Mayor Eric Adams
@NYCMayor
Today, we announced we will begin the process of closing down The Roosevelt Hotel’s Asylum Arrival Center and Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center.
https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/1894029917408403665
U.K. Unveils Sweeping Sanctions on Russia and Its Global Backers
The U.K. government on Monday announced more than 100 new sanctions targeting individuals and entities supporting Russia's war against Ukraine.
Described as the largest sanctions package since the early days of the war, the measures aim to disrupt "Russia's military machine, entities in third countries who support it and the fragile supply networks that it relies on," the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
London has imposed sanctions on 1,900 individuals and organizations linked to the Kremlin since February 2022. The latest sanctions expand that list to include arms producers and suppliers in Central Asia, Turkey, Thailand, India and China.
Among the newly sanctioned individuals is North Korea's Defense Minister No Kwang Chol, along with senior North Korean military officials accused of facilitating the deployment of more than 11,000 North Korean troops to the conflict.
"Today's action, the largest in almost three years, underscores the U.K.'s commitment to Ukraine," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. "Every military supply line disrupted, every rouble blocked, and every enabler of Putin's aggression exposed is a step towards a just and lasting peace."
For the first time, the U.K. is also using new powers to sanction foreign financial institutions accused of supporting Russia's war effort. The measures include sanctions against Kyrgyzstan-based OJSC Keremet Bank.
The package also targets 14 "new" kleptocrats, including Roman Trotsenko, described as one of Russia's wealthiest men.
In addition, 40 vessels linked to Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" were sanctioned, bringing the total number of blacklisted ships to 133. Western officials say Russia uses a network of hundreds of vessels to circumvent sanctions on its oil exports.
The U.K.'s announcement comes ahead of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Washington on Thursday, where he is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. Starmer has positioned himself as a potential mediator between Washington and Europe as the West debates Ukraine's future security and territorial guarantees.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/02/24/uk-unveils-sweeping-sanctions-on-russia-and-its-global-backers-a88141
Apple to open AI server factory in Texas as part of $500 billion U.S. investment
-Apple said it will work with partners to open a 250,000-square-foot AI server manufacturing facility in Houston.
-The new factory, which is slated to open in 2026, will form part of a $500 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years.
-In addition to the new Texas facility, Apple said it also plans to hire around 20,000 employees across the U.S. over the period.
Apple
plans to open a new factory for artificial intelligence servers in Texas as part of a $500 billion investment in the U.S., the company said Monday.
The U.S. technology giant said it would work with partners to launch a 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility in Houston to produce servers for Apple Intelligence, its AI personal assistant for iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
The new factory, which is slated to begin operations in 2026, will form part of a major investment plan Apple is committing to over the next four years. In addition to the new Texas facility, Apple said it also plans to hire around 20,000 new employees across the U.S.
Most of the new hires will be focused on research and development, or R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning, Apple said.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement Monday.
The move comes after Apple’s chief executive met with President Donald Trump last week.
The iPhone maker faces pressure from the Trump administration over where it chooses to manufacture its products. Apple assembles most of its products in China.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an order imposing long-threatened 10% tariffs on Chinese goods on top of existing tariffs of up to 25% levied during his first presidency.
Apple said its $500 billion investment plan will include work with suppliers across the U.S. and production of content for its Apple TV+ media streaming service in 20 states, as well as new hires and research and development spending.
Apple said it “remains one of the largest U.S. taxpayers, having paid more than $75 billion in U.S. taxes over the past five years, including $19 billion in 2024 alone.”
The tech giant also said it would double its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund to $10 billion from $5 billion currently, create a new manufacturing academy in Michigan, and grow its R&D investments in the U.S. to support cutting-edge fields such as silicon engineering.
Apple to open AI server factory in Texas as part of $500 billion U.S. investment
-Apple said it will work with partners to open a 250,000-square-foot AI server manufacturing facility in Houston.
-The new factory, which is slated to open in 2026, will form part of a $500 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years.
-In addition to the new Texas facility, Apple said it also plans to hire around 20,000 employees across the U.S. over the period.
Apple plans to open a new factory for artificial intelligence servers in Texas as part of a $500 billion investment in the U.S., the company said Monday.
