Tuesday, July 01, 2025

MEDIA MONITORING TOOL FOR SOPHISTICATED NEWS CONSUMERS

memeorandum

About memeorandum:
memeorandum is an auto-generated summary of the stories that US political commentators are discussing online right now. 
Unlike sister sites Techmeme and Mediagazer, it is not a human-edited news outlet, but rather a media-monitoring tool for sophisticated news consumers.
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memeorandum

 Top Items: 
NBC News:
A megabill mystery: New solar and wind tax comes as a surprise to Republican senators  —  “I don't know where it came from,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told NBC News after he released the 940-page legislation.  —  WASHINGTON — Tucked inside …
RELATED:
Michael Gold / New York Times:
ICE will require lawmakers to give a week's notice before detention visits. … Where Things Stand  — Domestic policy bill: The White House reiterated President Trump's Friday deadline for passage of a sweeping economic and domestic policy bill being hammered out in the Senate …
Catie Edmondson / New York Times:
Here Are the Republican Senators Who May Revolt on Trump's Bill  —  Senate Republicans can afford to lose no more than three of their own votes on the bill, but two already are opposed and others remained undecided.  —  Even as the Senate pressed closer on Monday to a consequential vote …
Ellen Knickmeyer / Associated Press:
Bush, Obama — and singer Bono — fault Trump's gutting of USAID on agency's last day  —  Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered rare open criticism of the Trump administration — and singer Bono recited a poem — in an emotional video farewell Monday with staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Discussion: Al Jazeera, Raw Story and Newsweek
RELATED:
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
USAID cuts may cause over 14 million additional deaths by 2030, study says  —  Deep funding cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development and its potential dismantling could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal on Monday.
Discussion: Bloomberg and twitchy.com
Christopher Flavelle / New York Times:
Bush, Obama and Bono Commend USAID Staff Members on Their Last Day  —  Two ex-presidents and a rock star thanked the outgoing workers of a doomed agency.  —  As most staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development marked their final day with the agency, they got thanks from two presidents and a rock star.
USA Today:
Suspected Idaho shooter showed ‘Nazi tendencies’ in school, ex-classmates say: Updates  —  The man accused of fatally shooting two firefighters in an ambush in rural Idaho on Sunday had “Nazi tendencies” in school, sketched pictures of guns and swastikas in a notebook and was “obsessed with guns,” three former classmates told USA TODAY.
Politico:
Senate GOP scrambles to save Alaska SNAP carveout  —  Senate Republicans are racing to salvage a food aid carveout for Alaska and Hawaii in their policy megabill after the parliamentarian privately signaled the plan wouldn't meet strict Senate rules as written.
Discussion: KTOO, Newsweek and The Hill
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Collins, Murkowski vote with Democrats on striking Planned Parenthood provision from GOP megabill  —  Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) on Monday sided with Democrats who were trying to strike a provision from the GOP's megabill that bars Planned Parenthood health centers …
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Judge again delays Abrego Garcia's release from Tennessee jail over deportation concerns  —  Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in jail for now over concerns from his lawyers that he could be deported if he's released to await his trial on human smuggling charges, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled Monday.
Shannon K. Kingston / ABC News:
Trump signs executive order lifting sanctions on Syria  —  He had previously announced he would do so in hopes of stabilizing the country.  —  President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner …
RELATED:
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Trump Insults America—Again  —  The president of the United States seems to have no interest in appealing to a national sense of pride or honor.  —  Oops, he did it again.  —  On Sunday, President Donald Trump had a rambling conversation with the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
RELATED:
Rolling Stone:
Team Trump Is Serious About Unleashing the Espionage Act on the Media  —  It is more likely a matter of when, not if, the administration tries to prosecute journalists using the arcane law  —  Donald Trump hates leakers.  He isn't a fan of journalists, either.
Marisa Kabas / The Handbasket:
Alligator Alcatraz immigrant prison camp is Florida's sadistic ‘one-stop shop’ for mass deportation  —  Trump will attend the opening on Tuesday with Gov. DeSantis and DHS Sec. Noem. … The Florida GOP announced via X on Friday: “Feds approve Alligator Alcatraz: Florida's gator-guarded prison for illegal aliens.
Aubrey Wright / Indiana Public Media:
Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees  —  Public Indiana colleges and universities will eliminate 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state's budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.  —  The institutions volunteered to cut …
Discussion: Chicago Tribune
Sherrilyn Ifill / Sherrilyn's Newsletter:
A Court Without the Range  —  “O for a Supreme Court which shall be as true, as vigilant, as active, and exacting in maintaining laws enacted for the protection of human rights as in other days was that Court for the destruction of human rights!”  -Frederick Douglass
New York Times:
California Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law  —  Gov. Gavin Newsom had demanded changes to address the state's housing crisis, a philosophical shift for Democratic leaders.  —  California leaders on Monday rolled back a landmark law that was a national symbol of environmental protection …
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Paramount, Trump in ‘advanced’ discussions to settle $20 billion lawsuit  —  The parties asked a Texas judge on Monday to pause case deadlines until Thursday as negotiations over the suit play out.  —  Summary162  —  A settlement appears close in President Donald Trump's lawsuit …
Heidi Li Feldman / Slate:
Supreme Court Rules Some Americans Have a Constitutional Right to Insist on Theocracy  —  There have been any number of awful decisions from the current Supreme Court, but last week marked a clear breaking point for the American rule of law.  You need only look to the second-worst decision of Friday …
Discussion: RNS and Reason
Axios:
Scoop: Roy Cooper leans toward N.C. Senate bid, potential Trump showdown  —  North Carolina Democrats are getting closer to the gift they've have been asking for all year, with former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) leaning toward a Senate run in the state President Trump has won three times.
Theodore Schleifer / New York Times:
Elon Musk Promises a New Political Party if Republicans Pass Trump's Policy Bill  —  Elon Musk Promises a New Political Party if the G.O.P. Bill Passes  —  There's a Race to Power the Future.  China Is Pulling Away.  —  Beijing is selling clean energy to the world; Washington is pushing oil and gas.
Discussion: Vanity Fair and The Bulwark
New York Times:
There's a Race to Power the Future.  China Is Pulling Away.  —  Beijing is selling clean energy to the world, Washington is pushing oil and gas.  Both are driven by national security.  —  By David Gelles in New York; Somini Sengupta in Brasília and in Tirunelveli, India …
Clare Duffy / CNN:
‘I wanted to do something to fight back’: This iPhone app alerts users to nearby ICE sightings  —  New York CNN —  Joshua Aaron has worked in and around the tech industry for around two decades.  He built his first app — a blackjack game — at computer camp when he was 13.
Kimberly Leonard / Politico:25 minutes ago
Erika Donalds talks education policy and gov race  —  Good morning and welcome to Monday.  —  Gubernatorial candidate Rep. BYRON DONALDS shot to fame in conservative politics largely thanks to his role as a key surrogate for President DONALD TRUMP.  —  But his wife, ERIKA DONALDS …
Discussion: Axios, New York Sun and UPI
Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
Sound Familiar?  Democrats Lay Groundwork for a ‘Project 2029’  —  The plan to write a policy agenda for the next Democratic president is at the center of a raging debate within the party: whether its biggest problem is its ideas or its difficulty in selling them.
Discussion: twitchy.com
Steve Holland / Reuters:
Trump imposes tougher US policy toward Cuba  —  President Donald Trump on Monday signed a memorandum imposing a hard-line U.S. policy toward communist-run Cuba and reversing measures put in place by former President Joe Biden, the White House said.  —  The directive will enforce a statutory ban …
Oliver Darcy / Status:
‘60 Minutes’ Draws the Line … While Paramount Global and Donald Trump negotiate behind the scenes with a mediator over a potential settlement that could decide the fate of the historic Hollywood studio, a very different kind of showdown has been unfolding inside the company—one that pits the …
Robert McCoy / New Republic:
Americans Have Never Hated Being American More, New Poll Finds  —  As fireworks will rocket into the sky this weekend, national pride has, under Trump, sunk to its lowest point in recent memory, per a new Gallup poll.  —  Since January 2001, the polling firm has asked Americans whether …
Miriam Waldvogel / The Hill:
Trump drops lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer  —  Lawyers for President Trump have dropped a lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register, according to a Monday court filing.  —  An attorney for Selzer told NPR that there has been no settlement.
 New Item Finder: 
New
Associated Press:
Trump will visit a remote immigration detention site in the Florida Everglades   Find
25 minutes ago
Kimberly Leonard / Politico:
Erika Donalds talks education policy and gov race   Find
2 hours ago
Victor Goury-Laffont / Politico:
The first American ‘scientific refugees’ arrive in France   Find
2½ hours ago
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
USAID cuts may cause over 14 million additional deaths by 2030, study says   Find
3½ hours ago
Tara Copp / Associated Press:
Military requesting to pull 200 troops back from California protest duty   Find
5 hours ago
Sherrilyn Ifill / Sherrilyn's Newsletter:
A Court Without the Range   Find
 
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From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Mike Rockwell and Craig Federighi have led efforts to assess external models to power Siri; after testing, Anthropic's tech seemed most promising

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
In a memo, Mark Zuckerberg announces Meta Superintelligence Labs and 11 new hires; Nat Friedman “will partner with Alexandr Wang” to lead the new group

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
The US takes down a North Korean operation that, from 2021 to 2024, impersonated 80+ people to get remote jobs at 100+ US firms, using “laptop farms” in the US
 
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NATIONS SPY ON NATIONS >> SpaceX's Military Project It Doesn't Want You to Know About - Starshield

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USA FACTS The federal spending chart you’ll only see here

 

Here’s how the government spent $6.8T last year   
The federal government spent $6.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024. We’ll say that again.  
 
