AI Gets A Spook, Trump’s Aid Freezing Mishap, Job Interviews For Incompetent People, And Hints For Humanity

A detailed recount mixed with meme comedy to mark our times at Week 5 of 2025 featuring source material from Jentry Chau Vs The Underworld, Lower Decks, No. 7 West Mars Street, and Hailey’s On It!

Feb 03, 2025

Panic In The Markets - DeepSeek Spooks The Bubble

Days since The Economist magazine published its cover story on China’s lean mean AI machine, one of the country’s cheap AI firms has rattled the tech market and seen tech stocks plunging. The reason behind the panic stems from DeepSeek, which was hailed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen as "one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs" in the field and AI’s “Sputnik moment.” Launched in July 2023, DeepSeek released its latest Large Language Model (LLM) last week called R1, which claimed to rival ChatGPT’s abilities with less computing power. But the big shocker is the price tag, costing only less than $6 million, the new R1 model is dramatically cheaper than the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by American AI groups. Moreover, it is open-source, meaning developers and AI enthusiasts from around the world can improve their LLMs based on DeepSeek’s successful model. DeepSeek’s AI saw itself on a winning streak since Monday with its AI app beating ChatGPT as the most downloaded app on the App Store, so much so a cyberattack only put a dent in limiting registrations by newcoming users. It also made the hedge fund billionaire and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng a national hero, as the new LLM model broke through American attempts to quash China’s AI ambitions.

Shares of the AI chip giant Nvidia fell by more than 18% and wiped out nearly $600 billion in market share, a record loss for any company in US history. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite stock fell by more than 3%, Microsoft lost $130 billion, and Google’s parent company Alphabet declined by $80 billion. In total, $1 trillion in US stocks were wiped out. DeepSeek’s success forced American tech companies to make a brutal reflection, contemplating whether large amounts of money invested in AI models and data centers are worth the price and whether American dominance in AI since ChatGPT could stay for much longer. To some, the sell-off echoed the share-price crash of the IT hardware company Cisco, which led to the dotcom bubble burst in the 1990s to early 2000s. In reaction to the developments, Trump heralded the news of DeepSeek as “a positive” while noting it is a “wake-up call” for American firms.

The next day, Asian markets were mixed as Tokyo stocks followed the American trend by falling downwards, while Hong Kong stocks rose on the last day of the year of the Dragon. Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, DeepSeek went into holiday mode, but the rest of the business world was not in the mood for a break as stocks rose when the US markets opened. NASDAQ rose by 1.2%, and Nvidia saw a recovery of 2.4% from yesterday’s big fall, with many in the tech sector believing Monday’s crash was an overreaction. In the meantime, most Western press published articles testing DeepSeek’s abilities. They found it is comparatively similar in most functioning capabilities, but dodges sensitive issues relating to Chinese politics. Big tech competitors were caught off-guard by recent developments, as Fortune reported that Meta was scrambling “war rooms” of engineers to figure out how DeepSeek’s AI is beating everyone else at a fraction of the price.

America ramped up its suspicions of DeepSeek as a national security risk, with the US Navy reportedly banning the AI from being used by its service members. But the bombshell came from the FT, which reported that OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, claimed it has evidence that China’s DeepSeek has used its AI models to train the R1 model. Meanwhile, the White House AI tsar David Sacks raised the possibility of alleged intellectual property theft, claiming “substantial” evidence that DeepSeek used “distilled” data from OpenAI’s models. However, critics of OpenAI noted that the company itself steals others' work without the owner’s permission.

By Friday, the US began probing whether DeepSeek obtained Nvidia chips from Singapore. Italy issued a kill order banning DeekSeek from downloading in app stores and opened an investigation on the app’s data use, citing the company provided “completely insufficient” answers to questions surrounding user information. As both the Netherlands and Texas showed concerns over DeepSeek’s user data protections, researchers suggested the new AI’s answers include Chinese propaganda and share Beijing’s worldview with users, with some of its responses amplifying rhetoric that the government uses to discredit critics.

