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5:30 PM ET, February 16, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Edward-Isaac Dovere / CNN:
Democrats confront their powerlessness as Trump flexes authority  —  Amid Democrats' shock and bickering over how much to respond to President Donald Trump is a deeper question rippling through leaders across the Capitol and across the country: How much should they rely on the same institutional …
RELATED:
Elena Schneider / Politico:
Dems concede Republicans ‘running circles’ around them online as Trump remakes Washington  —  The Democratic response to Trump, one Texas lawmaker said, is “too slow and too tepid and not meeting the moment.”  —  The Department of Government Efficiency created its own account on X last November …
Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Democrats play blame game with GOP on looming government shutdown
Discussion: Breitbart, PoliticusUSA and Daily Kos
New York Times:   Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash
Peter Wade / Rolling Stone:
Zelenskyy: ‘The Risk That Russia Will Occupy Europe Is 100 Percent’ If U.S. Pulls Out of NATO  —  Donald Trump has said he may withdraw from NATO if allies don't keep “paying their bills”  —  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if the U.S. decides to leave NATO, “The risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100 percent.”
RELATED:
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Ukraine Won't Accept a Deal It Didn't Help Negotiate, Zelensky Says
Discussion: Human Events and Grabien
Reuters:
Trump team to start Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia in coming days, Politico reports
New York Times:
Ukraine Rejects U.S. Demand for Half of Its Mineral Resources
Discussion: Breitbart and Bloomberg
Bloomberg:
Trump Asks Supreme Court to Let Him Fire US Agency Head  — Justices asked to step in on emergency basis, person says  — Trump seeking to remove head of US whistleblower agency  —  President Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to let him fire the head of an independent US agency …
Discussion: CBS News
RELATED:
New York Times:   This Is What the Courts Can Do if Trump Defies Them
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Boycotting President Elon  —  Protests have been gathering around Tesla dealerships: … Elon has also been an increasing focus of protests of other venues, which makes sense — a white nationalist plutocrat being given unaccountable power helps cut through the “populist” …
RELATED:
Rachel Leingang / The Guardian:
‘A particularly heinous villain’: a disdain for Musk has sparked protests across US
Discussion: NPR
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Auchincloss: Trump ‘replacing the rule of law with the law of the ruler’  —  Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) on Sunday criticized the order from the Trump administration's Justice Department to dismiss the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
RELATED:
Maia Coleman / New York Times:   Adams to Sue Trump Administration Over Clawback of Migrant Shelter Funds
Gregory Svirnovskiy / Politico:
'I think that's ridiculous': Tom Homan on quid pro quo speculation over Eric Adams
Marcia Brown / Politico:
Trump administration firings hit key office handling bird flu response  —  The layoffs in USDA's National Animal Health Laboratory Network program office come as egg prices reach record high amid worsening outbreak.  —  Laboratories in a national network of 58 facilities responding to the spread …
Discussion: Breitbart
RELATED:
Peter Wade / Rolling Stone:
Trump Firings Impact ‘Front Line of Surveillance’ for Bird Flu Outbreak
Discussion: Reuters and NBC News
Representative Claudia Tenney:
Congresswoman Tenney Moves to Make President Trump's Birthday a Federal Holiday  —  Washington, DC - Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) today introduced the Trump's Birthday and Flag Day Holiday Establishment Act to officially designate June 14 as a federal holiday to commemorate President Donald J. Trump's Birthday and Flag Day.
Discussion: WUSA and WKRN News 2
Nick Cohen / Writing from London:
Trump's true enemy isn't China or Russia but liberal democracy  —  The new Cold War between Europe and America  —  Americans looking with some desperation for a reputable rationale behind the betrayal of Ukraine have reached for the comfort of realpolitik.  —  America's superpower rival is China, they say.
Discussion: The Guardian and Breaking Defense
RELATED:
A.R. Moxon / The Reframe:
The Worst and the Dimmest  —  Hey cousins.  The world's richest man held court in the Oval Office this week while his pet president watched from the resolute desk wearing his trademark pants-shitting scowl.  The world's richest man was telling the press lies to repeat while holding his hands …
Rachel Cohrs Zhang / Bloomberg:
US Health Department Layoffs Expand to Medicare, FDA  — Employees at CMS, FDA, CDC received notices in weekend cuts  —  The Department of Health and Human Services laid off employees Saturday evening across some of its biggest agencies — the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services …
Billy House / Bloomberg:
Steve Bannon, US Hospitals Join GOP Rebellion Over Medicaid Cuts  — Medicaid fight threatens passage of Trump's legislative agenda  — Trump tax cuts, spending priorities could hang in the balance  —  A quiet rebellion among Republicans representing working-class and low-income areas …
Discussion: Salon and HuffPost
RELATED:
Mychael Schnell / The Hill:
House GOP budget resolution in jeopardy amid concerns from moderates
Discussion: HuffPost
CBS News:
Transcript: Rep. Dan Crenshaw on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 16, 2025  —  The following is the transcript of an interview with GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Feb. 16, 2025.  —  MARGARET BRENNAN: And we go now to …
Discussion: Raw Story
Mother Jones:
DOGE Worker Says He Was Radicalized by Reading Writer Who Later Denied Holocaust  —  In a since-deleted Substack post, a member of Elon Musk's team praised an essay by Ron Unz—who has called the Holocaust potentially a “hoax” and said Trayvon Martin was “a violent young thug.”
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 …
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit
Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:
DOGE Mismanagement Principles  —  Sam Rayburn, the Texan who served as House Speaker for 17 years was fond of saying: … Rayburn was talking about policymaking, but the point extends to more broadly to governing.  Trashing government agencies is easy.  Making them work is hard.
 
 
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 More Items: 
New York Post:
Ashley St. Clair, influencer who claims to have had Musk's 13th child, reveals life of secrecy after whirlwind romance with ‘down to earth’ billionaire
Alexander B. Howard / CIVIC TEXTS:
Weaponized transparency at DOGE makes a mockery of good governance
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
The real victims of Eric Adams' NYC corrupt bargain might go to Gitmo
Discussion: Raw Story and washingtonpost.com
ABC News:
DOGE data release criticized by intel community; Trump admin says it's public data
Discussion: The Daily Wire
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Jeffries says Trump, GOP show ‘no interest’ in lowering costs of living
 Earlier Items: 
Marvin Kalb / CBS News:
Marvin Kalb on how a Trump-Putin summit could lead to disaster
Discussion: Mediaite and CNN
Orlando Mayorquín / New York Times:
Utah Bans Collective Bargaining for Public Workers
Discussion: Associated Press
Washington Post:
Trump's global funding freeze leaves anti-terror programs in limbo
Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
The Courts Aren't The Cavalry; We Are  —  Lots of people are talking about early wins in court.
Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo