Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and two other military officers  —  President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign led …

Exclusive: US could cut Ukraine's access to Starlink internet services over minerals, say sources  —  U.S. negotiators pressing Kyiv for access to Ukraine's critical minerals have raised the possibility of cutting the country's access to Elon Musk's vital Starlink satellite internet system …

New Social Security chief was being investigated when Musk team tapped him  —  Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office, was suspected of sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk's U.S. DOGE Service.  Now he's the acting Social Security commissioner.

DOGE's Only Public Ledger Is Riddled With Mistakes  —  The figures from Elon Musk's team of outsiders represent billions in government cuts.  They are also full of accounting errors, outdated data and other miscalculations.  —  Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency …

Kristi Noem Says $200 Million DHS Ad Campaign Thanking Trump Was His Idea  —  Trump's Homeland Security Secretary said he instructed her to make ads that “thank me for closing the border”  —  NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — The Department of Homeland Security has budgeted up to $200 million …

US Rep. Glenn Grothman faces hostile crowd at Oshkosh town hall meeting  —  Constituents ask congressman about Medicaid funding, power of Elon Musk  —  People booed and jeered at U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman as he walked into the Algoma Town Hall just outside Oshkosh Friday morning.

AP sues 3 Trump administration officials, citing freedom of speech  —  The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the 10-day blocking of its journalists.

Stock Market Sees Biggest Declines of Trump's Presidency So Far  —  Fueling a 1.7 percent decline on Friday was an unexpected drop in the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index, as Americans worried about stubborn inflation.  —  Stocks slumped on Friday, with the S&P 500 wiping …

Judge largely blocks Trump's executive orders ending federal support for DEI programs  —  A federal judge on Friday largely blocked sweeping executive orders from President Donald Trump that seek to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

How Federal Employees Are Fighting Back Against Elon Musk … Karen Ortiz, an administrative law judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said her ability to send emails was shut off after she sent an agencywide message calling on the commission's acting chair to resign.Taurat Hossain for The New York Times

Another Town Hall(s) Goes Off the Rails - Oregon 2nd District Edition  —  In Oregon's 2nd district, Rep. Cliff Bentz (R) got a rude awakening in four town halls he held in this past week.  At one point in his town hall in La Grande he chided the audience, saying a lot of representatives had refused to even hold town halls.

The DOGE Project Will Backfire  —  Trump's war on public employees is bad for all of us.  —  President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk justify dismantling the civil service as cost cutting.  The federal government has “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud …

Trump's Own Pollster Just Hit Him with Very Bad News—and a Warning  —  As you watch President Donald Trump and Elon Musk recklessly attempt to destroy the federal government like a pair of toddlers picking legs off a spider, it seems as if Republicans have decided public opinion no longer constrains them in the least.

Recording reveals new details on controversial DOGE employee  —  Less than three years before Elon Musk tapped him to take part in a sweeping overhaul of the US government, Edward Coristine, then 17, was the subject of a heated dispute between two executives at the Arizona-based cybersecurity firm where he was an intern.

Craving more energy, Maryland looks to nuclear power  —  Lawmakers are considering measures this legislative session that could encourage more nuclear energy in the state.  (Angelique Gingras/Capital News Service)  —  ANNAPOLIS - In a legislative session dominated by energy issues …

Trump to shut down all 8,000 EV charging ports at federal govt buildings  —  The Trump administration is shutting down EV chargers at all federal government buildings and is also expected to sell off the General Services Administration's (GSA) newly bought EVs.

Prominent DOGE Staffer Is Grandson Of Turncoat KGB Spy  —  [A brief editorial note: About 10 years ago, I began researching the Year of the Spy and some famous Reagan-era espionage cases.  This post draws from that research.  See also my previously published article about the NSA traitor Ronald Pelton.]

Judge extends block on DOGE's access to federal payment systems  —  The ruling found that DOGE access to the payment systems created a “realistic danger that confidential financial information will be disclosed.”  —  A federal judge on Friday extended an order keeping Elon Musk's DOGE team …

The University of Pittsburgh pauses its Ph.D. admissions process amid research funding uncertainty  —  Amid uncertainty about frozen research aid from the National Institutes of Health, the University of Pittsburgh has put its Ph.D. admissions on ice.  The school confirmed Friday …

The Trump team ups the trolling to 11  —  Provocative messages have become central to the Trump team's political efforts, inviting everyone to guess what's a joke and what's not.  —  A month ago, Elon Musk rang in President Donald Trump's second term with a straight-arm salute that divided a political nation.

Trump wants America to shine on AI.  DOGE is blundering it.  —  One of the big challenges of reporting on the new administration is that it's hard to figure out who's really calling the shots.  Take AI.  In his comments to world leaders at the AI Action Summit in Paris last week …

Back in their districts, GOP lawmakers get an earful on DOGE and Musk  —  Town halls from Wisconsin to Oregon grew testy this week as concerned voters showed up to vent  —  ROSWELL, Georgia — The crowd packed into City Hall and filled an overflow room with one question, above all …

Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling  —  Using an arcane law, officials have effectively delayed funding from the National Institutes of Health, leaving medical studies in jeopardy.  —  The Trump administration has blocked key parts of the federal government's apparatus …

Rep. Cliff Bentz fields questions at emotional Union County town hall  —  LA GRANDE — Oregon's U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz tried to make it through his usual routine Wednesday, Feb. 19, at his town hall in La Grande.  But the crowd was not having it.  —  Residents from Union County …

Supreme Court maintains pause on Trump bid to immediately fire watchdog agency head  —  The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, weighs in on a case involving the new Trump administration for the first time.  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday for now prevented President Donald …

Pentagon to fire 5,400 civilian employees in ‘initial’ purge  —  The dismissals will begin next week, officials said, and could expand to include tens of thousands of other workers throughout the Defense Department.  —  The Pentagon said Friday that it will fire about 5,400 civilian employees …

Trump, After G.O.P. Criticism, Reverses Cuts to 9/11 Survivors' Program  —  About 20 percent of the World Trade Central Health Program's staff had been terminated amid President Trump's slashing of the federal work force.  —  The Trump administration has reversed itself on making funding …

Elon Musk's first month of destroying America will cost us decades … Let's pause and look at what the Elon Musk administration has done so far.  —  There's been a lot of panic about the immediate but somewhat abstract constitutional crisis as Elon Musk's misleadingly-named Department …