Thursday, November 21, 2024

Elon Musk vowed mass headcount reductions in the federal government. That's where we're starting the 7th from the Washington Post. I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, November 21st. Let's get you caught up with today's 7 Stories.

President-elect Donald Trump has asked the entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami to oversee spending cuts when he takes office. Their new commission is known as the Department of Government Efficiency. And in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, they laid out their most detailed plans yet for the project.

The two men said they want to slash federal regulations, cut government spending, and significantly reduce the number of federal employees. They said that having fewer regulations will require fewer workers.

They also said their work will rely on what they called advanced technology. That could be a reference to artificial intelligence. But Musk and Rama Swami's essay left many details unclear. And some budget experts say their ideas demonstrate a misunderstanding of how the government works. Critics have also questioned how much money their ideas would actually save the government.

Number two, a house panel was told that Matt Gates paid two women $10,000 in part for sex. Gates is Trump's pick for attorney general, but his selection has proven to be very controversial. That's in part because before he resigned as a congressman, he had been under investigation by the House over allegations of sexual misconduct. Yesterday, the House ethics panel declined to release its report on Gates.

But the Post reported that House investigators obtained records showing that Gates paid more than $10,000 to two women. They said some payments made between 2017 and 2019 were for sex. The news piles more scrutiny on Gates. Yesterday, he visited Capitol Hill to try and persuade skeptical Republican senators to support his nomination. And in some other news from the House, Speaker Mike Johnson restricted the use of Capitol bathrooms by transgender people.

The move came two weeks after the historic election of Democrat Sarah McBride in Delaware. She is the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. The Justice Department is seeking to force Google to sell Chrome.

The Justice Department made its recommendation to a Washington court yesterday. Its goal is to break up Google's monopoly on internet search, which was found to be illegal earlier this year. The Justice Department also wants the court to require Google to stop favoring its own services in its popular Android mobile operating system. Otherwise, the company could be forced to sell off Android too. A court will make a decision on what Google has to do by next summer.

If it's forced to sell the Chrome Web browser, Google could be the first big tech company broken up under federal antitrust law since AT&T in 1982. The Senate voted against blocking $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel.

This was historic, as it marked the first time Congress has voted on blocking armed sales to its closest Middle East ally. The measure was brought by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and a handful of Senate Democrats.

It was a last-ditch effort to limit the suffering and destruction caused by Israel's 13-month war in Gaza. The measure failed to pass, but it did reveal dissatisfaction within President Joe Biden's own party about his handling of the Middle East crisis. Sanders spoke about the measure on the Senate floor yesterday before the vote. How do you critique Iran for their terrible human rights record?

How do you critique China or Russia for their terrible human rights records? Because if you get here on the floor of the Senate and you make that critique, people around the world will laugh at you. And they will say, don't give us advice. Don't criticize us when you have supported the mass starvation of children with your taxpayer dollars.

bird flu has led to egg shortages in grocery stores. That's number five. If you're hoping to do some baking this Thanksgiving, you may have a hard time finding eggs. We've talked about avian influenza a few times here on the podcast. It's been in the news for causing outbreaks among dairy cattle across the US.

But as the name implies, it's also hit poultry flocks hard. This strain of bird flu has affected more than 108 million poultry in 48 states since 2022. And that has made eggs more expensive and trickier to find. The flu has hit cage-free hands harder, since they're generally more susceptible to disease.

But one expert told the post that this shortage is only temporary. More chicks are hatching so egg production could rebound early next year. There is some good holiday news though. The price of turkeys is holding steady this year, despite bird flu. The electricity demands of AI are threatening US climate goals.

The artificial intelligence boom comes with a voracious demand for energy. Clean energy projects like wind and solar are rapidly coming online around the world, but they can't keep up with new energy demands from data centers. So electric utility companies are building power plants that burn natural gas to meet that demand. And burning fossil fuels increases planet warming emissions.

This comes as the world struggles to reach an agreement to mitigate climate change. The UN Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan is nearing its end. But a draft agreement released this morning showed the conference has failed to make progress on one key issue. That is, how much money wealthier nations, which are more responsible for climate change, will pay to poorer ones that are more vulnerable to its effects.

is the director of a Moroccan climate think tank. He spoke to the Associated Press about what he called the elephant in the room. The developed countries have not specified how much they're willing to put on the table, and we're supposed to be wrapping up these talks tomorrow. Frankly speaking, it's

I'm at a loss for words at how disappointed we are at this stage to have come this far without serious numbers on the table and serious engagement from the developed countries. And at number seven, a new Eagle Cam will provide an incredible look into the lives of bald eagles.

Today, a stream will go live on Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources YouTube page. It will follow the lives of two bald eagles as they make their nest and hopefully raise some baby eagles.

This eagle couple is sure to become famous. A previous eagle cam attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers. Minnesota has one of the largest populations of bald eagles in the United States, though bird flu is threatening the iconic species. Organizers hope the live stream will educate the public about conservation efforts and produce some excellent reality television. You can find a link to the eagle cam in our newsletter today. Just follow the link in our show notes.

All right, you're all caught up. For your next listen, check out our afternoon news podcast, Post Reports. That's where my colleagues dive deeper into all the top stories. This week, they've published episodes focusing on the boom in US women's soccer, Trump's pledge to shut down the education department, and his plans to deport millions of people. Find Post Reports wherever you listen to podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe to the show. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.