UNBIASED Politics (1/30/25): Tragic Plane Crash, President Trump Blames DEI; Funding Freeze EXPLAINED; Federal Employee Buyout; Trump Says Eliminate Income Tax; $50M in Condoms to Gaza; and More
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Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis.

Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Thursday, January 30th. Let's talk about some news. Unfortunately, we do have to start this episode on a sad note, but I promise we'll turn it around and finish things on a positive note by the end of the episode. Last night, a regional American Airlines flight collided midair with a Black Hawk helicopter just as the commercial flight was about to land at Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C. The operation did switch to a recovery effort this morning, and it is said to be the deadliest in the history of American Airlines.

aviation disaster in the United States since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed in New York just months after 9-11, killing all 260 people on board. The airplane involved here was a Bombardier CRJ-700

regional jet with 64 people on board, 60 passengers and four crew members, and the helicopter was an Army UH-60 helicopter with three on board, one officer, one warrant officer, and a crew chief.

Both landed in the Potomac River following the crash. The plane is currently in three pieces and about waist-deep water, whereas the helicopter is upside down in the water. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsteth has since said that the helicopter was on an annual proficiency training flight.

and that it was a fairly experienced crew that was doing an annual required night evaluation where they were wearing night vision goggles, and that it seems as if there was some sort of elevation issue that the DoD and Army are currently investigating.

Grainy video footage does show the plane making its final descent at about 350 feet in the air and the Army helicopter almost going towards the plane before you see a big flash of light. The first alert of the crash was made at 8.48 p.m. local time. Within hours, there were more than 300 first responders working at the scene.

We have since also obtained some air traffic control recordings, and in those recordings you can hear a couple of things. One, the regional jet was told on its final approach to switch to runway 33. The pilot gave the okay, he said that was fine. And then also you hear the air traffic controller asking the helicopter if it has the regional jet in sight and tells the helicopter to pass behind it.

It sounds like, and this isn't entirely clear, so take this with a grain of salt, but from what I heard in the recordings, it sounds like the helicopter may have confirmed that it could see the regional jet and then literally within a second of confirming that, that's when the crash happens. And I don't know, like I said, maybe you listen to the recording and you don't hear the same thing because it is, you know, it's not that, the voices aren't that clear and

But we do have some of those recordings. So as of this morning, 28 bodies had been pulled from the water. And although officials say that there are no survivors, they do expect to recover all of the bodies.

Many of those on board the plane were actually coming from a figure skating camp called the National Development Camp, which is mostly for youth skaters. It's being reported that there were 14 figure skaters on board along with coaches and family members. Now, President Trump rode on X just hours after the crash.

The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a clear night. The lights on the plane were blazing. Why didn't the helicopter go up or down or turn? Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if it saw the plane? This is a bad situation that looks like it could have been prevented. Not good."

So a couple of notes that I want to make here in regard to that statement. Yes, it was a clear night. It does look as if the helicopter was going towards the plane like I mentioned earlier, but I just want to note that the control tower did tell the helicopter what to do. So the air traffic controller didn't just ask the helicopter if it saw the plane, but also told the helicopter to pass behind the plane as we discussed.

The big question now is why the helicopter was in the landing path of the plane, but the defense secretary did say that the Pentagon and Army have already opened an investigation, so hopefully we'll get some answers soon. My thoughts are with anyone impacted by this all-out

awful, terrible, and truly just unfathomable tragedy. I know also there were some questions about President Trump possibly gutting an aviation committee last week as well, and Trump's comments on, you know, the DEI's effect on the crash, but we'll get into both of those in the rumor has it segment, so stay tuned for that.

