Monday, August 11, 2025
All civic learning topics for this day
Today's Topics
US and China duke it out at UN Security Council over Panama Canal control accusations
The U.S. and China had a public showdown at the UN Security Council on August 11, 2025, after Trump threatened to grab back the Panama Canal, claiming China "operates" it through Hong Kong companies that run ports on both ends. America's UN ambassador warned that Chinese influence threatens global trade, while China's diplomat shot back that the U.S. was making up excuses to steal the canal. Panama's president had to defend his own country's sovereignty while Trump's team pressured China to sell the port operations to BlackRock and other American firms.
Trump nominates Project 2025 architect E.J. Antoni to control all U.S. economic statistics
Trump just nominated Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics—the agency that produces jobs numbers, inflation data, and unemployment stats that move global markets. Antoni co-wrote Project 2025 and went on Steve Bannon's podcast calling for the previous commissioner's firing after weak July jobs data. Now he'll control the economic numbers that determine Social Security payments, Federal Reserve decisions, and whether Wall Street believes America's economy is actually doing well.
House demands briefing on $170 billion deportation funds
On August 11, 2025, AP News reported that House Homeland Security Committee Republicans Andrew Garbarino and Michael Guest sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security leadership requesting a detailed briefing on how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s nearly $170 billion in immigration enforcement funding will be spent. The law allocates about $45 billion for new detention centers, roughly $30 billion for ICE staffing, $46 billion over four years for border wall construction, and $10 billion for DHS leadership—almost doubling DHS’s typical annual budget (apnews.com). Committee members warned that the administration has already diverted over $1 billion from FEMA and other programs to cover enforcement costs without clear congressional oversight (apnews.com), even as border apprehensions sit at historic lows (apnews.com).
Trump federalizes D.C. police, deploys National Guard
On August 11, 2025, President Donald Trump invoked his authority under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (1973), federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department and deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., declaring a “public safety emergency” despite D.C. police data showing violent crime fell 35% in 2024 and a further 26% in the first seven months of 2025 (reuters.com). Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the force, and the White House signaled plans to clear homeless encampments on federal land, echoing past federal interventions at urban protests (washingtonpost.com). Local leaders, including Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb, condemned the move as unlawful and a breach of the city’s limited self-governance (reuters.com).