curated news excerpts & citations
Washington Post: U.S. troops not liable in boat strikes, classified Justice Dept. memo says
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) stated in a classified opinion drawn up over the summer that personnel taking part in military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The decision to pursue an opinion, drafted in July, reflects the heightened concerns within the government raised by senior civilian and military lawyers that such strikes would be illegal.
The strikes, now totaling 19 20 with a death toll of 76 80, began in September, though interagency discussions about the use of lethal force to combat drug cartels started early in the Trump administration.
(Washington Post more…)
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Rebecca Solnit: How Big Should Your Tent Be?
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I’m delighted that Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Thomas Massie are on board for the release of the Epstein files, and that doesn’t change their record on other things or mean that I’ve invited them over for dinner. But this is not an essay about politicians but ordinary voters. I do hold elected officials to a higher standard than a lot of ordinary voters who are drowning in misinformation and/or living in communities where right-wing frames are the norm; billions of dollars have been spent to create those conditions by the gun lobby, far-right foundations, owners of major media outlets, white evangelical churches, and all the rest. I couldn’t hold elected office in part because I couldn’t bear a job requiring being around people I disagree with so strongly, but that’s part of the job, and a lot of elected officials I admire do it with grace. But I can at least not be an unwelcoming committee when there’s a chance to shift the balance in our favor. It matters for everything, including the climate, immigrant rights, the rule of law, civil rights, and reversing the march toward authoritarianism.
(Rebecca Solnit more…)
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Washington Post: The cheap health insurance promoted by Trump officials has this catch
Some states have banned “short-term” insurance plans with limited coverage, and consumer advocates have warned of the drawbacks.
Brian Allen: They Bought Trump’s “Cheap” Health Insurance. Then They Needed Surgery.
They were sold as “affordable alternatives” to Obamacare.
But affordability was the scam.
Under Trump’s rule:
- These plans could last up to 364 days and be renewed for three years
- They were exempt from ACA coverage requirements
- They could deny people with preexisting conditions
- They could exclude entire categories of care — hospitalization, surgeries, emergency visits, cancer treatment
Yes — “health insurance” that doesn’t have to cover health care.
(Brian Allen more…)
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Justin Glawe: The hysteria over Biden’s pardons seems extra ridiculous now
Just 11 months ago, former President Joe Biden prepared to leave the White House by preemptively pardoning members of his family. Republicans were apoplectic.
…But the Santos commutation was simply one among many pieces of evidence that Trump has perverted the pardon power far beyond the most questionable actions of any other modern president, emboldening a diverse cast of corrupt politicians, anti-democratic activists, and outright criminals in a new American age of corruption and authoritarianism.
This week, Trump pardoned 77 people who tried to overturn the 2020 election on his behalf, including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, and others involved in fake electors schemes and even a breach of voting systems in Georgia.
These pardons fall into the category of “cronies who tried to help Trump cling to power.” Another group of people let off the hook by Trump are those who properly suck up to him, like Blagojevich, Santos, and Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business associate who was convicted of ripping off a Native American tribe to the tune of roughly $60 million. Archer turned on the Bidens, testifying before Congress as part of Republican efforts to impeach the former president.
Finally, there are those who help the president and his family to accumulate obscene amounts of wealth. That’s where Changpeng Zhao, the recently-pardoned founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, comes in. Zhao was convicted of allowing Binance to be used as a money laundering front for terrorists and international criminals. He also happens to have substantial business ties to the Trump family’s growing cryptocurrency empire. The president pardoned him on October 21, stropping Zhao from having to serve one year and one day in prison.
(Justin Glawe more…)AP: Justice Department quietly replaced ‘identical’ Trump signatures on recent pardons
Guardian: Questions arise over strikingly similar signatures by Trump on recent pardons
ProPublica: A Tale of Two Terms: How Powerful Figures Were Prosecuted in Trump’s First Term, Then Pardoned in His Second
We found that Donald Trump has granted clemency in at least a dozen criminal cases that originated during his first term. No other president has used clemency to erase his own appointees’ actions on such a scale.
Mary Geddry: Make America Affordable Again (Terms and Conditions Apply)
As Trump sells pardons and burns his own movement, even the climate files for revenge.
…And it’s not just the convictions that disappeared. More than a billion dollars in victim restitution vanished with them, money that was supposed to go back to retirees, tribal investors, and defrauded taxpayers. Whole communities were robbed twice: first by the crime, then by the pardon.
(Mary Geddry more…)
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elecktrek: EV sales *still* have not fallen, cooled, slowed or slumped. Media is lying to you.
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Here’s what’s actually happening: Over the course of the last two years or so, sales of battery electric vehicles, while continuing to grow, have posted lower year-over-year percentage growth rates than they had in years prior. EV sales used to grow at 50%+ per year, but for the last couple years, they have grown closer to ~25% per year.
…Sales of new gas-powered cars are down by about a quarter from their peak in 2017, and show no signs of recovering. It is exceedingly likely that 2017 will be the high-water mark of gas-powered cars ever sold on this planet.
And yet, somehow, virtually every headline you read is about the “EV sales slump,” rather than the “gas-car sales slump.” The one you keep hearing about isn’t happening, but the one you rarely hear about is happening.
(elecktrek more…)
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ABC: Dominion Voting Systems sold to company run by former Republican election official
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In a statement, Liberty Vote said it is founded and run by Scott Leiendecker, whose LinkedIn profile says he served as the election director for the city of St. Louis until 2012. News articles from the time indicate he was a Republican.In 2011, Leiendecker created a polling equipment company, KNOWiNK, using a technology his LinkedIn page says “has transformed the election experience for voters.”
(ABC more…)
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NY Times: How the Trump Administration Is Giving Even More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service are issuing rules that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief to big companies and the ultrarich.
(NY Times more…)
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Christina Pagel: The erosion of evidence: how to counter disinformation when the state is spreading it
When trusted institutions have been captured by the state, how do we preserve trustworthy information?
(Christina Pagel more…)
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Fred Wellman: Missouri isn’t going down without a fight
The Show Me state is ground zero for the battle over the Republicans illegal mid-decade redistricting efforts to save Trump. We aren’t surrendering easily.
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Thom Hartmann: Roy Cohn’s Apprentice
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Donald Trump was, during that same time, also looking for a mentor, as his father was far too conventional and wed to his Queens properties for Donald’s taste. So, before he had a movement, a base, or a party, Donald had Roy Cohn. And that was, for him, more than enough.
(Thom Hartmann more…)
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Marcy Wheeler: Pam Bondi Replaces Her Embarrassing Reading Comprehension Failure with a 4A Violation
(Marcy Wheeler more…)
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Brian Allen: I Built a Searchable Database of All 26,000 Epstein Documents. Here’s What It Reveals.
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The same archive includes one of the most disturbing revelations yet:Epstein was actively texting Rep. Stacey Plaskett during a congressional hearing — feeding her questions in real time.
She asked the exact question he sent.
And it proves what the emails make clear: Epstein’s network wasn’t just social. It was political. It was embedded. It was active.
(Brian Allen more…)
GriftMatrix
Trump Action Tracker
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
