Top Items:
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Vought: Mass firings will begin ‘in a day or two’ — OMB chief Russ Vought told House Republicans on a private call Wednesday that the administration will start mass reduction in force moves, or firings, of federal workers “in a day or two,” according to four people granted anonymity to describe the call.
Discussion:
The Independent, Bloomberg, RedState, Talking Points Memo, The Register, Raw Story, Forbes, Esquire, New York Times, Blaze Media and CBS News
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Jordain Carney / Politico:
How John Thune sees the shutdown ending … “I keep telling them: When they have eight or 10 — preferably 10, or more — when they have a critical mass, let me know if there's a conversation they want to have,” Thune said. — He insisted he would not negotiate on the substance of an extension while the government is closed.
Discussion:
Newsweek
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Democratic leaders hold firm in face of mass firing threat: ‘Cruelty is the point’
Discussion:
MarketWatch, New York Times, The Parnas Perspective, Oregon Capital Chronicle, NewsMax.com, New Republic, Not the Bee, AFSCME and Bloomberg
Robert Jimison / New York Times:
These Democrats Voted With Republicans Against a Shutdown
These Democrats Voted With Republicans Against a Shutdown
Discussion:
Advocate, National Review, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Breitbart, OutsideTheBeltway, NRCC, Roll Call, Daily Mail, MSNBC, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner, IJR, Mediaite, Daily Kos, New York Times, ABC News, New York Sun, Althouse, Progress Pond, Newsweek, The Independent, Washington Times and Associated Press
Kate Santaliz / Axios:
White House to begin firing federal workers within"day or two"
White House to begin firing federal workers within"day or two"
Discussion:
NBC News, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times Now, NewsMax.com, NPR, The Hill, CNBC and NASA Watch
Drew Friedman / Federal News Network:
Government shutdown layoffs to occur ‘very soon,’ White House warns
Government shutdown layoffs to occur ‘very soon,’ White House warns
Discussion:
WTOP News, New York Times, GovExec.com and Roll Call
Dave Jamieson / HuffPost:
Trump Admin Tells Furloughed Workers To Set OOO Message Blaming Democrats For Shutdown — One health department employee said the directions seemed to be “coercing” subordinates into political activity. — After the government shutdown began Wednesday morning, furloughed employees …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
Federal Workers Are Being Told to Blame Democrats for the Shutdown — Workers at one agency were given unhinged, partisan language to use when setting out-of-office replies. — At 9:35am on Wednesday, the first morning of the US government shutdown, employees at the Small Business Administration …
Discussion:
Axios, HuffPost, WTOP News, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner, New Republic and Mediaite
Reuters:
FBI cuts ties with Anti-Defamation League, FBI director says — The FBI said on Wednesday it had cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish group that tracks antisemitism, after Republicans criticized the group for including slain activist Charlie Kirk's organization in a glossary on extremism.
Discussion:
The Western Journal, Blaze Media, Not the Bee, Israpundit, Fox News and Mediaite
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Gabby Deutch / Jewish Insider:
FBI's Kash Patel attacks ADL as ‘extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization’ — The FBI director said the bureau is cutting all formal ties with the Jewish civil rights group — FBI Director Kash Patel called the Anti-Defamation League “an extreme group functioning …
Discussion:
Breitbart
Rachel Wolf / Fox News:
Patel cuts ties Comey's FBI made with ADL as organization faces backlash for TPUSA criticism — 'That era is finished. This FBI formally rejects Comey's policies and any partnership with the ADL,' Patel said — EXCLUSIVE - FBI Director Kash Patel is cutting ties with the Anti-Defamation League …
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, HotAir, RedState, IJR, The National Pulse, The Gateway Pundit, Blaze Media, The Post Millennial and NewsMax.com
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Kash Patel pulls the plug on ADL's FBI training on extremism
Kash Patel pulls the plug on ADL's FBI training on extremism
Discussion:
Raw Story
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Trump targets states that voted for Harris in shutdown fight … New York-area lawmakers reacted with fury to the infrastructure cuts earlier Wednesday. — “Political revenge. Clearly outlined by Trump, time and again. He sees the U.S. as Blue and Red, and Blue states are enemies,” …
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Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
Trump Cuts Funding to 16 Blue States That Didn't Vote for Him
Discussion:
Raw Story, NOTUS, E&E News, Scripps News and The National Pulse
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump administration cancels nearly $8 billion in climate funding to blue states: Vought
Trump administration cancels nearly $8 billion in climate funding to blue states: Vought
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, NOTUS, Daily Kos, RedState and NewsMax.com
Ben Geman / Axios:
DOE ends billions in clean-energy awards following Vought tweet
DOE ends billions in clean-energy awards following Vought tweet
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, CBS News and Raw Story
Wall Street Journal:
White House Asks Colleges to Sign Sweeping Agreement to Get Funding Advantage — An initial round of nine schools is being asked to sign a wide-ranging accord — The Trump administration is laying out a set of operating principles that it wants universities to agree to in exchange for preferential access to federal funds.
