Top Items:
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Trump administration set to purchase $400 million worth of armored Teslas — The Trump administration is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a new State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
Discussion:
New York Times, Alternet.org, Hackwhackers, Raw Story and Fortune
RELATED:
Chad De Guzman / Time:
Mention of Tesla Removed From $400 Million State Dept. Contract Amid Scrutiny of Musk — The State Department was planning to buy $400 million worth of “Armored Tesla” later this year, according to its 2025 procurement forecast, a document outlining projections of anticipated contracts, which was published in December.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
Politico:
Playbook: A make-or-break moment — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — Good morning. This is Eugene Daniels in the driver's seat on a consequential day for the House GOP, President Trump's legislative agenda, American health care, the FBI, India and all of Europe.
Discussion:
Punchbowl News and New York Times
Ryan Grim / Drop Site News:
“Armored Tesla” forecast to win $400 million State Department contract after Trump's election, government document shows — The State Department's procurement forecast, revised as of late December 2024, lists Tesla as the recipient of the largest expected contract, with Marco Rubio's department planning …
Jack Ewing / New York Times:
State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks — The department plans to buy armored Tesla vehicles. Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to cut government spending, has won more than $13 billion in government contracts in the past five years.
Discussion:
The Independent
Financial Times:
Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin's grandest ambitions — Russian leader wants a new security architecture to give his country a sphere of influence in Europe — Vladimir Putin's initial plan to capture Ukraine in a few days ended in disaster.
RELATED:
Politico:
Europe braces for a future without the US as a reliable ally — European defense leaders are preparing for a tense gathering with the Trump team. — MUNICH — European allies are bracing this week for the answer to a question they've been dreading to ask: Can they really count on the United States?
Discussion:
Reuters, CBS News, Politico, The Guardian, Defense One, Responsible Statecraft, Financial Times, Bloomberg, The New European, New York Post, Foreign Policy and BBC
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Reuters, Fox News, ZeroHedge News, New York Times, Raw Story, CNN, KFTC-TV, Chicago Tribune, Semafor, HuffPost, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Politico, Daily Mail, Kyodo News+, Atlantic Council, Associated Press, Washington Post, Alternet.org, ABC News, New York Post, The Guardian, Vox, Diplomatic,, The Independent, U.S. Department of Defense, Roll Call, El País, One America News Network, The Post Millennial, New Republic, EADaily, NPR, Bloomberg, Baltimore Sun, Breitbart, San Diego Union-Tribune, Ace of Spades HQ, WTTG-TV, Scottie's Playtime, The American Conservative, Saywhat Politics and MPR News
Washington Post:
Trump closes down federal worker buyout offer after judge lifts hold — The administration moved to close the buyout program Wednesday evening after a federal judge in Massachusetts rejected a call from several labor groups that sued to block the initiative
Discussion:
Reuters, The Post Millennial, The Independent, New Republic, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail, New York Times, Semafor, Townhall, HotAir, WAGA-TV, Raw Story and Fox News
RELATED:
Christopher F. Schuetze / New York Times:
Dozens Injured as Driver Crashes Car Into Munich Protest — The authorities believe the crash, into a union's strike-day demonstration, was a deliberate attack carried out by a 24-year-old man who was known to the police. — More than two dozen people were injured when a car crashed …
Discussion:
Associated Press and Breitbart
RELATED:
Jakub Krupa / The Guardian:
Politicians weigh in on immigration debate after 28 injured as car hits crowd in Munich - Europe live
Politicians weigh in on immigration debate after 28 injured as car hits crowd in Munich - Europe live
Discussion:
Reuters, Politico, CBS News, New York Post, Al Jazeera, Fortune, Metro.co.uk and Semafor
David Bixenspan / Public Notice:
Linda McMahon is much worse than you think — 💭 🤔 💥 With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever. Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers. If you aren't one already …
Discussion:
Associated Press and NBC News
RELATED:
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Linda McMahon auditions to lead Education Department Trump wants to eliminate
Linda McMahon auditions to lead Education Department Trump wants to eliminate
Discussion:
Reuters, NBC News, NPR, Breitbart, New York Times, USA Today, Business Insider, CBS News, NOTUS, Carolina Journal and HuffPost
Igor Bobic / HuffPost:
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman: 'There Isn't A Constitutional Crisis' — Everyone needs to cool it on the rhetoric, the Pennsylvania senator said Wednesday. — LOADING — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) urged everyone to tone down the rhetoric about President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk moving …
Discussion:
Fox News, Associated Press, Daily Kos, The Federalist, Washington Examiner, Above the Law, E&E News, NPR and Mother Jones
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Elon Musk's X to pay about $10 million to settle Trump lawsuit over account suspension … Social media company X has agreed to pay about $10 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump, who has put X's billionaire owner Elon Musk in charge of a major government cost- and staff-cutting effort.
RELATED:
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:
Pro-Hitler Ad Runs on Elon Musk's X Amid His Growing Ties to Trump
Pro-Hitler Ad Runs on Elon Musk's X Amid His Growing Ties to Trump
Discussion:
MacRumors and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump and Musk Hunt for Corruption, Very Selectively — Spending that the White House does not like is being labeled fraudulent. At the same time, President Trump is rolling back anticorruption efforts and ethical standards for himself and allies like Elon Musk.
