Top Items:


Anyone Can Push Updates to the DOGE.gov Website — The doge.gov website that was spun up to track Elon Musk's cuts to the federal government is insecure and pulls from a database that can be edited by anyone, according to two separate people who found the vulnerability and shared it with 404 Media.
Discussion:
Alternet.org, The Verge, Raw Story, Wired, Fortune, Mediaite, New Republic, Mashable, Breitbart, Reason, Daily Kos and Washington Examiner, more at Techmeme »


Senior Republican senator ‘puzzled’ and ‘disturbed’ by Hegseth's Ukraine remarks — Live coverage from Munich: POLITICO is on the ground at the Munich Security Conference, where we're having conversations with top officials, lawmakers and experts at our POLITICO Pub. Follow our exclusive coverage here.
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, New Republic, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, Wide World of News, Alternet.org, El País, The Guardian, Breitbart, Mediaite, EADaily, Foreign Policy, Townhall, Reuters, NOTUS and Axios
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Vance Wields Threat of Sanctions, Military Action to Push Putin Into Ukraine Deal — In interview with The Wall Street Journal, vice president says Ukraine must have ‘sovereign independence’ — PARIS—Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. would hit Moscow with sanctions …


VP Slaps Down Hegseth by Threatening Putin With U.S. Troops — Vice President JD Vance issued a stark warning to Russia, threatening the potential deployment of U.S. troops to Ukraine—a move that directly undercut Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who was forced into an embarrassing reversal on his earlier remarks.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Steady, Washington Post and New York Post


Hegseth stands by Ukraine comments as GOP senator slams “rookie mistake” … - “I don't know who wrote the speech — it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, told Politico.
Discussion:
CNN, New Republic, Associated Press, Fox News, EADaily, Reuters, The Guardian, Digby's Hullabaloo and spiked


Europe must respond to Trump ‘electroshock’, says Macron
Discussion:
Politico and The National Interest

Vance tells Europe it needs to take lead on Ukraine's future security
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Bloomberg, Politico, Scripps News, Associated Press, Reuters, New York Post, RedState, The Hill, Blaze Media, EADaily, UnHerd, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Post Millennial, The National Pulse, Twitchy, The American Spectator, Grabien, The Daily Wire, Deseret News, CBS News, NPR and Daily Mail


How the Justice Dept. Helped Sink Its Own Case Against Eric Adams — A top Trump appointee guided Mr. Adams's legal team as they crafted an argument for dismissing corruption charges against the mayor of America's largest city. — President Trump had just taken office when lawyers …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, NBC News, Hell Gate and Digby's Hullabaloo
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Fool Me Twice, I'll Make You FBI Director — Plus: Going along to get along in a time of democratic decline. — Roses are red, — The Bulwark is rad— As we've always said: — Orange Man Bad. — We hope you have a happy Valentine's Day, if you're into that sort of thing.
Discussion:
Civil Discourse …


124. The Thursday Night Massacre(s)
Discussion:
New York Times, Pepperspectives, abc7NY, Wired and PoliticusUSA

Eric Adams Highlights Coordination With Trump's Border Czar on Fox News
Discussion:
Axios, Washington Examiner, The Hill, New York Post, Politico, New York Daily News, HuffPost, The City and abc7NY

Live Updates: Upheaval Over Adams Case Spreads as Calls for His Resignation Grow

Danielle Sassoon's Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Annotated

Trump DOJ's order to drop Eric Adams case sparks mass resignations
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CNN, New York Times, New Republic, Law Dork, Mock Paper Scissors, Raw Story, CBS News, JURIST, The Gateway Pundit, emptywheel, Bloomberg, CNBC and Tangle


Read the Resignation Letter From Hagan Scotten — Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote to Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams. … Around the New York Region — A look at life, culture, politics and more in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Republicans put health care cuts front and center to advance agenda — House Republicans are putting cuts to Medicaid at the top of their list of budget cuts to help pay for their wide-ranging agenda that spans tax cuts, energy production and border security.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Alternet.org, STAT, The Dispatch, Politico, The Daily Signal and Daily Kos
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Sweeping safety-net cuts have GOP centrists questioning Johnson's budget
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and CNN

