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10:40 AM ET, February 19, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
RELATED:
Andre Tartar / Bloomberg:
DOGE Says It's Saved $55 Billion; Data Show Much Less  — Cost-cutting effort itemizes about $8.6 billion in savings  — Data includes error that inflates value of DOGE savings so far  —  The federal cost-cutting effort dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency says it has saved $55 billion …
CNN:
Zelensky says Trump lives in ‘disinformation space’  —  Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Donald Trump of repeating disinformation, a day after the US president falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia.  —  Zelensky's outspoken comments were part of what is shaping …
RELATED:
Liz Dye / Public Notice:
Unelected billionaire breaks laws to “restore” democracy  —  🗽 🗳️ 🦅 With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever.  Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers.
RELATED:
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Despite DOGE, Trump's agenda calls for adding trillions of dollars to U.S debt
Discussion: Roll Call
Jack Blanchard / Politico:   Playbook: Comedy night on Fox
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Democrats aim to maximize GOP pain in passing Trump agenda
Discussion: Politico, Raw Story and Fox News
Liz Goodwin / Washington Post:
After ceding power of the purse, GOP lawmakers beg Trump team for funds  —  Republican senators are asking Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states.  —  Republican senators find themselves in an unusual position these days …
Discussion: Vox, Axios, New York Magazine and E&E News
RELATED:
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Trump says ‘inflation is back’: ‘I had nothing to do with it’  —  President Trump is seeking to distance himself from a rise in inflation, arguing that the uptick had “nothing to do” with his return to the Oval Office.  —  Trump instead placed the blame on former President Biden in an interview Tuesday …
Fox News:
'I didn't know that': Musk surprises Trump with revelation about his 2024 endorsement
Allan Smith / NBC News:
USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them  —  In a statement, an Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are “working to swiftly rectify the situation.”  —  The United States Department of Agriculture on Tuesday acknowledged that …
The White House:
Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies  —  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:  —  Section 1.  Policy and Purpose.  The Constitution vests all executive power in the President and charges him with faithfully executing the laws.
Discussion: The Guardian, The Hill, Axios and UPI
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump order challenges independence of FCC, FTC and financial regulators
Discussion: RedState and Reason
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Trump Media Group Sues Brazilian Judge Weighing Arrest of Jair Bolsonaro  —  The lawsuit came hours after the justice received an indictment of Brazil's former president, who is an ally of President Trump.  —  President Trump's media company sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Wednesday …
RELATED:
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Brazil Charges Bolsonaro With Attempting a Coup
Dave Zirin / The Nation:
Why Democrats Won't Throw a Real Punch  —  Faced with existential threats from the right, the Democratic leadership remains timid; faced with demands for justice from the left, it goes on the attack.  —  Bluesky  —  Pocket  —  A relative of mine—an older gent with a penchant for salty language …
Jason Lange / Reuters:
Trump's approval rating slips as Americans worry about the economy  —  U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
New York Times:
Struggle Over Americans' Personal Data Plays Out Across the Government  —  Employees from Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency are gaining access to vast amounts of information held by federal agencies, even as lawsuits try to stop them.
RELATED:
Popular Information:
As measles outbreak rages in Texas, RFK Jr. pushes anti-vaccine message  —  The largest measles outbreak Texas has seen in over 30 years is sweeping through the western part of the state.  According to information released yesterday by the Texas Department of State Health Services, 58 cases have been confirmed throughout five counties.
RELATED:
Amanda Seitz / Associated Press:
Kennedy says panel will examine childhood vaccine schedule after promising not to change it
Discussion: ABC News and UPI
Fatima Hussein / Associated Press:
Tens of millions of dead people aren't getting Social Security checks, despite Trump and Musk claims  —  The Trump administration is falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments.  Over the past few days …
Sam Stein / The Bulwark:
The DOGE Brain Drain Has Begun  —  THREE DAYS AFTER the National Institutes of Health abruptly announced it would place a strict, low cap on the money it sends to universities and research institutions for the administrative costs of scientific research, the University of Iowa made an abrupt announcement of its own.
Ryan Cooper / American Prospect:
Musk and Trump Are Causing the Dumbest Imperial Collapse in History  —  Empires have fallen before.  But it's never been this purely idiotic.  —  Demonstrators march holding posters during a rally to protest President Trump's politics, on Presidents Day, February 17, 2025, in Los Angeles.
