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11:25 AM ET, February 4, 2025

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 Top Items: 
Wired:
A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System  —  The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department.  It's also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Elon Musk's Blitz Shakes U.S. Government as He Sweeps Through Agencies  —  The billionaire is creating major upheaval as his team sweeps through agencies, in what has been an extraordinary flexing of power by a private individual.  —  The billionaire is creating major upheaval …
Politico:
Bessent tells lawmakers Musk's DOGE does not control Treasury payments system  —  The remarks came during a two-hour gathering between the Treasury secretary and GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee.  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent privately reassured Republican lawmakers Monday …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Musk Cronies Dive Into Treasury Dept Payments Code Base  —  Overnight, Wired reported that, contrary to published reports that DOGE operatives at the Treasury Department are limited to “read only” access to department payment systems, this is not true.  A 25-year-old DOGE operative named Marko Elez …
Notes on the Crises:
Day Five of the Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025: Not “Read Only” access anymore  —  If you are a current or former career Bureau of the Fiscal Service Employee, especially if you're a legacy IT programmer with years of experience and especially if you are a COBOL programmer currently working …
Discussion: Raw Story
Paul Krugman:
What the Musk is Happening?  —  When writing posts for this newsletter, I like to have a clear focus and offer a tightly argued thesis, backed by data.  This, however, won't be that kind of post.  If I had to summarize the state of affairs right now, I would quote Charlie Brown: “Aaugh!”
Discussion: Raw Story
Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
The ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ of the United States Government
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
“Hitler actually had some good ideas”: Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls
Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo
Washington Post:
Elon Musk is a ‘special government employee.’ What does that mean?
Discussion: CNN and USA Today
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Elon Musk Ally Tells Staff ‘AI-First’ Is the Future of Key Government Agency
Dan Diamond / Washington Post:
RFK Jr. passes key HHS confirmation hurdle with Senate panel vote  —  President Donald Trump's pick to lead Health and Human Services faced tough questioning in hearings about vaccines, abortion and other major health-care issues.
RELATED:
Jill Lawrence / The Bulwark:   Terrible Nominees, Terrified Americans: Senators Could Actually Make a Difference This Month
New York Post:
RFK's hearings remove all doubt: He's not fit to lead a key federal health agency
Discussion: The Hill
Sareen Habeshian / Axios:
RFK Jr. survives Senate committee vote for HHS nomination
NBC News:
Senate panel advances RFK Jr.'s nomination to be health secretary
Marc Caputo / Axios:
About 20,000 federal workers took “buyout” so far, official says  —  About 20,000 federal workers have accepted the “buyout” offer put forward by the Trump administration last week, a senior administration official tells Axios. … - The offer is open through Thursday, meaning the total could rise …
RELATED:
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
We Did This to Ourselves  —  Four years ago today, the House of Representatives voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her assigned committees.  How quickly things can change.  —  Happy Tuesday.  —  Self-Government Isn't Guaranteed  —  by William Kristol
Jordan Valinsky / CNN:
Waffle House is placing a surcharge on every egg it sells  —  New York CNN —  The soaring price of eggs has forced Waffle House to add a temporary surcharge on customers' orders.  —  The Georgia-based chain is adding a 50-cent charge per egg because of the “nationwide rise in cost of eggs …
Associated Press:
China counters with tariffs on US products.  It will also investigate Google  —  China countered President Donald Trump's across-the-board tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs on select U.S. imports Tuesday, as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
China strikes back at Trump's tariffs with levies on U.S. imports
Garrett Shanley / The Independent Florida Alligator:
State audit finds overall unnecessary spending under former UF President Ben Sasse  —  Sasse's expenditures included more than $300,000 in private jet flights  —  A preliminary report from the Florida Auditor General found UF failed to prevent former President Ben Sasse from leveraging …
Noah Feldman / Bloomberg:
Trump Is Testing Our Constitutional System.  It's Doing Fine.  —  The president's flurry of illegal actions have been stopped by the courts.  That's how it is supposed to work.  —  The Trump administration is subjecting the US constitutional system to a stress test.
Discussion: ABC News
NOTUS:
Republican Senators Say They're Fine Handing Their Power to Elon Musk  —  Musk's actions may be unconstitutional but “nobody should bellyache about that,” Sen. Thom Tillis said.  — Copy  —  Tech billionaire Elon Musk is working to shut down government agencies and cancel congressionally approved funding …
Anna Merlan / Mother Jones:
Elon Musk's Midnight Takeover  —  The world's richest man and his allies are “avoiding office hours at all costs” as they take a wrecking ball to the US government.  —  Much like a gremlin fed after midnight, Elon Musk is staying up late and causing mayhem.
The Hill:
Trump's impending massacre of the federal workforce will destroy his second term  —  The Trump administration has initiated what may become the most devastating dismantling of the federal workforce in modern history — not with mass firings, but with a carefully designed invitation to resign.