House Republicans advance their budget after appeasing hard-liners
Discussion:
Blaze Media, 19FortyFive, NBC News, Raw Story, Punchbowl News, Washington Examiner, Roll Call, NOTUS and E&E News


Nazi flags can fly in Utah schools, but not pride flags, GOP lawmaker says — A new bill would allow for Nazi and Confederate flags to be displayed in some instances in Utah schools and government buildings, but pride flags would be banned. — An ongoing fight in Utah to ban pride flags …
Discussion:
The Independent, Transgender World, CityNews Toronto, UPI and Washington Examiner


The AP provides a model of effective press resistance — 🧭 🗺️ 🌎 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.


The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory — Tesla and SpaceX both relied on their labor while Musk advocated for a border crackdown. — Cristy was in her early 50s when she took a job with a cleaning subcontractor on a construction project …


Sweeping cuts hit recent federal hires as Trump administration slashes workforce — Federal workers have begun receiving layoff notices as the Trump administration moves ahead with plans to drastically downsize the government. — While the full scale of layoffs isn't yet clear …
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Trump Officials Escalate Layoffs, Targeting Most of 200,000 Workers on Probation
Discussion:
RedState, Associated Press, Reuters, Alternet.org, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, WXIA-TV, The Fucking News, Reason, Politico, The Hotshot Wake Up, ZeroHedge News, Townhall, Bloomberg, ABC7, E&E News and Forbes


Louisiana Department of Health says it will no longer promote mass vaccination — The Louisiana Department of Health will no longer promote mass vaccination, the state's surgeon general, Dr. Ralph Abraham, told state health workers Thursday. — “The State of Louisiana and LDH …
Discussion:
New York Times, NOLA.com and Associated Press


This Small Rust-Belt City Holds the Secret to Democrats' Latino Woes — During the final, frenzied week of the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both made campaign stops in a place whose significance in the election had largely been overlooked by observers: Reading …
Discussion:
Raw Story


Elon Musk's DOGE Targets FOIA Requests at Agency Under its Purview — The government efficiency group also wants to be notified when there's any attempt at oversight from Congress, inspectors general, even the Government Accountability Office. … Valentine's Day aside …


Billionaire Airbnb Co-Founder Is Said to Take Role in Musk's Government Initiative — Joe Gebbia is a board member at Tesla and is close to Elon Musk, the company's C.E.O. — One of Elon Musk's closest friends, a billionaire co-founder of Airbnb, is taking a role in President Trump's administration …
Discussion:
The Independent


DOGE's ‘Nerd Army’ Is Breaking the Government by Threatening to Snitch to Elon — “I can't believe this is how they're blowing up the Constitution,” says a federal official on the receiving end of DOGE threats — Every regime's enforcement mechanisms rely on threats and politicized intimidation.
Discussion:
Bloomberg Law, Washington Post and The National Pulse


Inside Trump's immigration crackdown as net widens — Venezuelan migrant Yessenia and her husband Maikol awoke last week to loud footsteps and knocks in their apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. — “Police, open the door. Policia, abra la puerta.” — Rumors had swirled for days …
Discussion:
ABC News
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How the Trumps Turned an Election Victory Into a Cash Bonanza — First lady's documentary deal with Amazon, president's legal settlements and other transactions near $80 million so far; Trump library a major beneficiary — | Illustrations by Alexandra Citrin-Safadi/WSJ
Discussion:
New York Post, New Republic and The Independent, more at Mediagazer »


Russian Drone Damages Radiation Shield at Chernobyl, Ukraine Says — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called the damage “significant” but said there were no signs of radiation leaks. A Kremlin spokesman denied that Russia had carried out the strike.
Discussion:
Axios, MeidasTouch News, USA Today, Gizmodo, Reuters, Global News, Scripps News, Associated Press, UPI, Metro.co.uk, Forbes, BulgarianMilitary.com, The Japan Times, Fox News, Politico and CBS News


