Top Items:
Associated Press:
Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — 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 to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.
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New York Times:
Trump Fires Joint Chiefs Chairman Amid Flurry of Dismissals at Pentagon — The decision to fire Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a four-star fighter pilot, upends a tradition in which the Joint Chiefs chairman traditionally remains in place as administrations change.
Discussion:
Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, Breaking Defense and Mediaite
Breaking Defense:
Hegseth fires Navy top officer, Air Force No. 2 — The firings of Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Gen. James Slife follows tonight's removal of Gen. CQ Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. — WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth today announced he was removing Adm. Lisa Franchetti …
Discussion:
UPI
John Ismay / New York Times:
Hegseth Fires Navy's Top Officer
Discussion:
DefenseScoop, The Gateway Pundit and Fox News
Nancy A. Youssef / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Fires the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Trump Fires the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Discussion:
Instapundit
Joe Rennison / New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story and UPI
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David Goldman / CNN:
Dow tumbles more than 700 points as inflation and tariff fears mount — US stock markets fell sharply Friday after an economic report showed American consumers are growing increasingly fearful of price increases and how President Donald Trump's tariffs could reignite the inflation crisis.
Discussion:
Financial Times, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Fox Business, Associated Press, San Diego Union-Tribune, Reuters and CBS News
David Bauder / Associated Press:
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.
Hannah Knowles / Washington Post:
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 …
Discussion:
NBC News, Raw Story, City Journal and The Week
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NBC News:
At town halls, Republicans feel the heat from Trump and Musk's firing and cutting spree
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos, Newsweek, CNN, Washington Examiner, WAGA-TV, CBS News, Raw Story, Mediaite, New Republic, USA Today, The Fucking News, HuffPost and New York Magazine
Nick Rommel / WPR:
US Rep. Glenn Grothman faces hostile crowd at Oshkosh town hall meeting
US Rep. Glenn Grothman faces hostile crowd at Oshkosh town hall meeting
Discussion:
ABC News, New Jersey Online and Digby's Hullabaloo
Washington Post:
Acting ICE director removed amid White House pressure to boost arrests — Caleb Vitello, a veteran ICE official, will be reassigned in latest agency shakeup. — The Trump administration has removed the top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement one month into his tenure …
Discussion:
Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Times, RedState, Bloomberg, NewsNation, CBS News, One America News Network and Politico
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Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
Trump administration reassigning acting ICE director
Discussion:
New York Post, Grabien and The Hill
Sophia Cai / Politico:
‘Precision is the priority’? Trump administration pauses some mass firings — One White House official says there is now a reluctance to fire veterans. — After a chaotic first wave of mass firings, Trump administration officials say they are slowing the pace of gutting certain agencies …
Discussion:
Salt Lake Tribune, CBS News and Talking Points Memo
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Erin Doherty / Axios:
French leader cancels CPAC speech after Bannon's apparent Nazi salute … - Bannon did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. — A CPAC representative did not respond to a request for comment Friday. … - “As a result, I have taken the immediate decision to cancel …
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Reuters:
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 …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Euromaidan Press, more at Techmeme »
NBC News:
Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio arrested on assault charge outside U.S. Capitol — Tarrio was released from prison last month after President Donald Trump cut short his 22 year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Discussion:
WUSA, Politico, Associated Press, WNYW-TV, USA Today, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Times, Raw Story, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Blaze Media, Daily Kos, Saywhat Politics and The Follow
Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
Trump's Firing Spree at FAA Was Even More Terrible Than He Admitted — The Trump administration's Federal Aviation Administration firings are much worse than they initially let on. — Politico has reported that the 130 terminated FAA workers last month included critical employees who directly …
Discussion:
ABC News, The Independent, New Jersey Online, Politico and InDepthNH.org
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Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
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 …
Discussion:
Reuters, UPI, Chicago Tribune, NPR and Raw Story
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Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Rejects, for Now, Trump's Bid to Fire Government Watchdog
Supreme Court Rejects, for Now, Trump's Bid to Fire Government Watchdog
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Times, SCOTUSblog and Common Dreams
Nina Golgowski / HuffPost:
‘See You In Court’: Maine Gov. Goes Head-To-Head With Trump Over Trans Athlete Ban — Democrat Janet Mills had a heated exchange with Trump after he threatened to withhold federal funds to states that don't obey his executive order. — LOADING — Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) …
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, New York Times, USA Today, ABC News, The Atlantic, Advocate, Daily Caller News Foundation, Fox News, Scripps News, Raw Story, WCSH, The Maine Wire, Daily Kos, Rolling Stone, New Jersey Online, WNYW-TV, RedState, Twitchy, The Post Millennial, American Thinker, New York Post, The Independent, The Federalist, IJR, Hollywood Life, Townhall, Washington Times, American Greatness, al.com, HotAir, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, NPR, Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, Deadline, New York Times and Political Wire
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NOTUS:
Immigration Activists Hope the Courts Will Stall Trump's TPS Orders Again — The Trump administration is ending temporary protected status for Haitians early, but activists plan to fight back. — Copy — Immigrant rights activists are preparing to fight in court against the Trump …
Discussion:
JURIST, Department of Homeland …, Boston Herald, WUSA, Reason, Gothamist, The National Pulse, Fox News, Breitbart, New York Times, Washington Examiner, CWS, American Greatness, UPI, NBC News and Bloomberg
Charlie Mahtesian / Politico:
The political education of Elon Musk — THE WIDE STATE — Elon Musk's move-fast-and-break-things ethos has served him well so far in his efforts to demolish the federal bureaucracy. — But now comes the moment the billionaire leading President Donald Trump's DOGE initiative may not be prepared for …
Discussion:
Reason, The Nation and WOAI
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Frank Bowman / Slate:
Trump Issued Perhaps His Most Terrifying Executive Order on Tuesday — Over the past month, many have warned that President Donald Trump is trying to make himself king or dictator. Trump's defenders wave off such warnings as hysterical hyperbole. The past week has shown that they are very much not.
