Musk's DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS  —  The unusual request would put sensitive data about millions of American taxpayers in the hands of Trump political appointees.  —  Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service is seeking access to a heavily-guarded Internal Revenue Service system …

Trump administration pressures Romania to lift restrictions on Tate brothers  —  Tristan and Andrew Tate have been charged with sexual misconduct, organised crime and money laundering  —  The Trump administration has pressured Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions …

Hundreds of FAA probationary workers fired by Trump administration, union says  —  The Trump administration has started firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration probationary employees who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, according to their union.

Trump Voters Splinter Over His Rapid Shake-Up of Washington  —  Some core supporters love his no-holds-barred approach, but several swing voters are taken aback at his early moves

Washington Post backs out of ‘Fire Elon Musk’ ad order  —  The Washington Post this week backed out of a “Fire Elon Musk” advertising order that was to run as a wrap on some of its Tuesday editions, according to the advocacy group Common Cause.  —  The group said it signed a $115,000 agreement …

Elon Musk's X blocks links to Signal, the encrypted messaging service  —  Signal has been a primary method of communication for federal workers looking to blow the whistle on DOGE.  —  Elon Musk's social media platform, X, is currently banning links to “Signal.me,” a URL used by the encrypted messaging service Signal.

CDC ‘disease detectors’ among hundreds fired as Trump administration ramps up agency cuts  —  Administration officials last week informed CDC leaders of plans to cut up to 10% of its workforce as it targeted federal probationary employees.  —  The Trump administration on Saturday terminated hundreds …

Vance's real warning to Europe  —  Europeans need to reduce their dangerous dependence on an adversarial America  —  When JD Vance took the stage at the Munich Security Conference last week, he issued a stern warning.  The US vice-president told the assembled politicians and diplomats …

This is Not Marco Rubio's State Department  —  The secretary of State is taking positions that were once anathema and sounding very Trumpy online.  —  It is becoming increasingly clear that Marco Rubio is secretary of State in name only.  —  Since taking over Foggy Bottom …

125. The Court's First Trump II Case Won't Be a Bellwether  —  The challenge to Trump's removal of the head of the Office of Special Counsel raises unique procedural and substantive issues likely to prevent it from serving as a referendum—in either direction.

Jan. 6 Rioters Argue Pardons Apply to Charges Including Murder Plot, Child Porn  —  Defendants argue that Trump pardons should absolve them of additional crimes, some discovered during investigations of the Capitol riot

Insane: Margaret Brennan Says Free Speech Caused Holocaust  —  Did you know that the Nazis were free speech warriors, just like JD Vance and Elon Musk?  —  I didn't, but CBS' Margaret Brennan set me and Marco Rubio straight on this as she criticized JD Vance's speech in Munich.

Trump Targets a Growing List of Those He Sees as Disloyal … “It is more than obvious that Trump is fulfilling the promises that he made and campaigned on that he would retaliate against those who did him wrong,” said the lawyer Mark Zaid.Erin Schaff/The New York Times

The Rise of the Woke Right  —  A few conservatives are calling out the hypocrisy of Trump's language wars.  —  One of the defining features of the social-justice orthodoxy that swept through American culture between roughly the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 to Hamas's assault on Israel in 2023 was the policing of language.

Birthright Citizenship: Barnett & Wurman's NY Times Essay and their Bates/Blackstone Double Backfire  —  Randy Barnett & Ilan Wurman had a guest essay in the N.Y. Times on Feb. 15th: “Trump Might Have a Case on Birthright Citizenship.”  The bottom line is that their essay backfires …

The Week Ahead  —  Who you vote for is a political choice.  Whether a fully eligible citizen can vote isn't about politics, it's about your fundamental rights as an American.  For decades now, the Republican party's trajectory has involved making it more difficult for eligible people to vote …

2/17/25 ☀️ AM:  —  Senate GOP readies to consider budget plan with House out  —  Introducing the first speakers at The Conference  —  DOGE on the rampage but cracks start to emerge  —  Senate GOP readies to consider budget plan with House out … And happy Presidents' Day.