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3:00 PM ET, February 5, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
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:
David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump White House Moves to Allow for a Musk Takeover of Government IT  —  The Office of Personnel Management is trying to make it easier to put ideologues and cronies in key tech roles.  —  It's a rather wonky position in the US government: chief information officer.  Most federal agencies and departments have one.
New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: C.I.A. Provides List of Recent Hires as White House Eyes Deep Cuts  —  Where Things Stand  — Worker purge expands: The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing employees hired in the past two years, part of the Elon Musk-led effort to drastically shrink the federal work force.
Discussion: Bloomberg and Washington Post
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.
Ryan Cooper / American Prospect:
King Musk's Government Purge Hits a Snag
Discussion: EsstN and Daily Mail
NBC News:
Elon Musk gets quiet White House reminders his power isn't unchecked
Discussion: Bloomberg, Wired and HuffPost
Beege Welborn / HotAir:
Too Funny to Check: USAID Checkbook Snaps Shut, Politico Paychecks Shut Down? UPDATE
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:
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 …
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Musk shocks lawmakers, setting himself on collision course
Discussion: Mashable and IJR
Eric Levitz / Vox:
America's constitutional crisis could come to a head in four months
Discussion: The Hill, MPR News and HotAir
Jennifer Scholtes / Politico:
Why Washington is getting nervous about a shutdown
Discussion: Raw Story
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:
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.  It is important not to look away, or get discouraged.  Try to discern the what is a big and real threat.  Here is my best effort to do so.  —  Subscribe now
Discussion: Punchbowl News
Nicholas Wu / Politico:
New Democratic bill targets Elon Musk
Discussion: Fortune and TechCrunch
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.
RELATED:
NPR:
Trump says the U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza and relocate its people.  What does it mean?  —  TEL AVIV, Israel — President Trump floated two bombshell ideas Tuesday about Gaza that has Palestinians, Israelis and the wider Middle East scrambling.  —  The first: that the U.S. would take over the territory.
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 …
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
‘Riviera’ in Gaza and Aid Agency Assault Capture Trump's Vision of U.S. Power
Amanda Taub / New York Times:
Trump's Gaza Takeover Would Violate International Law, Experts Say
Discussion: Mediaite and Common Dreams
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 …
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 …
RELATED:
Alex Shephard / New Republic:
This Is So Much Worse Than Last Time … There is practically no way to describe …
Discussion: RedState
Nahal Toosi / Politico:
Trump Is Turning Out To Be a Very Pro-China President
Discussion: NJTODAY.NET and BBC
Reuters:
Top Trump prosecutor in DC dropped federal case against Capitol rioter he represented  —  As President Donald Trump moved last month to free the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol, his newly appointed top prosecutor in Washington put his name on a request that a judge drop charges …
RELATED:
Roger Parloff / Default:   Trump's Petty Purge of 15 Young Jan. 6 Prosecutors
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 …
RELATED:
Michael Sainato / Mother Jones:
DOGE Invades NOAA, Sparking Fears of Cuts and Privatization
Discussion: Vox, E&E News, The Hill and Axios
Emma Dumain / Politico:
Senate's top appropriator says Elon Musk has gone too far  —  The Senate's top appropriator thinks Elon Musk has gone too far.  Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, is raising alarms about the influence that billionaire Elon Musk is wielding inside the Trump administration and across federal agencies.
Discussion: Bangor Daily News
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 …
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:
Morgan Lee / Associated Press:
Thousands protest Trump administration policies in cities across the US  —  A movement to protest the early actions of President Donald Trump's administration took off Wednesday, as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a federal courthouse in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana.
Discussion: WAGA-TV, WNYW-TV and WUSA
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
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
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Watch The Credit-Ratings Agencies  —  If the illegal commandeering of the federal budget doesn't make the U.S. less creditworthy, then Wall Street is cowed and misleading investors.  —  ∙ Paid  —  In August 2011, after Republicans brought the country to the brink of default on the national debt …
CBS News:
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper's security detail revoked  —  The security detail for former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, which was provided by the Defense Department, was revoked Tuesday night, a U.S. official and a Defense Department official told CBS News.
Discussion: New York Times and Forbes
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 …
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website  —  Google removed a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance from its website this week.  The change was first spotted by Bloomberg.  The company appears to have updated its public AI principles page, erasing a section titled …
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 …
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Fox News Adds a New Host: Lara Trump  —  There is no precedent for a sitting president's relative to host a show on a major television news channel.  —  President Trump persuaded several Fox News hosts to leave the network and take up major roles in his administration.  —  Now a Trump is joining the network.
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Medical costs, access top health concerns: Survey  —  A new survey released this week found that improving the affordability and access to health care is a top priority for Americans, with participants across party lines saying they see the federal government as having a key role in this issue.
Raw Story:
GOP lawmaker wants to repeal Arizona's ban on machine guns and pipe bombs  —  A Republican lawmaker wants to repeal the Arizona law banning people from owning machine guns, silencers, sawed-off shotguns and even pipe bombs and other homemade explosive devices.
Dave Troy / America 2.0:
America Under Attack, Week 2: What We're Monitoring  —  Attacks on the United States have unfolded much as anticipated, with Donald Trump issuing an overwhelming number of executive orders and provocations, while Elon Musk dismantles the government from the inside out.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Associated Press:
FBI agents who ‘simply followed orders’ in Jan. 6 probes won't be fired, a Justice official says
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Fox News hires Lara Trump to host weekend show
Discussion: WKBN.com
Washington Examiner:
McConnell suffers fall after Senate vote
Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ
Politico:
Former DOD official who called Obama a ‘terrorist leader’ tapped as Pentagon personnel chief
Discussion: Blaze Media
 Earlier Items: 
Zeynep Tufekci / New York Times:
The Dangerous A.I. Nonsense That Trump and Biden Fell For
Discussion: SpaceNews and The New European
Jessica Blake / Inside Higher Ed:
Higher Ed Fights Back Against Trump's DEI Order
Discussion: The Guardian and USA Today
Tyler McBrien / New York Times:
Musk? Trump? Who Exactly Is Running the Federal Government?
Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story and Liberal Currents
Paul Krugman:
Have We Been Partying Like It's 1999?  —  This bubble may end with a tech-bro bailout
 

 
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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