the horrific consequences of Meta's recklessness before. In 2017, Myanmar security forces undertook a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims. A United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Commission concluded in 2018 that Myanmar had committed genocide. In the years leading up to these attacks, Facebook had become an echo chamber of virulent anti-Rohingya hatred. The mass dissemination of dehumanizing anti-Rohingya content poured fuel on the fire of long-standing discrimination and helped to create an enabling environment for mass violence. In the absence of appropriate safeguards, Facebook's toxic algorithms intensified a storm of hatred against the Rohingya, which contributed to these atrocities. According to a report by the United Nations, Facebook was instrumental in the radicalization of local populations and the incitement of violence against the Rohingya.

In late January, Sawyeddollah—with the support of Amnesty International, the Open Society Justice Initiative, and Victim Advocates International—filed a whistleblower's complaint against Meta with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning Facebook's role in the Rohingya genocide.

The complaint argued that the company, then registered as Facebook, had known or at least "recklessly disregarded" since 2013 that its algorithm was encouraging the spread of anti-Rohingya hate speech and that its content moderation policies were not sufficient to address the issue. Despite this, it misrepresented the situation to both the SEC and investors in multiple filings.

Now, Sawyeddollah and de Brún are concerned that history could repeat itself unless shareholders and lawmakers take action to counter the power of the tech companies.

"With Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs lining up (literally, in the case of the recent inauguration) behind the new administration's wide-ranging attacks on human rights, Meta shareholders need to step up and hold the company's leadership to account to prevent Meta from yet again becoming a conduit for mass violence, or even genocide," they wrote. "Similarly, legislators and lawmakers in the U.S. must ensure that the SEC retains its neutrality, properly investigate legitimate complaints—such as the one we recently filed, and ensure those who abuse human rights face justice."

The human rights experts aren't the only ones concerned about Meta's new direction. Even employees are sounding the alarm.

"I really think this is a precursor for genocide," one former employee toldPlatformer when the new policies were first announced. "We've seen it happen. Real people's lives are actually going to be endangered. I'm just devastated."

'Tipping Point' Feared in Sudan as Atrocities Mount

"Now is the time to renew focus on the human rights crisis in Sudan and take all necessary measures to protect civilians and prevent further violations and abuses," said one U.N. official.


Displaced Sudanese children gather at a camp near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 11, 2025.
(Photo: Marwan Mohamed/AFP via Getty Images)

Julia Conley
Feb 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Warning of potential war crimes including summary executions and deliberate attacks on civilians in Sudan, the United Nations human rights office on Tuesday issued a report calling for an expanded arms embargo and other measures to protect people caught in the crossfire of nearly two years of civil war there.

Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued the report on the conflict between Sudanese government forces and the government's former allied militia, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has left 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said forces on both sides of the conflict have used sexual violence as a weapon of war, with at least 203 victims affected by at least 120 documented incidents.


"Cases are likely vastly underreported due to fear, stigma, and the collapse of medical and judicial institutions," said the OHCHR.

More than 12 million people have been forced from their homes as violence has targeted civilian areas and acute food insecurity has spread across the country. Famine was declared in several refugee camps and other areas late last year, with experts projecting it would spread across war-torn northern Darfur.

Nearly 25 million people in Sudan are now suffering from "acute" levels of hunger, according to the OHCHR.

The hunger crisis is spiraling as armed forces attack civilian infrastructure including healthcare facilities, schools, and markets, with hundreds of civilians killed in recent weeks. More than 150,000 people have been killed since the war began, and the U.N. documented more than 4,200 civilian killings last year—noting that the actual civilian death toll is likely far higher.

On Tuesday, the rights group Emergency Lawyers reported that more than 200 civilians, including children, were killed by the RSF in White Nile state over the past three days.

"The attacks included executions, kidnapping, forced disappearance, looting, and shooting those trying to escape," the group reported.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said the RSF had killed 433 people in the al-Gitaina area in White Nile, while the Preliminary Committee of Sudan Doctors' Trade Union said 300 people had been killed.

"The continued and deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as summary executions, sexual violence, and other violations and abuses, underscore the utter failure by both parties to respect the rules and principles of international humanitarian and human rights law," said Türk.

Li Fung, who leads the OHCHR office in Sudan, said in a video statement posted to social media that "the situation in Sudan has reached a dangerous tipping point."





