Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
3:20 PM ET, January 31, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Washington Post:
Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system  —  A top Treasury career staffer is expected to depart.  Surrogates of Musk's DOGE effort had sought access to sensitive payment systems.  —  The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department …
RELATED:
Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:
Elon Musk Is Trying to Get Control of Key Payment System—at Any Cost  —  A top-ranking official in the U.S. Department of the Treasury is resigning after a fight with Elon Musk over a sensitive payment system.  —  The Washington Post reports that David Lebryk, who has worked in the department …
Discussion: Bloomberg, The Mahablog and alicublog
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Aides Hunt for 11th-Hour Deal to Dial Back Canada-Mexico Tariffs  —  President says he will decide tonight whether oil will be included in levies … President Trump's advisers are considering several offramps to avoid enacting the universal tariffs on Mexico and Canada that he had pledged …
RELATED:
Associated Press:
White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday. No word on exemptions
Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China begin Saturday, White House says
New York Times:   The Treasury official who oversees payments resigns suddenly.
Bloomberg:
Mexico Warns Trump 25% Tariffs Would Be a ‘Strategic Mistake’
New York Times:
Paramount in Settlement Talks With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit  —  A settlement, if reached, would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president.  —  When Donald J. Trump sued CBS for $10 billion days before the 2024 election, accusing the company …
RELATED:
Brian Stelter / CNN:
CBS staff alarmed by reports of settlement talks with Trump over ‘60 Minutes’ Harris interview  —  Journalists, including some at CBS News, are expressing alarm at reports that CBS parent company Paramount Global is trying to settle a legally dubious lawsuit lodged by President Donald Trump last fall.
Discussion: Deadline and Daily Kos
The Bulwark:
A Wannabe Authoritarian Hard At Work
RELATED:
Axios:
What the data says about Trump's DEI air crash claims
Joseph Shapiro / NPR:
People with intellectual disabilities do lots of jobs — but they don't direct air traffic
Miles Klee / Rolling Stone:
Trump and Allies Default to Racist Explanation of Deadly Air Collision
Wall Street Journal:
Trump, Facing Two Crises in His Second Week, Spreads the Blame Around  —  Second week of his second presidency shows how an administration moving at lightning speed deals with sudden challenges: by going on offense  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump's handling of two crises this week—one …
RELATED:
Stephen Neukam / Axios:
Scoop: Sanders probing Trump's purge of labor officials
Discussion: Twitchy
Sam Stein / The Bulwark:   Rising Dem: Don't Raise Debt Limit Without Concessions From Trump
ABC News:
Federal employees told to remove pronouns from email signatures by end of day  —  The mandate is the latest effort in the Trump administration's push to end DEI.  —  President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025.
Phil Williams / WTVF-TV:
Career prosecutors withdraw from federal criminal investigation of GOP Congressman Andy Ogles  —  Local prosecutors are not commenting, but move may signal plans to drop investigation of one of President Trump's Republican allies  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Federal prosecutors based …
Discussion: Raw Story
CNN:
EPA workers receive emails warning their employment could be terminated  —  More than 1,100 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency received notice this week that they were deemed to be on probationary status and warning they could be fired immediately, according to an email obtained by CNN.
Discussion: Just Security, Townhall and GovExec.com
John Ganz / Unpopular Front:
Groyperfication  —  I'm working on something long-ish on the “vibe shift” discourse that I'm hoping will come in lieu of the Sunday Reading, Watching supplement.  But I just wanted to quickly remark again on what I think is an underreported key to understanding contemporary politics …
Politico:
USDA ordered to scrub climate change from websites  —  The directive could affect information across dozens of programs including climate-smart agriculture initiatives.  —  Agriculture Department employees have been ordered to delete landing pages discussing climate change across agency websites …
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Natasha Korecki / NBC News:
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker blocks Jan. 6 rioters from state jobs after Trump pardons  —  In a written directive, the Democratic Illinois governor tells his hiring office that “no one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government.”  —  Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is blocking …
Associated Press:
New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill in Louisiana  —  A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.
Discussion: WTOP News
