Top Items:


Trump's Screaming Call & G.O.P. Moderate Misery — The House has cleared a budget hurdle... barely. But the chamber's Republican lawmakers may yet be thwarted by their own internal dynamics—not to mention the Senate. — Representative Victoria Spartz, among the more chaotic …
Discussion:
Fox News, New Republic, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Punchbowl News and New York Times
RELATED:


Behind the scenes, GOP senators challenge legality of Trump's aid cuts — Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who lauded the USAID cuts, quietly joined Democrats in expressing alarm. — Just now — A handful of Republican senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in expressing alarm …
Discussion:
Reuters


Democrats should make Elon Musk the face of the GOP budget — 📊 🔥 📊 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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Washington Post, Roll Call, City & State New York, USA Today and Washington Examiner


Trump's Third-Term Talk Faces Pushback From a Democratic Congressman — Representative Dan Goldman plans a resolution to reinforce the Constitution's two-term limit. — Representative Dan Goldman, Democrat of New York, will introduce a resolution to affirm Congress's support …
Discussion:
American Prospect and The Hill


Trump and GOP leaders discuss using tariffs to pay for agenda
Discussion:
The Daily Signal and The Hill

Musk to meet with House Republicans
Discussion:
The Hill, USA Today, American Thinker, PBS NewsHour, Reuters, Raw Story and E&E News

Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says
Discussion:
The Hill

Congress barrels toward shutdown deadline with few signs of progress on funding bill
Discussion:
Punchbowl News, Blaze Media, Politico and The Dispatch

Trump will finally have to jump into the GOP budget fight
Discussion:
The Center Square, Associated Press, HotAir and Fox News

DOGE cuts eyed for GOP spending bill, raising shutdown fears
Discussion:
Good Politics/Bad Politics, Daily Kos and E&E News

GOP senators privately push Musk to coordinate more with Congress
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, IJR and Scripps News

Sen. Elissa Slotkin will deliver Democrats' response to Trump's joint address
Discussion:
Axios, The Detroit News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, CBS News, USA Today, UPI, PoliticusUSA and The Daily Wire


Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were dead for some time, warrant shows — Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were found dead in different rooms of their Santa Fe home, and they had apparently been dead for some time, according to investigators.
Discussion:
New York Times, Santa Fe New Mexican, NBC News, The Hollywood Reporter, Advocate, Bangor Daily News, Variety, Associated Press, The Guardian, USA Today, Deadline, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, TMZ.com, OutsideTheBeltway, Los Angeles Times, Fox Business, CBS News, WCSH, New York Post, Deseret News, Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, CityNews Toronto, Reuters, NPR, One America News Network, Agence France-Presse, WOWK 13 News, The Post Millennial, RedState, Rolling Stone, Page Six, San Diego Union-Tribune, Hollywood Life, New York Daily News, masslive.com, The Daily Wire, Metro.co.uk and IndieWire
RELATED:


Gene Hackman, Hollywood's Consummate Everyman, Dies at 95 — The winner of two Oscars, he was hailed for his nuanced performances in films like “The French Connection,” “Unforgiven” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” — Gene Hackman, who never fit the mold of a Hollywood movie star …
Discussion:
CNN, The Guardian, Variety, BBC, Washington Post, CBS News, Patterico's Pontifications, Breitbart, PinkNews, Raw Story, IndieWire, Fox News, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Voice of America, San Diego Union-Tribune, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Althouse, Al Jazeera, New Jersey Online, Irish Examiner, NewsNation, IJR, The Daily Caller, WAGA-TV, Daily Mail, UPI, Vanity Fair, New York Post, Adweek, Mediaite, Virtual Globetrotting, TMZ.com, Hollywood Life, Gizmodo, Chicago Sun Times, New York Daily News, Semafor, Page Six, TVLine, Associated Press and Twitchy


She hoped Trump's victory would change her life, but not like this — Ryleigh Cooper is normally more focused on motherhood than politics. Then came DOGE. — BALDWIN, Mich. — Ryleigh Cooper exhaled as she slid onto the couch after nine hours of work for the U.S. Forest Service …
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money


