🔵 'Dream News' for Big Tech

Author

Citizen Frank
April 12, 2025

Good morning. It’s Saturday, April 12.

 

President Donald Trump exempted smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components from his reciprocal tariffs, new guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows.

The guidance, issued late Friday evening, comes after Trump earlier this month imposed 145% tariffs on products from China, a move that threatened to take a toll on tech giants like Apple, which makes iPhones and most of its other products in China.

The guidance also includes exclusions for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, and memory cards.

The FBI suspended an analyst once described by Kash Patel as a ‘deep state’ actor in a book he wrote in 2023.

The New York Times first reported the move by the agency Patel now leads to place Brian Auten on administrative leave, citing people familiar with the matter.

No official reason has been given for the dismissal of Auten, who worked on investigations related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.

Comedian Bill Maher revealed what surprised him most about his much-hullabalooed dinner with President Trump — as he joked that his takeaways may cause “liberal sphincters” to tighten.

At the outset of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, the eponymous host delivered a lengthy monologue about his meeting with the commander in chief that left him unexpectedly charmed.

“Everything I’ve not liked about him was, I swear to God, absent. At least on this night, with this guy,” Maher, 69, said, appearing somewhat shocked by his own conclusions.

U.S. and Iranian officials met and spoke briefly in the first round of nuclear talks on Saturday in Oman, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

President Trump has repeatedly said Iran needs to rapidly reach a deal that makes sure it can’t obtain a nuclear weapon or face the prospect of military strikes, which could lead to war.

The encounter between Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and White House Envoy Steve Witkoff as they exited the venue where indirect talks were held was the first time the U.S. and Iran engaged directly since Trump returned to office.

A Texas mosque that has sparked controversy over its plans to build a city for Muslims outside of Dallas already has an existing neighborhood, The Daily Mail has reported.

The Islamic community in Plano is already home to hundreds of Allah’s followers, and features expensive, two story homes, a shopping center and a clinic.

The East Plano Islamic Center or EPIC, intends to break ground on a town for its followers near the City of Josephine- about 40 minutes away from the existing mosque.

The Trump administration is considering deep cuts to NOAA while seeking to end much of its climate change work, Axios reported.

The proposal, if Congress enacts it, would squash some of the nation’s premier climate change research programs.

It also reveals how the administration may try to maneuver to realign agencies without going through Congress.

After finding $382 million in fraudulent unemployment payments since 2020, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) identified California, New York and Massachusetts as the primary culprits.

The three Democrat-led states accounted for $305 million in improper claim payments, DOGE said Thursday.

The group added that California also accounted for 68% of the benefits that were dispensed under former President Joe Biden to parolees identified by federal authorities as being on the government’s terrorist watchlist, or who had criminal records.

Elon Musk announced Thursday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is now targeting $150 billion in federal savings for fiscal year 2026 — dramatically scaling back earlier claims of slashing as much as $2 trillion.

Musk initially projected DOGE would deliver $2 trillion in savings by targeting government waste, fraud and abuse. That figure was halved to $1 trillion earlier this year, but Musk walked it back again at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, saying the revised $150 billion projection will “result in better services for the American people” and ensure federal spending “in a way that is sensible and fair and good.”

“I’m excited to announce we anticipate saving in FY ’26 from a reduction of waste and fraud a reduction of $150 billion dollars,” Musk said. “And some of it is just absurd, like, people getting unemployment insurance who haven’t been born yet. I mean, I think anyone can appreciate — I mean, come on, that’s just crazy.”

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