Ed Department cuts $600M in taxpayer-funded grants pushing ‘divisive ideologies’
The Department of Education (DOED) is pulling the plug on the use of taxpayer dollars to fund “divisive” and “inappropriate” training programs for educators, announcing hundreds of millions in cuts as the Trump administration cleans house on “wasteful” spending within the federal government. On Monday, the DOED announced the cancelation of $600 million dollars in grants funding programs that teach educators “divisive ideologies” such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the “instruction on White privilege and White supremacy.” The latest spending cut comes just days after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to cut government spending, announced the slashing of over $370 million in DEI training programs from the Education Department. The grants that were terminated included funding for training programs “requiring practitioners to take personal and institutional responsibility for systemic inequities (e.g., racism) and critically reassess their own practices,” according to the DOED. DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS Also slashed in the cost-cutting sweep was funding to one program that provided “spaces for critical reflection to help educators confront biases and have transformative conversations about equity,” and another that worked on “building historical and sociopolitical understandings of race and racism to interrupt racial marginalization and oppression of students in planning, instruction, relationship building, discipline and assessment.” DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PROBING SOME VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS OVER GENDER IDENTITY POLICIES “Less money on DEI nonsense means more money to make sure teachers know how to teach students to read! #MakeAmericaLiterateAgain,” Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice said in a post on X. The move also received a thumbs up from Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, who expressed her support on social media. According to the DOED, many of the grants also included teacher and staff recruiting strategies that were “implicitly and explicitly based on race.” “The Department of Education has canceled $600 million in ‘teacher training grants,’ which do little more than promote left-wing race and gender ideologies,” Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said of the announcement. “It’s time to shut it all down.” President Donald Trump‘s administration has made axing DEI programs in education a focal point of their efforts to reform the department, ordering all 50 state education departments last week to remove DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding. The president has signaled his intention to eventually abolish the department during his term to allow individual states to make decisions about their own education departments.
DOGE team welcomed at the Pentagon but some remain skeptical
The Department of Defense has received a list of DOGE officials tasked with cutting 8% from next year’s budget. “We welcome DOGE to the Pentagon,” said Secretary Pete Hegseth. “And I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon.” The Pentagon employs 3.7 million personnel with a budget exceeding $850 billion, but it has never passed an audit. Tara Dougherty, CEO of Govini, a defense software company, worked for three Defense secretaries going back to Robert Gates. She says the biggest savings will be found in overhauling the decades-old weapons acquisition process, which still uses manual spreadsheets and fax machines. ACTING HEAD OF SOCIAL SECURITY QUITS AFTER CLASH WITH DOGE OVER DATE “I would put a big red bull’s eye on the process by which we manage weapons systems and military platforms,” Dougherty said in an interview with Fox News. “The defense acquisition process is massively broken…. It’s too slow. I mean, the United States is issuing missile purchases through fax machines. It’s using spreadsheet sheets and data calls in order to get nuclear capable platforms off of production lines.” As a result, fifth-generation stealth fighter jets, the F-35, can’t get out of depot because they’re missing parts and the defense industrial base in the U.S. doesn’t produce what they need. The next generation intercontinental ballistic missile, a key part of the nuclear triad, is $35 billion over budget. And the cost of the B-21 nuclear bomber is rising and behind schedule. “A lot of the weapons systems and the ships, jets, tanks and other capabilities that the department relies on for the military have such complex supply chains that the Department of Defense doesn’t actually know where all of those parts are coming from. And because they’re using spreadsheets to manage the programs overall means they have no ability to see if there are foreign suppliers or in some cases, Chinese suppliers of critical components like microelectronics in our military systems. This is the kind of thing that Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Trump administration are saying, this is no longer acceptable, and that’s what they’re going to root out,” Dougherty said. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR SAYS PUTIN, ZELENSKYY AGREE ‘ONLY PRESIDENT TRUMP COULD GET THEM TO THE TABLE’ To get ahead of the DOGE team, the Navy is considering cutting its fleet of frigates, while the Army is looking for savings by eliminating outdated drones and surplus vehicles. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., says it is about time. “I, for one, as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, welcome, DOGE coming in to the Pentagon and helping us cut red tape, make the acquisition process more efficient and spend our dollars better,” Wicker said in an interview with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo. But not everyone is happy that DOGE is coming to the Pentagon, where there are many classified systems and a lot of secret information that U.S. adversaries would like to gain access to. “We’ve already seen that this DOGE, I call it the Department of Government inefficiencies, is causing a reign of terror chaos across the federal government,” Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., told CNN. “Just this week, they released classified information about a U.S. intelligence agency. They have access to the American people’s personal information, bank accounts and things like that that they’re frankly not entitled to. And so I have a major, major concern about them going into the Department of Defense and sitting around with, you know, the internal systems there and U.S. national security.” Concern that the DOGE team will move too fast at the expense of national security materialized after it purged 2,000 federal workers from the Department of Energy, including 350, many of whom oversaw the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Many of these federal workers were working at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, reassembling nuclear warheads, one of the most sensitive jobs that requires the highest level of security clearance. The administration did an about-face last week and quickly tried to locate and rehire the Department of Energy employees overseeing the nukes. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency announced the dismissal of over 1,000 employees, following DOGE guidance. Veterans Affairs employees joined Democratic lawmakers outside the D.C. headquarters to protest DOGE’s actions at the VA last week.