In a wrap-up for the entire week, Jon Stewart said it best when he commented on the fiasco: "I do know this is bad news financially, but is anyone else somewhat excited that AI had its job replaced by AI?"

The Trump Show: Series 2 - Unconstitutional Crises Continue

After a weekend beef with Colombia over accepting deported migrant flights, the White House announced overnight that the South American country has agreed to accept them in exchange for dropping a major tariff threat. However, social media and politicians pounced on the president’s White House press release, which mistakenly spelled the country “Colombia” as the American University “Columbia” (I’m not going to pile on because I also made the dumb mistake when last week’s edition was first published, apologies for that error and in my defense, I’m not working for the leader of the free world). Following the Colombia row, China pledged to accept the return of undocumented Chinese citizens from the US. On immigration, ICE announced they arrested 956 undocumented migrants last Sunday, though NBC News reported that number might be close to 1200 people. It comes as American TV personality Dr. Phil shadowed and filmed ICE deportation efforts in Chicago, and Trump said he wants to deport “violent, repeat offenders” who are legal residents in the US, suggesting they should be held in foreign jails. In the meantime, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said the success of deportations cannot be measured in the total number of migrants deported. As Pete Hegseth officially became the secretary of defense, one of Trump’s first moves to the military was a proposal that could lead to banning transgender servicemen from the military, as well as reinstating troops who refused Covid vaccines. By late Monday inside the Justice Department, a Trump-appointed prosecutor began reviewing the DOJ’s decision to charge January 6 defendants with felony obstruction offenses, the Trump administration also fired several career officials involved in prosecuting the current president, as well as senior USAID officials accusing them of circumventing orders on aid. In other headlines, US officials in public health were ordered to immediately stop working with the WHO, Senate majority leader Tom Thillis assured Hegseth’s former sister-in-law her testimony could convince senators to vote no on the alleged sexual abuser, and the Senate confirmed Scott Bessent as Trump’s Treasury secretary.

In Washington, all hell broke loose on Tuesday when the White House paused all federal aid and grants, withholding trillions of dollars as the two-page Office of Management and Budget memo claimed: “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.” Officials say the pause in grants only applies to foreign aid and DEI programs, but many officials were bracing for seismic changes in key federal programs and services that affect millions of Americans. Oh, it’s also illegal under the Constitution and the Impoundment Control Act, which says a president can’t pull funding that was approved by Congress. With the sudden constitutional crisis bringing new life to Democrats and the “resistance,” the unintended chaos became a big theme of the new administration’s first White House press briefing. As a federal judge blocked the funding freeze after non-profit groups and small business organizations challenged the move in court, the White House announced that the Medicaid portal would “be back” shortly after the funding freeze was blamed for the online shutdown. We learned Trump is doing everything that he can to reshape the federal workforce, as Axios reported the new administration is offering a deal to all federal workers who resign by February 6, the proposal gives a salary through September 30 and was seen as an incentive to accelerate resignations. By early Tuesday, the Colombian beef did not wrap up as soon as we thought, as a Colombian Air Force plane brought back 110 Colombian citizens to the US, discovering that many deportees do not have a criminal record. Domestically, immigration enforcement efforts have continued to grow, with reports indicating ICE officials have ramped up a show of force in New York. A day after Trump directed the Pentagon to conduct a review that could ban transgender service members from military service, Trump signed an executive order curtailing gender transitions for people under age 19 in a bid to reverse Biden administration policies that protected trans kids. In an unprecedented move against a frequent target of Donald Trump, the new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revoked former Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley’s security detail, as well as ordered an inspector general inquiry into his behavior as the Pentagon’s top officer. Facing backlash over total freezing in foreign aid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio walked back from the controversial move and issued a waiver for “life-saving” assistance that indicates broad swaths of the funding could still continue. On TikTok’s bidding war, Trump said Microsoft is in talks to acquire the Chinese-owned social media app. In slightly less significant Trump disruption news, the US government halted HIV drug distribution through the Bush-era program PEPFAR (It was credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide) even if the drugs are on the shelves ready to be given out, Trump claims his immunity extends to the E Jean Carroll civil lawsuits, fired the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board Jennfier Abruzzo and three Democratic members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that were responsible for overseeing the American labor market, and Sean Duffy was confirmed by the Senate as the new Transportation Secretary before immediately repealing Biden-era regulations. On the outer spheres of political influence, Michigan Senator Gary Peters’ announcement that he would not run for reelection sparked a potential challenge to the Democrats’ chances in retaking Congress, while Google Maps promises to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

