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10:55 PM ET, February 12, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Republicans Love Trump's Spending Cuts.  Just Not in Their States.  —  Even as they praise the president's unilateral actions to slash federal spending, G.O.P. lawmakers have quietly moved to seek carve outs or exemptions for their own constituents.  —  Republicans in Congress have responded …
Discussion: NBC News and Raw Story
RELATED:
NBC News:
House GOP releases budget calling for trillions in cuts to taxes and spending
Ben Leonard / Politico:
Energy and Commerce Committee's Medicaid problem just got tougher
Reese Gorman / NOTUS:
Republicans Face Their First Big Test on Reconciliation — And the White House Has Doubts About Success
New York Times:
Live Updates: Federal Resignation Program Moves Ahead After Judge Signs Off  —  Where Things Stand  — Trimming federal work force: A federal judge said the Trump administration's deferred resignation program for federal workers could move forward, allowing the White House to advance …
Discussion: CNN, Forbes and Axios, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Trump closes down federal worker buyout offer after judge lifts hold  —  The administration moved to close the buyout program Wednesday evening after a federal judge in Massachusetts rejected a call from several labor groups that sued to block the initiative
NBC News:
Senate votes to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as top U.S. intelligence official
Associated Press:
White House says it's the judges — not Trump — causing a ‘constitutional crisis’  —  In the weeks since Donald Trump returned to office, Democrats and legal scholars have warned that he's provoking a constitutional crisis by trying to expand his power and ignore laws that stand in his way.
RELATED:
Zoe Tillman / Bloomberg:
Trump Removal of Whistleblower Agency Head Blocked by Judge  — Judge held Trump's firing of Hampton Dellinger likely unlawful  — Other independent agency officials are suing over removals  —  A federal judge in Washington blocked for now President Donald Trump from removing the head …
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit
Ryan Grim / Drop Site News:
“Armored Tesla” forecast to win $400 million State Department contract after Trump's election, government document shows  —  The State Department's procurement forecast, revised as of late December 2024, lists Tesla as the recipient of the largest expected contract, with Marco Rubio's department planning …
RELATED:
Miles Klee / Rolling Stone:
The Trump Administration Might Just Spend $400 Million on ‘Armored’ Teslas
Discussion: ABC News and El País
NBC News:
White House says about 75K federal workers have accepted ‘deferred resignation’ offer  —  The offer's deadline closed on Wednesday after a federal judge ruled to end a temporary pause to the program put in place last week.  —  WASHINGTON — About 75,000 federal employees have accepted the White House's …
RELATED:
Shelby Talcott / Semafor:
75,000 workers accept Trump's buyout program
Discussion: Reuters, Axios and ZeroHedge News
NBC News:
Judge rules Trump's sweeping plan to persuade federal workers to resign can move forward
Discussion: The National Pulse
Washington Post:
New Kennedy Center board elects Trump as chair.  Rutter departs as president.  —  President Trump's refashioned board of trustees voted him chairman in a meeting Wednesday afternoon.  President Deborah Rutter told staff she was leaving the institution.  —  The Kennedy Center board …
RELATED:
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Elon Musk's X to pay about $10 million to settle Trump lawsuit over account suspension … Social media company X has agreed to pay about $10 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump, who has put X's billionaire owner Elon Musk in charge of a major government cost- and staff-cutting effort.
RELATED:
J.D. Wolf / MeidasTouch News:   Pro-Hitler Ad Runs on Elon Musk's X Amid His Growing Ties to Trump
Wall Street Journal:
Musk's X Agrees to Pay About $10 Million to Settle Trump Lawsuit
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Hegseth's rough start: Pentagon chief faces protest at U.S. base abroad  —  The question isn't why the defense secretary faced pushback at U.S. European Command headquarters; the question is whether he'll see more protests soon.  —  Though it still seems hard to believe, a couple of weeks ago …
RELATED:
Abby Vesoulis / Mother Jones:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Two-Word Plan to Save the CFPB From Elon Musk  —  “Banks hated this agency from the first time I ever talked about it.”  —  Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was established by Congress to reign …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Some Migrants Sent by Trump to Guantánamo Are Being Held by Military Guards  —  The Times has obtained a list of 53 Venezuelan men the Trump administration has put in a wartime prison built to hold Al Qaeda suspects.  —  Dozens of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration …
RELATED:
Reuters:
US sues New York state officials over immigration enforcement, attorney general says  —  The U.S. Justice Department has sued New York State officials over alleged failures to enforce federal immigration law, Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters on Wednesday.
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell:
McConnell Comments on Gabbard Nomination  —  Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following statement today on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence:
Luis Ferré-Sadurní / New York Times:
New York Got $80 Million for Migrants.  The White House Took It Back.  —  The New York City comptroller's office, which first noticed the missing money, said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had unilaterally taken the funds from the city's accounts.
RELATED:
Associated Press:
FEMA yanks back $80 million that New York City meant to cover hotel costs for migrants
Teddy Rosenbluth / New York Times:
Measles Outbreak Hits Town in Texas  —  As of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom were unvaccinated, local officials said.  —  A worsening measles outbreak has taken root in Texas, sickening two dozen and hospitalizing nine on the western edge of the state …
Discussion: ABC News, CBS News, Ars Technica and UPI
Dan Froomkin / Heads Up News:
What you can do to fight the Trump agenda  —  “What can I do?”  —  That's the question a lot of you are asking.  —  I've spent the last week exploring that question.  And the overarching answer, based on my research, is that you should reach out and make connections with others …
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
BREAKING: NIH admits funding freeze is illegal, will resume issuing grants  —  On Monday afternoon, Popular Information broke the news that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had frozen virtually all grant funding in violation of two federal court orders.
Daniel Payne / Politico:
Why the health care industry is letting RFK Jr. cruise to confirmation  —  From drugmakers to doctors, few health care groups are asking senators to block Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from becoming HHS secretary.  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s expected Senate confirmation on Thursday to lead …
Discussion: New York Times
RELATED:
New York Times:
Behind Kennedy's Vow to ‘Follow the Science’ on Vaccines
Discussion: Breitbart
Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Eric Adams Discussed Possible Republican Primary Run With G.O.P. Leader  —  The mayor discussed options to run for re-election in the Republican contest as recently as Monday.  Asked for comment, he said he was running as a Democrat.  —  Mayor Eric Adams of New York City has quietly explored running …
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
This obscure law is one reason Trump's agenda keeps losing in court  —  Lawsuits challenging Trump policies raise big constitutional questions, but they also rely on a law that requires the government to follow the correct procedures when changing course.  —  WASHINGTON — Lawyers challenging …
David Bauder / Associated Press:
White House says it has the right to punish AP reporters over Gulf naming dispute  —  The White House said Wednesday that news organizations that refuse to use President Donald Trump's new name for the Gulf of Mexico were telling “lies” and insisted it would continue to bar Associated Press journalists from presidential events.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
“Largest data breach in US history”: Three more lawsuits try to stop DOGE … The US DOGE Service's access to the private data of ordinary Americans and federal employees is being challenged in several lawsuits filed this week.  —  Three new complaints seek court orders that would stop …
Leah Feiger / Wired:
The GSA Plans to Sell Hundreds of Its Federal Government Buildings  —  The General Services Administration, staffed at its upper levels by Elon Musk associates, plans to sell 500-plus buildings—some of which house government agencies and the offices of US senators.
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Bernie Sanders launches high-profile offensive against ‘the oligarchy’  —  “He likes spreading his message, and likes being adored,” a former aide said.  —  Bernie Sanders, the two-time presidential candidate, is barnstorming Iowa and Nebraska to rally voters against what he calls …
The Boston Globe:
Judge clears way for Trump's plan to downsize federal workforce.  Follow live updates.  —  A federal judge in Boston cleared the way for President Trump's plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.  —  US District Judge George O'Toole Jr. found a group …
Discussion: Associated Press
 