"Now is the time to renew focus on the human rights crisis in Sudan and take all necessary measures to protect civilians and prevent further violations and abuses," said Fung.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the human rights office, said Tuesday's report calls for the arms embargo in place for Darfur to be expanded to all of Sudan, and for the entire country to be covered by the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

The international community, said Fung, "must stand with the people of Sudan."

West Texas measles outbreak climbs to 58, with four saying they were vaccinated

By Ayden Runnels, 

The Texas Tribune
Feb. 18, 2025

"West Texas measles outbreak climbs to 58, with four saying they were vaccinated" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

An outbreak of measles in West Texas has grown to 58 cases, including four patients who said they were vaccinated against the disease.

Ten more cases were added to the Department of State Health Services' count Tuesday, including for the first time the four who self-reported they were vaccinated against the disease, according to the agency’s latest update. A spokesperson with DSHS said health investigators are in the process of confirming whether the four were, in fact, vaccinated against measles and how many doses they may have received.

DSHS initially warned of two cases of measles in underage children in Gaines County in late January. The disease has since spread to four other counties and 58 people — most of whom are children — but 45 of the cases are still in Gaines County. Lubbock County, which reported a single case, is the largest county in which a case was reported.

Thirteen patients have been hospitalized, according to DSHS, and spokesperson Lara Anton said officials are still unsure what the initial source of exposure was. The outbreak is Texas’ largest in more than 30 years, and comes at a time where vaccination rates among children have dropped. Almost 97% of Texas kindergarteners were vaccinated against measles in 2019, compared to 94.3% in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite the increase in infections among those potentially vaccinated, a DSHS spokesperson said virologists do not currently see “any evidence” the measles virus present in the patients has mutated into a vaccine-resistant variant.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, commonly referred to as the MMR vaccine, is about 93% effective with one dose and 97% effective with two doses, according to the CDC. The first dose is usually administered to infants aged 12 to 15 months, while the second dose is given to kids between 4 and 6. Follow-up doses are not required if patients received them in their youth, and older eligible patients can be immunized at any period.

Measles’ symptoms include high fever, watery eyes, runny nose and rashes, which can be minor or full-body. Symptoms can become serious and even fatal, especially among children and those who are unvaccinated. One in five unvaccinated people who are infected are hospitalized, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

Part of what makes measles so infectious is the virus’ ability to stay active long after a patient has left, as the virus can stay active for up to two hours in the air and on surfaces, according to the World Health Organization.

Anton said the outbreak has especially affected the large Mennonite community in Gaines County. While the Mennonite Church does not forbid or disavow vaccinations, Anton said their communities tend to be undervaccinated, which drastically increases the likelihood of infection. Measles has a 90% infection rate among unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus, according to WHO.

Alongside the decrease in vaccination numbers, Texas lawmakers have introduced over 20 bills into the Legislature aimed at loosening vaccine requirements across the state with the support of vaccine-hesitant or anti-vaccine groups.

We can’t wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/18/texas-measles-outbreak-climbs/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

'This Is Why You Fight These Cowards': AOC Unmoved by Trump Border Czar's Threats

"The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "He can threaten me with jail and call names all he wants. He's got nothing else."


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. 
(Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Feb 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday dared Trump immigration czar Tom Homan to pursue an investigation against her after he attacked the New York Democrat in two television appearances and said he has asked the Justice Department to "look into" whether she violated the law by holding a webinar informing constituents of their rights.

"This is why you fight these cowards. The moment you stand up to them, they crumble," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media after Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), called her "the dumbest congresswoman ever elected to Congress" in an interview on the far-right network Newsmax.

The resort to a personal attack, said the New York Democrat, shows that "Homan has nothing."

"The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights," she added. "He can threaten me with jail and call names all he wants. He's got nothing else."

Less than an hour later, Ocasio-Cortez wrote "go ahead" in response to a separate interview in which Homan told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he has asked the deputy attorney general to examine whether the New York congresswoman's webinar amounted to teaching people "how to evade ICE arrest."

"Let the people see you for what you are," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in response.



Homan, whom President Donald Trump has tasked with spearheading the new administration's mass deportation efforts, has repeatedly attacked Ocasio-Cortez in recent days as the White House zeroes in on New York City with the help of disgraced Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, the beneficiary of an out-in-the-open quid pro quo arrangement that is now at the center of a legal and political controversy.

On her congressional website, Ocasio-Cortez—who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens—has a page devoted to informing her constituents of their legal rights when faced with ICE agents.

