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Musk's DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets — Edward Coristine posted online that he had retained access to the firm's servers. Now he has access to sensitive government information. — Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of Elon Musk's squad that's …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Independent, Mediaite, New Republic, Gizmodo, Raw Story and Wired, more at Techmeme »
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Reuters:
Staffer with Elon Musk's DOGE amplified white supremacists online — One of the people working with billionaire Elon Musk in his efforts to overhaul the U.S. government is a Berkeley-educated computer scientist who has boosted white supremacists and misogynists online.
Discussion:
Krebs on Security, The Hill, Mashable and The Independent

The Now Deleted Tweets Of DOGE Staffer Gavin Kliger — From mass deportations and military tribunal executions to calling Hillary Clinton a slur, OPM staffer Gavin Kliger has embraced the fringes of Elon Musk's X and Trump's MAGA movement. — John Hyatt is a NYC-based Forbes staff writer covering billionaires.

Is Donald Trump Afraid of Elon Musk? — The president has long operated without anything resembling worry when it comes to appointments or executive action, but as his most powerful—and richest—political ally chainsaws his way through the federal government, some observers wonder if Trump might be tasting his own medicine.
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post, Associated Press, Business Insider, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Daily Mail and Chicago Tribune

Vance and Trump Call for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Quit Over Racist Posts. Musk Obliges.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Arizona Republic, Raw Story, HuffPost, Breitbart, New Republic, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Forbes, Townhall, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Gateway Pundit, Truthout, Fortune, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Root, The Verge, Axios, PinkNews, Advocate, Daily Mail and Wall Street Journal
CNBC:
Musk to rehire Treasury DOGE staffer behind racist posts after Trump endorses idea
Musk to rehire Treasury DOGE staffer behind racist posts after Trump endorses idea
Discussion:
New Republic, Daily Kos, Politico, NBC News, Washington Post, RedState, Mediaite, The American Spectator, Mercury News, Associated Press, Forbes, Townhall, Axios, Scripps News, American Greatness, Business Insider, Rolling Stone, driftglass, Daily Mail and The National Pulse, more at Techmeme »
Time:
Inside Elon Musk's War on Washington
Inside Elon Musk's War on Washington
Discussion:
New York Times, HuffPost, NBC News, The Hill, CNN, The Guardian, KRDO, Daily Mail, The Independent, New York Magazine, New Republic, Washington Post, Healthcare Dive and Politico
Patrick Svitek / Washington Post:
Musk to rehire DOGE staffer with history of racist tweets
Musk to rehire DOGE staffer with history of racist tweets
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Politico, Raw Story, OutsideTheBeltway, Crooks and Liars and WNYW-TV
Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Calls for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Resigned Over Racist Posts
Trump Calls for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Resigned Over Racist Posts
Discussion:
New York Post, Forbes, New Republic, Fortune and Beyer

A US Treasury Threat Intelligence Analysis Designates DOGE Staff as ‘Insider Threat’ — An internal email reviewed by WIRED calls DOGE staff's access to federal payments systems “the single biggest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”
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The Atlantic:
The Government's Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified … Elon musk's unceasing attempts to access the data and information systems of the federal government range so widely, and are so unprecedented and unpredictable, that government computing experts believe the effort has spun out of control.
Discussion:
Foreign Affairs, Raw Story, The Verge, HotAir, Mashable, Musk Watch, Digby's Hullabaloo, Washington Examiner, MeidasTouch News and Washington Post

Treasury installs ally of Musk's DOGE as head of payment system — The move follows the ousting of a career official who rebuffed attempts to use the payment system to stop federal spending. — The Treasury Department will make an ally of billionaire Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service the head …
Discussion:
ProPublica, New Republic, Raw Story, RedState, Gizmodo, Deep Left Field, Bloomberg and New York Times

19 states sue Trump, Treasury to halt DOGE access — New York leads the suit in Manhattan federal court alleging highly sensitive data is at risk. — NEW YORK — Democratic state attorneys general continued their legal resistance to President Donald Trump's early policies Friday …
Discussion:
ZeroHedge News, Michigan Advance, Associated Press, CBS News and Fox News