There's no really, you know, there's no real easy transition here, but let's just move on to some executive orders that were signed in the last couple of days. Keep in mind, as we've discussed, executive orders are not laws. Executive orders are orders or directives for the departments and agencies within the executive branch. And as you'll see here, each executive order usually sets forth some policy and

and then issues directives for the various executive departments to carry out the stated policy. So first, an order titled the Iron Dome for America. Obviously, when we think of the Iron Dome, a lot of us probably think of Israel because that's the only country that actually has an Iron Dome, though there are a handful of countries that have either expressed interest

or purchased equipment to get started on their own Iron Dome. So the ultimate goal of the president's order is to eventually create a next generation missile defense shield, but to achieve that, it directs the Secretary of Defense to submit to the president an implementation plan to start creating this defense shield. Again, we go back to that general rule that an executive order is meant to direct the executive branch of the government to act

in some way to carry out an executive order's purpose. In this case, the Secretary of Defense is being told to submit a plan to the president for a future Iron Dome.

The next order that was signed is the Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness. This order directs the Secretary of Defense to do a few things consistent with the purpose of the order. So the purpose of the order is to say that it is the policy of the DoD that expressing a gender identity which is different than that of one's sex is—

cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. The order states that it is the policy of the United States government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity, and that this policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria and inconsistent with shifting pronoun usage,

or use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual's sex. So consistent with that stated policy, the executive order tells the defense secretary to take certain actions like updating the DOD instructions for medical standards for military service to say that those that identify with a gender different from their sex cannot satisfy the medical standards required to serve in the military.

That order also says that absent extraordinary operational necessity, the armed forces should not allow males to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for females and vice versa.

The third executive order is titled Restoring America's Fighting Force. The purpose of this order is to set forth the policy that the DOD, the DHS, and every element of the armed forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex. The order states that civilian and uniformed leadership have implemented DEI programs in recent years...

that undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, therefore eroding lethality and force readiness. So consistent with that policy, the order directs the Secretary of Defense and DHS Secretary to issue guidance for implementation of the order within 30 days and abolish all DEI offices and sub-offices within their departments.

Also, the DOD is tasked with conducting an internal review of all actions that have been taken in pursuit of these DEI initiatives and thereafter provide that report to the defense secretary within 90 days.

The next order is titled reinstating service members discharged under the military's COVID-19 vaccination mandate. And it's exactly what it sounds like. It directs the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to one, make reinstatement available to all members of the military who are discharged because they refuse to get the vaccine and requested to be reinstated.

Two, allow those service members that are reinstated to revert to their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation. And three, allow any service members to return to service with no impact on their service rank or pay so long as they provide a written sworn statement that they voluntarily left the service or allowed their service to lapse rather than be vaccinated under the vaccine mandate.

Moving on to protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation. This one states that it is the policy of the United States that the country will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the transition of a child from one sex to another, and that it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these procedures on children. So under the order, a child is a person under 19 years old, and the treatments covered include puberty blockers, sex hormones, and surgical procedures.

Now, I know there's a question here about age. Obviously, the age of emancipation is 18 in most states.

However, there is no fixed age of emancipation at the federal level. So I'm not, you know, to be just entirely transparent, I'm not really sure how this works. I haven't done a deep dive into this particular issue yet, but this is what the order says. And, you know, it's possible it gets challenged legally in the courts, but we'll see. So consistent with this policy, there are multiple directives. For one, the head of each agency or the head of each executive department

or agency that provides research or education grants to medical institutions has to immediately take steps to ensure that the institutions receiving these grants

are not performing these types of procedures and treatments. The Secretary of Health and Human Services must take all appropriate action to implement this policy and withdraw prior Biden administration guidance on gender-affirming care. The DOD, which provides health insurance through TRICARE to about 2 million people under the age of 18, has to start taking action to exclude these types of treatments and procedures from TRICARE coverage."

And the DOJ, specifically the Attorney General, has to prioritize enforcement of protections against things like female genital mutilation and work with Congress to promote legislation that allows parents of children to sue medical professionals that perform these types of treatments and procedures on their children.

