Top Items:
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:
New York Times, Mediaite, The Handbasket and NOTUS
RELATED:
Gregory Svirnovskiy / Politico:
Vance says he'll talk Obamacare premiums with Schumer — but only with government open … The federal government shut down in the early morning Wednesday, raising the specter of furloughs for up to 750,000 federal employees, per the Congressional Budget Office.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Times, NewsMax.com, CNBC, The Wrap, Mediaite, KFF Health News, Fox News and STAT
Dave Jamieson / HuffPost:
Federal Workers Receive Emails Blaming Democrats For Government Shutdown — The Trump administration is brazenly flouting ethics guidelines as it tries to pin the shutdown on the Democratic Party. — Workers at several federal agencies received an email from their leaders late Tuesday blaming Democrats …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, New Republic, Fox News, The Guardian, USA Today, Federal News Network and NPR
New York Times:
Government Shutdown: Democrats Did the Smart Thing — The U.S. government is shut down. Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a stopgap funding bill, leading to the shutdown. The journalist Molly Jong-Fast argues that the Democrats did the smart thing by refusing to acquiesce to President Trump.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, HotAir, Tangle, Politico, Washington Post, Orlando Sentinel, Colorado Public Radio, Washington Times, Fox News, France 24, NPR, Pensacola News Journal, One America News Network, Townhall, Louder With Crowder, LGBTQ Nation, Florida Politics, New Jersey Online, Washington Blade, NewsNation, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, al.com, Times Now, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, NewsMax.com, The Hill, New Republic, The Daily Signal, Axios, Slate and Breitbart
Jonathan Cohn / The Bulwark:
The Republican Shutdown Argument is a Giant Lie
Discussion:
MSNBC, CNN, Associated Press and Mediaite
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate defeats House-passed bill to reopen government, despite Democratic cracks
Senate defeats House-passed bill to reopen government, despite Democratic cracks
Discussion:
New York Magazine, NewsNation, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, The Daily Signal, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, Ace of Spades HQ, WTOP News, NPR, MSNBC and RedState
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Vought: Mass firings will begin ‘in a day or two’
Vought: Mass firings will begin ‘in a day or two’
Discussion:
New York Times
NBC News:
Government shutdown threatens to upend Virginia's race for governor
Government shutdown threatens to upend Virginia's race for governor
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News, The Guardian, Semafor, Bloomberg, Axios, France 24, Above the Law, UPI, Daily Mail, PBS NewsHour, Raw Story, Deadline and Washington Post
NBC News:
Trump budget chief says firings are coming in ‘one to two’ days due to shutdown
Trump budget chief says firings are coming in ‘one to two’ days due to shutdown
Discussion:
The Hill
Ed Mazza / HuffPost:
‘Trump Is FAR Weaker Than He Looks’: AOC Says GOP Shutdown Plan Already ‘Backfiring’
‘Trump Is FAR Weaker Than He Looks’: AOC Says GOP Shutdown Plan Already ‘Backfiring’
Discussion:
The Hill
Politico:
Trump shields immigration and trade from shutdown fallout
Trump shields immigration and trade from shutdown fallout
Discussion:
New Republic and The Western Journal
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Democrats See No Need to Capitulate, Nor Republicans to Cut a Deal
Democrats See No Need to Capitulate, Nor Republicans to Cut a Deal
Discussion:
Sabato's Crystal Ball, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Fox News, NOTUS, Politico, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slow Boring, HotAir, IJR, Blue Virginia, Progress Pond, ABC News, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hill, The Contrarian, RedState, The Dispatch, Althouse, NBC News, The Guardian and Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
The Silence of the Generals — Well, here we go: The federal government has shut down. Senate Democrats have vowed to oppose any spending measure that doesn't restore some of the health care cuts of this summer's One Big Beautiful Bill Act; meanwhile, Republicans are refusing to negotiate point blank …
Discussion:
Common Dreams, HuffPost and Bloomberg
RELATED:
Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream — A man who retired as a major lectures hundreds of generals about the need to meet his standards. — In the end, it was mostly blither. When Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth announced a gathering of some 800 generals and admirals (with their senior enlisted advisers), rumors ran wild.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Onward and Upward
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
The Commander in Chief Is Not Okay — Trump put on a disturbing show for America's generals and admirals. — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's convocation of hundreds of generals and admirals today turned out to be, in the main, a nothingburger. Hegseth strutted and paced and lectured and hectored …
Discussion:
RUSI, CNN, To the Contrary, America, America, Raw Story and New York Times
Justin Glawe / Public Notice:
Trump attempts a major step toward dictatorship — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🫡 Subscribe to PN 🫡 — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday delivered a speech to the nation's top generals and admirals that laid out his plans …
Discussion:
Diane Ravitch's blog, Forbes and Politico
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
Last Thursday, September 25, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suddenly announced he was calling …
Discussion:
The Nation, The Hill, USA Today, Washington Post, MSNBC, Raw Story, Breitbart, 404 Media and The Free Press
George Chidi / The Guardian:
Veterans react to Hegseth's ‘insulting’ address to generals and admirals
Veterans react to Hegseth's ‘insulting’ address to generals and admirals
Discussion:
MeidasTouch News
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump's MAGA-fied military prepares for “war from within”
Trump's MAGA-fied military prepares for “war from within”
Discussion:
Popular Information, Common Dreams, Washington Post, New Republic, Real Patriotism … and Daily Kos
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump's Rage at Zohran Just Backfired in a Surprisingly Revealing Way — The Democrats who are capturing media and public attention right now all share something in common. They are openly and urgently leveling with the American people about a singular basic reality: President Trump …
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Supreme Court lets Lisa Cook remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now, declining to act on the Trump administration's effort to immediately remove her from the central bank.
