curated news excerpts & citations
Dispatch: ‘Good Luck To All!’
Donald Trump’s slow-motion surrender in Ukraine
It is not true that Donald Trump has been promising a health care plan—and failing to deliver it—since 2016. In fact, Trump has been promising a health care plan—and failing to deliver it—since 2011. “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated!” he famously explained. Some people knew, and by “some people,” I mean everybody but Trump.
No one knew trade could be so complicated, either, I suppose—that trade war that is “good, and easy to win” is not working out as planned. Or the deficit—witness the fiasco DOGE turned out to be. Or bringing down prices. Crime, immigration, entitlements—all too complicated for this guy.
And then there’s Ukraine.
Back when Trump was just a Page Six grotesque and social climber, Spy magazine famously described him as a “short-fingered vulgarian.” It turns out that his fingers aren’t the problem, but his short little attention span—not his grip, but his grip on the issues and, from time to time, on reality.
Trump has had enough of the Russia-Ukraine war. And so he says that the U.S. role will now be to sell weapons to NATO “to do what they want with them.” He added: “Good luck to all!”
Trump being Trump, he is all over the map (the map upon which I suspect he could not identify Ukraine with one of those short fingers). Not long ago, he was sure that Ukraine couldn’t win—he also claimed that Ukraine had started the war—and that the Ukrainians needed to get to a negotiated settlement as soon as possible. Now he says he thinks the Ukrainians may be able to take back all of the territory occupied (and annexed in some cases) by Russia, a proposition that is, unhappily, at least as implausible as any other dumb thing that has come out of Trump’s mouth. He writes (on social media, of course) that he came to this conclusion “after getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation.” (As always, the illiterate capitalization is in the original.)
Donald Trump has served a full term as president of these United States and then spent most of Joe Biden’s term getting ready to run for another term of his own, which he is now well into—and he’s just now “getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia” situation?
Who knew a sprawling military, political, and cultural conflict … wrapped up in, oh, 1,000 years of history … could be so complicated?
(Dispatch more…)
Bulwark: Trump Doesn’t Care If You Think He’s Corrupt
Anne Applebaum: Taking Matters into Their Own Hands
That’s what the Ukrainians learned to do. We should too
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Marisa Kabas: ICE agents point guns at bystanders during violent arrest in Maryland
“What’re you gonna do? Shoot me?” one witness yelled. “Go ahead. Shoot me.”
… When bystanders gathered to bear witness, agents briefly brandished their guns and pointed at them, with one officer appearing to keep his finger on the trigger for several minutes after. According to witness Raphi Talisman, “It looked like he was trying to calm himself, but at the same time, his gun was brandished and he was ready.”
(Marisa Kabas more…)
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Jay Kuo: Comey Is The New Kimmel
… Kimmel was suspended because he made fun of Trump, airing a clip of Trump’s bizarre response to a reporter’s question about Kirk. Trump said he was holding up “very good” then immediately pivoted to talk about the new White House ballroom.
Similarly, Comey was charged not because he lied to Congress (he didn’t); he was prosecuted because he pissed Trump off during the Russia election interference investigation in 2017, in part because Comey refused to say publicly that Trump was not a subject of that investigation.Here’s the short version of why the Comey indictment will fail. The indictment claims Comey lied to the Senate about authorizing a Wall Street Journal leak. But an Inspector General report actually found no evidence that he lied. Instead, the report indicated that it was former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe who authorized the leak, then repeatedly misled both Comey and investigators about it. McCabe even later publicly admitted that he had failed to correct Comey’s mistaken belief about the leak.
Because Comey’s testimony about the leak relied on McCabe’s false assurances, the perjury and obstruction case against Comey is extremely weak sauce.
Both the Kimmel and Comey matters demonstrate an important point. Trump isn’t interested in what actually happened or what either man actually said. Truth is irrelevant to this man. He wants them punished because they crossed him, plain and simple.
(Jay Kuo more…)
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emptywheel: Will Ted Cruz Go to Prison for the Lies He Told as Part of the Jim Comey Indictment?
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But if this thing were ever to go to trial — if Lindsey the Insurance Lawyer is really the US Attorney, if the indictment is really what the grand jury approved, if this doesn’t get booted on a vindictive prosecution claim, if Pat Fitzgerald fails to argue that Lindsey the Insurance Lawyer is confused about which FBI Director is a criminal — Comey can almost certainly call Teddy Cancun as a witness, at least to testify about materiality.It would soon become clear that Comey’s answer, even if it were a lie, could never be material, because Ted Cruz was going to believe what he already believed. Cruz was committed to his false beliefs, no matter what Comey said in response.
But under questioning by a skilled attorney — and Fitz has questioned far bigger blowhards than Ted Cruz, if you can believe it — such testimony would force Cruz to either double down on his lies, or to confess he was the one lying all those years ago.
Right now, there’s not a shred of evidence that Comey lied in his statement.
There is, however, abundant evidence that Kash lied under oath and that Cruz lied in the same way he lies all the time. And if this were ever to go to trial, Cruz would, for once, have the opportunity to face consequences for any lies he told.
(emptywheel more…)
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NY Times: Trump Expands Tariffs Beyond Supreme Court’s Reach
The president’s tariffs on foreign drugs and furniture rely on national security laws outside the scope of current lawsuits.
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NPR: Trump’s TikTok deal payment criticized as ‘shakedown scheme’ by experts
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Whether it’s the U.S. taking 15% of Nvidia and AMD’s chip sales to China, the federal government securing a “golden share” in U.S. Steel or the Trump administration reportedly seeking an equity stake in Lithium Americas as part of a government loan negotiation, the White House is on a campaign of squeezing businesses with few parallels in modern history.“At a minimum, this now means there is a tax imposed on every major business transaction,” said Luigi Zingales, a professor of finance at the University of Chicago. “But even worse, businesses will no longer be focused on innovating and creating value and instead the whole game now is rent-seeking. It’s all about ingratiating yourself with Trump.”
(NPR more…)
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NY Times: Gabbard Ends Intelligence Report on Future Threats to U.S.
Some issues in the document, which is issued every four years, had become politically inconvenient, former officials said.
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With the intelligence community often focused on immediate issues, the Global Trends report has taken a longer-term look. Past editions warned of threats and shifts that came to pass, including climate change challenges, new immigration patterns and the risk of a pandemic.
(NY Times more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – September 26, 2025
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It’s fitting that Hegseth, a political appointee whose tenure has been marked by incompetence, would defend the awarding of those particular Medals of Honor, because they were awarded to cover up the incompetence of political appointees that led to the deaths of at least 230 peaceful Lakotas, as well as about twenty-five soldiers who were caught in their own crossfire.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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CBS: Bullet casing in drain at Texas yogurt shop links serial killer to the infamous murders, says original investigator
KXAN: What to know about the Yogurt Shop Murders suspect, lengthy criminal history
KXAN: ‘Seventh layer of Hades’: Daughter of Yogurt Shop Murders suspect reacts to breakthrough in case
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TNR: The GOP Effort to Hide the Epstein Files Just Hit a Disgusting New Low
Republicans are attempting to delay swearing in a recently-elected Democratic member of Congress so she can’t become the tie-breaking vote to release the Epstein files.
TNR: This Is Why Republicans Are Blocking the Epstein Files
Elon Musk was scheduled to visit Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private island in 2014, according to files released on Friday.
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NPR: How escalator safety mechanisms work — and why they cause machines to stop
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
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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