REIGN OF CONFUSION: The Office of Personnel Management told federal employees yesterday that they can ignore Elon Musk’s “What did you do last week?” email shortly before Musk renewed his command.

    Governing by social media, Musk posted that, “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” and that for those who failed to meet last night’s midnight deadline, “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

  Musk had ordered all 2.2 million federal employees to respond to his email with five bullet points on what they did last week or be fired. Several major agencies with security concerns including the State Department, Homeland Security, and Justice had already told their people not to respond.

  While appearing before the press with French President Emmanuel Macron, 

President Trump backed up Musk’s demand calling it “ingenious” and “great” and that “If you don’t answer, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired.” Trump even suggested that if some employees don’t answer then they aren’t working or don’t exist.

  In another post, Musk said, “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” he went on, “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers. Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent?”

  Well, the answer is no.

  And again, in another illustration of Musk’s wrecking ball approach to shrinking the federal government, as many as 180 fired employees at the Food and Drug Administration who oversaw food and medical device safety are being called back to the job.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— A federal judge in Maryland granted a temporary restraining order on Monday blocking the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from disclosing sensitive data to members of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and anyone assisting them.

— Dan Bongino, a former New York City police officer and Secret Service agent turned right-wing pundit, podcaster, and conspiracy monger will be the next deputy director of the FBI, President Trump announced. It’s traditional for the deputy director to be a career FBI agent who knows what the FBI does and how.

  Bongino is a former police officer and Secret Service agent. He is also a 2020 election denier who has called for the firing of all FBI agents involved in the court-approved search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. 

THE WAR ROOM:  President Trump said yesterday that negotiators are very close to making an agreement for the US  to gain rights to Ukrainian “rare earth” minerals as payback for the last three years of military aid.

  Rather than viewing US aid as necessary to stop the Russian invasion, Trump sees it as a bungled business deal in which the US got nothing for its money. 

  In that same session with Emmanuel Macron at the White House, Trump repeated his demand that Ukraine sign over billions of dollars in mineral rights to repay American military aid and falsely claimed that the US  has spent more than Europe to support the invaded Ukraine. 

  “Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine,” Trump said. “They get their money back.” Macron countered that saying that ,like the United States, there has been a mix of grants, loans, and loan guarantees. “We provided real money, to be clear,” he said.

  Macron repeatedly mentioned the need for security guarantees for Kyiv and that a deal “must not mean a surrender of Ukraine.”

  Trump also told a big fib when he said that the US has spent $350 billion on Ukraine while Europe has spent just $100 billion. In fact, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Europe has spent $138 billion compared with $119 billion from the United States.

  Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine. He did not mention whether Russia would keep the 20 percent of Ukrainian territory it has taken.

REGRETS: The Qatar-based head of the Hamas militant foreign relations office told the NY Times that he would not have supported the October 7^th attack on Israel if he had known the utter destruction it would bring to Gaza. Mousa Abu Marzouk said it would been “impossible” for him to back the assault had he known the consequences.

  The Times notes that it doesn’t know whether Marzouk’s comments in a telephone interview were intended to be a pacifying message in peace talks with Israel.

  Marzouk said that he was not informed about the specific plans for the October attack in which roughly 1,200 people in Israel were killed and about 250 taken hostage, but that he did endorse the strategy of a military attack.

THE SPIN RACK: NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt announced that he’s stepping away from the desk after 10 years as the face of the broadcast. Holt plans to keep appearing on NBC’s magazine show, “Dateline.” — Joann, the bankrupt fabrics and crafts retailer, announced that it’s giving up and closing all its stores after  80 years in business. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Singer Roberta Flack, whose talents combined jazz, rock, and pop, died at age 88. She had ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease.

 Flack always said that that her first real break came when Clint Eastwood used her version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 movie, Play Misty For Me. In  1973  she had the #1 hit “Killing Me Softly.” 

BELOW THE FOLD:  The Starbucks coffee chain is laying off employees … and drinks … in a quest for higher profits. We don’t know about your favorite barista, but about 1,000 corporate employees will be let go.

  Gone also will be a long list of Frappuccino blended drinks, the Royal English Breakfast Latte, White Hot Chocolate, and Iced Matcha Lemonade … Oh no !!! … not the Iced Matcha Lemonade.

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