🇺🇸 Elon’s Oval Office takeover

Over the last few weeks, Donald Trump has been directing Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to defund and dismantle as many government programs as they can, while also funding more government contracts for Elon’s own companies like Space X and Starlink. This week they appeared together in the Oval Office to defend DOGE and Trump signed an executive order to give more clarity to federal agencies on how to implement Elon’s initiative to “cut excessive government spending,” as they put it.

📍What exactly is DOGE doing?

It’s all a little unclear still. During the meeting Tuesday, Elon Musk and Donald Trump claimed that DOGE has already discovered “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse," and said the final amount could be "close to a trillion dollars.'“ Of course, neither Trump nor Elon could explain how they got those numbers.

The new order that Trump signed on Tuesday, however, provides some clarity for how department heads should work with DOGE to lay off employees and reduce the size of the federal government, saying that agencies should be prepared for prompt, “large-scale reductions in force." The executive order did not specify how many workers may be affected.

📍Is it legal for Elon Musk to have this much power and access?

Unsurprisingly, most experts say no. On Tuesday, Trump acknowledged the many legal challenges that have been presented against DOGE, and said that he has plans to work through the courts and appeal. Elon Musk, who spoke for the majority of the meeting, said "The people voted for major government reform, and that's what people are going to get," he said. "They're going to get what they voted for,” but we the people definitely did not vote for Elon Musk, so this will play out in the courts over the next few months.

📍What was the reaction to this press conference?

While most people concentrated on Elon Musk’s unverified claims of widespread government fraud, there was significant discussion about Trump’s apparent lack of power in their relationship. Many are worried that the world’s richest man may have bought the President of the United States. Lawrence O’Donnell called Trump’s “presidential subservience” to Musk the “most powerless image of a president of the United States ever created by a camera.”

In my opinion, we should all be worried about two things: Does Elon Musk have some hold, whether that’s blackmail or something else, over the President; and what programs is DOGE cutting without providing proof of fraud? Donald Trump does plenty on his own to make himself look incapable of the job on the global stage, so that’s the least of my concerns, but if someone is controlling his actions that’s another story.

🌎 Still protecting the planet and each other

We still don’t know the full impact that Trump’s policies and funding freezes will have on medicine, science, and art around the world, but progress is still happening everyday that we can celebrate:

📍Cheap new blood test can detect pancreatic cancer early

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect early because the symptoms are not easily recognizable and it often isn’t found until the cancer has spread, making it more difficult to treat. Researchers have developed a simple blood test that could detect pancreatic cancer much sooner and help increase survival rates.

The team is still refining the method which successfully detected pancreatic cancer 73% of the time, but they are hopeful that these impressive early results mean that this blood test will reach a level of accuracy that physicians can rely on.

📍An early dementia blood test is being tested in the UK

Researchers in the UK are rolling out a simple blood test as part of a study to detect early signs of dementia and identify treatments to slow and stop its progression. A major problem for most new dementia drug trials is that they often use patients who are already showing symptoms – but by this time, it can be too late for the drugs to make a difference. This method could identify individuals decades before they show symptoms to see if these trial drugs can produce results.

The new trial will focus on frontotemporal dementia, but the goal is for this to eventually help develop treatments for other types of dementia. It will be scaled up into a national study at more than 20 research and healthcare centers across the UK.

📍31 new wetland cities were accredited

In January, 31 new wetland cities were recognized for their efforts in protecting and managing urban wetlands by the Independent Advisory Committee on Wetland City Accreditation. It’s important for cities to maintain their wetlands sustainably because it can reduce flood damage and improve water cleanliness in surrounding areas. This latest round of additions brings the total number of accredited cities to 74 across 27 different countries. The Secretary General of the convention, Dr. Musonda Mumba, said this represents a great worldwide commitment to protecting wetlands.

📍People are still fighting for the arts

Book bans have been on the rise in the United States since 2020, largely due to calls from political groups purporting to “protect children” from stories with messages about race, love, and equality. Fighting back against censorship, several large book publishers and a tiny public library sued Idaho officials earlier this month over a law that forces libraries to keep books in an adults-only section if community members believe they are “harmful to minors.”

The law says that if a community member complains that a book is harmful to minors, the library has 60 days to address it or children or their parents can sue for $250 in damages. Since the law uses Idaho’s legal definition of obscene materials, that includes materials that include “any act of homosexuality.”

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