curated news excerpts & citations
Mary Geddry: “Nobody’s Been Treated Worse Than Me”
Trump’s greatest-hits tour continues, now with canonizations, tariffs, and off-shore executions.
Good morning! It was only a matter of time before Donald Trump’s theology of grievance met the cold letter of the Constitution. Two leading conservative scholars, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, card-carrying members of the Federalist Society and lifelong originalists, have published a 126-page law-review treatise arguing that Trump is constitutionally disqualified from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The article, “The Sweep and Force of Section Three,” lays out what they call an “inescapable conclusion”: that Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his incitement of January 6 amount to “insurrection or rebellion.”
For once, Trump’s favorite legal scholars have turned their powdered-wig logic against him. The authors insist Section 3 is self-executing, no new statute, no congressional vote required, meaning Trump’s eligibility to serve again isn’t a political question, it’s a matter of constitutional hygiene. Or, as Baude and Paulsen put it, “The case for disqualification is strong, and the evidence is abundant.” Their conclusion landed like a heretical gospel in the Church of Trump, where loyalty is salvation and law is an inconvenience.
Trump, naturally, spent the day proving their point.
(Mary Geddry more…)
Robert Reich: My aging, Trump’s aging
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Robert Reich: The Hatch Act? Wassat? Who cares?
The propaganda spewing from Trump’s departments and agencies is illegal
Bad enough that planes are delayed due to the government shutdown. Now, thousands of stranded passengers have to watch Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem blame Democrats in a video …
(Robert Reich more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – October 15, 2025
Today the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Louisiana v. Callais and Robinson v. Callais, which together challenge a federal court decision outlawing a racial gerrymander in the state of Louisiana. At stake is Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which declares: “No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.”
…Trump promised during the 2024 campaign that he was “not going to start a war,” and promised “to stop the wars.” He has campaigned heavily to win a Nobel Peace Prize, nonsensically claiming to have stopped at least seven or eight wars. But the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have gotten hotter during his administration, and Barnes and Pager note that the U.S. military is also building up its resources in the region near Venezuela. The Pentagon has deployed 10,000 troops to the area, stationing most of them on bases in Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Navy has sent eight warships and a submarine.
This buildup comes as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has demanded that media outlets report only information authorized by department officials or lose their press credentials. All but a single far-right opinion network refused, leaving the department’s actions unscrutinized by the excellent journalists who had been covering the Pentagon. The Pentagon Press Association today said its members were “still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake,” it said, “today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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James Eagle: Gold’s best year since 1979
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Crossing $4,000 an ounce tells us something specific about investor psychology right now. At these prices, gold buyers aren’t seeking returns. They’re seeking refuge from multiple uncertainties converging at once.
(James Eagle more…)CNBC: Trump administration will set price floors across range of industries to combat China, Bessent says
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Jason Easley: Mike Johnson Claims House Republican Accused Of Beating His Girlfriend Is Not A Serious Matter
(Jason Easley more…)Boing Boing: MAGA congressman threatened ex with revenge porn, court rules
Sarah Jones: Sen. Reuben Gallego Calls Out Speaker Johnson For Protecting Pedophiles
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Jennifer Rubin: Mike Johnson Calls No Kings Protestors ‘Terrorists’
GOP panic rises as millions prepare to turn out on Saturday
Ken Klippenstein: Inside the War on Antifa
Bulwark: 9 Stupid Things People Are Saying About Antifa
(Bulwark more…)
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Above the Law: You Can’t Put The First Amendment To Bed
The First Amendment does not have a bedtime of 10:00 p.m. The burden is on the government to prove that its actions are narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest. It has not done so.
— Western District of Texas Judge David Ezra in a recent decision finding that a Texas law barring otherwise protected speech on campus by students is likely unconstitutional, and granting plaintiff student groups an injunction from the enforcement of the statute. The law prohibited expressive activities from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., with additional restrictions during the last two weeks of the academic term. Ezra noted the statute contradicts itself by instructing universities to uphold the First Amendment but mandating the schools “adopt policies that violate those very constitutional protections.”
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404 Media: The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
In an example of egregious planned obsolescence, as many as 400 million computers will soon hit the waste stream.
(404 Media more…)
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Waging Nonviolence: Halting misinformation in its tracks
(Waging Nonviolence more…)
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Steward Beckham: Morning in America (Redux)
Race wasn’t the crack in the foundation. It was the mortar that held it together.
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Internet Archive: Hacking at Leaves
After Johannes Grenzfurthner began working on a new documentary in 2020, he soon realized that his original storyline was much more complicated than he first envisioned.
The 50-year-old Austrian filmmaker started researching what he thought was a valiant tale of hackers in Colorado who helped craft medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic for people across the Four Corners region (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona), including many members of the Navajo Nation. But as he learned about the disparate impact of the health crisis on the Native American people, he felt compelled to include elements of the United States’ colonial past in the film.
(Internet Archive more…)
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Wired: Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypted.
(Wired more…)
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Decoding Fox News: All You Fascists Bound to Lose – No Nobel Peace Prize for You!
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AP: Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules
Bruce Lindner: This picture is kind of surreal to me
(Bruce Lindner more…)
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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