THE FIRING LINE: A federal judge yesterday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers on probationary status who had been fired in the gutting of government departments by President Trump and Elon Musk.

Judge William  Alsup in the Northern District of California ruled from the bench that  the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers was done unlawfully  by the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources wing.

  In response to a lawsuit brought by employee unions, Alsup ordered the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior Departments to reinstate workers improperly terminated. Alsup pointed out the shady reasoning given for the firings, saying, “It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie.”

  Thousands of people were told they were fired for poor performance despite good performance reviews. Alsup said, “It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements.”

  The order, if the Trump administration follows it, does not fully protect the fired federal employees. Alsup was careful to say that “reduction in force” orders now being issued at several agencies are still legal and can be executed.

 BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— President Trump yesterday threatened a 200 percent tariff on European Union wines and alcohol coming into the states to hit back at the European Union for announcing a retaliatory 50 percent tariff on American whiskey and other products.

— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he will vote for the Republicans’ stopgap spending bill, backing down from his first major confrontation with the opposition. His only other choice was to allow a government shutdown at midnight, which would be blamed on the Democrats.

— The Trump administration has made emergency appeals to the Supreme Court to be allowed to end birthright citizenship, which is baked into the Constitution. For more than 150 years, US courts have agreed that 14th Amendment guarantee citizenship to anyone “born or naturalized in the United States,” regardless of the immigration status of their parents.

— The White House withdrew the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon, a former member of Congress, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the night before he was to appear at a confirmation hearing. Weldon said he was told Wednesday night by the White House that he would not have enough votes for confirmation. 

  Weldon has been a longtime friend of the anti-vaccine Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Weldon had expressed an interest in investigating the Mumps Measles, Rubella (MMR) vaccine given to children even though it has been proven safe for decades. 

 “I’m going to get on an airplane at 11 o’clock and I’m going to go home and I’m going to see patients on Monday,” Weldon said. “I’ll make much more money staying in my medical practice.”

— Nearly 100 people were arrested in New York yesterday after staging a sit-in in the lobby of Trump Tower in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a Libyan Palestinian with legal status in the US detained and threatened with deportation. He’s accused of supporting Hamas terrorists during protests at Columbia University nearly a year ago.

— The Trump administration has demanded that Columbia University make dramatic changes to its student discipline and admissions before it will talk about lifting the cancellation of $400 million in government grants and contracts. The administration claims Columbia has not done enough to protect its Jewish students from anti-Semitism.

— Stocks tumbled into correction territory yesterday … a 10 percent loss from the most recent high … as President Trump continues to inject fear and uncertainty into the world of business and investment.

THE WAR ROOM: Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that he is open to the idea of a 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine but that there are still a number of “questions” to be resolved. He said it at a news conference in Moscow while US officials were in the city to discuss peace.

  “The idea itself is the right one, and we definitely support it,” Putin said. “But there are questions that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk them through with our American colleagues and partners.”

  His questions included the future for Ukrainian forces occupying part of Russia’s Kursk region, whether Kyiv would be able to continue receiving arms shipments during the 30-day truce, and how the cease-fire would be monitored and enforced. He didn’t mention his thoughts on the future for Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

  Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Russia would respond to the cease-fire proposal only after talks with the United States. “After we receive this information — not through the press but through bilateral dialogue — then the time will come for thinking it over and formulating a position,” Peskov said.

HOOP DREAMS: Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors last night became the first NBA player to hit 4,000 three-pointers.

THE SPIN RACK:  Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that he will not run for the Senate from Michigan next year, which leaves him open to run for president in 2028. —  Passengers evacuated onto the wing of an American Airlines jet as it burned on the in the runway at Denver International Airport last night. The jet that took off from Colorado springs bound for Texas re-routed after the pilots reported engine vibrations. — SpaceX is trying again today to launch a rocket to send four new astronauts to the International Space Station and bring back two who’ve been stranded up there for nine months.  

BELOW THE FOLD: — Donald Trump posted that “The Globalist Wall Street Journal has no idea what they are doing or saying. They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union …” Actually they are owned by the Rupert Murdoch right wing media empire, which includes Trump’s favorite Fox News.

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