As Democrats began to get energized over Trump’s funding freeze, they can take some joy after a Democrat flipped Iowa State Senate District 35 in the first special election since Trump took office. Democrat Mike Zimmer defeated Republican Kate Elizabeth Whittington in a district Trump won by 21 points in last year’s election. After two days of mass confusion, Trump officially rescinded his freeze on federal grants and loans, hours before another judge prepared to block the spending freeze. On the legal front, Trump added more lawyers to his appeal against the New York hush-money case, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle Trump's lawsuit over suspending his account after the January 6 Capitol Riot, the DOJ sought to drop the appeal of Trump documents ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon while moving to drop charges against co-defendants in the classified documents case. Trump signed the Laken Rilley Act, the first legislation passed during his second term in office, which allows detaining of undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes but was criticized by some Democrats for ignoring due process. Speaking of immigration, Trump signed an executive order to prepare the creation of a massive facility in Guantanamo Bay, which would be used to house deported migrants. On education and in a bid to end “indoctrination” in schools, Trump signed a trio of executive orders to direct more tax money to private education, control teaching on race and gender, and deport foreign pro-Palestinian protestors. Setting aside the chaotic confirmation hearings (More below), Pam Bondi got the nod from the Senate Judiciary panel to serve as Trump's Attorney General, and Lee Zeldin was officially approved to head the EPA. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson’s son Buckley was hired by JD Vance staff as the deputy press secretary, Representative Anna Paulina Luna has introduced legislation to carve Trump’s head on Mount Rushmore, while former Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the federal bribery case.

As Trump fumbles through his second term despite feckless Democrats barely making any opposition, the good old polls showed Trump has entered the presidency as the least popular president, for the second time in a row, and the only lower approval rating was achieved by himself back in 2017. In Idaho, Republican lawmakers have passed a resolution in the state House, calling on the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision on same-sex marriage, despite polls showing more than 69% of Americans believe they should remain legal. An executive order signed this week to combat antisemitism is pushing universities to monitor and report international students accused of antisemitic hate, including “monitoring” protestors studying with student visas. Another executive order signed by the president ordered the creation of an iron dome to protect the United States, something similar to the one in Israel. Even after the funding freeze died down, some observers see parallels to Musk’s purchase of Twitter, while Wired reported that Musk is sleeping in the DOGE offices just like he did with Twitter and Tesla. Before Kash Patel could be confirmed to the FBI, the White House had already told senior leaders of the agency to either leave by Monday or be fired. In the Senate, Doug Bergum was confirmed as Interior Secretary. Following the tragedy of a passenger jet colliding mid-air with a black hawk helicopter in Washington DC, authorities say they fear there are no survivors from the mass casualty incident. Trump had to find a new acting FAA director (Federal Aviation Administration) after the fatal crash and immediately began blaming the Democrats and DEI programs for the collision. Trump then quickly signed an executive order blaming “woke” Biden and DEI for the crash (He seriously did that), funny that he did not also blame himself for firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard and disbanding the Aviation Security Advisory Committee. When asked about whether he would visit the crash site, Trump said "What's the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?" Although the president provided no evidence on how DEI was responsible for the crash, it later turned out that DEI measures were not applied to air traffic controllers. Oh, and remember when Trump ranted about the program to offer FAA roles to people with disabilities? It was an initiative launched back in 2019, by the lefty-woke first Trump administration. Regarding the actual facts, based on an internal report and contacted a person briefed on the investigation, what they found in the preliminary state is that the controller on duty the night of the accident was doing a job usually handled by two people, the staffing at the Regan National air traffic control tower was “not normal” when the late-night crash happened, and the jam-packed airspace had prompted warnings for years. Buried among the headlines, Trump’s chosen head to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into NPR and PBS, concerning the public broadcasters “broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.” JD Vance spent the entire day trolling Rory Stewart, a former Tory MP and co-host of the popular podcast The Rest Is Politics. Concerning immigration, an alarming piece of news was buried among the headlines, as US citizens were detained and taken to an immigration detention center in Wisconsin. They were taken into custody while shopping at a department store, and the only suspicion that led to the arrest was because they were overheard speaking Spanish.