Discussion: Raw Story
CBC News:
Trudeau announces $3.9B high-speed rail between Quebec City and Toronto  —  300km/hour trains to stop in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City  —  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday revealed his government's $3.9 billion …
Discussion: CityNews Toronto
Lauren Irwin / The Hill:
Postmaster general to step down, asks for replacement  —  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a former prominent Trump fundraiser who was appointed during the president's first term, announced Tuesday he would be stepping down.  —  In a release, the U.S. Postal Service said DeJoy had notified …
RELATED:
Esther Fung / Wall Street Journal:
Postmaster General DeJoy Says He Plans to Step Down
Discussion: Washington Post and Townhall
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Trump's Kennedy Center Cancels Pride Concert That Would Have Featured Gay Men's Chorus of Washington  —  The Kennedy Center canceled a concert planned for May 21 that was to feature the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC, performing alongside the National Symphony Orchestra.
Discussion: WUSA and Wall Street Journal
Jasper Ward / Reuters:
Trump says he has instructed DOJ to terminate all remaining Biden-era US attorneys  —  U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has instructed the Justice Department to terminate all remaining Biden-era U.S. attorneys, asserting that the department had been “politicized like never before.”
RELATED:
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:   Trump's DOJ Erases Report On Violence Against Native American Women
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
RFK 's plan to make America healthy again?  Round up people with mental health conditions in camps  —  Robert F. Kennedy wants to replace standard psychological care with unpaid labor on “wellness farms”  —  Robert F. Kennedy's “make America healthy again” motto is meant to convey …
Jennifer Sey / Washington Examiner:
Woke is dead.  Nike didn't get the memo  —  Nike ran its first Super Bowl ad in 27 years last week.  The ad, called “You can't win.  So win,” made no sense.  It was an expensive gambit that leaned into woke capitalism and fake feminism and failed to root itself in any relevant consumer or cultural insight.
Discussion: Fox News
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge halts firing of intel agency personnel involved with DEI  —  The order may amount to only a temporary reprieve.  —  A federal judge has temporarily blocked the CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence from firing 11 people whose jobs were eliminated to comply …
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Trump says AP will be curtailed at the White House until it changes its style to Gulf of America  —  President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will continue to restrict The Associated Press' access to his events and news conferences until the news outlet goes along with his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico in its reports.
Wall Street Journal:
Inside Trump's Million-Dollar Dinners With Healthcare Executives  —  Donald Trump hosted meals with dozens of the corporate leaders during the presidential transition, in a lucrative moneymaking venture  —  First came the pharmaceutical executives.  —  Then the insurance companies and the hospital leaders.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Gregory S. Schneider / Washington Post:
Youngkin promises help for federal workers but defends Trump job cuts
Melvis Acosta / Mother Jones:
Trump Administration Cuts Off Legal Aid For Youth Facing Deportation
Discussion: CBS News and Los Angeles Times
Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech / The Hill:
Louisiana, New York battle over abortion laws: What comes next
Margaret Coker / ProPublica:
Georgia Touts Its Medicaid Experiment as a Success. The Numbers Tell a Different Story.
Discussion: prima donna …
Politico:
Elon Musk looks beyond Washington toward Wisconsin
Paul Krugman:
A Belgian Congo Plan for Ukraine
 Earlier Items: 
S.V. Date / HuffPost:
Donald Trump Has Already Spent $10.7 Million Of Taxpayer Money Playing Golf
Discussion: Daily Kos and Digby's Hullabaloo
Washington Post:
State Dept. orders cancellation of news subscriptions around the world
Discussion: The Guardian
Spencer Ackerman / Zeteo:
Musk and DOGE Might Soon Have Access to the Most Lucrative Defense-Contract Database of All
Discussion: CBS News
Taylor Odisho / Latin Times:
11-Year-Old Texas Girl Bullied Over Family's Immigration Status Takes Her Own Life
Discussion: Mediaite
Ethan Marcotte / Ethan Marcotte's website:
Moving on from 18F.  —  note: This post gets into the last few weeks of American politics.
Washington Post:
U.S. weighs destroying $500 million in stockpiled covid tests