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Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president's Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments — A group that played a key role in Donald Trump's voter outreach to the Arab American community alongside his allies is rebranding itself after the president said that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Guardian, The Independent, Raw Story, Algemeiner.com, Daily Mail, The Floridian, Reuters, ABC7, Metro.co.uk, Bloomberg, Politico, Axios, The Defense Post, Informed Comment, Slate, freebeacon.com, RedState, DNyuz, Al Jazeera, Grabien, CNBC and New York Times
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Michigan's Arab American community offers muted response to Trump's Gaza takeover plan — Residents of the largest Arab American community in the U.S. had plenty to say during the 2024 presidential campaign about the roiling politics in the Middle East. But after President Donald Trump's …
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Times and Washington Post

The Madness of Donald Trump
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, Detroit Free Press, The Guardian, DNyuz, Raw Story, Blaze Media, Salon, The Independent, Digby's Hullabaloo, Daily Mail and Fortune
New York Times:
Inside Trump's Hastily Written Proposal to ‘Own’ Gaza
Inside Trump's Hastily Written Proposal to ‘Own’ Gaza
Discussion:
Reuters, Al Jazeera, Daily Mail, The Guardian, DNyuz, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, RNS, Breitbart, Associated Press, Washington Examiner and The Atlantic
Washington Post:
White House tries to soften Trump's mass displacement proposal for Gaza
White House tries to soften Trump's mass displacement proposal for Gaza
Discussion:
Reuters, Politico, Raw Story, Spokesman.com, Good Politics/Bad Politics, Daily Mail, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Ynetnews, Breitbart, NewsNation, The Independent, Washington Examiner, The National Interest, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Agence France-Presse, Fox News, NOTUS, The Hill, CBS News, The Intercept and USA Today

Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice — Trump fired Linda Fagan, the first female Coast Guard commandant, on his second day in office. A Trump official told her she had three hours to leave her house on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Daily Mail and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Trump administration agrees to restrict DOGE access to Treasury Department payment systems — The agreement came in response to a lawsuit accusing Treasury of committing an “unlawful action” by giving private info to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
Discussion:
The Hill, Ars Technica, The Independent, Mediaite, Raw Story, WUSA, Federal News Network, Fox Business and Fox News, more at Techmeme »
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Judge weighs short-term block on Musk allies' ability to share Treasury records outside the department — A lawsuit alleges that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is compromising Treasury's payment system. — A federal judge on Wednesday declined to immediately block …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Forbes, Axios, Fox Business, CBS News, The Daily Wire and The Guardian

DOGE broadens sweep of federal agencies, gains access to health payment systems — Associates of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have spread out across the federal government in recent days, alarming many career employees. — Representatives of billionaire Elon Musk's Department …
Discussion:
Fortune and Inside Medicine

Pam Bondi Instructs Trump DOJ to Criminally Investigate Companies That Do DEI — On Wednesday evening, newly installed Attorney General Pam Bondi sent staff in several divisions of the Department of Justice more than a dozen memos within a 15-minute span, laying out the agency's new policies …

‘Blow this place up’: Frustrated Democrats want the Senate to fight harder — It has in many ways been business as usual in the Senate during Trump's second term. — Senate Democrats are struggling to deal with a rising tide of anger inside their party as President Donald …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, C-SPAN.org, Twitchy, Raw Story, Kentucky Lantern, Breitbart, CBS News and The Daily Wire
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2/6/25 ☀️ AM: — Trump, Johnson to huddle with House Republicans as frustration grows
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Democrats' phones bombarded with calls to “fight harder”
Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:
Republicans Lose Their Minds After Democrats Try to Subpoena Elon Musk
Republicans Lose Their Minds After Democrats Try to Subpoena Elon Musk
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Axios, The Daily Caller, Baltimore Sun, Politico, Blue Virginia and Crooks and Liars

White House Says Musk Will Police His Own Conflicts of Interest — The White House said Elon Musk, the billionaire leading President Donald Trump's government cost-cutting efforts, will determine if there are conflicts of interest between his work reviewing federal spending and his overlapping empire of six companies.
Discussion:
Fortune, The Guardian, The Bulwark, Rolling Stone, The Contrarian, Fox Business, Breitbart, New Republic and TechCrunch
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Elon Musk Is a ‘Special Government Employee.’ What Does That Mean?
Discussion:
Associated Press, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Axios and CBS News
David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump White House Moves to Allow for a Musk Takeover of Government IT
Trump White House Moves to Allow for a Musk Takeover of Government IT
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, NBC News, Blaze Media, American Prospect, Fortune, FedScoop, Bloomberg, New York Magazine and NPR