The next one, Expanding Education Freedom and Opportunity for Families. This order directs the education secretary to issue guidance regarding how states can use federal funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.

and include education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs. So the president says in this order that when parents rather than the government gets to choose the best educational setting for their children, not only does student achievement improve, but it also causes nearby public schools to improve their performance.

So consistent with that, the order directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance as to whether and how states that receive federal block grants for families and children from the HHS can use those grants to expand educational choice.

The Secretary of Defense is instructed to review any available mechanisms under which military families can use funds from the DoD to attend schools of their choice, and the Secretary of the Interior is to review any available mechanisms under which families of students eligible to attend can

Bureau of Indian Education Schools may use federal funding for education options of their choice. So this one is all about school choice and instructing various heads of departments to see how they can help achieve that goal through government funding from their respective departments.

The next one is ending racial indoctrination in K-12 schooling. This one basically says that schools that receive federal funding cannot discuss what the administration calls radical anti-American ideologies. The order says,

In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed. Imprinting anti-American subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our nation's children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights laws, but in many cases usurps basic parental authority.

So, if schools choose to talk about things like, you know, one race, color, sex, or national origin being morally or inherently superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin, or if they talk about, you know, by virtue of the individual's race, color, sex, or national origin, they are inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, right?

whether consciously or unconsciously, talking about these things risks federal funding per this order. So to carry this policy out, the order specifically directs the Education Secretary, the Defense Secretary, and the Health and Human Services Secretary in consultation with the Attorney General to come up with recommendations and a plan for carrying out this policy in K-12 schools.

Now, this order also directs the education secretary to reestablish the 1776 Commission, which Trump established in his first administration, but it was then revoked by the Biden administration. So the 1776 Commission is composed of maximum 20 members who are appointed by the president for two year terms.

and are in charge of promoting patriotic education. If you're wondering what patriotic education is, that's what I'm here for. So per the order, patriotic education is education that presents the history of America grounded in accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America's founding and foundational principles.

It's also a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history, the concept that commitment to America's aspirations is beneficial and justified, and the concept that celebration of America's greatness and history is proper. So the 1776 Commission, once re-established by the Education Secretary, will ensure that federally funded schools are educated based on these specific principles.

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All right, welcome back. Let's touch on another executive order titled Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity. This is one that many of you had questions about. So this order specifically directs the Defense Secretary and Homeland Security Secretary to take all

necessary actions to expand what's called the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay in order to provide additional detention space for, quote, high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States. Now, a little bit about Guantanamo Bay. So the United States has had a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, which is on Cuba's coast, since 1903, but it wasn't until 2002 that the Guantanamo Bay military prison, as we know it today, opened.

That was, of course, not long after 9-11, and it was a place where the U.S. could keep prisoners of war during the War on Terror. Before the opening of the military prison, though, back in the 90s, the naval base was used to hold refugees who had fled Haiti by boat and were intercepted in the ocean. And at its population peak in the 90s, it held some 12,000 migrants. This was during the Clinton administration. Okay.

A couple of years later, a judge ruled the camp was unconstitutional and many of the Haitian migrants left. That ruling was ultimately overturned, but still the last Haitian migrants left at the end of 1995. So there's no migrants currently there. What we know Guantanamo Bay as today is really a

naval base and then also a military prison. But keep in mind where those Haitian migrants were held in the 90s is not the same as the military prison that we know today. The military prison was built in 2002, currently holds 15 people.

So the goal of Trump's order is to expand the portion of the Guantanamo Bay naval base that previously housed the Haitian migrants and has a much bigger capacity than the military prison. The president noted his rationale behind the order, which is that he does not trust

the home countries of these criminals to keep them in their country so he'd rather see them go to guantanamo bay where it's very difficult to escape now as we've talked about before ice does not have many beds available in their detention centers that do currently exist so the administration is currently trying to find more space including building more detention centers throughout the united states but also this attempt to expand operations at guantanamo bay

And then finally, the last order of the day, an order called Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism. The policy set forth in this order is to combat antisemitism vigorously, using all available legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold accountable the perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.

