Top Items:

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.
Discussion:
Axios, The Independent, BatBoyBlog, CBS News, Agence France-Presse, MeidasTouch News and Talking Points Memo, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:

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 …

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 …

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 …
Discussion:
HuffPost, MarketWatch, Metro.co.uk, Defense One, Townhall, The Verge, ABC News, Marketplace, Baltimore Sun, Bloomberg and The Independent

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

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

The ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ of the United States Government
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Boston.com, New Republic, FOX 11 Los Angeles, Twitchy, The UnPopulist, Al Jazeera, DNyuz, USA Today, The Freedom Academy …, Raw Story, NPR, Americans for Financial Reform, NBC News, The Post Millennial, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Techdirt, New York Post, Advocate and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
“Hitler actually had some good ideas”: Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls
“Hitler actually had some good ideas”: Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls
Discussion:
WTTG-TV and Digby's Hullabaloo
Matt Shuham / HuffPost:
Elon Musk Suggests Getting Rid Of All Regulations In Midnight Call
Elon Musk Suggests Getting Rid Of All Regulations In Midnight Call
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Fortune, The Daily Wire and The Information
Politico:
DOGE's access to federal data is ‘an absolute nightmare,’ legal experts warn
DOGE's access to federal data is ‘an absolute nightmare,’ legal experts warn
Discussion:
American Prospect, The Contrarian and Vanity Fair
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Elon Musk Ally Tells Staff ‘AI-First’ Is the Future of Key Government Agency
Elon Musk Ally Tells Staff ‘AI-First’ Is the Future of Key Government Agency
Discussion:
Nextgov/FCW and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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:

Sareen Habeshian / Axios:
RFK Jr. survives Senate committee vote for HHS nomination
RFK Jr. survives Senate committee vote for HHS nomination
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, New York Times, The Hill, RedState, New York Post, WTTG-TV, Raw Story, The Guardian, Fox News and Blaze Media, more at Techmeme »
NBC News:
Senate panel advances RFK Jr.'s nomination to be health secretary
Senate panel advances RFK Jr.'s nomination to be health secretary
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, New York Magazine, NOTUS, New York Times, USA Today, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Scripps News, Daily Mail, UPI, Raw Story, Healthcare Dive, STAT, Wisconsin Examiner, DNyuz, Blaze Media, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, Reuters, Fox News, The Daily Caller and Washington Post

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 …
Discussion:
Fox News, MeidasTouch News, The Post Millennial and The National Pulse
RELATED:

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
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal

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 …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, CBS News, Fortune, New York Post, Associated Press, Eater, WAGA-TV, WCSC-TV, Breitbart and DNyuz

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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, HotAir, The Daily Beast, DNyuz, Politico and Townhall
RELATED:
Asha Rangappa / The Freedom Academy with Asha Rangappa:
A Battle for the Soul of the FBI
A Battle for the Soul of the FBI
Discussion:
Daily Caller News Foundation, The Contrarian and The Daily Caller

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.
Discussion:
Reuters, MeidasTouch News, The Guardian, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNN, Quartz, The Independent, masslive.com, The Information, Business Insider, Mediaite, NPR, DNyuz, Asia Times, WTOP News, Semafor, Baltimore Sun and Raw Story
RELATED:

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 …

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

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 …
Discussion:
NBC News, Politico, Forbes, Reason, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, NPR, DNyuz, The Independent, Chalkbeat, Fox News, New York Post, USA Today, The Post Millennial, WTOP News, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and Townhall
RELATED:
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Familiar Arrogance of Musk's Young Apparatchiks
The Familiar Arrogance of Musk's Young Apparatchiks
Discussion:
Raw Story

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.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Pharyngula, The Gateway Pundit and New Republic

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 …
Discussion:
The Independent, Grabien, HuffPost and Associated Press
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.

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.
Discussion:
The Economist, Mediaite, DNyuz, American Thinker, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Raw Story, Drezner's World, Fox News, Boston Herald, NPR, The Daily Signal, RedState, One America News Network, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Daily Wire, Politico, New Republic, The American Conservative, MeidasTouch News, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, NBC News, The Poke, USA Today, Bloomberg and New York Times
RELATED:
New York Times:
What Does Trump Really Want From Canada and Mexico?
What Does Trump Really Want From Canada and Mexico?
Discussion:
HuffPost, CNN, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Wire, Canadian Press, The Daily Caller, Semafor, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, New York Daily News, Ace of Spades HQ, Bloomberg, CBC News, Global News, Kyodo News+, The National Pulse, 6abc, PoliticusUSA, New York Post, American Enterprise Institute, freebeacon.com, Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, Raw Story, Texas Standard, Associated Press, USA Today, Boston Herald, Scripps News and Axios
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 …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Semafor, The Dispatch, Reuters, Fox News, Townhall and DNyuz

Sen. Todd Young will back Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence — Sen. Todd Young said Tuesday he will support Donald Trump's embattled nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, improving her chances of confirmation. Facing a wave of political pressure …
Discussion:
Fox News, Axios, Deadline, The Hill, The Post Millennial, Washington Examiner, New York Times and The Daily Wire

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

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 …

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
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 …

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 …
Discussion:
DNyuz, BBC, Inside Climate News, The Daily Caller, Mercury News, The Gateway Pundit, Forbes, The Root and Daily Mail

Top ‘60 Minutes’ Producer Says He Will Not Apologize Over Trump Lawsuit — Bill Owens, the show's executive producer, addressed his staff as CBS's parent company, Paramount, pursues a legal settlement with the president. — The head of “60 Minutes” told the show's staff on Monday …
Discussion:
HuffPost, CNN, Fox News, The Independent, RedState, IJR and DNyuz, more at Mediagazer »

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

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 …

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

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 …
Discussion:
US Department of State, The American Conservative, Raw Story, The Free Press, Agence France-Presse and Semafor

Exclusive: how NSF is scouring research grants for violations of Trump's orders … - Dan Garisto — You can also search for this author in — PubMed Google Scholar — Max Kozlov — You can also search for this author in — PubMed Google Scholar

Trump to hold private dinner with Republican senators at Mar-A-Lago on Friday — The GOP senators will be in town for the NRSC annual winter meeting. — President Donald Trump answers a question after signing an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Jan. 31, 2025.