Top Items:


How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy — The operation was driven with a frenetic focus by the billionaire, who channeled his resentment of regulatory oversight into a drastic overhaul of government agencies. — On the last Friday of September 2023 …
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor and spiked
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Trump to Sign Executive Order Making English Official U.S. Language — The U.S. has never had a national language in its nearly 250-year history — WASHINGTON—President Trump is planning to sign an executive order that would for the first time make English the official language of the U.S., according to White House officials.
Discussion:
NBC News, Washington Post, The Hill, USA Today, Axios, Townhall, UPI, CBS News, Breitbart, The Guardian, Daily Kos, Backbencher, The Daily Caller, New Republic, The Post Millennial, masslive.com, The National Pulse and NewsNation
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Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals. — The new strategy is in part meant to allow supervisors and agency heads to check whether employees' work fits into the Trump administration's goals and priorities, according to people familiar with it and records obtained by The Post.
Discussion:
The Hill, New York Times, Daily Mail, CBS News, The Independent, Daily Kos and NewsNation
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Judge blocks Trump administration's mass firings of federal workers

Trump fires hundreds working on weather forecasts, satellite data and radar systems
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Week, Baltimore Sun, Daily Kos, NPR and Heatmap News

Judge Says Trump Administration Memos Directing Mass Firings Were Illegal
Discussion:
GovExec.com, NBC News, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, WUSA, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, Townhall, Raw Story and Blaze Media

Office Closures and Relocations Part of Trump's Plan for Large-Scale Layoffs
Discussion:
USA Today


RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment on HHS decisions — In notice to Federal Register, health agency says public participation is not needed in many decisions — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Friday proposing to strip public participation from much of the business his department conducts.


Trump's Assault on Social Security — Social Security is our biggest and most successful safety net program. The annual $1.6 trillion in benefits constitutes 21% of federal spending and 40% of older adults' income. It lifts more people out of poverty than any other government program.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Newsweek, Democrats and Fox Business
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Lies, Cuts, Closures: Trump and Musk Ravage Social Security Administration
Discussion:
Associated Press, American Doom and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries


Musk Makes Big Mistake While Trying to Smear CNN Legal Analyst Norm Eisen — CARELESS — The billionaire DOGE chief found a woman with the same last name as a lawyer he hates. Cue the conspiracy.
Discussion:
Electrek and emptywheel


Hundreds of weather forecasters fired in latest wave of DOGE cuts — Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said. Federal workers who were not let …
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NOAA fires about 800 employees, with more possible Friday
Discussion:
NPR, OPB, New York Times, New Republic, Breitbart, Axios, USA Today, CBS News, UPI and E&E News


Republicans consider major budget change to obscure deficit impact of extending Trump's tax cuts — GOP leaders argue that extending Trump's expiring 2017 tax cuts shouldn't be treated as costing any money. Democrats compare the tactic to nuking the 60-vote filibuster rule.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Committee for a …, HuffPost, Washington Examiner and Axios
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Republicans Want to Gut Medicaid. They Might Regret It.
Discussion:
Scripps News, Must Read Alaska, USA Today, WUSA, Raw Story, Politico, Montana Free Press, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post


U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World — Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails. — Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department …
Discussion:
Politico
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US Attorney Ed Martin Demotes Jan. 6 Case Supervisors — Washington's top federal prosecutor Ed Martin has demoted multiple senior supervisors involved in Jan. 6 insurrection cases to work in significantly reduced capacities. — The supervisors oversaw the office's work on federal crimes …
Discussion:
New York Post
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Pardoned Jan. 6 protester: ‘The DOJ was not weaponized against me’
Discussion:
Twitchy


FBI takes up EPA probe amid pushback from judge, prosecutors — While career prosecutors in two U.S. attorney offices and a U.S. judge balked at a court-ordered freeze, Citibank has locked down billions without explanation — FBI agents this week questioned Environmental Protection Agency …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and IJR