Leader behind migrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard tapped to head red state’s new immigration board
The man who helped organize a planeload of illegal immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard during the Biden administration has been tapped to lead Florida’s new immigration enforcement board. Larry Keefe, a longtime trial attorney who served previously as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “public safety czar” since 2021, will have $250 million at his discretion to help bolster the state’s immigration enforcement efforts. Keefe was at the center of helping private contractor Vertol Systems Company earn a $1.5 million contract to fly dozens of mostly Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to the ritzy Massachusetts island in 2022. At the time, illegal crossings along the southern border were surging under the leadership of former President Joe Biden, with more than 2 million during FY 2022. TRUMP GREENLIGHTS SOME PRO-IMMIGRANT MOVES AMID BROADER ANTI-MIGRANT CRACKDOWN The new board that Keefe will be heading was created during a recent special legislative session, called by DeSantis last month, to advance efforts at implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The group held an emergency meeting Monday, during which Attorney General James Uthmeier nominated Keefe to be the new board’s executive director just hours after being appointed himself by the governor. “For several years, I had the pleasure of working alongside [Keefe] when he was the state’s public safety czar. In that position, Larry worked with law enforcement all across the state to spearhead interdiction efforts. He also helped us with executive actions to collect data and better understand the real harms and taxes that the state faces as a result of an influx of illegal immigrants,” Uthmeier said at Monday’s meeting. “He also helped organize some relocation flights that I think some of you might have heard about, including one to Martha’s Vineyard.” Desantis said during Monday’s meeting that Keefe’s work on the migrant flights, in particular the one to Martha’s Vineyard, “changed the dynamic of the whole debate” from immigration simply being an issue for border states, to an issue for all states. TOP FEDERAL AGENCY EXPOSED FOR SPENDING BILLIONS ON MIGRANTS IN A SINGLE YEAR “They thought it was fine to have tens-of-thousands overrunning these border towns, but the minute you had 50 show up in Martha’s Vineyard, they had massive spasms about this. They called out the National Guard, they were doing a state of emergency,” Desantis said. “And then you started to see New York City and California and Chicago trips, and all of that I think helped bring this issue to a crescendo and resulted in the 2024 election.” Fox News Digital reached out to DeSantis’ office and was directed to his comments during the Monday meeting and on social media. DeSantis said Keefe “is a great public servant” and “will do a fantastic job” leading the state’s immigration enforcement.