'Unconstitutional threat’: Trump border czar under fire over AOC DOJ request

Tom Homan walks back to the White House after a television interview at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/

David Badash

THE NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

February 17, 2025

Concerns are growing after President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, announced he has requested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate whether U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) violated federal law by hosting a webinar informing undocumented immigrants of their civil rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Calling Homan’s remarks “extremely disturbing,” civil rights attorney and longtime public defender Scott Hechinger wrote: “There is nothing more unconstitutional than threatening to punish someone for sharing information about the Constitution.”

And in a video, he added that what Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is doing is “nothing more than sharing rights, knowledge of rights, knowledge of the Constitution with her immigrant constituents.”

“There is nothing more constitutional than sharing education about the Constitution,” he said. And he declared that the “bottom line is that this is a tactic of fear. This is a tactic of terror.”



“They’re not only coming for our immigrant neighbors, they’re coming for all of us, and they’re coming for all of us for simply sharing what the Constitution says, because knowledge they know is power, and they want to maintain full and unadulterated power over all of us.”

“What they’re doing by even suggesting that AOC’s conduct or any of our conduct related to sharing rights is illegal in some way, is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s suppression of speech, it’s suppression of truth, and it’s not okay.”

Homan told Fox News on Monday, “I’ve asked DOJ, where where’s that line of impedment?” he said repeatedly, appearing to mean “impediment.”

“Now if someone stands in your way, prevents you from arresting somebody, put your hands on him, that’s impedment.”

“So I’ve simply Department of Justice, give us that line,” he said, claiming he finds it “disturbing” that “any member of Congress wants to educate people how they evade law enforcement.”

“What she in fact is doing is telling people, ‘don’t open your door,’ ‘hide in your home’, ‘don’t talk to ICE,'” Homan said. “We’re talking about people who are in the country illegally, committed a crime, they’re a public safety threat, they’ve been convicted of serious crime, and they’ve been ordered removed by federal judge. So it’s like AOC and others don’t want ICE to enforce the laws that they enacted.”

But ICE is not only arresting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of serious crime, they are also, according to reports, arresting Americans.

“American citizens, including citizens of Native tribal nations, have been pulled into the vast immigration operations ordered by President Donald Trump in accordance with his campaign vow to conduct mass deportations since Day 1,” NBC News reported late last month. “Those who are getting caught in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids are being targeted because of their race or skin color, according to witnesses.”

Homan’s repeated presence on Fox News may also indicate that his public relations efforts are taking precedence, since ICE has not been able to find enough undocumented immigrants to arrest to meet their alleged quotas.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to arrest higher numbers of immigrants and falling far short of the administration’s goals,” The Washington Post reported over the weekend. “ICE arrests have sagged so far this month, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security, declining from about 800 per day in late January after Trump took office to fewer than 600 during the first 13 days of February. The administration has stopped publishing daily numbers, and Trump officials said they will release the data on a monthly basis to conserve resources.”

Last week, Homan made essentially the same remarks, also on Fox News. He added, “I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now.”

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez quickly mocked him.



In a statement to Fox News AOC also said, “I am glad Mr. Homan is checking with the Department of Justice to familiarize himself with the limits of his agency’s authority in entering the homes of everyday Americans without a warrant. And I am proud to offer civil education to everyday Americans to ensure ICE’s compliance with the law, given the numerous reports of agents providing incorrect paperwork in their attempts to enter and search private homes.”

“Since Mr. Homan seems to be vaguely familiar with U.S. immigration law, we also remind him that according to Congressional statute, becoming undocumented in the United States is a civil offense and not a criminal one. I look forward to continuing our work in ensuring the safety of everyday New Yorkers while keeping families together.”



Watch the videos above or at the link.

"ICE does not have the right to enter your home without a valid warrant signed by a judge," reads a flyer produced by Ocasio-Cortez's office, a message that was echoed during last week's webinar.

Days after the webinar, Homan said in a Fox News appearance that he "sent an email" to the deputy attorney general asking whether Ocasio-Cortez is illegally "impeding our law enforcement efforts."

"Maybe he can learn to read," the New York Democrat wrote in response. "The Constitution would be a good place to start."

WEST COAST LONGSHORE UNION

Sanders Has a Message for Working-Class Trump Supporters: 'They're Going After You'

"Focus not on what Trump says, but on what he does," said the senator from Vermont.


