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DOGE exit, birthright backup and a good egg

 
Today's IMMIGRATION story

DOGE official at Treasury resigns after racist posts

What happened
A federal judge yesterday issued a temporary restraining order limiting access by Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" to a Treasury Department payment system that contains personal and financial information of millions of Americans. The agreement maintained access for two DOGE officials, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, but Elez later resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked the White House about a social media account that "advocated racism and eugenics."

Who said what
"Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool," the now-deleted X account tied to Elez posted in July, according to the Journal. In September the user wrote: "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity" and "normalize Indian hate." Elez, a 25-year old former SpaceX and X employee, and Krause gained access to the Treasury's central government payment system last weekend, and despite White House and Treasury claims, Elez "had the ability to rewrite the code of the payment system" until Wednesday, Wired said yesterday.

Yesterday's restraining order, based on an agreement between labor unions and the Justice Department, prohibits Elez and Krause from sharing sensitive Treasury data outside the agency and limits their access to "read only." When DOGE moved in to Treasury, the goal was to gain full access to the system to cut off funding to USAID, The New York Times and other news organizations reported yesterday, citing emails and people familiar with the plan.

If a "DOGE technologist" like Elez was originally granted the "ability alter the code on these systems," Wired said, it would "in theory" give him — "and, by extension, Musk, President Donald Trump or other actors — the capability to, among other things, illegally cut off congressionally authorized payments to specific individuals or entities." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Wednesday that "our payment system is not being touched."

What next?
The Trump administration plans to cut USAID's workforce from more than 10,000 employees to about 292, according to multiple news organizations.

 
 
Today's LEGAL story

Federal judges block Trump citizenship order

What happened
A federal judge in Seattle yesterday issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship through executive action. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour's order extended indefinitely a temporary stay he issued two weeks ago and follows another preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Maryland on Wednesday.

Who said what
"It has become ever more apparent" that for Trump, "the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals" and the Constitution "something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain," said Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee. But if the Trump administration "wants to change the exceptional American grant of birthright citizenship, it needs to amend the Constitution itself."

The near-identical rulings from Coughenour and U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland were a "back-to-back blow" to Trump's argument that "children born in the country to parents without legal status here should not automatically receive U.S. citizenship," despite the 14th Amendment, NPR said.

What next?
A federal judge in Massachusetts hears a challenge to Trump's birthright order from 18 states today and a New Hampshire federal court will consider a challenge from the ACLU on Monday. The two current injunctions serve as "redundancies" that block the order "unless both courts are overruled or decide otherwise," The Seattle Times said. The Justice Department said it would appeal Coughenour's ruling.

 
 
Today's FOOD Story

Scientists report optimal method to boil an egg

What happened
Italian scientists said yesterday that it takes 32 minutes and two temperatures of water to achieve a perfectly boiled egg, given the different chemical compositions of the yolk and egg white, or albumen. "The method not only optimizes egg texture and nutrients, but also holds promise for innovative culinary applications and materials treatment," the researchers reported in the journal Communications Engineering.

Who said what
The Italian scientists used fluid dynamics software and about 300 eggs to develop their "periodic cooking" method. It "requires no special culinary skill or fancy gadgets," The New York Times said. But it does involve the egg "alternating between boiling and lukewarm water" — two minutes in a 212-degree bath, two minutes soaking at 86 degrees, repeated eight times total. The boiling water leaves "a well-cooked albumen without wasting the yolk," which reaches perfection in the average water temperature of 150 degrees, said Ernesto Di Maio, a materials scientist at the University of Naples Federico II.

What next?
"It's probably brilliant — but who is the method for?" Deb Perelman, who runs the Smitten Kitchen blog, told the Times. "For home cooking, there's always a necessary balance of perfect versus a reasonable effort." Perelman's "preferred foolproof method," the Times said, "involves a long ice bath after the egg is cooked."

 
 

It's not all bad

Scientists have developed a new strain of rice that emits up to 70% less methane, a major contributor to climate change. After identifying the root compounds that influence methane production, researchers from China and Sweden bred a high-yield, low-emission variety using traditional methods. Field trials in China confirmed its effectiveness, and the team is now working to register the variety and explore adding methane-reducing compounds to fertilizers. Experts say government support will be key to encouraging farmers to adopt the eco-friendly rice.

 
 
Under the radar

Up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are feared to have vanished from the ranks while training in France. Fifty-six troops from the 155th Mechanized Brigade are confirmed as having gone AWOL, said The Guardian, but officials are investigating the whereabouts of hundreds more. Ukrainian news website Censor.net has claimed as many as 1,700 soldiers had fled the brigade without going into combat, and the French exodus is part of a much wider desertion crisis thinning Ukraine's ranks. 

The number of deserters in Ukraine's army has become "unmanageable," said Svitlana Morenets at The Spectator. Officially, some 90,000 soldiers have deserted — almost half of them last year — but the unofficial number is "much higher." 

Although the exact figure is a military secret, even Kyiv officials "concede the number is large," said The Guardian. Desertion is usually punishable by 12 to 15 years in prison, but to lock up thousands of men when they are "badly needed on the front line" would be a "mistake," said Morenets. Ukraine passed a law last year "forgiving soldiers who went AWOL for the first time" as long as they "agreed to come back," but this has been "calamitous" for discipline, "essentially giving men permission to flee."

Is there any way to stem the flood of deserters? "We just have to end the war," a Ukrainian commander told France24, adding that the problem will only get worse as conscription ramps up. 

Russia has also dealt with desertion problems throughout the war. About 7,400 Russians have officially gone AWOL, but experts "agree that's only a small fraction" of the total deserters, said The New York Times.

 
 
On this day

February 7, 1856

Australia passed what is believed to be the world's first law allowing for secret-ballot voting in elections. This was done to encourage voting and prevent electoral fraud. Other countries gradually introduced secret-ballot elections, and they are now standard in many nations including the United States.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Judge pauses federal workers buyout offer from president" while the courts "confront legality," USA Today says on Friday's front page. "Lawsuits signal the start of pushback by liberals," The Washington Post says, but meanwhile "DOGE uses AI to probe sensitive federal data" and "amid the chaos, Trump voters like what they see." "Firings push FBI into free fall," The Wall Street Journal says. And ongoing "clinical trials left in lurch by aid freeze," The New York Times says. "Funding freeze threatens state's $1B investment in power grid," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Isn't it AI-ronic?

In a turn of events straight out of an Alanis Morissette song, Anthropic, a leading developer of artificial intelligence models, is asking job candidates to certify that they will not use AI during the application process. "We want to understand your personal interest in Anthropic without mediation through an AI system," the company said, and to "evaluate your non-AI-assisted communication skills." Anthropic is known for its Claude chatbot, which is "well-regarded for its friendly conversational tone and coding abilities,” Gizmodo said.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Chas Newkey-Burden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images; Andrew Harnik / Getty Images; Doug Duran / MediaNews Group / East Bay Times via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images