memeorandum: Placebo's Brian Molko Charged With Defamation for Calling Italian Prime Minister “Fascist, Racist” (Nina Corcoran/Pitchfork)

1:40 PM ET, February 18, 2025

Top Items:

Sarah N. Lynch / Reuters:

Senior U.S. prosecutor resigns, citing demands to open probe into Biden-era contract — The top federal prosecutor who supervised criminal cases at the Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney's office resigned on Tuesday, citing what she described as an improper demand by officials appointed …

Discussion: Reuters, CBS News, New Republic and The Gateway Pundit

CNN:

Head of Justice Department's Washington, DC, criminal division quits — The head of the criminal division within the DC US Attorney's Office has left her post, according to four sources. — The sudden departure of Justice Department veteran Denise Cheung comes a day after President Donald …

Discussion: New York Times, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Washington Post:

High-ranking D.C. federal prosecutor resigns in protest — The leader of the criminal division has stepped down following a dispute over freezing Biden-era environmental grants. — The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining …

Discussion: CBS News and Semafor

Noah Shachtman / Vanity Fair:
“This Is Some New and Very Dangerous Development.” Inside the Bloody Battle Over the DOJ's Crown Jewel

Discussion: Bloomberg and Washington Examiner

Washington Post:

Top Social Security official exits after clash with Musk's DOGE over data — Yet another top career staffer is leaving the administration amid a disagreement over a request by Elon Musk's team for sensitive government information.

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Who's in charge of DOGE? Not Elon Musk, White House says — A Trump administration personnel official says Musk has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions.” — Elon Musk is not the leader of DOGE — the mysterious Trump administration operation overseeing an effort to break and remake the federal bureaucracy.

Discussion: The Hill, Axios, Bloomberg, Reuters, New York Times, Associated Press, New York Post, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, OutsideTheBeltway, The Verge, New Republic, The Fucking News, The Indian Express, PinkNews, HuffPost, IJR and UPI

emptywheel: Why Elon Musk Can't Run DOGE [sic] Anymore

NBC News:

As U.S. and Putin negotiate, intel shows he's not interested ‘in a real peace deal,’ sources say — Intelligence suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin is going through the motions and still thinks he can eventually control all of Ukraine, the sources told NBC News.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Forbes, UPI and Raw Story

The Contrarian:
The American surrender to Putin

Discussion: Reuters

Mark Hertling / The Bulwark:
Marco Rubio Is Walking into a Trap

Discussion: Daily Mail, Newsweek and Washington Examiner

New York Times:
As U.S. and Russian Officials Meet, Talks Are Set to Go Beyond Ukraine

Discussion: Associated Press, Breitbart, Reuters, Bloomberg, Raw Story, UPI, The Indian Express and Washington Examiner

William Kristol / The Bulwark: Staying Patriotic in Trump's America

New York Times:

Under Trump's Mass Deportation Plan, Some Migrants Are Being Sent to Panama — Migrants deported from the United States are being held at the Decapolis Hotel Panama in Panama City. The deportees come from Afghanistan, Iran, China and other nations. — They arrived at the United States border …

Discussion: Reason and New York Post

Lauren Aratani / The Guardian:

A quarter of US shoppers have dumped favorite stores over political stances — A new poll also found that four in 10 Americans have shifted spending to align with moral views in recent months — Americans are changing their shopping habits and even dumping their favorite stores in a backlash …

Nina Corcoran / Pitchfork:

Placebo's Brian Molko Charged With Defamation for Calling Italian Prime Minister “Fascist, Racist” — Molko was sued in 2023 for his onstage remarks about Italy's hard-right government — In August 2023, Placebo's Brian Molko was sued by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni for calling her a …

Discussion: Daily Mail

Laura Snapes / The Guardian:
Placebo frontman Brian Molko charged with calling Meloni ‘fascist’ and ‘racist’

Discussion: Rolling Stone and Consequence

New York Times:

C.I.A. Expands Secret Drone Flights Over Mexico — The covert program, begun during the Biden administration and stepped up by President Trump, is hunting for the location of fentanyl labs. — The United States has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs …

Discussion: CBS News, KVIA-TV, Breitbart, Daily Mail and IJR

CNN:
CIA flying covert drone missions into Mexico to spy on drug cartels

Discussion: Raw Story

Rolling Stone:

FAA Employees Say Trump and Musk's Purge Is a ‘Threat’ to Air Safety — After firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, the Trump administration is now attempting to downplay safety concerns — Donald Trump and Elon Musk fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration …

Discussion: The Hill, American Greatness, KFOR-TV, Raw Story, Daily Mail, Townhall, Hollywood Life, UPI, Fox Business, Business Insider, Associated Press, MeidasTouch News, CBS News and NBC News

CNN:

Hamas says it will release bodies of four hostages, including Bibas children, on Thursday and six living hostages on Saturday — Hamas on Tuesday said that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people held by the group, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.

