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2:30 PM ET, February 22, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Associated Press:
Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and two other military officers  —  President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign led …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Fires Joint Chiefs Chairman Amid Flurry of Dismissals at Pentagon  —  The decision to fire Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a four-star fighter pilot, upends a tradition in which the Joint Chiefs chairman traditionally remains in place as administrations change.
Frances Vinall / Washington Post:
Who is Dan Caine, Trump's pick as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?  —  Caine, a three-star general whom Trump has praised since at least 2019, helped lead an operation in Iraq against the Islamic State during Trump's first term.  —  President Donald Trump on Friday …
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Senate Democrat after Brown ouster: Trump's ‘quest for power’ endangers military
Discussion: Washington Post
U.S. Department of Defense:
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Statement on General Officer Nominations
Constant Méheut / New York Times:
U.S. Pressing Tough Demands in Revised Deal for Ukraine's Minerals  —  The Trump administration appears to be insisting that Ukraine relinquish half of its revenues from natural resource extraction, with no security guarantee in exchange.  —  Ukraine on Saturday was seriously considering …
RELATED:
Abbey Fenbert / The Kyiv Independent:
US threatens to shut off Starlink if Ukraine won't sign minerals deal, sources tell Reuters  —  The United States has threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to Starlink satellite internet terminals if Kyiv does not reach a deal with the U.S. regarding critical mineral resources …
Discussion: Reuters, Euromaidan Press and CNN
Luke Harding / The Guardian:
'It's blackmail': Ukrainians react to Trump demand for $500bn share of minerals  —  Ukraine's lithium deposits are among biggest in Europe and the US is looking for ‘payback’ for previous military assistance  —  Luke Harding in Liodiane, pictures by Julia Kochetova
Discussion: Forbes
Reuters:
Exclusive: US could cut Ukraine's access to Starlink internet services over minerals, say sources  —  U.S. negotiators pressing Kyiv for access to Ukraine's critical minerals have raised the possibility of cutting the country's access to Elon Musk's vital Starlink satellite internet system …
Lisa Rein / Washington Post:
New Social Security chief was being investigated when Musk team tapped him  —  Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office, was suspected of sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk's U.S. DOGE Service.  Now he's the acting Social Security commissioner.
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Eli Hager / ProPublica:
Anxiety Mounts Among Social Security Recipients as DOGE Troops Settle In  —  Elon Musk's team has descended on an already understaffed Social Security Administration, which now faces further workforce cuts and closures of vital local offices.  The consequences could be significant for millions of the most vulnerable Americans.
Discussion: HuffPost and The Independent
New York Times:
DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled With Mistakes  —  The figures from Elon Musk's team of outsiders represent billions in government cuts.  They are also full of accounting errors, outdated data and other miscalculations.  —  Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency …
RELATED:
Jessie Blaeser / Politico:
DOGE shared its receipts — and some of them don't match  —  “Everyone is very well-aware they're repeating the wrong numbers,” said one manager at a company on DOGE's list of cuts.  —  Elon Musk promised to deliver a “maximally transparent” government efficiency program.
Rolling Stone:
Kristi Noem Says $200 Million DHS Ad Campaign Thanking Trump Was His Idea  —  Trump's Homeland Security Secretary said he instructed her to make ads that “thank me for closing the border”  —  NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — The Department of Homeland Security has budgeted up to $200 million …
Discussion: NOTUS
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
February 21, 2025  —  In an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) yesterday, billionaire Elon Musk seemed to be having difficulty speaking.  Musk brandished a chainsaw like that Argentina's president Javier Milei used to symbolize the drastic cuts he intended …
Discussion: Politico
RELATED:
Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:   Trump moves with light speed and brute force in shaking the core of what America has been
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:   Elon Musk's first month of destroying America will cost us decades
Donato Paolo Mancini / Bloomberg:
Meloni, Privately Startled by Trump, Avoids Any Criticism of US  — Premier, entourage taken aback by magnitude of Trump attacks  — Italian PM to address CPAC in Washington on Saturday  —  Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been quiet lately, even as the US threatens to upend …
RELATED:
Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
The Great Resegregation  —  The nostalgia behind the slogan “Make America great again” has always provoked the obvious questions of just when America was great, and for whom.  Early in the second Trump administration, we are getting the answer.  —  In August, speaking with someone he believed …
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump's Own Pollster Just Hit Him with Very Bad News—and a Warning  —  As you watch President Donald Trump and Elon Musk recklessly attempt to destroy the federal government like a pair of toddlers picking legs off a spider, it seems as if Republicans have decided public opinion no longer constrains them in the least.
Bernard Condon / Associated Press:
Musk's cost-cutting team is laying off workers at the auto safety agency overseeing his car company  —  Elon Musk's cost-cutting team is eliminating jobs at the vehicle safety agency that oversees Tesla and has launched investigations into deadly crashes involving his company's cars.
Discussion: New York Times and UPI
New York Times:
How Federal Employees Are Fighting Back Against Elon Musk … Karen Ortiz, an administrative law judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said her ability to send emails was shut off after she sent an agencywide message calling on the commission's acting chair to resign.Taurat Hossain for The New York Times
