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RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA's top vaccine scientist — Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.” — The Trump administration on Friday pushed out Peter Marks …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone
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Top F.D.A. Vaccine Official Resigns, Citing Kennedy's ‘Misinformation and Lies’ — Dr. Peter Marks, a veteran of the agency, wrote that undermining confidence in vaccines is irresponsible and a danger to public health. — The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official …

The CDC Buried a Measles Forecast That Stressed the Need for Vaccinations — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The Barbed Wire, Baltimore Sun and Mercury News


Top Vaccine Official Out at FDA — In his resignation letter, Dr. Peter Marks cited ‘misinformation and lies’ from Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. — The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official has been pushed out, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
STAT and Lawyers, Guns & Money


DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse — Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Mahablog, The Register and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »


Trump Commutes Ozy Media Founder's Sentence Just Before His Surrender — Carlos Watson, who started the now-defunct digital media company, had been sentenced to almost 10 years in prison for trying to defraud investors and lenders. — President Trump on Friday commuted the sentence of Carlos Watson …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Deadline, Variety and The Independent
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Trump pardons three BitMEX crypto exchange co-founders, and ex-employee
Discussion:
The Hill, WTTG-TV and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Trump commutes sentences of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson and company
Discussion:
UPI, Associated Press, Mediaite and Columbia Journalism Review, more at Mediagazer »


Judges block Trump executive orders targeting law firms tied to Mueller probe — Two federal judges in separate rulings late Friday froze parts of President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting the law firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, both firms linked to the Robert Mueller investigation Trump has sought to punish.
Discussion:
New York Times, Politico, CNBC, Daily Mail, Washington Examiner, The Independent, ABC17NEWS, The Guardian, KTVZ-TV, Wall Street Journal, JURIST, City A.M., Reuters and The Hill
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Trump Administration Live Updates: Major Law Firm Makes Deal to Avoid Punishing Order, President Says
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, CBS News, Washington Post, Associated Press, The Hill, HuffPost, Bloomberg, NOTUS and NPR

Law Firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale Sue Trump Administration to Block Executive Orders
Discussion:
HuffPost, The Hill, Reuters, Raw Story, Reason, Above the Law and Wall Street Journal

Trump gets $100M deal with Skadden law firm amid pressure campaign
Discussion:
Above the Law, Washington Examiner, USA Today, CNBC, CBS News, Raw Story, New Republic, Washington Times, Lawyer Monthly, Mediaite, Politico and Bloomberg


Musk changes reason for visiting Wisconsin to hand out $2 million ahead of Supreme Court election — Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general asked a court on Friday to block billionaire Elon Musk from handing out $1 million checks to voters this weekend, just two days before the state's hotly contested Supreme Court was to be decided.
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Trump moves to strip unionization rights from most federal workers — It's the latest effort in his drive to disempower the federal bureaucracy. — President Donald Trump is trying to revoke collective bargaining rights from most federal employees — the latest move in his aggressive campaign to weaken the federal workforce.
Discussion:
HotAir, Washington Post, The Guardian, Weekend Reading, City & State New York, The Daily Signal, UPI, The Hill, HuffPost, GovExec.com, Block Club Chicago, Rolling Stone and RedState
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Vance, citing threats from Russia and China, urges Greenland to ‘cut a deal’ with the U.S. — “When the president says 'We've got to have Greenland,' he's saying this island is not safe,” the vice president said. — Vice President JD Vance on Friday did not rule out using military action …
Discussion:
New York Times, Raw Story, The Guardian, Politico, The Daily Signal, NPR, Forbes, Washington Examiner, Fox News and The Daily Wire
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JD Vance says US needs control of Greenland to fend off China and Russia
Discussion:
Politico, Al Jazeera, USA Today, Townhall, RedState, One America News Network, WCSH, Baltimore Sun, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, The Daily Wire, UPI and Scripps News


Dow sinks 600 points. Stocks are on track for their worst quarter since 2023 — New York CNN — US stocks were lower Friday as investors digested souring consumer sentiment and inflation data that showed an uptick in one of the Federal Reserve's key gauges, underscoring the delicate state …
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Atlanta Voice, Deadline and Daily Kos
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Hegseth Brought His Wife to Sensitive Meetings With Foreign Military Officials — Defense secretary's wife is a former Fox News executive. His handling of sensitive information is under fire after he shared details about a strike on Houthi militants in a group chat on a commercial messaging platform.

