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2:25 PM ET, February 23, 2025

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 Top Items: 
Edward Helmore / The Guardian:
Kash Patel tells FBI staff to ignore Elon Musk request to list their achievements  —  Agency reportedly seeking guidance from DoJ as Musk's demand sparks confusion across key government agencies  —  The new FBI director, Kash Patel, has told his agency employees to hold off on responding …
RELATED:
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
New Doge/Musk Email Goes Seriously Sideways  —  We've got a fascinating story unfolding with the new Musk email I reported on below.  And yes, something can be fascinating while also being grave, dangerous and in its own way terrifying.  Over the course of the evening top leadership at the FBI …
Discussion: Townhall
Steve Peoples / Associated Press:
Key agencies, including some led by Trump loyalists, refuse to comply with Musk's latest demand  —  Key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department and the Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk's demand that federal workers explain …
Zoë Schiffer / Wired:
Elon Musk Threatens FBI Agents and Air Traffic Controllers With Forced Resignation if They Don't Respond to an Email  —  Employees throughout the federal government have until 11:59 pm ET Monday to detail five things they accomplished in the last week.  —  Elon Musk is once again leaving …
Paige Skinner / HuffPost:
Minnesota Senator Calls Elon Musk ‘A Dick’
Ben Berkowitz / Axios:
Agencies, unions tell fed workers: Don't answer Musk's threat email
Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:   Trump and Musk aren't the first to make deep cuts. Clinton-era Reinventing Government saved billions
Nicholas Bednar / Just Security:
What Just Happened: Musk-OPM Send Email to Federal Employees Asking for Five Accomplishments
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Joy Reid's MSNBC Show Canceled in Major Shake-Up  —  Ms. Reid's 7 p.m. program will be replaced by a panel show co-hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele.  —  Joy Reid's evening news show on MSNBC is being canceled, part of a far-reaching programming overhaul orchestrated …
Maurício Alencar / The Daily Beast:
Trump Envoy Can't Name a Single Concession Russia Will Make in Peace Deal  —  CNN host Jake Tapper exposed President Trump's negotiation strategy in the war in Ukraine as a top foreign affairs envoy struggled to point out one concession Russia would make in a peace deal.
RELATED:
Julia Reinstein / ABC News:
Trump is ‘surrendering to the Russians,’ Democratic Sen. Jack Reed says
Peter Wade / Rolling Stone:
Hegseth: Trump Will Install New Military Attorneys Who Won't Be ‘Roadblocks to Anything’  —  The defense secretary justified the firings of top judge advocate generals  —  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth defended the Trump administration's purge of top military lawyers because they want people …
RELATED:
Robert Jimison / New York Times:
Republicans Face Angry Voters at Town Halls, Hinting at Broader Backlash  —  After a monthlong honeymoon for the G.O.P. at the start of President Trump's term, lawmakers are confronting a groundswell of fear and disaffection in districts around the country.  —  Some came with complaints …
Discussion: The Guardian, emptywheel and HuffPost
Gregory Thomas / San Francisco Chronicle:
Photos: ‘Distress flag’ towers over Yosemite to protest cuts as crowds view firefall  —  A group of frustrated Yosemite National Park staffers hoping to draw attention to the federal government's sweeping workforce cuts hung an upside-down American flag Saturday thousands of feet off the ground on the side of El Capitan.
Discussion: RedState
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Condoms for Gaza?  Ukraine started the war with Russia?  The president's manipulations of the truth lay the groundwork for radical change.  —  The United States sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas.  Diversity programs caused a plane crash.  China controls the Panama Canal.  Ukraine started the war with Russia.
Peter Wade / Rolling Stone:
ICE's Next Deportation Target Is Unaccompanied Migrant Children  —  The Trump administration is taking action to deport minors who came to the U.S. without their parents  —  The Trump administration is ordering immigration agents to find and deport thousands of undocumented immigrant children …
RELATED:
Reuters:   Trump officials launch ICE effort to deport unaccompanied migrant children
Deutsche Welle:
German election: Projections say CDU/CSU leads with 29%  —  To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video  —  Early projections say Germany's conservative bloc has secured some 29% of the votes, emerging as the largest party ahead of the far-right AfD with around 19.5%.
