Trump stands by national security adviser despite leaked military plans, saying mishap had ‘no impact’ on Yemen strikes  —  “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man,” President Donald Trump said of his national security adviser in a Tuesday phone interview with NBC News.

Long waits, waves of calls, website crashes: Social Security is breaking down  —  A flood of cuts led by Elon Musk has sent the agency into chaos as a new commissioner prepares to take charge.

Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of his attacks  —  The result is an extraordinary threat to constitutional rights of due process and legal representation and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump's actions in court than during his first term.  —  Just now

SignalGate Is Bad; But OPSEC Isn't Even the Worst Part Of It … I haven't had time to comment on the Jeff Goldberg story about the war cabinet planning a military campaign on the Signal app.  So a few brief thoughts.  —  To state the obvious, in any normal administration Hegseth and Waltz …

Russia and Ukraine agree to Black Sea ceasefire, US says - Europe live  —  White House says both sides agree to ‘ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes’  —  Movement of Russian military vessels beyond Eastern Black Sea would violate sea agreement, Ukraine says

US Nominates Leo Brent Bozell III as Ambassador to S. Africa  —  US President Donald Trump's administration has nominated Leo Brent Bozell III, a conservative activist and writer, to be the country's ambassador to South Africa.  —  The nomination, published on the US Congress' website, comes amid strained ties between the two nations.

MAGA Influencers May Have Been Paid to Break With RFK  —  Secret cash flies in the MAGA soda wars  —  IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN READING YOUR social media feed and suddenly noticed that conservative personalities have latched on to some obscure issue they've never cared about before …

Exclusive: Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers, research shows  —  A network of companies operated by a secretive Chinese tech firm has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers, according to job ads and a researcher who uncovered the campaign.

A Rising Democratic Star Is Ready for New Leadership — Without Chuck Schumer  —  Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow says it's time for a new generation to take on Trump.  —  Mallory McMorrow doesn't claim to have all the answers for the Democratic Party.  But as the 38-year-old Michigan Democrat gears …

Education Department Reeling After Layoffs  —  The Trump administration said its sweeping cuts would eliminate bloat at the department.  Staff say the “chaotic” process has stalled essential functions and left remaining employees with unmanageable workloads.

FBI launches Tesla vandalism task force  —  The FBI confirmed Monday it has established a task force to investigate the wave of vandalism and arson incidents targeting Tesla in recent weeks.  —  “Director [Kash] Patel has been unequivocally clear: The FBI will be relentless in its mission …

Trump Administration Plans to Freeze Family-Planning Grants  —  Tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other groups would be cut off while the administration examines their DEI efforts  —  The Trump administration is moving to freeze tens of millions …

Professors Sue Trump Administration Over Arrests of Campus Protesters  —  The lawsuit says the detention of noncitizen students and faculty members deprives U.S. citizens of their right to engage with foreign-born peers.  —  Groups representing university professors sued the Trump administration on Tuesday …

The Worst and the Dimmest  —  The Atlantic Debacle  —  Most relatively informed citizens will be aware by now of the biggest news story that has come out of this administration: national security officials accidentally added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat …

Bubble Trouble  —  An AI bubble threatens Silicon Valley, and all of us. … The week of Donald Trump's inauguration, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, stood tall next to the president as he made a dramatic announcement: the launch of Project Stargate, a $500 billion supercluster in the rolling plains …

Trump's portrait to be taken down at Colorado Capitol after president claimed it was ‘distorted’  —  A painting of Donald Trump hanging with other presidential portraits at the Colorado state Capitol will be taken down after Trump claimed that his was “purposefully distorted,” according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Columbia's President Faces Angry Faculty in Closed-Door Meetings  —  Katrina Armstrong warns of ‘devastating’ risk of funding cuts  —  Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong met with anxious faculty over the weekend in an effort to generate support, warn of the jeopardy …

Trump Admin Plans to Cut Team Responsible for Critical Atomic Measurement Data  —  The team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes measurement data crucial for advanced research in areas like astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and semiconductors.