The Architect, Exposed

 

                                                                        (Freefloat, 2007)

Last night, an important new investigative piece landed from non-profit ProPublica, titled “Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy” (ProPublica).

As I pointed out recently in “A Moment for Muckrakers,“ one of the main bulwarks we have left to defend our democracy from the Trump-Musk predatory behavior is what remains of a free and honest press.

There is a place now for investigative reporters, including old and retired ones, to step up and begin to chip away at this runaway wreck of an administration. The ProPublica piece is a good start.

According to reporters Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester, a shady character named Peter Marocco is behind the destruction of USAID. He’s shown sympathies toward the white Christian nationalists, which are an important constituency for the Trump-Musk machine.

I urge everyone to read the piece and come to your own conclusions.

HEADLINES:

• Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy (ProPublica)

• Three Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian detainees freed after dispute threatened Gaza ceasefire (CNN)

• JD Vance stuns Munich conference with blistering attack on Europe’s leaders (Guardian)

• Germany's Scholz rebukes JD Vance over hate speech, far right (Reuters)

• Ukraine rejects initial Trump request for half its mineral wealth (WP)

• Zelenskyy: ‘The time has come’ for a European army (Politico)

• Internal documents show how DOGE planned DEI purge — and whom they want to fire next (WP)

• Trump administration begins mass firings across government (NBC)

• Nearly 10,000 fired as Trump and Musk step up government purge (Reuters)

• Trump and His Droids Go For the Jugular (Journal of the Plague Years)

• A payment increase in Social Security benefits is prepared thanks to the COLA (MSN)

• Trump’s federal firings imperil government services from cities to farm towns (WP)

• White House limits AP access to Oval Office, Air Force One indefinitely (The Hill)

• Trump Advancing New Apostolic Reformation’s Christian Nationalist Seven Mountains Mandate (Daily Kos)

• Urgent: Tell EPA NO on preemption (Pesticide Action Network)

• How Bob Dylan broke free (Economist)

• OpenAI Rejects Elon Musk’s Takeover Offer (WSJ)

• Meta’s next big bet may be humanoid robotics (TechCrunch)

• AI Is Infiltrating the U.S. Government (Foreign Policy)

• The Real Problem With DOGE’s AI Plans (Atlantic)

• Man With Fogged-Up Glasses Forced To Finish Soup Using Other Senses (The Onion)

LESLIE’s PICKS:

• Trump-Musk Scandal at USAID Takes Unnerving Turn With Vile Leaked Memo (TNR) 

• Macron calls emergency European summit on Trump, Polish minister says (Politico)

• Hegseth’s Bruising 72-Hour Debut Overseas (NYT)

• US Forest Service and National Park Service to fire thousands of workers (Guardian)

• Trump administration wants to un-fire nuclear safety workers but can’t figure out how to reach them (NBC)