U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) listens as Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of education, testifies during her confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on February 13, 2025.
(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Eloise Goldsmith
Feb 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has multiple messages for supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

For one, "focus not on what Trump says, but on what he does," Sanders said in a clip of an interview that he posted on the platform X on Tuesday. Sanders also said that supporting billionaire Elon Musk's attacks on the federal government is incompatible with being an "honest conservative" and believing in the U.S. Constitution.

"If you are an honest conservative [and] you believe in the Constitution of the United States, you do not believe that the richest guy in modern history can go around unilaterally cutting programs that were authorized by Congress," he said.



Musk, who was tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency by Trump, has helped carry out a broadside against multiple federal agencies with the aim of slashing spending and personnel. Efforts by DOGE to infiltrate federal agencies have been met with multiple lawsuits, though a federal judge on Tuesday decided not to block Musk and DOGE from accessing federal data systems at several executive branch agencies, in a blow to a legal effort brought by a group of Democratic state attorneys general.

What's more, Sanders said, Trump is going to "cut programs that you and your families need... Your families may not be able to get the healthcare that they need. Your mother may not be able to get into the nursing home that she has to get into because Medicaid pays a substantial part of that."

Last week, House Republicans unveiled a draft budget resolution on that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy, which if enacted would likely be offset by steep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and other programs.

In sum, "if you're a Trump supporter and you're a working-class person, understand that they're going after you," Sanders concluded.

As DeJoy Quits, Critics Fear GOP-Led Postal Board Will 'Find Someone Worse'

"The fact that Louis DeJoy still has a job is a failure of the Biden administration," said former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner.


U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is seen here in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on May 16, 2024.
(Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Feb 18, 2025

COMMON DREAMS

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is asking the United States Postal Service Board of Governors to begin selecting his successor, signaling the approaching end of his controversial tenure and stoking fears that, influenced by President Donald Trump—who says he's considering privatizing the federal agency—the Republican-dominated board will choose an even more contentious replacement.

"While there remains much critical work to be done to ensure that the Postal Service can be financially viable as we continue to serve the nation in our essential public service mission, I have decided it is time to start the process of identifying my successor and of preparing the Postal Service for this change," DeJoy said in a statement Tuesday.

"After four-and-a-half years leading one of America's greatest public institutions through dramatic change during unusual times, it is time for me to start thinking about the next phase of my life, while also ensuring that the Postal Service is fully prepared for the future," he added.

In response, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors Chair Amber McReynolds said that DeJoy "has steadfastly served the nation and the Postal Service over the past five years" and hailed "his enduring leadership and his tireless efforts to modernize the Postal Service and reverse decades of neglect."

However, DeJoy's tenure has been marred by allegations of criminal election obstruction, conflicts of interest, and other corruption. Critics also decried Delivering for America, a 10-year austerity plan that opponents said put the USPS on a fast track toward slower service, job cuts, and, ultimately, privatization. The plan also contains the currently delayed consolidation of USPS facilities, a policy opposed by 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union (APWU).

DeJoy—who had no previous USPS experience and came directly to the agency from the board of a privately owned competitor—was a major donor to Trump and the Republican National Committee before being installed as postmaster general in May 2020 by Trump-appointed members of the USPS Board of Governors.

While DeJoy detractors hoped that former President Joe Biden would fire the embattled postmaster general after winning the White House in 2020, he enjoyed a surprising second act during Biden's tenure. He embraced fleet electrification, although he was later accused of "dragging his feet" on the EV rollout and for his efforts to cut tens of thousands of jobs, consolidate operations, and hike customer prices. For example, the price of a first-class postage stamp was 55 cents when DeJoy entered office. Now it's 73 cents.



Trump's return has also brought back the specter of postal privatization. The Republican president has repeatedly said that his administration is considering privatization. During Trump's first term, his Office of Management and Budget recommended that the USPS—a constitutionally sanctioned agency with more than 600,000 employees—be privatized.

Pro-privatization GOP lawmakers have called on Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) to find ways to stem USPS financial shortcomings, which approached $10 billion last fiscal year, largely due to mandated pension contributions it is forced to pay each year. But the USPS also raked in $79.5 billion in revenue last year, and pro-privatizers are keen for a piece of that action.

"DOGE is a question of billionaire oligarchs trying to figure out how to get more money into their private profits. So all of this stuff about efficiency is really a cover for that, and that also carries over to those who want to privatize the Post Office," APWU president Mark Dimondstein told Mother Jones' Alex Nguyen in an interview published in the magazine's March-April edition.

"The Post Office takes in about $80 billion a year in revenue," Dimondstein added. "Those on the private side of the industry want their hands on that money because when it's in the public domain, they can't use it to generate private profits."