Treasury elevates Musk ally to lead government payment system20 minutes ago
Discussion:
Washington Post, Bloomberg, Vox, Forbes, NPR, Tampa Free Press, New York Times, Associated Press, HuffPost, Washingtonian, Reuters, One America News Network, The Post Millennial and CNN

Donald Trump Says He'll Name Himself Chairman Of Kennedy Center And Oust Board Members — Donald Trump said that he will oust board members of the Kennedy Center, while naming himself as its new chairman. — David Rubenstein is the current chairman of the center and agreed to stay in that role through 2026.
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Washington Post
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Trump Says He Will Dismiss Kennedy Center Board Members and Install Himself as Chair — The move by the president, whose authority to make the changes was not clear, is the latest attempt to bring a Washington institution under his control. — President Trump announced his intention …
Discussion:
USA Today, CNN, The Hill, Axios, Fox News, Billboard, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, WUSA, Baltimore Sun, The Atlantic, Raw Story, The Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, Consequence, Florida Politics and Variety

Judge Will Freeze Elements of Trump Plan to Shut Down U.S.A.I.D.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Atlantic and One America News Network
Ginger Adams Otis / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Appoints Himself Kennedy Center Chair, Citing Disapproval of Drag ShowsNEW!
Mother Jones:
Kash Patel Took $25,000 From Russia-Linked Firm to Appear on an Anti-FBI TV Series — Last year, Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur whom Donald Trump has nominated to head the FBI, received $25,000 from a Russia-linked production company to participate in a documentary in which he assailed the FBI and called for closing its headquarters.
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Trump says he's revoking Biden's security clearance, ending intelligence briefings in payback move — President Donald Trump said Friday that he's revoking former President Joe Biden's security clearance and ending the daily intelligence briefings he's receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.
Discussion:
Fox News, NBC News, Washington Examiner, Scripps News, USA Today, RedState, Al Jazeera, One America News Network, Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Post, WSVN-TV, KRDO, Daily Mail, Mediaite, Townhall, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, The Post Millennial, Blaze Media and WTOP News
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Trump hints at tariffs on Japan during meeting with its prime minister — President Donald Trump hinted during a news conference that Japan could soon face U.S. tariffs if it doesn't take steps to buy more from the United States. The comments come as Japan's new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba …
Discussion:
Raw Story, New York Times, CBS News, Washington Examiner, ABC News, Associated Press, Breitbart, NOTUS, NPR, Fox News, Politico, The Japan Times, Roll Call, WAGA-TV, Daily Mail, Bloomberg, UPI, Kyodo News+, The Post Millennial, The Hill, Semafor, Reuters, Nikkei Asia, The Guardian and Asia Times
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Behind Closed Doors, Trudeau Says Trump Threat to Take Over Canada Is Real
Victoria Guida / Politico:
‘Reciprocal’ tariffs on every country to be announced next week, Trump says
‘Reciprocal’ tariffs on every country to be announced next week, Trump says
Discussion:
Washington Post, National Review, Townhall, Fortune, Forbes, Associated Press, The Japan Times, Truthout, ABC News, New York Post and Foreign Policy
Peter Zimonjic / CBC News:
Trudeau tells business leaders at economic summit Trump's 51st state threat ‘is a real thing’
Trudeau tells business leaders at economic summit Trump's 51st state threat ‘is a real thing’
Discussion:
True North, Bloomberg and Exposing the role …
grants.nih.gov:
Key Dates — Related Announcements — Issued by — Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (OD) — Purpose — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards a large number of grants providing substantial federal funding for research purposes.
Discussion:
Ars Technica and STAT

Judge to pause Trump administration effort to gut USAID's workforce by thousands — Two labor groups had sued the Trump administration after it said that thousands of USAID employees would be placed on administrative leave starting at 11:59 p.m. Friday. — A federal judge on Friday …
Discussion:
CNBC, Scripps News, RedState, CNN, Raw Story, The Daily Wire, CBS News, New York Post, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, USA Today and NPR