To carry out that policy, the order directs the heads of each executive department to submit a report to the president detailing all civil and criminal authorities or actions within the jurisdiction of each department that can be used to combat anti-Semitism. And in addition to that, specifically the Secretary of State, Secretary of Education, and Secretary of Homeland Security must also include in their reports recommendations for

for informing colleges and universities about the grounds for security-related inadmissibility in the United States so that those schools can monitor and report relevant security concerns by alien students and staff. And the order also says that those reports should lead to investigations and, if warranted, removal actions as well, meaning removal from the United States entirely. Okay, let's talk about the federal spending freeze.

There is a lot of confusion here, a lot of questions, so hopefully we can all get on the same page.

On Monday, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing government agencies to temporarily freeze federal grants and loans that are implicated by the president's recent executive orders. And that line is important. But anyway, by Tuesday, a judge had temporarily blocked the freeze from taking effect. And by Wednesday, the OMB rescinded their funding freeze memo.

So let's walk back to Monday when the freeze was first announced. The Office of Management and Budget wrote in the memo that all federal agencies were to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs that are related to the executive orders signed by the president and

and ensure that those programs are consistent with the president's policies. In the interim, the letter said or the memo said that these agencies were to temporarily pause all activities related to federal financial assistance. Now, notably, this freeze did not impact all federal funding.

Just funding implicated by the executive orders signed by the president in the last 10 days. And there were seven executive orders specifically that were cited to in the memo. So we're talking funding related to DEI programs, funding related to the Green New Deal, funding related to foreign aid, funding for non-governmental organizations that, quote, undermine the national interest.

as well as funding for elective abortions. So funding for those things and other things, but those things, was to be immediately paused per this memo. A few examples of programs that would not have been impacted by the freeze include student loans and Medicaid, because there are no executive orders related to those things. So again, any program not implicated by the recent executive orders was not subject to this funding pause.

Furthermore, any program that provides direct benefits to individuals was not subject to the pause. So, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell Grants, rental assistance, etc. Those categories of assistance were not paused. And then finally, any payment required by federal law would be paid without interruption or delay per the memo.

Now, one might ask, why did the Office of Management and Budget decide to pause federal funding? Well, according to the White House, the pause was necessary to ensure that programs are being executed and funds are being spent in accordance with the Trump administration's policies.

Notably, this is not the first time a president has tried to stop funding. And when presidents do this, it is called impoundment. So if we go way back to and I should note, too, it's called impoundment. But the Trump administration is arguing this isn't impoundment because it's just a temporary freeze. But we'll get to that in a second.

So if we go way back to the early 1800s, Thomas Jefferson actually held back funds for gunboats. Then if we fast forward from there more than a century, President Nixon tried to stop billions of dollars in federal funding for things ranging from social programs to water treatments. This led to many lawsuits and eventually a new law passed by Congress called the Impoundment Control Act.

The Impoundment Control Act essentially lays out the procedures for a president withholding funds and the role that Congress plays. Because remember, Congress appropriates the money to the various departments, but it's the White House, the OMB, that ultimately doles out the money. So when the president and the White House decide to withhold money appropriated by Congress, there are rules and procedures in place.

And what the act says is that a president can withhold funds temporarily in specific circumstances, but the president has to notify Congress and explain why. Congress can then decide whether to allow spending to be deferred or rescinded.

Notably, a president can defer funds to provide for contingencies or to achieve savings, but cannot withhold funds to achieve policy goals, which is what the Trump administration said it was doing, right? Pausing funding to ensure that programs are being executed and funds are being spent in accordance with the Trump administration's policies. So for this reason, the Trump administration has said that this temporary freeze is not an impoundment under the law, but rather just a temporary pause and

and therefore not subject to the rules of impoundment."

