Agonizing story about an American watching her family starve in Gaza over the phone

Ghada used to swap recipes with her family in Gaza: crispy falafel, baked chicken, grilled beef kebab. Now her Aunt Fairouz, a proud foodie, is down to 3 cups of lentils. And her 12-year-old cousins, twin boys, have lost a quarter of their body weight: wapo.st/452owZ9

A deep dispatch from Springfield, Ohio, an epicenter of Trump-Vance attacks on Haitians who were encouraged to come there. @daniellepaquette.bsky.social profiles a pastor and family who invested everything in America -- but now their lives and home are cracking www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...

A Haitian family spent their life savings on an Ohio home *just* before President Trump accused immigrants in their city of eating dogs & cats. Then cracks surfaced on their walls, ceiling and peaceful American life they'd envisioned: www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...

In a manufacturing hub that Trump handily won, nerves are fraying. “We don’t need to have beefs that will lead to economic slowdown," one tech school student said of MAGA's attitude toward overseas allies. wapo.st/4hYJ1cw

“JD Vance and his mates clearly aren’t fit to run a group chat, let alone the world’s strongest military force,” one Brit lawmaker said. “It has to make our security services nervous about the intelligence we’re sharing with them.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

"The president is following a playbook from other countries whose leaders have sought to undermine democratic systems [attacking] lawyers with the effect of hollowing out a pillar of justice systems to expand their power." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

To review what we from @washingtonpost.com are reporting out of the IRS today: - Projected tax revenue this year is down 10% ($500 billion) as Trump's downsizing is emboldening tax cheats - IRS is nearing an agreement with ICE to assist on mass deportations

They’re not “left-wing liberals.” And they want to hear from their GOP congressman: wapo.st/4ivIcZG

Decades of largely bipartisan agreement about the role and purpose of federal architecture — to serve the public and symbolize that service visually — could be shredded. The very idea of the public realm would be at stake. wapo.st/3QOnLe9

DOGE is like a toxic ex, federal workers say: Wanting them “gone” while sabotaging a clean break. wapo.st/4iultg7

NEW: The Defense Department is moving to dismantle efforts focused on reducing civilian harm in U.S. military operations from @alexhorton.bsky.social, me and @danlamothe.bsky.social 🎁 wapo.st/4h6jH3M

Federal workers in Oklahoma say they agree with slashing bloat. But Trump & Musk’s taunting is disturbing to some who remember the OKC bombing — an anti-gov attack. “It’s the lack of basic decency that infuriates me,” said one DoD staffer, a combat vet. “The demonizing.” wapo.st/3XnK51X

President Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign assistance has threatened programs intended to counter al-Shabab bombmakers, contain the spread of al-Qaeda across West Africa and secure Islamic State prisoners in the Middle East: wapo.st/433wxMZ

Don't miss this terrific story, packed with perspective, from Elizabeth Dias -- In Trump’s Cuts to Aid and Refugees, a Clash Over Christian Values www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/u...

I cover the U.S. military and the Pentagon for @washingtonpost.com. Send secure tips and story ideas on Signal: signal.me#eu/ES70l_cAl...

🚨NEWS: Massive layoffs are about to hit the IRS -- around 10,000 employees -- potentially in the middle of filing season. Of particular interest to the DOGE: Cutting IRS enforcement capabilities. -- with @jeffstein.bsky.social + Hannah Natanson

DOGE cuts have imperiled Food for Peace, a GOP-beloved program that has purchased surplus commodities from American farmers for starvation-risk communities overseas wapo.st/4b02YNY

NEWS: Treasury warned in memo circulating internally that DOGE access to powerful payment network represents an "unprecedented insider threat risk," documents show Assessment was conducted by a threat intelligence center run by Booz Allen www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

A staffer for Elon Musk's DOGE resigned on Thursday after The Wall Street Journal asked about the staffer's connection to a social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics. The staffer had access to the Treasury Department's payment systems. www.wsj.com/tech/doge-st...

The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...

DID YOU KNOW: When Charli XCX sings "bumpin' that," she's referring to the Phil Bump newsletter and how you should subscribe? bsky.app/profile/pbum...

USAID saves lives + stabilizes some of the world’s poorest/most volatile regions while acting as a bulwark against Russian and Chinese influence. “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Elon Musk said. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

“Markets don’t like tariffs.” wapo.st/3Q66jBq

Elon Musk called USAID a criminal organization that should “die.” Proponents say it’s a key arm of U.S. influence that, if destroyed, “cannot be easily rebuilt.”

President Trump's trade war is here. Trump said Friday there is nothing Canada, Mexico and China can do to stop it. 1) Tariffs will be enacted on Feb. 1 2) Tariffs on oil and gas by Feb. 18 3) Oil tariff could be 10% 4) He said there "absolutely" will be tariffs on Europe, too.

This story is why the @washingtonpost.com exists and needs to thrive. The situation with Elon Musk at Treasury bears very close watching and needs deeper examination. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

New Washington Post reporting: "Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin has dismissed roughly 30 federal prosecutors who worked on Capitol riot cases in the Washington, D.C., office over the past four years, two people familiar with the matter said Friday." www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

A WAPO SCOOP: The Trump administration is seeking to grant U.S. immigration officers access to databases that contain the information on hundreds of thousands of immigrant teens and children who crossed into the US without their parents. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/... @nickmiroff.bsky.social

🚨 This is the tax "blueprint" House Republicans drew up at their Miami retreat, per sources. ➕ Positive numbers *subtract* from the national debt ➖ Negative numbers *add* The total is negative based on GOP saying tax cuts don't cost anything. They do. More: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

On a mission in Mexico City to make my (DC) home COLORFUL.

Congratulations to this awesome editor, great colleague and very fun human being. A journalist who keeps her eye on the big picture while sweating every sentence. Huge win for ProPublica.

A Washington Post op-ed by President Biden:

NEW: The man who blew up a Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel had sustained a traumatic brain injury in the Army and exhibited distressing symptoms, according to his ex. wapo.st/3PiDFNk

MAGA is fighting a ‘civil war’ over H-1B visas. Here’s what they are. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

In Georgia, a mom facing eviction reached out to DFCS for help. They offered her nothing. Soon the agency took her kids away because of "inadequate housing." The state then paid *$6,200 a month* to house her kids in foster care. One of the most important and infuriating stories I read this year:

Revisiting this remarkable piece of Carter lore: www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/...

Jimmy Carter, 39th president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, dies at 100, his son says

In 2024, I covered a fractured America. Here's a year in the life of a national correspondent for the @washingtonpost.com⬇️ First stop: I was on the campaign trail in Iowa just after NYE when a school shooting shattered a small town. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...

There are humans (many thousands of them) behind these government shutdown talks/politics, people living paycheck to paycheck. @daniellepaquette.bsky.social on a grandma she covered who was a State Dept janitor, and how these Xmas-time fights threw her life into chaos www.tiktok.com/@danielle.re...

I joined the @washingtonpost.com eight years ago this month to start a new beat covering race and the economy. Discovered during orientation that The Post didn’t offer domestic partner benefits. And that’s how I ended up with a husband. Happy anniversary! www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/ma...

New Orleans is captivated by a lost madman pooch named Scrim. Folks are getting tattoos of him. Someone created the "ScrimTracker." One lady is roaming the streets with a tranq gun. @daniellepaquette.bsky.social has the story www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...

I joined the citywide search for a fugitive so slippery, people call him Houdini. He has dodged net launchers and tranquilizer darts. He has leaped off a roof and dashed into traffic. He’s a little white dog called Scrim. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...