Some observers questioned the timing of DeJoy's planned departure, while others fear he "will be replaced by someone somehow undoubtedly even worse," as one social media commentator put it.

DeJoy's successor will be chosen by a USPS Board of Governors made up of three Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent member.

Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers—which is locked in a contract battle with USPS management—said Tuesday that "in its search for the next USPS leader, NALC urges the Board of Governors to seek out an individual with the necessary experience and expertise to lead the agency at this critical time."

"We need someone who values the workforce and is committed to preserving and improving universal service," the union added. "The Postal Service is older than our country and is mandated in the Constitution. The next postmaster general must guarantee that letter carriers can continue safely performing their constitutionally mandated service in every community nationwide."

Critics cheer Trump postmaster general’s resignation after 'turbulent five-year tenure'

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in 2020 (Wikimedia Commons)

Alex Henderson

February 18, 2025

ALTERNET

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's five-year association with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is coming to an end. CBS News' Kate Gibson, on Tuesday, February 18, reported that DeJoy is leaving the agency.

DeJoy, however, did not announce a departure date, and according to Gibson, he will remain as postmaster general until a replacement is chosen.

DeJoy was hired for that position in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term. Critics of DeJoy, who say that mail delivery in the United States suffered under his watch, hoped for his departure after Joe Biden became president in January 2021. But DeJoy maintained the postmaster general position throughout Biden's presidency.

DeJoy's resignation is inspiring plenty of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

Matt Stoller of EconomicLiberties.us commented, "Joe Biden was so lazy he never got rid of Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who gutted the Post Office. Now DeJoy is leaving so Trump can appoint a new Postmaster General, and if the Democrats win again, they can retain that guy too until the Post Office is a single clerk."

Democratic strategist Max Burns tweeted, "Ironically Donald Trump has now done what Joe Biden couldn't — getting rid of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy."

The Wall Street Journal noted that DeJoy's departure follows a "turbulent five-year tenure."

Journalist Liz Morton noted, "PMG Louis DeJoy informs Postal Service Governors it's time to find a successor as he looks to pass USPS Delivering For America torch to new leadership."

Producer Sharlette Hambrick remarked, "Stepping aside for privatization of the postal service."

X user Kathleen Hubbell wrote, "Probably going to give the post to the CEO of FedEx."

Another X user, Mary Argos, complained, "I just stood in line at our little post office for 30 minutes, and there were two people ahead of me. I had to leave before buying my stamps. There was a line out the door. One employee running the whole office!

'Outrageous and insulting': Trump cuts take aim at health care for 9/11 responders

Jennifer Shutt,

 States Newsroom
February 18, 2025 

A rose is pictured at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum pool where on September 11, 2001, the attacks on the World Trade Center happened, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators are raising questions about how staffing cuts to the World Trade Center Health Program will affect 9/11 first responders, survivors and residents affected by the terrorist attacks who now live throughout the country.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the New York Democrats wrote the Trump administration’s 20% cut in the number of federal workers who administer the program “will have a direct impact on the quality and accessibility of care provided to those who answered the call on 9/11 and are now sick with respiratory ailments, cancer and other conditions.”

“As you know, the WTCHP has provided critical screenings, services, research and medications to thousands of Americans at zero cost for 9/11-related health conditions and diseases,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wrote.

“Since the establishment of the WTCHP in 2011, the number of program enrollees has more than doubled from 61,000 to 132,000,” they added. “This growing population of first responders and survivors, which was just expanded by bipartisan legislation to cover additional 9/11 Military and Civilian responders to the Pentagon and Shanksville PA crash site, highlights the need for elevated staffing and funding levels, rather than a nonsensical and dangerous 20 percent staffing reduction which puts the effective functioning of this vital program at risk.”

Schumer and Gillibrand asked HHS to provide them with a briefing about how exactly the staffing cuts will impact administration of the program.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from States Newsroom.
Health program coverage

The World Trade Center Health Program was created in January 2011 after Congress voted to send then-President Barack Obama the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010.

Prior to that, Congress provided funding for health care and monitoring in a piecemeal fashion, according to a timeline from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The program, administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, has specific criteria for coverage, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

“Current categories of covered conditions include (1) acute traumatic injuries, (2) airway and digestive disorders, (3) cancers, (4) mental health conditions, and (5) musculoskeletal disorders (WTC responders only),” it states. “Members must receive WTCHP services through several Clinical Centers of Excellence in New York or through a nationwide provider network of certified clinics.”