Aside from the impoundment issue, though, two lawsuits were filed against the Trump administration very shortly after the freeze was announced. And the groups that filed the lawsuits argued that the pause would clearly be unconstitutional because it's Congress that has spending power, not the president, and that the freeze would break federal contracting law. So the next day on Tuesday, the judge went ahead and issued an emergency block on the freeze until next week when more legal proceedings could play out.

However, the day after that, the day after the judge's order on Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget rescinded its original memo, which meant that federal agencies no longer had to temporarily pause all funding implicated by recent executive orders.

But we then got thrown for another loop because the press secretary said that the OMB's rescission is not a rescission of the federal funding freeze and that it's simply a rescission of the OMB memo. She said the president's executive orders on federal funding remain in full force in effect and will be rigorously implemented. So here's the thing. I believe what the press secretary is meaning to say is that...

in particular recent executive orders, the president has explicitly prohibited certain funding. And those prohibitions are still in effect despite the rescission of the OMB's memo, right? Because the OMB can't write a memo that revokes executive orders. That's just not how it works. So as an example, the executive order titled Unleashing American Energy, which is meant to advance energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters.

That order states specifically that no federal funding shall be employed in a manner that is contrary to the energy exploration policy set forth in the order and that all agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations."

Another example is the executive order titled Protecting the American People Against Invasion. That executive order tasks the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to do what they have to do to make sure sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S. that are evading law enforcement don't receive federal funds. So those specific federal funding provisions are still in effect because they were explicitly set forth in specific executive orders. But any funds, grants, loans not implicated by executive orders are

are no longer on pause. They are still being dispersed. Medicare is fine. SNAP is fine. Student loans are fine. Social Security is fine. Cancer research is fine. Any funding not implicated by an executive order is fine.

Again, I just want to be very clear. It's just those funds specifically referenced in Trump's various executive orders that remain on pause. And you can always find the executive orders on WhiteHouse.gov, and I actually encourage you to do so. That way you can familiarize yourself with what they actually say and perhaps even understand executive orders a little better because I know there's a lot of confusion around them.

Moving on to another federal memo of sorts, on Tuesday, an email titled Fork in the Road was sent to more than 2 million federal employees offering those who do not want to return to in-person work an opportunity to resign by February 6th and still get paid through September. So this offer applies to full-time federal employees except for military personnel, the Postal Service, Immigration Enforcement, and National Security.

This is an attempt by the Trump administration to get federal workers back into their offices. When Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt spoke to reporters yesterday, she noted that only 6% of the federal workforce in D.C. actually shows up to the office, but that the rest work from home.

And the administration is reportedly expecting 5 to 10 percent of federal employees to accept the offer, which could be hundreds of thousands of people. So again, federal workers have until February 6th to accept the offer, and those who accept the offer will continue to receive their salary and all benefits until September and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements.

requirements that are expected to take effect in the coming months. So to accept that deferred resignation offer, employees are being instructed to send an email to hr at opm.gov from their government email account, type the word resign in the subject line, and hit send. And that's it.

Okay, let's talk about some stateside news out of Oklahoma that is also in line with all of the immigration enforcement we've been discussing lately. Earlier this week, Oklahoma's education leaders approved a plan that would ask public schools to request proof of citizenship or immigration status in

from families upon school enrollment. The new rule would require districts to track and report the number of students whose families have not provided proof of citizenship or legal status, but also states that nothing in the rule should be construed to prohibit or inhibit any child from receiving the education they are entitled to under not only the United States Constitution, but also the Oklahoma Constitution.

as well as state and federal law. The rule states no data outlined in this section shall be used to record an individual student's citizenship status or legal immigration status. To be clear, under federal law, children do have access to public education regardless of their citizenship status in the United States. And in 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in a case called Plyer v. Doe that states

can't deny students a public education on account of their immigration status. So it begs the question, why the need for the rule? Well, the rule states that its purpose is to have the correct information to access statewide and local education needs, those needs being things like ESL teachers, transportation needs, tutoring programs, etc.,

However, people are conflicted as to the rule's real purpose. Ryan Walters, the superintendent of public instruction, said the rule around immigration or sorry, the rule around illegal immigration accounting is simply that it is to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools.