Trump Wants to Destroy All Academia, Not Just the Woke Parts — In 2021, JD Vance gave a speech to the National Conservatism Conference, a gathering of Trumpist thinkers and politicians, titled “The Universities Are the Enemy.” It contained the usual complaints about critical race theory …


Kennedy Center staff describe climate of fear as events drop from calendar — Issa Rae became the first major artist to publicly cancel an upcoming show at the center after President Trump took over its board and leadership. — The fallout from President Donald Trump's takeover …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Raw Story, Forbes, Vibe, PinkNews, Washingtonian, Variety, WHDH-TV, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, New Jersey Online, NPR, CBS News, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and New York Times


How Democrats should respond to Trump's war on DEI — Donald Trump did not campaign on a promise to end the Pentagon's celebration of Black History Month. Nor did the Republican air advertisements pledging to remove displays honoring nonwhite and female scientists from the National Science Foundation.
Discussion:
al.com


Don't Be Fooled, ‘Trump Is a Weak President’ — Trump lacks the skill to govern in the way the founders intended. — How much is President Trump testing the Constitution? And what are the other branches of government doing about it? This week on “Matter of Opinion,” …

Former prosecutor: Adams's attorneys ‘repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo’ — The former acting U.S. attorney overseeing New York City Mayor Eric Adams's corruption case said the mayor's attorneys pushed for a “quid pro quo” ahead of the Justice Department (DOJ) ordering the case against him be dropped.


The Opposition Is Already Growing — And they've already started to slow down certain Trump efforts. — During his first term in office, Donald Trump loved to complain about judges on social media. Reliably, whenever his agenda was held up in court or his allies faced legal consequences …
Discussion:
New Republic and Vanity Fair


TikTok Returns to Apple and Google App Stores — The popular social media app was removed to comply with a new law that banned it in the United States. President Trump has paused enforcement of the ban. — Apple and Google restored TikTok to their U.S. app stores on Thursday evening …
Discussion:
Politico, Bloomberg, 9to5Google, Chicago Sun Times, UPI, Al Jazeera, Mashable, Court Watch, TechCrunch, The Independent, Fox Business, Variety, Adweek, NPR, Reuters, BGR, CBS News, The Information, MacRumors, The Japan Times, Deadline, ABC7 and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »


Hegseth team invites far-right activist Jack Posobiec on overseas trip — The offer triggered alarm among Pentagon officials concerned about the military being dragged into partisan warfare.
Discussion:
emptywheel, New Republic, Alternet.org, Raw Story and Mediaite


“By the time of Stonewall...we had 50 to 60 gay groups in the country. A year later...1500.” — Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Advocate, Gay City News, abc7NY, Reuters, New York Times, New York Post, WUSA, Milo, The Hill, Dread Pirate Silas, Aspec Interests and Autumn's Place


Trump administration directs agency heads to fire most probationary staff — Terminations should happen within two days, according to four people familiar with internal conversations. — The Trump administration has directed agency heads to fire most trial period and probationary staff within two days …
Discussion:
The Guardian, OutsideTheBeltway, The Hill, Jewish Insider, Federal News Network, Politico and Alternet.org


Scoop: FTC chair endorses Trump's ability to fire commissioners … - It will alarm progressive activists and Democratic lawmakers who are concerned that Trump wants to purge independent agencies like the FTC and the National Labor Relations Board. … - He is seizing on a letter sent …


Donald Trump Seems to Have Hung Framed Mugshot on White House Wall — Donald Trump's historic mugshot has apparently been given a prominent spot in the White House, as seen in the background of a photo shared by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The photo, shared on Modi's X account following …
Discussion:
Above the Law, Daily Mail, The Independent and The Gateway Pundit