The Daily Moth 3-3-2025
It is Monday, March 3, 2025. Here are today’s top stories.
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European leaders meet with Zelenskyy
On Sunday, European leaders met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in a summit after the White House blowup.
Britain and France said they would lead a “coalition of the willing” to secure a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. The coalition could provide military aid, include Ukraine in any peace negotiation, and help with Ukraine’s defense after a peace deal. Britain and France are hoping to have the Trump administration’s support, but that’s tough after the White House blowup on Friday.
Axios reported that Trump will hold a meeting this afternoon on the next steps with Ukraine and may discuss suspending U.S. military aid. Trump recently posted on social media that he doesn’t like it that Zelenskyy said “the end of the war is still very, very far away” and that he couldn’t do the job without the U.S.
Zelenskyy said on social media that he wants peace as soon as possible, but the war needs to stop with their security guaranteed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/world/europe/europe-ukraine-russia.html
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/03/trump-ukraine-meeting-aid-freeze
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Wildfires in North and South Carolina
On Sunday, there were wildfires in North and South Carolina during dry conditions with gusty winds. It is not known what caused the fires.
In South Carolina, fires burned over 6 square miles. One of the fires is in the Carolina Forest area west of Myrtle Beach and it forced some residents to evacuate on Sunday afternoon, but they could return on Sunday night.
In North Carolina, there were wildfires in four forests across the state with the largest being 400 acres in an area that is 50 miles east of Charlotte. Another large fire in Polk County caused some people to evacuate.
Crews worked to stop the fires by doing aerial water drops and back-burning operations on the ground.
https://www.wyff4.com/article/oscars-2025-winners/64003566
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Musk calls Social Security “Ponzi scheme”
Elon Musk said in an interview with the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Social Security is the “biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Musk said people pay into SS and the money goes out of SS immediately, but SS has an obligation to pay out money throughout your entire retirement career.
Musk said if you look at the future obligations of SS, it far exceeds the tax revenue (referring to the debt clock).
Musk said basically people are living way longer than expected and there are fewer babies being born, so you have more people who are retired and live for a long time and get retirement payments. Musk said the government will have very heavy obligations in the future.
Musk said it’s better to fix what we’ve got right now so it doesn’t get worse in the future.
The conversation shifted to a discussion of a person who allegedly helped illegal immigrants collect SS disability by asking if they had headaches or back problems and claiming they could get SSDI for life.
Musk has a theory that Democratic leaders are using SS, disability, Medicaid, entitlements as a gigantic magnetic force to pull people in from all around the world and keep them here — so they can become Democratic voters.
Because of Musk’s power, there is concern about what Musk is thinking of doing with SS.
Sen. Adam Schiff said “they’re coming after SS and Medicare. And they aren’t even hiding it.”
Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted that SS can continue to make its obligations into the future by making billionaires like Musk pay the same into SS as a truck driver by removing the cap on SS.
The cap is currently $176,100. I learned that employees and employers are each required to pay a 6.2% tax on wages, but when you hit $176,100, you don’t have to continue to pay SS taxes. So, Bernie’s idea is to make millionaires and billionaires pay their 6.2% without caps, which will certainly mean a lot of money going into SS.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Musk’s efforts within SS are focused on fraud, waste and abuse.
I want to make it clear that SS benefits are not being cut off right now. People can still receive their SS benefits. There’s just a lot of concern about what Musk wants to do with the agency. For now, your SS is safe, but what will happen to it in the future?
https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1895903018371203521
https://x.com/adamschiff/status/1895996229676634242?s=46
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/02/elon-musk-joe-rogan-social-security-ponzi-scheme/81060392007/?tbref=hp
https://www.happyscribe.com/public/the-joe-rogan-experience/2281-elon-musk
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Oscars 2025 highlights
Last night was the 2025 Academy Awards (Oscars). Here are some highlights.
“Anora” won Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing Oscars.
The film is about a sex worker / stripper, portrayed by Mikey Madison (the Best Actress winner) who got married to the son of a Russian oligarch, which causes drama in their family. The film was made on a small, $6 million budget.
The story’s creator is Sean Baker and he won four Oscars (aforementioned Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing). He said one interesting thing — he hopes that his projects will decriminalize sex work.
Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in “The Brutalist.” It is his second Best Actor Oscar.
Zoe Saldana won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Emilia Perez.”
Kieran Culkin won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “A Real Pain.”
A film getting attention is “No Other Land,” which won the best documentary feature film Oscar. It is about a Palestinian community in West Bank where a number of residents were removed by Israeli authorities with their homes being demolished.
https://apnews.com/live/oscars-2025-updates?version=1740980534845
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/land-wins-oscar-best-documentary-feature-film/story?id=119232532
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Israel cuts off aid into Gaza
On Sunday, Israel cut off aid entering into Gaza to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Israel said they would not extend the current ceasefire without hostages being released. There are 27 living hostages and 32 deceased hostages.
CBS explained that the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire expired on Saturday and the two sides have yet to negotiate the second phase.
The previous deal under the Biden administration did not specify when hostages should be released during the second phase. It appears that Israel is now saying, “The time to release the hostages is now” and using the aid trucks as leverage.
Hundreds of aid trucks have entered Gaza daily since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, but now they’re blocked from entry.
Egypt accused Israel of using “starvation as a weapon.”
CBS said Israel has proposed to extend the ceasefire through Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began over the weekend, and to the Jewish Passover holiday, which ends on April 20. The proposal calls for half of the hostages to be released on the first day and the rest when an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas said it’s willing to free all the hostages at once but only in return for more Palestinian prisoners being released and a permanent ceasefire with all Israeli forces withdrawing.
Israeli PM Netanyahu warned that it could resume fighting if he believes that negotiations were ineffective and no hostages are being released.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-cuts-off-aid-gaza-hamas-ceasefire-deal/
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Judge says Trump’s firing of head of whistleblower agency was unlawful
Federal judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled on Saturday that President Trump’s firing of the head of a federal watchdog agency last month was unlawful.
Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, who leads the Office of Special Counsel. This office is responsible to protect federal employees who report wrongdoing, especially if they are retaliated against. The OSC also enforces the Hatch Act, which limits political activity by government employees.
The law says special counsels can be removed only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in the office. Dellinger didn’t have these issues. Trump said he fired him because he wanted to appoint his preferred agency head.
The judge said the Special Counsel is supposed to withstand the winds of political change. The Trump administration said it would challenge the ruling and appeal.
PBS said the case has already gone up once to the Supreme Court, which previously temporarily allowed Dellinger to remain in his job while his legal case plays out. Dellinger said he has to remain independent so federal employees can feel safe to come forward to him.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-rules-trumps-bid-to-oust-head-of-whistleblower-agency-was-unlawful
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Blue Ghost spacecraft touches the moon
On Sunday morning, a commercial spacecraft called Blue Ghost successfully touched the moon’s surface. The spacecraft is run by a private company called Firefly Aerospace and it carried NASA experiments onboard. The landing is considered the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful soft-landing on the moon. Blue Ghost will carry out 10 NASA experiments over the next two weeks. The spacecraft has sent out several images from the moon. NPR said the mission is a part of NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to send astronauts back to the moon.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/02/g-s1-51579/private-lunar-lander-blue-ghost-touches-down-on-the-moon
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.