curated news excerpts & citations
Shane Shifflett, Hannah Critchfield @ WSJ: ‘We Know You Live Right Here’: No Secrets in America’s New Surveillance Dragnet
Technical wizardry used to combat illegal immigration also funnels the personal data and whereabouts of U.S. citizens to federal agents
Liz McLellan spent a morning in January witnessing the work of federal agents who had arrived in Maine to pursue the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Like other community activists, protesters and passersby around the U.S., McLellan took photos, including of an arrest. Then she followed a federal officer driving an unmarked vehicle to see where the agent was headed next.
McLellan was surprised when the agent led her to her own house and blocked her driveway. Other federal officers quickly arrived, boxing in her car with their own vehicles.
“This is a warning,” an agent told her, according to court records and a video recording. “We know you live right here.”
Cindy Cohn @ MIT Press: The Whistleblower Who Uncovered the NSA’s ‘Big Brother Machine’
Alex Braithwaite, Rachel D. Van Nostrand @ Conversation: When immigration detention becomes a system of concentration: Lessons from research on 150 historical cases
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – May 1, 2026
Today is the deadline for President Donald J. Trump to ask Congress for approval for his war on Iran. …
In other words, the administration is trying to get around the War Powers Act with the dodge Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried in front of the Senate yesterday: a ceasefire stops the War Powers clock. This is not what the law says.
Trump’s letter also ignores the fact the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. A blockade is an act of war.
It’s worth reiterating that Trump’s war of aggression violated the Constitution from the start. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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James Eagle: Why most of life on Earth is still unknown
(James Eagle more…) -
Jess Piper: Filling an Empty Jar
The man from Moberly came over to talk to me about his utility bill — specifically his light bill. He told me his bill had jumped $120 in the last few months to nearly $500 per month. I was sympathetic as I listened. I hear this everywhere I go in the state.
…And this is where I tell you the good news… at each of the events I have attended and spoken, I am surrounded by candidates running to step up for their communities. At every rally and stop, I meet someone who had just had enough and decided if no one else could or would run, they would do it.
(Jess Piper more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: May Day Strong
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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Brian Beutler: Time For The DNC To Sue CBS News For $20 Billion
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Robert Reich: The Real Reason Trump Doesn’t Want Congress To Vote on War Powers
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Trump’s war is so unpopular that Republican members of Congress don’t want to have to go on record as voting in favor of it.
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Max Matza @ BBC: US to cut troop levels in Germany by 5,000 amid Trump spat with Merz
Eric S. Edelman and Franklin C. Miller @ Bulwark: Withdrawing Troops from Germany Is an Own Goal
American forces in Europe are there to defend American interests.
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Steph Vladeck: The Return of the Mifepristone Mess
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Dean Blundell: It Seems That Trump Linked MAGA Operatives LEAKED Private Voter Database To Alberta’s Separatist/MAPLE MAGA Movement
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Paul Krugman: Who Are You Gonna Believe, Trump or Your Lying Eyes?
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Part of the explanation is their belief that they can flush the majority of Joe Biden’s presidency down the memory hole, that they can pretend that Trump took office just after the inflation surge of 2021-2022, not after the “immaculate disinflation” — falling inflation without high unemployment — that followed. That is, their story about gas prices looks like this:
(Paul Krugman more…)
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David R. Lurie: Trump’s Reichstag fire presidency is immolating
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
ICE Accountability Project
Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, Ximena Bustillo, Jasmine Garsd @ NPR: Deaths of migrants in ICE custody hit record high under Trump
- April 16: Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt
- March 25: Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano
- March 16: Royer Perez-Jimenez
- March 14: Naseer Paktiawil
- February 25: Nurul Amin Shah Alam
April 1 – Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz @ AP: Death of a refugee left at a Buffalo doughnut shop by Border Patrol is ruled a homicide - 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
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