Top Items:
Salvador Rizzo / Washington Post:
Judge blocks Trump administration's mass firings of federal workers — A federal judge ruled that the terminations at several agencies, including the Department of Defense, were likely illegal. — SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Office of Personnel Management …
Discussion:
GovExec.com, OutsideTheBeltway, USA Today, Townhall, The Daily Caller, Axios, The Independent and Forbes
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Scott Dance / Washington Post:
Trump fires hundreds working on weather forecasts, satellite data and radar systems
Discussion:
Heatmap News, USA Today and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals
Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals
Discussion:
NewsNation
Eric Katz / GovExec.com:
Judge orders Trump administration to rescind directives on probationary employee firings
Judge orders Trump administration to rescind directives on probationary employee firings
Discussion:
NBC News, New York Times, Business Insider, Associated Press, NPR, USA Today, UPI, Defense One, Washington Examiner and Blaze Media
New York Times:
How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy — The operation was driven with a frenetic focus by the billionaire, who channeled his resentment of regulatory oversight into a drastic overhaul of government agencies. — On the last Friday of September 2023 …
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor and spiked
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Wall Street Journal:
Inside DOGE's Clash With the Federal Workforce — With a surprise incursion in the first minutes of the Trump presidency, Elon Musk's programmers seized control of a key personnel agency; ‘rogue bureaucrats’ fight back — WASHINGTON, D.C.-At 12:01 p.m. on Jan. 20, as Donald Trump …
Jake Lahut / Wired:
Elon Musk's Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple — Stephen and Katie Miller—he's “the prime minister,” sources say; she's DOGE's comms guru—liaise between the White House and Elon Musk, and are centrally involved as he tears the government apart.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Rebecca Crosby / Popular Information:
BREAKING: SEC halts fraud prosecution of Chinese national who sent Trump millions — In December, Popular Information reported that Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), a new venture backed by President Donald Trump and his family.
Discussion:
Bloomberg and CoinDesk, more at Techmeme »
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Allison Morrow / CNN:
A crypto mogul who invested millions into Trump coins is getting a reprieve on civil fraud charges — A version of this story appeared in CNN Business' Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. — New York CNN — A businessman who pumped $75 million …
CNN:
NOAA fires about 800 employees, with more possible Friday — The Trump administration has its government-shrinking sights set on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where around 800 employees have been tapped for termination, according to two sources close to the agency.
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The Guardian:
‘Cruel and thoughtless’: Trump fires hundreds at US climate agency Noaa — Employees informed by email that their jobs would be cut off at end of day in move a worker called ‘wrong all around’ — Don't let a billionaire's algorithm control what you read. Download our free app to get trusted reporting.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Axios, Scripps News and Washington Examiner
Zack Budryk / The Hill:
NOAA begins firing hundreds of staffers
NOAA begins firing hundreds of staffers
Discussion:
Denver Post, U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman and E&E News
Liz Goodwin / Washington Post:
Behind the scenes, GOP senators challenge legality of Trump's aid cuts — Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who lauded the USAID cuts, quietly joined Democrats in expressing alarm. — Just now — A handful of Republican senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in expressing alarm …
Discussion:
Wired, Hartford Courant, Raw Story and Daily Kos
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Reuters:
Services to millions of people collapse as USAID cuts contracts worldwide
Discussion:
The Guardian and Associated Press
Washington Post:
FBI investigating Trump EPA claims of fraud in $20B Biden grant fund — While career prosecutors in two U.S. attorney offices and a U.S. judge balked at a court-ordered freeze, Citibank has locked down billions without explanation. — Just now — FBI agents this week questioned …
Discussion:
Reason
Michael Kinnucan / New York Times:
Republicans Want to Gut Medicaid. They Might Regret It. — While President Trump has been busy with his executive branch rampage, congressional Republicans have been pursuing a plan to extend and enlarge Mr. Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which favor the richest Americans.
Discussion:
WUSA, Raw Story, USA Today, Politico, Montana Free Press, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and ABC News
RELATED:
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Republicans consider major budget change to obscure deficit impact of extending Trump's tax cuts
Discussion:
Committee for a …, HuffPost, Washington Examiner, Grabien, The Hill, Axios and New York Times
Pamela Herd / Can We Still Govern?:
Trump's Assault on Social Security — Social Security is our biggest and most successful safety net program. The annual $1.6 trillion in benefits constitutes 21% of federal spending and 40% of older adults' income. It lifts more people out of poverty than any other government program.
