curated news excerpts & citations
Steven Beschloss: Do You Support the Global Expansion of Democracy?
A Saturday Prompt
In less than a month, it will be 2026, the 250th anniversary year of our nation’s founding and the beginning of an extraordinary democratic experiment. Given the anti-democratic regime controlling our White House, it’s going to be quite a year filled with cognitive dissonance.
That became even more obvious with the release yesterday of the 33-page “National Security Strategy,” which seeks to set out the foreign policy agenda and guiding principles of this second Trump term. In this brief prompt, I won’t explore the document in detail, but note some of the overarching worldview, including its hostility to “the trajectory” of Europe and its assertion that the European continent is facing “civilizational erasure” because of the flow of immigrants and the failures of its leaders.
It goes on to suggest the revival of Europe’s “former greatness” means supporting nationalism and far-right “patriotic” European parties, which would include, for example, Alternative for Germany (AfD), an extremist neo-Nazi party.
(Steven Beschloss more…)
Lucian K. Truscott IV: Trump makes the racist Great Replacement Theory official U.S. policy
-
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – December 6, 2025
On the sunny Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, Messman Doris Miller had served breakfast aboard the USS West Virginia, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was collecting laundry when the first of nine Japanese torpedoes hit the ship.
In the deadly confusion, Miller reported to an officer, who told him to help move the ship’s mortally wounded captain off the bridge. Unable to move him far, Miller pulled the captain to shelter. Then another officer ordered Miller to pass ammunition to him as he started up one of the two abandoned anti-aircraft guns in front of the conning tower.
Miller had not been trained to use the weapons because, as a Black man in the U.S. Navy, he was assigned to serve the white officers. But while the officer was distracted, Miller began to fire one of the guns. He fired it until he ran out of ammunition. Then he helped to move injured sailors to safety before he and the other survivors abandoned the West Virginia, which sank to the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
NewsNation: Russia unleashes massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine as diplomatic talks continue
…
Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching overnight attack on Ukraine, which triggered air raid alerts across the country and came as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day, the country’s air force said Saturday morning.Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck.
(NewsNation more…)Timothy Snyder: Ukrainian History Global Initiative
The Creative Humanities During a War of Destruction
Politico: Chernobyl radiation shield has stopped working after Russian drone strikes, UN warns
Terrence Goggin: Trump’s confrontation with Europe over Ukraine backfires
-
Justin Glawe: Trump follows through on an especially ugly campaign promise
For years, Donald Trump has fantasized about lawlessly executing drug dealers.
In his second term, he’s made the fantasy a reality, killing drug dealers in a likely illegal airstrike campaign on vessels in international waters. Yet at the same time, Trump last week pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had just started serving a 45-year federal prison sentence for helping to traffic hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States during his eight-year tenure as president.
(Justin Glawe more…)
-
Marcy Wheeler: Trump’s Terrorists
-
Brian Allen: Trump’s Mozambique LNG Gamble: A Billion-Dollar Powder Keg the White House Wants You To Ignore
The Wall Street Journal is begging Trump to walk away from a volatile LNG venture. The danger is bigger than anyone is admitting.
(Brian Allen more…)
-
Bloomberg: Homeowners Risk Missing Out on Solar Tax Credits. This Is Why.
There’s a rush to install residential solar and battery systems by Dec. 31 to qualify for expiring 30% US tax credits. But lengthy permitting times are jeopardizing the opportunity, installers say.
(Bloomberg more…)
Thom Hartmann: Chapter 4: The Party That Sold Itself Out
It was October 10, 2016, and the world watched as the last credible, integrity-bound Republicans surrendered.
Just three days earlier, the infamous Access Hollywood tape had played on TVs worldwide. Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy,” claiming that “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” The footage triggered a political firestorm. House Speaker Paul Ryan distanced himself, canceling a planned appearance with Trump. Senator John McCain withdrew his endorsement entirely. Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz declared he could no longer support Trump while looking his fifteen-year-old daughter in the eye.
(Thom Hartmann 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
Leave a Reply