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“They're Scared Shitless”: The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump's Grip on Congress — With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, Associated Press, NOTUS, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Deseret News and Mediaite
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EXCLUSIVE: VP J.D. Vance Warns Zelensky Over ‘Disgraceful’ Public Attacks on Trump, Confirms Ukrainian Elections Are Now U.S. Policy. — EXCLUSIVE: VP J.D. Vance Warns Zelensky Over ‘Disgraceful’ Public Attacks on Trump, Confirms Ukrainian Elections Are Now U.S. Policy.
Discussion:
Politico, Raw Story, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Wall Street Journal, Euromaidan Press, New York Post, Breitbart, One America News Network, The Post Millennial, The Kyiv Independent, Twitchy, Daily Kos, Townhall, USA Today, Associated Press, The Indian Express, Scripps News, Blaze Media and CBS News


After ceding power of the purse, GOP lawmakers beg Trump team for funds — Republican senators are asking Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states. — Republican senators find themselves in an unusual position these days …
Discussion:
Axios, ABC News, Raw Story, Semafor, New Republic and No More Mister Nice Blog


Hegseth considering firing generals as early as this week
Discussion:
ABC News, The Independent and NPR

Goldman accuses Trump of ‘dozens of impeachable offenses’ in first days back in White House
Discussion:
Scripps News

‘You would see lawsuits:’ Susan Collins fires new warning shot at Trump on spending
Discussion:
Scripps News, Talking Points Memo, Reason and Advocate

Live updates: Trump floats ideas for money recovered by DOGE; Labor secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer breezes through Senate hearing
Discussion:
Axios, New Republic, CBS News and The Hill

Trump Issues Order to Expand His Power Over Agencies Congress Made Independent

Republicans rebuke Trump on Ukraine — gently
Discussion:
Axios, ABC News, The Atlantic, New Republic and Grabien


ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account — Fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids began to spread the day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time. Posts on social media and Reddit claimed that ICE had already been spotted …

Trump's America is Putin's ally now — LONDON — The thing about a war is it forces people to pick a side. And Donald Trump, it seems to many in Europe, is siding with Vladimir Putin. — Seven days of presidential interventions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict have made real the nightmares …
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times, The Week and The Guardian
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Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks — President Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” after the Ukrainian president took issue with his statements on the war with Russia. — 2.3k — Constant Méheut and Anton Troianovski
Discussion:
Axios, Daily Mail, Washington Post, Fox News, NBC News, University of Manchester, Rolling Stone, CBS News, CNN, The Hill, Associated Press, PolitiFact, Israpundit, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, 19FortyFive, Al Jazeera, New Jersey Online, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, RedState, Raw Story, Patterico's Pontifications, The National Pulse, Washington Examiner, Crikey, American Greatness, Washington Times, The Independent, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, Blaze Media, The Guardian, Semafor, The Week, RTÉ, IJR and The Kyiv Independent


Trump Hands the World to China
Discussion:
New York Times, Reuters, Asia Times, Digby's Hullabaloo and Blaze Media

Incompetence Leavened With Malignity
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Euractiv and Deseret News

Are We Now the Bad Guys? — There was a time, not too long ago, when America stood as the beacon …
Discussion:
Newsbusters and Raw Story


One confirmed dead in Marana Regional Airport crash Wednesday morning — KGUN 9 has a crew on scene — MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — A crash has occurred at Marana Regional Airport, 11700 W. Avra Valley Road, Wednesday morning, KGUN 9 has confirmed with airport personnel.
Discussion:
KOLD-TV, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, UPI and WRIC ABC 8News
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Majority Say System Of Checks & Balances Not Working Well, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Congressional Job Approval: Democrats Hit All-Time Low, Republicans Hit Record High — mail_outline — Less than 4 in 10 voters think the system of checks and balances between the executive …
Discussion:
Blaze Media, Breitbart, Townhall, New York Daily News, IJR, The Hill and PoliticusUSA
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Musk underwater in public opinion, 2 polls show
Discussion:
Pew Research Center, The Hill, Mediaite, ABC News and The Capitolist


NYC congestion pricing axed as Trump pulls approval of hated toll — Congestion pricing, we hardly knew ye. — New York City's spectacularly unpopular congestion pricing scheme is on death row as the Trump administration will announce Wednesday it is pulling its approval of the toll …
Discussion:
NBC News, New York Times, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, CBS News, Staten Island Advance, Hollywood Life, State of the Planet, nyc.streetsblog, Associated Press, The City, freebeacon.com, UPI, Reason, Washington Times, City Journal, Raw Story, Fox News, Daily Caller News Foundation, New Jersey Online, Politico, abc7NY, Axios, Bloomberg, Twitchy, Boston Herald, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Digby's Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, One America News Network, City & State New York, New York Magazine, Gizmodo, The Post Millennial, The Guardian, The Daily Wire, USA Today, NOTUS, The Hill and E&E News
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Trump receives widespread backlash to social post calling himself ‘king’
Discussion:
The Hill, abc7NY, Associated Press, New York Post, The Independent and New York Times

