Top Items:

Danielle Sassoon and Other Officials Resign After Order to Drop Eric Adams Case — The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials with the federal public integrity unit all quit after the Justice Department ordered the charges against Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped.
Discussion:
Raw Story, New York Daily News, Associated Press, The Independent and New York Post
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Top federal prosecutor in N.Y. resigns after being told to drop Adams charges — Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her resignation in a statement that does not refer to the DOJ directive. — Danielle R. Sassoon …
Discussion:
Alternet.org, The Hill, The Daily Wire, Associated Press, Saywhat Politics and The Gateway Pundit

Read the letter from Emil Bove accepting Danielle Sassoon's resignation — A letter from Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, accepting the resignation of Danielle R. Sassoon, Manhattan's acting U.S. attorney, over her refusal to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams. … Around the New York Region

Prosecutors were prepping to charge Eric Adams with destroying evidence, Manhattan US attorney's resignation letter reveals — Manhattan federal prosecutors were prepared to bring a new bombshell indictment charging Mayor Eric Adams with destroying evidence and instructing people to lie to the FBI …
New York Times:
Read Danielle Sassoon's Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi — Danielle R. Sassoon, Manhattan's acting U.S. attorney, writes to Attorney General Pam Bondi, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams.

The $400 Million Armored Tesla Story Is a Fake Scandal In a Sea of Real Graft and Horror — The State Department does a lot of business with a lot of different companies and has bought Tesla's before. But freaking out and editing a spreadsheet when it's pointed out is weird.
Discussion:
Futurism, Fortune, Washington Post and Raw Story
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Trump administration says it has no plans to fulfill $400 million ‘armored Tesla’ contract — The Trump administration was expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Forbes, Hackwhackers, Mediaite, Fortune, Raw Story and The Independent

State Department buries massive payout to Tesla after public outcry
Discussion:
Alternet.org, The Daily Beast, Townhall, The Hill, Crooks and Liars and Mercury News

RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections — Despite millions of dollars spent by groups opposed to his nomination, the Senate voted to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Discussion:
CNN, STAT, Politico, Talking Points Memo, New Republic, The Verge, Deseret News, The Federalist, The Daily Signal, Daily Kos, Tennessee Star, HuffPost, The Nation and Business Insider
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As Trump Threatened a Primary, a G.O.P. Holdout on Hegseth Flipped
Discussion:
Politico, NOTUS and Rolling Stone
Nicholas Florko / The Atlantic:
RFK Jr. Won. Now What?
RFK Jr. Won. Now What?
Discussion:
Reuters, Associated Press, Fox News, Gizmodo, Politico, Global News, Washington Examiner, CBS News, ZeroHedge News, Business Insider, Bangor Daily News and Daily Kos
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
McConnell on RFK Jr.: ‘I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures’
McConnell on RFK Jr.: ‘I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures’
Discussion:
STAT, Ars Technica, The Nation, Raw Story, OutsideTheBeltway, Mediaite, ABC News, Metro.co.uk, The Gateway Pundit, The 19th, Axios and One America News Network
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health secretary; McConnell lone GOP dissenter
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health secretary; McConnell lone GOP dissenter
Discussion:
New York Times, Reuters, NPR, al.com, Megyn Kelly, GovExec.com, KRON4, Washington Post, Forbes, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, NOTUS, Semafor, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, Breitbart and New York Magazine

Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling … - NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said. — U.S. troops will not be deployed …
Discussion:
New Republic, Politico, New York Times, Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Breitbart, New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Reuters, BBC, American Enterprise Institute, DCReport.org, spiked, Financial Times, HuffPost, The Moscow Times, Mediaite, New Jersey Online, CNN, Reason, Plain Dealer, ZeroHedge News, Raw Story, EADaily, Al Jazeera, Fox News, New York Daily News, WAGA-TV, Daily Mail, Kyodo News+, The Post Millennial, NBC News, The Independent, New York Post, The Guardian, Vox, Diplomatic,, Asia Times, Associated Press, El País, Atlantic Council, One America News Network and Scottie's Playtime
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Europe braces for a future without the US as a reliable ally
Discussion:
Reuters, Atlantic Council, Politico, Yahoo News, The Guardian, Defense One, Responsible Statecraft, UnHerd, Raw Story, The New European, Bloomberg, Financial Times and New York Post
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Scoop — Zelensky to Trump: Putin pretends to want peace because he's “afraid of you”
Scoop — Zelensky to Trump: Putin pretends to want peace because he's “afraid of you”
Discussion:
The Guardian, Mediaite, The Hill, Alternet.org, American Greatness and New York Daily News
Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
Discussion:
CBS News, Politico, Washington Examiner, The National Interest, HuffPost, Associated Press, EADaily, Alternet.org, Defense One, Metro.co.uk, Grabien, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
A Valentine for Vladimir — After January's inflation numbers, published yesterday …
A Valentine for Vladimir — After January's inflation numbers, published yesterday …
Discussion:
Gazette, The Guardian, Politico, Writing from London and Grabien

