Employees at the General Services Administration are facing massive staff cuts and threats of near-constant monitoring, three top Trump administration officials are in Europe this week talking with European leaders about transatlantic issues, and proponents of going to Mars see an opportunity in Elon Musk's close relationship with President Trump.
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Today's episode of Up First was edited by Brett Neely, Ryland Barton, Gisele Grayson, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenburg. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
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Money Girl - Home Office Tax Deduction: 5 Essential Rules to Maximize Your Savings in 2025
Laura reviews who qualifies for the home office tax deduction and five rules for claiming it when you work from home.
Money Girl is hosted by Laura Adams. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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The Daily Detail - The Daily Detail for 2.12.25
Alabama:
AG Marshall joins coalition to bring legal action against Dr. Anthony Fauci,
Lt. Governor Ainsworth breaks from Governor Ivey over bill to restructure VA
Amendment offered would require Pledge of Allegiance and prayer in schools
AL House Health committee passes "What is a Woman Act" that defines sex
Birmingham Interim police chief strategy is at odds with mayor's recent statement
FBI agents make immigration related arrests in Baldwin and Lee counties
National:
US teacher released from Russian prison after Trump sends special envoy
4 FEMA employees now fired for sending $56M to NYC hotels for illegal aliens
AZ congressmen seeks to impeach judge that is obstructing DOGE team
Elon Musk and President Trump speak about DOGE from Oval Office
Report from US think tanks shows USAID sent millions of $ to terrorist groups
11th circuit court dismisses last legal case from Jack Smith re: Trump and docs
Democrats sing out their frustrations that DOGE is finding government waste, fraud and abuse
The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Not Enough People Were ‘Marginalized,’ So Obama Created DEI
Why did President Barack Obama start using words like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” instead of the typical "affirmative action"?
Affirmative action was created to right the historic wrongs imposed on African Americans during the Jim Crow era, which included about 10% of the U.S. population. Obama used DEI to expand the terminology to anyone who isn’t white. Why?
Victor Davis Hanson argues in this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” that it was to dramatically increase the size of the historically marginalized constituency, allowing the Obama administration to implement its expansive woke agenda:
“Affirmative action was created during the civil rights era, 1964 and '65, and then, now, it has been with us almost 60 years. But remember what it was originally designed for—to address the historic racism and oppression of black Americans through slavery and Jim Crow, de facto segregation in some of the Northern states, but de jure segregation in the South.
"And it said that because of that African Americans had not been given equality of opportunity. Statute never said anything about quotas or equality result ...
“When the Obama administration came in, they saw that that constituency was not big enough for the type of woke agenda that they were envisioning
"So, they recreated it. They used a word, “diversity.” And diversity then would morph in, during the Obama years, to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” They added the “equity and inclusion” so you didn't obsess on race, which was the obsession. But they didn't want you to think about that. So then, all of a sudden, anybody was diverse on one qualification.
"They were not white."
For Victor’s latest thoughts, go to: https://victorhanson.com/
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Everything Everywhere Daily - Separated at Birth (Encore)
In the 1960s, a New York clinical psychiatrist and an adoption agency conducted an experiment. They separated multiple sets of identical twins and one set of identical triplets into different families to test how much of personality is due to genetics or the environment.
None of the children or families were ever told about this.
The results of this experiment, and other cases like it, have proved to be fascinating.
Learn more about identical twins and triples that were separated at birth on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Getting Hammered - Ads, Orders & Ultimatums
From the Super Bowl and its biggest ads to Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance, we’re breaking down all the highlights. Plus, we dive into the latest on the restraining order against Trump and the administration’s ultimatum to Hamas. Tune in!
Time Stamps:
10:21 | The Super Bowl
30:41 | Trump Approval
46:12 | Hostage Update
54:14 | Fort Bragg
57:17 | Straws
NBN Book of the Day - Rebecca Haw Allensworth, “The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong” (Harvard UP, 2025)
When we think about "red tape" and the cost of regulation it's hard to overstate the impact of professional licensing. According to Professor Rebecca Haw Allensworth, it's bigger than unions and more expensive than sales taxes.
