curated news excerpts & citations
Bulwark: Why Trump’s Attack on Refugees Could Hurt Grandma
Miami, Florida
MARYSE, 56, HAS BEEN A HOME CARE WORKER in the United States ever since she moved here from Haiti sixteen years ago. Over the years, she estimates, she’s cared for more than two dozen people. Most have been seniors in physical or cognitive decline—among them, a Purple Heart recipient who had served in the Army and a former pilot who had flown missions over France and Africa during World War II. She has also cared for younger people with physical disabilities, including one who had cerebral palsy and another who had suffered severe head trauma in a car accident.
It was not the career Maryse once imagined for herself, she told me last week. …
Maryse’s priority at that point was providing for her kids, and her English wasn’t good enough for media work in the states. At her sister’s urging, she says, she enrolled in classes to become a certified nursing assistant, following a well-worn path for Haitian immigrants who knew the high demand for caregivers meant it would lead to reliable employment—and who frequently saw caring for others as a calling, not just a paycheck.
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This is not a case of immigrants taking jobs from Americans, most economists say. It’s a case of immigrants taking jobs Americans don’t want, because there are easier ways to make a living. “There are these other jobs—even fast food sometimes—where you can have more predictability and stable hours, and make similar money,” …
(Bulwark more…)
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – February 8, 2026
On February 9, 1950, Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI) stood up in front of the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, at a gathering to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The senator waved a piece of paper and later recalled telling the audience: “I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.” He said he didn’t have time to share the names of all those individuals, but he assured the audience that the Democratic administration of President Harry S. Truman was refusing to investigate “traitors in the government.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Heather Delaney Reese: Trump embarrassed our whole country today
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And this isn’t just about one post. It’s part of something bigger. This is how authoritarian messaging works. You pick someone out of the crowd and make an example of them. You twist their words, question their loyalty, and smear them as un-American. You don’t have to jail them or silence them directly, because once the message is sent, your followers take it from there. Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. This wasn’t just a tantrum about one skier. It was a warning shot to every other athlete, artist, journalist, or public figure who might be thinking about speaking up. He wants us all to stay in line, keep our heads down, and smile for the camera. Don’t question what the flag stands for, just wear it and pretend everything is fine. That’s how regimes hold power.
(Heather Delaney Reese more…)
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Baltimore Banner: Gov. Moore says he’s been ‘singled out’ by White House, disinvited from events for governors
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says the White House has singled him out by disinviting him from a pair of events for the nation’s governors in Washington next week.
The National Governors Association will be in town for its annual meeting, which typically involves events with the president. Moore, a Democrat, is vice chair of the bipartisan organization.
President Donald Trump has disinvited all Democratic governors from a White House meeting, and a dinner for governors and their spouses will not include Moore or Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, according to reports.
“As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not,” Moore said in a statement Sunday morning.
(Baltimore Banner more…)Daily Beast: Trump, 79, upends decades of tradition to take petty swipe
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Daily Beast: Epstein Files Reveal Prosecutors’ Announcement Dated Before His Death
FOR THE RECORD
The file dump includes multiple draft statements from federal prosecutors about the sex trafficker’s death, one of them dated the day before Epstein died.
(Daily Beast more…)
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USA Today: Too busy? Trump’s unusual Supreme Court push to toss E. Jean Carroll case
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WSJ: Bad Bunny Uses Joy to Put Out Political Firestorm at Super Bowl Halftime
Bad Bunny delivered a pointed message in Spanish to millions of Americans watching the Super Bowl on Sunday night: “We’re still here.”
In a history-making halftime show performed almost entirely in Spanish, the Puerto Rican star paid tribute to his heritage and the many countries—from Brazil to Mexico—whose people have come to shape the modern-day U.S.
(WSJ more…)
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Egberto Willies: Texas Protesters against Dan Crenshaw Defend the First Amendment as Police Retreat at his Town Hall
Texas protesters lawfully challenged Dan Crenshaw’s record. Police tried to move them. Calm resistance and constitutional knowledge forced authorities to back down.
(Egberto Willies more…)
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Ruth Ann Crystal MD: COVID, Flu, and More, 2/8/26
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Thom Hartmann: Part IV: The Last American President
Your weekly excerpt from one of my books. This week: “The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink”
(Thom Hartmann more…)
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.- January 24: Alex Pretti
- January 14: Heber Sanchaz Dominguez
- January 14: Victor Manuel Diaz
- January 9: Parady La
- January 7: Renée Good
- January 6: Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz
- January 5: Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres
- January 3: Geraldo Lunas Campos
- December 31, 2025: Keith Porter
Walk for Peace – Dhammacetiya – The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas
Margaret Chase Smith: Declaration of Conscience
NPR: January 6, 2021: A visual archive
Accountability Initiative ICE List
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
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