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Order to Drop Adams Case Prompts Resignations in New York and Washington — The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials with the federal public integrity unit all quit after the Justice Department ordered the charges against Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped.
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNN, ABC News, Reuters, Tangle, The City, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Independent and Raw Story
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The $400 Million Armored Tesla Story Is a Fake Scandal In a Sea of Real Graft and Horror — The State Department does a lot of business with a lot of different companies and has bought Tesla's before. But freaking out and editing a spreadsheet when it's pointed out is weird.
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Trump administration says it has no plans to fulfill $400 million ‘armored Tesla’ contract — The Trump administration was expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Mediaite, Forbes, Hackwhackers and Raw Story


State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks — The department plans to buy armored Tesla vehicles. Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to cut government spending, has won more than $13 billion in government contracts in the past five years.
Discussion:
Slate, The Verge, Axios, The Post Millennial, Fortune, Mother Jones, Futurism, The National Pulse, The Independent and Raw Story

Mention of Tesla Removed From $400 Million State Dept. Contract Amid Scrutiny of Musk
Discussion:
Washington Post, Fox Business, Electrek, Rolling Stone and Mock Paper Scissors

State Department buries massive payout to Tesla after public outcry
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Townhall, The Hill, Crooks and Liars and Mercury News

State Department Revises Plan to Buy Armored Teslas
Discussion:
Scripps News, The Guardian, Raw Story, Mercury News, ZeroHedge News, Alternet.org, Business Insider, Fortune, New Republic, MPR News and The Independent


Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling … - NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said. — U.S. troops will not be deployed …
Discussion:
New Republic, NOTUS, Politico, Bloomberg, New York Times, HuffPost, BBC, DCReport.org, spiked, New Jersey Online, The Moscow Times, Fox News, New York Daily News, Reason, CNN, Plain Dealer, Reuters, Raw Story, EADaily, WTTG-TV, Al Jazeera, NBC News, Daily Mail, Kyodo News+, The Post Millennial, New York Post, The Guardian, Vox, The Independent, Diplomatic,, Associated Press, Atlantic Council, El País, One America News Network, Scottie's Playtime, NPR and Baltimore Sun
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Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday responded to global blowback to his comments this week that Ukraine should not expect to join NATO or return to it's pre-2014 borders as President Trump seeks to kickstart negotiations with Russia over the war.
Discussion:
CBS News, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, Associated Press, The National Interest, Alternet.org, EADaily, Defense One, Metro.co.uk, Grabien, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and The Daily Caller


Scoop — Zelensky to Trump: Putin pretends to want peace because he's “afraid of you” … - While Trump told Zelensky he got the impression that Putin wants a deal, the Ukrainian president expressed a more skeptical view about the intentions of his Russian counterpart.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Mediaite, The Hill, Alternet.org, American Greatness and New York Daily News


Europe braces for a future without the US as a reliable ally — European defense leaders are preparing for a tense gathering with the Trump team. — MUNICH — European allies are bracing this week for the answer to a question they've been dreading to ask: Can they really count on the United States?
Discussion:
Politico, Reuters, The Guardian, Yahoo News, Defense One, Responsible Statecraft, UnHerd, The New European, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Financial Times and New York Post


A Valentine for Vladimir — After January's inflation numbers, published yesterday …
Discussion:
Gazette, The Guardian, Writing from London, Politico and Grabien

Europe lacks a master plan for Donald Trump's new world disorder
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Politico, The Guardian, New York Times, Bloomberg, EADaily, Semafor, Reuters and CBS News


RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections — Despite millions of dollars spent by groups opposed to his nomination, the Senate voted to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Discussion:
CNN, STAT, Politico, Deseret News, Talking Points Memo, New Republic, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, The Federalist, The Daily Signal, Daily Kos, Tennessee Star, HuffPost, The Nation and Business Insider
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McConnell on RFK Jr.: ‘I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures’
Discussion:
STAT, Ars Technica, Associated Press, ABC News, Axios, Raw Story, OutsideTheBeltway, Mediaite, Metro.co.uk, The Gateway Pundit, The 19th and One America News Network

Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health secretary; McConnell lone GOP dissenter
Discussion:
NPR, Reuters, GovExec.com, KRON4, NOTUS, Raw Story, Washington Post, Forbes, Al Jazeera, Scripps News, Semafor, Patterico's Pontifications, Mediaite, Breitbart, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, New York Post and Jewish Insider

RFK Jr. Won. Now What?
Discussion:
Fox News, Reuters, Politico, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Gizmodo, Global News, CBS News, ZeroHedge News and Bangor Daily News


The Fringe Cause That Could Derail the Republican Agenda — We're not even a month into Donald Trump's new term and already, a cadre of Republican activists appears poised to fritter away his popularity and derail his administration's agenda with a maximalist demand for a budget-busting tax cut.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Raw Story, Americans for Tax Reform and USA Today
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Jeffries says Republicans ‘walked away’ from spending talks
Discussion:
Slate, Raw Story and New York Magazine


Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud — They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that's actually fraudulent. — President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to disrupt …
Discussion:
Plain Dealer, The Daily Wire, Raw Story, The Poke, The Independent, Washington Examiner and Futurism
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Elon Musk Is Faking It — Did you hear the one about how USAID spent $50 million — or was it $100 million? — providing condoms to Hamas? This claim played a big role in the public relations campaign to rationalize the sudden, illegal dismantling of an agency that provides humanitarian aid …
Discussion:
Letters from an American, Blaze Media, RedState, Agence France-Presse, Alternet.org, New Republic and Twitchy