Discussion: New York Post, freebeacon.com, CBS News, Axios, NPR, Associated Press, Jewish News, Townhall, RTÉ, Human Events and Reuters

Reuters:

Native American activist Leonard Peltier released from prison after nearly 50 years — Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of killing two FBI agents and incarcerated for nearly five decades while maintaining his innocence, was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday …

Discussion: Breitbart and Associated Press

Associated Press:
Leonard Peltier leaves prison after Biden commuted his sentence in the killing of two FBI agents

Discussion: The Guardian, New York Times, Fox News and Associated Press

Rebecca Traister / New York Magazine:

Wokeness Is Not to Blame for Trump — How a misdiagnosis of the 2024 election has calcified into self-defeating conventional wisdom. — In the midst of chaos and cataclysm, it's rare to find agreement across partisan divides, but in the months since Donald Trump won his second presidential election …

Bryan Metzger / Business Insider:

Some Republicans are pushing back on DOGE as firings hit their home states — Some Republicans are beginning to speak up against DOGE-led cuts to federal jobs. — It tends to happen when those cuts impact their home states. — They've made sure to emphasize their support for government efficiency as they've spoken out.

Discussion: Politico

Politico: GOP flinches at Musk cuts

Remy Tumin / New York Times:

Delta Plane Overturns at Toronto Airport While Landing — The airport said on social media that emergency teams were responding and that all passengers and crew were accounted for. — A Delta Air Lines flight arriving at Toronto Pearson Airport from Minneapolis appears to have overturned …

Discussion: CBC News, CBS News, CTV News, CityNews Toronto, Associated Press, Forbes, RTÉ, USA Today, Reuters, NPR, IJR, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, The Daily Wire, New York Daily News, WAGA-TV, Townhall, Metro.co.uk, RedState, Breitbart, New York Post, TMZ.com and One America News Network

Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian:

Food head at FDA quits citing Trump administration's mass staff cuts — Jim Jones, who joined Food and Drug Administration in 2023, says layoffs would make it ‘fruitless’ to continue in role — The head of the food division at the US Food and Drug Administration has quit in protest …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Fox Business

Jill Lawrence / The Bulwark:

Seven Myths Shattered by Trump 2.0 (and One True Thing) — THE PAST FEW WEEKS have been a master class in myth-busting, starting with the fantasy that the government should be run like a business and the corollary delusion that winning candidates don't follow through on their campaign agendas.

Caleb Ecarma / Musk Watch:

Meta removes Facebook ad criticizing Musk — Meta removed an advertisement earlier this month criticizing Elon Musk's use of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to seize Americans' private information. “A single individual now controls sensitive U.S. data, risking our national security.

more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Scoop: Dems prep for Trump legal meltdown … Democrats are meeting with state attorneys general, top lawyers, litigation firms, constitutional experts and advocacy organizations, multiple top lawmakers told Axios. — “Looking into all the implications and all the strategies …

Discussion: The Nation

Jamie Dettmer / Politico:

Moscow's media gloats over US-Russia talks — The meeting in Saudi Arabia is seen by Kremlin acolytes as Putin coming back in from the cold. — Russian state media couldn't help crowing over the country's return to the top table of international politics.

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, The Independent and Associated Press

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders — A core group of so-called disease detectives, who track outbreaks, was apparently spared. But other young researchers are out of jobs. — The notices came all weekend, landing in the inboxes of federal scientists …

Discussion: STAT, No More Mister Nice Blog, WAGA-TV, NOTUS and CNN

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:

How COVID Pushed a Generation of Young People to the Right — Research suggests that pandemics are more likely to reduce rather than build trust in scientific and political authorities. — For decades, America's young voters have been deeply—and famously—progressive.

CNN:

After claiming remote workers are actually golfing, Trump again hits the links in Florida — Palm Beach, Florida CNN — As President Donald Trump orders federal workers to return to the office, he spent the fourth straight day at home here at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

New Republic:

Trump-Musk Threats Darken as Their Anger at Enemies Takes Ominous Turn … Our descent into authoritarian rule continues. Over the weekend, Elon Musk raged on Twitter that people at CBS News deserve a “long prison sentence” based on a fabricated rationale.

Reason:

Birthright Citizenship — Since the publication of our opinion piece on birthright citizenship in the New York Times ("Trump Might Have a Case on Birthright Citizenship"), we have received numerous critiques, some quite thoughtful (others less so), both in this and other venues.

Amanda Marcotte / Salon:

“His mission is to eradicate ‘woke Jesus’”: How money, lies and religion are abused to gut democracy — Journalist Katherine Stewart's “Money, Lies, and God” takes readers into Trump's movement to end America — Money, God and lies: These are the three pillars of the movement that led …

Discussion: Raw Story

Reuters:

Exclusive: FDA staff reviewing Musk's Neuralink were included in DOGE employee firings, sources say — U.S. Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink were fired over the weekend as part of a broader purge of the federal workforce, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Discussion: STAT and Raw Story

Paul Krugman:

Making Microbes Great Again — The Texas measles outbreak is just the beginning — I'm almost certain that I had measles as a child. My memories are a bit vague, and unfortunately my parents, who would surely have remembered the incident, have passed on.