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5:25 PM ET, October 1, 2025

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 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 …
RELATED:
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.
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.
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 …
Jonathan Cohn / The Bulwark:
The Republican Shutdown Argument is a Giant Lie  —  Hey, guys.  Earlier today, my colleague Mona Charen and I talked about President Trump's speech before the generals and admirals, as well as the politics of the government-shutdown fight.  Check it out here.
New York Times:
Government Shutdown: Democrats Did the Smart Thing
Punchbowl News:
10/1/25 ☀️ AM: … The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. this morning.
Robert Jimison / New York Times:
These Democrats Voted With Republicans Against a Shutdown
Matt Margolis / PJ Media:
Yes, Democrats Shut Down the Government to Give Illegals Free Healthcare
NBC News:
Government shutdown threatens to upend Virginia's race for governor
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 …
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.
Kori Schake / Foreign Policy:
Trump's Speech to Generals Was Incitement to Violence Against Americans  —  Military leaders' quiet professionalism offers hope amid a maelstrom.  —  Yesterday morning, U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth behaved reprehensibly.
Discussion: Los Angeles Times
Cathy Young / The UnPopulist:
Hegseth's Hatred of Americans Makes Him Unfit for Office but a Perfect Fit for Trump
Discussion: Raw Story
The Atlantic:
Hundreds of Generals Try to Keep a Straight Face
George Chidi / The Guardian:
Veterans react to Hegseth's ‘insulting’ address to generals and admirals
Discussion: MSNBC and MeidasTouch News
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,” …
Discussion: New York Times and Quartz
RELATED:
Politico:
Trump to withhold billions of dollars from Gateway tunnel and Second Ave. subway projects
Matthew Haag / New York Times:
Trump Administration to Withhold $18 Billion for N.Y.C. Transit Projects
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 …
Discussion: Raw Story
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 …
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:
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.
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.
Ella Lee / The Hill:
DC federal court pumps brakes on Trump policy legal fights amid shutdown  —  The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday pumped the brakes on lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies amid the government's shutdown, citing its own need to preserve resources while the funding impasse persists.
RELATED:
Zoe Tillman / Bloomberg:
Trump Policy Fights Face Court Delays With Federal Shutdown
Discussion: NewsMax.com
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 …
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
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.
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
MAGA can't expand its base — and Christian music tells us why  —  The songs from Charlie Kirk's memorial exposed a serious problem  —  Donald Trump's authoritarian aspirations face one major obstacle: He is not very popular.  As counterintuitive as it may seem, political science shows …
Discussion: Raw Story and Dissent Magazine
Laura Esposito / The Daily Beast:
Construction on Trump's Ballroom Continues Amid Government Shutdown  —  PRIORITIES  —  Critics think the multimillion dollar White House renovation is a little out of touch.  —  Nothing will stop President Donald Trump's construction of a lavish new White House ballroom—not even a U.S. government shutdown.
Discussion: Vanity Fair and NewsMax.com
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: New York Times
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
Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
The “Moral Monsters” Among Us  —  “I'm terrified at the moral apathy, the death of the heart, which is happening in my country.  These people have deluded themselves for so long, they really don't think I'm human.  I base this on their conduct, not on what they say.
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.
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: Yahoo News, Gizmodo, Breitbart and Reuters
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” …
Anna Merlan / Mother Jones:
Not Just “Medbeds”: How TruthSocial's Bogus Medical Claims Fool Elderly Trump Fans  —  “I know in my heart that med beds [sic] are real,” a woman named Pam wrote recently on TruthSocial, the social media site owned by Trump Media and Technology Group, and President Donald Trump's favorite place to post.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Jesse Valentine / American Journal News:
Tumblr linked to Republican John Reid engaged with Nazi porn accounts
Discussion: Blue Virginia
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.
 Earlier Items: 
Patrick Svitek / Washington Post:
Madison Cawthorn, ousted from House in 2022, tries comeback in Florida
Alana Goodman / The Washington Free Beacon:
‘It Was a Fatal Right-Wing Terrorist Incident’: AI Chatbot Giants Claim Charlie Kirk's Killer Was Right-Wing but Say Left-Wing Violence Is ‘Exceptionally Rare’
Discussion: RedState and Just Security
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:
MAGA Pushes Altered Image Removing “Trump 2020” From Michigan Church Shooter's Shirt
Washington Post:
Pentagon plans widespread random polygraphs, NDAs to stanch leaks
Discussion: Raw Story and NewsMax.com
Paul Krugman:
Bulging Biceps Don't Win Modern Wars
Greg Ryan / Bloomberg:
Boston Mayor's Blowout Victory Jolts CEOs Seeking New Direction
Josh Moody / Inside Higher Ed:
Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida
Discussion: Oregonian
 

 
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Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Netflix agrees to acquire WBD's studios and streaming business in an $82.7B cash-and-stock deal, including debt, to close after WBD splits in two in Q3 2026

Liv McMahon / BBC:
Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr denounce the EU's €120M X fine

New York Times:
The New York Times sues Perplexity, claiming the AI startup violated its copyrights and kept using its content despite repeated demands over the past 18 months
 
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