A statement from the National Immigration Law Center, though, said all children have a constitutional right to equal access to education regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. Requiring school districts to collect information about immigration status illegally chills access to this opportunity, interfering with their ability to focus on their core mission, which is to ensure that children are able to have a safe and equal education.

which is to educate children and give all students the ability to grow, thrive, and participate fully in our democracy. So we'll see what happens with that rule because it does still need to be approved by the legislature and signed by the governor to take effect. Time for our second and final break of the day, and I will be right back.

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Let's talk now about President Trump's proposal to eliminate income tax. During a press conference on Monday and at a speaking engagement the week before, the president said that instead of taxing American citizens to enrich foreign nations, we should be tariffing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens. He also stated it was time for the U.S. to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before, relatively speaking, and he referenced the time period between 1870 and 1913, which is the time period

which was pre-income tax and when the United States collected revenue from tariffs. A little bit of background here. The first federal income tax was passed in 1913 as part of the 16th Amendment. The 16th Amendment gave Congress the authority to levy taxes on both corporate and individual income. But prior to 1913, the U.S. made its money from imposing tariffs on other countries.

Now, tariffs are somewhat of a controversial topic. Each side has their arguments. So to illustrate this, take Erica Yoke, the Tax Foundation vice president, who said that tariffs are taxes on U.S. importers that shrink both the U.S. economy and U.S. incomes. She said higher tariffs will create a drag on the U.S. economy and will threaten to offset the benefits of tax cuts elsewhere and that they should not be relied upon as a major source of tax revenue.

On the other side, take Slate Stone Wealth Chief Market Strategist Kenny Polcari, who said the whole idea about eliminating income tax or redefining it and coming in with a 10% tariff tax and giving an income tax break to Americans encourages them to work more and encourages them to spend more. So then you end up having a stronger and better economy and the market likes that.

In practice, tariffs work like this. So let's say the United States imposes a 10% tariff on all Chinese goods. When a U.S. business decides to import Chinese goods, the U.S. business importing that good pays the 10% tariff to the U.S. Treasury to be able to import the good. Now, no business wants to have to pay a tariff if they don't have to. So they're either going to look elsewhere for the same good and try to find it for cheaper, right? Or they're going to raise their prices to cover the cost of the tariff.

and obviously that cost falls on the consumer. So while Americans will have more disposable income without income tax, they may end up spending more money due to higher costs. But then again, more money into the economy could be an economic stimulant. So look, the tariff conversation is a whole podcast episode in and of itself, honestly, and I'm not really going to get too into the weeds here because we would be here all day. The point of this story is just to say that Trump has proposed eliminating income taxes in exchange for tariffs on foreign countries, and...

here's why i should also note that to do this he would need congressional approval and you know what i usually do the critical thinking segment at the end of thursday's episode but since we still have to get to quick hitters rumor has it and good news let's just throw the critical thinking segment in here because it's related to the story

So keeping in mind the facts, which are that on one hand, doing away with income tax would allow workers in the U.S. to keep more of their paychecks, right? And that would in turn promote more individual spending and savings, which would also likely encourage growth and development of jobs.

the economy. But then on the other hand, you have the fact that imposing and increasing tariffs often results in higher prices on the consumer. So for this segment, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of a business owner in the United States. Maybe you are a business owner in real life, but regardless, pretend you own a coffee shop for a second. Let's say you source your beans internationally and tariffs are going to be imposed on the country where you source your beans.

putting yourself in those shoes what kind of thoughts do you have about this no income tax but increased tariffs proposal how could this change affect not only your customers and your business but also well i guess this is related to your business but also your inventory costs and does thinking about it from this perspective as a business owner challenge or reinforce your initial bias on the topic and why or why not

And feel free to come back to this segment after the episode since we still have some other stuff to get to. Like I said, I know it's usually at the end of the episode and therefore you're left with these questions, but not today. So time for some quick hitters. Just a few today.

