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“They're Scared Shitless”: The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump's Grip on Congress — With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.
Discussion:
Politico, The Guardian, Reuters, Deseret News, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, NOTUS and David August
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Republican lawmaker seeks US judge's impeachment over ruling against Trump
Discussion:
Daily Caller News Foundation and The Daily Wire

Spending deal hung up over Dem demands for Trump limits
Discussion:
Politico, National Review, Twitchy, Breitbart, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, HotAir, El País and New Republic

Republicans rebuke Trump on Ukraine — gently
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Axios, ABC News, Grabien, Crooks and Liars, New Republic and One America News Network


EXCLUSIVE: VP J.D. Vance Warns Zelensky Over ‘Disgraceful’ Public Attacks on Trump, Confirms Ukrainian Elections Are Now U.S. Policy. — EXCLUSIVE: VP J.D. Vance Warns Zelensky Over ‘Disgraceful’ Public Attacks on Trump, Confirms Ukrainian Elections Are Now U.S. Policy.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Fox News, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, Euromaidan Press, The Kyiv Independent, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, One America News Network, Scripps News, Daily Kos, The Indian Express, The Post Millennial, USA Today, Associated Press, Twitchy, Townhall, CBS News and Blaze Media
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Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks — President Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” after the Ukrainian president took issue with his statements on the war with Russia. — 2.3k — Constant Méheut and Anton Troianovski
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Daily Mail, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, University of Manchester, Fox News, Mediaite, NPR, Associated Press, NBC News, CNN, RedState, Crikey, Axios, The Indian Express, 19FortyFive, Israpundit, New Jersey Online, PolitiFact, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, American Greatness, HuffPost, Patterico's Pontifications, The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Washington Examiner, CBS News, The Independent, Raw Story, The National Pulse, Washington Times, The Week, The Mahablog, Blaze Media, Politico, Semafor, WHDH-TV, Breitbart, The Guardian, IJR, The Kyiv Independent, RTÉ and Staten Island Advance


US figures do not support Trump claims on Ukraine spending — President Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated a claim that the United States has spent $350 billion on Ukraine's war — a figure that far eclipses the amount recorded by the Department of Defense and the interagency oversight group that tracks U.S. appropriations to Ukraine.

Trump's America is Putin's ally now
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times, The Week and New York Post


Hegseth considering firing generals as early as this week
Discussion:
The Independent, ABC News and NPR

Trump Hands the World to China
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Reuters, New York Times, LewRockwell, Asia Times, Blaze Media and Digby's Hullabaloo

Are We Now the Bad Guys? — There was a time, not too long ago, when America stood as the beacon …
Discussion:
Newsbusters and Raw Story

GOP senators fact check Trump's Ukraine rhetoric, while still backing his strategy
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, RTÉ, The Kyiv Independent, UPI, BBC, The Independent, CNN, Washington Times, Reuters, Fox News, USA Today, The Dispatch, PBS NewsHour, The National Pulse, Diplomatic,, Deseret News, Raw Story, The Daily Wire, Jewish Insider, Mediaite and Daily Kos

As Trump Turns Toward Russia and Against Ukraine, Republicans Are Mum
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Washington Post, Semafor, Washington Examiner, NBC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic and Breitbart

Incompetence Leavened With Malignity
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Foreign Policy, Euractiv and Deseret News


ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account — Fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids began to spread the day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time. Posts on social media and Reddit claimed that ICE had already been spotted …

Majority Say System Of Checks & Balances Not Working Well, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Congressional Job Approval: Democrats Hit All-Time Low, Republicans Hit Record High — mail_outline — Less than 4 in 10 voters think the system of checks and balances between the executive …
Discussion:
IJR, Blaze Media, Townhall, The Hill, Breitbart, New York Daily News and PoliticusUSA
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Why the White House insists Elon Musk is merely an ‘employee’
Discussion:
Foreign Affairs, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion and The Hill

Musk underwater in public opinion, 2 polls show
Discussion:
The Hill, Pew Research Center, ABC News, Fox News, Mediaite and The Capitolist


Trump receives widespread backlash to social post calling himself ‘king’ — US president made comparison after administration rescinded New York City's congestion pricing plan — Donald Trump is receiving widespread backlash after he likened himself to a “king” on social media following …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, New York Post, Associated Press, The Independent, abc7NY, NBC News, New York Times and The Hill
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NYC congestion pricing axed as Trump pulls approval of hated toll
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NBC News, New York Daily News, New York Times, Scripps News, National Review, nyc.streetsblog, State of the Planet, UPI, The City, Staten Island Advance, Hollywood Life, City Journal, New Jersey Online, Politico, Washington Times, abc7NY, Washington Examiner, Twitchy, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Digby's Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, City & State New York, Reason, One America News Network, CBS News, Gizmodo, The Guardian, Daily Caller News Foundation, Los Angeles Times, The Post Millennial, Boston Herald, New York Magazine, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Daily Wire, Axios, Fox News, freebeacon.com, Bloomberg, Raw Story, Associated Press, USA Today, NOTUS, The Hill and E&E News


Ex-NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested over protest at Huntington Beach City Council meeting — Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested over a protest at a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, California on Tuesday. — Kluwe was protesting Huntington Beach's decision to display a plaque …
Discussion:
New York Post, Plain Dealer, Daily Mail, Fox News, San Diego Union-Tribune, The Hill, The Daily Caller, TMZ.com, Blaze Media and Orange County Register


IRS expected to fire 6,700 employees beginning Thursday — The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to conduct mass firings of 6,700 employees beginning Thursday, according to multiple employees notified of the plans. — Staff in their probationary periods—mostly recent hires …
Discussion:
Frontpage Mag
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Trump Just Endorsed Sweeping Medicaid Cuts … Trump finally decided to end the GOP's internal quarreling on how to pass his budget—and broke a huge promise on Medicaid in the process. — For months, Republicans have been split on whether to split Trump's massive budget agenda on the military …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, CBS News, NOTUS, Americans for Tax Reform, HuffPost, NPR, The Daily Wire, Raw Story, New York Post, NBC News, Roll Call, Blaze Media, Axios and STAT
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It's Easy To Save Billions In Taxpayer Funds When Everything Is Made Up — Here's a neat trick for saving taxpayers billions of dollars: just make stuff up! — I mean, sure, you could do all the hard work of actually finding government waste and fixing inefficient processes.
Discussion:
The Independent, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, Raw Story and OutsideTheBeltway
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DOGE released data about federal contract savings. It doesn't add up
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HuffPost, Bloomberg, CBS News, Al Jazeera, Gizmodo, Rolling Stone, The Hill, Washington Examiner, USA Today, New Republic and The National Pulse


DOGE Now Has Access to the Top US Cybersecurity Agency — DOGE technologists Edward Coristine—the 19-year-old known online as “Big Balls”—and Kyle Schutt are now listed as staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. — Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old engineer …
Discussion:
Nextgov/FCW, more at Techmeme »


Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts — The directive, detailed in a memo dated Tuesday, exempts a handful of programs, including the president's expanded military mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Discussion:
CNN, Defense One, The Guardian, USA Today, New York Post, SpaceNews, New Republic, Forbes, Raw Story, New York Times, CNBC, IJR, The Independent, The Hill, Breaking Defense, UPI, Fox News, Twitchy, Washington Examiner, Associated Press and Bloomberg

Trump can't end birthright citizenship, appeals court says, setting up Supreme Court showdown — An appeals court will not allow the Trump administration to end birthright citizenship for certain children of immigrants, in a ruling that could propel the issue to the Supreme Court.
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Appeals court won't immediately revive Trump's birthright citizenship order
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USA Today, Washington Examiner, CNN, Fox News, CBS News, Scripps News, Raw Story, The Independent and Grabien


DOGE Cuts 9/11 Survivors' Fund, and Republicans Join Democrats in Rebuke — After 20 percent of the World Trade Center Health Program staff was terminated last week, Democratic lawmakers were outraged. On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers joined them. — In a rare pushback against President Donald J …
Discussion:
Spectrum News NY1, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer …, abc7NY and ABC News


Cal Fire captain found stabbed to death inside of her San Diego County home — A Cal Fire captain was found stabbed to death inside of her San Diego County home on Monday and authorities are still searching for the suspect. — Deputies were dispatched to a home in the 20200 block …
Discussion:
New York Post, Los Angeles Times and KFOR-TV


USDS Engineering Director Resigns: ‘This Is Not the Mission I Came to Serve’ — “I do not believe that DOGE can continue to deliver the work of USDS, based on their actions so far,” wrote Anne Marshall in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. — The director of data science and engineering …


Oops: Trump-Musk Cuts Just Wrecked an NIH Org Championed by GOPers — With co-Presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk now inflicting deep cuts on federal agencies that sponsor medical research, thousands of scientists, researchers, and medical professionals are getting fired.
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo


Diary — I decided to keep a record of my thoughts as events transpire, a diary. I have read several reactions by Germans to the rise of Nazism and I was struck by their difficulty to understand where the daily events they lived through could or would lead. In retrospect, we will know, analyze, and make sense.


Trump Team Finds Loophole to Defy Spirit of Court Orders Blocking Spending Freezes — Officials cite other legal authorities — not Mr. Trump's court-blocked directives — to keep withholding foreign aid and domestic grant money. — The Trump administration is systematically exploiting loopholes …
Discussion:
Politico


Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes — The new guidance follows President Trump's demand that the Health and Human Services Department align with his executive order barring transgender athletes from women's sports.
Discussion:
Office on Women's Health, CNN, The Indian Express, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, UPI, USA Today and The Post Millennial


D.C. U.S. attorney probing Democrats over alleged threats, documents show — Analysts say Ed Martin's ‘Operation Whirlwind,’ which targets statements by Democrats and others about Elon Musk, justices and government workers, is meant to stifle criticism. — D.C.'s top prosecutor escalated …
Discussion:
Esquire, Rolling Stone and New York Times


11-year-old took her own life after classmates threatened to call ICE on her family, devastated mother reveals — ‘I waited a whole week for a miracle that my daughter would be well, but unfortunately, nothing could be done,’ despaired her mother — Your support helps us to tell the story
Discussion:
New York Post, Raw Story, WFAA-TV and Mediaite


A judge in Mississippi orders newspaper to remove editorial, so we're publishing it — At Scioto Valley Guardian, Ohio's leading news website, we stand unwaveringly for the freedom of the press—a cornerstone of democracy enshrined in the First Amendment. Today, we are reprinting an editorial …
Discussion:
New York Times, Raw Story and The Independent, more at Mediagazer »


Two more staffers quit John Fetterman's office as the senator carves his own lane with Trump — The imminent exit of two of Fetterman's longest-serving staffers continues a string of departures from the senator's office over the past year. — Two of Sen. John Fetterman's longest-serving staff members …
Discussion:
Fox News, The Intercept and The Hill


These Are the SpaceX Engineers Already Working Inside the FAA — SpaceX engineers were said to be simply touring the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday. In fact, some were already being onboarded at the agency under a policy designed to increase “employment opportunities for people with disabilities.”