The U.S. technology giant said it would work with partners to launch a 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility in Houston to produce servers for Apple Intelligence, its AI personal assistant for iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
The new factory, which is slated to begin operations in 2026, will form part of a major investment plan Apple is committing to over the next four years. In addition to the new Texas facility, Apple said it also plans to hire around 20,000 new employees across the U.S.
Most of the new hires will be focused on research and development, or R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning, Apple said.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement Monday.
The move comes after Apple’s chief executive met with President Donald Trump last week.
The iPhone maker faces pressure from the Trump administration over where it chooses to manufacture its products. Apple assembles most of its products in China.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an order imposing long-threatened 10% tariffs on Chinese goods on top of existing tariffs of up to 25% levied during his first presidency.
Apple said its $500 billion investment plan will include work with suppliers across the U.S. and production of content for its Apple TV+ media streaming service in 20 states, as well as new hires and research and development spending.
Apple said it “remains one of the largest U.S. taxpayers, having paid more than $75 billion in U.S. taxes over the past five years, including $19 billion in 2024 alone.”
The tech giant also said it would double its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund to $10 billion from $5 billion currently, create a new manufacturing academy in Michigan, and grow its R&D investments in the U.S. to support cutting-edge fields such as silicon engineering.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/24/apple-to-open-texas-ai-server-factory-in-500-billion-us-expansion.html
Trump, DOGE work to shutter CFPB, an agency created in response to the 2008 financial crisis
60 Minutes - Newsmakers
Trump, DOGE work to shutter CFPB, an agency created in response to the 2008 financial crisis
60-minutes
By Lesley Stahl
February 23, 2025 / 7:00 PM EST / CBS News
In his role overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Elon Musk posted on X yesterday an order to all federal workers to report what they got done last week. Failure to do so would be taken as a resignation. This bombshell was dropped as teams of DOGE workers continue to zero in on one agency after the next: the IRS, Social Security Administration, and others that store your personal information.
One agency the president wants to expunge is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB – created to shield Americans from financial fraud and shady lending practices. A DOGE team was given wide access to the bureau's computers. What are they looking for? Are they downloading files? Deleting them? We don't know.
Rohit Chopra was the director of the CFPB until February 1 when he was fired by President Trump. It was the first salvo against the bureau.
Lesley Stahl: Most people have never heard of the CFPB. Why were you targeted?
Rohit Chopra: Well that's what's so suspicious right now. It's a pretty small agency. But here's what's interesting – the companies that the CFPB oversees are actually some of the biggest and most powerful.
Lesley Stahl: Like what?
Rohit Chopra: The biggest Wall Street banks, the biggest credit card companies, the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley who are increasingly lurching into banking and finance.
Lesley Stahl: And these companies don't like it?
Rohit Chopra: Well, why would they?
Lesley Stahl: Right, why would they?
Rohit Chopra: They would want a situation where the agency is a lapdog rather than a watchdog.
The watchdog bureau – created by Congress - was the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (during CFPB protest): After the 2008 financial crash and the big bank bailout, Congress created the CFPB to protect people from getting swindled.
She's now leading the uphill fight to keep the bureau alive.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (during CFPB protest): For every person who wants to buy a home without getting scammed, this fight is your fight. For every student who wants to borrow money to go to school without getting defrauded, for every member of our military who doesn't want to get trapped by some sleazy pay-day lender, say it with me? This is your fight. Oh and for every American who doesn't want some weird Elon Musk suck-up searching through your personal, private data, this is your fight.
President Trump (in Oval Office): Pocahontas, Pocahontas, the fake, the faker.
With Sen. Warren's connection, the president and conservatives in general dismiss the agency as a seat of woke radicalism.
President Trump (in Oval Office): It was a bad group of people running it… that was a vicious group of people. They really destroyed a lot of people.
Reporter (in Oval Office): Can you confirm it's, your goal is to have it totally eliminated, the agency?
President Trump (in Oval Office): I would say yeah because we're trying to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse.
60 Minutes - Newsmakers
Trump, DOGE work to shutter CFPB, an agency created in response to the 2008 financial crisis
60-minutes
By Lesley Stahl
February 23, 2025 / 7:00 PM EST / CBS News
In his role overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Elon Musk posted on X yesterday an order to all federal workers to report what they got done last week. Failure to do so would be taken as a resignation. This bombshell was dropped as teams of DOGE workers continue to zero in on one agency after the next: the IRS, Social Security Administration, and others that store your personal information.
