Top Items:
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Democrats Are About to Eat Their Own — Expect a bizarre scene at the White House today, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is showing up to sign an agreement pledging some Ukrainian rare-mineral rights to the United States—theoretically in exchange for further U.S. opposition to Vladimir Putin engulfing his country.
Discussion:
Off Message, The Hill and Vanity Fair
RELATED:
BBC:
Trump tells Zelensky 'make a deal or we're out' in angry White House meeting
Discussion:
New York Times, CNBC, The Hill, Reuters, CNN, Breitbart, Scripps News, Daily Mail, Twitchy, Euromaidan Press, CBS News, Skift, The Gateway Pundit, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Metro.co.uk, Washington Examiner, The Independent, Raw Story, The Kyiv Independent, New York Post, The Post Millennial, UPI, Jewish Insider, Semafor, The Daily Wire and Fox News
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump, Zelensky and Vance Argue Over Ukraine War
Trump, Zelensky and Vance Argue Over Ukraine War
Discussion:
RedState, New York Daily News and Diane Ravitch's blog
Bloomberg:
Trump, Zelenskiy Shouting Match Shelves Deal on Ukraine Minerals
Trump, Zelenskiy Shouting Match Shelves Deal on Ukraine Minerals
Discussion:
Reuters, WHDH-TV, Irish Examiner, Associated Press, Semafor, The Daily Caller, The National Pulse and The Independent
Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump ends talks with Zelensky, accuses him of not being ‘ready for peace’
Trump ends talks with Zelensky, accuses him of not being ‘ready for peace’
Discussion:
Axios, Townhall, New York Post, NPR, Louder With Crowder, The Post Millennial, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Mail
Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing / Politico:
Russian state media briefly enters Oval Office during Zelenskyy meeting
Russian state media briefly enters Oval Office during Zelenskyy meeting
Discussion:
Daily Mail, Reuters, CBS News, New Jersey Online, The Post Millennial and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Trump cancels news conference with Zelensky after contentious Oval Office meeting
Trump cancels news conference with Zelensky after contentious Oval Office meeting
Discussion:
Fox News, NOTUS, Rolling Stone, CNBC, Politico, Washington Examiner, The Hill, MeidasTouch News, USA Today, CBS News, HotAir, RedState, New York Magazine, Daily Mail, TMZ.com, Deadline, WHDH-TV, The National Pulse, Bangor Daily News, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Twitchy, Mediaite, The Independent, The Kyiv Independent, Townhall, Associated Press, The Post Millennial, WCSH, Scripps News, The Gateway Pundit and Political Wire
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
Why Aren't We in the Streets? — On Trump the Almighty and his so-far quiescent capital.
Why Aren't We in the Streets? — On Trump the Almighty and his so-far quiescent capital.
Discussion:
Althouse
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:
NBC News, Washington Post, The Hill, USA Today, Axios, Townhall, UPI, Breitbart, Daily Kos, CBS News, The Guardian, New Republic, masslive.com, The Post Millennial, The National Pulse, Backbencher, The Daily Caller and NewsNation
RELATED:
Michelle L. Price / Associated Press:
Trump to sign order Friday designating English as the official language of the US
Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:
Democratic National Committee Files Lawsuit Against Trump
Democratic National Committee Files Lawsuit Against Trump
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Daily Caller News Foundation, Democrats and Business Insider
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Trump to sign order making English the official U.S. language
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:
Reason, The Daily Signal, Christian Science Monitor and spiked
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Two Good Reads. — There are two good, big feature pieces out from the Times and the Journal …
Two Good Reads. — There are two good, big feature pieces out from the Times and the Journal …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
Jake Lahut / Wired:
Elon Musk's Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple
Elon Musk's Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple
Discussion:
Raw Story
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Bezos' changes at ‘Washington Post’ lead to mass subscription cancellations — again — More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced on Wednesday that he would radically overhaul the paper's opinion pages …
Isabella Cueto / STAT:
RFK Jr. moves to eliminate public comment on HHS decisions — In notice to Federal Register, health agency says public participation is not needed in many decisions — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Friday proposing to strip public participation from much of the business his department conducts.
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:
Talking Points Memo, Newsweek, Democrats and Fox Business
RELATED:
Justin Glawe / Rolling Stone:
Lies, Cuts, Closures: Trump and Musk Ravage Social Security Administration
Lies, Cuts, Closures: Trump and Musk Ravage Social Security Administration
Discussion:
Raw Story, Associated Press, American Doom and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
CNN:
Exclusive: US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say — Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security …
Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
(Not) New: These Are Not the Epstein Files You're Looking For — One of the most important rules in politics is: Don't set expectations you can't meet. But even before that, there's this: make sure you have the goods you claim before, y'know, making a big deal about releasing them.