Washington Post:
Trump preps order to dismantle Education Dept. as DOGE probes data  —  Closing the agency would require congressional approval, so the new administration hopes to diminish it in the meantime.  —  President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order aimed at eventually closing the Education Department and …
RELATED:
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Familiar Arrogance of Musk's Young Apparatchiks
Discussion: Raw Story
Victoria Bisset / Washington Post:
N.Y. lets doctors keep names off abortion pills to avoid red-state charges  —  Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) approved the law on Monday, after New York doctor Margaret Carpenter was charged with prescribing abortion pills to a girl in Louisiana.
RELATED:
Dylan Matthews / Vox:
The worst thing Trump has done so far  —  About two and a half months ago, I wrote a piece about what foreign aid might look like in the second Trump term.  Reading that piece now feels bizarre.  —  I thought that Trump's second term would look much like his first: lots of proposals …
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Blinks on North American Tariffs  —  The President pauses after minor concessions from Canada and Mexico.  —  President Trump never admits a mistake, but he often changes his mind.  That's the best way to read his decision Monday to pause his 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada after minor concessions from each country.
RELATED:
New York Times:
What Does Trump Really Want From Canada and Mexico?
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Affirmative action for white men  —  Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has targeted so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs, also known as DEI.  According to a January 21 executive order, “critical and influential institutions of American society …
Discussion: Mediaite
Benjamin Wittes / Default:
The Situation: What's Going on at the FBI?  —  Don't look now but the FBI is resisting the political witch-hunt loosed upon it.  —  Meet The Authors … The Situation on Friday was too fluid to write responsibly on the ongoing purge at the FBI.  —  Things have clarified enough today …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
A Coup Is In Progress In America  —  A coup is underway in the United States, and we must stop pretending otherwise.  The signs are unmistakable and accelerating: in just the past 48 hours, Elon Musk's DOGE commission has seized control of Treasury payment systems and gained unauthorized access …
CNN:
El Salvador offers to house violent US criminals and deportees of any nationality in unprecedented deal  —  El Salvador has agreed to house violent US criminals and receive deportees of any nationality, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday, in an unprecedented …
NBC News:
USAID personnel told to stay away from headquarters after Elon Musk's shutdown comments  —  Marocco held several national security positions during the first Trump administration, including at USAID, where he tried to consolidate power and slash funding.  —  WASHINGTON — Secretary …
Lisa Friedman / New York Times:
E.P.A. Demotes Career Employees Overseeing Science, Enforcement and More  —  A spokeswoman for the agency said the change was “common practice.”  Others said it injects partisanship into jobs that have always been neutral.  —  The Environmental Protection Agency plans to demote career employees …
Discussion: The Daily Wire and New Republic
Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:
Trump personally ordered firings of special counsel prosecutors  —  Exclusive: move to purge those who worked for Jack Smith came from Trump, sources say, in show of unchecked power  —  The US justice department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against Donald …
Discussion: Raw Story
Philippe Naughton / The Daily Beast:
MAGA Senator Goes on Weird Rant About Sex and Omelets  —  “I could eat an omelet at every meal,” the senator said when defending Elon Musk's USAID shutdown.  “I like omelets better than sex.”  —  PARTNER UPDATE  —  Combat Aging With This Fatty-Acid-Powered Supplement  —  AGING?  FAT CHANCE
Eric Martin / Bloomberg:
Panama Considers Canceling Port Deal With Hong Kong Firm  — Trump has threatened Panama over perceived influence by China  — CK Hutchison subsidiary operates two ports adjacent to canal  —  Panama is weighing whether to cancel its contract with the Hong Kong-based company …
Peter M. Shane / Washington Monthly:
To Save Democracy, Start Filing Cases  —  The Trump-Musk ransacking of the federal government must stop.  The courts offer one important way to apply the brake, says an administrative law scholar.  —  If you were a state senator in 1975 seeking constitutional advice, any competent lawyer …
Matthew Haughey / A Whole Lotta Nothing:
A guide to using Signal for government workers  —  Editor's note: A friend of mine works in the federal government and wrote a guide for their fellow federal workers on how to use Signal.  There are lots of good reasons for switching to Signal for messaging, and this does a great job of laying it all out.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Hannah Demissie / ABC News:
Trump to hold private dinner with Republican senators at Mar-A-Lago on Friday
Reid Wilson / Pluribus News:
Sanford considers comeback bid in South Carolina
ProPublica:
Hoping to “Trump Proof” Students' Civil Rights, Illinois Lawmakers Aim to End Police Ticketing at School
Discussion: Chicago Tribune
Ruy Teixeira / The Free Press:
Trump 2.0: A Survival Guide for Democrats
Discussion: Breitbart, HotAir and Althouse
Bernard Condon / Associated Press:
Investors are betting Musk and Tesla will make a fortune under Trump even as threats mount
Discussion: Forbes
Victoria Taft / PJ Media:
USAID Pays the Terrorists Who Kill Us
Discussion: RedState and Exposing the role …
 Earlier Items: 
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Trump's plan to kill offshore wind is paying off
Bloomberg:
Kash Patel's $800,000 Trump Media Award Raises New Conflict Questions
Christian Paz / Vox:
How Democratic Gen Z activists lost the Gen Z vote
NBC News:
Jan. 6 conspiracy theory promoter named to a top State Department job
New York Times:
State Dept. Fires About 60 Contractors Working on Democracy and Human Rights
Discussion: NOTUS