Millions of American workers are required - by law - to obtain a license in order to work. This barrier of entry depends on requirements set by licensing boards staffed mainly by members of the profession they oversee. It limits the number of people who can serve and also confers on licensees a certain degree of prestige and trust.
In The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong (Harvard UP, 2025), Allensworth goes deep into a complex web of conflicting priorities.
Whether it's hair stylists or doctors, plumbers or lawyers, licensing board members are asked to simultaneously represent their personal practice, fellow professionals, and the public. They have to literally "wear three hats", which leads to well-intentioned, but deeply flawed and biased, decision making.
Consumers depend on licensing boards to ensure that professionals maintain high quality and reliability standards by creating - and enforcing - licensing standards.
In reality, their decisions can be maddeningly arbitrary, creating unnecessary barriers to hopeful practitioners while simultaneously failing to protect the public from bad actors who abuse the trust placed in them.
Despite good intent, board members lack the resources and sometimes the will to investigate even serious disciplinary cases. The consequences include, but are not limited to, the failure of medical licensing boards to remove the abusive doctors who fueled the opioid crisis and a system that allows unethical predatory lawyers to continue to practice, often targeting clients who are unable to protect themselves.
While in some areas licensing is deeply flawed, in others it is critical to a well-functioning society. Allensworth argues for abolition where appropriate and reform where it is most needed.
See Professor Allensworth's faculty profile video
Author recommended reading:
- - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- - Drug Dealer, MD by Anna Lembke, MD
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What A Day - How VP Vance Uses Catholicism To Justify Mass Deportations
More than two dozen Christian and Jewish organizations sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its decision to let immigration agents make arrests at places of worship. Also Tuesday, Pope Francis issued a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan in a letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops. And he had some seemingly pointed words for Vice President J.D. Vance, who in recent weeks has used his Catholic faith to justify the White House’s immigration crackdown. Terence Sweeney, an assistant teaching professor at Villanova University, breaks down the holes in the Trump administration’s interpretation of Christianity and Catholicism.
Later in the show, Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics and trade policy at the Cato Institute, explains why Trump’s threats to a trade loophole could blow up your online shopping habits.
And in headlines: Trump and Elon Musk defended the Department of Government Efficiency’s draconian cost-cutting actions during a joint press conference, DOGE said it cut $900 million in Department of Education contracts, and a federal judge blocked the administration’s order to cut billions in funding for medical research.
Show Notes:
- Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8
- Support victims of the fire – votesaveamerica.com/relief
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- For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday
The NewsWorthy - Expanding Musk’s Power, Coast-to-Coast Storms & Best in Show – Wednesday, February 12, 2025
The news to know for Wednesday, February 12, 2025!
We’re talking about a deal that’s bringing an American teacher back to the U.S. after three and a half years in a Russian prison.
And why a ceasefire deal could be crumbling in Gaza.
Also, Elon Musk answered questions about his deep government cuts for the first time, and President Trump threw more support behind him.
Plus, Southern California is facing its strongest storm in a year, canned tuna is being recalled nationwide, and there’s a new Best in Show—we’ll tell you which dog breed won the Westminster Dog Show.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
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The Best One Yet - 🏎️ “Bieber’s blacklisted” — Ferrari’s rules of ownership. Coca-Cola’s Fairlife milk. DOGE vs. CFPB.
If you customize a Ferrari, they won’t let you buy another… even if you’re Justin Beiber.
Coca-Cola’s biggest acquisition ever is Fairlife… because milk is having a moment.
DOGE is targeting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau… so we’re look at trim-cuts vs buzz-cuts.
Plus, we wrote a heartbroken love poem ahead of Valentine’s Day… to Peloton.
$RACE $KO $PTON
Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food 🍦. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.
“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.
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