First, Google has said that it will change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali on its maps once the government updates its official listings on the geographic names information system. Google wrote on X, quote, we have a longstanding policy of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government updates.

sources. Google also noted that when official names vary by country, map users see their official local name. So here in the United States, once those official government listings are updated, we will see the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley on Google Maps.

Next, President Trump briefly addressed the New Jersey drones through his press secretary earlier this week, simply saying, "...after research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons. Many of those drones were also hobbyists, recreational, and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. In time it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy." End quote.

And Meta has agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit filed by President Trump after the company suspended his accounts following January 6th. Of that $25 million, $22 million will go towards a fund for Trump's presidential library, with the rest going to legal fees and other plaintiffs who were signed on to the case. Notably, Meta does not have to admit wrongdoing per the terms of the settlement.

Now, it is time for Rumor Has It, my weekly segment where I either confirm, dispel, or add context to recent rumors submitted by all of you on Instagram. Rumor has it that the government budgeted $50 million for condoms in Gaza. Okay, so this one stems from a comment made by the press secretary that Doge had identified millions of dollars in wasteful spending, which included $50 million for condoms in Gaza. That was all that was said. There was no elaboration.

Then on Wednesday, the president said that his administration had identified and stopped $50 million from being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas. To be clear, no one has confirmed whether this statement is fact or fiction, and we don't, you know, we weren't really provided with any other evidence, but what we do know is this. One, according to the HHS, the Health and Human Services, the

$84 million was sent to two provinces in Mozambique, one which happens to be called Gaza, but it's not the Gaza in Palestine. Gaza, Mozambique is near South Africa, about 3,700 miles south of Gaza, Palestine. We also know from the International Medical Corps that it received roughly $68 million from the United States to provide medical care in Gaza, in Palestine, but that none of that was used to procure or distribute condoms.

Third, we know that an April report from USAID shows that the United States delivered $60 million in contraceptives and condoms to the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. But the Middle East portion was roughly $45,000, while Africa received more than $54 million.

And that same report said that the 45,000 was made entirely to the country of Jordan and included oral contraceptives and injectable contraceptives, but not condoms. So what makes the most sense as of now, if we're looking at the evidence, right, what makes the most sense as of now is that the administration mixed up the Gazas. So if Africa got $54 million in contraceptives and condoms in fiscal year 2023 from USAID,

And Mozambique, which is located in Africa and just so happens to have a province called Gaza, which was one of the two Mozambique provinces that received aid from USAID, it's possible that is the Gaza the administration is referring to, right? In fact, the press secretary just said Gaza. She just said $50 million in condoms for Gaza.

It was the president who later mentioned Hamas. So just keep all this in mind. You know, like I said, that's the theory that makes the most sense. As of now, we don't have any definitive evidence. We haven't seen, you know, we really haven't seen much. So hopefully that adds a little bit of color to the situation. Rumor has it that Congress is trying to implement a federal ban on abortion. This rumor stems from a House bill that was proposed last week called H.R. 722. The

The bill was introduced by Republican Representative Eric Burleson on January 24th. It's titled, Notably, I can't tell you anything more than that because the text of the bill is not available on congress.gov. Congress's website reads,

as of 1/30/2025, text has not been received for H.R. 722. Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from GPO, the government publishing office, a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has been printed.

So that's what we know as of now, and I will update you once we can access the text. However, just note that at this time, the bill has not yet been presented to the House floor for a vote. It's still with the Judiciary Committee, which is the first step in the legislative process.