How to stop Trump's power grab — At this point, there is little doubt that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaged in a fundamentally unlawful effort to rewrite the American constitutional order. Their efforts to redirect federal spending are attempts to seize Congress's power of the purse …
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo
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Democratic Sen. John Fetterman: 'There Isn't A Constitutional Crisis'
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, The Federalist, Fox News, E&E News, Washington Examiner, Above the Law and NPR


Exclusive: Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman, allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a bar, witnesses say. — Matt Schlapp, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the CPAC convention, allegedly engaged in lewd conduct and allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a restaurant …
Discussion:
Mediaite, New Jersey Online and The National Pulse


Aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman collides with ship in Mediterranean Sea — There are no reported injuries, nor is there flooding aboard the carrier. — The US warship USS Harry S. Truman is pictured anchored in The Solent, Oct. 8, 2018, near Portsmouth, England.
Discussion:
U.S. Naval Forces Europe …, CBS News, Reuters, The Daily Wire, Breaking Defense, New York Post, The War Zone and WXIA-TV


Walz considering Minnesota Senate run — Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier Thursday she would not seek reelection. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is considering a run for Senate next year, according to a person close to the governor who was granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
Discussion:
MPR News, PoliticusUSA, CBS News and New York Post
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Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota won't seek reelection, dealing blow to Democrats' hopes to take Senate
Discussion:
Minneapolis Star Tribune, freebeacon.com, Wall Street Journal, HotAir, NBC News, USA Today, Axios, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, New Jersey Online, Breitbart, Roll Call, HuffPost, WTTG-TV, IJR and E&E News


Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting — Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said. — Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet …
Discussion:
CBS News


‘Honestly terrifying’: Yosemite National Park is in chaos — California's beloved national park is on the brink of disaster — Yosemite National Park is in trouble. Hamstrung by President Donald Trump's hiring freeze, hundreds of rescinded job offers and the threat of coming layoffs …


JD Vance snubs Germany's Scholz at Munich Security Conference — “We don't need to see him, he won't be chancellor long,” a former U.S. official said of Vance's thinking. — MUNICH, Germany — United States Vice President JD Vance will not meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Fox News, NPR, Politico and CBS News


U.S. Claims Immigrants Held at Guantanamo Are “Worst of the Worst.” Their Families Say They're Being Unfairly Targeted. — ProPublica and The Texas Tribune have identified nearly a dozen immigrants who have been flown to Guantanamo Bay. Government officials have refused to release the names …
Discussion:
New York Times, NPR, CBS News, The Republic News, Axios, USA Today, Reuters and Mother Jones


DOGE's Website Is Just One Big Twitter Ad — The source code for the new Department for Government Efficiency's “official US government website” points to X as its primary source of authority while sharing links to the site sends users to x.com. — At a press conference in the Oval Office this week …


Trump's new passport rules are trapping transgender Americans in bureaucratic limbo — When Mary Fox went to apply for a passport, she brought copies of her birth certificate, certificate of legal name, driver's license, and a check, because the State Department website said passport fees had to be paid by check or cash.


Some Follow Up Questions For Elon Musk, After He Admits He Gets Stuff Wrong Sometimes — Here's a story about being wrong. Not just regular wrong — we're all wrong sometimes! — but spectacularly, publicly, “I'm going to double down again and again and again on this obviously false thing even after being corrected” wrong.
Discussion:
CNN


Federal judge blocks Trump order on health care for transgender youth — The lawsuit filed by families and LGBTQ advocates challenges an order that aims to end federal support for gender transition care for people under 19. — A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed …
Discussion:
ABC7, Baltimore Sun and PinkNews


DOGE rips through Education Department, cutting contracts, staff and grants — Contracts that are key to interpreting data about the American education system were cut as DOGE seeks to trim spending. Some contracts will be rebid. — The notices popped into email boxes …
Discussion:
NOTUS and Florida Politics


Pa.'s Sean Parnell as the face of Trump's Pentagon is another assault on women — There was a moment just over three years ago when it was clear not only that Sean Parnell — a highly decorated Army veteran and an acolyte of Donald Trump — would have to end his 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate campaign …


White House terminates top federal prosecutors amid DOJ, FBI purge — Numerous U.S. attorneys announced their departures during a period of extreme upheaval at the Justice Department, an institution long criticized by Trump. — WASHINGTON — The White House terminated multiple U.S. attorneys …
Discussion:
Reuters, US Department of Justice, The National Pulse, The Gateway Pundit and KNSD-TV


If Indians and Pakistanis Can Relocate, Why Can't Gazans? — Population transfers aren't a Trump innovation. There are plenty of examples from the 20th century. — President Trump's idea that the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and relocate two million Palestinians has elicited outrage and derision.

Trump signs off on proposed reciprocal tariffs — President Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs that he maintains will crack down on unfair and discriminatory tariffs from both adversaries and allies. — The reciprocal tariffs will be customized …
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times, Reuters, Business Insider, USA Today, Washington Examiner, freebeacon.com, India Today, RedState, Townhall, The Guardian, Forbes, CBS News, New York Post, Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune, ZeroHedge News, CNBC, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Global News, The Post Millennial and Fox Business


Linda McMahon is much worse than you think — 💭 🤔 💥 With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever. Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers. If you aren't one already …
Discussion:
Baltimore Sun, Mediaite, The Independent and NBC News