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11:10 AM ET, February 13, 2025

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 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: Hackwhackers and Alternet.org
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
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: Futurism and The Independent
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
Politico:
Johnson's budget dare
Discussion: Semafor and E&E News
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?
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling
Politico:
Russia rejoices at Trump-Putin call as Zelenskyy rejects talks without Ukraine present
Bloomberg:
Trump Pushes Fading Zelenskiy Toward Risky Ukraine Election
Discussion: Reuters and El País
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud  —  They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that's actually fraudulent.  —  President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to disrupt …
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
Elon Musk Is Faking It
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump and Musk Hunt for Corruption, Very Selectively
Discussion: The Independent and LewRockwell
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple Resumes Advertising on X  —  Apple this month started advertising on X for the first time in more than a year.  The company had stopped advertising on the social media platform in November 2023 following controversial remarks made by its owner Elon Musk.
RELATED:
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Elon Musk's X to pay about $10 million to settle Trump lawsuit over account suspension
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:
Pro-Hitler Ad Runs on Elon Musk's X Amid His Growing Ties to Trump
Discussion: 9to5Mac
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
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 …
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 …
RELATED:
Brittany Gibson / Axios:
Trump's mass deportation plan hits its own wall
Discussion: NBC News
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 …
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:
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
RELATED:
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
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 …
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.
Phelim Kine / Politico:
Elon Musk's attacks on a group long backed by the GOP prompt Republican shrugs  —  A funding freeze is pushing the National Endowment for Democracy and groups it supports toward shutdown.  —  One of Elon Musk's latest targets is a nonprofit dedicated to bolstering democracy overseas that has long been a darling of the GOP.
RELATED:
Eliot Chen / The Wire China:   DOGE's Latest Target is Seen as a Gift to the CCP
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.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Worldwide Despite Rubio's Promise  —  A new directive puts further exemptions on hold.  Aid workers also say the U.S. government has made it impossible to pay partners around the world.  —  When Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last month …
Discussion: Associated Press, Townhall and JURIST
RELATED:
Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:   It's America That Suffers When We Cut Foreign Aid
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 …
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 …
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 …
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
 
 
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 More Items: 
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
Musk took all their power, so Republicans remake Congress into a ministry of disinformation
Bloomberg:
Trump, Modi to Discuss Trade Pact as Reciprocal Tariffs Loom
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
The White House Is Now Running The Justice Department
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
Trump's move to slash research funding shakes medical community
Sergio Hernández / ProPublica:
ProPublica Updates Supreme Connections Database With Previously Missing Disclosures
Jonathan Lambert / NPR:
Sen. Ted Cruz's list of ‘woke’ science includes self-driving cars and solar eclipses
 Earlier Items: 
Megan Brenan / Gallup:
More Democrats Favor Party Moderation Than in Past
Discussion: The Hill and Semafor
Axios:
Behind the Curtain: Masculine maximalism
Ken Bensinger / New York Times:
How Elon Musk and the Right Are Trying to Recast Reporting as ‘Doxxing’
Luis Ferré-Sadurní / New York Times:
New York Got $80 Million for Migrants. The White House Took It Back.
Zoe Tillman / Bloomberg:
Trump Removal of Whistleblower Agency Head Blocked by Judge
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Bernie Sanders launches high-profile offensive against ‘the oligarchy’
Discussion: PoliticusUSA
Dan Froomkin / Heads Up News:
What you can do to fight the Trump agenda
 

 
From Mediagazer:

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

Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: David Ellison's interference in WBD's failed summer talks to extend HBO Max's South Park licensing deal left David Zaslav distrustful of Ellison

Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Sources: Forbes has cut ties with dozens of contributing writers; one exec said Forbes needs to ensure the contributor model is “financially sound”

 
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