Discussion:
The Independent and LewRockwell
RELATED:
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud
Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud
Discussion:
Raw Story, Plain Dealer, Washington Examiner, Futurism, HuffPost, The Japan Times, Associated Press, New York Times, The Borowitz Report, NPR, USA Today and TMZ.com
New York Times:
Some Migrants Sent by Trump to Guantánamo Are Being Held by Military Guards — The Times has obtained a list of 53 Venezuelan men the Trump administration has put in a wartime prison built to hold Al Qaeda suspects. — Dozens of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration …
Discussion:
CNN, NPR, Digby's Hullabaloo, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit, The Independent, Axios, USA Today and Mother Jones
RELATED:
Rene Marsh / CNN:
Mass firings have begun at federal agencies — Mass firings have begun at federal agencies, with terminations of probationary employees underway at the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, federal employees and union sources told CNN Wednesday.
Discussion:
Nextgov/FCW, Wired, NPR, GovExec.com, Business Insider, New Republic, Fortune and Bloomberg
Sadanand Dhume / Wall Street Journal:
If Indians and Pakistanis Can Relocate, Why Can't Gazans? — Population transfers aren't a Trump innovation. There are plenty of examples from the 20th century. — President Trump's idea that the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and relocate two million Palestinians has elicited outrage and derision.
Washington Post:
Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting — Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said. — Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet …
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Trump executive order leads to $100 energy bill hike for hundreds in Alabama — Donald Trump promised that, as president, he would drastically lower Americans' energy bills. “[W]e're going to make it a much — a much different place,” Trump said during a November 14 speech at Mar-a-Lago.
Discussion:
Roll Call
Axios:
Trump nominations loom over Senate's cherished Munich trip … - In an email to senators, Thune warned they may have to stay in town to vote on President Trump's nominations on Friday, sources familiar with the matter told Axios. — That would delay, and potentially cancel …
Discussion:
Punchbowl News
Eliot Chen / The Wire China:
DOGE's Latest Target is Seen as a Gift to the CCP … The Treasury Department has frozen funding disbursements to the National Endowment for Democracy, a U.S.-government funded organization that promotes democracy around the world and is a longtime bugbear of the Chinese Communist Party.
RELATED:
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Hegseth's rough start: Pentagon chief faces protest at U.S. base abroad — The question isn't why the defense secretary faced pushback at U.S. European Command headquarters; the question is whether he'll see more protests soon. — Though it still seems hard to believe, a couple of weeks ago …
Discussion:
RedState, The War Zone and Washington Post
Teddy Rosenbluth / New York Times:
Measles Outbreak Hits Town in Texas — As of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom were unvaccinated, local officials said. — A worsening measles outbreak has taken root in Texas, sickening two dozen and hospitalizing nine on the western edge of the state …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, ABC News, CBS News, Ars Technica and UPI
Washington Post:
Musk team kicks off federal layoffs as White House eyes big cuts — The Trump administration's plan for shrinking the civilian workforce is coming into increasingly clear view. — Billionaire Elon Musk's team has initiated sweeping layoffs of federal employees, as the Trump administration races …
Discussion:
New York Times, Axios, The Independent and Raw Story
Jonathan Lambert / NPR:
Sen. Ted Cruz's list of ‘woke’ science includes self-driving cars and solar eclipses — There is nothing like being in the path of totality during a total solar eclipse. — “For just a few minutes, it feels like the whole world stands still and yet everything changes,” says Corinne Brevik …
Discussion:
The 74 and Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Luis Ferré-Sadurní / New York Times:
New York Got $80 Million for Migrants. The White House Took It Back. — The New York City comptroller's office, which first noticed the missing money, said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had unilaterally taken the funds from the city's accounts.
Discussion:
The Bulwark, Associated Press, Hell Gate, Law and Chaos, The City, Daily Mail, The Independent, Above the Law, Politico, New York Magazine, abc7NY, New York Daily News, New York Post and Forbes
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
How to stop Trump's power grab — At this point, there is little doubt that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaged in a fundamentally unlawful effort to rewrite the American constitutional order. Their efforts to redirect federal spending are attempts to seize Congress's power of the purse …
Politico:
EU Parliament urges lawmakers to only use encrypted messages after China hacks — The advice comes after it was revealed that a China-linked hacking group conducted large-scale intrusions on U.S. and global telecommunication providers. — The European Parliament has asked lawmakers …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Trump's move to slash research funding shakes medical community — Efforts by the Trump administration to drastically cut federal investments in medical research are threatening to kneecap major research institutions and stifle scientific progress to combat chronic illnesses.
Megan Brenan / Gallup:
More Democrats Favor Party Moderation Than in Past — Plurality of Republicans favor status quo for their party; fewer say it should be more conservative — WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the wake of the 2024 election and Donald Trump's inauguration for a second term as president …
Discussion:
Semafor
Associated Press:
The latest inflation report shows that high prices are Trump's major economic challenge — As a candidate last year, Donald Trump suggested he could easily conquer inflation and ease voters' fears about the economy. “I will very quickly deflate,” he promised at a California rally.
Discussion:
CityNews Toronto, Alternet.org, Fox Business, Fortune, CBS News, Washington Examiner and New York Daily News
Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Eric Adams Discussed Possible Republican Primary Run With G.O.P. Leader — The mayor discussed options to run for re-election in the Republican contest as recently as Monday. Asked for comment, he said he was running as a Democrat. — Mayor Eric Adams of New York City has quietly explored running …
Discussion:
The Independent, USA Today and Politico
Reuters:
US sues New York state officials over immigration enforcement, attorney general says — The U.S. Justice Department has sued New York State officials over alleged failures to enforce federal immigration law, Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters on Wednesday.