Collision warning sounds in cockpit of Delta plane due to close call with Air Force jet near Reagan National Airport — A close call between a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a US Air Force T-38 jet, often used by the military for training …


Appeals court clears way for Trump to fire leaders of ‘independent’ federal agencies — The ruling is a victory for Trump's effort to control regulatory bodies that Congress intended to operate with some independence. — A federal appeals court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Raw Story, New York Times, Fox News, CBS News, Washington Examiner, NPR, KTVZ-TV, USA Today, The Hill, Democracy Docket, The Daily Caller, RedState and HotAir
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RFK Jr. to gut vaccine promotion and HIV prevention office, sources say — The entire staff of the federal government's Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy is expected to be laid off, multiple federal health officials told CBS News Friday. The moves are part of a broader …
Discussion:
Advocate


Trump admin offers Voice of America employees buyouts as judge blocks it from being shut down — Just as a federal judge issued an order blocking the administration's efforts to dismantle the broadcaster, U.S. Agency for Global Media staffers received an email offering them a renewed opportunity …
Discussion:
ABC17NEWS and New York Daily News, more at Mediagazer »
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U.S. Judge to Halt Trump's Effort to Dismantle Voice of America
Discussion:
Reuters, Washington Post and Government Accountability …


Federal judge blocks Trump from dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that was targeted for mass firings before the court's intervention.
Discussion:
New York Times, OPB, CNN, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Axios, The Atlantic, The Verge, RedState, One America News Network, Politico, Blaze Media, Raw Story and ABC News
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Musk's xAI buys Musk's X social media platform for $33 billion — Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence firm has acquired Musk's X, the social media outfit formerly known as Twitter for $33 billion. — The all-stock deal announced on Friday consolidates two of Musk's multiple portfolio companies …
Discussion:
New York Times, NBC News, TechCrunch, The Hill, CBS News, UPI, Rolling Stone, Fortune, Mercury News, Variety, Wired, RTÉ, Engadget, KTVZ-TV, Deadline, The Verge, The Information, Ars Technica and KFMB, more at Mediagazer »


Hegseth's younger brother is serving in a key role inside the Pentagon — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's younger brother is serving in a key position inside the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser, Hegseth's office confirmed.


Elon Musk stepping down from DOGE in May. Here's what he said — Elon Musk may be getting out of DOGE. — On Thursday, Musk said he plans to step down from his role in Donald Trump's administration this spring. — The head of Tesla and X owner said he plans on stepping down in May during …
Discussion:
The National Pulse and The Daily Signal


Russian medical researcher at Harvard, who protested the Ukraine war, detained by ICE — Kseniia Petrova's attorney said her previous arrest in Russia and social media activity “will almost certainly ensure a nice, hefty jail sentence for her” if she is deported back.
Discussion:
The Harvard Crimson, Washington Post, The Post Millennial, masslive.com, The Independent, The National Pulse and The Hill


Judge releases detained Venezuelan couple with temporary protected status — The judge said the detention of the couple was baseless and unlawful.
Discussion:
Raw Story


What is the Smithsonian, and why is President Trump unhappy with it? — President Donald Trump's executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” targets the Smithsonian Institution — which has, he contends, “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”


Trump Admin Spies on Social Media of Student Visa Holders — Ideological purge of foreign students revealed in new leaked directive — The Trump administration is requiring that foreign students studying in, or seeking to study in the United States, pass an ideological test in order to obtain a visa …
Discussion:
The Guardian


Columbia University's President, Katrina Armstrong, Resigns — Katrina Armstrong is leaving the post a week after the university agreed to a list of demands from the White House. — Columbia University changed its president on Friday evening, one week after the university bowed to a series …


Strong earthquake strikes central Myanmar, panic in Bangkok — A powerful earthquake killed more than 140 people in Myanmar on Friday, authorities said, toppling buildings and wrecking infrastructure across a wide area, including a skyscraper under construction in neighbouring Thailand.
Discussion:
BBC, Associated Press, New York Times, Blaze Media, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Daily Caller, RTÉ, The Gateway Pundit and Deadline


USAID terminates nearly all its remaining employees — The Trump administration is terminating nearly all of the remaining 900 employees of the United States Agency for International Development, in a final reduction-in-force. — Virtually no one will be spared, not even political appointees …
Discussion:
CNN, United States Department …, ABC News, UPI, Fox News, Associated Press, NewsNation, New York Post, GovExec.com, The Hill, KTVZ-TV, The Daily Wire, The Independent, Bloomberg, Reuters and The Post Millennial


Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's ‘kafir’ tattoo draws criticism. What does it mean? — Hegseth has previously attracted attention over his many tattoos. This time, new photos show that he has the word ‘kafir’ on his upper arm. What does that mean and what do critics say it's indicating?
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit


Winning: Notorious Venezuelan Illegal Alien ‘Influencer’ Repatriated — In another win for the Trump administration and the American people, an extremely annoying Venezuelan illegal immigrant, Leonel Moreno, has been sent back to Venezuela. — And boy, is the schadenfreude strong with this one.
Discussion:
New York Post, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Twitchy, Ace of Spades HQ and The Gateway Pundit