• Senate votes 54-46 to pass stopgap spending bill that cuts programs to the poor.  Republicans hold a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate. Sixty votes were needed to move the bill forward for a vote and Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and 8 other democrats -Senators Cortez-Masto,  Durbin, Fetterman, Gillibrand, Hassan, Peters, Schatz and Shasheen and Independent Senator King joined Republicans to make that happen – they said because a government shut-down would be much worse.

The bill cuts $13 billion in non-defense spending and increases defense spending by $6 billion leaving rest of budget to Trump discretion. Four amendments including one to end DOGE, and one rehiring veterans fired by Trump failed. The measure keeps the government running for six months until Sept 30. The bill now goes to Trump for signature.  (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-poised-pass-republican-stopgap-spending-bill-avert-shutdown-2025-03-14/)

The GOP plan next to extend Trump’s tax cuts, and make cuts in programs for low-income people which according to CBPP includes Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, veterans benefits, public school funding to partially fund $4.5 trillion in tax cuts through 2034 – ($314,000 for those with incomes over $3.5 million per year;$62,000 for incomes over $743,000; and $400 a year for the remaining 60% of households making less than $96,000 a year) – and adding $3.6 trillion to the deficit.  (https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/house-republican-budgets-45-trillion-tax-cut-doubles-down-on-costly)

•Attack on Freedom of Speech: Columbia University graduate arrested by DHS agents. Mahmoud Khalil, a 29-year-old green-card permanent resident married to a US citizen (who is 8-months pregnant with their first child) was abducted Saturday from his home and taken away by unmarked agents in an unmarked car and incarcerated in ICE detention in Louisiana. He has no criminal record and is not charged with a crime. But, he was the organizer of demonstrations at Columbia protesting genocide in Gaza. Defense Secretary Marco Rubio signed off to detain Khalil on foreign policy grounds.
Trump says there are many more to come.

(Watch video of arrest of Mahmoud Khalil https://zeteo.com/p/watch-the-moment-mahmoud-khalil-was?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=23qczx&triedRedirect=true)

(See list of universities targeted at https://www.highereddive.com/news/education-department-warns-60-colleges-antisemitism/742100/)

•Jewish Voice for Peace protests inside Trump Tower demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil. 100 of the 300 protestors were arrested.

•Dept of Homeland Security agents enter Columbia campus with warrants to search two student rooms as Trump administration demands the university expel or issue multi-year suspensions of students involved in “anti-Zionist” demonstrations, ban masks, install new department chair of Middle East, South Asian, and African studies. Trump Administration Dept of Education cuts $400 million in grant funding to Columbia and threatens 60 other universities across the country warning enforcement actions alleging on-campus anti-semitism. Columbia complied suspending 22 students involved in the protests against genocidal war in Gaza.
In another action international law scholar Dr. Helen Doutaghi suspended and banned from Yale campus for speaking up for Palestinians and against Zionist genocide and US complicity and against racism – and based on an AI article from an anonymous right-wing website. (See interview https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/exclusive-banned-yale-law-scholar-helyeh-doutaghi?publication_id=2510348&post_id=159067272&r=23qczx&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email)

•Return of ”Alien Enemies Act” of 1798 used to incarcerate American citizens of Japanese descent during WWII – brought back to “target migrants” according to announcement by Trump. (At same time 40 Vensualan immigrants disappeared to Guantanamo will now be moved to detention in Louisiana after being found to not have criminal records as claimed.

• Trump makes emergency appeal to Supreme Court to reconsider his efforts to end birthright citizenship and speed up deportations shot down by lower courts.

•Nearly half of Department of Education staff laid off as Trump Education Secretary says she has been charged with dismantling the department.

•Courts orders Trump/Vance/Musk administration & DOGE reinstate jobs of tens of thousands of fired federal workers.

•Trump reaffirms ideas to take Panama Canal and Greenland (renaming it Blueland), make Canada a US state, and removing Palestinians from Gaza and turning it into a resort. Musk calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme, vows it will be primary target. (https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-b21b74f56f30012a6450a629e7232a1a)

•Arab Union presents proposal for rebuilding of Gaza for Palestinians as Trump proposes it be turned into a resort and all Palestinians be removed.

•DEI Ban: Trump plan to dismantle Education Department goes forward with defunding threats to schools with DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) programs.

•Ukraine: Europe steps up support of Ukraine after Trump humiliates President Zelensky at Whitehouse meeting and ends aid. Later Zelensky apologizes and agrees to US plan to take over rare earth mineral resources of Ukraine.

•Gaza Ceasefire at Critical Crossroads: Netannyahu wants to blow up the deal & Trump doublespeak diplomacy.

•Gaza & West Bank: State of Israel bans entry of humanitarian aid, food, medicine, tents, mobile homes to Gaza. 40,000 Palestinians removed from their homes in West Bank.
(Listen to speech at https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/press-remarks-unrwa-commissioner-general-philippe-lazzarini-0)

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us
https://zeteo.com/
https://www.democracynow.org/
https://apnews.com/
https://www.cbpp.org/blog/setting-the-record-straight-on-social-security