THE PURGE: The Trump administration yesterday sent out emails  firing 2,000 employees of the US Agency for International Development and putting thousands of foreign service workers around the world on paid leave.

  This came after a federal judge on Friday ruled that the administration could proceed with plans to lay off or put on paid leave many agency employees and close down overseas operations.

  USAID conducts health and food operations around the world. Late last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised that “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” programs could continue,” but USAID is essentially shut down.

  Also over the weekend, Co-President Elon Musk posted a tweet saying he would demand an email from all 2.4 million federal employees detailing what they did on the job last week.

  Musk posted on Twitter/X that, “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

  Some agencies, including the FBI, State Department, and the office coordinating  intelligence agencies told their employees not to respond. 

  Setting aside for a moment the wisdom and utility of the order, just how long would it take for Musk and his minions at the Department of Government Efficiency to read those emails? He claims to have read some already, posting that, “A large number of good responses have been received already. These are the people who should be considered for promotion.” 

  The NY Times reports that, “At the Justice Department and FBI, the threatening signals from Mr. Musk were met with a mix of anger and amazement that anyone would issue such a blanket demand without consideration for sensitive areas such as criminal investigations, legal confidentiality or grand jury material.”

MEN IN BLACK: In what may be a harbinger of the future for dissenting Republicans under Donald Trump, a woman in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho who heckled Republican committee speakers on stage during a party meeting Saturday night was hauled out of the by several men in black clothing who were not police officers and refused to identify themselves.

  The meeting continued as Teresa Borrenpohl demanded to know who the men were and struggled as they dragged her out and detained her.

  Kootenai County Republican officials told the  Coeur dAlene Press they didn’t arrange security for the event and didn’t know what company was employed. The local sheriff denied giving the plainclothes security personnel any direction as they removed Borrenpohl from the auditorium and detained her.

  Several people took video as Borrenpohl shouted, “This man is assaulting me.” 

  As the noisy confrontation unfolded Ed Bejarana, the event’s emcee, continued speaking, saying, “Look at this little girl over here, everyone. Look at her,” while some members of the audience shouted and waved signs saying, “Save Voter Approved Medicaid.”

  Bejarana then said “We’ve got to be a little aggressive with some of these folks here. Your voice is meaningless right now…I can talk over all of you.”

TO THE RIGHT: Germany’s  center-right party won the country’s elections making it likely that Friedrich Merz, a businessman who flies his own private plane and has long aspired to run the country, will be the next chancellor. Merz fought to lead the Christian Democrats early in the 2000s, but lost out to Angela Merkel, who went on to serve 16 years as chancellor.

  The majority of German voters are worried that Germany may become powerless against Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, according to a poll released on Sunday afternoon. Merz quickly brought up the threat that Germany and Europe face because of the new US leadership. “It has become clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this government, is largely indifferent to the fate of Europe,” he said.

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing back against Donald Trump’s efforts to control a peace deal with Russia and the President’s attempts to extort Ukraine for its valuable minerals. Trump is trying to get rights to half of Ukraine’s minerals such as lithium used in the aerospace, defense, and nuclear industries as payback for the billions it has received in military aid. It’s really an international stickup.

 Zelensky also said, “Peace through force, but toward Russia, not in the other direction”

SPORTING NEWS: American skier Mikaela Shiffrin, already heralded as possibly the greatest ski racer ever, won her 100^th World Cup race in the slalom yesterday in Italy. The 29-year-old Shiffrin also tied an all-time World Cup record for both men and women, as her 155th career top-3 finish matched Sweden’s great Ingemar Stenmark.

  Shiffrin isn’t even at her best. She is still recovering from an early-season injury in which she sustained a nasty puncture wound in her side during a dramatic crash at Killington, Vermont.

THE SPIN RACK:. Pope Francis is in “initial, mild kidney failure” in addition to the double pneumonia that has left the 88-year-old pontiff in critical condition in a Rome hospital, the Vatican said. —  A Pennsylvania police officer was killed while responding to a shooting on Saturday at a hospital in York County, Pennsylvania in which the gunman, who held hospital staff as hostages and restrained one with a zip tie, was killed by the police. —- In line with President Trump’s executive order, the Bureau of Prisons is planning to move transgender inmates out of prisons that align with their gender identity into prisons corresponding to their birth sex. — The Texas measles outbreak has reached San Antonio and San Marcos, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, with a total of 90 confirmed cases so far. 

BELOW THE FOLD:  The New York Yankees announced that they will no longer play Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” as fans file out of the stadium after a loss. Following an exhibition loss yesterday to Detroit, fans left to the sound of Frank singing, “That’s Life.”

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