‘Outrageous and insulting’

Schumer said in a written statement accompanying the letter that the Trump administration’s decision to fire staff administering the program as part of its effort to eliminate “government waste is outrageous and insulting.”

“These brutal cuts mean layoffs for staff who have dedicated their careers to caring for our 9/11 survivors,” Schumer wrote. “It means delayed care for our sick first responders. It is telling 9/11 survivors that after they risked everything to protect us, we can’t support their healthcare needs.

“I’m demanding HHS Secretary Kennedy immediately reverse these cuts and terminations of the people who provide the healthcare to those who answered the call of duty on 9/11 and now suffer from cancer, respiratory illness and more.”

Trump administration scrambles to rehire 'accidentally' fired bird flu experts: report

Matthew Chapman
February 18, 2025 
RAW STORY


'Chickens On Traditional Free Range Poultry Farm' [Shutterstock]

The Department of Agriculture is quickly flailing to rehire the bird flu experts they just "accidentally" fired, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

"Although several positions supporting [avian flu] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a spokesperson for the agency told the outlet. "USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions, and we are continuing to hire the workforce necessary to ensure the safety and adequate supply of food to fulfill our statutory mission."

President Donald Trump and his tech billionaire ally Elon Musk, via the Department of Government Efficiency task force, have moved to institute sweeping cutbacks to both public programs and the federal workforce, much of which is being challenged in litigation — but this is not the first time they accidentally dismissed critical federal workers.

For instance, they are similarly having to rehire officials from the National Nuclear Safety Administration and reportedly had difficulty because they were missing updated contact information for the terminated employees.

The H5N1 avian flu is a highly virulent and dangerous illness that can be transmitted from birds to humans. As of now, there are no documented cases of the virus transmitting from person to person, but it still poses a critical risk to the food supply.

The outbreak of the virus in chickens has caused dire shortages of eggs around the country, resulting in a surge in egg prices even as broader inflation trends have recently stabilized.

Judge Reinstates Federal Worker Appeals Board Chair Fired by Trump

The court found that Cathy Harris "is likely to show her termination as a member of the MSPB was unlawful."

A demonstrator holds a sign during the No Kings Day protest to oppose the Trump administration's policies including efforts to cut the federal workforce, at the Capitol Reflection Pool on February 17, 2025.

(Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Julia Conley
Feb 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS


In a case that could ultimately proceed to the U.S. Supreme Court as President Donald Trump attempts to take control of independent agencies across the government, a judge on Tuesday reinstated the chair of a board that hears appeals from federal employees after the president fired her last week.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that Cathy Harris must be reinstated as chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), an independent agency that reviews significant actions of the Office of Personnel Management, where Trump's billionaire backer, tech mogul Elon Musk, has recently seized troves of sensitive data.

Harris was serving a term that is not scheduled to end until March 2028.


The president is only allowed to remove leaders from the MSPB in cases of "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office," and Harris' lawyer argued that Trump, who fired the board chair in a one-sentence email from the Presidential Personnel Office, did not make the case that Harris needed to be fired.

Contreras wrote in his ruling granting Harris a temporary restraining order that the MSPB "falls within the scope of Humphrey's Executor," a 1935 Supreme Court ruling that established the precedent that Congress can require the president to show cause before firing board members at independent agencies.

"Congress has the power to specify that members of the MSPB may serve for a term of years, with the president empowered to remove those members only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office," Contreras wrote.

"The president did not indicate that any of these reasons drove his decision to terminate Harris," he continued. "The court thus concludes that Harris has demonstrated that she is likely to show her termination as a member of the MSPB was unlawful."

A federal judge last week also blocked Trump from firing Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC), which protects whistleblowers.




If the cases make their way to the Supreme Court, the court's right-wing majority could rule in favor of expanding presidential powers related to dismissing the heads of watchdog agencies.

Since the MSPB hears appeals from federal workers, Harris' reinstatement is also "particularly noteworthy given the recent mass firings of [federal employees] across government," said Eric Katz of Government Executive.


After granting Harris a temporary restraining order, Contreras ordered Harris to submit a motion for a preliminary injunction within five days and scheduled a hearing on the matter for March 3.

Ousted workers dispute claims DOGE saved Medicare and disease jobs from cuts: report

Sarah K. Burris
February 18, 2025
RAW STORY


The Trump administration's insistence that it's avoiding cutting certain healthcare workers — including those involved with disease response and Medicare — appears to be false, according to a report.

