Raw Story

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) on Thursday called out President Donald Trump for draining reservoirs in California for the purported purpose of fighting deadly fires in the southern part of the state.

As CNN and other news outlets reported recently, the water released by Trump was never going to reach Southern California. In fact, Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute, told CNN that the release of the water was "providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months."

Lieu recounted the damage done by Trump's actions while speaking in the House of Representatives.

"When you solve for the wrong problem, not only do you not get the solution, you can cause harm," said Lieu. "So Donald Trump has it in his mind that there's a spigot in Northern California, and he's going to open a valve and dump water into Southern California."

Lieu then went on to explain how this action by Trump damaged his state.

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"Here at the facts: Southern California's reservoirs were at near-record levels when this fire happened," he continued. "Did it matter? Because Trump then ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release over two billion gallons of water that almost flooded farmland if not for the local water districts that pushed back. Guess what: This water was saved for the farmers for summer when they needed this water. So Trump wasted all this water that isn’t even reaching Southern California -- it's going to evaporate -- for a PR stunt!"

Lieu then added that this "was a harmful, ludicrous action."

Watch the video below or at this link here.

TOPEKA — Members of the Kansas congressional delegation gathered on the U.S. House floor for a moment of silence in honor of people killed when a military helicopter collided with a civilian commercial aircraft from Wichita on approach to Reagan Washington National Airport.

U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas, said the idea was to come together with members of Congress impacted by the Jan. 29 accident that killed 64 passengers and crew on Flight 5342 and three U.S. Army personnel aboard the Black Hawk helicopter.

“As we mourn the loss of these 67 individuals, there are truly no words to adequately describe the heartbreak we feel,” Estes said. “We grieve with the families and friends they left behind and pray for those in our districts who are still in shock at the loss of their loved ones.”

“They were young skaters, a rural Kansas couple, a college student, a group of friends returning from an annual hunting trip and so many others who were taking a routine flight from the (Wichita) air capital to our nation’s capital,” he said.

Estes said there was a commitment to find answers for the midair crash and how other similar disasters could be avoided.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, said the silence of dozens of people on the House floor recognized lives lost and devastation felt by families.

“In this time of grief, we stand united with the victims’ families, offering our support and compassion,” Davids said. “While no words can undo the pain they are feeling, we are committed to ensuring their loved ones are never forgotten and will work tirelessly to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, urged the Federal Aviation Administration to continue restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations near Reagan Washington airport.

They asked that limitations on helicopter flights remain until conclusion of the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report and after the FAA briefed the Senate’s commerce subcommittee on aviation, space and innovation.

“Until investigators complete this work, restricting helicopter operations, while allowing for essential medical support, active law enforcement, active air defense and presidential transport traffic will help keep the area safe and improve public trust in commercial air travel,” Moran said in a letter to the FAA.

Moran, who chairs the Senate subcommittee, said the panel would examine expert findings to determine whether policy changes were necessary to increase safety and improve public trust.

President Donald Trump became the first Republican in more than two decades to win the city of Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest Muslim population of any city in the United States.

The biggest reason for this was anger within the Muslim community over the Biden administration's backing of Israel's war in Gaza, which so far has cost the lives of more than 50,000 Palestinians.

But after Trump this week proposed a plan many have said is considered ethnically cleansing Gaza and having the United States take over the region, there has been growing criticism from within the Muslim community of people who not only refused to back Vice President Kamala Harris but who took the added step of voting affirmatively for Trump.

NPR reports that some Muslims in Dearborn have been second-guessing the decision by many voters in the city to support the president while living in a state in which Harris lost to Trump by a little more than 80,000 votes.

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"It's like, what did you think? What did you think he was going to do?" Sam Ali, a Dearborn-based business consultant who didn't vote for Trump or Harris, told NPR. "What did you think he was going to say? And now people have to live with the consequences of their decision to to vote for him."

Abbas Alawieh, a Democratic strategist who organized the "uncommitted" campaign aimed at pressuring Biden and Harris to cut off arms sales to Israel, tells NPR that he ultimately did vote for Harris.

At the same time, Alawieh tells NPR that Trump succeeded in winning the city because he visited Dearborn during the campaign and "lied to a whole bunch of folks saying that he would be a pro-peace president."

Rapper Kendrick Lamar, one of the big success stories of the Grammys last weeks, said Thursday his fans should expect "storytelling" at the Super Bowl halftime show this weekend.

Lamar will headline the halftime show at Sunday's showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, and has announced SZA will join him as a featured guest.

He had a clean sweep at last Sunday's Grammys, winning in all five categories for which he received nominations -- Record of the Year, Song of the Year, best rap song, best rap performance and best music video.

"I think I've always been very open about storytelling through my catalogue and history of music ... I like to always carry on that sense of people listening but also thinking," he said in an interview ahead of the NFL's season finale.

Lamar said had never imagined he would perform at the Super Bowl when he was starting out. In 2022, he appeared as a featured performer in a hip-hop showcase but this will be his first headline show.

"I wasn't thinking about no Super Bowl -- I was thinking about the best verse... It wasn't no Super Bowl," he said.

"What I know is the passion I have now is still the passion I had then."

