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.

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.

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 …

Andrew Tate, who faces rape and trafficking charges in Romania, has left for the US  —  Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, left for the U.S. after authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed as part of the case, an official said Thursday.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

U.S. Economy Shows Signs of Strain From Trump's Tariffs and Spending Cuts  —  Consumer and business sentiment is wobbling as fiscal support fades and fears rise that tariffs will lead to higher prices.  —  The United States economy is starting to show signs of strain as President Trump's abrupt moves …

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 …

A Midnight Global Health Massacre  —  Jam-packed one this morning.  Let's get right into it, shall we?  Happy Thursday.  —  Is W. Awake?  —  by Sam Stein  —  On Wednesday, reports began dribbling out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed off on eliminating 92 percent of USAID grants …

USAID workers pay mournful final visit to agency to clear out their belongings under federal guard  —  U.S. Agency for International Development workers, some in tears, carted away belongings from a final visit to their now-closed headquarters Thursday as the Trump administration's rapid-fire dismantling …

5th Circuit rebuffs ruling against Planned Parenthood  —  The unanimous ruling overturns a decision by Texas U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Donald Trump appointee.  —  A three-judge panel at the conservative-leaning 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed …

US CFPB drops enforcement action against Capital One  —  The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday dropped a legal action against Capital One (COF.N), which the agency had accused last month of cheating consumers out of more than $2 billion in interest payments on savings accounts.

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 …

Art Museum of Americas cancels shows of Black, LGBTQ artists following Trump orders  —  Participants said the museum, run by the Organization of American States, shut down two upcoming exhibitions featuring major American and international artists.  —  The Art Museum of the Americas …

Tariff Worries Surpass 2018 Levels, Dominating Earnings Season  — Mentions skyrocketed to a new milestone on S&P 500 calls  — Trump has vowed to enact punitive levies on a slew of nations  —  As some of the world's largest companies report earnings, one topic is dominating the conversation: tariffs.

The DOGE Takeover Is Worse Than You Think  —  What's happening to the US government right now is bad.  What comes next is worse.  —  If you've felt overwhelmed by all the DOGE news, you're not alone.  You'd need too much cork board and yarn to keep track of which agencies it has occupied by now, much less what it's doing there.

Trump's Military Purge Spells Trouble for Democracy and Defense  —  Firing military leaders for perceived disloyalty is often part of a strategy to consolidate regime power—even as it weakens the military.  —  Meet The Authors … All views are the author's own and do not represent the views of her employers.

Trump Team Tightens Control Over Government Lawyers Who Might Say ‘No’  —  At the Justice Department and the Pentagon, the administration is curtailing the ability of lawyers to raise internal objections to the president's use of power.  —  After President Trump lost the 2020 election …

HHS Lays Off Lawyers Who Were Defending Medicare Drug Price Cuts  —  At least three government lawyers working on defending a major Biden-era drug pricing law were laid off in mass cuts across the agency this month, according to a source familiar with the terminations.

Jobless claims spike, in worrisome sign for the US labor market  —  First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, indicating that cracks may be forming in America's long-solid labor market.  —  There were an estimated 242,000 jobless claims filed last week …

In Trump's Washington, a Moscow-Like Chill Takes Hold  —  A new administration's efforts to pressure the news media, punish political opponents and tame the nation's tycoons evoke the early days of President Vladimir V. Putin's reign in Russia.  —  She asked too many questions that the president didn't like.

MacArthur Foundation to increase giving for two years in response to ‘crisis’  —  NEW YORK — The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will increase its giving over the next two years in response to what it calls a “crisis” prompted by the Trump administration's freeze on federal foreign aid …