Despite not knowing what member states are in BRICS (Spoiler alert: Spain is not a BRICS country), the president threatened 10 countries with tariffs if they replaced the dollar as their reserve currency. In a rant on Truth Social, Trump posted: “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER. We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs.” In the latest saga in “Which US government employee was fired by the Trump administration today,” the US Treasury’s top-ranking career official David A. Lebryk was expected to leave his post as acting secretary of the department. It follows a dispute with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has requested access to a sensitive payment system the Treasury uses to make trillions of dollars in payments annually. We also learned more details on Trump’s FBI purge, hundreds of agents have been notified for internal review and possible termination, with agents directly involved in Trump’s prosecutions being intensely scrutinized. Moving to become as cruel as they can be to immigrants in general, the Trump administration is seeking to grant immigration officials access to databases in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS, which might be led by RFK Jr! Yay…). These databases contain information on hundreds of thousands of immigrant teens and children who crossed into the US without their parents, and the ORR has long operated independently of ICE until now. As senior White House officials did not review the OMB’s order freezing federal grants and loans before it was issued, we are beginning to learn how the aid freeze has affected the world, the Guardian reported that Trump’s sudden changes led to a US-funded famine early warning systems network (Fews Net) shutting down. Experts warn people will die when the “vital life-saving tool” for preventing food crises stops working, especially as the Fews Net network is considered the most important tool for judging levels of hunger and helping humanitarian organizations decide how to distribute food aid to tens of millions of people worldwide. In the meantime, a federal judge has formally blocked the administration freeze, citing it as a violation of the Constitution. After much Democratic bench-sitting, Axios reported that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has launched an investigation into Trump's purge of numerous top federal labor officials from the National Labor Relations Board and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In another alarming move by the administration, several federal government websites like the CDC and the Census were mysteriously shut down, with many worried that the CDC pages referencing healthcare issues like transgender care, HIV, contraception, and gender-based violence disappeared from the internet for no reason. These topics have often been targeted by Republicans in the past few years. Speaking of worrying stories, a New York doctor was criminally indicted for allegedly prescribing abortion medication to a Louisiana girl, and state department officials, Trump wants to put more tariffs on pharmaceuticals a week after he signed an executive order reversing Biden’s policy on limiting drug prices, and the State Department has issued directives for their employees to remove gender pronouns from their email signatures.

