curated news excerpts & citations
Sherrilyn Ifill: The Critical Connection Between Brown v. Board and Voting Rights
There Is a Reason That Dr. King Gave his Famous “Give Us the Ballot” Speech on the Third Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
“But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote.
“Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
“Give us the ballot (Yes), and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South (All right) and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.
“Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.
“Give us the ballot, and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a “Southern Manifesto” because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice.
“Give us the ballot, and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy, and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Give Us The Ballot.” May 17, 1957.
(Sherrilyn Ifill more…)
-
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – May 17, 2026
Thousands of people gathered today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event to “rededicate” the nation to Christianity.
The “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” event is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America’s history, turning it from one that champions the Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that some people are better than others and to defer to their leaders.
This was not Congress’s intent when it established a bipartisan America250 commission in 2016 … Trump chafed under the idea of congressional oversight and a pretense of bipartisanship, so in December 2025 he created his own new organization, Freedom 250.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
Joshua S Hill @ Renew Economy: Solar farms can help to regenerate land while generating energy, new study finds
(Joshua S Hill @ Renew Economy more…)
-
Jon Gambrell, Samy Magdy @ AP: Drone strikes UAE nuclear plant as US and Iran signal they are prepared to resume war
A drone strike sparked a fire on the edge of the United Arab Emirates’ sole nuclear power plant on Sunday in what authorities called an “unprovoked terrorist attack.” No one was blamed, but it highlighted the risk of renewed war as the United States and Iran signaled they were ready to fight again.
There were no reported injuries or radiological release. The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks. …
(Jon Gambrell, Samy Magdy @ AP more…)
-
Christopher Miller, Max Seddon @ Financial Times: Ukraine’s deadly drone strikes on Moscow ‘entirely justified’, says Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s latest long-range drone strikes that killed three in the Moscow region were “entirely justified” after Russia’s record aerial attack on Kyiv earlier this week.
Russian authorities on Sunday said three people had died in the Moscow region and a fourth in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine after a massive drone attack that lasted through the night. Russia’s defence ministry said 556 drones were downed across the country, marking one of the largest Ukrainian barrages since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
(Christopher Miller, Max Seddon @ Financial Times more…)Timothy Jones @ Deutsche Welle: Ukrainian drones hit Russia in massive overnight attack
Ukraine has launched almost 600 drones at Russia in one of its largest overnight attacks amid Moscow’s invasion. The region around the Russian capital was one of those targeted.
Hans Christensen: Council of Europe Establishes Special Tribunal for Ukraine, Makes Declaration on Migration
-
Natalie Muller, Srinivas Mazumdaru @ Deutsche Welle: WHO declares international emergency over Ebola outbreak
The World Health Organization said the Ebola outbreak could be much larger than what is currently being detected and reported. The UN agency warned of health risks to other countries.
(Natalie Muller, Srinivas Mazumdaru @ Deutsche Welle more…)David McAfee @ RawStory: MAGA conspiracy theories fly as global health emergency declared over Ebola
-
Dissent in Bloom: Techbros and Tradwives: Inside of JD Vance’s ‘Pro-Baby’ Ideology
Is America “under-babied?” Scratch the surface of the so-called pronatalism movement and what surfaces are a modernized eugenics and white nationalist movement.
(Dissent in Bloom more…)
-
Jonathan Larsen: What Polis Didn’t Say about Clemency for Tina Peters
-
Allison Gill: Retired Judge Blasts Trump’s $1.7B Slush Fund for Allies
A federal judge asked outside counsel to weigh in on Trump’s lawsuit against himself that could be settled with a $1.7B fund to pay his criminal co-conspirators.
(Allison Gill more…)
-
Ruth Ann Crystal MD: Dr. Ruth Report, 5/17/26
-
Thom Hartmann: George W Bush Pushes Neoliberalism even farther
Your weekly excerpt from one of my books. This week: “The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America and How to Restore Its Greatness”
(Thom Hartmann more…)
resources tracking the “Andes” hantavirus outbreak
Apocalypse Early Warning System
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
Leave a Reply