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Putin Wins the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office Spectacle — Vice President Vance starts a public fight that only helps Russia's dictator. — Toward the end of his on-camera, Oval Office brawl with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, President Trump quipped that it was “great television.”
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A Day of American Infamy — In August 1941, about four months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill aboard warships in Newfoundland's Placentia Bay and agreed to the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration by the world's leading democratic powers on …


Trump Administration Live Updates: Break Between U.S. and Ukraine Reverberates — European leaders lined up to support Ukraine after the blowup between its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and President Trump. Mr. Zelensky sought to appeal to the U.S. with expressions of gratitude. — Here is the latest.
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Washington Post, The Guardian, Fortune, Al Jazeera, The Kyiv Independent, WCSH, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Washington Examiner and New York Post


Why the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting imploded — The News — President Donald Trump's perception that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was overtaking the day's planned emphasis on a US-Ukraine minerals deal partly set off Friday's Oval Office blowup, according to a White House official.


Zelenskyy Forgot the First Rule of Dealing With Trump — Flattery will get you everywhere. Insults will get you kicked to the curb. — When President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was first elected in 2019, he proved to be a quick study on how to try to win over his American counterpart.
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Politico, National Review, Fox News, The Independent, The Moscow Times, The Hill, Twitchy, NewsNation, Pasadena Star News, CBS News, RedState, Waddy Is Right, Bloomberg, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Townhall, Breitbart, Baltimore Sun, New Jersey Online, New Republic, Daily Mail and The Moderate Voice


President Trump Embarrassed Himself, the Nation, and Every Thinking Human on Earth — In the Oval Office on Friday, Donald Trump and JD Vance behaved like angry children. Volodymyr Zelenskyy acted like a man. — (Permanent Musical Accompaniment to the Last Post of the Week from the Blog's Favourite Living Canadian)


Trump Is Rootin' for Putin — It was a sickening spectacle: the man who tried to upend democracy bullying the man who is fighting for democracy. — The air seemed to turn flame red as the TV stars-turned-pols sat side by side in elegant yellow armchairs and had the wildest dust-up ever televised from the Oval Office.


Behind the Collision: Trump Jettisons Ukraine on His Way to a Larger Goal — The president's explosive Oval Office encounter reflected his determination to put aside alliances and commitments to principles in favor of raw great power negotiations. — After five weeks in which President Trump …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and USA Today


How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance — Vance snaked his way in first to the row between Trump and Zelenskyy, his second intrusion this month after Munich — JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Federalist and Metro.co.uk


Body-language experts break down the dramatic Trump-Zelensky meeting — The row between Trump and Zelensky was heightened by the lack of an interpreter, the power imbalance, and the men's TV backgrounds, body-language experts say. — The shocking Oval Office row between President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
The Hill, Breitbart, New York Times, Raw Story, Daily Mail and The Kyiv Independent


The Real Reason Trump Berated Zelensky
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Twitchy, OutsideTheBeltway, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and Deseret News

A president just disrespected America in the Oval Office. It wasn't Zelensky
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Associated Press, CNN, New York Times, Axios, American Thinker, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, National Review, The Guardian, Defense One, Washington Times, The Daily Wire, Deseret News, Diane Ravitch's blog, Meduza, Townhall, Chicago Sun Times, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, The Independent, Mock Paper Scissors, Euromaidan Press, CNBC, CBS News, Asia Times, Business Insider, Reuters, Rolling Stone, New York Post, Raw Story, Mediaite, TMZ.com, WHDH-TV, The American Conservative, Los Angeles Times, Politico, Grabien, The Post Millennial, Pasadena Star News, The Floridian, Al Jazeera and MeidasTouch News

A Shameful, Appalling Spectacle
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New York Times, CNN, Associated Press, Fox News, Newsweek, Times Now, The Hill, UPI and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

This Never Happened With an American President Before
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Agence France-Presse, Salt Lake Tribune, The Hill, Daily Caller News Foundation, Fox News and Daily Mail

Trump and Vance Are Stripping Away Foreign Policy Illusions
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Sheila Kennedy

‘Free world needs a new leader’: Europe defends Zelenskyy after Trump attack
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The Hill, BBC, The Guardian, The Washington Free Beacon, The Kyiv Independent, Axios, The Times, Daily Mail, New York Times, NPR, Semafor, Diane Ravitch's blog, Ask Questions Later, Al Jazeera, Irish Examiner, Twitchy, Voice of America, Politico, Fox News, Deseret News, The Daily Signal, Reuters, Digby's Hullabaloo and The European Conservative

“Three strikes”: Inside the Trump-Vance fury with Zelensky
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FOX 32 Chicago, Fox News and Washington Times

Western allies rally around Zelensky after Trump spat deepens rift with Europe
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NBC News, Oliver Willis Explains, The Kyiv Independent, Associated Press, Slate and Diane Ravitch's blog