Trump on Himself: ‘LONG LIVE THE KING!’
Discussion:
Associated Press, NBC News, The Hill, CBS News, New Republic, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and New York Post


IRS expected to fire 6,700 employees beginning Thursday — The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to conduct mass firings of 6,700 employees beginning Thursday, according to multiple employees notified of the plans. — Staff in their probationary periods—mostly recent hires …
Discussion:
Frontpage Mag
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Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts — The directive, detailed in a memo dated Tuesday, exempts a handful of programs, including the president's expanded military mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Discussion:
CNN, The Hill, The Guardian, New York Times, Defense One, USA Today, Breaking Defense, UPI, The Independent, New York Post, CNBC, Forbes, New Republic, SpaceNews, Raw Story, IJR, Twitchy, Washington Examiner and Associated Press


Ex-NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested over protest at Huntington Beach City Council meeting — Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested over a protest at a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, California on Tuesday. — Kluwe was protesting Huntington Beach's decision to display a plaque …
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News, TMZ.com, New York Post, Blaze Media, The Daily Caller, Reading Eagle and Orange County Register


Oops: Trump-Musk Cuts Just Wrecked an NIH Org Championed by GOPers — With co-Presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk now inflicting deep cuts on federal agencies that sponsor medical research, thousands of scientists, researchers, and medical professionals are getting fired.
Discussion:
Digby's Hullabaloo


Cal Fire captain found stabbed to death inside of her San Diego County home — A Cal Fire captain was found stabbed to death inside of her San Diego County home on Monday and authorities are still searching for the suspect. — Deputies were dispatched to a home in the 20200 block …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times and KFOR-TV


USDS Engineering Director Resigns: ‘This Is Not the Mission I Came to Serve’ — “I do not believe that DOGE can continue to deliver the work of USDS, based on their actions so far,” wrote Anne Marshall in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. — The director of data science and engineering …


Diary — I decided to keep a record of my thoughts as events transpire, a diary. I have read several reactions by Germans to the rise of Nazism and I was struck by their difficulty to understand where the daily events they lived through could or would lead. In retrospect, we will know, analyze, and make sense.


D.C. U.S. attorney probing Democrats over alleged threats, documents show — Analysts say Ed Martin's ‘Operation Whirlwind,’ which targets statements by Democrats and others about Elon Musk, justices and government workers, is meant to stifle criticism. — D.C.'s top prosecutor escalated …
Discussion:
Esquire, New York Times and Rolling Stone


Judge delays decision on whether to dismiss N.Y. Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case — Adams was indicted in September on five counts, including bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. — A federal judge on Wednesday questioned a top Justice Department official …
Discussion:
RedState, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Independent, abc7NY and Reason
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US figures do not support Trump claims on Ukraine spending — President Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated a claim that the United States has spent $350 billion on Ukraine's war — a figure that far eclipses the amount recorded by the Department of Defense and the interagency oversight group that tracks U.S. appropriations to Ukraine.
Discussion:
Politico


Two more staffers quit John Fetterman's office as the senator carves his own lane with Trump — The imminent exit of two of Fetterman's longest-serving staffers continues a string of departures from the senator's office over the past year. — Two of Sen. John Fetterman's longest-serving staff members …
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill and The Intercept


Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes — The new guidance follows President Trump's demand that the Health and Human Services Department align with his executive order barring transgender athletes from women's sports.
Discussion:
Office on Women's Health, USA Today, The Indian Express, UPI, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion and The Post Millennial


A Frustrated Trump Wants His New Air Force One Planes Pronto — Among the ways being discussed to force faster delivery of two presidential planes are relaxing security clearances for Boeing workers and even purchasing a temporary luxury plane and retrofitting it.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Futurism and Daily Mail


Trump's approval rating slips as Americans worry about the economy — U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.


Trump Team Finds Loophole to Defy Spirit of Court Orders Blocking Spending Freezes — Officials cite other legal authorities — not Mr. Trump's court-blocked directives — to keep withholding foreign aid and domestic grant money. — The Trump administration is systematically exploiting loopholes …
Discussion:
Politico

DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data — The president's special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies. — If you have tips about the remaking of the federal government, you can contact Charlie, Ian …


These Are the SpaceX Engineers Already Working Inside the FAA — SpaceX engineers were said to be simply touring the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday. In fact, some were already being onboarded at the agency under a policy designed to increase “employment opportunities for people with disabilities.”


Republicans in Hispanic-heavy districts push Johnson not to slash Medicaid or SNAP — Eight House Republicans who are members of the Hispanic conference or represent large Hispanic populations are publicly pressing Speaker Mike Johnson to not slash Medicaid, food assistance and Pell Grants in his budget plan.