Musk is not DOGE employee, has no more authority than other WH staff, new filing says
The Trump administration clarified in a late-night Monday court filing that Elon Musk is not a DOGE employee, and instead serves as a White House advisor, in a similar vein as former Biden advisor Anita Dunn. The filing comes after D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan heard remarks in the case filed by 14 state attorneys general against Musk and the Trump administration. The states argue that Musk and the administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach. Chutkan expressed that she wasn’t convinced by the arguments on Monday after asking what harm the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) imposed, as well as whether any federal employee terminations took place at the end of last week. DOGE SAYS IT FOUND NEARLY UNTRACEABLE BUDGET LINE ITEM RESPONSIBLE FOR $4.7T IN PAYMENTS Following the remarks, Joshua Fisher, director of the Office of Administration, submitted a signed declaration clarifying that Musk “is an employee of the White House Office,” where he holds the position of “a non-career Special Government Employee.” “In that job, Mr. Musk is a Senior Adviser to the President,” Fisher wrote. “It is not uncommon for the President to have Senior Advisors who are SGEs.” Fisher compared Musk’s White House role to that of former top Biden advisor Anita Dunn. Dunn, who has longtime ties to former President Barack Obama, left the Biden White House in 2024 to join a top Democratic super PAC to support its efforts to elect Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election. DOGE’S ACCESS TO CRITICAL IRS SYSTEM CONTAINING TAXPAYER INFORMATION IS IMMINENT Dunn served as a political strategist and advisor to Biden on his 2020 campaign and in the White House. Fisher continued on to say that Musk “has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors” and, as such, has no “actual or formal authority” to make government decisions. “Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives,” Fisher wrote. Fisher clarified that DOGE is a separate entity from the White House, continuing on to state that Musk is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.” OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE WHO BECAME TRUMP RIVAL DURING ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE OVERSEEING PIVOTAL DOGE HEARING At issue in the case are DOGE’s actions within seven federal agencies, the Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce. The state AGs announced they were filing the suit last week, in which they are “challenging the unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk,” according to a statement released at the time. “Empowering an unelected billionaire to access Americans’ private data, slash funding for federal student aid, stop payments to American farmers and dismantle protections for working families is not a sign of President Trump’s strength, but his weakness,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in the statement. Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, Anders Hagstrom, Bill Mears, and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
Harvard Alum Aayush Puri: Move back to India, the future is here
The PropTech industry in India is at a pivotal juncture. With rapid urbanization and a tech-savvy population, there’s a significant shift towards digital solutions in real estate.
‘Papa killed mummy’: 4-year-old’s drawing creates suspicion over woman’s alleged suicide
A woman was found dead suspiciously in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi. There are claims that she did not attempt suicide but was murdered. The woman’s four-year-old daughter’s drawing suggests that her father had killed her mother.
Elon Musk protests to target lawmakers, Tesla dealerships as progressives decry ‘extremist cuts’
A progressive activist group is urging liberals to take advantage of the House of Representatives’ current weeklong recess to stage demonstrations against Elon Musk across the country. Indivisible, an organization founded by former Democratic congressional staffers, published a “tool kit” with recommendations for protesting at town halls and lawmakers’ district offices. A section on how to “take the fight to Elon” includes steps for planning and executing a demonstration at Tesla dealerships, showrooms and factories. “Members of the House of Representatives will be back on your home turf from Friday, February 14th, through Sunday, February 23rd, and it’s our opportunity to remind them who they work for,” the group’s website states. “Fighting back against the Trump-Musk coup is going to take all of us.” BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS The House is currently out of session to mark Presidents Day this past Monday. These periods normally see lawmakers holding events with constituents or otherwise participating in their communities. Indivisible is urging progressives to take advantage of that time to protest across the U.S. “Recess is when Members of Congress go back home to host town halls, meet with constituents, and try to paint themselves as responsive to the people who elected them. It is also when MoCs think they can avoid public scrutiny—especially Republicans who want to dodge tough questions about their complicity in Trump and Musk’s coup,” the site said. “House Republicans use this time to meet with lobbyists and donors while hoping their constituents stay silent. House Democrats, meanwhile, need to hear from us to remind them that they have power—and that we expect them to use it to fight back.” SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN It comes amid widespread left-wing outrage over Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), at the direction of President Donald Trump, spearheading efforts to significantly crack down on the size and scope of various federal agencies. Democrats have also pushed back on Musk’s DOGE workers getting access to sensitive government-owned data despite a lack of clarity on how they were vetted. However, Republicans have met Musk’s work with enthusiasm, arguing that tough measures are needed to mitigate the effects of the U.S. national debt blowing past $36 trillion. “This recess, we’re making sure every single Republican feels the heat for their complicity and pays a political price for selling out their constituents,” the Indivisible website said. “At the same time, House Democrats have power—if they use it. But they need to be reminded. We need to show up for the ones fighting, celebrate their courage, and remind them to hold the line. We’ll push them to commit to voting NO on any budget that gives Musk and Trump control over our government’s spending or includes extremist cuts.” Under a section titled, “planning your Tesla town hall,” the group said, “To fight back, we have to meet Musk where he operates—across the country at Tesla showrooms, factories, and dealerships. A Tesla protest is a powerful way to expose his deep ties to the Trump coup and demand accountability.” At the same time, it urges activists to remain on public property and refrain from “business targeting.” “Indivisible is not advising and does not condone any actions that directly interfere with the daily operations or activities of any business or entity,” it said.
