The Daily Moth 2-12-2025
It is Wednesday, February 12, 2025. Here are today’s top stories.
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Pilot killed in private jet collision in Arizona
On Monday afternoon, a 78-year-old pilot of a private Learjet that was owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil was killed when the plane veered off a runway in Arizona and hit another jet that was parked.
The pilot’s name was Joie Vitosky and he was a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam before becoming a private pilot. Neil was not on the plane at the time, but his girlfriend and several others onboard were injured.
Officials said the Learjet’s landing gear failed. The collision is now under investigation by the NTSB.
It is yet another airplane collision/crash in the U.S. Last week a small plane with 10 people crashed near Nome, Alaska, killing all aboard, and before that, there was the Philadelphia plane crash and the D.C. helicopter/plane collision.
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Inflation up 3% from a year ago
The Labor Department reported this morning that consumer prices in January were up 3% from a year ago. There was a 0.5% increase in prices between December and January alone. The worst increase in a specific item is egg prices, which went up 50% last month due to lower egg supplies because of avian flu.
President Trump blamed the Biden administration for the numbers. He can say that because Trump became president on January 20 and during the Biden administration and the end of the pandemic, inflation was at an extremely high point of 9%. It has cooled off after that, but started to increase a bit in the past few months.
President Trump has campaigned with promises that he would lower prices, so it’s up to him to follow through in 2025 and beyond. This can be complicated by Trump’s embrace of tariffs, which can drive prices for consumers.
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Trump orders federal agencies to work with Musk/DOGE
President Trump signed an executive order to require federal agencies to let Elon Musk and his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) team be able to come in and make cuts to their workforce and have oversight over hiring decisions.
The order instructs agencies to recruit no more than one employee for every four who depart from the federal government with exemptions for people who work in public safety, immigration enforcement, or law enforcement.
Musk was at the Oval Office with his son, X. Musk said he wants to take aim at the “bureaucracy” because if it is in charge, then democracy doesn’t have any meaning. Musk said he wants to carry out the “will of the people.”
Both Musk and Trump said they’ve discovered massive amounts of waste and fraud. So far, DOGE has posted on its X (Twitter) different things that it considers waste, such as millions of dollars’ worth of DEI training grants, media subscriptions, or foreign aid. Musk hasn’t shown specific examples of fraud – which is more serious – because in theory it should come with criminal indictments. However, Musk said he’s seen that some government employees received “kickbacks” or that some recipients of Social Security checks were as old as 150. The fraud claims are something to stay tuned on.
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Sponsored video by Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
Trump phones Putin; Hegseth on Ukraine
President Trump said he talked with Russian President Putin and they agreed to start negotiations immediately to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump phoned Ukrainian President Zelenskyy afterwards and said he wants peace. Trump said there would be a big meeting in Germany on Friday where Vice President JD Vance and Sec. of State Rubio would lead the U.S. delegation.
Trump also thanked Russia for releasing American Marc Fogel, who was imprisoned in Russia for three years. The U.S. said it is releasing a cybercriminal named Alexander Vinnik in exchange. Vinnik pleaded guilty to laundering billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency to other cybercriminals.
Defense Sec. Hegseth, in his first meeting with Ukraine’s military, said it is unrealistic to expect them to get back the land that was lost to Russian invaders since 2014. Hegseth said the main priority is to stop the bloodshed and this war. Hegseth also said European allies would have to become the main providers of aid to Ukraine in the future because the U.S. needs to be focused on competition with China and securing its borders.
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Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as director of national intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote to be the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 agencies including the CIA and NSA. She is a former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii who left the Democratic party in 2022. She is also a U.S. Army Reserve veteran.
All Senate Republicans supported Gabbard except for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), the former GOP Senate leader. McConnell opposed Gabbard partly because she refused to label Edward Snowden a traitor for stealing and exposing millions of classified documents.
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Two Navy pilots rescued after jet crash in San Diego Bay
A military fighter jet crashed in the San Diego Bay today but fortunately, two Navy pilots were able to eject and were rescued. The jet was an EA-18G Growler. The pilots were rescued by a fishing vessel only a minute after they went into the water.
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
SOURCES:
Private plane collision: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/12/scottsdale-airport-arizona-plane-crash-pilot-joie-vitosky/78453061007/?tbref=hp
Musk/DOGE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/11/trump-workforce-cuts-elon-musk/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/trump-musk-oval-office.html
Trump/Putin; Hegseth/Ukraine:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/trump-2nd-term-tariffs-trade-war?id=118643360&entryId=118728099
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/02/12/hegseth-defense-secretary-ukraine-russia-borders-nato/78451260007/
Inflation: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/inflation-increased-january-posing-obstacle-tariff-plans/story?id=118730266
Tulsi: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-lands-key-tulsi-gabbard-confirmation-following-uphill-senate-battle