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12:15 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:
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) …
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: Reuters and The Gateway Pundit
New York Times:
Top Social Security Official Leaves After Musk Team Seeks Data Access  —  The departure of the acting commissioner is the latest backlash to the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to access sensitive data.  —  The top official at the Social Security Administration stepped …
New York Times:
4 Top Officials to Resign Over Adams's Cooperation With Trump  —  Four deputy mayors to Eric Adams are leaving “to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families,” they said in a statement.  —  Four top New York City officials said they would resign after the Justice Department moved …
RELATED:
Governor Kathy Hochul:
Statement from Governor Kathy Hochul
Discussion: Politico and NPR
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 …
RELATED:
Tara Copp / Associated Press:
Trump begins firings of FAA staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash  —  The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
NBC News:
Hundreds of FAA employees let go as Trump's mass layoffs continue
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 …
RELATED:
Politico:
Judge seems unwilling to immediately bar Musk from meddling in federal agencies
Discussion: Scripps News and Raw Story
Sunjeev Bery / The Intercept:
This Is the Way to Stop Elon Musk  —  Senate Democrats have the power to block federal contracts to Tesla and SpaceX.  It's the path to pushing Musk out of politics.  —  WITH THE BACKING of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has embarked on an unconstitutional rampage against the federal government.
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
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
Haley Ott / CBS News:
Europe grapples over its “collective security” under pressure from Trump  —  European leaders gathered Monday in Paris for a hastily organized meeting to discuss how to react to recent diplomatic moves by the Trump administration pertaining to Ukraine.  The leaders of Poland, Germany …
RELATED:
Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:
Vance's real warning to Europe
Discussion: Raw Story and Asia Times
Lauren Irwin / The Hill:
Rubio spars with Brennan over Vance's Munich speech
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 …
Tom Gerken / BBC:
Argentina president faces impeachment calls over crypto crash  —  Argentine President Javier Milei is facing impeachment calls - and legal action accusing him of fraud - over his promotion of cryptocurrency on social media.  —  Milei posted on X, formerly Twitter, about the $LIBRA coin on Friday …
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.
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: 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 …
Daniel Bice / Journal Sentinel:
Bice: An Elon Musk-backed group buys at least $670,000 of TV time to support Brad Schimel  —  Conservative Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel said just recently he was hoping conservative third-party groups would start buying up TV time in the state “very soon.”  —  Ask and you shall receive.
Discussion: WisPolitics
Pranshu Verma / Washington Post:
Elon Musk ridiculed a blind person on X. Then a mob went to work.  —  Musk's unparalleled online reach on X has given him a powerful tool to attack individuals who criticize DOGE.  —  Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette works at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group focused on reducing bureaucratic waste.
Washington Post:
Trump casts psychiatric and weight-loss drugs as threats to children  —  Trump directed a panel headed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to assess “the prevalence of and threat” posed by SSRIs, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs.
Discussion: Eschaton
 
 
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 More Items: 
Helen Branswell / 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
Ailia Zehra / The Hill:
Homan says he's asked DOJ whether Ocasio-Cortez is impeding ICE
 Earlier Items: 
Pema Levy / Mother Jones:
There's No Way Elon Musk's Job is Legal
Discussion: Rolling Stone
New York Times:
Trump Pushes Business Interests in Golf, Mideast and New York as Conflicts Abound
Discussion: Raw Story
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
The Death of Government Expertise
Brad Reed / Raw Story:
'Can't be saved': Former Canadian defense official says relationship with U.S. is over
Peter Stone / The Guardian:
‘This is a coup’: Trump and Musk's purge is cutting more than costs, say experts
Popular Information:
In botched DEI purge, OSHA trashes workplace safety guidelines
Discussion: Raw Story
 

 
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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