Bengaluru to witness hottest summer says IMD, recorded season’s highest temperature at…
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Bengaluru will witness temperatures higher than Delhi, signaling a rare change in weather patterns.
‘Not My Presidents Day’ protests erupt across the country
Progressive groups across the country once again protested President Donald Trump on Monday. The “Not My Presidents Day” or “No Kings Day” protests were organized by the 50501 Movement, a coalition of activists united against Trump’s “executive overreach.” From Austin, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, and Boston to Phoenix, demonstrators gathered in cities across the United States holding handmade signs, singing songs of resistance and chanting in protest. More than a thousand gathered at the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., this Presidents Day. “On Monday, we call on organizations and activists across the nation to once again stand united,” Sarah, a 50501 Movement and Voices of Florida organizer, said in a statement ahead of Presidents Day. “We will not cede ground to fascism quietly. We will fight back against Project 2025, and we will fight for the future of all of our beautiful communities.” Protesters at the nation’s capitol on Monday carried signs calling to “impeach” Elon Musk, resist the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and save our republic. Fox News Digital spoke with several protesters in Washington, D.C., about why they felt compelled to protest. Protesters said they gathered to reject Elon Musk and DOGE. TOP TRUMP AGENCY RECOVERS EYE-POPPING SUM AFTER LAUNCHING DOGE TASK FORCE “I’m here to protest the president, protest Elon Musk, and protest all the executive orders. He is not our president. Everything he’s done is a destruction of this country. He only cares about himself and his pockets and the pockets of his cronies. He’s not here to help any of the working Americans. Everything he’s doing is mass destruction. He is a weapon of mass destruction,” Jennifer, a protester in Washington, D.C., said. PROTESTS ERUPT AROUND THE COUNTRY AGAINST THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S POLICIES Jennifer said Trump might be president, but he is not a president for the people. Mary Hart, an educator at the protest, said her immigrant and trans students have been targeted by the administration, and she wanted to be a part of the resistance. “I’m an educator, and I’m scared for my immigrant students,” Hart said. “I’m scared for my trans students. I’m scared for my country. I just had to show up and be part of the resistance. They’re being targeted and dehumanized by multiple people in this government. They’re coming to school scared, interrupting their learning. They’re being targeted and bullied by people who are emboldened by this administration, and it’s not right.” Jerome Bobowski, a girl dad from Detroit, led a “Where is Congress?” chant at the Washington, D.C., rally. He said he protested to protect his daughters’ rights. “My kids are power women, and they have to have as many rights as my wife, who is a power woman too. We want justice. We don’t want a country without laws. That’s why they all come here. Because we have rules. We are not kings,” Bobowski said. Protesters said they were afraid of losing personal liberties, but the White House told Fox News Digital that Trump is a “leader for all Americans.” Responding to the “Not My Presidents Day” protests, the Trump administration emphasized his “resounding mandate” from the American people on Election Day and his commitment to delivering on his campaign promises. “This Presidents Day, we honor the leadership of President Trump. He received a resounding mandate from the American people and swiftly took action to deliver on his promises of restoring common sense policies, strengthening the economy and re-establishing America’s dominance on the world stage. President Trump is a leader for all Americans, and he will continue to prioritize America’s interests in every decision,” principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said. The 50501 Movement, which means 50 protests in 50 states on one day, began with a Reddit post, Sarah, who is a national core member of 50501, explained. From there, #buildtheresistance and #50501 gained traction on social media. On Feb. 5, they mobilized over 20,000 people across the country to protest Trump’s policies and Project 2025. “All of this happened very organically and very fast,” Sarah told Fox News Digital. “I think that people didn’t know where to put their feelings. They didn’t know how to move. I think that they were just shell shocked, and when that Reddit post happened, it gave people the power to go make their voices heard.” The 50501 Movement is taking a decentralized approach, allowing individual groups and cities across the country to articulate their own mission. Sarah is also the executive director of Voices of Florida, which emphasizes reproductive rights, immigrant rights and queer rights. “It goes down to what the states and the smaller groups want. We don’t tell people what their demands should be. To sum it up in a broad way, it’s to push back against Project 2025 and give the power back to the people,” Sarah added. The 50501 is not affiliated with a political party, and there is no clear leader of the organization. At the protest in Washington, D.C., the organizers preached peace and emphasized civil disobedience was not welcome.
