Top Items:
Washington Post:
ICE plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push targeting gun shows, military fans for hires … U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are planning to spend $100 million over a one-year period to recruit gun-rights supporters and military enthusiasts through online influencers …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
Wall Street Journal:
The Incident That Prompted Trump to Ban Epstein From Mar-a-Lago's Spa — Mar-a-Lago sent an 18-year-old spa worker on a house call to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. She complained to her bosses that Epstein pressured her for sex. — Jeffrey Epstein wasn't just a frequent visitor to Donald Trump's Mar …
Discussion:
HotAir, New Republic, Raw Story, The Parnas Perspective, Mediaite, The Independent, Newsweek and NewsMax.com
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
The hallmark of the first year of President Donald J. Trump's second term has been the attempt of the president and his cronies to dismantle the constitutional system set up by the framers of that document when they established the United States of America. It's not simply that they have broken the laws.
Discussion:
The Hill and The Federalist
RELATED:
Daniella Diaz / NOTUS:
Political Violence Tore Through 2025. Will 2026 Be Any Better?
Political Violence Tore Through 2025. Will 2026 Be Any Better?
Discussion:
Raw Story
KUSA-TV:
Trump vetoes bill to fund Arkansas Valley Conduit in Colorado — President Trump vetoed a bill to fund a pipeline project to bring clean drinking water to communities on the Eastern Plains between Pueblo and Lamar. … DENVER — President Donald Trump is using his first veto of his current term …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Parnas Perspective, The White House, NewsMax.com, Raw Story, KREM-TV, Newsweek, Mediaite and CBS News
RELATED:
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Trump's first second-term vetoes reject bipartisan bills — President Trump issued his first two vetoes of his second term, rejecting bills with bipartisan support that would have aided a Colorado water project and expanded tribal land in Florida. … While he said his vetoes protected taxpayer dollars …
Discussion:
NewsNation, NBC News, The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Roll Call and The Colorado Sun
Jacob Wendler / Politico:
HHS freezes all child care funding for Minnesota … Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O'Neill alleged in a video posted to the department's YouTube channel Tuesday afternoon that “the state of Minnesota has allowed scammers and fake day cares to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over the last decade.”
Discussion:
The Hill, CBS News, Straight Arrow News, MPR News, Blaze Media, WNYW-TV, CNN, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, One America News Network, UPI, New York Times, The Last Refuge, Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, NewsMax.com, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, NBC News, twitchy.com, Fox News and Matzav.com
RELATED:
Adam Entous / New York Times:
The Separation: Inside the Unraveling U.S.-Ukraine Partnership — As President Trump sought a peace deal and Vladimir V. Putin sought victory, factions in the White House and Pentagon bled the Ukrainian war effort.
Discussion:
emptywheel
Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
Unsealed: Abrego Garcia — The sealed order in the Abrego Garcia case that I wrote about in Sunday night's “The Week Ahead” column was unsealed today. This is in the government's hastily manufactured criminal case against him, which seemed, at the time, to be some sort of face-saving gesture …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Associated Press, Democracy Docket and Fox News
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Kennedy Center changed board rules months before vote to add Trump's name — The new rules say only trustees appointed by the president can vote, barring other members, including Democrats who hold seats, from decisions. The center said the change reflects “longstanding precedent.”
Discussion:
The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Mediaite, Raw Story and MS NOW
Nora Benavidez / New York Times:
Trump Spent the Past Year Trying to Crush Dissent — “We took the freedom of speech away.” — That was part of President Trump's explanation in October of his executive order that purports to criminalize burning the American flag. Though his words fail as a constitutional rationale …
Julianna Bragg / Axios:
U.S. measles cases reach highest level in over 30 years: CDC — The number of recorded measles cases in the U.S. during 2025 has exceeded 2,000 for the first time in more than 30 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Discussion:
ABC News, Washington Post, Mediaite, CBS News and Los Angeles Times
RELATED:
Politico:
The many ways Zohran Mamdani's mayoralty could go wrong — fast … “Just like with FDR, it's the first 100 days that people remember,” said George Arzt, a lobbyist and public relations doyen who was the longtime spokesperson for the late Mayor Ed Koch. “Everyday, I walked into City Hall and wondered what's going to happen.”