Rumor has it that Trump eliminated an FAA committee just a week ago and blamed the American Airlines crash on DEI programs. Okay, so what Trump did on day one in office was put an immediate stop on DEI hiring programs and instructed the FAA to return to, quote, non-discriminatory merit-based hiring, end quote. The

The executive order also required the FAA administrator to review past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who essentially can do the job better. So that's what his order said. Any committee within the FAA that was disposed of was, you know, strictly a DEI committee per this order.

But along those same lines, and this speaks to part two of the rumor, today when the president was speaking about the crash, he claimed that DEI hires may have led to this catastrophe. He said that the Biden administration prioritized policy in referencing DEI, whereas he prioritizes safety. And in saying that, the president cited to a couple of news headlines which discussed the FAA's DEI hiring policies.

One of those headlines was a New York Post headline that read,

Now, when you actually read this article, it cites to the FAA's website, which read, as of January 14th, 2024. And actually, this New York Post article didn't include the exact verbatim text. It included a short excerpt of the text. But when you actually look at the archived FAA's webpage, that's where you see what the FAA's website really said. So here's what the FAA's website really said.

said individuals with targeted or severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the federal workforce. The People with Disabilities Program, PWD, ensures that people with disabilities have equal federal employment opportunities. The FAA actively recruits, hires, promotes, retains, develops, and advances people with disabilities. Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of

End quote. Now, what's important here is that the text on the FAA's website is real and

But it has been around since 2013, which meant that it existed during Trump's first administration, as well as, you know, back to Obama's administration and as well as Biden's administration. So to bring this full circle and, you know, try at least attempt to confirm or dispel this rumor. Yes, Trump cited to the FAA's DEI hiring policies, which he did away with last week, as a potential contributing cause to this week's crash.

One more thing worth mentioning here is that the FAA was without an administrator when the crash took place. So the former FAA administrator resigned on Trump's inauguration day, and Trump had not yet appointed a new FAA administrator until today, the day after the crash. So Trump appointed Christopher Rochelleau, who is currently serving as deputy administrator. He has worked at the FAA for 22 years, and he will be subject to Senate confirmation before he can assume the role.

Finally, I promised you that we would end this episode on a positive note, so let's do it. This story is provided by the Good News Network. So the headline says,

Brandon Baptiste has had sickle cell crises since he was a toddler. The disease left him missing school, repeatedly hospitalized, having to get a hip replacement, and even threatened his life when his blood cells, through forming sickle shapes, had trouble reaching his heart.

Now 20 years old, Brandon was lucky to, he was a lucky recipient of a precise gene editing protocol called base editing, which uses enzymes to modify single amino acids at the most foundational unit of the DNA called a base.

So how doctors describe base editing is as a spell check. So there are four bases, A, C, G, and T. And this new base editing treatment can chemically transform one base into another. So it can change C to T or A to G. And these small changes can actually correct a point mutation, silence a disease-causing gene, or help activate a specific gene.

In this case, it was correcting for a mutation in the hemoglobin that is part of an old human adaptation to protecting the body from the malaria parasite and which has the occasional side effect of causing red blood cells to change into sickle shapes and get caught in the bloodstream.

This can lead to organ dysfunction, which can affect your kidneys, lungs, joints, and eyes. And Brandon was already acquiring many of these complications. So in October 2023, after a year of tests to ensure that he was physically capable of handling the procedure, he became eligible for an experimental trial of base editing.

The experiment began with taking a sample of his blood stem cells, which were then transferred to another facility where his team used chemotherapy to kill off all of the diseased blood stem cells in his bone marrow. And a month later, he was able to receive his own blood cells back.

Today, more than a year after the infusion, Brandon says he feels fine for the first time in his life. While he will be monitored by Boston Children's Gene Therapy Program for the next 15 years, Brandon says he's already off all of his medication and can now exercise every day.

every day, something that he was not able to do before because of his severe joint pain. He currently is working as a TSA agent and he has plans to apply to college for civil engineering. That is what I have for you. Thank you so much for being here. Have a fantastic weekend and I will talk to you on Monday.

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