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8:50 AM ET, February 16, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
NBC News:
Justice Department fires multiple immigration judges amid case backlog  —  A union representing the judges said it “makes no sense” to make cuts to immigration courts as Trump promises to carry out mass deportations, which must go through the courts.  —  WASHINGTON — The Department …
Discussion: The Hill
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Trump administration fires 20 immigration judges with no explanation
Discussion: New York Times and Bloomberg
Alexandra Koch / Fox News:
Trump administration fires more than a dozen immigration judges
Discussion: CBS News
Myah Ward / Politico:
Trump administration fires new immigration judges
Discussion: Washington Examiner
New York Times:
Hegseth's Bruising 72-Hour Debut Overseas  —  It was a crash course in geopolitical realities as the new defense secretary stepped onto the world stage.  —  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has had a rocky trip to Europe this week.  —  In his debut on the world stage, Mr. Hegseth told NATO …
RELATED:
Sugam Pokharel / CNN:
European leaders to hold emergency summit on Ukraine as Trump-Putin call strains ties  —  British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to join European leaders at an emergency summit in Paris on Monday, Britain's PA media reported, after the relationship of the continent with Washington …
Paul Sonne / New York Times:
Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It.
Discussion: Fortune
New York Times:
Trump Suggests No Laws Are Broken if He's ‘Saving His Country’  —  President Trump shared a quotation on social media, making it clear it was one he wanted people to absorb: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”  —  President Trump on Saturday posted on social media …
RELATED:
Asawin Suebsaeng / Rolling Stone:   Trump Publicly Admits He Thinks He Can Break Any Law He Wants
Luke Broadwater / New York Times:   An Unchecked Trump Rapidly Remakes U.S. Government and Foreign Policy
ProPublica:
Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  Before Peter Marocco was selected …
Ilya Somin / Reason:
Birthright Citizenship - A Response to Barnett and Wurman  —  In a recent New York Times op ed, legal scholars Randy Barnett and Ilan Wurman offer a partial defense of President Trump's executive order denying birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants, and migrants in the US on temporary visas.
Washington Post:
ICE struggles to boost arrest numbers despite infusion of resources  —  Trump has ordered a wartime effort to increase deportations, but ICE statistics show arrests have dipped so far this month.  —  Since taking office, President Donald Trump has launched an all-of-government immigration crackdown …
Discussion: washingtonpost.com
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
How Trump's One-for-One Tariff Plan Threatens the Global Economy  —  In starting a process to impose reciprocal tariffs on American trading partners, the White House is sowing uncertainty and risking inflation.  —  Rows of cars waiting to be shipped at the Port of Tianjin in China.
Discussion: Associated Press
RELATED:
Jim Tankersley / New York Times:
Trump Officials Attack a German Consensus on Nazis and Speech  —  Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk have challenged decades-long approaches to political extremism that were designed to prevent another Hitler.  —  The American vice president visited a concentration camp on Thursday afternoon.
RELATED:
Matt Brown / Associated Press:
NAACP lists companies that dump DEI in its tactical spending guide for Black Americans  —  The NAACP wants Black Americans to steer their buying power toward companies that haven't pulled back from diversity, equity and inclusion programs under conservative pressure, and the nation's oldest …
Liam Knox / Inside Higher Ed:
Ed Department: DEI Violates Civil Rights Law  —  In a sweeping and unprecedented letter issued over the weekend, the Office for Civil Rights declared race-based scholarships, cultural centers and even graduation ceremonies illegal.  —  The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights declared …
RELATED:
Jenna Portnoy / Washington Post:
Citing DoD order, Md. National Guard to skip Frederick Douglass event  —  The guidance bars military departments from using official resources to support cultural awareness months.  —  The Maryland National Guard has declined to participate in a parade to honor the life and legacy of abolitionist …
New York Times:
Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash  —  Demoralized donors are frustrated with Democrats' failings and worried about retribution from the president.  Their frugality has left liberal groups struggling to fight the new administration.
RELATED:
Joe Gould / Politico:
Senator Warner: Democrats' ‘brand is really bad’
Politico:
Appeals court rejects Trump in showdown over firing of ethics watchdog  —  The D.C. Circuit panel voted, 2-1, against the president's bid to immediately remove Hampton Dellinger.  —  A divided federal appeals court panel has again turned down President Donald Trump's request to follow through …
Washington Post:
Musk accused Reuters of ‘social deception.’ The deception was his.  —  Trump's DOGE chief mischaracterizes a contract as he marshals “deep state” conspiracy theories to justify cuts to federal agencies.  —  The actor and director Ron Howard posted Wednesday on X an article …
Garrett M. Graff / Doomsday Scenario:
Musk, Trump Establish New Era of Kleptocracy in America  —  A third dispatch comparing how the US media would cover this moment if it was happening overseas  —  American institutions, from the media to civil society to Congress and state capitals, continue to underreact to the unraveling of our democracy.
Edward Helmore / The Guardian:
US Forest Service and National Park Service to fire thousands of workers  —  Agencies say Trump's latest push to trim government could impede firefighting efforts and create crises at national parks  —  The US Forest Service is firing about 3,400 recent hires while the National Park Service …
Discussion: New York Times
Chandelis Duster / NPR:
Protests are set to take place on Presidents Day.  Here is why  —  Protests are set to take place in several major cities across the U.S. on Monday, the Presidents Day holiday, according to activists.  —  These demonstrations are being organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for “50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.”
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Musk and Trump are stopping the distribution of live-saving aid and firing anybody who tells the public about it  —  These people are just cartoonishly evil:  —  A new internal memo circulating inside the U.S. Agency for International Development neatly captures this split.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Forced to flee Congo, USAID workers lost everything. They're suing Trump.
Discussion: OutsideTheBeltway
James Mackenzie / Reuters:
Israel receives shipment of heavy bombs cleared by Trump  —  Israel has received a shipment of heavy MK-84 bombs from the United States, after U.S. President Donald Trump lifted a block imposed on the export of the munitions by the administration of predecessor Joe Biden, the defence ministry said on Sunday.
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
‘Acting Like a King’: Michigan's Attorney General on the Lawsuit to Undo Musk's Damage  —  Dana Nessel explains the state-led effort to declare DOGE's actions null and void  —  Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency are operating unconstitutionally, and their actions must be reversed.
Discussion: WUSA
 
 
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 More Items: 
Natascha Elena Uhlmann / Jacobin:
Ahead of Workers' Union Vote, “Amazon Mobilized an Army”
Discussion: CBS News, NPR and TechCrunch
Washington Post:
Trump's federal firings imperil government services from cities to farm towns
Will Neal / The Daily Beast:
Former RNC Chair Erupts On-Air: To Hell With Republicans!
Discussion: Raw Story
 Earlier Items: 
Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
Not Quite a Unified Theory of Trumpism, but Still an Alarming Pattern
Politico:
Trump team to start Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia
Francis Fukuyama / Persuasion:
Don't Say “Chaotic” or “Transactional”
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Tech stocks fall after President Trump announced new global tariffs: Amazon drops as much as ~6%, Meta drops ~5%, Nvidia ~6%, Alphabet ~3%, and Microsoft ~3%

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Circle's S-1 shows that it is basically a fintech and that, as of December 31, 2024, ~85% of USDC reserves were held in a BlackRock-managed money market fund

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Europol says German and Dutch authorities shut down Kidflix, a CSAM streaming platform with 1.8M+ users between April 2022 and March 2025, on March 11

 
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