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1:55 PM ET, February 5, 2025

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 Top Items: 
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to FOIA  —  Employees working for the agency now known as DOGE have been ordered to stop using Slack while government lawyers attempt to transition the agency to one that is not subject …
RELATED:
Nicholas Wu / Politico:
New Democratic bill targets Elon Musk  —  A veteran House Democrat is introducing new legislation to respond to billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk's overhaul of the federal government: Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Wednesday rolled out the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy …
Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:
Meditations in an Emergency  —  So much is happening, so quickly.  The purpose of shock and awe is to bewilder and overwhelm.
Discussion: The Nation
Punchbowl News:
DOGE-curious Dems dwindle after early Musk moves
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
There Is No Going Back  —  Even if anyone had elected Elon Musk to anything, the past week would still be one of the most serious examples of executive branch malfeasance in American history.  —  Musk has seized hold of critical levers of power and authority within the federal government …
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Musk shocks lawmakers, setting himself on collision course
Discussion: Mashable and IJR
Emma Dumain / Politico:
Senate's top appropriator says Elon Musk has gone too far
Discussion: Bangor Daily News
New York Times:
C.I.A. Sends White House an Unclassified Email With Names of Some Employees  —  The list of partial names was provided in an effort to comply with an executive order to trim the federal work force.  —  The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
The CIA Is About to Get a Trump Makeover  —  Spy agency's workforce receives buyout-style offer  —  WASHINGTON—The Central Intelligence Agency offered buyouts to its entire workforce Tuesday, in what officials said is a bid to bring the agency in line with President Trump's priorities, including targeting drug cartels.
Reuters:
CIA offers buyouts to entire workforce to align with Trump priorities, sources say
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Why Elon Will Be Trump's Undoing  —  Yes, yes, “the wheels of justice grind slowly” and all that.  But when do the courts get involved?  —  Happy Wednesday.  —  Never Musk  —  by William Kristol  —  It's grim out there.  Limiting the damage done by Donald Trump and the Trumpists …
Discussion: The Kyiv Independent
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave  —  The president met with the Israeli prime minister at the White House, meeting in person with another world leader for the first time since returning to power.  — 1.9k  —  President Trump declared on Tuesday …
Associated Press:
Trump's suggestion that US ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip is rejected by allies and adversaries alike  —  President Donald Trump's proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents was swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries alike.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
With Gaza Plan, an Unbound Trump Pushes an Improbable Idea
Elizabeth Elkind / Fox News:
Johnson says Trump's Gaza takeover proposal could be ‘bold step’ in restoring peace
Alex Shephard / New Republic:
This Is So Much Worse Than Last Time … There is practically no way to describe …
Discussion: RedState
Wall Street Journal:
DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud  —  Elon Musk's allies have been on site at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offices this week  —  Representatives of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services …
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump Brazenly Defies Laws in Escalating Executive Power Grab  —  In the radical opening weeks of his second term, President Trump has appeared to feel little constraint by any need to show respect for the rule of law.  —  In his first term, President Trump seemed to relish ripping through …
RELATED:
Jennifer Scholtes / Politico:
Why Washington is getting nervous about a shutdown
Discussion: Raw Story
Beege Welborn / HotAir:
Too Funny to Check: USAID Checkbook Snaps Shut, Politico Paychecks Shut Down?  UPDATE  —  For pure, unadulterated, old-fashioned entertainment, it is an indisputable truth that: … (Apologies to Rogers and Hammerstein)  —  For flat-out comedy value, the meltdown DOGE is causing is a tantrum for the ages.
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Hurricane Musk and the USAID Panic
Discussion: Raw Story
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Judge cements block on Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship  —  GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge Wednesday furthered a block of President Trump's executive order preventing the children of migrants without legal status from receiving birthright citizenship.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Federal judge in Md. issues injunction on Trump's birthright citizenship order
Discussion: Forbes, Politico and Vox
Martin Wolf / Financial Times:
Predictability is the victim of Trump's tariff threats  —  An inconsistent US is an unreliable partner — it's that simple  —  Donald Trump's 25 per cent tariffs on Canada's and Mexico's exports, along with the 10 per cent tariff on China's, change the world.
RELATED:
Nahal Toosi / Politico:
Trump Is Turning Out To Be a Very Pro-China President
Discussion: NJTODAY.NET and BBC
Michael Sainato / The Guardian:
Doge staffers enter Noaa headquarters and incite reports of cuts and threats  —  Members reportedly sought access to IT systems at agency that Project 2025 has called ‘harmful to US prosperity’  —  Staffers with Elon Musk's “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered …
Mike Brock / Techdirt:
The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk's Impossible Power Grab And America's Crisis  —  There are twenty-four hours in a day.  This isn't a matter of political opinion or technological disruption—it's as immutable as the fact that two plus two equals four.  No amount of genius, innovation …