DOGE wars: Ruling expected as states seek restraining order against Musk, Trump quest to slash bureaucracy
The Trump administration’s quest to tame the sprawling federal bureaucratic leviathan is expected to face a key hurdle on Monday, as Judge Tanya Chutkan is expected to rule after more than a dozen states sought a temporary restraining order, accusing Elon Musk of “unconstitutional” actions. Musk, who is spearheading the effort to identify government components that can be eliminated or slimmed down, has been widely hailed by the political right. But Musk has been scrutinized and criticized by many on the political left as they raise alarms about DOGE probes. While Musk is leading the charge, he is doing so with President Donald Trump’s blessing, and the commander in chief is standing firmly behind the push to root out government waste. “DOGE: BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE BEING FOUND. CAMPAIGN PROMISE. IMPORTANT FOR AMERICA!!!” he declared in a Truth Social post last week. ELON MUSK SAYS MILLIONS IN SOCIAL SECURITY DATABASE ARE BETWEEN AGES OF 100 AND 159 In a post late Sunday night, Musk indicated that a Social Security database lists scads of people as 100 or older “with the death field set to FALSE!” “Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” he quipped. Musk shared a chart that indicated there were millions of individuals listed between the ages of 100 and 159, as well as some listed with ages even higher than that. A Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General Report issued in 2023 noted, “Our audit revealed that the Numident includes approximately 18.8 million more ‘living’ numberholders age 100 or older than the U.S. Census Bureau estimates are alive and residing in the United States.” “Agency officials noted that, as of March 2023, SSA had issued approximately 531 million unique SSNs, and the 18.9 million records represent approximately 3.6 percent of all Numident records. Officials also noted that almost none of the 18.9 million numberholders currently receive SSA payments,” the report stated. “At the time of our review, approximately 44,000 of the 18.9 million numberholders were receiving SSA payments,” a footnote added. The audit was conducted from September 2021 to May 2023, an appendix in the report indicated. TREASURY ‘MISTAKENLY’ GAVE MUSK DOGE WORKER ABILITY TO CHANGE PAYMENTS SYSTEM: COURT DOCS Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., declared in a post on X that while he wants to increase government efficiency and save billions of taxpayer dollars, “Rummaging through your personal s— is *not* that.” “A party of chaos loses—always,” he added in the Monday tweet. But Musk, a billionaire business magnate, fired back. “Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal s—, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello???” Musk declared. “Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem. Obviously. Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second …” Their exchange continued, as Fetterman responded. “Elon, the DOGE mission resonated in PA; I came at it with common sense and an open-mind,” Fetterman replied. “For many, it’s causing chaos and confusion—which IMO, doesn’t help DOGE. PA voters want their personal info secured and taxes spent wisely. Safe to assume both are priorities?” “I love the people,” Musk responded. “We just want to fix the waste and fraud that is bankrupting the country. The scrutiny on me is extreme, so it’s not like I could “get away” with something, nor do I have any incentive to do so.” ACTING HEAD OF SOCIAL SECURITY QUITS AFTER CLASH WITH DOGE OVER DATA: REPORT An interview featuring Trump and Musk is slated to air tonight on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.”