How Trump's Sweeping Expulsions Have Thrown the FBI Into Chaos — Firings at the Justice Department and FBI herald revenge—and a broad shift from white-collar and national-security cases to illegal immigration and street crime — WASHINGTON—A half-dozen of the most senior officials …
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Pam Bondi issued a flurry of orders on Day 1 as Trump's attorney general — Trump's newly sworn in AG released a series of directives. — Pam Bondi is officially in control of the Justice Department — and she's gone right to work. — President Donald Trump's attorney general issued …
Discussion:
Bloomberg Law, Fox News, USA Today, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Mediaite, Breitbart, Hollywood Life, UPI and One America News Network

Bondi, as new AG, launches ‘Weaponization Working Group’ to review officials who investigated Trump
Discussion:
Civil Discourse …, DNyuz and The Post Millennial

NOAA Employees Told to Pause Work With ‘Foreign Nationals’ — An internal email obtained by WIRED shows that NOAA workers received orders to pause all “ALL INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS.” — A number of federal employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) …
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Tesla's sales plummet across Europe — Registrations in Germany fall 59% amid consumer backlash against Elon Musk's political activism — Sales of Tesla's electric vehicles have fallen sharply across many of its key European markets amid a consumer backlash against Elon Musk's interventions in the region's politics.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
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Melissa Eddy / New York Times:
Tesla's European Sales Drop in January After Musk Disrupts Politics There
Tesla's European Sales Drop in January After Musk Disrupts Politics There
Discussion:
Ars Technica, The Register, Electrek, Washington Examiner and Reuters

The Real Reason Musk Is Mad at Us — ELON MUSK, OUR NEW UNELECTED OVERLORD, is mad at Bill Kristol. Very, very mad. And because this is the world we live in now, his hordes of online minions are mad, too. — Let me explain. This week, Elon has been amplifying several tweets alleging …

Democrats To Take Over Senate Floor All Night To Oppose White House Budget Office Nominee — “He's the architect of the dismantling of our federal government,” Sen. Brian Schatz, one of dozens taking part in a 30-hour talkathon, said of Russell Vought. — LOADING
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Examiner, Raw Story and Fox News
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Aris Folley / The Hill:
Senate Democrats vow rare overnight session to protest Trump's ‘most dangerous nominee’
Senate Democrats vow rare overnight session to protest Trump's ‘most dangerous nominee’
Discussion:
New York Times, Roll Call, The Guardian and Breitbart

White House Orders C.I.A. to Send an Unclassified Email With Names of Some Employees — The list of partial names was provided in an effort to comply with an executive order to trim the federal work force. — The White House ordered the C.I.A. to send an unclassified email listing …
Discussion:
Drezner's World, New Republic, Raw Story, NBC News, Mediaite and CyberScoop

Elon Musk Says His Efficiency Team Will Tackle F.A.A. Technology — His announcement comes after an outage last week to the primary system that provides pilots safety alerts in real time. — Elon Musk's team will now dig into the nation's aviation system, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday.
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DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers — Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.

Google Unwinds Employee Diversity Goals, Citing Trump's D.E.I. Orders — The Silicon Valley giant also said it was reviewing other diversity programs and initiatives and would update them if they seemed risky or ineffective. — Google tried for years to diversify its work force …
Discussion:
Reuters, Associated Press, WTOP News, Raw Story and DNyuz
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What to know about the court cases over President Trump's birthright citizenship order — A federal judge who already questioned the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order is set to hear arguments Thursday over a longer-term pause of the directive …
Discussion:
Salon, Al Jazeera, Florida Phoenix, NPR, DNyuz, Tennessee Star, Law & Crime, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Scripps News, SCOTUSblog, Townhall and The Post Millennial
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The World's Richest Men Take On the World's Poorest Children — The world's richest man is boasting about destroying the United States Agency for International Development, which saves the lives of the world's poorest children, saying he shoved it “into the wood chipper.”
Discussion:
The Times, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

List: Examples of Trump's Actions That Are Defying Legal Limits — Other presidents have occasionally claimed a constitutional right to bypass particular laws. But in the opening weeks of his second term, President Trump and his administration have opened the throttle on blowing through …
Discussion:
Brennan Center for Justice

Nancy Pelosi faces primary challenge from former AOC aide — Saikat Chakrabarti, a former tech worker, is calling for generational change in Democratic Party. — Another chapter in a generational battle over the future of the Democratic Party appears to be taking shape in San Francisco …
Discussion:
Shore News Network, Mediaite and The San Francisco Standard

Republican ire at USAID finds an unusual target: Politico — Elon Musk and elected officials falsely said Politico was subsidized by the government. Turns out, government officials were just paying for subscriptions.

The US is ‘no longer the America we used to know,’ warns Germany's Merz — Friedrich Merz, the frontrunner to become Germany's next leader, is “highly concerned” about recent developments in the United States under Donald Trump's second presidency. — The German chancellor candidate told …