Federal judge blocks Trump order on health care for transgender youth — The lawsuit filed by families and LGBTQ advocates challenges an order that aims to end federal support for gender transition care for people under 19. — A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed …
Discussion:
Forbes, Deseret News, Baltimore Sun and the most sensational …
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‘Honestly terrifying’: Yosemite National Park is in chaos — California's beloved national park is on the brink of disaster — Yosemite National Park is in trouble. Hamstrung by President Donald Trump's hiring freeze, hundreds of rescinded job offers and the threat of coming layoffs …

Walz considering Minnesota Senate run — Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier Thursday she would not seek reelection. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is considering a run for Senate next year, according to a person close to the governor who was granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
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Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig eye bids for U.S. Senate seat
Discussion:
freebeacon.com, Townhall, WAVY.com and New York Post
Steve Karnowski / Associated Press:
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith won't run in 2026. Fellow Democrat Gov. Tim Walz and others eye the seat
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith won't run in 2026. Fellow Democrat Gov. Tim Walz and others eye the seat
Discussion:
USA Today, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, The Daily Wire, Axios, MPR News and CBS News

Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud — They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that's actually fraudulent. — President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to disrupt …
Discussion:
Plain Dealer, The Daily Wire, Raw Story, The Poke, The Independent, Washington Examiner and Futurism
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Exclusive: Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman, allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a bar, witnesses say. — Matt Schlapp, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the CPAC convention, allegedly engaged in lewd conduct and allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a restaurant …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The National Pulse and New Jersey Online

Louisiana Department of Health ends mass vaccinations, bans seasonal vaccine promotion — Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham sent a directive to state health workers Thursday ending long-standing mass vaccination clinics and banning staff from promoting seasonal vaccines …

Aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman collides with ship in Mediterranean Sea — There are no reported injuries, nor is there flooding aboard the carrier. — The US warship USS Harry S. Truman is pictured anchored in The Solent, Oct. 8, 2018, near Portsmouth, England.
Discussion:
U.S. Naval Forces Europe …, CBS News, 19FortyFive, Reuters, The War Zone, Breaking Defense, The Daily Wire, New York Post and WXIA-TV

JD Vance snubs Germany's Scholz at Munich Security Conference — “We don't need to see him, he won't be chancellor long,” a former U.S. official said of Vance's thinking. — MUNICH, Germany — United States Vice President JD Vance will not meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Fox News, New York Post, Twitchy, Deseret News and Politico

Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting — Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said. — Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet …
Discussion:
CBS News

Pa.'s Sean Parnell as the face of Trump's Pentagon is another assault on women — There was a moment just over three years ago when it was clear not only that Sean Parnell — a highly decorated Army veteran and an acolyte of Donald Trump — would have to end his 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate campaign …

The Fringe Cause That Could Derail the Republican Agenda — We're not even a month into Donald Trump's new term and already, a cadre of Republican activists appears poised to fritter away his popularity and derail his administration's agenda with a maximalist demand for a budget-busting tax cut.
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press, Raw Story, Americans for Tax Reform and USA Today
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
NIH reportedly loses 2 top leaders in 2 days — Two key staff members at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are reportedly leaving the agency amid ongoing efforts by the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk to drastically cut down the size of the federal workforce.

How to stop Trump's power grab — At this point, there is little doubt that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaged in a fundamentally unlawful effort to rewrite the American constitutional order. Their efforts to redirect federal spending are attempts to seize Congress's power of the purse …
Discussion:
New York Times and Digby's Hullabaloo
Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump signs off on proposed reciprocal tariffs — President Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs that he maintains will crack down on unfair and discriminatory tariffs from both adversaries and allies. — The reciprocal tariffs will be customized …
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, CNN, Politico, India Today, Reuters, Business Insider, Washington Examiner, freebeacon.com, USA Today, El País, Euractiv, RedState, One America News Network, Townhall, The Guardian, Forbes, CBS News, New York Post, CNBC, Daily Mail, Raw Story, Bloomberg, ZeroHedge News, Global News, The Post Millennial and Fox Business

DOGE rips through Education Department, cutting contracts, staff and grants — Contracts that are key to interpreting data about the American education system were cut as DOGE seeks to trim spending. Some contracts will be rebid. — The notices popped into email boxes …
Discussion:
NOTUS, American Enterprise Institute and New Republic

White House terminates top federal prosecutors amid DOJ, FBI purge — Numerous U.S. attorneys announced their departures during a period of extreme upheaval at the Justice Department, an institution long criticized by Trump. — WASHINGTON — The White House terminated multiple U.S. attorneys …
Discussion:
Reuters, US Department of Justice, New Republic, The National Pulse, The Gateway Pundit and KNSD-TV

DOGE's Website Is Just One Big Twitter Ad — The source code for the new Department for Government Efficiency's “official US government website” points to X as its primary source of authority while sharing links to the site sends users to x.com. — At a press conference in the Oval Office this week …

Some Follow Up Questions For Elon Musk, After He Admits He Gets Stuff Wrong Sometimes — Here's a story about being wrong. Not just regular wrong — we're all wrong sometimes! — but spectacularly, publicly, “I'm going to double down again and again and again on this obviously false thing even after being corrected” wrong.
Discussion:
CNN

Some federal workers are ‘getting wealthy at taxpayer expense,’ says Elon Musk, whose companies have received at least $20 billion from the government — World's richest man and government official Elon Musk accused federal workers of unfairly getting rich off the taxpayer's dime, citing …
Discussion:
Reuters