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| Hey Chedd-heads! Feeling brie-lliant today? Down below, there's an ad for our friends at Blind Barrels whiskey that's just begging for a click. Believe it or not, for each of you who clicks it, Cheddar earns $2.40—enough to purchase roughly one ounce of Roquefort from Murray's Cheese on Bleecker Street. If you like reading Need2Know, please consider clicking to support us. | You're All Up in My Bismarck! | Bismarck, as we all know, was once a raw sheep's milk cheese made by the Grafton Cooperative Cheese Company in Vermont. It's been discontinued, but once won a "super gold" medal at the 2014 World Cheese Awards and was named after a majestic ram from the 19th century. It was definitely not named after Otto Von Bismarck, who unified 39 states into Germany in 1871. But since we're on the subject of redrawing national boundaries, we're in approximately the right place because today's cheddlines are full of examples of various people getting all up in other people's Bismarck. | Today's Cheddlines You Need2Know | | Borders? Schmorders… | —Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor | P.S. We have some footage from the DOGE protests on our 'gram. | | Quote of the Day | | | Should You Check Your 401(k) Today? | 👍 | (yep) | | Thousands Protest Musk and Trump Across the U.S. | | | One of the challenges for the press of covering public protests is trying to give a sense of how serious the protests are in comparison with others in history. Whatever you read on Twitter about the crowd sizes, it's my judgment that by historic comparisons, yesterday's protests of thousands of people across the U.S. against the Trump administration's policies, and against Elon Musk, were fledgling at best. | Still. Thousands of protesters came together in various cities across the U.S. yesterday to voice their opposition. The grievances spanned a range of issues from the president's crackdown on trade, immigration, climate change, and transgender rights to proposals affecting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (more on this one below). | Demonstrations took place in Philadelphia, state capitols in Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana, and more. The protests, coordinated online under hashtags like #buildtheresistance and #50501 (indicating 50 protests in all 50 states in one day), featured unimaginative slogans such as "reject fascism" and "defend our democracy." In Lansing, Michigan, around 1,000 people braved cold temperatures to protest. In Alabama, protestors suffered in 70-degree weather to rally against state and federal actions targeting LGBTQ people, reacting against initiatives to define sex strictly as male or female. Specific concerns included Elon Musk's access to Treasury Department data and the appointment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose qualifications were questioned due to past behavior before his Senate confirmation. Criticism also targeted the Department of Government Efficiency with concerns about security risks and potential issues for programs like Social Security and Medicare. | From seasoned protesters to first-time marchers, people from a variety of walks of life felt the call to action yesterday. In Washington, D.C., crowds gathered for two protests, making their voices heard outside the U.S. Capitol and the Department of Labor building. Here, they opposed Elon Musk. These protests followed protests on Tuesday night outside the U.S. Treasury with signs such as "Deport Musk" and "Nobody Elected Musk." | On Wednesday signs bore messages like "Don't let democracy die," and chants were directed at Democratic lawmakers to "Do your job!" Another particularly damning sign read: "Elon cheats at videogames." |  | bryan metzger @metzgov |  |
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Some signs from the protest against Elon Musk outside Treasury tonight | |     | | | 11:17 PM • Feb 4, 2025 | | | | | | 49 Likes 18 Retweets | 4 Replies |
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| Voted "Best Whiskey Gift Of The Year" by Men's Gear. | | Blind Barrels connects craft spirit lovers with rare craft bottles from across the country through double-blind tasting experiences at home. We're shining a light on small distilleries & it's your chance to join us. | Become A Shareholder | | | | Kendrick Lamar will perform at the half-time show on Sunday joined by Grammy-winning singer SZA, which is pronounced—oh wait, I don't know. Ask your kids. Also-Grammy-winning singer Jon Batiste will perform the national anthem. Christian recording artist Lauren Daigle and jazz musician Trombone Shorty, who we're pretty sure plays flute trombone, will perform "America the Beautiful," and R&B vocalist Ledisi will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing." So, now you know. Try to stay humble, as Kendrick might say. | | | From @cheddar | | cheddar |  |
