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Donald Trump reignites the lightbulb wars
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
President Donald Trump wants to make America incandescent again. He posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he plans to end Biden-era standards for lightbulbs that accelerated the adoption of LED lighting.
According to that post, he’ll direct his appointee Lee Zeldin to “go back to the common sense standards,” for lightbulbs. Zeldin is the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, although Trump calls him “secretary” in his post. And while Trump singled out Zeldin, it’s the Department of Energy that sets efficiency standards for light bulbs and appliances.
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Constitutional crisis intensifies.
On top of apparently flouting judicial demands involving the Treasury and USAID, the Trump administration is allegedly still freezing scientific grant funding in spite of a court order:
The federal judge overseeing the case brought by 22 states found that the Trump administration had not fully complied with the January 31 order. The judge issued a new order directing the Trump administration to “immediately end any federal funding pause.” According to an NIH source, no action was taken in response to the new order.
Elon Musk’s DOGE activities trigger protests, vandalism for Tesla
Elon Musk’s role in carrying out President Donald Trump’s dirty work has triggered a wave of opposition that is spilling over into protests against his flagship company, Tesla. Over the last week, some people have held demonstrations while others have vandalized Tesla vehicles owned by individual buyers and showrooms — with actions stretching from New York, Colorado, and California, to as far as The Netherlands and Germany.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has accessed sensitive government data and cut congressionally mandated funds to agencies. After court orders demanded a halt to some of its actions, Musk and Vice President JD Vance have hinted they may ignore the rulings. Tesla’s hundreds of showrooms, as well as other locations, present a ripe target for venting frustrations about Musk’s political activities.
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Elon Musk’s rapid unscheduled disassembly of the US government
Almost 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, America has gotten herself a new king. His name is Elon Musk.
“Wait a minute,” you may be saying. “What about President Donald Trump?” Trump ran, much like Silvio Berlusconi before him, primarily to avoid prosecutions. He has never liked being president and he has already gotten what he wants. He’s not the power center. Musk is.
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Trump’s next target: pennies.
President Trump said he instructed the US Treasury Secretary to stop the “wasteful” production of new pennies, adding that they “cost us more than 2 cents” to mint. As noted by the NYT, it’s not exactly clear whether Trump has the authority to do this, as Congress is tasked with overseeing the production of coins.
The CFPB’s headquarters are closing.
Two days after DOGE head Elon Musk posted “CFPB RIP” on X, employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters in Washington, DC were told via email today to work remotely next week, as the office will be closed, reports Business Insider.
That’s after an email last night from OMB director Russell Vought, who Trump had just made CFPB Acting Director, stopped most agency work, including “supervisory activities that ensure companies are complying with the law,” the outlet writes.
Federal judge blocks DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury records
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
A federal judge temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing Treasury Department records containing personal information like Social Security numbers early this morning, reports Inner City Press.
The order is in response to a lawsuit filed yesterday in New York’s Southern District Court. The suit alleges that the administration exceeded its authority, broke the US Administrative Procedures Act, and violated the US Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine when it granted DOGE access to the Treasury’s federal payments system.
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RIP CFPB?
Elon Musk sent a somewhat cryptic message on X hours after Wired reported that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where DOGE staffers were set to gain read-only access to its systems. The CFPB has long been a Republican target so it’s unsurprising it’s been on the chopping block for DOGE along with the US Agency for International Development and Department of Education.
Musk promises to reinstate DOGE staffer linked to racist account
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Marko Elez, the 25-year-old staffer Department of Government Efficiency staffer linked to a social media profile with racist posts, “will be brought back,” shortly after he resigned, Elon Musk announced on X.
Elez resigned from his role where he reportedly had the ability to rewrite code in sensitive payments systems at the US Treasury, once The Wall Street Journal inquired about his connection to a deleted account. That account, which the Journal found previously had the username “@marko_elez,” called for reinstating a “eugenic immigration policy,” repealing the Civil Rights Act, and said that “99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs.”
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FEMA’s website started deleting ‘climate change’
DOGE wreaked havoc on the government in just one week
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Within the past week, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-affiliated staffers have gained unprecedented access to sensitive US financial systems with data on millions of Americans, claimed to shut down one federal agency without an act of Congress, and invaded numerous government agencies. They’ve been opposed by lawsuits, public protests, and resistance within those agencies — and the situation remains constantly in flux.
As a deadline for workers to accept a so-called “deferred resignation” looms on Monday, here’s where the rest of Musk’s government takeover attempt stands.
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Federal employees who work to protect the environment are getting the ax.
That includes at least 168 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who worked in its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The Trump administration is following a play out of Project 2025, which calls for “eliminating” the office.
Across the federal government, Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are targeting programs and employees that have worked to make initiatives more inclusive of communities of color and other groups that face disproportionate health and environmental risks.
Mentions of trans kids scrubbed from national child safety clearinghouse website
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a child safety nonprofit that works closely with the government and major tech platforms, has recently removed publications that reference queer and transgender children from its website. The removals come amid reports that NCMEC was ordered to cull mentions of LGBTQ+ issues under threat of losing government funding, part of President Donald Trump’s push to eradicate recognition of trans people in the US.
NCMEC’s website hosts numerous reports on the state of various child endangerment issues, including data about abduction, sex trafficking, and online enticement. However, comparisons with the Wayback Machine show that at least three documents on its “NCMEC Data” page — including a report on missing children with suicidal tendencies, a report on male victims of child sex trafficking, and an overall data analysis of children missing from care — have been removed since the page’s last archived date of January 24th. Archived copies of all three reports included mentions of LGBTQ+ and particularly transgender children. The 13 remaining publications on NCMEC’s data page do not appear to contain these references.
