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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.”
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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 …


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 …
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ProPublica, Fox News and Bloomberg


Judge Halts Access to Treasury Payment Systems by Elon Musk's Team
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Business Insider, The Japan Times, Foreign Affairs, Mashable and Raw Story

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


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 …
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Wall Street Journal, RedState, WUSA, The Independent, Breitbart, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Axios
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New Administration Highlights: Trump Revokes Biden's Security Clearance — Where Things Stand — Political payback: President Trump said on Friday that he was revoking former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s security clearances, and made clear that he was doing so because Mr. Biden had rescinded his privileges four years ago.


Trump says he's ending Biden's classified intelligence briefings in payback move — President Donald Trump said Friday that he's revoking former President Joe Biden's access to government secrets and ending the daily intelligence briefings he's receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.
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Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Daily Caller News Foundation, Raw Story, Breitbart, Forbes, American Greatness, One America News Network, KRDO, NBC News, NPR, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Al Jazeera, The Gateway Pundit, The Independent, New York Post, CBS News, The Post Millennial, Axios, Daily Mail, Blaze Media, USA Today, Scripps News, WGN-TV and WTOP News

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


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 …
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New York Times, The Hill, Mediaite, New Republic, Raw Story, The Independent and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »


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.
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Politico, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Business Insider and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »
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Trump and Musk Attack Journalists by Name in Social Media Posts
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Progress Pond, Breitbart, Newsbusters, Deadline, Mediaite and Raw Story

The real lesson of the DOGE racist tweets scandal
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New York Times, The Guardian, Associated Press, Arizona Republic, Raw Story, Daily Mail, Mediaite, New Republic, New York Post, Washington Examiner, Mercury News, Rolling Stone, The Daily Caller, Forbes, Fortune, Lawyers, Guns & Money, driftglass, Gizmodo, Scripps News, Townhall, The Verge, The Root, Truthout, HuffPost, Crooks and Liars, Breitbart, Daily Kos, Advocate and PinkNews

Musk to rehire DOGE staffer with history of racist tweets
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The Guardian, Politico, Bloomberg, Raw Story, American Greatness, Business Insider, NBC News, CNBC, The National Pulse, Mediaite and OutsideTheBeltway, more at Techmeme »

Trump Calls for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Resigned Over Racist Posts
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Twitchy, Daily Kos, The American Spectator, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Forbes, New Republic and Daily Mail

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 …
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Ars Technica, STAT, Inside/Outside, Inside Medicine and Raw Story
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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 …


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.
Discussion:
ABC News
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Trump Fires National Archives Director Colleen Shogan
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New York Times and The Hill

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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Donald Trump Says He'll Name Himself Chairman Of Kennedy Center And Oust Board Members — Donald Trump said that he will oust board members of the Kennedy Center, while naming himself as its new chairman. — David Rubenstein is the current chairman of the center and agreed to stay in that role through 2026.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Shore News Network
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Trump says he's firing Kennedy Center board of trustees members and naming himself chairman
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Fox News, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, The Daily Wire and CBS News

Donald Trump Says He's Firing Kennedy Center Board Members, Naming Himself Chairman
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CNN, The Hill, Townhall, USA Today, Politico, NPR, Rolling Stone, Breitbart, CBS News, Washington Examiner, IndieWire, Raw Story, Mediaite, Florida Politics, The Hollywood Reporter, The Gateway Pundit, Blaze Media, Consequence and Variety


Judge to pause Trump administration effort to gut USAID's workforce by thousands — Two labor groups had sued the Trump administration after it said that thousands of USAID employees would be placed on administrative leave starting at 11:59 p.m. Friday. — A federal judge on Friday …
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RedState, The Daily Wire, Scripps News, Raw Story, CBS News, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, USA Today, IJR and NPR
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Judge blocks Trump administration from putting 2,200 USAID workers on leave
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Fox News, Washington Post, CNBC, New York Times, Tennessee Star, UPI, Axios, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, KFMB, CBS News, The Independent, New York Post, WUSA, Federal News Network, Reuters, Forbes and WTOP 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 …


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


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 …
Discussion:
Breitbart


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

Staffer with Elon Musk's DOGE amplified white supremacists online — One of the people working with billionaire Elon Musk in his efforts to overhaul the U.S. government is a Berkeley-educated computer scientist who has boosted white supremacists and misogynists online.
Discussion:
Forbes, Axios, Slate, Mashable and The Independent


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.
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Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reuters and The Gateway Pundit


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 …


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 …


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. …
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CBS News


North Carolina Judge Rejects GOP State Supreme Court Candidate's Bid To Throw Out 60K Ballots — A Wake County Superior Court judge rejected a bid by GOP North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin to overturn his 2024 election loss to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs …
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Carolina Journal, Raw Story, Associated Press, Cardinal & Pine and NC Newsline


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 …
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NPR, Forbes and CBS News, more at Mediagazer »


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:
Associated Press, New York Times, Bloomberg, WSVN-TV, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, The Independent, RedState and The National Pulse


Trump's FBI Pick Kash Patel Took Up to $5M in Stock From Chinese Ecommerce Giant Shein — Donald Trump's pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form says were received in exchange for consulting services.
Discussion:
The Information, Reuters, Raw Story and freebeacon.com, more at Techmeme »