NBC News:
Federal health workers terrified after ‘DEI’ website publishes list of ‘targets’  —  The site calls out workers who have been involved with DEI initiatives.  A majority are Black.  —  Federal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos …
Discussion: The Root and Pharyngula
New York Times:
U.S. Postal Service Reverses Decision to Halt Parcel Service From China  —  The Postal Service will continue to accept parcels from Hong Kong and China despite a new executive order that will require greater inspection of packages.  —  The United States Postal Service on Wednesday …
RELATED:
Rob Wile / NBC News:
Postal Service to resume accepting China shipments
Associated Press:
Protests against Trump and Project 2025 are planned in cities across the US  —  A movement to oppose the early actions of President Donald Trump's administration is taking off online, with plans to protest across the U.S. on Wednesday.  —  The movement has organized under the hashtags #buildtheresistance …
Default:
Elon Musk Weaponizes the Government  —  The billionaire is turning the U.S. government's own strategy against itself.  —  Meet The Authors … Over the past few days, people working for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Elon Musk's shadowy quasi-governmental organization …
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Elon Musk and the League of Shadows  —  America gets government by vigilante.  —  ∙ Paid  —  1. Vigilante Shit  —  What is Elon Musk's role within the federal government?  —  He is not an elected official.  He is not an appointed bureaucrat.  He is not even a formal employee.
Discussion: The Hill, Axios and Washington Post
Peter Hermann / Washington Post:
Black D.C. church vandalized by Proud Boys awarded control of group's name  —  The ruling effectively prohibits Proud Boys chapters from legally using their own name or typical symbols without the permission of the Metropolitan AME Church.  —  A historic Black church in D.C. that was vandalized …
NBC News:
Elon Musk gets quiet White House reminders his power isn't unchecked  —  Trump's aides have signaled behind the scenes that Musk still reports to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.  —  Tech billionaire and newly minted “special government employee” Elon Musk has received quiet White House reminders …
Discussion: HuffPost
April Rubin / Axios:
Trump-voting states have more to lose if Education Department dismantled … - States that voted for Trump last November, on average, use more federal funding in their education apportions than states that voted for former Vice President Harris.  — “That dependence is, in large part …
Ivana Saric / Axios:
America's adversaries cheer Trump admin's USAID teardown … - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Elon Musk — Trump's righthand man who has led the charge against USAID — for “trying to plug USAID's Deep Throat.”  — Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin praised …
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
The “deferred resignation” scam  —  Last week, Popular Information broke down the “offer” that the Trump administration was making to millions of federal employees to induce them to resign voluntarily.  The Trump administration wanted federal employees to believe that if they agreed …
Jessica Blake / Inside Higher Ed:
Higher Ed Fights Back Against Trump's DEI Order  —  The American Association of University Professors and others argue in a new lawsuit that the executive orders violate the Constitution.  —  College professors and university diversity officers are teaming up with nonprofits and local governments …
Discussion: The Guardian and USA Today
Roger Parloff / Default:
Trump's Petty Purge of 15 Young Jan. 6 Prosecutors  —  The fired lawyers are mainly thirty-somethings who had been slated to prosecute street crime in the District.  —  Meet The Authors … Since the inauguration, President Trump's Justice Department has already fired, punitively transferred …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Politico:
Former DOD official who called Obama a ‘terrorist leader’ tapped as Pentagon personnel chief
Discussion: Blaze Media
ProPublica:
Washington Governor Orders Team to Study Data Centers' Impact on Energy Use, Job Creation and Tax Revenue
Discussion: governor.wa.gov
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
CNN finds itself at a digital crossroads after years of turmoil
Discussion: Daily Mail
Zeynep Tufekci / New York Times:
The Dangerous A.I. Nonsense That Trump and Biden Fell For
Discussion: SpaceNews and The New European
New York Times:
As Big Retailers Like Target Pull Back on D.E.I., What Happens to Black Sellers?
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Watch The Credit-Ratings Agencies
 Earlier Items: 
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website
Tyler McBrien / New York Times:
Musk? Trump? Who Exactly Is Running the Federal Government?
Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story and Liberal Currents
Associated Press:
Trump says he's ‘left instructions’ for Iran to be ‘obliterated’ if it assassinates him
Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work:
The Business Community Is Extraordinarily Stupid
Paul Krugman:
Have We Been Partying Like It's 1999?  —  This bubble may end with a tech-bro bailout
Wall Street Journal:
How Trump Gutted America's $40 Billion Aid Agency in Two Weeks
 

 
From Techmeme:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Netflix agrees to acquire WBD's studios and streaming business in an $82.7B cash-and-stock deal, including debt, to close after WBD splits in two in Q3 2026

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU fines X €120M for breaching online content rules, the first fine under the DSA, citing issues like its deceptive blue checkmarks, after a two-year probe

New York Times:
The New York Times sues Perplexity, claiming the AI startup violated its copyrights and kept using its content despite repeated demands over the past 18 months
 
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