Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
7:55 PM ET, January 31, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Tim Reid / Reuters:
Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say  —  Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees …
RELATED:
Drew Friedman / Federal News Network:
Trump administration directs 70% cut to internal OPM staffing, programs  —  Trump administration officials are taking major steps to cut down the size of the workforce and federal programs at the Office of Personnel Management.  —  During an internal meeting Friday morning …
Discussion: Talking Points Memo
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:
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump and Elon Musk Just Pulled Off Another Purge—and It's a Scary One  —  President Donald Trump has granted Elon Musk unprecedented power to carry out his war on the “deep state.”  The justification for this is supposed to be that the government is corrupted to its core precisely …
Discussion: CNN
Wired:
Elon Musk's Friends Have Infiltrated Another Government Agency  —  Elon Musk's former employees are trying to use White House credentials to access General Services Administration tech, giving them the potential to remote into laptops, read emails, and more, sources say.
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 …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:   Elon's Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It's Even More Dangerous
Sean O'Kane / TechCrunch:
Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies
Discussion: Wired and New York Times
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 …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Interim U.S. Attorney fires more than two dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors in D.C.  —  Trump administration dismisses former Capitol riot prosecutors recently hired to permanent positions and still under probationary periods  —  New!  Catch up quickly with key takeaways
NBC News:
Trump administration forces out multiple senior FBI officials  —  The move came hours after FBI director nominee Kash Patel testified in his confirmation hearing he was “not aware of” plans to remove FBI officials who investigated Trump.  —  Trump administration officials have forced …
NPR:
Trump administration purges websites across federal health agencies  —  At the direction of the Trump administration, the federal Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies are purging its websites of information and data on a broad array of topics — from adolescent health to LGBTQ+ rights to HIV.
Discussion: CBS News, Axios, USA Today and The Verge
RELATED:
Reuters:
Trump putting ‘pause’ on most US government websites, source says
Discussion: Raw Story and DefenseScoop
Associated Press:
White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday.  No word on exemptions  —  President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said …
RELATED:
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.
Joan Westenberg / The Index:   These Clowns are Economic Illiterates
Jarrett Renshaw / Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump set to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada starting on March 1, sources say
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.
Nandika Chatterjee / The Daily Beast:
Trump Admin Emails Air Traffic Controllers: Quit Your Jobs  —  REALLY?!  —  Federal employees were told they could use their paid time off to explore “dream destinations” before quitting.
Lois Henry / SJV Water:
Decision to dump water from Tulare County lakes altered after sending locals into a mad scramble  —  Water managers were relieved Thursday evening after the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to back off of a sudden decision earlier in the day to dump massive amounts of water from Kaweah and Success lakes.
Discussion: Los Angeles Times
RELATED:
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
Brett Kavanaugh has very bad news for Donald Trump  —  Fearless journalism needs your support now more than ever.  Become a Vox Member today.  —  On Friday afternoon, a federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's attempt to halt a simply enormous amount of domestic federal spending.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
House GOP nears plan for Trump's agenda — but may not have the votes
Discussion: E&E News
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.
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 …
RELATED:
CBS News:
Agencies asked to scrub federal government websites to remove diversity-related content
Washington Post:
Trump administration seeking access to database of immigrant minors  —  The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for caring for unaccompanied minors, has long operated independently of ICE.  —  The Trump administration is seeking to grant U.S. immigration officers access …
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.
RELATED:
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
CBS News Set to Hand Over Transcript of ‘60 Minutes’ Interview to F.C.C.
Thomas Novelly / Military.com:
Governors Identify 2 Soldiers Killed in Black Hawk Collision While Third Name Withheld by Service  —  Two of the three soldiers who were killed Wednesday when their Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airline have been identified by service and public officials …
RELATED:
Axios:
Scoop: New White House video has “Angel Moms” blasting Selena Gomez on immigration … - “You don't know who you're crying for,” Tammy Nobles, an “Angel Mom” whose daughter, Kayla Hamilton, was killed in July 2022 by a gang member, says in the video, addressing Gomez.
Discussion: Yahoo News and Daily Mail
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
Melissa Brown / The Tennessean:
Tennessee GOP passes immigration law to criminalize elected officials' votes  —  Tennessee Republicans finalized an immigration bill Thursday establishing a new enforcement office exempt from public records law and criminalizing local officials who support sanctuary policies for immigrants.
Garrett M. Graff / Doomsday Scenario:
A Red-Alert for Democracy: The Patel FBI Purge Begins  —  Even as his hearing unfolded, the Trump administration began firing the FBI's career leadership. … It's certainly not my intention for this column to be daily, but — well — there's a lot going on right now.
CBS News:
Watch live coverage: Plane crash in Philadelphia leaves multiple houses on fire, causes explosion  —  Emergency crews are responding to an explosion in Northeast Philadelphia after a small medical jet crashed in the area of Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue, Philadephia police confirmed to CBS News Philadelphia.
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 7:55 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: 
Benjamin Wittes / Default:
The Situation: Kash Patel's “Odor of Mendacity”
Discussion: Wired and Mother Jones
Camilo Montoya-Galvez / CBS News:
Trump officials make plans to revoke legal status of migrants welcomed under Biden
US Department of Justice:
Former Senior Adviser for the Federal Reserve Indicted on Charges of Economic Espionage
Discussion: CNBC, WAGA-TV and RedState
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Please Don't Resign  —  How to stop Elon Musk.  (And Trump.)  —  ∙ Paid
Lee Soo-Jung / Korea Joongang Daily:
150,000 Koreans in U.S. subject to Trump's deportation order: Report
Discussion: Raw Story
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Former ‘Meet the Press’ moderator Chuck Todd exits NBC News after nearly two decades
Michael Tomasky / New Republic:
We've Now Learned the Three Principles of Trumpism, and They're Ugly
Discussion: The News-Herald
 Earlier Items: 
Slate:
The D.C. Air Disaster Is a Flashing Warning Sign About DOGE
John Ganz / Unpopular Front:
Groyperfication  —  I'm working on something long-ish on the “vibe shift” discourse …
New York Times:
Clues From D.C. Plane Crash Suggest Multiple Failures in Aviation Safety
David Corn / Mother Jones:
SCOOP: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Admits Settlement for “Misconduct” Accusation
Discussion: Mediaite and New Republic
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Cloud Next: Google unveils Ironwood, its seventh-generation TPU and the first for inference, coming later in 2025 in a 256-chip cluster or a 9,216-chip cluster

Will Canny / CoinDesk:
Ripple agrees to acquire prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25B; Hidden Road plans to use Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as collateral across its platform

Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
How Google used new AI techniques to enhance 90%+ of The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939, to show on the Las Vegas Sphere's giant screen from August 28, 2025

 
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