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, Democracy Docket, New Republic, Washington Examiner, Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Fox News, Roll Call, Axios, CNBC, CBS News, NOTUS, Raw Story, ABC News, Al Jazeera, Michigan Advance, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Quartz, Daily Mail, Townhall, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Mediaite, NewsMax.com, The Daily Signal, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, SCOTUSblog and Newsweek
RELATED:
President Donald J. Trump / The White House:
Assuring the Security of the State of Qatar — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in recognition of the enduring alliance between the United States and the State of Qatar, it is hereby ordered: — Section 1. Policy.
RELATED:
Eli Stokols / Politico:
Trump promises to defend Qatar in wake of Israeli missile strikes
Trump promises to defend Qatar in wake of Israeli missile strikes
Discussion:
Reuters, Associated Press, Washington Times and Al Jazeera
Politico:
Trump to withhold billions of dollars from Gateway tunnel and Second Ave. subway projects … A spokesperson for the Transportation Department, in a statement, blamed Democratic leaders in Congress for the shutdown and said it led to the agency furloughing civil rights staff responsible for conducting the administrative review.
Discussion:
New York Times, NPR, Associated Press, Gizmodo, Raw Story, Washington Times, Breitbart, Gothamist and Los Angeles Times
RELATED:
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump administration freezes $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects, Vought says
Trump administration freezes $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects, Vought says
Discussion:
NBC News, RedState, AM New York, CBS News, The Independent, NewsMax.com, New Jersey Globe, New York Sun, New Republic, Raw Story, The National Pulse, New York Post and Newsweek
ProPublica:
Trading on Tom Homan: Inside the Push to Cash in on the Trump Administration's Deportation Campaign — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — The first time a Pennsylvania consultant …
Patrick Svitek / Washington Post:
Madison Cawthorn, ousted from House in 2022, tries comeback in Florida — The Republican will run for Florida's 19th Congressional District, where a seat is open because Rep. Byron Donalds (R) is seeking the state's governorship. — Former congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-North Carolina) …
Discussion:
Associated Press and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Anastasia Tsioulcas / NPR:
Hundreds of celebrities relaunch a McCarthy-era committee to defend free speech — On Wednesday, over 550 celebrities relaunched a group first organized during the post-World War II Red Scare: the Committee for the First Amendment. Their intent is to stand up in what they call a …
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Hill, Rolling Stone, Deadline, The Wrap and Committee for the First …
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Experts now rate the U.S. as a “mixed” or “illiberal” democracy — The U.S. has never been a full democracy. By this I mean mainly that for most of our country's history, full voting and civil rights have been reserved for only a subset of the American people: only in 1920 did women gain the right to vote …
Discussion:
Bright Line Watch
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
E.J. Antoni's failed nomination makes the White House look even more incompetent — It's not often that Senate Republicans muster the courage to tell Donald Trump and his team, “Whoa, hold on, we can't go that far.” — As a rule, the process surrounding Donald Trump's nominees is relatively efficient.
Discussion:
NBC News, The Friends of the Bureau …, Associated Press, Straight Arrow News, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Post, NPR, The Daily Caller, Axios, The Forward, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, UPI, Mediaite, Quartz, Fox Business, Washington Times, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, IJR, LGBTQ Nation, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, The Gateway Pundit, NewsMax.com, Raw Story and Politico
Josh Moody / Inside Higher Ed:
Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida — Student outcomes and rankings are slipping at the liberal arts college while spending is up. Critics believe the college is at risk of implosion, and some are calling for privatization. — More than two years into a conservative takeover …
Discussion:
Oregonian
Greg Ryan / Bloomberg:
Boston Mayor's Blowout Victory Jolts CEOs Seeking New Direction — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is coasting to reelection after her main opponent quit the race, giving her a commanding mandate that's putting city business leaders on edge. — The progressive Democrat defeated Josh Kraft …
Stephen Neukam / Axios:
Scoop: Colin Allred raises $4.1 million for Texas Senate bid — Texas Democrat Colin Allred raised more than $4.1 million since launching his campaign for Senate in July, Axios has learned. … - Allred, a former three-term congressman, raised the money through more than 100,000 contributions during the third fundraising quarter.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, The Barbed Wire and Washington Examiner
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
New High Say Supreme Court Is Too Conservative — Story Highlights — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Forty-three percent of Americans think the current Supreme Court is too conservative. Though that proportion is not meaningfully different from 2022-2024 readings, it is the highest Gallup has measured by one percentage point.
Tressie McMillan Cottom / New York Times:
This Is Not Free Speech — I learned that Charlie Kirk was dead by seeing a video of his assassination on social media. It is an unfortunate sign of our times, when “If it bleeds it leads” has been replaced with “Monetize misery.” I hate it. I also hated the feelings of the next few days …
Jesse Valentine / American Journal News:
Tumblr linked to Republican John Reid engaged with Nazi porn accounts — A pornographic blog linked to Virginia lieutenant governor candidate John Reid shared content from accounts that fetishized Nazism and sexual violence. — Reid has denied ownership of the blog, which was hosted …
Discussion:
Blue Virginia