One agency the president wants to expunge is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB – created to shield Americans from financial fraud and shady lending practices. A DOGE team was given wide access to the bureau's computers. What are they looking for? Are they downloading files? Deleting them? We don't know.
Rohit Chopra was the director of the CFPB until February 1 when he was fired by President Trump. It was the first salvo against the bureau.
Lesley Stahl: Most people have never heard of the CFPB. Why were you targeted?
Rohit Chopra: Well that's what's so suspicious right now. It's a pretty small agency. But here's what's interesting – the companies that the CFPB oversees are actually some of the biggest and most powerful.
Lesley Stahl: Like what?
Rohit Chopra: The biggest Wall Street banks, the biggest credit card companies, the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley who are increasingly lurching into banking and finance.
Rohit Chopra
Rohit Chopra
60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl: And these companies don't like it?
Rohit Chopra: Well, why would they?
Lesley Stahl: Right, why would they?
Rohit Chopra: They would want a situation where the agency is a lapdog rather than a watchdog.
The watchdog bureau – created by Congress - was the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (during CFPB protest): After the 2008 financial crash and the big bank bailout, Congress created the CFPB to protect people from getting swindled.
She's now leading the uphill fight to keep the bureau alive.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (during CFPB protest): For every person who wants to buy a home without getting scammed, this fight is your fight. For every student who wants to borrow money to go to school without getting defrauded, for every member of our military who doesn't want to get trapped by some sleazy pay-day lender, say it with me? This is your fight. Oh and for every American who doesn't want some weird Elon Musk suck-up searching through your personal, private data, this is your fight.
President Trump (in Oval Office): Pocahontas, Pocahontas, the fake, the faker.
With Sen. Warren's connection, the president and conservatives in general dismiss the agency as a seat of woke radicalism.
President Trump (in Oval Office): It was a bad group of people running it… that was a vicious group of people. They really destroyed a lot of people.
Reporter (in Oval Office): Can you confirm it's, your goal is to have it totally eliminated, the agency?
President Trump (in Oval Office): I would say yeah because we're trying to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
60 Minutes
Getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse is a job the president handed to Elon Musk, and DOGE. But eliminating an agency that regulates tech companies creates a potential for conflicts of interest for Musk, especially given the secrecy of the project.
Elon Musk (in Oval office): I don't know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization. And then you can see: am I doing something that benefits one of my companies or not? It's totally obvious.
If there's one thing the DOGE operation is not, it's obvious or transparent. Take the small team that was given access to the bureau's computers. These are rare verified pictures of three team members entering the building on Friday, February 7.
Hanna Hickman: We heard from our colleagues that they're camped out in the basement. And they've got papers up on the windows to keep people from looking in. And they've been accessing data, certainly.
Hanna Hickman was an attorney here until a week and a half ago.
Lesley Stahl: Who are these people?
Hanna Hickman: Software engineers, college dropouts, certainly nobody with—
Lesley Stahl: College dropouts?
Hanna Hickman: That's what we've heard. I think if there was transparency people might feel more confident about what's happening.
Three hours after they swept in, Elon Musk posted this on X: "CFPB RIP" – rest in peace. That day, President Trump appointed Russell Vought, an ardent critic of the bureau, as its acting director, and he announced on X he would stop funding the agency: "the spigot… is now being turned off."
Then he sent employees an email telling them to "cease all" their work. The building was locked. Soon the firings started. Hanna Hickman and nearly 200 of her colleagues found out through a mass email.
President Trump (at summit in Miami): We virtually shut down the out of control CFPB, escorting radical left bureaucrats out of the building and locking the doors behind them.
Meanwhile, inside behind the locked doors, the team of young men were holed up in the basement, rarely leaving except reportedly to pick up a lunch order from Chipotle.
According to several sources, they were granted unprecedented access to the CFPB data systems, including to sensitive bank records – access that requires training and background checks.
Lesley Stahl: Were you vetted?
Hanna Hickman: Of course.
Lesley Stahl: How were you vetted?
Hanna Hickman: Every employee at the Bureau has to go through a background check before we're hired. It includes a detailed run of our background, fingerprints, talking to neighbors and friends to make sure we are who we say we are. It's a process that takes at least a couple of months before you're hired.