It is the second Trump term’s first tariff day. Trump confirmed that he would impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while Chinese products would receive 10% tariffs. Ironically, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced on Friday, stock prices immediately began to fall and the Dow closed 300 points lower by the end of the day. Don’t worry, Trump has already also threatened the EU with more tariffs, so they won’t get left out of a trade war as well. Later on Saturday, Canada got the message that the US was imposing 25% tariffs on the country’s goods and 10% on Canadian oil. These new tariffs will kick in next Tuesday, but it has already infuriated America’s allies. In tit-for-tat moves, Canada announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on American goods while Mexico’s leader instructed her secretary of the economy "to implement the Plan B we have been working on,” sparking fears of an escalating trade war. Although slapped with fewer tariffs, China retaliated by filing a claim with the WTO and took “necessary countermeasures to safeguard its interests.” With the entire political spectrum in Canada united in anger against Donald Trump, the president decided to post on social media that it should become the “cherished 51st state.” Concerning other developments, the Education Department notified schools to change their sexual assault rules which bolsters the rights of students accused of sexual misconduct and scraps Biden-era rules that protect LGBT students. Reuters reported that Musk's allies running the Office of Personnel Management have locked their workers out of computer systems, including a database that contains the personal data of millions of federal employees. Hours after Reuters reported the news, it was confirmed that Musk’s allies gained access to the payment system, following the approval of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Trump fired the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Rohit Chopra, known for his aggressive enforcement and expansion of consumer protection laws, in a bombshell move against one of the nation’s powerful consumer watchdog agencies. It was also a diplomatic coup for the new administration in Central America, Venezuela freed six American detainees after a meeting between Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and special missions envoy Richard Grenell. Hours later, the White House announced the Maduro government would accept migrants sent back to the US, smoothening the process of sending protected immigrants back to the country they fled. Human rights advocates and Venezuelan opposition politicians have warned against sending immigrants back to a pariah state known for its repression. At the same time, military planes filled with deported immigrants were sent back to Honduras, sparking a potential showdown against Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who warned she could oust the American military if Trump’s immigration regime goes too far. On some other Saturday headlines, the final tally showed Elon Musk donated $288 million during the 2024 election, the Pentagon decided to move legacy news brands like the New York Times and NBC News out of dedicated media offices to the New York Post and Breirtbart, aid groups are concerned the government-funded USAID might shut down, and the Democrats chose party insider and Minnesota chair Ken Martin as the chairperson for the DNC after a bruising election defeat.

By Sunday, the New York Times reported that nearly 8000 websites from more than a dozen government websites have been taken down since Friday afternoon, in a push by the Trump administration to remove topics related to diversity initiatives and “gender ideology.” The White House issued a brutal revocation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees, following the administration’s halt in extending TPS protection which also included migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua days ago. During Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Panama, he told the country’s President Jose Raul Mulino that immediate changes were needed, as Trump has determined that China's influence threatens the Panama Canal. Elon Musk tried to continue his winning streak in disrupting/damaging the federal government, several senior USAID security officials were on leave after they refused DOGE representatives access to restricted spaces in the agency. If you still believe Trump’s war on DEI is about legitimate criticism, don’t. A Washington Post report suggests dozens of workers at several agencies, such as the Education Department and the Energy Department, were on leave on a Trump executive order despite not working on DEI issues. Bowing down to pressure by Trump’s lawsuit, CBS decided to hand over the entire transcript of the pre-election 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris to the FCC, which critics fear is used to target press freedom.

We have discussed a lot concerning the policy impacts of Trump’s second term, but I want to end with an example that reflects the human aspect of the damage his policies bring to everyday people. On Twitter (X), a user shared a letter written by an immigrant child to his best friend. The letter wrote “If ICE takes me don’t forget about me. I will be in El Salvador. You’re my best friend, the brother I never had. I cry every night thinking that they will come for me at school.” If you are not heartbroken by this letter, or feel the ends still justify the means, I really have no words left for you.

The Department Of Alarming Developments - Worst Confirmation Hearings Ever

This week, several prominent Trump appointees were grilled during their Senate confirmation hearings. Democrats and pundits criticized them for being uniquely unqualified to serve the roles they were appointed to.

