A win! The Trump administration is backing off its demand that states hand over personal data on SNAP recipients after a lawsuit. In a sworn statement filed in federal court, the USDA said it is pausing its plan to build a national database of Americans receiving food assistance.

New from @cheetah.bsky.social on congressional stock trading: "Having access to inside information that can crater or catapult markets appears to be extremely lucrative for members of Congress, some of whom outperform the world’s leading hedge funds." www.thebulwark.com/p/how-trumps...

Note: we recorded this even *before* Trump’s bonkers speech at the Justice Department today.

President Trump on Friday opened a third attack against a private law firm, restricting the business activities of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison just days after a federal judge ruled such measures appeared to violate the Constitution.

THREAD: House GOP wants to ram through a budget package tomorrow, gutting Medicaid to cut taxes for billionaires. Seniors in hospice, disabled children, and workers without employee insurance all get screwed.

These 15 RED districts will suffer the most:

ATTN FEDERAL WORKERS: I’ll say this again: download all your SF-50s, performance evals, and your eOPF.

Now.

Print hard copies.

And make sure you file an informal grievance with your supervisor within 15 days of any adverse action. Here is a template: www.muellershewrote.com/p/informal-g...

More than 60 major moves that President Trump and his administration have made in his first 23 days, including executive orders and agency memos, have aligned with proposals in the Project 2025 blueprint, according to a New York Times analysis.

The Trump administration is expected to begin laying off thousands of employees at the Internal Revenue Service, six people briefed on the matter said, as billionaire Elon Musk’s team begins to target tax collections.

The cuts could start as soon as Friday.

European Union officials said they would expand an investigation into Elon Musk's platform, X, for potential violation of a law, called the Digital Services Act, intended to clamp down on online disinformation and illegal content.

- @mattyglesias.bsky.social is sharp on Zuck's latest about-face in his mailbag
www.slowboring.com/p/last-biden...

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/u...

Very informative article on how China can respond to US tariffs — not with tariffs but with export controls that hit US supply chains. Adds to a point I've been thinking about: Trump and co have delusions of economic grandeur 1/ www.nytimes.com/2024/11/27/b...

President-elect Donald Trump’s team submitted an ethics plan guiding the conduct of its members throughout the transition period that does not appear to include provisions for one key member of the team: the president himself.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace as recently as last year called herself “pro-transgender rights” and said she supported children exploring gender identities with different hairstyles, clothing and preferred pronouns, a stark contrast to more recent comments that have put her in the national spotlight.

Trump vowed to "drill, baby, drill." But oil firms don't want to drill more. They have drilled record amounts under Biden and want help shoring up demand, and therefore prices, for the oil they already produce. ⁦‪@benmorenne‬⁩.bsky.social ⁦‪Collin Eaton www.wsj.com/business/ene...