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Associated Press:
Activists say Israeli navy has begun intercepting a Gaza-bound aid flotilla — Activists on board a flotilla of vessels sailing toward Gaza said late Wednesday that the Israeli navy had intercepted three of its boats as they approached the besieged Palestinian territory.
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John Sexton / HotAir:
Israel Blocks Greta Thunberg's Flotilla
Discussion:
Daily Mail, Times Now, Reuters and GB News
Slate:
There's a New Lawsuit Against “Kavanaugh Stops.” It's Absolutely Devastating. — Gregory Bovino, the officer in charge of roving immigration enforcement in American cities, admitted this week that his agents arrest people based on “how they look.” Asked by a WBEZ reporter to elaborate …
Melissa Goldin / Associated Press:
FACT FOCUS: Democrats did not shut down the government to give health care to ‘illegal immigrants’ — President Donald Trump and other high-ranking Republicans claim Democrats forced the government shutdown fight because they want to give free health care to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
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Associated Press:
Looming health insurance spikes for millions are at the heart of the government shutdown
Discussion:
Forbes, FactCheck.org, The Regulatory Review, KFF Health News, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Daily Montanan, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Orlando Sentinel, Washington Post, Florida Politics, Fox News, Roll Call, Bloomberg, xpostfactoid, Daily Kos, Blaze Media, Reason, The Daily Caller, UPI and PolitiFact
Keith Schneider / New York Times:
Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91 — Her discoveries in the 1960s about how chimpanzees behaved in the wild broke new ground and represented what was called “one of the Western world's great scientific achievements.”
Discussion:
ABC News, People, Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, CNN, Times Now, The Free Press, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Breitbart, Reuters, Slate, Gizmodo, Mercury News, The Daily Caller, Deseret News, France 24, GB News, The 19th, Deadline, twitchy.com, Daily Mail, Townhall, The Hill, El País, CBS News, Variety, UPI, One America News Network, Rolling Stone, NewsMax.com, TMZ.com, E&E News, The A.V. Club, Page Six, Vogue Business, Metro.co.uk, al.com, New York Post, 77 WABC and IJR
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Female veterans slam Hegseth's questioning of their combat fitness … - But Elisa Cardnell, the president and CEO of the Service Women's Action Network, said in a statement the “physical requirements for infantry school, special operations, or any other combat role are already gender-neutral.”
Washington Post:
White House fires much of the National Council on the Humanities — The White House appeared to fire all but four members of the National Council on the Humanities, an advisory board to the head of the government's grantmaking agency. — The White House on Wednesday abruptly terminated …
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, NOTUS, NewsMax.com and The Hill
Josh Christenson / New York Post:
Howard Lutnick tells ‘Pod Force One’ ex-neighbor Jeffrey Epstein showed off massage room, made creepy comment during townhouse tour — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a notable break with the Department of Justice, claimed late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was “the greatest blackmailer ever” …
Discussion:
Axios, Daily Mail, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite, New Jersey Online and New Republic
Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post:
Immigration judge denies Kilmar Abrego García's request to reopen case — The judge found “insufficient evidence” to show that the Trump administration would send Abrego to Uganda, according to a copy of the decision reviewed by The Washington Post. — A U.S. immigration judge …
Dorothy Thompson / Harper's:
Who Goes Nazi? — It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one's acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times—in Germany, in Austria, and in France.