Trump's Dressing Down of Zelensky Plays Into Putin's War Aims
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Digby's Hullabaloo, CNN, Daily Mail, New York Post, Washington Post, The Hill, Fox News and Associated Press

MTG's Boyfriend Dresses Up as Reporter to Confront Zelensky
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Daily Mail, Metro.co.uk, Raw Story, USA Today, RedState, The Hill, New Jersey Online, Althouse, The Gateway Pundit and New York Post

How Johnson, Who Put His Job at Risk to Save Ukraine Aid, Flipped for Trump
Discussion:
Bloomberg

It Was an Ambush — Today marked one of the grimmest days in the history of American diplomacy.
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Raw Story, Associated Press, Metro.co.uk, Twitchy, Washington Post, The Contrarian, Daily Kos, New York Times, U.S. Constitution.net, Mediaite, Breitbart, New Jersey Online, Roll Call, The Hill, Daily Caller News Foundation, Human Events, Washington Times, The Kyiv Independent, NPR, The Mahablog, WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR dot COM and Daily Mail

Trump Thinks He Humiliated Zelensky. He Really Humiliated the United States
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The New European, New York Post, Twitchy and Mediaite

Trump And Vance Ambush Zelensky In Prelude To Betrayal
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New York Times, Mock Paper Scissors, The Hill, The Atlantic, Politico, National Review, HuffPost, Hollywood Life, Axios, Foreign Policy, The Maine Wire, New York Post, Raw Story, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, PoliticusUSA, IJR, The Daily Signal, New Republic, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, New Jersey Online, Twitchy, Townhall, The National Pulse, NOTUS, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, CNBC, Fox News, Associated Press, USA Today, Irish Examiner, Ace of Spades HQ, The Independent, CBS News, CNN, The Post Millennial, Daily Mail, Scripps News, The Contrarian, NPR, Little Green Footballs and Reuters

‘Dummies for Putin’: Democrats defend Zelenskyy after ‘shameful’ Trump meeting
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New York Times, Robert Reich, WCSH, Stephen K Bannon's War Room, New York Times, The Daily Caller, FOX 32 Chicago, Diane Ravitch's blog, Informed Comment, WNYW-TV, The Contrarian, HuffPost, The Hill, Deseret News, The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera, Daily Kos, Deadline, Associated Press and CBS News


Musk's Purges Suddenly Take a Horrific Turn—and Wreck an Ugly MAGA Lie — It has a dry, bureaucratic name, but Ready to Use Therapeutic Food has functioned for over a decade as a lifeline for countless starving children around the globe. Manufactured in the United States and distributed …
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Georgia Nonprofit That Produces Life-Saving Food For Kids Has Federal Contract Cut
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CNN, Saywhat Politics and Atlanta Journal-Constitution


General Services Administration cuts tech unit — 18F employed researchers, website designers and product managers. — The General Services Administration cleaved one of its technology units Saturday morning as part of a Trump administration directive to cull the federal workforce and reduce government spending.
Discussion:
Nextgov/FCW and The Guardian
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Some government employees are instructed — again — to not respond to 5 things email as Musk doubles down — Agencies and departments dealing with national security had told employees to not directly respond to Musk's first request. — The State Department has again instructed its employees …
Discussion:
Axios


Pentagon orders up to 3,000 troops and Stryker combat vehicles to border — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved orders on Friday to further militarize the U.S. southern border with Mexico, officials said. — Just now — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an additional 2,500 …
Discussion:
New York Times


Kennedy Jr backtracks and says US measles outbreak is now a ‘top priority’ for health department — Health secretary earlier said outbreak was ‘not unusual’ but with first US measles death in decade steps up response — Two days after initially downplaying the outbreak as “not unusual,” …
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CNN, RedState, New York Times, Salt Lake Tribune, STAT, HuffPost, PolitiFact, Deseret News and Newsweek


FBI Deputy Director Bongino repeatedly said pipe bombs planted ahead of Jan. 6 were ‘inside job’ — Dan Bongino, the incoming deputy director of the FBI, suggested on his popular podcast in January that the agency he is now about to help lead was complicit in planting pipe bombs around Washington ahead …


Cuts to National Weather Service Leave Forecasters Reeling — “Lives are being put in danger,” one meteorologist warned, as some experts feared the cuts will harm public safety. — Twice a day for years, meteorologists in Kotzebue, Alaska, have launched weather balloons far into the sky …
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Firings at US weather and oceans agency risk lives and economy, former agency heads warn
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Fox News, WAGA-TV, The Hill, Inside Climate News, Sun-Sentinel, The Atlantic, E&E News, Raw Story, Oregonian, New Republic, Daily Kos, Washington Examiner and Mock Paper Scissors


Voice of America Journalists Face Investigations for Trump Comments — The broadcaster placed a longtime journalist on leave amid growing concerns about its editorial independence. — Voice of America, the federally funded broadcaster to the world, has long prided itself on serving …
Discussion:
NPR, Raw Story, The Daily Signal and Voice of America, more at Mediagazer »