FAA targeting Verizon contract in favor of Musk's Starlink, sources say — Turning the $2.4 billion project over to Musk's company would be a major test of conflict-of-interest rules in government contracting. — Just now — The Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling …
RELATED:


Elon Musk says upgrade of FAA's air traffic control system is failing and SpaceX needs to take over Verizon's contract — New York CNN — Elon Musk said Thursday that Verizon's efforts to provide a critically needed upgrade to the FAA's air traffic control system is failing.
Discussion:
The Post Millennial, Fox News and Rolling Stone


Elon Musk urges retired air traffic controllers to come back
Discussion:
New York Post, Fox Business and New Republic


RFK Jr. Takes a Sledgehammer to Two Major Vaccine Developments — Multiple vaccine projects have been paused by the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Kennedy paused a multimillion-dollar project to create a new Covid-19 vaccine in pill form on Tuesday …
Discussion:
NBC News, Israpundit, Gizmodo, The Post Millennial, Daily Kos, CNBC, Rolling Stone, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart and New York Times
RELATED:


HHS weighs rescinding Moderna bird flu vaccine contract — The Trump administration confirmed it is reevaluating a $590 million human bird flu vaccine contract awarded to Moderna in the waning days of the Biden administration. — “While it is crucial that the U.S. Department and Health …
Discussion:
Axios, Reuters, CBS News, Bloomberg and Megyn Kelly


Cruel and Usual: Republicans Prepare to Gut Medicaid — West Virginia is a very red state; Donald Trump received more than two thirds of its votes last year. — It's also a poor state, left behind by the 21st century economy. Because incomes are low, it pays very little in federal income taxes …
Discussion:
WPR, Business Insider and Vox
RELATED:


Judge orders Trump administration officials to give sworn testimony on DOGE — The Justice Department fought the effort to put staffers involved in the controversial cost-slashing effort under oath. — A federal judge has ordered Trump administration officials involved in Elon Musk's …
Discussion:
Bloomberg


Andrew Tate and brother Tristan, who face human trafficking charges in Romania, arrive in the U.S. — London — Self-proclaimed misogynist social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan arrived in the U.S. Thursday despite facing rape and human trafficking charges that are still pending in Romania.
Discussion:
CNN, Gizmodo, New York Post, Mediaite, Metro.co.uk, Fox News, Digby's Hullabaloo, USA Today, Bloomberg and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:

Andrew Tate, who faces rape and trafficking charges in Romania, has left for the US
Discussion:
BBC, Sky News, New York Times, USA Today, The Guardian, New Jersey Online, The Floridian, UPI, Reuters, New Republic, Breitbart, Washington Post, NPR, New York Post, The Independent, The Daily Wire, The 19th, Associated Press, Raw Story, WAGA-TV, Florida Politics, WFLA, CityNews Toronto, The Daily Caller, PinkNews, Al Jazeera, Mediaite, Axios, MeidasTouch News, Rolling Stone, Politico, i💚terf, Deadline and New York Daily News


Who Is in DOGE? Tracking Its Staffers and Allies in the Federal Government — The New York Times identified 45 people within the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a group formed by Elon Musk that in a short few weeks has radically upended federal agencies. Few members have formal Washington experience.
Discussion:
New Republic, RedState, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and Bloomberg


FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say — Patel suggested he wants UFC to help agents improve their fitness, sources said. — Kash Patel is sworn in during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be FBI Director, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Jan. 30, 2025.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Reuters, Forbes, TMZ.com and Fox News
RELATED:


How the Bezos-Trump alliance began … - It wasn't until late October — three months later — that Bezos spiked the Post editorial page's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and his outreach to Trump came into focus. … - The move was praised by Trump allies such as Elon Musk …


Trump administration struggles to rehire fired bird flu employees — USDA supervisors are being asked to justify rehires and some employees still haven't gotten their laptops back. — The Trump administration touted a nearly $1 billion plan Wednesday to combat the spread of avian flu …
Discussion:
New Republic, Associated Press, USA Today, Times-Standard and FOX 32 Chicago