One of the most controversial figures is Robert F. Kennedy Junior, an anti-vax conspiracy theorist who was tasked with “Making America Healthy Again” (MAHA) and “go wild” on public health. His nomination was denounced by more than 15,000 doctors and 75 Nobel laureates, while the former ambassador to Australia and Japan Caroline Kennedy urged lawmakers to reject her cousin’s nomination, calling him a “predator” whose victims have ranged from family members to the parents of sick children. During the first hearing at the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy struggled with displaying knowledge of critical health programs such as Medicaid, while attempting to dispel allegations of being “anti-vaccine” by arguing he was “pro-safety” and pro-vaccine, that sentiment was quickly denounced as a lie by protestors sitting behind him. Many Republicans on the panel praised Kennedy as a rebellious truth-teller, while Democrats fiercely attacked the HHS secretary-pick for his previous views on vaccines. Democratic Senator Michael Bennet said that “out of 330 million Americans, we’re being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life” spreading “half-truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that, you know, create doubt about whether or not things that we know are safe are unsafe.” Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren accused him of profiteering from vaccine skepticism after Bernie Sanders showed his former organization selling anti-vaccine baby onesies, saying “Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.” In a slight win for Kennedy, he received a loud round of applause when he promised to combat the proliferation of ultra-processed food through his MAHA agenda. On Thursday, Kennedy faced grillings in the Senate Health Committee. Like the day before, Kennedy struggled to provide clear answers to his past vaccine statements, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy told Kennedy during the hearing: "Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” later asking during Cassidy’s conclusion that “Does a 70-year-old man... who spent decades criticizing vaccines and who's financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?" Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan choked up when discussing her 36-year-old son with cerebral palsy, criticizing Kennedy and the Republicans for not believing the science behind autism wasn’t settled. In another firey confrontation with Bernie Sanders, the nominee responded to whether COVID-19 vaccines were “successful in saving millions of lives” by telling the panel “I don’t know, We don’t have a good surveillance system.”

The Kennedy confirmation hearing overshadowed a no-less important hearing on Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the commerce department. During his job interview, Lutnick said Canada and Mexico can avoid the Saturday deadline for imposing tariffs, as long as both countries act swiftly to close their borders to fentanyl, adding he had advised Trump to pursue across-the-board tariffs on a country-by-country basis in order to restore “reciprocity.” It quickly became a theme in the hearing, with Lutnick proclaiming “We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We need to be treated with respect, and we can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness, and respect.” During the hearing, Lutnick also promised to sell all of his business holdings within 90 days, which includes being the head of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

On Thursday, the confirmation hearings featured a double whammy of unqualified Trump picks. Let’s start with Tulsi Gabbard, the president’s pick for Director of National Intelligence. Setting aside Gabbard had never held any senior government roles, the former Democrat turned MAGA world superstar was criticized by figures from both parties for being sympathetic to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Syria’s now-deposed despot Bashar al-Assad. Hours before the confirmation hearing, reports suggested Gabbard’s defense of whistleblower Edward Snowden might be an attack point for lawmakers in the hearing. When the subject of Snowden was asked in the hearing, Gabbard said he “broke the law” but would not agree with lawmakers who condemned him as a traitor, which gained an angry response by Senator Michael Bennet who said in a raised voice “That is not a hard question!” Despite having to respond to comments on her qualifications to oversee the nation’s spy agencies as well as her past statements on foreign affairs, many lawmakers from both parties decided to go back to the Snowden comments, with Virginia’s Senator Mark Warner saying he had “serious doubts” about the nominee’s judgment. During her testimony, Tulsi Gabbard claimed he did not know a prominent cleric she met in Syria who threatened to unleash suicide bombers in the US “until today.” After the hearing, the Washington Post reported that US documents and emails show she was told then about the threats, meaning she potentially committed perjury.

Another controversial pick to take the hot seat is FBI director pick Kash Patel, widely regarded outside of the MAGA influence sphere as a crackpot for believing conspiracy theories, for example claiming the pipe bomb placed near the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on the day of the Capitol Riots could be a “government ruse.” An ardent Trump supporter, Patel had written an “enemies list” in one of his recent books for adults, he had also pushed MAGA merch from an online boutique apparel brand to pro-Trump children's books titled “The Plot Against the King.” During his confirmation hearing, Patel claimed to have differing opinions with the president on his decision to grant clemency for violent January 6 rioters, while happily repeating complaints by GOP members of a “politicized” and “weaponized” FBI. Patel said he “rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories” despite previously agreeing “a lot” with what the movement said, and denied that the 60-person list featured in his book “Government Gangsters” was an enemies list but was instead “a total mischaracterization.” When asked by a Democratic Senator Peter Welch about who won the 2020 election, the nominated FBI director pick only said Biden was “certified” as president but did not say outright that he won. The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin said Patel “does not meet the standard” to become FBI director, whether that message would be noticed by Republicans is another story.

