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Trump’s federal DEI purge puts hundreds on leave, nixes $420M in contracts

Trump’s federal DEI purge puts hundreds on leave, nixes 0M in contracts

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s executive order terminating all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has already sidelined 395 government bureaucrats, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital.  Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed up by Elon Musk, wrote on X Friday that approximately $420 million in current/impending contracts, mainly focused on DEI initiatives, had also been canceled.  After Trump signed the order on the day of his inauguration, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all DEI offices by the end of the day Wednesday, and place government workers in those offices on paid leave. It is not yet clear when or if they will be terminated. ATF ACCUSED OF ‘CIRCUMVENTING’ TRUMP ORDER TO PLACE DEI STAFF ON PAID LEAVE Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies on Tuesday evening directing them that by the end of business on Jan. 22, they were to inform all agency employees of the DEI shutdown. In addition, they were instructed to tell workers directly involved in DEI they were being placed on paid leave immediately, take down all DEI-related websites and social media accounts, cancel any related contracts or training, and ask employees to report any efforts to disguise DEI programs by using coded or imprecise language. The memo also directed the heads of agencies and departments that by noon on Jan. 23, they were to provide OPM with lists of all DEI offices, employees, and related contracts in effect as of Nov. 5, 2024. By Friday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m., agency heads were required to submit to OPM a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding DEI employees and a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEI programs. 3 IN 10 VOTERS THINK ENDING DEI PROGRAMS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, POLL SHOWS, AS FEDERAL DEADLINE LOOMS The executive order was among dozens Trump signed on his first day in office, including the government only recognizing two genders and withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.  He also issued two other executive actions on Tuesday targeting DEI – an executive order to end discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI and a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Trump’s Monday executive order rescinded President Joe Biden’s one on promoting diversity initiatives, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which he signed on his first day in office.  Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

RFK Jr.’s plan to combat addiction: ‘wellness farms’

RFK Jr.’s plan to combat addiction: ‘wellness farms’

While President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been scrutinized over his views on vaccines, farming, abortion and more, his perspective on treating one of the nation’s foremost health crises has received far less attention. Before joining Trump’s team, Kennedy campaigned for president on a plan to treat addiction by creating “wellness farms” funded by tax revenues from federally legalized marijuana sales. “I’m going to create these wellness farms where they can go and get off of illegal drugs, off of opiates, but also legal drugs,” Kennedy said at a virtual event during his campaign, billed as a “Latino Town Hall.”  Kennedy himself struggled with addiction when he was younger, including to cocaine and heroin, which he has spoken about publicly. He has heralded his faith and commitment to Alcoholic’s Anonymous’s 12 Step-program as his saving grace. Kennedy is a strong proponent of clean living as well, and said that the addiction treatment wellness farms he imagines would also treat people who are trying to get off anti-depressants, or other medications like those for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). DATE SET FOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR’S HEALTH SECRETARY CONFIRMATION HEARINGS   Wellness farms are not an entirely novel idea. They are based on a framework known as a “therapeutic community” model, which relies heavily on peer-to-peer support and behavioral solutions for addiction, as compared to medication-based treatment strategies like methadone or buprenorphine therapy, which work to cut out the intense cravings from opioids, to which addicts often attribute relapses. Many in the medical community, including researchers at the National Institutes of Health, consider such medication-assisted treatment to be the gold standard in addiction treatment.  AA also warns against the use of medications like buprenorphine to treat addiction.    Kennedy actually visited two places that align with this framework for a documentary he created about the crisis of addiction while he was running for president, titled “Recovering America – A Film About Healing Our Addiction Crisis.” Their addiction treatment framework, like Kennedy’s wellness farms, includes a focus on peer-to-peer recovery through giving addicts jobs and re-teaching them how to live in society without drugs. Kennedy has said that at his rehabilitation farms, addicts would grow organic crops, receive training in trade skills, and learn other ways to live in society without using illicit drugs.  One of the programs that Kennedy visited in his documentary about treating addiction was also a farm, where men learn how to tend to livestock, operate tractors and repair barns. Their days also consist of meditation, 12-step meetings and yoga, but addicts must go off-site to receive therapy and are not allowed to take any medications, like anti-depressants or buprenorphine. DIET AND NUTRITION EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON HOW RFK JR’S NOMINATION COULD IMPACT HOW WE EAT  The program, called Simple Promise Farms, is located in rural Texas. Simple Promise does not staff licensed therapists or medical providers on site, according to The New York Times, which spoke with the program’s founder, Brandon Guinn. Guinn told The New York Times that it is these peer-to-peer conversations where “the important work is being done . . . not with your therapist or your sponsor or your mentor, but from the shared experience of people that are struggling with addiction.” Keith Humphreys, a psychologist and drug policy expert at Stanford University, said that while there is nothing wrong with “therapeutic community” models, he questioned the exclusion of evidence-based treatments that have been proven to help people get off harmful, addictive drugs like heroin.   “Given how much is known, more than what’s being described is almost like [an] 18th-century kind of retreat. Given how much has been learned about the nature of the condition, about the things you can do with psychotherapy, the things you can do with medicine, why not have that? Why would you not want that?” Humphries asked. “It’s not that it wouldn’t benefit anybody,” Humphries added. He noted that the complex nature of addiction is challenging to address without modern treatment advancements and suggested that city dwellers may lack the desire or resources to relocate to distant farms for treatment. WHY CHINA AND MEXICO ARE THE RIGHT TARGETS FOR TRUMP’S ATTACK ON THE SCOURGE OF ILLEGAL DRUGS Humphries said that programs that refuse patients who take anti-depressants or other medications are actually quite common in the U.S. He pointed to a program that the federal government set up in the 1930s in Lexington, Kentucky, that followed this model, but also pointed out that its success rates were low. “George Vaillant did a study of 400 consecutive admissions [to the Lexington program], and 400 of them relapsed afterwards,” Humphries pointed out. “So that, of course, we know a lot more than we did then. So, why not take advantage of that?” Humphries also posited that Kennedy’s plan to fund the program through revenues from legal marijuana would be such a bureaucratic hurdle that it would be a difficult and long process to get these programs off the ground. “There’s like 500 practical steps and barriers in between all that, that I just don’t think this is going to happen,” Humphries said.  Fox News Digital reached out to Kennedy’s representatives for comment, in particular on his view about medically assisted treatment therapies, but did not receive a response by press time. 

