Top Items:
Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal:
Exclusive | DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist Posts — A staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved by a federal judge on Thursday has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics.
Discussion:
CNBC, Raw Story, NPR, Axios, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, New York Post, Semafor, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, The Independent, Techdirt, Washington Post, Forbes, Notes on the Crises and Beyer, more at Techmeme »
Axios:
Scoop: Trump orders key government agency to cancel all media contracts … - The discovery, made through a U.S. government spending database that has long been publicly available, triggered erroneous theories on X about the Biden administration “funding” anti-Trump media.
Discussion:
RedState, Fox News, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, ZeroHedge News, IJR and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »
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Politico:
Note to Our Readers — POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false. Let's set the record straight. — POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false.
Discussion:
ZeroHedge News, Twitchy, The Hill, DNyuz and Dark Maga Returns, more at Mediagazer »
Liam Reilly / CNN:
White House says it will cancel $8 million in Politico subscriptions after a false right-wing conspiracy theory spreads
White House says it will cancel $8 million in Politico subscriptions after a false right-wing conspiracy theory spreads
Discussion:
CBS News, Fox News, The Guardian, New York Post, Townhall, Breitbart, Digby's Hullabaloo, KRDO, Daily Mail, The Dispatch, The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Blaze Media, MeidasTouch News, The Independent, Raw Story, Louder With Crowder, Althouse, ZeroHedge News, Crooks and Liars, Status, The Daily Caller, One America News Network, HotAir, Shore News Network, Twitchy, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, RedState and New Republic
Zach Montague / New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Delays Program Offering Federal Workers Incentives to Quit — Where Things Stand — Judge delays resignation plan: A federal judge in Massachusetts has stopped, at least temporarily, the Trump administration's effort to get federal employees …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Associated Press, The Hill, CBS News, Forbes, DNyuz, The Verge, GovExec.com, Business Insider and Eschaton
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Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Deadline for Trump's federal worker buyout proposal temporarily blocked by judge — Washington — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Office of Personnel Management's deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration's “deferred resignation” offer.
Discussion:
Federal News Network, CNN, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Raw Story, UPI, Associated Press, FedSmith.com, USA Today, Daily Caller News Foundation, FedScoop, The Guardian, KRDO, Blaze Media, DNyuz, ZeroHedge News, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, Bloomberg, NBC News, documenting my thoughts …, Semafor and Scripps News
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Musk aims to hobble federal workers ahead of ‘buyout’ deadline
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Daily Kos, New Republic, Associated Press, Federal News Network, Blue Virginia, FedSmith.com, Townhall, Washingtonian and DNyuz
Patrick Reis / Vox:
A setback for Elon Musk's plan to gut the federal workforce
A setback for Elon Musk's plan to gut the federal workforce
Discussion:
NPR, ABC News, Reuters, NewsNation, Politico, USA Today, The Independent, Fox News, KRDO, The Daily Wire and MPR News
Andrew Prokop / Vox:
All the ways Elon Musk is breaking the law, explained by a law professor
All the ways Elon Musk is breaking the law, explained by a law professor
Discussion:
Rolling Stone and Reuters
ProPublica:
Elon Musk's Demolition Crew — On President Donald Trump's authority alone, Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has been unleashed on federal agencies. Employees from Musk's companies and those of his allies, as well as young staffers he's recruited, are wresting authority from career workers and commandeering computer systems.
Discussion:
Reuters, Rolling Stone, Just Security, USA Today, Raw Story, NJTODAY.NET and American Thinker
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Washington Post:
Musk's DOGE agents access sensitive personnel data, alarming security officials — The highly restricted data includes personally identifiable information for millions of federal employees maintained by the Office of Personnel Management.
Discussion:
The Guardian and Raw Story
Joey McFadden / The Daily Beast:
Musk's DOGE Youngins Are Terrorizing Senior Gov Staffers
Daniel Wu / Washington Post:
Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses — U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo, including American farms dealing in rice, wheat and soybeans purchased as food aid.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Foreign Policy, Raw Story and Blaze Media
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Wired:
DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers — Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.
Discussion:
Mediaite
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
USAID Workforce Slashed From 10,000 to Under 300 as Elon Musk's DOGE Decimates Agency
USAID Workforce Slashed From 10,000 to Under 300 as Elon Musk's DOGE Decimates Agency
Discussion:
NBC News, Reuters, Washington Post, Raw Story, Business Insider, NPR, Rolling Stone and Associated Press
CNN:
Musk associates sought to use critical Treasury payment system to shut down USAID spending, emails show — Four days after Donald Trump's inauguration, Elon Musk's top lieutenants at the Treasury Department asked its acting secretary, a career civil servant, to immediately shut off …
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New York Times:
Treasury Sought to Freeze Foreign Aid Payments, Emails Show — Trump administration appointees and allies of Elon Musk wanted to use the Treasury's sensitive payment system to block payments. — In the days after President Trump took office, as Elon Musk's team began pressing for access …
Discussion:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo and Bloomberg
David Gutman / The Seattle Times:
Judge in Seattle accuses Trump of trying to change the Constitution — A federal judge in Seattle has once again blocked the Trump administration's attempt to rescind birthright citizenship — the guarantee embedded in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that every person born in the U.S. is an American citizen.
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Associated Press, Minnesota Reformer, Law & Crime, The Gateway Pundit, Bloomberg and Chicago Sun Times
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Garrett Haake / NBC News:
Trump to sign an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court
Discussion:
Washington Post, freebeacon.com, Fox News, Bloomberg, Associated Press, The Independent, Jewish Insider, USA Today, Reuters, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, NewsNation, IJR, The Guardian and New York Post
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time
Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time
Discussion:
BBC, The Post Millennial, Townhall and SCOTUSblog
Daily Kos:
Trump taps televangelist kook to run new White House ‘faith’ office — Christian nationalism is in full swing after Donald Trump's Thursday announcement of a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias,” as well as a new White House Faith Office led by right-...
