Agency Cuts, Foreign Aid, ABC Layoffs, & Regrettable AI

March 6, 2025

Hello, readers – happy Thursday! Today, we’ll be talking about IRS and VA layoffs, the world’s reactions to Trump’s speech, foreign aid, a (rejected) plan for rebuilding Gaza, a tariff reprieve, ABC’s layoffs, and the LA Times’ regrettable AI.

Here’s some good news: LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason. Also, a pair of bald eagles at Big Bear Valley in California welcomed two new chicks this week.

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks

Cutting Off Your Nose To Save Some Money

(IRS sign by Stefani Reynolds via Getty Images)

The Trump administration is doubling down on its plans to cut the budget via mass layoffs by firing workers at the IRS and Veterans Affairs. That’s right, folks – we’re going to save the country by slashing our ability to collect taxes and making things more difficult for military veterans.

The IRS, a 90,000-person agency, is planning to fire 45,000 people with a combination of layoffs, attrition, and buyouts. One former IRS commissioner said that this would render the tax agency “dysfunctional.” It’s worth noting that 65% of IRS employees are women and 56% are people of color.

At the VA, things are (somehow) looking even worse. The roughly 400,000-person strong agency is planning to lay off up to 83,000 workers by the end of the year, resetting its workforce to 2019 levels. That will reset everything the Biden White House did to expand the department after he widened its mandate to cover millions of veterans exposed to various toxins from sources like burn pits in Afghanistan and Agent Orange in Vietnam. That change was the result of years of lobbying from veterans and their families. About 25% of employees at the VA are veterans themselves, by the way.

Twitter Fingers Take The World Stage

The U.S. took some global tongue-lashings yesterday. In response to President Trump’s tariffs, the Chinese embassy tweeted, “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.” That tweet echoes sentiments put forth by Beijing in a government statement on Tuesday.

Other countries also took their swings at Washington in the wake of Trump’s Congressional address on Tuesday night. In response to his claims that the White House “will be reclaiming the Panama canal,” Panama’s president tweeted, “Once again, President Trump is lying. The Panama Canal is not in the process of recovery. I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation.” Greenland’s Prime Minister responded similarly to Trump’s pronouncement that Greenland would become part of the U.S. “one way or the other,” tweeting, “We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland.”

Aiding Aid

(Supreme Court by Mandel Ngan via Getty Images)

The conservative-held Supreme Court has rejected a Trump administration request to continue a freeze on $2 billion worth of U.S. foreign aid payments. Despite the facts – that the payments are for already-completed work and that they’ve been approved by Congress – the court’s ruling was still a close 5-4 decision.
Two conservative justices (Roberts and Barrett) sided with the court’s three liberals in declaring the payment freeze unlawful. Justice Alito, one of the four opposing conservative justices, wrote, “Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) billion[s in] taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise.”

“Trump Gaza” Treks Along

Yesterday, the U.S. and Israel rejected a plan backed by Arab states to rebuild Gaza into a place where Palestinians can actually live, as opposed to Trump’s vision of expelling the enclave’s 2 million residents to turn the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” The $53 billion reconstruction proposal, backed by the 22-member Arab League, would see Gaza turned into a 21st-century metropolitan area complete with modern housing, tourist attractions, a commercial harbor, and an airport. Funding would come from the U.N. and a variety of other international backers.
Soon after the proposal was released, a White House spokesperson quickly panned it, saying it didn’t “address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable.” He added that Trump would not give up on his “vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas.” Israel similarly backed the Trump plan, saying it offers the “opportunity for the Gazans to have free choice based on their free will.” Which part of having your house leveled by American missiles and then being forcibly relocated by Israeli soldiers involves free will again?

More Mixed Nuts

Hold On, We (Kind Of) Didn’t Mean It!

After a not-so-pleasant reception to President Trump’s tariff announcements, all automakers that operate under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will get a one-month reprieve from the 25% tariffs imposed on Mexico and Canada. “We spoke with the Big Three auto dealers,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
U.S. auto trade with Canada and Mexico totaled about $345 billion last year. Trump is giving automakers “an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage,” Leavitt said. It’s likely not enough time for automakers to make big changes, but it could be enough time for Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. to negotiate avoiding the tariffs entirely.

Hacking The Payroll At The House Of Mouse

Another day, another set of layoffs. Disney is cutting nearly 6% of staff across its ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks units, which amounts to about 200 staff members. The company also plans to dissolve its FiveThirtyEight brand, a popular political polling website, and merge “20/20,” “Nightline,” and “Impact x Nightline” into one show.
The loss of FiveThirtyEight (named after the number of electors in the U.S. electoral college) is particularly rough. Founder Nate Silver, who left the company two years ago, wrote of the news, “My heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better.”

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The City Of Angels And Racist AI

Two days ago, the Los Angeles Times launched an AI-powered tool that was supposed to provide “a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives” on articles that express human opinions. Yesterday, the publication deactivated the feature on one article after the AI downplayed the history of the KKK in its note.
“Local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of ‘white Protestant culture’ responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement, minimizing its ideological threat,” wrote the “unbiased” algorithm on an article about the city of Anaheim removing KKK members from its city council 100 years ago.
“Um, AI actually got that right. [Orange County people] have minimized the 1920s Klan as basically anti-racists since it happened. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy who’s been covering this for a quarter century,” wrote the article’s human author.

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