Could the war between Russia and Ukraine end soon?

Could the war between Russia and Ukraine end soon?

US President Donald Trump ramps up diplomatic pressure to end the war. Russia and Ukraine are still attacking each other’s territory – with no sign of a letup on the battlefield. But the return of Donald Trump as US president is creating new pressure on both sides to end the war. Is that likely? Presenter: Nick Clark Guests:Leonid Ragozin – Independent journalist Michael Bociurkiw – Senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center Steven Erlanger – Chief diplomatic correspondent for Europe at The New York Times Adblock test (Why?)

At least 12 peacekeepers killed in eastern DR Congo fighting

At least 12 peacekeepers killed in eastern DR Congo fighting

Nine South African and three Malawian peacekeeping soldiers have been killed by M23 rebels, authorities say. At least 12 peacekeepers, including two from the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO, have been killed in fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), authorities said. Congolese troops and peacekeepers have been battling in recent days to stop an advance by M23 rebels on the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The three-year M23 rebellion in Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich east has intensified in January with rebels seizing control of more territory, prompting the UN to warn of the risk of a broader regional war. As of Friday, nine South African soldiers had been killed in the clashes with M23 rebels, the South African armed forces said in a statement on Saturday. Two South Africans deployed with the UN peacekeeping mission and seven others in the Southern African regional bloc’s force in DRC were killed over two days of fierce fighting, it said. “The members put up a brave fight to prevent the rebels from proceeding to Goma as was their intention,” it said, adding that the M23 had been pushed back. Advertisement An UN official, speaking to The Associated Press news agency, confirmed the death of two UN soldiers. The peacekeepers were killed on Friday, the UN official told the agency on condition of anonymity. Malawi’s military spokesman confirmed that three of its peacekeepers deployed with the SADC mission had been killed in fighting with M23 rebels. “We confirm the loss of three of our courageous soldiers who were part of the SADC Mission in the DRC,” spokesperson Emmanuel Mlelemba said, referring to the South African Development Community’s SAMIDRC mission. “These soldiers fell in the line of duty during an encounter with the M23 rebel group operating in eastern DRC. As the situation remains volatile, further details will be shared later,” he added. M23, or the March 23 Movement, is an armed group composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than 10 years ago. Since its resurgence in 2022, M23 has continued to gain ground in eastern DRC. The DRC and the United Nations accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 with troops and weapons – something Rwanda denies. UN to relocate nonessential staff M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling the eastern city of Goma, which is home to about two million people and a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts. The UN said that it would temporarily relocate nonessential staff from Goma, such as administrative staff. “Essential personnel remain on the ground, sustaining critical operations such as food distribution, medical assistance, shelter, and protection for vulnerable communities,” the UN statement read. Advertisement M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern DRC, along the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Since 1998, approximately six million people have been killed while roughly seven million have been displaced internally. More than 237,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in eastern Congo since the beginning of this year, the United Nations refugee agency said in a report on Monday. On Thursday, M23 took control of the town of Sake, which is only 27km (16 miles) west of Goma and one of the last main routes into the provincial capital still under government control, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Adblock test (Why?)