JUST ONE CALL: President Trump got on the phone yesterday with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in his first effort since returning to the White House to end the Russian war on Ukraine. Despite Trump’s many campaign promises that he could end the war with a single phone call, the war goes on this morning.

  “We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.” 

  Deaths are actually in the hundreds of thousands … not good … but not millions.

  Where Ukraine factors into the discussions is yet to be revealed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, said that it was an “unrealistic” objective for Ukraine to restore its borders to what they were before 2014, when Russia took Crimea. The administration has not said whether they would demand for the borders to be re-set to what they were before Russia invaded three years ago.

HERE COMES THE JUDGE: The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld the ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island that stops the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze. Following that decision, Judge John McConnell reiterated his restraining order denying the Trump administration’s request to continue withholding “FEMA and other funding.”

  The courts have virtually no power to enforce an order like that. So the question is whether the administration will follow judicial orders. If not, it brews up a constitutional crisis.

  The administration blames “activist” and “liberal” judges from blocking their agenda. “The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where District Court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters yesterday.

  Leavitt called the judicial orders a “continuation of the weaponization of justice” against President Trump.

  However, in a win for Trump, A federal judge on Wednesday lifted his pause on the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program. 

THE BIG BUYOUT: President Trump moved to close the federal employee buyout program following the decision by a federal judge to lift the hold he had imposed. Workers were offered a deal to resign and be paid through September.

  About 75,000 federal employees accepted the deal.

LANGUAGE POLICING: On the theory that if you can control language you control the argument, the Trump administration continues to block Associated Press reporters from White House pool events because the organization’s style book does not recognize the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America following Trump’s executive order. 

  Yesterday the AP was blocked from attending the swearing-in of Tulsi Gabbard. The AP was blocked from two events on Tuesday.

  The AP guidance says that Trump’s name change applies only in the US and that, “As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.” 

  Both the NY times and Washington Post have reported that the administration is policing federal agencies for terminology at odds with directives from above. The Post reported that, for instance, employees at  the National Science Foundation are examining projects to check for a list of keywords “to determine if they include activities that violate executive orders” issued by Trump. Words that trigger reviews include ‘trauma,’ ‘barriers,’ ‘equity’ and “excluded.'”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed and sworn in yesterday as director of national intelligence despite have no professional experience in the field. In a statement following her swearing in, Gabbard said, “Unfortunately, trust in the intelligence community is at an all-time low,” and that, “President Trump’s reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to end the weaponization and politicization of the IC.”

  As if the public knows anything at all about the spy world. 

— Pam Bondi held her first press conference as attorney general. Flanked by federal agents in raid jackets, she said, “This is a new DOJ and we are taking steps to protect American citizens.” 

  She announced that DOJ has sued New York State over its immigration policy, declaring that the state “has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”

— President Trump was unanimously elected chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by board members all appointed by Trump. He said he’s going to get rid of “woke” in the performances.

ECON 101: Donald Trump promised to lower prices, but the rate of inflation ticked up to 3 percent in January, up from 2.9 percent in December. Trump and his administration are now backing off promises to lower prices on “Day 1.”

  Trump campaigned on the price of eggs, which now cost on average about $1.40 a dozen more than when he was elected.

THE SPIN RACK: Following its second bankruptcy filing, the Joann crafts store chain is closing 500 of its remaining 800 stores. — An electronic warfare variation of a Navy F-18 fighter jet crashed into San Diego Bay yesterday. The two-pilots were pulled safely from the 50-degree water after only about one minute. — Vincent Lemark Burrell, 57, of Dallas, Georgia was sentenced yesterday to a total of 475 years in prison after being found guilty last month of dogfighting and cruelty to animals. Authorities said they found 107 dogs chained in Burrell’s yard, many of them underweight, scarred and missing teeth.

BELOW THE FOLD: As Tesla billionaire Elon Musk works to rout out fraud and waste in the federal government, the Trump administration is expected to buy $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to State Department procurement planning for 2025.

  The planning document does not specify which Tesla vehicles are involved, but Musk’s futuristic Cybertruck, is a possible choice.

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