Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
3:55 PM ET, February 18, 2025

memeorandum

 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 …
RELATED:
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 …
Noah Shachtman / Vanity Fair:
“This Is Some New and Very Dangerous Development.”  Inside the Bloody Battle Over the DOJ's Crown Jewel  —  Current and former SDNY colleagues of Emil Bove, Danielle Sassoon, and Hagan Scotten describe an office fighting to keep its independence under Trump as its stars wage war against one another.
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Senator says GOP's hands are tied on DOGE cuts — ‘except complain’  —  Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley said Congress is powerless in the face of cuts from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.  “Congress can't do anything except complain” about the slashing of the federal government …
RELATED:
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.
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Not Even DOGE Employees Know Who's Legally Running DOGE  —  Despite all appearances, the White House insists that Elon Musk is not in charge of DOGE.  US Doge Service employees can't get a straight answer about who is.  —  President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly affirmed Musk's leadership …
Discussion: Washington Post
Washington Post:
Top Social Security official exits after clash with Musk's DOGE over data
Marita Vlachou / HuffPost:
Trump Ally Elon Musk Is Not Actually In Charge Of DOGE, White House Says
Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:
Elon Musk Is Leading a ‘Hostile Takeover of the Federal Government’
Discussion: Grabien
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 …
RELATED:
Berkeley Lovelace Jr / NBC News:
Leader of FDA food division resigns
Discussion: Bloomberg, UPI and The Gateway Pundit
Christina Jewett / New York Times:
F.D.A.'s Food Safety Chief Resigns Over Trump Administration Layoffs
Discussion: STAT
Aaron Parnas / MeidasTouch News:
Top FDA Food Administrator Resigns After Mass Layoffs
Discussion: Raw Story
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
Musk Ally Demands Admin Access to System That Lets Government Text the Public  —  A worker at the General Services Administration told colleagues in a Slack message Tuesday that they have resigned in protest after Elon Musk ally Thomas Shedd requested “admin/root access to all components …
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 HuffPost
RELATED:
New York Times:
As U.S. and Russian Officials Meet, Talks Are Set to Go Beyond Ukraine
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: The Bulwark, Reason and New York Post
CNN:
‘Good luck with that.’ Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing  —  The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers …
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.
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 …
Discussion: Axios
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.
Kim Zetter / Wired:
National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers as Federal Purge Continues  —  Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.  —  The National Science Foundation fired nearly 170 workers in a Zoom call …
Discussion: GovExec.com and E&E News
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 …
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.
RELATED:
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
‘I Am Finally Free!’:  Leonard Peltier Released From Prison After Nearly 50 Years  —  Joe Biden granted clemency to the Native American rights activist literally minutes before his presidency ended.  —  LOADING  —  WASHINGTON — Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier was released …
RELATED:
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.
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 …
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:
Trump Administration Wants to Let Banks Jack Up Overdraft Fees  —  The administration's assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is turning into a direct attack on consumers  —  The Trump administration is looking to overturn a Biden-era rule limiting major banks' ability …
Erica Orden / Politico:
Judge calls prosecutors into court to explain reasons for abandoning Eric Adams case  —  Judge Dale Ho scheduled a hearing for Wednesday.  —  NEW YORK — The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered the mayor and federal prosecutors to appear …
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
Jory Heckman / Federal News Network:
DeJoy announces plans to step down as USPS postmaster general  —  DeJoy told the USPS Board of Governors to begin the process of searching for a new postmaster general.  DeJoy took office in June 2020.  —  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is planning to step down from his role …
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 …
Curtis Houck / Newsbusters:
NBC's Tom Costello Ties Trump, Musk to Delta Airlines Crash...in Toronto, Canada!?  —  Text to Speech  —  On Monday afternoon during an NBC News Special Report, NBC senior correspondent and longtime aviation reporter Tom Costello directly linked Donald Trump, Elon Musk …
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 3:55 PM ET, February 18, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:


Page version:
 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Kaelan Deese / Washington Examiner:
Appeals court blocks Biden's $500 billion student debt relief plan
Discussion: Fox News and Fortune
Niraj Chokshi / New York Times:
Family Files Claims Against U.S. for Washington Plane Crash
Discussion: WAGA-TV, Metro.co.uk and KRON4
John Sakellariadis / Politico:
Trump's workforce blitz comes for CISA
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Meet Kevin Hassett: Conservatism's Invincible Ignoramus
Politico:
‘Nothing ... off limits’: Kennedy lays out plan for HHS
Discussion: Fox News
New Republic:
Trump-Musk Threats Darken as Their Anger at Enemies Takes Ominous Turn
Bryan Metzger / Business Insider:
Some Republicans are pushing back on DOGE as firings hit their home states
Discussion: Politico
 Earlier Items: 
The Daily Beast:
Trump Wants Kennedy Center to Lavish MAGA Artists With Honors
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
“His mission is to eradicate ‘woke Jesus’”: How money, lies and religion are abused to gut democracy
Discussion: Raw Story
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: Dems prep for Trump legal meltdown
Discussion: The Nation
 

 
From Techmeme:

Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Internal memo: the US DOJ disbands the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit, established by Biden in 2021, as the agency is “not a digital assets regulator”

The Information:
Source: Instagram is working on an iPad app, and Adam Mosseri told staff to be willing to assume more “risk” to take advantage of a potential TikTok ban

Bradly Shankar / MobileSyrup:
Nintendo says Switch 2 pre-orders in Canada “will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the US”
 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page