$6,800,000,000,000. 
 
We're not saying that's good or bad, too much or too little. But we can agree that that scale is hard to fathom, right?  
 
Luckily, we did it for you. 
Our new agency spending chart makes 2024 spending for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches easier to understand. We even tracked the president’s budget, independent agencies such as NASA, and entities that get federal money but don’t slot neatly into other categories (think the Smithsonian). 
 
A few insights:  
  • The Department of Health and Human Services spent $1.7 trillion in 2024. That was about 25.4% of federal expenditures, primarily driven by the $1.5 trillion in spending by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  
Proportion of federal budget across cabinet agencies
  • The Social Security Administration accounted for the biggest share of independent agency spending: $1.5 trillion.  

  • Federal Student Aid accounted for 2.4% of federal spending, totaling $161.0 billion.  

  • The National Parks Service spent just under $4.5 billion, for 0.07% of federal spending. 

  • Congress runs the botanic garden adjacent to the Capitol Building. The garden accounted for $19.0 million in legislative branch spending.  
Hover over any section for more detail. 
FDA agency hover
There’s much more in the viz, so dive in and explore!  
Follow the money

The nation’s free trade agreements 
The Trump administration announced a series of tariff increases in April 2025, with higher rates for countries with whom the US has larger trade deficits, in other words, where the US imports more than it exports. Some of those tariffs are paused for now, but they still cast a spotlight on trade. So, what are free trade agreements, and where did they come from? 
  • The United States entered a global agreement on trade after World War II. In 1995, the agreement was integrated into the standards of the World Trade Organization, which includes the US among its 164 members. The WTO regulates tariff rates across member countries but also allows member nations to negotiate other free trade agreements.  

  • The US has 14 free trade agreements with 20 countries, which account for about 40% of all American exports.  

  • Canada and Mexico are the nation’s two largest trading partners. These partnerships are covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), formerly known as NAFTA.  
Two-way goods trade with select free trade partners
  • Total trade, or two-way trade, is the sum of exports and imports. It measures the measures the overall volume of trade between two countries, but not trade deficits or surpluses Total trade volume between the US and Mexico was $840 billion in 2024, an increase of 296% from $212 billion in 1994. (See the charts for 16 more countries.)

  • Total trade volume with Canada was $762 billion in 2024, an increase of 48% from $514 billion in 1994.
 
Want more? There’s a brand-new video with USAFacts Founder Steve Ballmer about trade and tariffs. Keep and eye on your inbox for more facts from the video in the coming weeks. 
Track the trends

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is set to expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress acts. 

Get the tax data we sent your congressperson  

Our research experts have created reports on the tax landscape pre- and post-TCJA and provided them to Congress as the tax policy discussions heat up. But there’s no reason why Congress gets to keep this data to themselves.  
 
We’ve collected the reports and other clarifying articles to help you keep up with the tax debate. Read today’s one last fact for a preview of the data.
 

One last fact
SALT deduction
Before the TCJA, there was no limit on how much taxpayers could deduct for state and local taxes (SALT). The law introduced a $10,000 cap beginning in 2018, and that cap is set to expire at the end of this year. SALT was previously the largest itemized deduction in the tax code. The share of returns claiming the deduction dropped from 30.4% in 2017 to 9.3% in 2022, while the average SALT deduction fell from $13,457 to $8,303. 
 
    

Data behind the news
The Supreme Court ruled that states can exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid programs. See how much government money Planned Parenthood received in the past. 
 
An advisory panel appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted on Thursday regarding some flu vaccine recommendations. Here are the vaccines recommended for adults as of published in March. 
 
Much of the US endured high heat and humidity last week. How does extreme heat affect people who work outside? And how many people die from extreme heat? We have the numbers.  
 
Last week, a Supreme Court ruling restarted plans to temporarily store nuclear waste in rural parts of Texas and New Mexico. Here’s more on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which manages nuclear power plant waste.  
 
The weekly fact quiz is ready for you!   
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Cartoon Carousel The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics | By POLITICO STAFF 01/23/2026 05:00 AM EST

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the fo...