curated citations to news sources
William Kristol: Maybe the American Experiment Isn’t Dead Yet
Death by a thousand cuts still requires a thousand cuts.
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On the one hand, the first couple hundred days of this presidency have featured truly striking and dramatic advances by the forces of authoritarianism. The dangers to our free political institutions are clear, present, and increasing in strength. The situation is grim. One fears that “American exceptionalism” will culminate in an exceptional demonstration of a nation frittering away the privileges of freedom in as feckless a way as possible.
On the other hand, while authoritarianism is winning right now, and night is more visible on the horizon than dawn—there are countervailing forces.
Perhaps the most hopeful is that it’s clear the Trump presidency is unpopular, and is becoming more so. Several recent polls show Donald Trump with a job approval rating among the American people down around 40 percent. A new poll released yesterday by UMass Amherst has Trump at 38 percent approval, 58 percent disapproval—down from 44 percent approval, 53 percent disapproval three months ago.
What’s more, Trump’s weakest issues seem likely to be among the topics that remain front and center for voters, at least for the foreseeable future. He is at 18 percent approval, 70 percent disapproval on his handling of the Epstein matter. He’s also at 31 percent approval, 63 percent disapproval, on the issue of tariffs and on that of inflation—our old friend from the Biden presidency which may well bedevil Trump, too.
(William Kristol more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 5, 2025
Sixty years ago tomorrow, on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. The need for the law was explained in its full title: “An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, and for other purposes.”
…With federal power now behind the Constitutional protection of equality, threatening jail for those who violated the law, white opponents of Black voting changed their argument against it.
In 1871 they began to say that they had no problem with Black men voting on racial grounds; their objection to Black voting was that Black men, just out of enslavement, were poor and uneducated. They were voting for lawmakers who promised them public services like roads and schools, and which could only be paid for with tax levies.
The idea that Black voters were socialists—they actually used that term in 1871—meant that white northerners who had fought to replace the hierarchical society of the Old South with a society based on equality began to change their tune. They looked the other way as white men kept Black men from voting, first with terrorism and then with grandfather clauses that cut out Black men without mentioning race by permitting a man to vote if his grandfather had, literacy tests in which white registrars got to decide who passed, poll taxes, and so on. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims: Deplete the Police: How the federal immigration crackdown could cripple local law enforcement
NY Times: ICE Offers, Then Quickly Withdraws, Cash Bonuses for Swiftly Deporting Immigrants
The short-lived effort underscored the mounting pressure on ICE to meet President Trump’s aggressive deportation targets.
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Wired: Nuclear Experts Say Mixing AI and Nuclear Weapons Is Inevitable
Human judgement remains central to the launch of nuclear weapons. But experts say it’s a matter of when, not if, artificial intelligence will get baked into the world’s most dangerous systems.
(Wired more…)
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TNR: Trump’s Domestic Use of Military Set to Get Worse, Leaked Memo Shows
A Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by TNR signals top-level discussions about a potential escalation of the Pentagon’s domestic anti-immigration role, and lays out new details.
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NY Times: F.B.I. Is Asked to Arrest Texas Democrats in Battle Over House Seats
It was unclear how the agency would respond. Democratic lawmakers left the state to stop Republicans from redrawing district maps to their advantage.
(NY Times more…)Texas Tribune: Gov. Greg Abbott asks Texas Supreme Court to remove House Democratic leader from office who left state
Legal experts say it’s “inconsistent with the Texas Constitution” to argue a quorum break qualifies as abandoning an office.
NY Times: California Democrats Look to Redraw House Map to Counter Texas G.O.P.
As a Texas senator summoned the F.B.I. to round up Democrats, the redistricting war that began in Texas was spreading, with California aiming at five Republican House seats.
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Al Jazeera: Trump says it is ‘up to Israel’ whether to occupy all of Gaza
US president’s comments come amid warnings that expanding Israeli operations would be ‘catastrophic’ for Palestinians.
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NY Times: Grand Canyon Wildfire Spreads to More Than 126,000 Acres
The Dragon Bravo fire has been burning for more than a month, fueled by record-low humidity that has hampered containment efforts.
(NY Times more…)
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CNN: Inside North Korea’s effort to infiltrate US companies
How Kim Jong Un’s regime leverages AI and vulnerable Americans to earn millions
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NotebookCheck: Desperate measures to save Intel: US reportedly forcing TSMC to buy 49% stake in Intel to secure tariff relief for Taiwan
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NY Times: So Long to Tech’s Dream Job
It’s the shut up and grind era, tech workers said, as Apple, Google, Meta and other giants age into large bureaucracies.
(NY Times more…)
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Mother Jones: Watch Donald Trump Say He Hired a Female Employee Just Because She Was Hot
He also called beautiful women his “alcoholism.”
While campaigning for president, Donald Trump often boasts that he hires the “best people.” But in 2007, he bragged that he hired a woman with no experience because she was hot.
(Mother Jones more…)
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Your Local Epidemiologist: What’s the plan for fall vaccines? If you’re confused, you’re not alone.
The dominoes have stalled, which can turn out to be a big problem.
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(Your Local Epidemiologist more…)
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NY Times: Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts
That kind of shot was first used during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the health secretary has been sharply critical of the technology.
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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