curated news excerpts & citations
Miles Taylor: Five reasons Trump has left America vulnerable to a terrorist attack by Iran.
…
Here are the first five reasons that came to mind last night (as I woke up stress-cycling through the foolish mistakes the Trump team has made) that could get Americans killed:
- DHS doesn’t appear to have done any defensive planning for war.
- Thousands of counterterrorism agents, experts, and officials have been moved to “immigration” enforcement.
- The administration says the number-one terror threat to America is… “Antifa.”
- The FBI has been firing agents who monitor Iranian threats.
- The president took America to war before getting DHS funded.
-
Shanley Hurt: The Story That Keeps Getting Re-Redacted, and Then Comes the Distraction
So let’s refuse to let the Trump administration distract us from the Epstein files and the missing pages.
If you want the cleanest way to understand why the Epstein story keeps smelling like something is being managed, not merely released, you do not start with a name. You start with the rhythm, because the rhythm is the tell.
(Shanley Hurt more…)
-
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 4, 2026
Buried in the cascade of news this week, Sadie Gurman and Caitlin Ostroff of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that 47,635 files are missing from the Epstein files documents that the Justice Department has made public. A spokesperson for the Justice Department told the reporters that the files were “offline for further review and should be ready for reproduction by the end of the week.”
The news that even the documents that have been released have extensive gaps suggests the department is covering up for individuals involved in Epstein’s crimes, including President Donald J. Trump, whose name appears frequently in the files. We know at least one of the missing files contains allegations that Trump sexually assaulted a thirteen-year-old girl.
…The Trump administration has been able to articulate neither a clear reason for what Trump calls a “war” against Iran nor a goal to be accomplished by the war that is costing $1 billion a day. On February 19, less than ten days before Trump started bombing Iran, Trump told his “Board of Peace” that “[w]e’ve done the biggest thing of all. We have peace in the Middle East right now.” …
…
Notably, Trump had no answer for why there was no plan to evacuate Americans.
…Emily Eby French of Common Cause Texas told Jen Rice: “We can’t let a small group of conspiracy theorists set the rules for Texas voters anymore. Two individuals controlled the way millions of Texas voters were able to cast a ballot yesterday. The opinions of those two [Republican Party] chairs about countywide voting were based in conspiracy theory, not based in fact, and those conspiracy theories caused widespread panic, confusion and disenfranchisement.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
John Pavlovitz: The U.S./Israeli attacks on Iran are reminding us once again of the collective failure of public discourse
Our ability to hold complexity is evaporating.
Our willingness to accommodate nuance is vanishing.
Our need for all-or-nothing purity stances is becoming insatiable.
Our tolerance for tension is expiring.
(John Pavlovitz more…)
-
Paul Krugman: Reality Sets In on Trump’s New War
Surprise! War in the middle of the world’s most important oil fields has consequences
(Paul Krugman more…)USNI News: Trump: U.S. Navy May Escort Tankers Through Strait of Hormuz, More European Warships en Route to Med
-
Heather Delaney Reese: Trump’s war exposed the truth
Yesterday, at 3 p.m. local time in New York City, Melania Trump sat upright in the striped blue chair reserved for the rotating president of the United Nations Security Council. …
…
The person chosen to lead such a symbolic meeting held no elected office, no diplomatic title, no security clearance, and none of the foreign policy experience that typically accompanies a position of that importance. Traditionally, the rotating presidency of the Security Council is filled by the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, or the U.N. Ambassador, people with positions of legitimate diplomatic authority. But instead, this administration chose to seat the First Lady. Not because she was qualified, but to send a message, a deliberate act of contempt toward the institution itself and toward every nation sitting at that table. They sent the least qualified person they could possibly justify to say: we don’t take you seriously. We don’t take this institution seriously. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
(Heather Delaney Reese more…)
-
Daily Beast: Trump Launches Military Operation in Yet Another Country
AMERICA FIRST?
The president’s war in the Middle East was only three days old when he ordered new U.S. military strikes 8,000 miles away.
-
Jennifer Rubin: Trump’s War Underscores His Massive Betrayal
-
Mary Geddry: The Man Running DHS Who Doesn’t Officially Work There
Kristi Noem told Congress Corey Lewandowski has no role approving contracts. Internal records tell a different story.
-
Judd Legum: The “meritocracy” exposed: Internal emails reveal how the Trump administration hires legal interns
“You MUST be aligned politically with President Trump… GPA is not a strong factor.”
-
People’s World: Talarico wins Texas race, Crockett calls for unity
Brian Beutler: Jasmine Crockett’s Partisanship Was Not The Problem
Joyce Vance: Last Night In Texas We Saw The Future: More Voter Suppression
Here’s what we’re going to do about it
-
Jonathan Larsen: Military commanders didn’t just call this a holy war, some allegedly responded with emergency Bible studies
-
Newsweek: US Citizen Sues ICE After Agents Allegedly Left Him Bleeding From Head
(Newsweek more…)Business Times: Whistleblower Claims FBI Paused Renee Good Probe After Warrant Called Her a ‘Victim’
-
Mary Geddry: The $130 Billion Tariff Hangover
A federal judge just ordered the government to start refunding the money from Trump’s illegal tariffs, proof that “tariffs are free money” was always economic fiction, and a reminder of what happens
World Energy News: Oil companies reject Trump Administration’s Alaska Offshore Auction
-
WSJ: A ‘Fight About Vibes’ Drove the Pentagon’s Breakup with Anthropic
The AI giant’s CEO Dario Amodei and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have contrasting personalities and worldviews. They proved difficult to reconcile in a high-stakes showdown over the future of warfare.
Tangle: What happened between the Pentagon and Anthropic?
-
Your Local Epidemiologist: 5 Logical fallacies in the era of RFK Jr.
- Appeal to nature fallacy
- The false dichotomy
- Ad hominem fallacy
- Common sense fallacy
- The post hoc fallacy
(Your Local Epidemiologist more…)
-
Chris Geidner: Judge moves, cautiously, toward civil contempt in case over treatment of trans people in prison
-
fairphone: The impact of consumerelectronics on nature and biodiversity
-
Borowitz: Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.
- February 25: Nurul Amin Shah Alam
- 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
Suffering Under President Obama
NACDL Criminal Case Tracker
Texas Tribune: A Walk for Peace: photos of Fort Worth monks’ journey to Washington
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
Leave a Reply