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Trump Administration Highlights: Personnel Officials Say Musk's Directive Is ‘Voluntary’ — Where Things Stand — Musk's ultimatum: Federal personnel officials walked back Elon Musk's demand that government workers justify their jobs in an email or face termination, saying that his request had been “voluntary.”
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Business Insider, Washington Post, Daily Kos, New York Times, Crikey, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, ABC News, Voice of America, Reuters and The Week
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Trump administration tells agencies they can ignore Musk order on email reply — The Office of Personnel Management told HR officials that employees wouldn't be let go for not replying to an email asking what they did last week. — The Trump administration has told federal agency leaders …
Discussion:
New Republic, Bloomberg, Daily Mail, CBS News, The Information, The Hill, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, FOX 32 Chicago and Fox News


Elon's Email Demand Is Being Met With ‘Very Rude’ Flood of Spam
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill, TechCrunch, The Daily Wire, Fox News, GovExec.com, Mediaite, Scripps News, New Republic, Slate, Business Insider and Townhall

Federal workers and agencies push back against Elon Musk's email ultimatum
Discussion:
The Committee on Oversight …, Fox News, Bloomberg Law, 404 Media, Law Dork, Breitbart, Forbes, WUSA, Pharyngula, NPR, The Hill, The Guardian, The Verge, USA Today, CBS News, Washington Times, emptywheel, CNBC and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

HHS warns employees that responses to Elon Musk's email may ‘be read by malign foreign actors’
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, CNN, Axios, Politico, New York Post, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Daily Mail, BBC, Reuters, CBS News, E&E News, Business Insider, Mother Jones, Gizmodo, Techdirt, The Daily Wire and New Republic


Government Watchdog Moves to Protect Probationary Federal Workers — Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, recommended pausing the mass firings of some probationary federal employees. — A government watchdog lawyer whose dismissal by President Trump has been stalled …
Discussion:
USA Today
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Oversight agency finds Trump's federal worker firings unlawful, asks for some employees to be reinstated
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Hill, FEDweek and American Greatness


Government funding deal ‘very close’ as negotiations hinge on Trump power struggle — The fight over curbing President Donald Trump's ability to freeze cash is now the make-or-break dispute as leading lawmakers close in on a deal to avert a government shutdown next month.
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Stefanik's Confirmation Is on Ice as Republicans Guard Their Scant Majority — The congresswoman from New York is in line to be confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. But first, her colleagues need her vote to pass their embattled budget plan.
Discussion:
The Hill, Axios, Good Politics/Bad Politics, The Independent, Blaze Media, Politico, Washington Times, The Daily Caller and CBS News


EU offers its own ‘win-win’ minerals deal to Ukraine — “The added value Europe offers is that we will never demand a deal that's not mutually beneficial,” top official Stéphane Séjourné says. — The European Union offered its own agreement on “critical materials” …
Discussion:
E&E News, Agence France-Presse, Euromaidan Press, The Kyiv Independent and Semafor
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Putin Dangles Rare Earths Deals for U.S. in Russia and Occupied Ukraine
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CNN, USA Today, Fox News, Reuters, ABC, The Kyiv Independent, Breitbart and Associated Press


It's crunch time for Mike Johnson and the GOP's ‘big, beautiful bill’ — The House speaker is set to put a budget resolution up for a floor vote on Tuesday but is facing a potential revolt from swing-district Republicans. — Republicans' push to enact President Donald Trump's tax …
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Examiner, Associated Press and NOTUS
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Trump's New Deputy F.B.I. Director Has It Out for the ‘Scumbag Commie Libs’ — When a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony counts last year, the conservative podcaster Dan Bongino made a veiled threat on social media. “The irony about this for the scumbag commie libs …
Discussion:
USA Today, CNN, ABC News, The Hill, Axios, Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Zeteo, Associated Press, NBC News, Washington Times and BBC
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FBI agents express shock and dismay over naming of right-wing podcaster to No. 2 post
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Hill

How Dan Bongino Went From Infowars to FBI Deputy Director
Discussion:
Mediaite, Ace of Spades HQ, Media Matters for America, The Forward, One America News Network, The Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit, NPR, Daily Kos, American Greatness, Twitchy, Shore News Network, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Louder With Crowder, Metro.co.uk, Breitbart, WNYW-TV, Daily Mail, The National Pulse, RedState, The Post Millennial and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »


Trump allies circulate mass deportation plan calling for ‘processing camps’ and a private citizen ‘army’ — The group, led by Blackwater veteran Erik Prince, has close Trump ties. — A group of prominent military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince …
Discussion:
Mediaite
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Playbook: Prayers for Mike Johnson
Discussion:
Punchbowl News and The Hill


Rep. Mark Alford tells fired KC federal workers ‘God has a plan’ at hostile town hall — Ariel Mollhagen couldn't hear what U.S. Rep. Mark Alford was saying but she didn't really need to. The crowd's reaction told the story. — During an extraordinarily heated town hall on Monday …
Discussion:
The Independent, Mediaite and Raw Story


Hackers play AI video of Trump kissing Elon Musk's feet on cafeteria screens at HUD headquarters: ‘LONG LIVE THE REAL KING’ — Cyberpunks breached a television at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday morning, broadcasting a stomach-turning AI video of President Trump caressing …
Discussion:
NBC News, Zeteo, Breitbart, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, RedState, Mirror US, The Independent, Washington Examiner and MeidasTouch News
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AI video of Trump kissing Musk's feet plays on TVs in HUD building
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Wired, Metro.co.uk, Twitchy, Rolling Stone, The National Pulse, New Republic, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Register, Gizmodo, Business Insider, New York Magazine, New York Times, TMZ.com, Raw Story, Daily Mail, 404 Media, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit

The blinding contempt of the DOGE bros
Discussion:
Business Insider, Twitchy and FOX 32 Chicago


America's Food Safety Is Now in the Hands of Don Jr.'s Hunting Buddy — As federal health agencies are gutted with abandon, a Florida attorney with a history of hunting with the president's son has been put in charge of food safety at the FDA, overseeing the nation's food supply, infant formula, and more.


Trump could take control of D.C.'s police force. He's tried before … - If the White House believes that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist,” the president “may direct” the mayor to provide MPD forces for “federal purposes,” per D.C.'s Home Rule Act.
Discussion:
U.S. Constitution.net


Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk's DOGE are expected to produce no savings — Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump's administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren't expected to save the government any money, the administration's own data shows.
Discussion:
The Independent, Digby's Hullabaloo and Poynter


Goya Foods CEO, Bob Unanue, Announces Next Chapter — 50-Year Food Industry Veteran Releases Statement After Being Left in “Limbo” by the Company's Board — Today, Robert “Bob” Unanue, with over 20 years as President & CEO of Goya Foods, is releasing a statement about his status …


CEO Devin Nunes Made $47 Million While Truth Social Parent Company Reported $401 Million In Losses In 2024 — Devin Nunes earned $47 million in total compensation as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group last year, although he won't be able to get his hands on all of it until March 2027 …


Coeur d'Alene prosecutors dismiss citation against woman dragged from town hall, city revokes security company's business license — COEUR d'ALENE — City prosecutors will dismiss a misdemeanor battery citation issued to the Post Falls woman who plainclothes private security guards dragged …
Discussion:
New Republic and KGW-TV


FDA rehires staff to its medical devices division after mass layoffs — Around 180 FDA medical device workers were laid off this month by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. — The Trump administration is reinstating some employees in the Food and Drug Administration's medical devices division …
Discussion:
Forbes, Associated Press and STAT
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VA axes another 1,400 employees — The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday fired another 1,400 employees amid outcry over a lack of transparency from the agency after 1,000 workers were axed earlier this month. — The VA said the individuals dismissed were “non-mission critical” …
Discussion:
Fox News, Syracuse Post-Standard and Coeur d'Alene Press


Judge Questions Constitutionality of Musk's Cost-Cutting Operation — The judge expressed concern over the unresolved issues about who is in charge of Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, if it is not Mr. Musk, as the White House has claimed.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Executive Functions, OutsideTheBeltway and Scripps News


The idiot wind now howling through the US offers Ireland a transformative windfall — Fintan O'Toole: Trump is complaining that we pick America's pocket. Fair enough - we should instead pick America's brains — America's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity.


How to buy your way out of a federal lawsuit — On June 6, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Coinbase, a crypto trading platform, alleging that the company was operating as an unregistered securities broker. The failure to register, according to the SEC …


“Slavery produced a genuine affection between the races”: Hegseth's church foretold “DEI” firings — Defense secretary's contempt for Black military leaders has roots in his religion's defense of white supremacy — Donald Trump's administration is barely bothering to pretend that the firings …