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6:10 PM ET, February 7, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Bloomberg:
Musk's DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets  —  Edward Coristine posted online that he had retained access to the firm's servers.  Now he has access to sensitive government information.  —  Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of Elon Musk's squad that's …
RELATED:
CNBC:
Musk to rehire Treasury DOGE staffer behind racist posts after Trump endorses idea … Elon Musk said Friday he will rehire a DOGE staffer who abruptly resigned following the exposure of his tweets advocating for racism and eugenics.  —  Musk's announcement on his social media platform X came …
New York Times:
Vance and Trump Call for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Quit Over Racist Posts. Musk Obliges.
Isaac Schorr / Mediaite:
Elon Musk Demands Firing of ‘Disgusting and Cruel’ WSJ Reporter Who Uncovered DOGE Employee's Racist Tweets
New York Times:   Young Aides Emerge as Enforcers in Musk's Broadside Against Government
Wired:
A US Treasury Threat Intelligence Analysis Designates DOGE Staff as ‘Insider Threat’  —  An internal email reviewed by WIRED calls DOGE staff's access to federal payments systems “the single biggest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”
Discussion: FedScoop, Raw Story and Mediaite
RELATED:
The Atlantic:
The Government's Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified … Elon musk's unceasing attempts to access the data and information systems of the federal government range so widely, and are so unprecedented and unpredictable, that government computing experts believe the effort has spun out of control.
Washington Post:
Treasury installs ally of Musk's DOGE as head of payment system  —  The move follows the ousting of a career official who rebuffed attempts to use the payment system to stop federal spending.  —  The Treasury Department will make an ally of billionaire Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service the head …
NBC News:
Judge to pause Trump administration effort to gut USAID's workforce by thousands  —  Two labor groups had sued the Trump administration after it said that thousands of USAID employees would be placed on administrative leave starting at 11:59 p.m. Friday.  —  A federal judge on Friday …
RELATED:
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Judge pauses Trump plan to put USAID staff on leave
Reuters:
Staffer with Elon Musk's DOGE amplified white supremacists online  —  One of the people working with billionaire Elon Musk in his efforts to overhaul the U.S. government is a Berkeley-educated computer scientist who has boosted white supremacists and misogynists online.
Discussion: Mashable and The Independent
RELATED:
John Hyatt / Forbes:
The Now Deleted Tweets Of DOGE Staffer Gavin Kliger  —  From mass deportations and military tribunal executions to calling Hillary Clinton a slur, OPM staffer Gavin Kliger has embraced the fringes of Elon Musk's X and Trump's MAGA movement.  —  John Hyatt is a NYC-based Forbes staff writer covering billionaires.
Discussion: NPR, Slate and Fox News
Mother Jones:
Kash Patel Took $25,000 From Russia-Linked Firm to Appear on an Anti-FBI TV Series  —  Last year, Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur whom Donald Trump has nominated to head the FBI, received $25,000 from a Russia-linked production company to participate in a documentary in which he assailed the FBI and called for closing its headquarters.
Washington Post:
Trump holds joint news conference with Japan's prime minister  —  President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held a joint news conference as part of Ishiba's visit to the White House on Friday.  The two leaders met earlier to discuss issues including trade and the economic …
RELATED:
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Trump's FBI Pick Kash Patel Took Up to $5M in Stock from Chinese Ecommerce Giant Shein  —  Donald Trump's pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form says were received in exchange for consulting services.
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Former GOP Director Of FBI, CIA Urges Chuck Grassley To Stop Kash Patel's Nomination  —  “After all the hard work that you've done over your career, to allow it to be destroyed on your watch would not be a legacy I would want,” warned William Webster.  —  LOADING
Discussion: Raw Story
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
How to Win the USAID Fight  —  First up: Sarah and I argued about everything on the Secret pod today.  The show is here.  —  Second: An update on yesterday's story about the confusion surrounding Trump's (maybe?) firing the head of the National Archives.  There had been conflicting reports …
Discussion: DNyuz
Annie Porter / Slate:
I Work in the Office Carrying Out the Government Purge.  Here's What I Want You to Know.  —  We're as freaked out and angry as everyone else.  —  I'm a career civil servant at the federal government's Office of Personnel Management, and I'm sorry.  Normally, the only time anyone hears …
Discussion: Washington Post, Steady and Raw Story
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users' encrypted accounts  —  Secret order requires blanket access to protected cloud backups around the world, which if implemented would undermine Apple's privacy pledge to its users.  —  Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create …
ProPublica:
The Elite Lawyers Working for Elon Musk's DOGE Include Former Supreme Court Clerks  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  As members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency …
Discussion: Reuters, Twitchy and NOTUS
Brian Barrett / Wired:
The US Government Is Not a Startup  —  Elon Musk is moving fast and breaking things that can't afford to be broken.  —  It feels like no one should have to say this, and yet we are in a situation where it needs to be said, very loudly and clearly, before it's too late to do anything about it: The United States is not a startup.
Discussion: Washington Post
Andrea Long Chu / New York Magazine:
Goodbye, Pamela Paul … Goodbye, Pamela Paul!  You hardly knew us.  —  The controversial columnist is exiting the New York Times “Opinion” section this spring as part of a wave of job cuts.  In 2022, after a decade of editing the Book Review, Paul joined “Opinion,” where she quickly gained …
Rolling Stone:
