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8:15 AM ET, February 18, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Washington Post:
Top Social Security official exits after clash with Musk's DOGE over data  —  Yet another top career staffer is leaving the administration amid a disagreement over a request by Elon Musk's team for sensitive government information.
RELATED:
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Who's in charge of DOGE?  Not Elon Musk, White House says  —  A Trump administration personnel official says Musk has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions.”  —  Elon Musk is not the leader of DOGE — the mysterious Trump administration operation overseeing an effort to break and remake the federal bureaucracy.
emptywheel:   Why Elon Musk Can't Run DOGE [sic] Anymore
Politico:   GOP flinches at Musk cuts
David Gilbert / Wired:
No, 150-Year-Olds Aren't Collecting Social Security Benefits  —  Elon Musk claims to have found rampant fraud in the Social Security Administration.  There's a much simpler explanation.  —  Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) …
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Social Security head steps down over DOGE access of recipient information, sources say  —  The Social Security Administration's acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information …
Discussion: IJR, ABC News, CBS News and Daily Mail
Associated Press:
Governor weighs removing NYC Mayor Adams after his top deputies quit amid criminal case turmoil  —  New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday she is weighing removing New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office after four of his top deputies announced their resignations in the latest fallout …
RELATED:
New York Times:
4 Top Officials to Resign Over Adams's Cooperation With Trump
New York Times:
Thousands Gather on Presidents' Day to Call Trump a Tyrant  —  Thousands of protesters opposing broad swaths of President Trump's agenda took to the streets across the country, including outside the U.S. Capitol.  —  Thousands of protesters opposing broad swaths of President Trump's agenda took …
Discussion: Associated Press
RELATED:
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
‘No Kings Day’: Protesters Denounce Trump and Musk
Remy Tumin / New York Times:
Delta Plane Overturns at Toronto Airport While Landing  —  The airport said on social media that emergency teams were responding and that all passengers and crew were accounted for.  —  A Delta Air Lines flight arriving at Toronto Pearson Airport from Minneapolis appears to have overturned …
New York Times:
Under Trump's Mass Deportation Plan, Some Migrants Are Being Sent to Panama  —  Migrants deported from the United States are being held at the Decapolis Hotel Panama in Panama City.  The deportees come from Afghanistan, Iran, China and other nations.  —  They arrived at the United States border …
Discussion: New York Post
Reuters:
Exclusive: FDA staff reviewing Musk's Neuralink were included in DOGE employee firings, sources say  —  U.S. Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink were fired over the weekend as part of a broader purge of the federal workforce, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Discussion: Raw Story
BBC:
Putin ready to speak to Zelensky ‘if necessary’, Kremlin says as US and Russia hold talks  —  Summary  — The US and Russia are holding talks in Saudi Arabia about the war in Ukraine - it's the first in-person meeting since Moscow's full-scale invasion three years ago
RELATED:
Mark Hertling / The Bulwark:
Marco Rubio Is Walking into a Trap
Discussion: Newsweek and Washington Examiner
Timothy Snyder / Thinking about:
Peace or Partition?  —  Russians and Americans speak about Ukraine, without Ukrainians
Julie Creswell / New York Times:
Washington Post Cancels Ad From Groups Calling for Trump to Fire Musk  —  The newspaper told Common Cause, an advocacy group, that it was pulling its special ad, which would have covered the front and back pages of some Tuesday editions.  —  An advertisement that was set to run in some editions …
Sunjeev Bery / The Intercept:
This Is the Way to Stop Elon Musk  —  With the backing of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has embarked on an unconstitutional rampage against the federal government.  The world's wealthiest man is trying to shut down key agencies and programs that protect the health, welfare, and prosperity of millions of Americans.
Discussion: Raw Story
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
A team from SpaceX is being brought in to overhaul FAA's air traffic control system  —  The visit comes after a union representing FAA workers says hundreds are being laid off. … A team from Elon Musk's SpaceX is visiting the Air Traffic Control Command Center in Virginia Monday …
Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
Department of Homeland Security preparing to fire hundreds of senior leaders this week  —  The firings are a move not to reduce the size of the workforce but to get rid of people the administration sees as not on board with its goals.  —  The Trump administration is preparing to fire hundreds …
Discussion: Townhall, Grabien and Saywhat Politics
David Edwards / Raw Story:
'It's gone': Elon Musk suggests without evidence that gold was ‘stolen’ from Fort Knox  —  Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Department of Government Efficiency Chair Elon Musk demanded access to the gold stored at Fort Knox.  —  Writing on Musk's social media platform X, Lee said he was repeatedly denied access …
New York Times:
C.I.A. Expands Secret Drone Flights Over Mexico  —  The covert program, begun during the Biden administration and stepped up by President Trump, is hunting for the location of fentanyl labs.  —  The United States has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs …
Discussion: CNN, El País and Fox News
Gavin Bade / Wall Street Journal:
Republican Senators Try to Curb Influence of Trump Tariff Hawk  —  White House trade adviser has had major influence on punitive levies as Trump's trade team awaits Senate confirmation  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump has peppered the first month of his presidency with trade actions even before the bulk of his trade team is in place.
Amanda Friedman / Politico:
Hegseth claims Biden administration targeted him with IRS audit  —  The Defense secretary posted a photo of a letter showing the IRS seeking more than $33,000.  —  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Monday accused the Biden administration of orchestrating a last-minute audit of him and his wife …
Ben Penn / Bloomberg Law:
White House Email Snafu Said to Stall Firings of US Attorneys  —  The White House sent termination emails to the wrong addresses of as many as 22 US attorneys who learned they'd been dismissed five days later after a perplexing weekend, said two people familiar with the process.
Discussion: Executive Functions
Washington Post:
Trump administration fires thousands for ‘performance’ without evidence, in messy rush  —  Many probationary employees targeted in latest Trump cuts across agencies had excellent ratings; legal challenges are expected.  —  The first message from her manager on Saturday afternoon misspelled Amanda Mae Downey's name.
Discussion: Raw Story and HotAir
 
 
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 More Items: 
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: Dems prep for Trump legal meltdown
Discussion: Washington Examiner and The Nation
Helen Branswell / STAT:
STAT+: Drug inspectors, AI experts, maternal health workers: Trump's health agency cuts are far-reaching
Michelle Watson / CNN:
After landing his dream job as a park ranger, he's ‘heartbroken’ to be let go in federal cuts
Discussion: USA Today and MPR News
 Earlier Items: 
Haley Ott / CBS News:
Europe grapples over its “collective security” under pressure from Trump
Daniel Bice / Journal Sentinel:
Bice: An Elon Musk-backed group buys at least $670,000 of TV time to support Brad Schimel
Washington Post:
Trump casts psychiatric and weight-loss drugs as threats to children
Discussion: Eschaton
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
The Death of Government Expertise
Pranshu Verma / Washington Post:
Elon Musk ridiculed a blind person on X. Then a mob went to work.
 

 
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

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: SpaceX is planning a secondary share sale that would value the company at $800B, surpassing OpenAI to make it the most valuable US private company

 
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