War Watch - Escalation In Goma

On Monday morning, Qatar released a statement noting that Hamas will hand over the civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, along with two other hostages before Friday. For the first time since the early weeks of the war, Israeli authorities allowed Palestinians to return to the heavily destroyed northern Gaza. As the Lebanon ceasefire expired on Monday, at least 22 Lebanese were killed by Israeli forces firing at citizens attempting to reach the southern border. Israel said the next day that 8 out of the 26 hostages issued for imminent release were dead, matching intelligence assessments to an accounting released by Hamas. Wednesday saw Hamas announcing the release of three Israelis and five Thai nationals as part of the hostage swap, while attempts to stop Israel from banning the main UN agency serving Palestinians in the occupied territories UNRWA, leading to an imminent shutdown on Thursday. Agam Berger became the first hostage released to the Red Cross that day, followed by Gadi Moses and Arbel Yehud, the two other Israeli hostages as the exchange situation became increasingly chaotic. By the end of Thursday, the Red Cross confirmed all of the eight hostages were released, even as Israeli authorities condemned the handover chaos. In exchange, Netanyahu temporarily put on hold the 100 hostages that were supposed to be back in Gaza, including 30 Palestinians who served life sentences. Hamas then named three male hostages on Friday, including an American and a father, but the fate of the latter hostage’s wife and kids remains unknown. In the meantime, Israel reopened the Rafah Crossing, allowing injured and sick Palestinians to leave Gaza. After Hamas released the three hostages to the International Red Cross, Israel released 200 more Palestinian prisoners. On the border between Israel and Syria, locals are worried about occupation as Israel is building outposts in Syria. While all the chaos was happening, the Trump White House began claiming the Biden administration sent $50 million in condoms for STD prevention, which the president claimed was then used to make bombs by Hamas. Of course, that is completely untrue.

Ukraine’s front line began crumbling at the beginning of the week, as the eastern town of Velyka Novosilka fell to Russian hands amid talks of a ceasefire and an increased push from Russia’s side. Outside of Ukrainian territory, the BBC reported that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich used a superyachts-for-hire scheme to dodge millions in tax, while NATO had to up its guard after at least 11 Baltic cables had been damaged in 15 months. After Trump’s freeze on foreign aid, many Ukrainian aid groups had to stop their work as it deeply impacted the country’s civil society. Town after town in Donestk fell to Russian hands, as Putin’s forces seized Ukraine’s weakness with less American support. In Europe, the FT reported that officials were debating whether Russian pipeline gas sales to the EU should be restarted, as part of a settlement to the end of the Ukraine war. Ukraine’s domestic politics is showing cracks as well, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko accused Zelensky of trying to usurp the powers of elected officials in the capital. On the Russian side, North Korean soldiers are no longer seen on the front lines fighting against Ukraine, following months of heavy casualties and suffering severe losses. In an interview with the AP, Zelensky said direct talks to end the war between the US and Russia must include Ukraine, warning that excluding Kyiv is “very dangerous.”

We also saw a sudden escalation when rebels of the M23 militia announced they had captured the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It marked a major victory for the Rwanda-backed militia, ten years after it temporarily occupied the same city` before they were defeated and went dormant. During the assault, more than a dozen UN peacekeepers were killed, and hundreds of thousands of locals were forced to flee the city. The next day, hundreds of protestors attacked several foreign embassies and a UN building in Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital as a new regional crisis began to emerge. To describe how severe the Congo crisis is, The Economist made an apt metaphor with Putin’s seizure of the Donbas region in Ukraine back in 2014. Rwanda’s dictator Paul Kagame used local separatist forces claiming to be protecting Congolese Tutsis from persecution, but observers say it is a proxy for Rwanda to grab a large section of DRC territory while pretending not to.