Kiley Koscinski / 90.5 WESA:
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 …
Ali Bianco / Politico:
Richard Grenell: There will be conditions on Los Angeles fire aid — The Trump administration special envoy said the White House is talking about what the conditions will be. — President Donald Trump's special envoy Richard Grenell said there will be strings attached to California wildfire aid.
Discussion:
Whittier Daily News, Los Angeles Times and The Hill
Isabel van Brugen / The Daily Beast:
Former Intelligence Officer Claims KGB Recruited Trump — A former Soviet intelligence officer has alleged that Donald Trump was recruited by the KGB in 1987 and given the codename “Krasnov.” Alnur Mussayev, 71, a former head of intelligence in Kazakhstan and before that a Soviet KGB officer …
Discussion:
Byline Times
Isabella Crowley / The Observer:
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 …
Michelle Lewis / Electrek:
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.
Christina Jewett / New York Times:
F.D.A. Firings Decimated Teams Reviewing A.I. and Food Safety — Staff units evaluating high-tech surgical robots and insulin-delivery systems were gutted by Trump layoffs even though industry fees, not taxpayers, financed the employee salaries. — In recent years, the Food …
Discussion:
Reuters and The Independent
Politico:
Europe targets homegrown nuclear deterrent as Trump sides with Putin — Germany's Merz says Britain and France may need to “share” their nuclear weapons as America can't be relied on to defend NATO. — Europe's politicians are openly discussing how they could tackle the threat …
Discussion:
Foreign Policy
David Gardner / The Daily Beast:
Melania Trump's Astonishing Verdict on Her Husband Revealed — A bombshell new book makes some startling new revelations about Donald Trump's bizarre marriage to Melania. “She f—ing hates him,” a “Mar-a-Lago patio confidant” of Trump and his family told Michael Wolff.
Discussion:
The Guardian and Raw Story
Politico:
MAGA takes aim at the Republican hawks — Trump loyalists are sending a message to the GOP's foreign policy traditionalists. — Top allies of President Donald Trump are in an escalating clash with the Republican Party's once-powerful defense hawks, viewing them as key obstacles standing …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Raw Story, CBS News, The Guardian, Vox, The Hill, The Kyiv Independent and Associated Press
Joe Anuta / Politico:
Eric Adams sues Trump over missing $80M — In a surprise move, federal officials clawed back funds approved by Congress for immigrant services. — NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams filed a lawsuit Friday against President Donald Trump and others in his administration over $80 million …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Post, New York Daily News and abc7NY
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Inside DOGE's Dumbest Cut Yet — Andrew had meant to spend yesterday soaking in the sights and sounds at CPAC, but found himself tied up reporting our lead story below. So he missed Vice President JD Vance's culture-war ruminations, Steve Bannon's calls for a third Trump term in 2028 …
Discussion:
Politico, Newsbusters, The American Conservative, Twitchy, New Republic, IJR and The Daily Wire
Amy Maxmen / KFF Health News:
Texas Measles Outbreak Nears 100 Cases, Raising Concerns About Undetected Spread — Some private schools have shut down because of a rapidly escalating measles outbreak in West Texas. Local health departments are overstretched, pausing other important work as they race to limit the spread of this highly contagious virus.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, KHOU-TV, New York Post, Daily Press, Forbes, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Hill, Fox News and USA Today
Haley Chi-Sing / Fox News:
Bondi says Epstein client list ‘sitting on my desk right now,’ and is reviewing JFK, MLK files — Bondi herself advocated for the release of the Epstein list in 2024 — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday said the Jeffrey Epstein client list is “sitting on my desk right now” …