The CFPB's chief operating officer gave a sworn declaration saying the young workers "…were provided privacy and cyber security training…" and signed an NDA. But in response, the chief technologist, who just resigned, wrote, "…those trainings alone… would not be sufficient…" and there's "…no mention of doge employees undergoing a background investigation…"
Lorelei Salas: I'm worried about your account number, your social security number being out there.
Lorelei Salas and Eric Halperin are the highest-ranking civil servants to leave the bureau. After they were placed on administrative leave, both resigned.
Eric Halperin was in charge of all the bureau's lawsuits on behalf of defrauded consumers. Both say they're horrified by the idea of people rummaging through the bureau's confidential files.
Eric Halperin: So we do have information – both proprietary business information, trade secret information and personal identifiable information for consumers that we collected in the course of our work that was necessary to do our work. If you're a company, you want that info to stay private and to stay confidential.
Lorelei Salas ran a team of nearly 600 inspectors who examined the books of banks and other financial institutions.
Lorelei Salas: I think that companies that gave us their financial information and even trade secrets, they will probably be harmed if that information fell into the hands of competitors. So to give you an example, in the last few years, companies have begun using artificial intelligence to create models that then make decisions about whether you get a loan or not.
Lesley Stahl: And that's in the computer?
Lorelei Salas: It's in our systems.
Lesley Stahl: The algorithms are in the system?
Lorelei Salas: Yeah.
Lesley Stahl: So what the computers have in some cases are the secret sauce that a competitor could gain a lot from knowing.
Lorelei Salas: That is true.
Lesley Stahl: I'm sure that American companies, when they begin to think about this–
Lorelei Salas: They will not be pleased.
In recent years, the bureau started aggressively policing digital banking companies and products. This is potentially relevant to Elon Musk because he announced that he's starting a new digital payment platform: X Money.
Lesley Stahl: Does Elon Musk stand to gain something from these files?
Hanna Hickman: Absolutely. His company X is moving into the digital payment space. And so he's potentially able to gain access to files of his competitors like Venmo and Cash App. He is able to take out the regulator that would have been the watchdog for his company. You know I guess it's easier to fire us than it is to beat us in court.
A senior White House official told us that Elon Musk is not in the inner workings of the DOGE operation at CFPB; the young men take their orders from the acting director of the bureau. When we asked what specifically they were doing, the answer was: no comment.
Lesley Stahl: Should this agency even exist?
Norbert Michel: No, we didn't need it–
Lesley Stahl: No?
Norbert Michel: No. We didn't need another federal agency in the first place.
Norbert Michel of the libertarian Cato Institute agrees with the president that there are too many financial regulatory agencies.
Norbert Michel: If you look at any large financial institution in the United States, you have roughly 12 federal regulators that can come in and examine it. Why do we need that? Consumer protection existed long before we had a CFPB. And if we got rid of it and put everything back the– to the way that it was, we would still have consumer protection.
Lesley Stahl: But this grew out of the 2008 financial crisis when people felt that consumers weren't being protected. Banks were protected, but the little people weren't. If they abolish this Consumer Bureau– where would the functions go?
Norbert Michel: Well, the most sensible thing to do then would probably be put them all at the Federal Trade Commission, because that is the main federal consumer protection agency. Their motto is literally on the website, "Protecting America's Consumers."
The bureau has recovered over $20 billion for consumers, but late last week, its dismantling, its disappearing act, was there for all to see as workers took down the building's signage. A federal judge imposed a temporary restraining order to stop budget cuts at the bureau, and any more firings. A hearing is set for March 3. The order does not cover those already fired like Hanna Hickman.
Lesley Stahl: No severance?
Hanna Hickman: No. Under the normal regulations governing a government layoff we should receive at least 60 days' notice, severance, benefits to help us transition into a new role. It's shocking. There are protections for civil servants.
Lesley Stahl: Do you have any recourse?
Hanna Hickman: I hope so. And our union is fighting back already. We are looking for all legal avenues to pursue this. At the end of the day, the administration thinks they can get away with it because they don't think we have any recourse. So I'm hoping to prove them wrong.
As of now, CFPB investigations and nearly all lawsuits are frozen. And former director Rohit Chopra says no refund checks to defrauded consumers are going out.
Lesley Stahl: Right now, would you say that the Bureau exists?
Rohit Chopra: I have no idea right now. All I know is that a lot of employees are being told to stay silent and stay home.
