The Daily Moth 2-13-2025
It is Thursday, February 13, 2025. Here are today’s top stories.
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Judge allows federal “buyouts” to proceed
On Wednesday, the federal judge who had previously blocked the Trump administration’s “buyout” offer to federal workers (for them to resign now and get paid through September) determined that the program can proceed. The judge did not say the offer was legal but said the federal employees’ union that sued did not have standing and that his court did not have jurisdiction. There are likely going to be future lawsuits.
The Trump administration said they are victorious and declared that the offer expired last night, meaning no more federal employees can accept the offer. About 75,000 workers accepted the deferred resignation plan.
News reports said multiple federal agencies are now laying off many employees as a part of President Trump and Elon Musk’s bid to continue to cut down the size of the federal workforce from the executive order issued yesterday. The layoffs are called “reductions in force” or RIFs for short. The order said the heads of the agencies are to work with a DOGE Team Lead to identify staff that should be laid off. The order said employees who perform functions that are not mandated by statues or laws and those who are deemed “nonessential” during government shutdowns could be laid off. This applies to the majority of the federal workforce.
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Family of Sonya Massey gets $10M settlement
The family of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed by a police officer in her home last summer, will get a $10 million settlement from Sangamon County in Illinois.
What happened? Massey called 911 because she thought there was someone who broke into her home. Two officers arrived and checked around and said they didn’t see anything. The officers then entered her home and they were talking back and forth. The officers noticed that there was a pot of boiling water on the stove and asked Massey to put it out. Massey picked up the pot and told the officers two times, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Both officers drew their guns. Massey said she was sorry and as she crouched down, an officer walked towards her and shot at her three times, killing her.
That officer is Sean Grayson and he was fired and charged with first-degree murder. Many said the officer could have simply moved backwards and that the shooting was completely unnecessary – a cop with a gun versus a woman holding a pot of water.
Grayson had a checkered past, working for six different police departments between 2020 and 2024 and had two DUI convictions in prior years. Grayson is currently behind bars without bail.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the settlement is only the first step towards justice and he wants to see laws to prevent something like this from happening again.
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Fremont, California criminalizes aiding homeless
CNN reported that the Fremont, California City Council voted 6-1 to criminalize “aiding” and “abetting” homeless camps on Tuesday. The council made it illegal to camp on public property and made it a misdemeanor for residents to aid or abet encampments. If someone violates this policy, they could be penalized up to $1,000 and face up to six months in jail. What does it mean to aid and abet homeless encampments? Advocates for homeless people said the policy is vague but it could apply to handing out sleeping bags, disturbing food or medicine, or letting a friend camp on their own private property. Advocates criticized the policy by saying people would have to choose between potentially keeping someone alive on a cold night or staying out of legal trouble. Fremont’s Mayor Salwan said the ordinance is a “common sense” protection for neighborhoods and said encampments are in itself a barrier to homeless people getting the help they need. CNN explained that the new policy comes about seven months after the Supreme Court ruled that banning camping on public property does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” and that since then, over 150 cities in the U.S. have passed laws banning homeless people from sleeping in public places.
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Sponsored video by Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
Car plows into crowd in Munich
AP News reported that a car plowed into a labor union demonstration in central Munich, Germany today and injured 30 people, including children. Authorities said it was an attack and that the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker, who was arrested. The vehicle was a Mini Cooper which accelerated and plowed into the back of the demonstrators, who were marching on a street with a police escort.
AP said the incident follows a series of attacks involving immigrants in recent months that have pushed migration to the forefront of political issues surrounding Germany’s Feb. 23 election. U.S. VP JD Vance is attending Munich tomorrow for a major international security conference. The U.S. Secret Service said they are monitoring the situation closely and that there is no impact to the VP.
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Nissan and Honda call off merger
Japanese automaker giants Nissan and Honda said they’ve ended discussions on a merger deal between them and Mitsubishi. The car companies said they will instead collaborate within the framework of a strategic partnership aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles.
Nissan and Honda had the idea of a merger due to competition with Chinese carmakers like BYD. Some analysts said Nissan could face bankruptcy in 2026 because it has a huge amount of debts coming due.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes Health Secretary
The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a 52-48 vote.
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) was the only Republican to vote against him, just like he voted against DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
Kennedy is well-known for being a skeptic of vaccines. He ran for the White House in 2024 but ended his bid and endorsed Donald Trump.
McConnell said he opposed Kennedy because he is a survivor of polio and will not condone the “re-litigation of proven cures,” saying vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world.
Kennedy’s slogan is “Make America Healthy Again” and said he wants to combat chronic diseases that are partly caused by people consuming too much ultra-processed foods.
Kenndy, 71, is the son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
Sources:
Federal buyouts:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/12/75000-federal-workers-accept-president-trumps-buyouts-as-offer-ends/78487932007/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/politics/scores-of-firings-federal-agencies/index.html
Massey settlement:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/10-million-settlement-sonya-massey-shooting-case-gets-final-approval-rcna191825
Fremont: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/us/fremont-california-homeless-encampment-ban/index.html
Munich: https://apnews.com/article/germany-munich-car-crowd-4fe219d06bba255ec9971555e724bb90
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/munich-car-driven-pedestrians-germany-security-conference-police-rcna191990
Honda and Nissan:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/cars/japan-nissan-honda-merger-talks-ended-hnk-intl/index.html
RFK:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-confirms-robert-f-kennedy-jr-serve-trumps-health-secretary
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5143321-mcconnell-rfk-jr-hhs-vaccines-anti-vaxx/