An anonymous official in the administration told Politico last week they were trying to be "thoughtful about critical functions that the government needs to perform."

But not so, laid-off workers told HuffPost.

Even those "keeping dangerous chemicals out of the food supply, and those on a project to reduce America’s notoriously high maternal mortality rate" are now gone, reported Jonathan Cohn.

Two HHS employees who work on Medicare were given dismissal notices. The sources told HuffPost "plenty more" were cut, including those hired to renegotiate drug prices for Medicare.

"But the idea that this effort is 'thoughtful' seems pretty dubious, given the broad, chaotic way firings have taken place ― and the fact that, as employees told HuffPost, many of the people who lost jobs were working on projects to reduce costs, to guard against fraud or to promote better health outcomes," wrote Cohen.

Trump claimed DOGE's goal was to reduce "waste, fraud, and abuse," but one worker told HuffPost that the cuts are not being made efficiently and will not help save taxpayer dollars.

“If you want to talk about saving money for taxpayers, we were the ones that were ensuring that it actually was budget neutral for the federal government,” that worker said.


Trump tasked Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative with finding what should be cut, resulting in an indiscriminate firing of whole offices.

At the Department of Energy, for example, as many as 350 National Nuclear Security Administration employees were laid off last week, leaving offices vacant for some of the most sensitive nuclear positions. The White House team wanted to bring them back once they realized their mistake, but couldn't find any contact information, NBC News said.

While the U.S. faces a bird flu outbreak, the administration fired those at the Department of Agriculture on Friday who were working on it. DOGE fired those tasked with disease detection, The Independent reported Monday. Like with the Department of Energy, the administration is now scrambling to find those workers to ask them to return.

Read the full list here.

CHAINSAW TRUMPMUSKSAURUS

CNN Made FOIA Request About DOGE—Only to Learn FOIA Staff Was Fired

"Definitely never seen this type of response to a FOIA request," quipped one journalist.

WHY NOT LAYOFFS INSTEAD OF FIRINGS?!

Eloise Goldsmith
Feb 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

When CNN put in a Freedom of Information Act request with the Office of Personnel Management for information related to security clearances for billionaire Elon Musk and other personnel at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency who have been allowed access to sensitive or classified government networks, the outlet got an unexpected response.

"Good luck with that, they just fired the whole privacy team," an OPM email address wrote back, according to Tuesday reporting from CNN. An OPM official told the outlet that the federal government's human resources agency did not layoff the entire privacy team, but did not comment further on the matter.

"Definitely never seen this type of response to a FOIA request," quipped CBS News journalist Jim LaPorta reacting to the news on X.

According to CNN, OPM's privacy team "is tasked with ensuring the agency's data privacy practices meet legal requirements and protect the trust of the public." Members of the agency's communications staff and employees who handle FOIA requests were also terminated, per CNN, which cited two unnamed sources.

Federal agencies are required to furnish information requested via FOIA unless the information falls within an exemption.

These firings at OPM, which is the chief human resources agency of the federal government, constitute "a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates," according to CNN, citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter."

OPM was one of the first federal agencies to be infiltrated by Musk's associates at the Department of Government Efficiency and has been at the forefront of the Trump administration's purge of federal workers.

Last month, OPM sent out the now infamous "Fork in the Road" memo, which offered a widely decried deferred resignation program for nearly all federal employees. The message resembled—including the verbatim wording of the subject line—an email that Musk sent Twitter employees in 2022, when he took over the social media platform now known as X.

CNN's coverage also noted that the move to fire members of OPM's privacy and communication teams echoes Musk's decision to fire the media relations department at Twitter.

On X, Washington Post video journalist Jorge Ribas wrote the word "'transparency'" in response to CNN's reporting about the FOIA request, in an apparent nod to Musk's assertion that DOGE is attempting to be transparent in carrying out its operations.

‘Devastated’: Kennedy Library suddenly closes amid mass government firings

Erik De La Garza
February 18, 2025

BOSTON, USA - OCTOBER 28: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, MA, USA is the presidential library and museum of the 35th president of the USA photographed on October 28, 2013.

 (Photo credit: Marcio Jose Bastos Silva / Shutterstock)

A flurry of mass firings at agencies across the federal government ushered in by President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency triggered the abrupt closure Tuesday of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

The Boston-based library began its first round of firings Thursday when leadership received an order from the National Archives informing them to terminate probationary employees, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III told Politico Tuesday.

