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2:30 PM ET, February 17, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Tara Copp / Associated Press:
Trump begins firings of FAA air traffic control staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash  —  The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal mid-air collision …
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
Our Government Is Experiencing a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly  —  Musk is moving fast and breaking important things  —  Last month SpaceX carried out a test launch of its in-development Starship rocket.  Liftoff was achieved, but as the company later announced, “Starship experienced …
New York Times:
4 Top Officials Expected to Resign Over Adams's Cooperation with Trump  —  Four deputy mayors to Eric Adams are planning to leave in coming days after Eric Adams embraced President Trump's immigration crackdown.  —  Four top New York City officials are expected to resign in the coming days …
RELATED:
Eliza Collins / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Voters Splinter Over His Rapid Shake-Up of Washington  —  Some core supporters love his no-holds-barred approach, but several swing voters are taken aback at his early moves
Discussion: Fox News and Raw Story
Shadi Hamid / Washington Post:
Why I still criticize Democrats more than Trump
Discussion: Townhall and Grabien
Jacob Bogage / Washington Post:
Musk's DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS  —  The unusual request would put sensitive data about millions of American taxpayers in the hands of Trump political appointees.  —  Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service is seeking access to a heavily-guarded Internal Revenue Service system …
RELATED:
MSNBC:
We confronted Speaker Johnson over DOGE.  His response is cause for concern.  —  This is not a time where business as usual can be our strategy.  —  Insults toward women in politics are nothing new, so we are wearing being called “rude,” “aggressive” and “unhinged” last week as a badge of honor.
Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Examiner
Carole Cadwalladr / The Power:   US Coup Gains Speed
NBC News:
DOGE-affiliated employee has accessed IRS system with sensitive taxpayer information
Politico:
Judge seems unwilling to immediately bar Musk from meddling in federal agencies  —  Blue states have not provided enough initial evidence to justify a temporary restraining order, Judge Tanya Chutkan said at a court hearing.  —  U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday appeared poised …
RELATED:
Peter Stone / The Guardian:
‘This is a coup’: Trump and Musk's purge is cutting more than costs, say experts  —  In slashing staff and disabling entire agencies the administration is lacerating the structures of US democracy  —  Donald Trump and Elon Musk's radical drive to slash billions of dollars in annual federal spending …
Discussion: The Independent
Tom Hals / Reuters:   Judge calls rare hearing on a holiday in case against Musk's DOGE
Financial Times:
Trump administration pressures Romania to lift restrictions on Tate brothers  —  Tristan and Andrew Tate have been charged with sexual misconduct, organised crime and money laundering  —  The Trump administration has pressured Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions …
Discussion: Raw Story and New Republic
Matt Binder / disruptionist:
Elon Musk's X blocks links to Signal, the encrypted messaging service  —  Signal has been a primary method of communication for federal workers looking to blow the whistle on DOGE.  —  Elon Musk's social media platform, X, is currently banning links to “Signal.me,” a URL used by the encrypted messaging service Signal.
RELATED:
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:   X is blocking links to Signal, a secure messaging platform used by federal workers
Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:
Vance's real warning to Europe  —  Europeans need to reduce their dangerous dependence on an adversarial America  —  When JD Vance took the stage at the Munich Security Conference last week, he issued a stern warning.  The US vice-president told the assembled politicians and diplomats …
Discussion: Asia Times
RELATED:
Lauren Irwin / The Hill:
Rubio spars with Brennan over Vance's Munich speech
Pranshu Verma / Washington Post:
Elon Musk ridiculed a blind person on X. Then a mob went to work.  —  Musk's unparalleled online reach on X has given him a powerful tool to attack individuals who criticize DOGE.  —  Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette works at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group focused on reducing bureaucratic waste.
Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story:
‘Turned out the lights’: Fury hits Washington Post as it refuses to run $115K anti-Musk ad  —  The Washington Post canceled plans to run a front-and back-page advertisement that would have earned the paper $115,000 — and ran straight into fresh fury.  —  The ad, reportedly sponsored …
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Washington Post backs out of ‘Fire Elon Musk’ ad order
Brad Reed / Raw Story:
'Can't be saved': Former Canadian defense official says relationship with U.S. is over  —  Retired Vice Admiral Mark Norman, who once served as Canada's Vice Chief of the Defense Staff, does not believe that the relationship between his nation and the United States is salvageable …
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
The Death of Government Expertise  —  Why Trump and Musk are on a firing spree  —  One of the greatest tricks that Donald Trump and Elon Musk ever pulled is to convince millions of people that DOGE, the self-styled Department of Government Efficiency, is about government efficiency.
Discussion: The Daily Beast
Nahal Toosi / Politico:
The Marco Rubio Guide to Survival is Not Working Well  —  The secretary of State is taking positions that were once anathema and sounding very Trumpy online.  —  It is becoming increasingly clear that Marco Rubio is secretary of State in name only.  —  Since taking over Foggy Bottom …
Discussion: Raw Story and OutsideTheBeltway
Marc Caputo / Axios:
Scoop: Why Trump targets AP … - “This isn't just about the Gulf of America,” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich told Axios. … - The dispute with AP is part of Trump's broader effort to discredit legacy media outlets and the public's trust in the press — already at a record low.
Popular Information:
In botched DEI purge, OSHA trashes workplace safety guidelines  —  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered the digital and physical destruction of 18 publications on workplace safety practices, according to an internal February 7 email obtained by Popular Information.
Jill Colvin / Associated Press:
Mike Pence emerges as one of the few Republicans willing to challenge Trump 2.0  —  His group spent nearly $1 million on ads opposing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's pick to lead the nation's health agencies.  He's delivering speeches urging the president to stand with longstanding foreign allies …
Lisa Needham / Public Notice:
Trump has already weaponized the Department of Education  —  He vowed to kill it.  What he's doing to it instead is even worse. … 🤔 📚 🎒  —  During the 2024 election, Donald Trump made no secret of his plan to close the Department of Education (DOE).
Discussion: Washington Post
 
 
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 More Items: 
Washington Post:
Trump casts psychiatric and weight-loss drugs as threats to children
Discussion: Eschaton
Dasha Litvinova / Associated Press:
American arrested in Moscow on drug smuggling charges is freed ahead of Russia-US talks
Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Trump shares poll showing Donalds leading Florida governor's race
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Republican bill would make Trump's birthday a federal holiday
Discussion: Raw Story, HuffPost and The Independent
Joe Miller / Financial Times:
Majority of Americans believe foreign aid ‘wasted on corruption’, survey finds
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Caroline Vakil / The Hill:
New chair kicks off multistate tour in effort to get DNC ‘out of DC’
Discussion: The Daily Caller and NBC News
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
An Opposition Worthy Of Its Name
Discussion: The Hill
 Earlier Items: 
Alexander Vindman / Why It Matters:
The Dark Age of American Intelligence
Liza Featherstone / New Republic:
Musk and Trump Are Cutting Popular Programs. That's Deliberate.
Associated Press:
Israel's Netanyahu signals he's moving ahead with Trump's plan to move Palestinians from Gaza
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:
Trump Posted 14 Times About His Daytona 500 Trip, Nothing About Multi-State Flooding
Cheyanne M. Daniels / The Hill:
NAACP spending guide urges Black Americans to avoid companies that dumped DEI
Discussion: Fox News
Thomas Chatterton Williams / The Atlantic:
How the Woke Right Replaced the Woke Left
Luke Broadwater / New York Times:
Trump Targets a Growing List of Those He Sees as Disloyal
Discussion: Raw Story