Majlie de Puy Kamp / CNN:
Recording reveals new details on controversial DOGE employee  —  Less than three years before Elon Musk tapped him to take part in a sweeping overhaul of the US government, Edward Coristine, then 17, was the subject of a heated dispute between two executives at the Arizona-based cybersecurity firm where he was an intern.
Discussion: New York Magazine
Donald Moynihan / The Atlantic:
The DOGE Project Will Backfire  —  Trump's war on public employees is bad for all of us.  —  President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk justify dismantling the civil service as cost cutting.  The federal government has “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud …
ProPublica:
They Worked to Prevent Death.  The Trump Administration Fired Them.  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  Every day, they tackled complex issues with life-or-death stakes:
Discussion: Raw Story
Jaclyn Diaz / NPR:
Federal prisons prep to move trans inmates as early as next week  —  The Bureau of Prisons is pushing ahead with plans to move transgender inmates out of prisons that align with their gender identity and into facilities corresponding to their sex at birth.  The moves could happen as early as next week …
Jessica Costescu / freebeacon.com:
NBC Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Georgia Doctor Whom Rachel Maddow Dubbed the ‘Uterus Collector,’ Avoiding High Stakes Trial  —  NBC's top anchors made ‘verifiably false’ statements about a doctor they accused of performing ‘mass hysterectomies’ on female inmates at ICE facility, a federal judge ruled last year
Gloria Oladipo / The Guardian:
Texas measles outbreak grows to 90 cases, worst level in 30 years  —  Epicenter of latest outbreak had one of state's highest immunization exemption rates for 2023-24 school year  —  The measles outbreak in Texas has grown to at least 90 cases, reaching historic levels, according to officials.
Melody Schreiber / The Guardian:
Alarm as bird flu now ‘endemic in cows’ while Trump cuts staff and funding  —  Experts say current US outbreak is unlikely to end without intervention with further mutation of virus likely  —  A newer variant of H5N1 bird flu has spilled over into dairy cows separately in Nevada and Arizona …
Steve Saideman / Saideman's Semi-Spew:
Why Civ-Mil People Are Freaking Out?  —  Trump bravely waited until Friday night to purge the top level of the US military.  Why are people freaking out?  We knew this was going to happen.  Trump promised this before the election, and the selection of Hegseth, a misogynist and racist …
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The Trump team ups the trolling to 11  —  Provocative messages have become central to the Trump team's political efforts, inviting everyone to guess what's a joke and what's not.  —  A month ago, Elon Musk rang in President Donald Trump's second term with a straight-arm salute that divided a political nation.
Jacob Silverman:
Prominent DOGE Staffer Is Grandson Of Turncoat KGB Spy  —  [A brief editorial note: About 10 years ago, I began researching the Year of the Spy and some famous Reagan-era espionage cases.  This post draws from that research.  See also my previously published article about the NSA traitor Ronald Pelton.]
Discussion: Byline Times and Gizmodo
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Another Town Hall(s) Goes Off the Rails - Oregon 2nd District Edition  —  In Oregon's 2nd district, Rep. Cliff Bentz (R) got a rude awakening in four town halls he held in this past week.  At one point in his town hall in La Grande he chided the audience, saying a lot of representatives had refused to even hold town halls.
Discussion: Axios
Nick Rommel / WPR:
US Rep. Glenn Grothman faces hostile crowd at Oshkosh town hall meeting  —  Constituents ask congressman about Medicaid funding, power of Elon Musk  —  People booed and jeered at U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman as he walked into the Algoma Town Hall just outside Oshkosh Friday morning.
New York Times:
Frustrated Democrats Urge Leaders to Show More Fight Against Trump  —  Voters, activists and even some governors, like Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, are growing exasperated with congressional Democrats' restrained approach.  —  One month after President Trump was sworn in for a second term …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
All The Times DOGE S**t Had To Be Cleaned Up
Discussion: The Hill and USA Today
Politico:
As Eric Adams melts down, Andrew Cuomo forges ahead
Discussion: New York Post
Carter Sherman / The Guardian:
Missouri lawmaker proposes registry of pregnant women ‘at risk’ for abortions
Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors and FOX 2
Nathan Layne / Reuters:
IRS blocks Musk aide from accessing taxpayer data
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Oversight Democrats warn Trump on plans to ‘dismantle’ Postal Service
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
DOGE's USDS Purge Included the Guy Who Keeps Veterans' Data Safe Online
 Earlier Items: 
New York Times:
Trump, After G.O.P. Criticism, Reverses Cuts to 9/11 Survivors' Program
Discussion: Boston Herald
Rachel McCrea / MarylandReporter.com:
Craving more energy, Maryland looks to nuclear power
Maine.gov:
Governor Mills' Statement on Notice of Investigation From U.S. Department of Education
Washington Post:
As Trump pursues his policies, Democratic states block his path
Kelsey Piper / Vox:
Trump wants America to shine on AI. DOGE is blundering it.
Discussion: The Hill
Wall Street Journal:
The Weight of Trump's Agenda Sits on Mike Johnson's Shoulders
Discussion: Raw Story and Business Insider
David Bauder / Associated Press:
AP sues 3 Trump administration officials, citing freedom of speech
 

 
From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Klarna has halted its planned IPO in the wake of Trump's tariffs turmoil; StubHub has also delayed its IPO plans

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders that were set for April 9 due to concerns about Trump's tariffs but the June 5 launch date remains unchanged

Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Microsoft Copilot adds support for memory, personalization, web-based actions, podcast creation, camera and screen analysis, deep research, and more

 
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