Because I’m Too Busy For Memeing: A Global Wrap-Up

Dateline Berlin, Germany:

Weeks before Germany holds its federal election, the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused his potential successor and opposition leader Friedrich Merz of making “an unforgivable mistake.” It followed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party endorsing Merz’s controversial plans to restrict migration, which includes plans to boost security measures, carry out deportations, and close all of Germany’s land borders to irregular migration. Critics say it potentially breaks a political firewall against far-right populists, something Germany has a shameful history about, despite what Elon Musk claims at last week’s AfD rally.

A day later, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined in the criticism, feeling it is “wrong to no longer feel bound by that proposal.” Meanwhile, a 99-year-old German Holocaust survivor said he wants to return Germany’s highest honor, the Order of Merit, asking rhetorically: “Did they learn nothing?”

On Friday, the anti-immigration deal debate was paused for last-minute talks on a compromise without the AfD, rumors were brewing during the pause that the Conservatives were considering a proposal to delay the vote. However, for Merz, he decided to push on with the immigration vote, moments before it was stalled again. In the end, after a spirited debate, Merz’s electoral bloc suffered politician defeat when their controversial bill was rejected by parliament. The Christian Democrats broke a political taboo by working with the far-right and failed, something that might not be said for the electorate later this February. But that was not the end of the story, tens of thousands of angry protestors marched in different parts of Germany, accusing Merz of collaborating with the AfD and the CDU of breaking Germany’s unwritten post-Nazi promise to never pass anything in parliament with the support of far-right nationalist parties.

Dateline Belgrade, Serbia:

Following weeks of massive anti-corruption protests sparked by a deadly concrete canopy collapse last November, the country’s populist Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned to calm political tensions. The protests reflected wider public discontent with Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic, who was accused of crushing democratic freedoms while formally seeking EU membership for the Baltic nation.

Dateline Damascus, Syria:

On Wednesday, the rebel coalition officially appointed Ahmed al-Shara as the president of Syria over a transitional period. Local media reported that the Constitution had been nullified, and the legislature and army formed under the Assad regime had been dissolved. This marks the first steps for Syria’s new leaders to establish a new government, which was previously ruled by the Assad family for more than five decades. Later in the week, the new Syrian leader met with the Saudi crown prince in his first official foreign visit after Assad was toppled.

Dateline Naypyidaw, Burma:

Friday saw Myannmar’s military government extending its state of emergency for an extra six months, dashing hopes for a long-promised general election during a bitter civil war. The move allows the country’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing to retain control battered by civilian conflict and scam farm scandals. It is the seventh time a state of emergency was extended, the military dictatorship has lasted for four years and counting.

Dateline Humanity:

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced in its “Doomsday Clock” that it is 89 seconds to midnight, the closest humanity has ever been to destroying itself. Serving as a metaphorical monitor of how close the human race was to self-annihilation through nuclear disaster, the committee added other factors like climate change, misinformation, and AI as the new risks.

Dateline Bennu, Asteroid Belt:

Scientists have made an unprecedented discovery after analyzing samples from the Osiris-REx mission, which delivered samples of the asteroid Bennu back to Earth in September 2023. Researchers say the historic asteroid samples contain “building blocks of life” that are of “extraterrestrial in origin,” specifically they found organic compounds and minerals necessary for life such as water and organic elements like carbon and nitrogen. Not only does the evidence support the idea that asteroids delivered the building blocks of life to Earth, but the samples help scientists understand the chemical and biological processes that were already happening in the early days of the solar system.

In other parts of the solar system, researchers say there is a 1.3% chance that an asteroid spotted last Christmas could hit Earth, the space rock with the sexy name 2024 YR4 could strike our planet on December 2032. While in an awkward moment for astronomers, the discovery of a newly-discovered asteroid titled 2018 CN41 was quickly deleted, because that supposed space rock was Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, launched in 2018.