RESIGNED TO IT: In a rare case of resistance to the new Trump administration, the  interim US attorney for the Southern District of New York and five officials with the federal public integrity unit resigned after being ordered by the Justice Department to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.

  In a baldly political move, the Justice Department had moved to drop the charges against Adams in order to maintain his cooperation with the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. It had nothing to do with the strength of evidence against the mayor.

  In a letter to newly-sworn Attorney General Pam Bondi, US Attorney  Danielle Sassoon said that the order to dismiss the Adams case was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”

  She said, “I do not repeat here the evidence against Adams that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed federal crimes.”

  Deputy Attorney Gen. Emil Bove, who used to be a Trump defense lawyer, replied that hSassoon’s resignation was accepted “based on your choice to continue pursuing a politically motivated prosecution.”

IMMUNITY: Anti-vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed and sworn in yesterday as the secretary of Health and Human Services just as there’s an outbreak of measles among unvaccinated children in rural Texas.

  Although Kennedy is a lawyer with no background in medicine or science, President Trump said at the swearing ceremony that, “There’s no better person to lead our campaign of historic reforms and historic faith in American health care.” Kennedy will head a group of organizations he has condemned as corrupt including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

  Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the only Republican to vote against Kennedy, said in a statement that “a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts.”

  Kennedy has said there is no vaccine that is safe and effective and also that he will “follow the science” while persistently casting doubt on proven science regarding vaccines.

  In this atmosphere, the surgeon general of Louisiana said he will no longer promote mass vaccination.

  Twenty-four cases of measles have been identified in west Texas over the past two weeks. At least 20 of the infected are children … all unvaccinated … and nine people ended up in the hospital. 

YOU’RE FIRED: Mass layoffs began yesterday as federal agencies were told to unload as many as 200,000 probationary employees, people who have held their jobs for less than two years.

  One of the biggest hits was at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where as many as 1,000 people were let go. Another big target is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which polices such things as loans and credit cards.

  The federal workforce has about 2.3 million employees and roughly 70,000 accepted the buyout offer to resign and be paid through September. Even the Office of Personnel Management, which issued the layoff order, fired some of its own employees.

  With Elon Musk running the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, what is happening is not efficiency, but de-regulation by layoff, skirting the will of Congress by crippling agencies. Musk has bluntly said, “I think we do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind. … It’s kind of like leaving a weed.” 

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:  The National Park Service removed references to transgender and queer people from its Stonewall National Monument web pages in compliance with President Trump’s order for the federal government to recognize only two sexes. They removed the “T” and the “Q” from “LGBTQ.” You’d think the “B” would go next.

  The Stonewall Inn on Manhattan’s Christopher Street was a flashpoint of the gay rights movement.

— Comedian Issa Rae cancelled her scheduled appearance at the Kennedy Center following Donald Trump’s takeover of the facility because of an “infringement” on its values. Renée Fleming, Ben Folds, and Shonda Rhimes all left positions at the center as well.

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that he does not see a clear US plan to end the war with Russia and that he is opposed to settling with a surrender of any Ukrainian territory.

  Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to meet with UZelensky today at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

  A Russian drone struck a building at the site of the mothballed Chernobyl nuclear plant north of Kyiv today. Authorities say there appear to be no radiation leaks. 

THE SPIN RACK: Hamas militants in Gaza have relented and say they are releasing three more hostages today. — Heavy rains have brought mudslides to the burned out coastal areas of Los Angeles and inland Altadena. — A 2,000-year-old Roman basilica has been found beneath a London office building. A basilica was an administrative building. — Igloo has recalled more than a million of its “90 Qt. Flip & Tow Rolling Coolers”  because of a handle design that has caused hand injuries and even amputated fingers. — A father kayaking off the coast of Patagonia captured video of his son being swallowed whole by a humpback whale … then spit out moments later.

BELOW THE FOLD: The tabloids report that Kanye West’s near-naked wife Bianca Censori has left the rapper following his online riff on being a Nazi. If true, it was only a matter of time, but still, we’re surprised. We thought she would leave him for making her parade naked in public.  

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