Lesley Stahl: Key question: where's Congress?
Rohit Chopra: Well, Congress is the one who makes the laws. You can't just say, "We're gonna pass these laws to protect consumers," and then act like the agency is a dead fish. That's not how the Constitution works.
Lesley Stahl: Can't the president shut down an agency in the executive branch because, I don't know, he thinks it's redundant thinks it costs too much money, whatever reason?
Rohit Chopra: Generally speaking, agencies are established by laws. And eliminating an agency is also done through Congress. All I can say is that the uncertainty around this is a huge signal to the industry that maybe they can get away with cheating people.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-doge-cfpb-60-minutes-transcript/
Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
🚨 BREAKING: Maine voters are now turning on their governor, Janet Mills (D), as she publicly challenges Trump's executive order banning men in women's sports.
🟢 Approve: 48% (-1)
🔴 Disapprove: 49%
Mills was elected by 13 points in 2022. Now, she's underwater.
Earlier in February, Maine said it will disobey the order and still allow transgenders - males - to compete in female sports.
The poll's field date, by UNH, was right before this interaction Mills had with Trump last week, where she vowed to Trump "see you in court."
TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?
JANET MILLS: I'm complying with state and federal laws.
TRUMP: WE are the federal law. You better do it, because you're not gonna get any federal funding if you don't… your population also doesn't want men in women's sports. You better comply, or you're not getting any federal funding.
MILLS: See you in court.
TRUMP: Good. See you in court, that should be a real easy one. Enjoy your life after, governor, I don't think you'll be in elected office.
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1894050709714133156
Trump Wants Canada’s Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Built ‘Now’
(Bloomberg) – US President Donald Trump said Monday he wanted to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline, even though its developer has already walked away from the project.
“The company building the Keystone XL Pipeline that was viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden Administration should come back to America, and get it built - NOW!” Trump said in a post on his social media network. Trump said his administration is “very different” from the last one and promised “Easy approvals, almost immediate start!”
“If not them, perhaps another Pipeline Company,” Trump added. “We want the Keystone XL Pipeline built!”
The multibillion-dollar 1,200-mile (1,931 kilometer) project, which was meant to carry Canadian oil sands crude to Nebraska, became a litmus test for environmentalism under former President Barack Obama, who rejected it in 2015. It’s been subject to political jockeying ever since.
Trump tried to revive Keystone XL during his first term, but former President Joe Biden revoked a permit allowing the pipeline to cross the US-Canada border hours after taking office in January 2021.
South Bow Corp., the oil pipeline business spun off from TC Energy Corp., which pursued Keystone XL for more than a decade, has indicated it’s not interested in a revival. Parts of the system — which runs through Alberta, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska — have already been dismantled. Key permits have expired.
South Bow has “moved on from the Keystone XL project,” a spokeswoman said Monday night.
“We continue to engage with customers to develop options to increase Canadian oil supplies to meet growing US demand,” South Bow’s Katie Stavinoha said by email.
Trump has already revoked a Biden administration executive order that tossed out a March 2019 permit for the pipeline, at least theoretically putting it back in play. But Canadians are still facing down the threat of new tariffs on their exports to the US, including a 10% levy on crude. Trump has delayed the tariffs until early March.
The president has previously made it clear he believes the US can rely on its own oil and gas supplies, without the need for resources from its North American neighbors.
Trump’s comments mark just the latest bid by the president to breathe new life into stalled energy projects. Earlier this month, he vowed to complete the Constitution pipeline meant to transport natural gas to New York, even though its developer scrapped the venture in 2020.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt linked the two pipelines in an interview Monday with Fox News host Sean Hannity, as she emphasized Trump’s desire to push for more energy infrastructure.
“We want the Keystone XL pipeline built,” she said. “He wants a pipeline built in the northeast in New England, where I am from, where we have some of the highest electricity and utility rates in the country.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-canada-keystone-xl-030654765.html
Joe Biden's Staff "All Hated Kamala Harris … She Was the Joy Reid of the White House"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN4KmNKRCfo
Mike Sington
@MikeSington
“My show had value.” Joy Reid gets emotional speaking about her unexpected firing from MSNBC. Says she’s “not sorry” for going “hard” at Trump. (Video: Win With Black Women)
https://x.com/MikeSington/status/1894116208212877703
Wipe your own tears, Joyless Reeeee.