Discussion: Reuters, Breitbart and Semafor
Annie Karni / New York Times:
Chris Murphy Emerges as a Clear Voice for Democrats Countering Trump  —  The second-term senator from Connecticut is eschewing caution and throwing out the traditional political playbook as he seeks a broader audience for his critiques of the president and his agenda.
NBC News:
FBI Director Kash Patel to be named ATF chief  —  Patel is set to lead an agency that's been a frequent target of Republicans, including an effort to abolish it altogether.  —  President Donald Trump's newly-confirmed FBI director, Kash Patel, is expected to take on another top law enforcement role …
RELATED:
Hailey Hill / Coeur d'Alene Press:
Chaos erupts at legislative town hall in Coeur d'Alene  —  COEUR d'ALENE — Saturday's legislative town hall hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee turned volatile after some attendees voiced their concerns over the possible repeal of Medicaid expansion and other bills working their way through the Idaho Legislature.
New York Times:
They Help Make the Hamptons the Hamptons, and Now They're Living in Fear  —  Latino immigrants care for some of America's most lavish beachside mansions.  Their disappearance would affect the wealthy, too.  —  Local officials have tried to calm undocumented workers' fears at public meetings.
Discussion: Althouse
CBS News:
Transcript: Sen. John Curtis on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 23, 2025  —  The following is the transcript of an interview with GOP Sen. John Curtis of Utah that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Feb. 23, 2025.  —  MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation.
Reuters:
Zelenskiy says he is willing to give up presidency if it means peace in Ukraine  —  Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he was willing to give up his position if it meant peace in Ukraine, quipping that he could exchange his departure for Ukraine's entry into NATO.
Discussion: Daily Mail
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
Trump uses merch to monetize agenda … But this fundraising effort is the latest reminder that for Trump, the campaign never ends.  — The black “Make America Great Again” caps that Musk frequently wears have become the Trump team's second-best selling item ever — behind only the red and white MAGA hat …
Hannah Harris Green / The Guardian:
Trump halts medical research funding in apparent violation of judge's order  —  Health department orders NIH to hold Federal Register submissions - critical step in process for funding studies  —  The Trump administration has blocked a crucial step in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) …
Discussion: NPR
Miriam Kuepper / Daily Mail:
Topless feminists protest against the hard-right AfD party as polls open in high-stakes German elections  —  A topless feminist has protested against the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the polls opened in a high-stakes German election.  —  The half-naked activist …
Discussion: Associated Press, Reuters and RedState
 
 
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 More Items: 
Camilo Montoya-Galvez / CBS News:
Trump officials prepare plans to revive Title 42 policy to expel migrants, documents show
Discussion: Daily Mail
Politico:
Merz declares victory in German election
Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
Friday Night Massacre in the Military
Discussion: The Federalist
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
GOP rep calls US-Ukraine resource deal ‘victim extortion’
Fox News:
Trans star of hit HBO series says renewed passport now says male after Trump order
Discussion: Associated Press and PinkNews
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Leavitt says media has been ‘blinded’ by ‘anti-Trump bias’
Discussion: Fox News
Cleve R. Wootson Jr / Washington Post:
In auto-centric Michigan, Trump's proposed tariffs polarize a community
Discussion: Raw Story
 Earlier Items: 
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
DOGE cuts at health agencies prompt ‘brain drain’ fears
Julia Conley / Common Dreams:
Thousands in Midwestern GOP Districts Attend Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight Oligarchy
Henry J. Gomez / NBC News:
DOGE for Ohio? Vivek Ramaswamy enters governor's race pushing cuts and merit pay
MSNBC:
I'm a former U.S. intelligence officer. Trump's Ukraine betrayal will have terrible consequences.
Betsy Klein / CNN:
Melania Trump returns to Washington after four-week absence
Discussion: New York Post
New York Times:
The Death of Competition in American Elections
Jared Gans / The Hill:
Hochul ratchets up fight with Trump amid competitive reelection bid
Discussion: Politico
Katie Livingstone / Agence France-Presse:
‘Trump Recruited as Moscow Asset,’ Says Ex-KGB Spy Chief