Senate Republicans release budget blueprint ahead of Wednesday markup — Senate Republicans will hold a committee vote next week on a budget blueprint that will unlock their two-bill strategy for enacting the heart of President Donald Trump's domestic policy agenda.
Discussion:
CBS News, Breaking Defense, The Daily Signal, NBC News, Wisconsin Examiner, New York Post, Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, Baltimore Sun, NPR, E&E News and KRDO
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1. Trump's second term: Early ratings and expectations — Table of Contents Table of Contents — Americans are deeply divided over Donald Trump's plans and the way he is handling his job in the early weeks of his return to the presidency. — Overall, 47% of U.S. adults approve …

Trump's FBI Pick Kash Patel Took Up to $5M in Stock from Chinese Ecommerce Giant Shein — Donald Trump's pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form says were received in exchange for consulting services.
Discussion:
Reuters, Raw Story, CNN and freebeacon.com, more at Techmeme »

Falsehoods Fuel the Right-Wing Crusade Against U.S.A.I.D. — As the Trump administration works to dismantle the aid agency, right-wing influencers have flooded the internet with falsehoods about its work. — The video falsely claiming that the United States Agency for International …
Discussion:
Forbes, The Atlantic, The Guardian, TMZ.com, Althouse and Lee Fang, more at Mediagazer »

Why Trump's plan to “clean out” Gaza actually matters — It's a safe bet that much of what President Donald Trump described in two press availabilities at the White House alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as well as a follow-up social media post, is not going to happen.
Discussion:
The Forward, Digby's Hullabaloo, New York Times, Washington Post and Associated Press

Measles Outbreak Mounts Among Children in One of Texas' Least Vaccinated Counties — A measles outbreak is growing in a Texas county with dangerously low vaccination rates. — In late January, two school-age children from Gaines County were hospitalized with measles.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, The Hill, KRDO, WAGA-TV and WXIA-TV

Exclusive: Trump Air Force nominee arranged satellite contract in manner that favored Musk's SpaceX, sources say — President Donald Trump's nominee as Air Force Secretary, currently a top official at the national spy satellite agency, arranged a multibillion-dollar contract solicitation …

Former GOP Director Of FBI, CIA Urges Chuck Grassley To Stop Kash Patel's Nomination — “After all the hard work that you've done over your career, to allow it to be destroyed on your watch would not be a legacy I would want,” warned William Webster. — LOADING
Discussion:
Raw Story

North Carolina Judge Rejects GOP State Supreme Court Candidate's Bid To Throw Out 60K Ballots — A Wake County Superior Court judge rejected a bid by GOP North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin to overturn his 2024 election loss to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs …
Discussion:
Associated Press, NC Newsline, Cardinal & Pine, Carolina Journal and New York Times
ProPublica:
The Elite Lawyers Working for Elon Musk's DOGE Include Former Supreme Court Clerks — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — As members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency …
Discussion:
Reuters, The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy and NOTUS

As Trump and Musk Upend Washington, Congressional Phones Can't Keep Up — In the three weeks since President Trump took office and gave Elon Musk free rein inside the federal government, millions of calls have poured in to members of Congress, jamming the system.
Discussion:
Breitbart and Washingtonian

U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users' encrypted accounts — Secret order requires blanket access to protected cloud backups around the world, which if implemented would undermine Apple's privacy pledge to its users. — Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create …
Discussion:
The Verge, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Gizmodo, Techdirt, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, The Register, Computerworld, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Instapundit, BGR and Digital Trends, more at Techmeme »

How to Win the USAID Fight — First up: Sarah and I argued about everything on the Secret pod today. The show is here. — Second: An update on yesterday's story about the confusion surrounding Trump's (maybe?) firing the head of the National Archives. There had been conflicting reports …
Discussion:
DNyuz

Trump's New Line of Attack Against the Media Gains Momentum — First Amendment experts say Mr. Trump's lawsuits, based on an unproven legal theory, lack merit. But more could be on the way. — Media lawyers scoffed last year when President Trump sued two news organizations for producing journalism that …
Discussion:
Mercury News and Forbes