RELATED:
US Department of Justice:
Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files
Discussion:
Vox, The Hill, New Republic, Washington Examiner, People, Washington Post, Forbes, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, RedState, Blaze Media, New York Post, New York Times, Fox News, Gizmodo, Mediaite, NewsNation, Israpundit, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, IJR, Townhall, UPI, Associated Press, Page Six, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, The Daily Signal, Bloomberg, The Post Millennial, Raw Story, Daily Mail, The Maine Wire, Florida Politics, Scripps News, Washington Times, Hollywood Life, FOX 32 Chicago and The Independent
Rachel Treisman / NPR:
What to know about the Epstein files release, from redactions to ‘Rickrolling’
What to know about the Epstein files release, from redactions to ‘Rickrolling’
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Examiner, FOX 32 Chicago, CBS News, The American Spectator, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, NBC News, New Republic, RedState, NewsNation, Blaze Media and Fox News
Politico:
DOJ demotes top prosecutors of Jan. 6 defendants, Trump allies — The veteran lawyers who were reassigned include those who prosecuted Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro and leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. — The Justice Department has demoted some of the most senior federal prosecutors …
RELATED:
Bloomberg Law:
US Attorney Ed Martin Demotes Jan. 6 Case Supervisors — Washington's top federal prosecutor Ed Martin has demoted multiple senior supervisors involved in Jan. 6 insurrection cases to work in significantly reduced capacities. — The supervisors oversaw the office's work on federal crimes …
Discussion:
The Hill, New York Times, New York Post and Twitchy
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.
Discussion:
emptywheel and Electrek
Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:
Hundreds of weather forecasters fired in latest wave of DOGE cuts — Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said. Federal workers who were not let …
RELATED:
CNN:
NOAA fires about 800 employees, with more possible Friday
NOAA fires about 800 employees, with more possible Friday
Discussion:
OPB, Washington Post, NPR, New York Times, Oregonian, New Republic, Breitbart, E&E News, CBS News, Daily Kos, USA Today, UPI and Axios
ProPublica:
Speaker Mike Johnson Is Living in a D.C. House That Is the Center of a Pastor's Secretive Influence Campaign — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — In 2021, Steve Berger …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Diane Ravitch's blog
Stephen Robinson / Public Notice:
MAGA's Orwellian notion of “free speech” — 🗣️ 💬 📣 With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever. Public Notice is possible thanks to paid subscribers.
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Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Republicans consider major budget change to obscure deficit impact of extending Trump's tax cuts — GOP leaders argue that extending Trump's expiring 2017 tax cuts shouldn't be treated as costing any money. Democrats compare the tactic to nuking the 60-vote filibuster rule.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Committee for a …, HuffPost, Washington Examiner and Axios
RELATED:
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Republicans fear their big budget win is a 2026 time bomb
Republicans fear their big budget win is a 2026 time bomb
Discussion:
New York Times, New Republic, Raw Story, IJR, The Hill and Politico
Washington Post:
Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals. — The new strategy is in part meant to allow supervisors and agency heads to check whether employees' work fits into the Trump administration's goals and priorities, according to people familiar with it and records obtained by The Post.
Discussion:
The Hill, New Republic, New York Times, Daily Mail, CBS News, The Independent, Daily Kos and NewsNation
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
AOC wants answers from DOJ after Trump officials threaten investigation — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is pressing the Justice Department to reveal whether she — or her office — is under federal investigation. In a letter to newly confirmed attorney general Pam Bondi …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and Axios
RELATED:
Steve Inskeep / NPR:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells NPR: ‘Everything feels increasingly like a scam’
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells NPR: ‘Everything feels increasingly like a scam’
Discussion:
The Contrarian, New Republic and Daily Kos
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Here's the real threat to ‘personal liberties and free markets’ — The rapidly spreading authoritarianism coming from this administration threatens all of our freedoms. — Over the last 48 hours, I've been receiving from readers and friends the sort of notes one gets upon losing a loved one …
Discussion:
Thinking about, RedState and Issues & Insights
Washington Post:
FBI takes up EPA probe amid pushback from judge, prosecutors — 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 — FBI agents this week questioned Environmental Protection Agency …
Discussion:
IJR and Talking Points Memo
Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
Trump administration retreats in fight against Russian cyber threats — Recent incidents indicate US is no longer characterizing Russia as a cybersecurity threat, marking a radical departure: ‘Putin is on the inside now’ — Don't let a billionaire's algorithm control what you read.
Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:
The White House press corps needs to prove its value if it wants people to care about its fate — The White House press corps is justifiably outraged by Donald Trump's decision to start picking which reporters are allowed to follow him around and ask him questions.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, CBS News, Townhall, Megyn Kelly, Fox News, Techdirt and Newsbusters
ProPublica:
A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls “Woke.” — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — A few months ago …
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 …
Discussion:
Instapundit
NBC News:
A top DOJ spokesperson says he is resigning due to a ‘hostile and toxic work environment’ — Sarah Fitzpatrick — Michael Kosnar — Ken Dilanian and Rebecca Shabad — One of the Justice Department's highest-ranking spokespeople, Joshua Stueve, submitted a resignation letter today, citing a “hostile and toxic work environment.”