Elon Musk's Attacks On Judges Are Getting More Racist and More Dangerous — In recent weeks, federal judges across the country have blocked several of President Donald Trump's more ambitious attempts to treat following the law as optional. Elon Musk, who is leading the administration's efforts …
Discussion:
Washington Post


Reality Counts — President in Name Only (PINO) Donald Trump and acting president Elon Musk might be able to bamboozle some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot bamboozle all of the people all of the time (to paraphrase Lincoln).
Discussion:
Bloomberg
RELATED:


The Era of Purges — Here is what happened. An intelligence employee at the National Security Agency leaked chats of fellow officers to a political activist. The chats included inappropriate messages, mostly around medical issues, plus mockery of political commenters.
Discussion:
Erin In The Morning, Townhall and PinkNews


White House official threatens to redraw Canadian border — Peter Navarro is pushing negotiators to discuss reworking country's boundaries, The Telegraph can reveal — A top White House official has threatened to redraw the Canadian border amid Donald Trump's ambition to turn the country in America's “51st state”.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller


Here's what on the Jeffrey Epstein list that the Trump DOJ is set to release later today — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to release notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's personal address book Thursday, The Post has learned. — A source who has reviewed the files …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, RedState, Reuters, The Daily Caller, UPI, Blaze Media, Fox News, Florida Politics, The Maine Wire, NewsNation, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, The Post Millennial, HotAir, Twitchy, Hollywood Life, The Independent, USA Today, FOX 32 Chicago, Instapundit and New York Magazine


Elon Musk's Starlink Is Keeping Modern Slavery Compounds Online — A WIRED investigation reveals that criminals who make billions from scam compounds in Myanmar—where tens of thousands of people are enslaved—are using Starlink to get online. — The plea for help arrived last summer.
Discussion:
Agence France-Presse, Reuters, New York Times and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »


How many Trump voters regret their votes? — Anecdotes aside, polls show little sign of significant Trump-voter backlash. But some warning signs of discontent loom. — If you're on social media these days, you might have noticed a growing volume of posts about Trump supporters who, to paraphrase, effed around and found out.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, HotAir and American Greatness


Dems are icing out Tesla lobbyists over Elon Musk's Trump ties — Tesla's campaigns to sell its electric vehicles directly to consumers, bypassing traditional dealerships, face more challenges in Democratic statehouses as Musk's national clout grows. — ALBANY, New York …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Mercury News


Nature Conservancy Allegedly Told to Say ‘Gulf of America’ or Lose Federal Funding — The Nature Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit, was told by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration it had to rename a major conservation program as the “Gulf of America” or else lose federal funding …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and New Republic


Neo-Nazis targeted a majority-Black town. Locals launched an armed watch. — Residents of Lincoln Heights, Ohio, are guarding their streets with rifles after criticizing the police response to a neo-Nazi rally. — For weeks, men carrying rifles have guarded the roads leading into Lincoln Heights …
Discussion:
Raw Story


HHS Lays Off Lawyers Executing the Medicare Drug Price Cuts — Medicare is facing lawsuits filed by pharmaceutical companies — Part of pattern of chaotic firings at federal health agencies — At least three government lawyers working on defending a major Biden-era drug pricing law …


Inside the Collapse at the NIH — Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency's own lawyers to restart grant funding now. — For decades, the National Institutes of Health has had one core function: support health research in the United States.


Federal judge rules Trump administration can fire career intel officers who had DEI jobs — A group of CIA and other intelligence officers had sued asking to be reassigned to other positions instead of fired but the court rejected their challenge. — A federal judge ruled Thursday …
Discussion:
New York Times and The Gateway Pundit


Five Key Insights Into Americans' Views of the News Media — Trust in media has dropped precipitously in recent years, particularly among young adults and Republicans — WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Gallup began tracking Americans' views of the news media in the early 1970s …


Senate advances Linda McMahon's nomination to lead Education Department — Education secretary nominee Linda McMahon is one step closer to being confirmed after her nomination cleared a key procedural vote Thursday. The full Senate advanced McMahon's nomination in a 51-47 vote …
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News, Roll Call and The U.S. Senate Committee …