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.
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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.
Discussion:
Techdirt, The Fucking News and The Gateway Pundit
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) …
Discussion:
Poynter, PolitiFact, New York Post and Washington Examiner
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
New York Daily News:
NYC Mayor Adams calls demands to resign over Trump DOJ indictment dismissal a ‘modern day Mein Kampf,’ sparking outrage — Mayor Adams contended Monday that renewed calls for his resignation over President Trump's Justice Department bid to drop his corruption indictment amounts to …
Discussion:
Raw Story, New York Post and The Forward
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Associated Press:
Governor weighs removing NYC Mayor Adams after his top deputies quit amid criminal case turmoil
Discussion:
USA Today, New York Times, New York Post, The Post Millennial, Townhall, Fox News, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Bloomberg, The City, ABC News, The Hill, Politico and abc7NY
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 …
Discussion:
CBC News, The Hill, CTV News, Fox News, CNN, New York Post, USA Today, RTÉ, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, IJR, NPR, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, UPI, New York Daily News, Fox Business, WHDH-TV, The Daily Wire, WAGA-TV, CBS News, Townhall, Mediaite, The Indian Express, RedState, San Diego Union-Tribune, The Japan Times, Associated Press, PBS NewsHour, Breitbart, One America News Network, TMZ.com and Politico
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
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
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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 …
RELATED:
emptywheel:
Why Elon Musk Can't Run DOGE [sic] Anymore — Yesterday, Judge Tanya Chutkan had a Presidents Day hearing on a lawsuit challenging DOGE's actions. While she reportedly seemed inclined not to grant an emergency restraining order, she did order the government to provide her with two pieces of information …
RELATED:
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
Discussion:
Reuters, Fortune, Bloomberg, The Moderate Voice, Semafor, The Japan Times, CNN, Associated Press, Politico and The Indian Express
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
Peace or Partition? — Russians and Americans speak about Ukraine, without Ukrainians
Discussion:
Fox News, CNN, NBC News, Washington Post, Bloomberg, UPI, The Federalist, New York Times, New York Daily News, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Forbes, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Mail
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
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:
Raw Story, Townhall, Grabien and Saywhat Politics
Paul Krugman:
Making Microbes Great Again — The Texas measles outbreak is just the beginning — I'm almost certain that I had measles as a child. My memories are a bit vague, and unfortunately my parents, who would surely have remembered the incident, have passed on.
Discussion:
Forbes, CBS News, Raw Story and New York Post
RELATED:
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
WSJ asks Kennedy to cast aside ‘antivax hooey’ amid Texas measles outbreak
WSJ asks Kennedy to cast aside ‘antivax hooey’ amid Texas measles outbreak
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, Daily Kos and Off the Kuff
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 …
Discussion:
Mock Paper Scissors, CNN, Raw Story, New Republic and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
A team from SpaceX is being brought in to overhaul the 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 …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Rolling Stone, Axios, The Guardian, New York Post, Townhall, Daily Mail, The Fucking News, Hollywood Life, Politico, KFOR-TV, UPI, RedState, Daily Kos, Washington Examiner, The Hill, TechCrunch and CNN
Mark Landler / New York Times:
Europe, Dazed by Trump, Confronts Hard Choices in Ukraine — Faced with undisguised hostility from the Trump administration, Europeans are preparing for what is shaping up to be a go-it-alone era. — For years, European leaders have fretted about reducing their dependence on a wayward United States.
RELATED:
Haley Ott / CBS News:
Europe grapples over its “collective security” under pressure from Trump
Europe grapples over its “collective security” under pressure from Trump
Discussion:
Reuters, The Dispatch, Agence France-Presse, Euractiv, UnHerd, LewRockwell, The Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, New York Post, UPI, Daily Mail, spiked, RTÉ, HuffPost, BBC, New York Times and Fortune
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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Cafe Hayek and Raw Story
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 …
Discussion:
The Hill, American Greatness, Breitbart, New York Post, RedState, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy and Washington Examiner
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 …
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
“His mission is to eradicate ‘woke Jesus’”: How money, lies and religion are abused to gut democracy — Journalist Katherine Stewart's “Money, Lies, and God” takes readers into Trump's movement to end America — Money, God and lies: These are the three pillars of the movement that led …