 
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 More Items: 
The Guardian:
Musk's ‘efficiency’ agency site adds data from controversial rightwing thinktank
Valerie Gonzalez / Associated Press:
Texas county approves holding election to make SpaceX's Starbase its own city
Discussion: Raw Story and The Texas Tribune
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Trump and Musk Hunt for Corruption, Very Selectively
Discussion: LewRockwell
Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Judge won't halt Trump, Musk federal worker buyout program
Matt Cohen / Democracy Docket:
City of Baltimore Sues to Stop Dismantling of Nation's Financial Watchdog Agency
Amir Khafagy / Documented:
After False ICE Raid Reports, New York Sikhs Mobilize Against Misinformation
Michael Woolf / RNS:
Ronald Reagan failed to end the sanctuary movement. Here's why Trump will too.
 Earlier Items: 
Timothy Gardner / Reuters:
Democratic US lawmakers ask Energy Department about any DOGE access to nuclear data
Jessica Grose / New York Times:
The Risks Trump Poses to K-12 Education
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
House GOP budget plan targets deep SNAP cuts
Discussion: USA Today
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Top N.I.H. Official Abruptly Resigns as Trump Orders Deep Cuts
Discussion: CBS News
Justine Calma / The Verge:
The Trump administration restores federal webpages after court order
Charles Franklin / Homepage:
New Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds public strongly favors some Trump policies, strongly opposes others
David Zipper / Slate:
Americans Are Actually in a Position to Make Elon Musk Feel Our Rage
Discussion: Raw Story and Forbes
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: Axel Springer board member Martin Varsavsky criticizing Politico's Gaza coverage did not sit well with many of its journalists, who he called “woke”

Wayne Ma / The Information:
Sources: Apple TV+ is losing $1B+ annually even as its subscriptions grew to ~45M in 2024; source: Apple has spent $5B+ per year on content since its 2019 debut

Steven J. Horowitz / Variety:
US prosecutors charge former Eminem employee Joseph Strange with allegedly stealing and selling unreleased Eminem music that leaked online in January 2025

 
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