Top Items:
Axios:
Trump to announce “aggressive” Ukraine weapons plan — President Trump will announce a new plan to arm Ukraine on Monday that is expected to include offensive weapons, two sources with knowledge of the plans tell Axios. … - U.S., Ukrainian and European officials hope the weapons will shift …
Discussion:
Politico, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Semafor, The Kyiv Independent and Reuters
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump's Willingness to Arm Ukraine Puts Him Closer to Biden Approach
Discussion:
Associated Press
Minho Kim / New York Times:
In His Own Words: How Trump Changed His Tone on Putin and the War in Ukraine
In His Own Words: How Trump Changed His Tone on Putin and the War in Ukraine
Discussion:
HuffPost, The Kyiv Independent and The Gateway Pundit
Francesca Chambers / USA Today:
Trump says US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine: ‘They desperately need’ them
Trump says US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine: ‘They desperately need’ them
Discussion:
ABC, Reuters, Fox News, Associated Press, New York Times, UPI, The Independent, The Hill, The European Conservative, NewsMax.com and The Japan Times
New York Times:
Biden Says He Made the Clemency Decisions That Were Recorded With Autopen … Toward the end of his term as president, Joseph R. Biden Jr. reduced the sentences of nearly 4,000 federal convicts and pre-emptively pardoned dozens of politically prominent people he saw as potential targets …
Discussion:
New York Sun, RedState, The Federalist and Fox News
RELATED:
NBC News:
Live updates: Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine — President Donald Trump's announcement comes ahead of a meeting with NATO secretary general at the White House. … Economic council head says Trump's ability to fire Fed's Powell is ‘being looked into’ — Megan Lebowitz and Lindsey Pipia
Discussion:
The Hill
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Excerpts From The Times's Interview With Biden on Clemency Decisions
Excerpts From The Times's Interview With Biden on Clemency Decisions
Discussion:
Townhall, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Rolling Stone, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Axios
The Hill:
Democrats find reasons for hope and fear six months into Trump 2.0 — Nearing the six-month mark of President Trump's frenetic second term, Democrats are fighting to find their footing and claw themselves from the wilds of the minority in next year's midterm elections.
Discussion:
Politico and American Greatness
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Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit — The U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal challenges to signature Trump administration policies - such as restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard University …
Adam Wren / Politico:
Playbook: Trump's Epstein headache isn't going away — With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco — Good Monday morning. It's Adam Wren in the seat on what is shaping up to be a newsy week. Let's get to it. Get in touch. — In today's Playbook ...
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Allan Smith / NBC News:
Tucker Carlson leads MAGA's worried warriors in questioning Trump
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Daily Mail
Marc Caputo / Axios:
3 ways Trump might try to defuse the Epstein mess — President Trump isn't ready to course-correct over how his administration has handled the Jeffrey Epstein evidence. — But officials and advisers are considering at least three ways Trump could try to defuse an issue that …
Discussion:
USA Today, Newsweek, Alternet.org, Reuters, Mediaite and New York Post
RELATED:
Lauren McGaughy / ProPublica:
Why Gov. Greg Abbott Won't Release His Emails With Elon Musk — We asked Abbott for his and his staff's emails with Elon Musk and Musk's companies. The governor's office won't turn them over, saying some contain “intimate and embarrassing” information that is “not of legitimate concern to the public.”
Discussion:
The Texas Tribune
Ben Penn / Bloomberg Law:
Bondi Fires Her Personal Ethics Chief as DOJ Purge Continues — Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired her personal ethics adviser, removing the Justice Department's top official responsible for counseling the most senior political appointees, according to two people familiar with the move.
Discussion:
UPI
Ana Swanson / New York Times:
It's No Bluff: The Tariff Rate Is Soaring Under Trump — The president has earned a reputation for bluffing on tariffs. But he has steadily and dramatically raised U.S. tariffs, transforming global trade. — President Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs have prompted investors to bet that he will …
Discussion:
New York Times
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Washington Post:
Texas just gutted free speech on college campuses. Is your state next? — New laws in the Lone Star State will silence dissent and undermine faculty authority. — Laura Benitez is state policy manager and Jonathan Friedman is Sy Syms managing director for PEN America's U.S. free expression programs.
Discussion:
Jewish Insider
Perry Vandell / Arizona Republic:
Gov. Hobbs demands inquiry into federal response to Grand Canyon Lodge fire — Gov. Katie Hobbs questioned the federal government's handling of the Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed numerous structures on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Axios, Fox News, New York Daily News and UPI
Carlos Monarrez / Detroit Free Press:
Tigers players aren't worried about deportation but union suggests they carry documents — The MLBPA advises players to carry documentation and offers support regarding immigration issues. — Even high-profile athletes are not immune to immigration issues, as demonstrated by recent cases.
Bianca Vázquez Toness / Associated Press:
Boys & Girls Club programs threatened by Trump grant freeze serve thousands of families — After driving through a downpour to take her son to day camp, Darleen Reyes told camp administrators the rain would have kept her away but her son insisted on going. As she marked her son's name present …
Wall Street Journal:
How China's Military Is Flexing Its Power in the Pacific — The U.S. sounds the alarm and calls on allies to do more as Beijing's forces venture further from its shores — HONG KONG—China's military is extending its reach deeper into the Pacific, sending ships and aircraft into new territory …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Andrew Solender / Axios:
House Democrat floats radical solution to Congress' age problem — Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is proposing something unprecedented: Having Congress' ethics office effectively adjudicate whether lawmakers are too cognitively impaired to do their jobs.
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Public Broadcasters Brace for Vote on Sharp Funding Cut — At the urging of President Trump, Congress is expected to vote this week on whether to cut $500 million per year for public radio and TV stations. — Julie Overgaard, the executive director of South Dakota's biggest public broadcaster …
The Bulwark:
Unfit to Serve: Jeanine Pirro Made Excuses for Jan. 6th — Senators weighing her nomination for U.S. attorney should revisit her remarks denigrating prosecutors and calling defendants “hostages.” — SEN. THOM TILLIS OF NORTH CAROLINA, a Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee …
Discussion:
CBS News
Washington Examiner:
Elmo's X account gets hacked, posts antisemitic messages on social media — The official X account of the Sesame Street character, Elmo, was allegedly hacked on Sunday. — Several hate-filled posts with slurs and antisemitic messages were posted by the X account of the beloved Sesame Street puppet.
Discussion:
New York Times, Townhall, New York Post, Fox News, The Forward, Rolling Stone, Breitbart, Daily Mail and israelhayom.com
Dexter Filkins / New Yorker:
Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War? — With global conflicts increasingly shaped by drones and A.I., the American military risks losing its dominance. — Late this spring, I was led into a car in Kyiv, blindfolded, and driven to a secret factory in western Ukraine.
Washington Post:
Floods put Abbott, a disaster veteran, at crossroads of Trump's FEMA rebrand — The Trump administration has heralded Texas as the kind of partner it wants in overhauling FEMA. — Weeks before flash floods devastated the Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott participated in the first meeting …
Discussion:
Off the Kuff