Dem Overseeing ‘Digital Assets’ to Hold Luxury Retreat With Crypto Kingpin  —  Ruben Gallego, Arizona's new senator, is set to hold a fundraising weekend with Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen and blogger Matt Yglesias  —  Freshman Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego was recently named …
Discussion: Gizmodo and New York Times
Gordon Brown / The Guardian:
Be clear about what Trump and Musk's aid axe will do: people will face terror and starve, many will die  —  The decimation of USAid is already having a terrible effect in some of the poorest places on the planet.  It damages America: it will harm us all  —  An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or above could not have caused more carnage.
Discussion: New York Times
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Trump makes an outrageous choice for his White House Faith Office  —  After Trump's 2020 loss, Paula White said “demonic confederacies” were trying to steal the election.  She'll now lead the new White House Faith Office.  —  Donald Trump's remarks at the latest National Prayer Breakfast went about as well as expected.
Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump Air Force nominee arranged satellite contract in manner that favored Musk's SpaceX, sources say  —  President Donald Trump's nominee as Air Force Secretary, currently a top official at the national spy satellite agency, arranged a multibillion-dollar contract solicitation …
Ezra Klein / New York Times:
What Elon Musk Wants  —  This is an edited transcript of an episode of “The Ezra Klein Show.”  You can listen to the conversation by following or subscribing to the show on the NYT Audio App, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Discussion: CNN, HotAir and Grabien
Reuters:
Trump pauses de minimis repeal as packages pile up at US customs  —  U.S. President Donald Trump paused his administration's repeal of duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China on Friday, giving the Commerce Department time to make the order workable, after the rapid change sparked chaos …
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: Jeffries' centrists press him to let them vote for GOP bills … - The discussion, according to one House Democrat who was present, centered on giving centrist and swing-district Democrats “flexibility to take certain votes.” … - Said another member who was at the meeting …
Discussion: New York Daily News, The Hill and NOTUS
Dan Hon / MIT Technology Review:
From COBOL to chaos: Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Evil Housekeeper Problem … In trying to make sense of the wrecking ball that is Elon Musk and President Trump's DOGE, it may be helpful to think about the Evil Housekeeper Problem.  It's a principle of computer security roughly stating …
Jordain Carney / Politico:
Senate Republicans release budget blueprint ahead of Wednesday markup  —  Senate Republicans will hold a committee vote next week on a budget blueprint that will unlock their two-bill strategy for enacting the heart of President Donald Trump's domestic policy agenda.
Amy Maxmen / KFF Health News:
Measles Outbreak Mounts Among Children in One of Texas' Least Vaccinated Counties  —  A measles outbreak is growing in a Texas county with dangerously low vaccination rates.  —  In late January, two school-age children from Gaines County were hospitalized with measles.
Discussion: WAGA-TV and WXIA-TV
Elena Schneider / Politico:
Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Silicon Valley donors in bid to ‘mend fences.’  —  The meeting comes as the tech world has lurched rightward in the second Donald Trump era.  —  Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries quietly met with more than 150 Silicon Valley-based donors last week in California …
Discussion: Reuters
The Hill:
Judges curb Trump's sweeping executive actions  —  Federal judges are curbing President Trump's sweeping directives to reshape the government, issuing a flurry of rulings blocking his agenda from charging forward.  —  More than three dozen lawsuits have been filed challenging major …
CNN:
‘Treated like criminals’: Shackling of Indians aboard 40-hour migrant flight sparks new outrage against Trump  —  New Delhi CNN —  US officials kept around 100 deported Indian migrants in shackles for their 40-hour flight home, including during bathroom breaks, in the latest incident …
Washington Post:
‘Just causing havoc’: Transportation Department suspends EV charger program  —  Billions of dollars set to flow to fast EV chargers along highways is at risk.  —  States trying to build a network of EV chargers are reeling after the Trump administration abruptly ordered a halt to a $5 billion program …
Scott Pilutik / Slate:
Why Elon Musk's Buyout Offer “Reads Like a Scam”  —  Elon Musk's “Fork in the Road” email offering 2.3 million federal civil servants a “deferred resignation” through September set off a number of legal questions this country has never been forced to consider, and they're finally making their way to federal court.
Derek Saul / Forbes:
January Jobs Report Reveals Weaker Growth Than Predicted—Weakest Start To Year Since 2016  —  The first jobs report since President Donald Trump's inauguration came out Friday morning, falling short of headline expectations in the weakest start to a year for overall job growth since …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Cory Doctorow / Pluralistic:
Pluralistic: “The Fagin figure leading Elon Musk's merry band of pubescent sovereignty pickpockets” (07 Feb 2025)
Politico:
San Francisco sues Trump, alleging ‘authoritarian’ threats against sanctuary cities
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
This Ain't The Apprentice. Stop Calling Them Firings. They're Purges.
Washington Post:
A House Democrat warns against making ‘everything Defcon 5’
Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller
Katherine Stewart / New York Times:
Now Will We Believe What Is Happening Right in Front of Us?
Discussion: Just Security
Rachel Wolf / Fox News:
Democrats try to enter Department of Education amid outrage over possible DOGE cuts
 Earlier Items: 
Politico:
Trump considering Blagojevich for ambassador to Serbia
Discussion: Raw Story
Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
Trump's Deportation Dragnet Widens and Puerto Ricans Are Getting Caught in It
Public Notice:
The “cognitively irresponsible” presidency
 

 
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

Echo Wang / Reuters:
Meta acquires Limitless, which makes a pendant-style AI wearable that records and transcribes real-world conversations; Limitless has raised more than $33M

 
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