Sean James / Mediaite:
Joe Rogan Defends Hegseth Address to Generals: ‘No More Identity Politics and B*llshit’ — Joe Rogan heartily approved of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's speech to top commanders and his proposed changes to the U.S. military, saying it was nice there would be “no more identify politics and b*llshit” infecting the armed forces.
Discussion:
al.com, The Hill, NewsNation, IJR, NewsMax.com and Fox News
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
OpenAI's Sora 2 Copyright Infringement Machine Features Nazi SpongeBobs and Criminal Pikachus — Within moments of opening OpenAI's new AI slop app Sora, I am watching Pikachu steal Poké Balls from a CVS. Then I am watching SpongeBob-as-Hitler give a speech about the “scourge of fish ruining Bikini Bottom.”
Discussion:
Poynter, Yahoo News, Gizmodo and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »
CNN:
Justice Department fires prosecutor falsely tied to Comey case in social media post — The Trump administration fired the top national security prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after a social media post by a right-wing activist and writer falsely tied …
Discussion:
Mediaite
Cathy Young / The UnPopulist:
Hegseth's Hatred of Americans Makes Him Unfit for Office but a Perfect Fit for Trump — The secretary is a Christian nationalist who wants to eliminate those who don't agree with his totalitarian vision — The speech delivered by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday at an extraordinary meeting …
Discussion:
The Atlantic and Washington Post
Matthew Xiao / The Washington Free Beacon:
Democratic Virginia AG Nominee Convicted in 2022 After Driving 116 MPH at Midnight, Court Records Reveal — Jay Jones, who completed 1,000 hours of community service in lieu of jail time, is set to challenge Republican incumbent Jason Miyares on the ballot next month
Discussion:
Richmond Times-Dispatch, New York Post, The Daily Caller, RedState and Fox News
Steve Kopack / NBC News:
U.S. companies shed 32,000 jobs in September in latest sign of labor market weakness — ADP's figures may be the only jobs data reported this week. The government shutdown means the Bureau of Labor Statistics is closed and unable to publish the official government report.
Discussion:
ADP, Inc., MarketWatch, CNN, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Fortune, Raw Story, UPI, The Hill, Forbes, Breitbart, Quartz, Daily Kos, Washington Times, Fox Business, New Republic and CBS News
Maya Goldman / Axios:
Some telehealth and home care frozen by shutdown — The government shutdown left some seniors without access to telehealth, while others receiving hospital-level care at home are being discharged or sent back to inpatient units. … - Most other Medicare and Medicaid services will continue …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Daily Caller News Foundation, Mother Jones, STAT and Washington Post
Caroline Vakil / The Hill:
Conservative appellate Judge Maria Lazar launches bid for open Wisconsin state Supreme Court seat — Conservative appellate Judge Maria Lazar announced on Wednesday that she would be launching a bid for an open Wisconsin Supreme Court seat vacated by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley.
Discussion:
WPR, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, Associated Press and WisPolitics
New York Times:
Drones, Helicopters, Hundreds of Arrests: Trump's Immigration Crackdown in Chicago So Far — The administration announced a federal operation in the Chicago area more than three weeks ago. Agents have appeared along downtown streets, and National Guard troops are expected.
Discussion:
Chicago Sun Times, NewsNation and Chicago Tribune
Quinnipiac University Poll:
Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro Hits 60% Job Approval, Leads Republicans In 2026, 2028 Matchups, Quinnipiac University Pennsylvania Poll Finds; Dems Sour On Fetterman While GOP Voters Approve Of Him — mail_outline — As Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro winds down his third year in office …
Discussion:
The Hill, Newsweek, The Daily Caller and New Jersey Online
Jennifer Jacobs / CBS News:
U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz isn't part of Trump's Cabinet, sources say — The post of United Nations ambassador isn't a Cabinet position, according to sources familiar with the matter, as President Trump signals the decreased importance of the U.N. to his administration.

