curated citations to news sources
Patricia J Wentzel: Sounding the Alarm Part 1
Lock them all up!
This week I’m giving you something a little different: three posts in response to the President’s Executive Order “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” which offers a barbaric solution to homelessness: lock them all up.
To understand the implications of the order, it is helpful to know a few things about homelessness especially in regards to people with mental health and substance use disorders among the homeless. California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness, a landmark study of homeless people by UCSF’s Margot Kushel in 2021, conducted interviews with people living on the streets throughout California. The study found that “Even if the cause of homelessness was multifactorial, participants believed financial support could have prevented it. Seventy percent believed that a monthly rental subsidy of $300-$500 would have prevented their homelessness for a sustained period.” This points to the unsustainability of rents in California that are driving poor people into homelessness.
(Patricia J Wentzel Sounding the Alarm Part 1 more…)
Sounding the Alarm Part 2
Eugenics masquerading as Paternalism
Sounding the Alarm Part 3
Preparing for disaster
NY Times: Federal Raids Target D.C. Homeless Camps
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Jennifer Rubin: Netanyahu Sets off Firestorm of Protest
The prime minister provokes domestic and international fury
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accomplished what decades of terrorism, antisemitism, and hatred toward Israel did not: he has prompted some of Israel’s strongest allies to consider pausing financial and/or diplomatic support, so long as he refuses to course-correct.
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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Charlie Sykes: An Infamous Day
Putin gets his summit
I am keenly aware of the irony.I’m attending a conference on “Liberalism for the 21st Century,” here in Washington DC, at the moment troops are patrolling the streets and the regime tightens its grip on the nation’s Capital. Adding to the irony: we’re meeting at the Watergate Hotel, the scene of that other great test of our Constitutional resilience.
I’m also struck by the timeliness of all of this.
Trump is headed off to Alaska to meet with Putin for what is likely to be a festival of betrayal and delusion. But last night, I found myself riding in an elevator and chatting with a man who has no illusions — a Russian opposition leader whose very presence here is something of a miracle.
(Charlie Sykes more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 14, 2025
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After years of criticism that Democrats have not fought hard enough against Republicans’ manipulation of the system to amass power, the California plan, along with Newsom’s announcement of it, flips the script. The plan leverages Democrats’ control of the most populous state in the Union to warn Republicans to back away from their attempt to rig the 2026 election.At the same time, the plan’s authors protected against claims that they were themselves trying to rig the game: the plan goes into effect only if Republicans push through their new maps, and it declares that the state still supports the use of fair, nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide, a system Republicans oppose.
…On a day in which a new report this morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed flashing red lights over inflation caused by Trump’s tariffs, Newsom trolled Trump by echoing the president’s triumphant promise that April 2, when he announced those tariffs, was “Liberation Day. Newsom called today’s announcement “Liberation Day in the State of California.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Sarah Jones: Hunter Biden Dares Melania Trump To Be Deposed About Alleged Epstein Relationship
Melania Trump threatened to sue Hunter Biden unless he retracted a comment about her relationship with international sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Instead, he dared her to sit for a deposition.
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Reuters: US military deploying forces to southern Caribbean against drug groups
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National Review: The Tragedy of the Computer Science Major
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LAWdork: D.C. officials sue Trump admin over Bondi order claiming D.C. police powers
D.C.’s A.G. asserts that Bondi’s order — purporting to make the DEA administrator D.C.’s “Emergency Police Commissioner” — is “unlawful.” A lawsuit followed.
Jay Kuo: “Home Rule” Clash in D.C.
AG Pam Bondi has crossed a bright line, forcing D.C. to push back against the takeover.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Attack on UCLA Will Have Devastating Consequences on Americans
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On a personal note, if not for UCLA, you wouldn’t be reading this Substack right now. My teachers there gave me the confidence to pursue writing. Coach Wooden taught me basketball, but more importantly he taught me how to always stand up for moral principles. My history classes taught me how events of the past can guide us on the path to the future. I am UCLA.
(Kareem Abdul-Jabbar more…)
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Closer to the Edge: Exhuming Kim Davis
How the Christian right dug up its most embarrassing corpse to try killing marriage equality again
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Conversation: Grand Canyon’s Dragon Bravo megafire shows the growing wildfire threat to water systems
(Conversation more…)
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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