David Corn / Mother Jones:
SCOOP: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Admits Settlement for “Misconduct” Accusation  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has admitted to the US Senate that he has reached at least one settlement agreement in which he was accused of misconduct or inappropriate behavior.  —  After the Senate Finance Committee …
Discussion: New Republic
Jay Stahl / USA Today:
Chuck Todd exiting NBC News after nearly 20 years as Trump starts second term  —  Chuck Todd is leaving NBC News.  —  The NBC chief political analyst and former “Meet The Press” moderator announced the news in a memo shared with staff Friday.  The exit comes amid broad shifts …
John Hudson / Washington Post:
A career official tried to undo Trump's purge at USAID.  He was then purged, too.  —  The dramatic purge and counter-purge played out in emails obtained by The Washington Post, as Trump's pause on aid upends humanitarian work around the world.  —  The Trump administration's purge of dozens …
James Romoser / Politico:
How Trump Could Snatch a Third Term — Despite the 22nd Amendment  —  Four ways Trump could stay in power beyond 2028.  —  Less than two weeks have passed since the last presidential inauguration, but try to imagine the next one.  —  It's Jan. 20, 2029.  The nation has weathered another tumultuous four years under Donald Trump.
Discussion: Raw Story
Sanjana Karanth / HuffPost:
New DOT Memo Directs Funds To Communities With Higher ‘Marriage And Birth Rates’  —  The memo also said recipients of federal transportation funding must also cooperate with immigration enforcement, a hit to so-called sanctuary cities.  —  LOADING  —  The Department of Transportation …
Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:
The DNC's outgoing chair says Democrats should have stuck with Joe Biden in 2024  —  As the Democratic National Committee prepares to elect a new chair, its departing leader says Democrats should have stuck with Joe Biden in the 2024 race.  In an interview with The Associated Press …
CNN:
FBI agents who worked on January 6 and Trump investigations are expected to be fired Friday  —  The Trump administration is set to expand a purge of career law enforcement officials, with dozens of FBI agents who worked on January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack and Trump-related investigations …
Kate Kelly / New York Times:
Official Email Urges Federal Workers to Find More Productive Jobs  —  On Thursday, vast numbers of the government work force received an “F.A.Q.s” e-mail on how to leave their “lower productivity jobs” in government for more productive ones in business.  —  Late on Thursday …
Slate:
The D.C. Air Disaster Is a Flashing Warning Sign About DOGE  —  From the moment he returned to the White House, Donald Trump launched a full-scale assault on the federal workforce.  The president has fired or demoted an unprecedented number of senior officials and civil servants.
Discussion: The Verge
Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
WhatsApp says journalists and civil society members were targets of Israeli spyware  —  Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spyware  —  Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington DC
Washington Post:
Records undercut Tulsi Gabbard's claim of ignorance on cleric's views  —  The nominee for director of national intelligence said, under oath, that she did not know “until today” that a prominent cleric she met in Syria threatened to unleash suicide bombers in the United States.
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 3:20 PM ET, January 31, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:


Page version:
 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
ProPublica:
ICE Enforcement Official Tapped to Lead Unaccompanied Migrant Children Office, Triggering Alarms
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
MAGA's revenge of the mediocre: Trump's war on federal workers targets the meritorious
Discussion: Raw Story and NOTUS
NBC News:
Defense agency bans Black History Month and other ‘special observances’
Discussion: DNyuz and The Hill
 Earlier Items: 
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Democrats want answers on cost-cutting prescription payment models abandoned by Trump
New York Times:
Clues From D.C. Plane Crash Suggest Multiple Failures in Aviation Safety
Washington Monthly:
Trump Is About to Step on Putin's Trap
STAT:
With little fanfare, Biden administration stacked vaccine advisory committee with new members
Discussion: Daily Mail
 

 
From Techmeme:

Nico Grant / New York Times:
Memo: Sergey Brin says Google could reach AGI if employees worked harder and were in the office more, saying “60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity”

Max Filby / The Columbus Dispatch:
Intel delays the opening of its first Ohio chip factory to 2030 due to financial struggles; the $28B project was originally scheduled to begin operating in 2025

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Amnesty International says Google has fixed three zero-day vulnerabilities in Android, developed by Cellebrite and used by Serbia to unlock phones

 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page