MAGA's Orwellian notion of “free speech” — 🗣️ 💬 📣 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.
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Democrats Are About to Eat Their Own — Expect a bizarre scene at the White House today, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is showing up to sign an agreement pledging some Ukrainian rare-mineral rights to the United States—theoretically in exchange for further U.S. opposition to Vladimir Putin engulfing his country.
Discussion:
Off Message, New York Times, The Hill and Vanity Fair
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Why Aren't We in the Streets? — On Trump the Almighty and his so-far quiescent capital.
Discussion:
Althouse


Speaker Mike Johnson Is Living in a D.C. House That Is the Center of a Pastor's Secretive Influence Campaign — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — In 2021, Steve Berger …
Discussion:
Diane Ravitch's blog


A top DOJ spokesperson says he is resigning due to a ‘hostile and toxic work environment’ — Sarah Fitzpatrick — Michael Kosnar — Ken Dilanian and Rebecca Shabad — One of the Justice Department's highest-ranking spokespeople, Joshua Stueve, submitted a resignation letter today, citing a “hostile and toxic work environment.”


Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files — Today, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), declassified and publicly released files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his sexual exploitation …
Discussion:
New Republic, NPR, The Hill, Washington Examiner, People, Forbes, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, RedState, New York Times, New York Post, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Gizmodo, NewsNation, Israpundit, IJR, UPI, Townhall, The National Pulse, Associated Press, Page Six, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, The Daily Signal, Bloomberg, The Post Millennial, Raw Story, Daily Mail, The Maine Wire, Florida Politics, Scripps News, Washington Times, FOX 32 Chicago, Hollywood Life and The Independent
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Here's the real threat to ‘personal liberties and free markets’ — The rapidly spreading authoritarianism coming from this administration threatens all of our freedoms. — Over the last 48 hours, I've been receiving from readers and friends the sort of notes one gets upon losing a loved one …
Discussion:
Thinking about, RedState and Issues & Insights


Exclusive: US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say — Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security …


AOC wants answers from DOJ after Trump officials threaten investigation — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is pressing the Justice Department to reveal whether she — or her office — is under federal investigation. In a letter to newly confirmed attorney general Pam Bondi …
Discussion:
Axios
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells NPR: ‘Everything feels increasingly like a scam’
Discussion:
The Contrarian, New Republic and Daily Kos


BREAKING: SEC halts fraud prosecution of Chinese national who sent Trump millions — In December, Popular Information reported that Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), a new venture backed by President Donald Trump and his family.
Discussion:
CNN, Gizmodo, Bloomberg and CoinDesk, more at Techmeme »


A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls “Woke.” — The senator flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like “female” and “diversify.” A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught …


USAID cancels large contracts of Georgia peanut butter supplier — Mana Nutrition, nonprofit in Fitzgerald, says it employs more than 100 workers to feed malnourished children. — Editor's note: This article was updated Friday to include a statement from U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Discussion:
Raw Story


The MAGA War on Speech — In 1791, the nation's founders ratified the First Amendment to the Constitution. It would come to offer protections in the new nation essentially never seen before: the right to ask things of and to criticize the government; to express opinions, popular or not …
Discussion:
Instapundit


The Story Behind FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's Role in Project 2025 — Dozens of pages of emails reveal how Brendan Carr, the FCC's Republican chairman and close confidante of President Trump, was cleared by ethics officials to write a chapter in the 922-page manifesto when he was a commissioner.


Elon Musk Is South African. It Explains a Lot. — Elon Musk is everywhere. — He is firing federal employees, gaining access to important government data, popping into the Oval Office, appearing on Fox News alongside President Trump and even attending a White House cabinet meeting.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Louder With Crowder, RedState, Fox News, The Independent and Althouse


Dead Athletes. Empty Stands. Why Are We Paying Billions to Keep This Sport Alive? — One by one, the horses trot up the ramp and onto the track, pulling single-seat chariots behind them. Their drivers, dressed in garish green and bright pink silks, hop into position.