The big question on everyone's mind is whether Lamar will perform his Grammy-winning scathing diss track "Not Like Us," which is part of a feud with fellow rapper Drake that has landed in court.

He did not address that issue directly but said he was "just thinking about the culture, really."

"When people talk about rap, man, the conversations out there they think it's just rapping -- (like) it's not an actual art form," Lamar said.

"So when you put records like that at the forefront, it reminds people that this is more than just something that came 50 years ago."

Lamar released "Not Like Us" in May 2024, the fifth of a collection of songs skewering the Canadian rapper that dropped less than a day after his previous single, "Meet the Grahams."

A record-breaking streaming giant, "Not Like Us" catapulted to the top of the charts and quickly became a West Coast rap anthem, beloved for its pounding bass line, rhythmic strings and exaggerated enunciation.

Drake has filed a defamation suit against their shared label, saying Universal Music Group's release and promotion of "Not Like Us" amounted to defamation and harassment.

UMG has called the accusations "illogical."

© Agence France-Presse

A federal judge has temporarily paused Thursday's deadline for federal workers to decide whether to accept a buyout offer from Donald Trump's administration.

Massachusetts-based judge George O'Toole, a Bill Clinton appointee, ordered the deadline for accepting the administration's "Fork in the Road" buyout to be extended until at least Monday, and possibly longer, while parties to the case engage in emergency litigation over implementation of the program.

“We are pleased the court temporarily paused this deadline while arguments are heard about the legality of the deferred resignation program," said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. "We continue to believe this program violates the law, and we will continue to aggressively defend our members’ rights."

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More than 2 million federal employees were given the choice of accepting the administration's "Fork in the Road" deferred resignation offer, which would allow them to be paid through September without reporting for duty, or keep their jobs and risk being fired.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) extended the offer as part of Elon Musk's Trump-sanctioned effort to drastically cut government spending and the federal workforce, and several employee unions have filed lawsuits challenging the deal's legality, as well as some of its provisions.

O'Toole's ruling indicates that 60,000 workers have purportedly agreed to accept the "Fork" deal.

— (@)

by Joris Fioriti with Cecil Morella in Manila and Joe Jackson in London

The freeze in aid funding by Donald Trump's new U.S. administration has left humanitarian workers seeing a large proportion of their budget cut off and fearing millions will be affected as programs are suspended.

On January 24, four days after Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.

A week later, a second letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for "life-saving humanitarian assistance".

But the terms used are vague and the NGOs say they feel lost.

The new administration has launched stinging attacks on USAID -- which Trump claimed was "run by radical lunatics" and his ally and advisor, the world's richest person Elon Musk, has described as a "criminal organization".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now its acting director, vowing to put an end to its "insubordination".

Global and regional NGOs told AFP in interviews that the effect to their work has been immediate and warned the move could also erode US influence worldwide.

- Solidarites International -

Kevin Goldberg, director of French NGO Solidarites International, said that the move has already forced the pausing of certain aid operations in countries including Mozambique, Syria and Yemen.

"Today, the United States is debating the future of its development agency. But this subject concerns the entire planet," he said.

"We know that this is a sector that, in any case, must innovate," he said.

"But to stop everything overnight, to not take into account at all the fact that we are talking about millions of human lives, that's crazy."

He said the unclear instructions from the U.S. administration could prevent some charities from risking going ahead with programs in case they then had to foot their costs themselves.

"It's like trying to drive with a massive spoke in the wheel," he said.

- Oxfam America -

Daryl Grisgraber, humanitarian policy lead for Oxfam America, said that change was likely to be drastic.

"It really will have a potentially life or death consequences for millions of people.

"At the end of those 90 days, it's very likely there are going to be huge cuts on what aid can continue to move.

"So there is effectively a pause on all future funding as well," he said.

"We have been looking at it as really basically a cynical power play. This is going to put lives in danger and it's unacceptable as a representation of United States values and interest in the world."

- Balay Rehabilitation Center -

The centre, which provides psycho-social counseling and other help for survivors of torture in the conflict-plagued southern Philippines, said it was already feeling the effects of Trump's policy.

"We are still in limbo as to whether this project will continue or not," said executive director Josephine Lascano.

She said she had already been forced to suspend a program that was helping "about 20" victims of violence.

The Philippines received close to $190 million in USAID funding in 2023.

- MSI Reproductive Choices -

Beth Schlachter, senior director of US external relations at sexual and reproductive healthcare provider MSI Reproductive Choices, said it was fully aware that nearly 10 percent of its budget from the US government could disappear.

"There's a lot of chaos that's going to play out, or starting to play out already, at the country level," she said.

"Our... colleagues who are running these programs in the countries are already feeling just the fear and the chaos of not knowing what will be supported and what will go away.

"Money is power... You can't just wield this kind of destruction and then expect to still have a seat at the table and to have the kind of influence that you want to have."

- InterAction -

Tom Hart, CEO of InterAction, an alliance of NGOs and partners in the United States, said bringing life-saving programs to a halt was "counterproductive to this administration's own stated goals".

"Where we stand today is children going without education and mothers not receiving prenatal care," he added.

© Agence France-Presse