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2:45 PM ET, October 1, 2025

memeorandum

 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: 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.
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 …
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.
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate defeats House-passed bill to reopen government, despite Democratic cracks  —  Senate Democrats voted Wednesday to block a House-passed stopgap funding bill that would reopen the federal government until Nov. 21, but several Democrats broke with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and supported the measure.
Avery Lotz / Axios:
GOP uses federal platforms to launch shutdown blame blitz
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
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
NBC News:
Trump budget chief says firings are coming in ‘one to two’ days due to shutdown
Discussion: The Hill
Punchbowl News:
10/1/25 ☀️ AM: … The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. this morning.
Ed Mazza / HuffPost:
‘Trump Is FAR Weaker Than He Looks’: AOC Says GOP Shutdown Plan Already ‘Backfiring’
Discussion: The Hill
Matt Margolis / PJ Media:
Yes, Democrats Shut Down the Government to Give Illegals Free Healthcare
Politico:
Trump shields immigration and trade from shutdown fallout
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.
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 …
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 …
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: MeidasTouch News
Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work:
Leave the Military Now  —  Six months ago, I wrote a piece urging soldiers to leave the United States military.
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 and abc7NY
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.
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump administration freezes $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects, Vought says
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:
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:
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
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
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.
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 …
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
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.
Paul Krugman:
Bulging Biceps Don't Win Modern Wars  —  Hegseth's speech was vile.  It was also stupid.  —  1,110  —  A Ukrainian drone operator  —  Why did Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary — he may call himself secretary of war, but Congress has not, in fact, voted to change his department's name …
Washington Post:
Pentagon plans widespread random polygraphs, NDAs to stanch leaks  —  Thousands of uniformed and civilian officials would be required to sign nondisclosure agreements and take lie detector tests, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ramps up war on leakers.  —  Just now
Discussion: NewsMax.com
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.
Discussion: Semafor
Warner Todd Huston / Breitbart:
Creator of Netflix Trans Children's Cartoon ‘Dead End Paranormal Park’ Under Fire for Smearing Charlie Kirk as a ‘Nazi’  —  The creator of a Netflix cartoon series aimed at children, that includes a transgender storyline, smeared Charlie Kirk and called the conservative activist a “Nazi” in an expletive-laden rant of social media.
Discussion: Variety, PinkNews, Times Now and Blaze Media
 
 
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 More Items: 
Media Matters for America:
Benny Johnson: “There is a government shutdown right now, and we are cheering for that. We say yes.”
Discussion: NewsMax.com
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.
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Newsom mocks Trump stairs comments as shutdown begins: ‘A very weak man’
Discussion: IJR
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’
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:
MAGA Pushes Altered Image Removing “Trump 2020” From Michigan Church Shooter's Shirt
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
The “Department of War” Is Designed to Fight American Citizens
 Earlier Items: 
Daniel Boguslaw / American Prospect:
We Obtained Thousands of New Epstein Documents
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
Trump Has No Mandate to Destroy America
Jack Dunn / Variety:
Jimmy Fallon Plans to ‘Keep My Head Down’ and Avoid Politics on ‘The Tonight Show’: ‘We Hit Both Sides Equally’
Catherine Bouris / The Daily Beast:
Mike Johnson Caught Trashing Trump's Vulgar AI Video
Oliver Darcy / Status:
WaPo's Ad Chief Wavers
Valentina di Donato / The Daily Register:
Pope Leo XIV Wades Into Durbin Debate
 

 
From Techmeme:

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

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU fines X €120M for breaching online content rules, the first fine under the DSA, citing issues like its deceptive blue checkmarks, after a two-year probe

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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