The president has been discussing plans to rip up the grass in one of the White House’s most iconic locations and put in a hard surface to serve as a patio like the one at his Florida home and club.

President Trump has been busy upending the federal government, reorienting U.S. foreign policy, threatening trade wars and winning confirmation for his Cabinet choices.

But he has managed to find time for a project closer to home: He has told associates that he wants to rip up the grass in the Rose Garden, one of the White House’s most iconic and meticulously maintained spots, and replace it with a hard surface to resemble a patio like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago.

Designers have drafted options for how to remake the surface of the Rose Garden, which sits just outside the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. Mr. Trump has discussed whether it should be limestone or an easily interchangeable hard surface, with the possibility of installing hardwood floors for dancing, according to four people briefed on the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

The roses, apparently, will stay.

Mr. Trump has other plans for the West Wing. He wants to hang a grand chandelier from the ceiling of the Oval Office, the people briefed on the matter said.

What you should know. The Times makes a careful decision any time it uses an anonymous source. The information the source supplies must be newsworthy and give readers genuine insight. Learn more about our process.

He has already covered almost every free inch of the walls and mantle space in the Oval Office with portraits of presidents, among other images; one frame just outside the office includes the New York Post front page photo of Mr. Trump’s mug shot when he was processed after being indicted in Fulton County, Ga. There are also gold vases and statuettes and at least one gold figurine embedded in an elevated wall molding. The figurine was screwed into the wall by Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, who traveled to Washington to perform the task, the people said.

Mr. Trump has also privately revived an idea he first pitched to Mr. Obama’s advisers when the former president was in office: to build a ballroom at the White House, “like I have at Mar-a-Lago,” which Mr. Trump says would cost $100 million.

But the ballroom idea is notional so far; the Rose Garden patio space is not, and it has been the subject of almost daily discussions.

In a statement, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said the president was seeking to restore the building’s historical stature. “The White House has not been given any tender, loving care in many decades, so President Trump is taking necessary steps in order to preserve and restore the greatness and glory of ‘the People’s House,’” he said.

Mr. Trump has made clear to associates that he wants to recreate the patio experience at Mar-a-Lago, his members-only club and home in Palm Beach, Fla., creating a better space for entertaining guests. When he is at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump spends hours of his evenings on the patio, with club members and other V.I.P.s dropping by his table to pay their respects. He often holds an iPad, controlling the playlist and blasting Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown at earsplitting volumes.

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https://archive.is/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/us/politics/mar-a-lago-trump-grass-rose-garden.html

Hey, he murdered a person and got away with it, that's our guy!

Vice President-elect JD Vance on Friday said that he had invited Daniel Penny, a former Marine who was acquitted this week on a charge of criminally negligent homicide after putting a man in a chokehold in a New York subway car, to attend the Army-Navy football game on Saturday with him.

The two will join President-elect Donald J. Trump in a suite at the game, which is set to be played this year just outside of Washington.

Somdeep Sen, Associate Professor of International Development Studies at Roskilde University

The liberal world order, with its supposed commitment to the rule of law, human rights and equality for all, met its demise in Gaza.

There is more than enough evidence confirming the genocidal nature of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Yet, political leaders in the West have been uncompromising in their support of Israel’s efforts. At the United Nations, the majority of the world has consistently passed resolutions condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza and called for an end to the occupation. Israel has responded by making UN agencies and personnel targets of war. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. The United States has rejected the court’s decision and Israel has continued to bombard Gaza. All of this has happened under a Democratic US leadership. With the return of US President-elect Donald Trump, we can expect a fast-track dismantling of whatever is left of this liberal order.

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Researchers are conducting the UK’s first major scientific trials to establish whether giving homeless people cash is a more effective way of reducing poverty than traditional forms of help.

Poverty campaigners have long believed that cash transfers are the most cost-effective way of helping people, but most studies have examined schemes in developing countries.

The new study, funded by the government and carried out by King’s College London (KCL) and the homelessness charity Greater Change, will recruit 360 people in England and Wales. Half will continue to get help from frontline charities. The other half will get additional help from Greater Change, whose support workers will discuss their financial problems then pay for items such as rent deposits, outstanding debts, work equipment, white goods, furniture or new clothes. They do not make direct transfers to avoid benefits being stopped due to a cash influx.

Professor Michael Sanders, who runs KCL’s experimental government unit, said: “What we’re trying to understand is the boundary conditions for cash transfers. When does it work? For whom does it work? What are the amounts you need to give people in order to make it work?”

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Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration would declare a national emergency and use the US military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

In an early morning social media post, Trump responded “TRUE!!!” to a post by Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, who wrote on 8 November that the next administration “will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program”.

Since his decisive victory, Trump has said he intends to make good on his campaign promise to execute mass deportations, beginning on the first day of his presidency. But many aspects of what he has described as the “largest deportation program in American history” remain unclear.

Trump has previously suggested he would rely on wartime powers, military troops and sympathetic state and local leaders. Such a sprawling campaign – and the use of military personnel to carry it out – is almost certain to draw legal challenges and pushback from Democratic leaders, some of whom have already said they would refuse to cooperate with Trump’s deportation agenda.

Scientists taught rats to drive to a certain destination, but the rodents took a detour, suggesting they enjoy both the journey and the rewarding destination.

AFP video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08G8u7sk2Jo

Large language model AIs might seem smart on a surface level but they struggle to actually understand the real world and model it accurately, a new study finds.

A Dutch publisher has announced that it will use AI to translate some of its books – but those in the industry are worried about the consequences if this becomes the norm.

and so it begins...