The Daily Moth 2-28-2025
It is Friday, February 28, 2025. Here are today’s top stories.
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Zelenskyy, Trump and Vance argue in Oval Office
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited President Trump and VP JD Vance at the White House and they argued in the Oval Office.
President Trump said it’s tough for him to make a deal to end the war if Zelenskyy has a lot of hatred for Putin.
Vance said for the past four years, former President Biden would talk tough about Putin, but he went ahead and invaded Ukraine. Vance said maybe the path to peace is diplomacy.
Zelenskyy interjected by saying Putin occupied big parts of Ukraine back in 2014 and people have been dying in the conflict through three different U.S. presidents, Obama, Trump, then Biden. Zelenskyy said Putin broke a ceasefire agreement that was signed in 2019.
Vance said Zelenskyy is disrespectful for litigating this in front of the American media and that he should be grateful instead.
Zelenskyy warned that the U.S. could feel threatened by Russia someday in the future.
Trump told Zelenskyy, “You’re not really in good position right now” and “You’re gambling with World War III.”
Both presidents continued to argue. Trump told Zelenskyy that “without us, you don’t have any cards.”
After the meeting, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he has “determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
Zelenskyy was seen leaving the White House and he didn’t answer reporters’ questions.
There was supposed to be a news conference and a signing ceremony for a minerals deal this afternoon at the White House, but that was scrapped because of Zelenskyy’s departure.
It’s a bad sign for the U.S. - Ukraine relationship and we’ll see how this affects the Russia-Ukraine war.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-zelensky-news-02-28-25#cm7oy532000003b6vbwgyq1as
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02/28/us/trump-news
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Man who fatally stabbed Palestinian-American boy found guilty of murder and hate crime charges
A jury in the Chicago area found Joseph Czuba guilty of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy who lived on his property in 2023. Czuba was also convicted on hate crime charges and faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced.
The New York Times explained that the stabbing happened a few days after the Oct. 7 2023 attack.
The boy’s name was Wadee Alfayoumi and he was a kindergartner. He lived with his mother, Hanan Shaheen, for two years in rented rooms in Czuba’s home. The mother said after the Oct. 7 incident, Czuba began making hateful statements and demanded her and her son to move out. Czuba’s ex-wife said he was being paranoid and believed that Hanan would bring her friends and hurt him.
A few days later, Czuba knocked on their room and stabbed the mother and then stabbed her son. The mother fought back and managed to call 911, but Wadee was mortally wounded.
It’s very tragic what happened and Czuba has been convicted.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/illinois-palestinian-stabbing-verdict.html
https://nypost.com/2023/10/26/news/hanaan-shahin-begs-for-peace-after-son-wadea-al-fayoumes-death/
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NOAA layoffs; SSA facing 50% reduction in workforce
AP News reported that hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal employees who are on probationary status at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were fired on Thursday. Some staff included meteorologists who provide local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country. The number of layoffs may be over 1,000.
The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE has fired thousands of probationary employees in recent days.
AP also reported that the Social Security Administration is preparing to lay off 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000. AP said according to a person familiar with the situation, the layoffs at SSA could go up to 30,000 people or 50% of the SSA workforce.
DOGE said it wants to see many SSA offices across the U.S. to be closed down.
https://apnews.com/article/national-weather-service-layoffs-trump-doge-a65360a1eb2500b7d47c9c966e383f4a
https://apnews.com/article/social-security-layoffs-doge-musk-trump-93efbed33957af5ec8ac37744d0592de
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Sponsored video by Sorenson: www.sorenson.com
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Iowa legislature passes bill ending transgender protections
CBS News reported that the Iowa legislature quickly passed a bill to remove gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code despite massive protests by opponents who said it could expose transgender people to discrimination.
CBS said the bill would be the first legislative action in the U.S. to remove nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity and it now goes to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has signed previous bills banning transgender students from sports participation and public bathrooms.
There were hundreds of protesters in the Capitol and they waved signs and shouted slogans such as, “Trans Rights Are Human Rights” or “No hate in our state!”
Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl (D), who is a transgender woman, said “I transitioned to save my life” and “the purpose of this bill… is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence… to make our existence illegal.”
President Trump posted on Truth Social last night that Iowa should follow the lead of his executive order to say that there are only two genders and pass the bill as fast as possible.
CBS said there are several other states with Republican-led legislatures that are pushing to pass similar bills against gender identity.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transgender-rights-protections-iowa-lawmakers/
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78-year-old Alabama woman killed by neighbor’s dogs
In east Alabama, a 78-year-old woman, Patricia Burt, was tragically killed by her neighbor’s two Cane Corso dogs. A local news report explained that on Monday, Burt was visiting her neighbor’s mother, who was housesitting for her son. As the two hugged and said hello, the neighbor’s two dogs escaped their enclosure and attacked Burt.
Burt’s husband, Thomas, said the attack was so vicious that he had to shoot both dogs. Burt was rushed to the hospital but died the next day, on Tuesday.
The neighbor said he is heartbroken over Burt’s death and is fully cooperating with the investigation.
The husband, Thomas, said he is grieving and that it’s hard to think about. He said the couple had a lot of good years together.
https://www.wrbl.com/news/east-alabama-husband-grieves-wife-killed-by-neighbors-cane-corso-dogs/
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Trump wants English to be the official U.S. language
President Trump plans to sign an executive order to make English the official language of the U.S.
CBS News said English is already the most commonly used language here but the U.S. has never had an official language at the federal level.
The second most common language in the U.S. is Spanish.
CBS explained that the order will “rescind a federal mandate that requires agencies and other recipients of federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers, a mandate issued by former President Bill Clinton. Agencies, however, will still be able to provide documents and services in other languages.”
Hopefully this will not affect whether federal agencies will provide ASL interpreters – it shouldn’t because as far as I understand, ASL interpreters is not a language access issue but about providing accommodations for disabled people under Section 504 and the ADA.
On this topic, maybe it would be a good time to get President Trump to sign a future executive order to make American Sign Language another official language of the U.S.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-order-english-official-language/
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.