Discussion:
Reuters, ABC News, Blaze Media and Washington Post
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Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump announces task force to ‘eradicate anti-Christian bias’
Trump announces task force to ‘eradicate anti-Christian bias’
Discussion:
Associated Press, USA Today, Al Jazeera, New York Magazine, The Daily Signal, Deep Left Field, Fox News, Raw Story, UPI, The Independent, NewsNation, Daily Kos, Washington Examiner and CBS News
Washington Post:
Elon Musk's DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts — At the Department of Education, the tech billionaire's team has turned to artificial intelligence to hunt for potential spending cuts — part of a broader plan to deploy the technology across the federal government.
Discussion:
Daily Mail, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Forbes, Gizmodo, Raw Story and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Juliet Macur / New York Times:
N.C.A.A., Following Trump's Order, Excludes Transgender Athletes From Women's Sports — The decision, effective immediately, came a day after President Trump signed an order barring transgender girls and women from playing in women's sports at federally funded educational institutions.
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Wall Street Journal:
White House Preparing Order to Cut Thousands of Federal Health Workers — The executive order could come as soon as next week, if the Trump administration goes ahead with plans — The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Baltimore Sun
Sigal Samuel / Vox:
JD Vance accidentally directed us to a crucial moral question — Theology isn't usually part of the job description for America's vice president, but that's not stopping JD Vance from giving it a try just a couple of weeks into his new position. — In a Fox News segment on immigration …
Discussion:
Associated Press and Anglican Ink © 2025
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Stephanie Nolen / New York Times:
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump's USAID Order — The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care. — Asanda Zondi received a startling phone call …
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story and The Diplomat
ABC News:
Rubio acting director of the National Archives — In addition to being the Secretary of State and the acting director of USAID, Marco Rubio is also the acting archivist of the United States, according to a high-level official. — Per the official, Rubio has been the acting archivist since shortly …
Discussion:
404 Media, The Bulwark, Fox News and Washington Examiner, more at Mediagazer »
Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Do Democrats Have a Plan? — Senator Brian Schatz on how the Party should be responding to Donald Trump's breakneck assault on the government. — Three weeks into office, President Trump has issued a slew of controversial executive orders, fired officials across government agencies …
Discussion:
Semafor, New York Magazine and HotAir
Niraj Chokshi / New York Times:
Airline Pilots in the DC Plane Crash Acted as Expected, Experts Say — The pilots of the American Airlines regional jet in the Washington airport collision acted as expected, aviation safety experts and other pilots said. — Just after 8:43 p.m. on Jan. 29, an air traffic controller …
Discussion:
CBS News, Washington Examiner and DNyuz
Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
Trump administration disbands task force targeting Russian oligarchs — The U.S. Justice Department under President Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
Discussion:
Associated Press
Dara Kerr / The Guardian:
US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations — Thousands of press releases about decade-old enforcement actions topped search results, all updated with a timestamp from after Trump's inauguration — News of mass immigration arrests has swept across the US over the past couple of weeks.
Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:
‘Trump Brazenly Defies Laws’ is not an A17 story — Donald Trump has repeatedly and flagrantly broken the law since reassuming the presidency. But the national media - whose mission is ostensibly to hold the powerful accountable - is treating it like the new normal.
Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
A.G. Pam Bondi says Trump sets DOJ policy, all DOJ lawyers are “his lawyers” — Shortly after being sworn into office on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi went from the Oval Office to the Justice Department to do President Donald Trump's bidding. — Immediately issuing a series of orders …
Discussion:
abc7NY, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Post, Daily Kos, The Post Millennial, Townhall, Twitchy and Hollywood Life
Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
“Disgusted” Democratic Voters Are Blowing Up Congress's Phones — Democratic voters are begging their elected officials to wake up. — Axios reports that congressional Democrats' office phone lines are being overrun with calls from distressed constituents goading their representatives …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, CBS News, NBC News and WGN-TV
Jose Pagliery / NOTUS:
Trump's DOJ Is Struggling to Commit to Keeping FBI Agents' Names Private — The agents fear political retaliation not only from the Trump administration — but also from the pardoned Jan. 6 rioters. — Copy — Justice Department lawyers in court on Thursday would not make a simple promise …
Discussion:
Reuters, Law & Crime, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, UPI and NPR
Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo:
America's Unions Sue DOGE, Launch the ‘Department of People Who Work for a Living’ — Litigation efforts are finally starting to catch up to Musk's blitzkrieg against the government. … Elon Musk has created his own fake government agency—the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE …
Discussion:
Salon, Truthout, Washington Post, America's Unions, Politico, Daily Kos, E&E News, Axios, Business Insider and New York Times
Timothy W. Ryback / The Atlantic:
The Oligarchs Who Came to Regret Supporting Hitler — They helped him in pursuit of profit. Many ended up in concentration camps. — he was among the richest men in the world. He made his first fortune in heavy industry. He made his second as a media mogul.
Akayla Gardner / Bloomberg:
Trump Will Seek to End Carried Interest, Expand SALT in Tax Bill — White House unveils additions to tax priorities as talks begin — Trump seeks to end tax breaks for billionaire sports owners — President Donald Trump outlined his tax priorities in a meeting with Republican lawmakers …
Discussion:
Scripps News, CNBC, Washington Examiner, RedState and The Daily Wire
New York Times:
C.D.C. Posts, Then Deletes, Data on Bird Flu Spread Between Cats and People — The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report. — Cats that became infected with bird flu might …