Discussion:
Newsweek and Talking Points Memo
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Fatima Hussein / Associated Press:
Social Security Administration could cut up to 50% of its workforce
Social Security Administration could cut up to 50% of its workforce
Discussion:
The Hill, Democrats, Fox Business, American Prospect and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
Stephanie Nolen / New York Times:
U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World — Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails. — Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department …
Discussion:
Politico
CDC Newsroom:
CDC Statement on Measles Outbreak — RELEASE — CDC Media Relations — (404) 639-3286 — [email protected] — CDC continues to be in close communication with Texas health authorities about the measles outbreak in West Texas, following the death of a child. HHS sends its deepest condolences to the family.
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Sarah Rumpf / Mediaite:
Young Republicans Group Invites Accused Sex Trafficker Brothers to Speak: ‘As Free Speech Absolutists...’ — The Tampa Bay Young Republicans tweeted an invitation to Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to come speak to their group, drawing swift criticism for the outreach to the men currently facing charges …
Discussion:
Florida Politics
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Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
Andrew Tate, Accused Sex Trafficker, Is Trump's Kind of Guy
Andrew Tate, Accused Sex Trafficker, Is Trump's Kind of Guy
Discussion:
The Dispatch, The Intercept, Mediaite, The Floridian, NBC News, The Independent, The Daily Wire, Washington Post, Townhall, Fox News, HuffPost, USA Today, NPR, The 19th, Digby's Hullabaloo, CBS News, Raw Story, Axios, The Daily Caller, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, Associated Press, New York Daily News, WAGA-TV, The Gateway Pundit, CityNews Toronto, New Republic, New York Post and Sky News
William Vaillancourt / The Daily Beast:
Musk Makes Big Mistake While Trying to Smear CNN Legal Analyst Norm Eisen — CARELESS — The billionaire DOGE chief found a woman with the same last name as a lawyer he hates. Cue the conspiracy.
David Smith / The Guardian:
Trump tried to extort Zelenskyy and was impeached - now he may succeed — The Ukrainian president is expected at the White House on Friday to sign a multimillion-dollar minerals deal with echoes of a notorious 2019 phone call — Alexander Vindman remembers the phone call - and what he did next.
Discussion:
Raw Story
RELATED:
New York Times:
The MAGA War on Speech — In 1791, the nation's founders ratified the First Amendment to the Constitution. It would come to offer protections in the new nation essentially never seen before: the right to ask things of and to criticize the government; to express opinions, popular or not …
Angela Yang / NBC News:
Some people online are planning an ‘economic blackout’ Friday. What does that mean? — Shoppers say they're targeting major companies to protest what they describe as corporate corruption. — An effort to encourage U.S. consumers to participate in a day of protest by not spending money Friday …
Discussion:
CNN, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Intercept, WUSA, El País, HotAir, TheGrio, New Jersey Online, masslive.com and Chicago Sun Times
US Department of Justice:
Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files — Today, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), declassified and publicly released files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his sexual exploitation …
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, Gizmodo, Townhall, IJR, The Hollywood Reporter, The National Pulse, The Gateway Pundit, NewsNation, Israpundit, UPI, The Hill, The Daily Caller, One America News Network, Rolling Stone, Page Six, Washington Examiner, RedState, The Daily Signal, FOX 32 Chicago, New Republic, Bloomberg, Raw Story, The Federalist, The Post Millennial, Daily Mail, Associated Press, The Maine Wire, Human Events, Florida Politics, Scripps News and Hollywood Life
William Shoki / New York Times:
Elon Musk Is South African. It Explains a Lot. — Elon Musk is everywhere. — He is firing federal employees, gaining access to important government data, popping into the Oval Office, appearing on Fox News alongside President Trump and even attending a White House cabinet meeting.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Louder With Crowder, RedState, Fox News and The Independent
Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Former defense chiefs denounce Trump's ‘reckless’ Pentagon firings — The five former leaders urged Congress to hold the president accountable for what they called his unjustified removal of the Joint Chiefs chairman and other top military officers. — Five former defense secretaries …
Discussion:
Reuters, Associated Press, Raw Story and Political Wire
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / New Republic:
MAGA Loses It as DOGE Staffer Identities Revealed — The New York Times identified several dozen employees working for the Department of Government Efficiency, but conservatives were surprisingly unhappy about the transparency. — “The so-called New York Times outs 45 people working for DOGE …
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and New York Times
Meridith McGraw / Wall Street Journal:
Trump to Sign Executive Order Making English Official U.S. Language — The U.S. has never had a national language in its nearly 250-year history — WASHINGTON—President Trump is planning to sign an executive order that would for the first time make English the official language of the U.S., according to White House officials.
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Post, Global Voices and 9to5Mac
Washington Post:
Harsh findings on Trump's aid freeze kept secret by USAID watchdog — Two reports showing dire impacts on Africa and Gaza have not been released in fear of Trump's wrath, official says — The watchdog for the U.S. Agency for International Development has yet to release two critical reports …