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Nation and New York Times
RELATED:
Sejal Govindarao / Associated Press:
Former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona announces dementia diagnosis — Former Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona on Tuesday announced his withdrawal from public life following a dementia diagnosis. Kyl, 83, represented Arizona in both chambers of Congress for nearly three decades.
Discussion:
The Hill
RELATED:
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Netanyahu raised possible “round 2” strikes on Iran with Trump — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possibility of attacking Iran again in 2026 during his meeting with President Trump on Monday, according to a U.S. official and two additional U.S. sources familiar with the details of the meeting.
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Times of Israel, Mondoweiss, NewsMax.com, Matzav.com, Washington Times, CBS News, Al Jazeera, Grabien and Jewish Insider
Spencer Ackerman / FOREVER WARS:
Watching Bari Weiss Murder Investigative Journalism at CBS — I'M NOTICING A PATTERN among certain people within my profession who've jumped to the defense of Bari Weiss, the oligarch functionary installed at CBS by new owner David Ellison to enforce ideological discipline upon its journalists.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, more at Mediagazer »
Michael Acton / Financial Times:
Trump Mobile delays plan to launch gold-coloured smartphone this year — Move marks latest setback for project that originally promised to sell a US-made device — Trump Mobile, the phone company launched by the Trump Organization, has delayed plans to ship its gold-coloured smartphone by the end of this year.
Martin Arnold / Financial Times:
US fines for dirty money drop 61% as Trump retreats from enforcement — Total penalties imposed by financial watchdogs fell to $1.7bn in the year to December 19 — US regulators collected 61 per cent less in fines for money laundering and sanctions breaches in 2025, after watchdogs took …
Associated Press:
Israel says it will halt operations of several humanitarian organizations in Gaza — The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said the organizations that will be banned Thursday didn't meet new requirements for sharing staff members, funding and operations information.
Discussion:
CNN, France 24, Associated Press, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Middle East Monitor, New York Times, Canadian Press, RNS, Mother Jones, The Forward and CBS News
Gabe Castro-Root / New York Times:
Phone Searches at U.S. Borders: What Travelers Need to Know — Customs agents have broad authority to search the electronic devices of travelers entering and leaving the U.S. Here are tips for keeping your data safe. — When U.S. border agents turned away a French scientist in March …
Paul Krugman:
Immigrant Derangement Syndrome — Blaming brown-skinned people for everything bad — Americans suffered a litany of horrors thanks to the Trump administration during 2025 - refusal to disburse emergency aid, soaring measles cases, collapsing small businesses, vindictive prosecutions …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Robert Mackey / The Guardian:
Tilting at windmills: Trump laments death of bald eagle in the US ... which was really a falcon in Israel — A pity that Trump, or one of the 18 intelligence agencies reporting to him, did not trace the image back to its source — Even while on holiday at his Florida resort …
Carol Rosenberg / New York Times:
Even as Trump Targets Boats in Strikes, Coast Guard Continues Anti-Drug Operations — Cutters are still stopping smugglers and seizing drugs, but the prosecutions of go-fast boat crews are dwindling in a realignment of federal resources. — Long before the U.S. military began blowing …
US Department of Justice:
McLean man charged with sending threatening messages and lying to investigators — For Immediate Release — U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia — ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A McLean man was charged by criminal complaint with transmitting threats in interstate commerce and making false statements.
Discussion:
NBC News, Fox News, Breitbart and NewsMax.com
Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Latest Venezuela Tactic: Revealing a Secret Strike to World — CIA attack on Venezuelan soil represents a major escalation in the U.S. pressure campaign — A Central Intelligence Agency strike on a dock in Venezuela earlier this month was the first-known operation inside …