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| | | | | In an unexpected pivot, the United States Postal Service has resumed its acceptance of package deliveries from China and Hong Kong. The decision came shortly after initially suspending these services, aligned with President Donald "Temu Who?" Trump's implementation of increased tariffs on a range of Chinese imports. The change affected not only major Chinese online shopping platforms like Shein and Temu, which constitute a significant percentage of daily package volume entering the United States, but also a substantial portion of Amazon's deliveries. The move could have led to potential shipping delays and increased costs for consumers, and we wouldn't want that now, would we? Time to order that $2,477.98 home sauna from Temu! Less than a day later, the USPS reversed its stance, deciding to work out an "efficient collection mechanism" for the new tariffs. A call looms between President Trump and the Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the tariffs. Perhaps the postal service thinks they'll revisit the idea entirely? | | | | | In a stunning declaration that rippled across diplomatic circles, President Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday that the United States should "take over" the Gaza Strip, and that all two million Palestinians should leave, a statement that has since drawn serious international concern and condemnation. | "The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too," he told reporters. | Trump's assertion, seemingly endorsing what many critics labeled as "ethnic cleansing," was met with swift disapproval not only from global leaders but also from within his own circle, as officials hurried to mitigate the repercussions of his remarks. | International "law" was a recurring theme in the response. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that forcibly transferring or deporting people from occupied territories is a clear violation of international norms. He reiterated the principle of self-determination under international law, a standard that Trump's proposal directly challenges. | In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer articulated a vision starkly opposed to Trump's, focusing on residential rights and reconstruction for Palestinians, ensuring them the possibility of returning home and rebuilding in pursuit of a two-state solution. | Reports suggested a flurry of activity as Trump's team engaged in discussions to "contextualize" his statement, suggesting that what was meant as a strategy to impose peace might have been something of a miscalculation of the international pulse. | Israeli positions on the matter were equally fraught. For instance, the far-right Nachala Movement seized on Trump's statements as a call to accelerate Jewish settlements in Gaza — a perspective that runs counter to broader peace efforts and further complicates the already tangled relations and territorial disputes in the region. | The fallout from Trump's comments did not just resonate in political echelons but also had practical implications. Hamas decried the proposal as aggressive and warned it would "pour oil on the fire" of Middle East tensions, reflecting a widespread sentiment in the region that U.S. interventionism, as proposed by Trump, would only exacerbate the violence rather than quell it. | White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters "the president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza" while his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said Trump is only proposing to "clear out and rebuild Gaza," not claim indefinite possession of the territory. | | | | | | What do a wedding necklace, Polish savory dumplings and a photo of Hungary's first astronaut have in common? They will all be among personal items taken by astronauts journeying to the International Space Station in the spring. | The four members of the Axiom Mission hail from the U.S., India, Hungary and Poland and will travel on Space X's Crew Dragon spaceship in a joint mission by NASA and the European Space Agency. | Crew members will take with them items of national and personal significance. U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, the mission commander, is taking the necklace she wore at her wedding (awww…), along with photos of the crew and her family. Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski is taking freeze-dried Polish pierogi, or dumplings, along with poems by Wisława Szymborska, a Nobel literature laureate; music by Frédéric Chopin; a piece of amber; and salt from the historic Wieliczka mine. He will also have the small white-and-red flag that Poland's first man in outer space, Mirosław Hermaszewski, wore on his suit in 1978. | Tibor Kapu, of Hungary, said he will bring a photo of his country's first astronaut, Bertalan Farkas, who traveled into space in 1980, as well as family photos and the Hungarian flag. He said his fascination with space came from the Star Wars movies. | The mission pilot, Shubhanshu Shukla of India, could not attend the media event, but it's unlikely he'll be able to take anything personal into space anyway, what with the Polish guy's trunkful of stuff taking up all the room. | | | | Want more Cheddar? Watch us! | Search "Cheddar" on Samsung, YouTube TV, and most other streaming platforms. | N2K is the tip of of the cheeseberg for financial news, interviews, and more. | |
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