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Chuck Schumer says Senate Democrats won't provide votes to pass GOP funding bill as shutdown draws near — After meeting with his conference, the Senate minority leader said “Republicans do not have the votes” to advance the House-approved measure, which requires 60 to pass.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, UPI, Politico, Townhall, Washington Post, The Guardian, God's Spies, Raw Story, HotAir, New Republic, Blaze Media, NPR, Off Message, Axios, CNN, Voice of America, Orange County Register, Washington Times, Bangor Daily News, Fox News, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner and The Post Millennial
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Senate Democrats embrace hardball on government shutdown
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HuffPost, NBC News, The Hill, The Message Box, E&E News, Washington Post, Daily Mail, PoliticusUSA, American Greatness, Deseret News, Breitbart, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, IJR, Reuters, Politico, MM Press, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Signal, GovExec.com and Deadline

'They're Totally Screwed': White House Taunts Democrats on Shutdown
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill, Axios, Washington Times, Washington Post, Forbes, Associated Press, Townhall, Bloomberg, The Guardian, GovExec.com, HotAir, Punchbowl News and Ace of Spades HQ


Robert Morris, Texas megachurch pastor and former Trump adviser, indicted for child sex crimes — Morris is a former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, and Gateway — one of the nation's largest megachurches — has been particularly active in Dallas-area GOP politics.
Discussion:
Oklahoma Attorney General and Raw Story
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Gateway megachurch founder, former Trump spiritual adviser, indicted on charges of lewd acts with Oklahoma girl — A grand jury in Oklahoma on Wednesday indicted Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris, accusing him in five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a girl beginning when she was 12 years old in the 1980s.
Discussion:
New York Times, Axios, WTOP News, UPI, Christianity Today, USA Today and CBS News


Trump's FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate Groups — The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration. — Citibank revealed in a court filing Wednesday that it was told …
Discussion:
New York Times, Ars Technica, TechCrunch and New York Post


Russia says it does not want a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine — Putin's foreign policy adviser says Moscow wants long-term settlement taking its interests into account — Russia does not want a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine and is pushing for a long-term peace settlement that will take into account …
Discussion:
NOTUS and The Kyiv Independent
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Document prepared for Kremlin outlines hard-line negotiating stance
Discussion:
New York Post, The Kyiv Independent, HotAir, The Independent, Semafor, Daily Mail, CNN, New York Times, Breitbart and Atlantic Council

Putin orders swift expulsion of Ukrainian forces before peace talks
Discussion:
The Hill, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Twin Cities, Reuters, The Moscow Times, RTÉ, UPI, Al Jazeera, New York Times, The Kyiv Independent, The War Zone, El País and Israpundit


Trump's Big Bet: Americans Will Tolerate Economic Downturn to Restore Manufacturing — The president offers many reasons for imposing tariffs, including revenue, leverage over competitors and job creation. But history suggests a more complex history. — President Trump's simultaneous trade wars …
Discussion:
Washington Post, 19FortyFive, Washington Examiner and Yahoo Finance
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Trump has united the free world against a grave threat
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Global News


U.S. citizen child recovering from brain cancer deported to Mexico with undocumented parents — The Texas family was on their way to an emergency medical checkup, they said, when they were detained at an immigration checkpoint. — A family that was deported to Mexico hopes they can find …


Tim Walz to launch national tour of town halls in Republican House districts — Tim Walz is headed back out on the road - this time, for a tour of House districts represented by Republicans who have stopped holding in-person town halls amid the raucous receptions some of their colleagues have gotten across the country.
Discussion:
The Verge, Daily Mail and Twitchy
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At Columbia, Tension Over Gaza Protests Hits Breaking Point Under Trump — There were protests, arrests, the departure of the school's president. Then, a new administration arrived in Washington. — Days after immigration officers arrested a prominent pro-Palestinian campus activist …
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The arrest that's prompting a campus free speech reckoning
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Post and The Hill


ICE Returns All Migrants From Guantánamo to Stateside Facilities — A court filing described strip searches and the use of restraint chairs on some of the 290 migrants the Trump administration has cycled through the base. — The Trump administration has abruptly cleared out a second group …
Discussion:
Voice of America, Washington Post, RTÉ, Reuters and Informed Comment


EPA administrator announces huge rollback of environmental regulations — Lee Zeldin said he will reconsider a list of core EPA policies, including emissions standards for vehicles and the finding that serves as the basis for addressing climate change. — Promising to drive …
Discussion:
US EPA, The Guardian, NPR, E&E News, Reuters, UPI, Raw Story, Inside Climate News, Reason, Scripps News, The Hill, The Washington Free Beacon, Climate Depot, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and CBS News
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Judge orders DOGE and Elon Musk to turn over documents, answer written questions — The demands for information are designed to clarify the “parameters of DOGE's and Musk's authority.” — A federal judge has ordered that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency turn …
Discussion:
Fox News, American Doom and Business Insider


DOGE Makes Its Latest Errors Harder to Find — Elon Musk's group obscured the details of some new claims on its website, despite promises of transparency. But The Times was still able to detect another batch of mistakes. — Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency …


Elon Musk Looks Desperate — How to lose $148 billion in less than two months — For years, Donald Trump's critics have accused him of behaving like a crooked used-car salesman. Yesterday afternoon, he did it for real on the White House South Lawn. — Squinting in the sun with Elon Musk …
Discussion:
New York Daily News, Daily Mail, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story, Global News, Vanity Fair and Deseret News
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Vandalize Tesla property and the White House will prosecute you as a domestic terrorist, Trump pledges
Discussion:
Breitbart, Twitchy, HuffPost, Daily Mail, RedState, TheTruthAboutCars, Business Insider, The Present Age, Reason, El País, The Post Millennial, USA Today, The Daily Wire, Townhall, Crooks and Liars, Mashable, Grabien, The Guardian, NPR, TechCrunch, Reuters, Washington Times, CNN, The Hill, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, UPI, The Independent, PoliticusUSA, Patterico's Pontifications, Associated Press, Axios and The Verge


Judge says Trump penalties on law firm send ‘chills down my spine’ — The Trump administration was ordered to halt, at least temporarily, parts of its executive order punishing the law firm Perkins Coie. — A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration …
Discussion:
Law Dork, Reuters, CNN, Raw Story, The Hill, Blaze Media, Politico, Forbes, USA Today, Bangor Daily News, NPR, Fox News and Talking Points Memo
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Trump's Revenge on Law Firms Seen as Undermining Justice System
Discussion:
Law and Chaos, New York Post, CBS News, Axios, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Associated Press, Reuters, ABC News, Wall Street Journal and Above the Law


‘I just call Elon.’ To avoid DOGE cuts, lawmakers just need the right connections and an ‘R’ after their names — WASHINGTON — At Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, there is no official help line for members of Congress to call with questions about how the billionaire's far-reaching effort …


Experts give Kennedy low marks as measles outbreak tests him — A worsening measles outbreak in West Texas has spread to two other states, providing Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. his first real test of responding to a major public health incident.


Is the US headed for a recession? — Donald Trump has a gift for inheriting valuable things. And the economy of January 2025 was no exception. — When the president took office, stock values were hitting record highs, unemployment was hovering near historic lows, and consumer confidence was stable.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Independent, WTOP News, CBS News, Semafor and New Jersey Online


Who's in Elon's ear — and DMs — Musk's most trusted advisers remain a tight-knit group of executives who have followed him from his companies but lack political experience. — Unlike traditional Washington power players, Elon Musk doesn't have a deep bench of policy wonks …


Trump Vows 200% Tariff on EU Wine, Escalating Trade Tensions — President Donald Trump threatened to enact a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages, the latest escalation in a brewing trade war between the US and the EU. — The president in a social media post …
Discussion:
Reuters, NOTUS, Daily Mail, The Japan Times, USA Today, Fox Business, Breitbart, Politico, The Daily Wire, World News, Washington Times, israelhayom.com, E&E News and Washington Post


In reversal, NPR permits anchor to attend Pride event — The Scoop — National Public Radio dissuaded one of its most visible gay employees from attending a corporate LGBTQ Pride event, as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans put pressure on the public broadcaster.
Discussion:
Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »


NH's new ID requirements send some would-be voters home to grab passports, birth certificates — It took three trips, but Brooke Yonge was finally able to cast her ballot. — On her first trip to the Derry polls Tuesday morning, Yonge didn't bring proof of her U.S. citizenship …

Belgian police raid Huawei offices as new corruption scandal rocks EU Parliament — Belgian police conducted raids at more than 20 addresses in the early hours of Thursday, including at Chinese technology giant Huawei's Brussels offices, as part of a corruption probe impacting the European Parliament.
Discussion:
Reuters, WTOP News and Follow the Money


Testimony Reveals Doors Would Not Open on Cybertruck That Caught Fire in Piedmont, Killing Three — The Highway Patrol's investigation into a November Cybertruck crash in Piedmont where three college kids died is finding two very Tesla problems: the vehicle immediately caught fire, and its doors would not open.
Discussion:
New York Post, Breakfast At Ralf's and Mercury News


CEOs Don't Plan to Openly Question Trump. Ask Again If the Market Crashes 20%. — Behind closed doors, business leaders air plenty of concerns about the administration and its policies — WASHINGTON—How business leaders talk about the Trump administration in private has been markedly different …


Venezuelan couple arrested and charged with illegal entry — two years after crossing into the U.S. — The timing of the arrests and charges is unusual and reflects the Trump administration's increasingly aggressive tactics on immigration. — The couple had been granted protected status …


Trump's economic troubles put Republicans on the defensive — The administration is in the awkward position of explaining why Trump's election didn't lead to the promised economic boost. — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's full-speed-ahead approach to making radical change has forced …
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times

A government program made tax filing free and more efficient. Musk and DOGE may get rid of it anyway — Mia Francis, a 22-year-old barista from Boston, filed her taxes on her own this year for the first time, using a free government tax filing program that made it easy because it did most of the work for her.
Discussion:
Washington Post