Firings led to the closure on Tuesday afternoon.

“The library cannot function with that type of reduction,” a source with knowledge of the situation told Politico in a statement. A sign posted outside the institute and circulating throughout social media reads: “Due to the executive order, the JFK Library will be closed until further notice."

“The sudden dismissal of federal employees at the JFK Library forced the museum to close today,” the JFK Library Foundation said in a statement. “As the Foundation that supports the JFK Library, we are devastated by this news and will continue to support our colleagues and the Library."

The National Archives said the library “will be open tomorrow, and the National Archives staff looks forward to welcoming guests, visitors, and researchers,” according to Politico.

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of JFK, quickly used the shuttering of the library’s doors to pounce on the Trump administration.

“DOGE and the White House shut down the JFK Library,” Schlossberg said in a social media post Tuesday. “Hey, it’s Jack – I’m okay but our country is not. It’s under attack from its own government. They are using propaganda to steal the past away from the American people.”

He went on to say the goal of the mass firings and axing of government funds is not about “government efficiency, the workers who were fired today actually bring in revenue for the government.”

Schlossberg then pointed to a picture above him that he says was given to him by an astronaut.

“JFK sent a man to the moon, but you’d never know it if the JFK library wasn’t open and nobody was allowed to talk…it’s time to speak out and resist what’s happening,” he said. “If you’re not doing that you’re not helping the darkest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”

The news came after last week's unprecedented MAGA overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

'I Am Finally Free': Leonard Peltier Released From Prison After Nearly 50 Years

"They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!" said Peltier. "I am finally going home."


Leonard Peltier was released from a federal prison in Florida on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.
(Photo: Angel White Eyes / NDN Collective)

Julia Conley
Feb 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Indigenous rights and criminal justice reform advocates on Tuesday celebrated as Native American political activist Leonard Peltier, who has maintained his innocence for nearly 50 years since being sentenced to life in prison for the killing of two FBI agents, walked out of a high-security prison in Florida and headed home to North Dakota.

"Today I am finally free," said Peltier in a statement to the Native news outlet Indianz.com. "They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit! Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom. I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It's a good day today."

Advocates for Peltier, who is 80 years old, have long called for a presidential pardon and celebrated in January when former President Joe Biden announced he was commuting Peltier's sentence. He will serve out the rest of his sentence in home confinement.

Nick Tilsen, CEO of the advocacy group NDN Collective, noted that before his conviction Peltier was one of thousands of Indigenous children who were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools, where many suffered abuse.

"He hasn't really had a home since he was taken away to boarding school," Tilsen told The Associated Press. "So he is excited to be at home and paint and have grandkids running around."

"Leonard's step outside the prison walls today marks a step toward his long overdue freedom and a step toward reconciliation with Native Americans."

Peltier, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences after prosecutors accused him of shooting two FBI agents at point-blank range during a confrontation at the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota in 1975.

Peltier has always maintained that he did fire a gun during the confrontation, but from a distance and in self-defense. A witness who claimed that she saw Peltier shoot the agents later said she had been coerced into testifying and recanted her testimony.

Lynn Crooks, the federal chief prosecutor in the case, later admitted that the government "knew we hadn't proved" that Peltier was guilty.


The American Indian Movement, which fought for Native American treaty rights and tribal self-determination and in which Peltier was active, was subject to FBI surveillance and harassment when the shooting took place.

Kevin Sharp, an attorney and former federal judge who has represented Peltier and filed numerous clemency petitions for him, said the violent confrontation in 1975 was "unquestionably" a tragedy that was "only further compounded by the nearly 50 years of wrongful incarceration for Leonard Peltier."

"Misconduct by the government in the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Peltier has been a stain on our system of justice," said Sharp. "Leonard's step outside the prison walls today marks a step toward his long overdue freedom and a step toward reconciliation with Native Americans."

The AP reported that Peltier left USP Coleman in Sumterville, Florida in an SUV on Tuesday morning and didn't stop to speak to members of the press who were gathered outside.

Amnesty International, which has long campaigned for Peltier and considers him a political prisoner, applauded his release.

"Leonard Peltier's release is the right thing to do given the serious and ongoing human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial, his nearly 50 years behind bars, his health, and his age," Paul O'Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement. "While we welcome his release from prison, he should not be restricted to home confinement."

Tilsen said that Peltier's "wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere."


"Peltier's liberation is invaluable in and of itself," said Tilsen. "His release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom."