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Federal judge blocks Musk's DOGE from access to Treasury Department material — The judge also ordered Musk and his team to “immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from Treasury Department's records and systems, if any.” — NEW YORK — A federal judge issued …
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A US Treasury Threat Intelligence Analysis Designates DOGE Staff as ‘Insider Threat’ — An internal email reviewed by WIRED calls DOGE staff's access to federal payments systems “the single biggest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”
Discussion:
Politico, Bloomberg, Raw Story, Rolling Stone and Mediaite


Treasury was warned DOGE access to payments marked an ‘insider threat’ — The assessment, done by the contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, came before Treasury tapped an ally of Elon Musk to oversee the sensitive payment system. — The Treasury Department was warned in a confidential assessment …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, ProPublica, Fox News and Gothamist


Judge Halts Access to Treasury Payment Systems by Elon Musk's Team — The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by 19 attorneys general accusing the president of failing to faithfully execute the nation's laws when he let DOGE comb through federal computer systems.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Japan Times, Foreign Affairs, Mashable and Raw Story


“The greatest threat we've ever faced”: US Treasury division classifies DOGE staff as extreme danger
Discussion:
FedScoop

Judge orders sweeping restriction on DOGE access to sensitive Treasury payment systems
Discussion:
Business Insider and Bloomberg

Treasury elevates Musk ally to lead government payment system
Discussion:
Default, Forbes, Tampa Free Press, Vox, NPR, Associated Press, New York Times, RedState, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Deep Left Field, New Republic, HuffPost, Washingtonian and Washington Post


Advocate of Jan. 6 Rioters Now Runs Office That Investigated Them — Ed Martin, a loyal Trump soldier, oversees the U.S. attorney's office, which is likely to help turn the investigative powers of the government on several of the president's perceived enemies.
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Trump says he's ending Biden's classified intelligence briefings in payback move
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Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Townhall, Shore News Network, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Daily Caller News Foundation, American Greatness, Breitbart, Forbes, Raw Story, One America News Network, The Gateway Pundit, KRDO, NBC News, NPR, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Al Jazeera, The Independent, New York Post, CBS News, The Post Millennial, Axios, Daily Mail, Blaze Media, USA Today, Scripps News, WGN-TV and WTOP News

New Administration Highlights: Trump Revokes Biden's Security Clearance

With Aid Cutoff, Trump Severs a Lifeline for Millions
Discussion:
Bloomberg

Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates — Related Announcements — Issued by — Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (OD) — Purpose — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards a large number of grants providing …
Discussion:
Inside/Outside, Ars Technica, STAT, Raw Story and Inside Medicine
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Deep Cuts to Medical Research Funds Could Hobble University Budgets — Grants from the National Institutes of Health come with additional money for overhead. Proposed funding cuts would leave colleges with large budget gaps. — The National Institutes of Health announced a new policy Friday …
Discussion:
STAT


Trump fires archivist of the United States, official who oversees government records — President Trump has fired Archivist of the United States Colleen J. Shogan, the government official responsible for preserving and providing access to government records.
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Trump Says He Will Dismiss Kennedy Center Board Members and Install Himself as Chair — The move by the president, whose authority to make the changes was not clear, is the latest attempt to bring a Washington institution under his control. — President Trump announced his intention …
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Fox News, USA Today, Politico, NPR, The Independent, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, RedState, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, CBS News, WUSA, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story, Mediaite, Axios, Florida Politics, The Hollywood Reporter, Consequence, Variety and The Atlantic
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Musk's DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets — Edward Coristine posted online that he had retained access to the firm's servers. Now he has access to sensitive government information. — Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of Elon Musk's squad that's …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, Mediaite, New Republic, Raw Story, The Independent and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Kash Patel Took $25,000 From Russia-Linked Firm to Appear on an Anti-FBI TV Series — Last year, Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur whom Donald Trump has nominated to head the FBI, received $25,000 from a Russia-linked production company to participate in a documentary in which he assailed the FBI and called for closing its headquarters.
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Measles outbreak expands in West Texas around county with low vaccination rate — A measles outbreak is growing in a rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level. — In late January, two children in Gaines County were hospitalized for measles.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, WAGA-TV, WXIA-TV and KFF Health News


Teen on Musk's DOGE Team Graduated from ‘The Com’ — Wired reported this week that a 19-year-old working for Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was given access to sensitive US government systems even though his past association with cybercrime communities …


Did Trump Quietly Kill a Sensitive Pentagon Probe into Elon Musk? — In December, more than a month before Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office, The New York Times reported a blockbuster scoop: Elon Musk and his SpaceX company had repeatedly failed to meet federal reporting requirements designed …


They still want ‘one big, beautiful bill.’ They're nowhere close. — GOP leaders are trying to lasso various factions as the Senate races ahead with its own plan for President Donald Trump's tax cuts and other priorities. — House Republicans are still far from finalizing several key details …
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Republicans in House, Senate on collision course over sweeping Trump budget bill
Discussion:
Politico, IJR, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Wisconsin Examiner and E&E News


30K tons of food ‘going to waste’ in Houston after Trump halted aid — About 30,000 tons of food is stuck at a port in Houston after Trump halted foreign aid for 90 days. The food, intended to feed people overseas, is stalled at a warehouse,the Houston Chronicle reported.


Washington Has Given Up the Fight Against Kleptocrats. Here's What Democracies Should Do — On Feb. 6, new U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a series of new directives from President Donald Trump's administration outlining her office's priorities. Taken together, they represent …


The real lesson of the DOGE racist tweets scandal — On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a staffer at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resigned after the paper inquired about some racist social media posts from an account linked to him.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Twitchy, Arizona Republic, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, Associated Press, Raw Story, Daily Mail, Mediaite, New Republic, New York Post, Washington Examiner, Mercury News, Rolling Stone, Forbes, The Daily Caller, driftglass, Fortune, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Gizmodo, Scripps News, Townhall, Crooks and Liars, The Verge, The Root, Truthout, Breitbart, Advocate and Daily Kos
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Musk to rehire DOGE staffer with history of racist tweets
Discussion:
The Guardian, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Politico, Business Insider, American Greatness, NBC News, The National Pulse, Mediaite, CNBC, OutsideTheBeltway and HuffPost, more at Techmeme »


1. Trump's second term: Early ratings and expectations — Table of Contents Table of Contents — Americans are deeply divided over Donald Trump's plans and the way he is handling his job in the early weeks of his return to the presidency. — Overall, 47% of U.S. adults approve …


Trump officials exerting unprecedented control over CDC scientific journal — Trump administration political appointees have taken steps in recent weeks to exert unprecedented influence over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's flagship medical research publication …
Discussion:
Wired


Trump halts aid to South Africa, claiming discrimination against Afrikaners — His executive order accuses South Africa's government of seizing property from White landowners and calls for their resettlement as “refugees” in the U.S. — President Donald Trump on Friday signed …
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, Bloomberg, WSVN-TV, Washington Examiner, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Raw Story, RedState and The National Pulse


Falsehoods Fuel the Right-Wing Crusade Against U.S.A.I.D. — As the Trump administration works to dismantle the aid agency, right-wing influencers have flooded the internet with falsehoods about its work. — The video falsely claiming that the United States Agency for International …
Discussion:
NPR, Forbes and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »


‘Backsliding’: most countries to miss vital climate deadline as Cop30 nears — Developing countries urge biggest polluters to act as Trump's return to the White House heightens geopolitical turmoil — The vast majority of governments are likely to miss a looming deadline to file vital plans …


The Mood of the American Consumer is Souring — Tariff threats, market turbulence causing jitters early in Trump's second term — The Trump bump in consumer confidence is already over. — Tariff threats, stock market swings and rapidly reversing executive orders are causing Americans across …
Discussion:
The Independent and Raw Story


Will a Time Magazine Cover Drive a Wedge Between Trump and Musk? — The cover of the venerable newsweekly, long an object of fixation for the president, put Elon Musk behind the Resolute Desk. — The president did not look amused. He was meeting the Japanese prime minister …
Discussion:
PJ Media, Althouse, CNN, IJR, The Heartland Institute, Townhall, RedState, NBC News, The Daily Wire, Twitchy, Daily Mail, CBS News, Blaze Media, Fox Business, HuffPost, The Independent, New Republic, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Poke, Fox News, New York Magazine, Grabien and ABC News


Lawmakers flooded with calls about Elon Musk: ‘It is a deluge on DOGE’ — “We can hardly answer the phones fast enough,” one senator said. — Constituents have flooded the phone lines at the U.S. Capitol this week, many of them asking questions about billionaire Elon Musk …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Crooks and Liars


Is Donald Trump Afraid of Elon Musk? — The president has long operated without anything resembling worry when it comes to appointments or executive action, but as his most powerful—and richest—political ally chainsaws his way through the federal government, some observers wonder if Trump might be tasting his own medicine.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Post, Politico, Business Insider and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »


The Elite Lawyers Working for Elon Musk's DOGE Include Former Supreme Court Clerks — Much attention has been paid to the young Silicon Valley engineers working for Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, but the group has also hired high-powered legal talent.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reuters and The Gateway Pundit


RFK Jr. had up to $1.2 million in credit card debt — what experts say about tackling high balances … Americans' credit card balances soared to a record $1.17 trillion in 2024 — and even the wealthy are not immune from carrying these balances. — One example is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. …
Discussion:
CBS News