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3:20 PM ET, February 13, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Matthew Gault / Gizmodo:
The $400 Million Armored Tesla Story Is a Fake Scandal In a Sea of Real Graft and Horror  —  The State Department does a lot of business with a lot of different companies and has bought Tesla's before.  But freaking out and editing a spreadsheet when it's pointed out is weird.
RELATED:
Politico:
DOGE bites Ro  —  THE BUZZ: DOGE EAT DOGE — So much for their text exchanges.  Even Ro Khanna can't get through to Elon Musk anymore.  —  Khanna, the Democratic representative from Silicon Valley who's known Musk for more than a decade, has pivoted in the last week to criticizing Musk's …
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.
Jack Ewing / New York Times:
State Department Revises Plan to Buy Armored Teslas
RELATED:
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling … - NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said.  — U.S. troops will not be deployed …
RELATED:
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Scoop — Zelensky to Trump: Putin pretends to want peace because he's “afraid of you” … - While Trump told Zelensky he got the impression that Putin wants a deal, the Ukrainian president expressed a more skeptical view about the intentions of his Russian counterpart.
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?
Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
Financial Times:
Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin's grandest ambitions
Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:
RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections  —  Despite millions of dollars spent by groups opposed to his nomination, the Senate voted to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
RELATED:
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
McConnell on RFK Jr.: ‘I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures’
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health secretary; McConnell lone GOP dissenter
Natasha Korecki / NBC News:
Senate votes to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary
New York Times:
Yes  —  If confirmed, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will oversee agencies that administer Medicare and Medicaid …
Discussion: Daily Kos and IJR
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 …
Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo
RELATED:
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 …
Discussion: CBS News
RELATED:
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Senate panel votes ‘yes’ on Trump's pick to lead the FBI
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
Elon Musk Is Faking It  —  Did you hear the one about how USAID spent $50 million — or was it $100 million? — providing condoms to Hamas?  This claim played a big role in the public relations campaign to rationalize the sudden, illegal dismantling of an agency that provides humanitarian aid …
Yashar Ali / The Reset:
Exclusive: Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman, allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a bar, witnesses say.  —  Matt Schlapp, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the CPAC convention, allegedly engaged in lewd conduct and allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a restaurant …
Discussion: Mediaite and New Jersey Online
Oren Cass / New York Times:
The Fringe Cause That Could Derail the Republican Agenda  —  We're not even a month into Donald Trump's new term and already, a cadre of Republican activists appears poised to fritter away his popularity and derail his administration's agenda with a maximalist demand for a budget-busting tax cut.
RELATED:
Politico:
House GOP leaders placate fiscal hawks to launch their party-line plan
Discussion: Roll Call and E&E News
Politico:
Walz considering Minnesota Senate run  —  Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier Thursday she would not seek reelection.  —  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is considering a run for Senate next year, according to a person close to the governor who was granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
RELATED:
Steve Karnowski / Associated Press:
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota won't seek reelection, dealing blow to Democrats' hopes to take Senate
Bloomberg:
NYC Mayor Eric Adams' Fealty to Trump Threatens to Wreck Democrat Support  — Voters who backed Adams largely don't overlap Trump supporters  — President may be ‘holding the mayor hostage,’ Al Sharpton says
RELATED:
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: 145 Democrats demand Trump retract Gaza comments
Discussion: Mondoweiss
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.
RELATED:
Tim Reid / Reuters:
Mass firings of federal workers begin as Trump and Musk purge U.S. government
Discussion: USA Today and CNN
Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
White House terminates top federal prosecutors amid DOJ, FBI purge  —  Numerous U.S. attorneys announced their departures during a period of extreme upheaval at the Justice Department, an institution long criticized by Trump.  —  WASHINGTON — The White House terminated multiple U.S. attorneys …
David Gilbert / Wired:
DOGE's Website Is Just One Big Twitter Ad  —  The source code for the new Department for Government Efficiency's “official US government website” points to X as its primary source of authority while sharing links to the site sends users to x.com.  —  At a press conference in the Oval Office this week …
Veronica Riccobene / The Lever:
Trump's Purge vs. Roberts' Memo  —  This is a web version of The Lever's daily email newsletter.  —  On Lever Time: The tariffs may actually make everything worse.  —  ⬇️ Spend four minutes reading this 937-word newsletter to learn about:  — Trump's move to target a 90-year-old SCOTUS precedent.
Washington Post:
DOGE rips through Education Department, cutting contracts, staff and grants  —  Contracts that are key to interpreting data about the American education system were cut as DOGE seeks to trim spending.  Some contracts will be rebid.  —  The notices popped into email boxes …
Discussion: NOTUS and Florida Politics
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.
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 …
Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump signs off on proposed reciprocal tariffs  —  President Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs that he maintains will crack down on unfair and discriminatory tariffs from both adversaries and allies.  —  The reciprocal tariffs will be customized …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Some Follow Up Questions For Elon Musk, After He Admits He Gets Stuff Wrong Sometimes
Discussion: CNN
Alexander B. Howard / CIVIC TEXTS:
The Truman Commission showed Americans why Congress must not ignore the world's wealthiest “dollar a year man” at DOGE
Vox:
Trump's new passport rules are trapping transgender Americans in bureaucratic limbo
Pam Belluck / New York Times:
After Abortion Bans, Infant Mortality and Births Increased, Research Finds
Discussion: CNN, Salon and LifeNews.com
New York Times:
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump's Agenda
Gregg Gonsalves / New York Times:
I Shudder to Imagine Kennedy Running Our Health Agencies.
Discussion: Raw Story and Associated Press
 Earlier Items: 
Joey McFadden / The Daily Beast:
Ex-Trump Adviser: Putin Swigging Vodka to Celebrate Gabbard
S.V. Date / HuffPost:
Musk Claims To Know The Net Worths Of Federal Employees - But How?
Axios:
Trump nominations loom over Senate's cherished Munich trip
Discussion: Punchbowl News
Jonathan Lambert / NPR:
Sen. Ted Cruz's list of ‘woke’ science includes self-driving cars and solar eclipses
Discussion: The 74
Jon Gambrell / Associated Press:
Elon Musk calls for the US to ‘delete entire agencies’ from the federal government
Axios:
Behind the Curtain: Masculine maximalism
Discussion: The Bulwark and Mediaite
 

 
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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