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The ‘custom chatbot’ DOGE is reportedly building for the GSA.
A report from Wired looks at attempts to plug AI technology into the General Services Administration (along with other departments). According to one source, DOGE’s push is for using AI tools “to analyze huge swaths of contract and procurement data” with a custom GSAi chatbot.
It also notes other shifting AI approaches, with coding assistant Cursor reportedly approved then retracted, and a new push to use Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot.
Trump’s energy secretary bypassed legal, IT warnings against giving a DOGE rep access.
CNN reports on a former SpaceX intern being set up in the Energy Department’s systems by Chris Wright:
Members of the general counsel and chief information offices “said this is a bad idea” because [Luke] Farritor hadn’t had a standard background investigation needed to access the department’s system, one of the people told CNN. “He’s not cleared to be in DOE, on our systems. None of those things have been done.”
Mark Zuckerberg visits the White House.
Per Meta spokesperson Andy Stone: “Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House today to discuss how Meta can help the administration defend and advance American tech leadership abroad.”
Deadline for government’s ‘Fork in the road’ mass resignation program delayed by court
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” program, meant to push out career government workers as part of the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency’s alleged effort to cut federal spending, several outlets report.
The program gave employees a deadline just before midnight on Thursday to accept the offer, which was billed by the Trump administration as a buyout. It promised to pay out employees through September if they resigned by the deadline — even though the government is not funded past March 14th. A group of unions representing federal employees sued the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, claiming the directive violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it is “arbitrary and capricious” and promises money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress.
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Trump has California’s high-speed rail in his crosshairs again
Image: California High-Speed Rail Authority
President Donald Trump has set his sights on California’s high-speed rail plan, calling it “the worst-managed project” with massive cost overruns that deserve to be investigated.
“They have hundreds of billions of dollars of cost overruns,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s impossible that something could cost that much.”
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Head of DOGE-controlled government tech task force resigns
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Ted Carstensen, the deputy administrator of the United States Digital Service (USDS) organization that has been renamed to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is resigning instead of taking the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation offer for federal employees.
“I write to let you know that I have decided to resign from USDS and today will be my last day,” Carstensen said in an internal memo to colleagues that was obtained by The Verge. “I am not taking the fork, but after discussions with my family and other trusted advisors I decided that it is time for me to pursue a different path.”
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Elon Musk’s DOGE storms federal weather forecasters’ headquarters
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has reportedly infiltrated the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency that collects and shares vital weather and climate information. Sources have told The Verge, as well as other news outlets, that they’re worried about drastic changes that could impact the public’s access to weather forecasts, jeopardize cybersecurity, and gut employee morale.
NOAA houses the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center, which produce forecasts and warn people about approaching storms. News that DOGE has barged into national headquarters has raised fears that the ad hoc group Musk is leading to remake the federal government is about to take a sledgehammer to NOAA — potentially hobbling the agency’s ability to keep the public safe during disasters. One current employee tells The Verge they’re staying on despite “demoralizing” changes at the agency because of how vital their work is — people rely on NOAA for accurate forecasts every day.
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Donald Trump’s data purge has begun
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
Key resources for environmental data and public health have already been taken down from federal websites, and more could soon vanish as the Trump administration works to scrap anything that has to do with climate change, racial equity, or gender identity.
Warnings floated on social media Friday about an impending purge at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), spurring calls to save as much data as soon as possible. The CDC shares data on a wide range of topics, from chronic diseases to traffic injuries, tobacco use, vaccinations, and pregnancies in the US — and it’s just one of the agencies in the crosshairs.
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The FDIC is “reevaluting” its approach crypto oversight.
FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill has released dozens of documents that he says show how banks were “almost universally met with resistance” when making crypto-related requests. He added that the FDIC’s response “sent the message to banks that it would be extraordinarily difficult — if not impossible — to move forward” in the crypto space.
“I think they’re playing a quantity game and assuming the system can’t react to all this illegality at once.”
Said a law professor quoted by The Washington Post in an article about government officials raising internal legal objections to the actions of Elon Musk’s DOGE team. These messages have surfaced from departments like USAID, the Treasury, GSA, OPM, and others:
“I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and the Commission serves the people of the United States,” an administrative judge at the agency wrote to EEOC acting chair Andrea R. Lucas, in a previously unreported message. “If you want to continue following the illegal and unethical orders of our president and the unelected leader of ‘doge’ that’s on you.”
DOGE (reportedly) has full access to a major US payment system.
Contrary to earlier reports, Wired (in a story since confirmed by other reporters) says that a member of Elon Musk’s pseudo-department has:
“the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: The Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). Housed on a top-secret mainframe, these systems control, on a granular level, government payments that in their totality amount to more than a fifth of the US economy.”
In other words, a budget passed by democratically elected US lawmakers could — reportedly, in theory — be overruled by a Big Tech lackey.
‘Scared and betrayed’ — workers are reeling from chaos at federal agencies
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
As the third week of Donald Trump’s presidency begins, workers across federal agencies are scrambling to find their footing among the chaos.
From the US Agency for International Development and the Department of Agriculture, to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor, federal workers are facing an onslaught of changes that threaten to upend their work and the systems that keep the country running. Sweeping orders from the White House threatened to freeze funding for basic grants and programs, before being blocked by a judge and walked back by Trump. Using a made up meme agency, unelected billionaire Elon Musk is attempting to stage a takeover reminiscent of his remaking of Twitter, now X, except this time hollowing out the US government.
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