curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
D. Brian Blank, Brandy Hadley @ Conversation: It’s not just high gas prices – inflation is now spreading through the US economy
Americans don’t need a press release to know that inflation is rising. Gasoline is above $4 per gallon amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the release of key price data on May 28, 2026, underscores why policymakers are worried these pressures could spread into the broader economy.
The report offered a mixed but still uncomfortable picture. The month-to-month rise was softer than expected, but the change year over year still points to concern: a 3.8% jump from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2021, and a less volatile index that excludes food and energy up 3.3%.
This increase suggests inflation isn’t limited to gasoline. Housing, utilities and recreational spending are also keeping underlying inflation elevated, even as other data shows a slowing economy and weaker income growth.
Dan Frosch @ WSJ: Americans Are Falling Behind on Their $1.25 Trillion Credit-Card Bill
Soaring interest rates and stubborn inflation have led to highest delinquencies since the financial crisis; ‘a pattern of survival debt’
Paul Krugman: Who’s Deranged, Exactly?
Of partisanship and economic sentiment
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – May 29, 2026
This morning, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), who just lost his primary after President Donald J. Trump endorsed Republican challenger Ken Paxton, posted:
“An old, but apt fable: …
Cornyn appears to be firing a shot across the president’s bow, and now that Trump has alienated Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas by endorsing their opponents, there are six Republican senators who may be willing to stop moving in lockstep with him.
Trump’s war on Iran and the rising prices Americans are enduring in its wake are costing him support from all but his most fervent base, and there is no immediate solution that will make those problems go away. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…) -
Michael Fanone: Imagine If a Foreign Military Did This Off the Coast of Florida
The U.S. has destroyed 58 boats and killed 194 people since September. The reason we’ve stopped paying attention is the entire reason it’s still happening.
(Michael Fanone more…)Jacob Sullum @ reason: The Least Surprising Headline Ever: ‘Blowing Up Boats Hasn’t Slowed Cocaine Traffic to U.S.’
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Radley Balko: You can’t hide your lying ICE: The covered-up killing of Ruben Ray Martinez
It took nearly a year for the public to learn that a DHS officer killed a Latino man and U.S. citizen — and that federal officers lied about how it happened.
(Radley Balko more…)Elizabeth Melimopoulos @ Al Jazeera: ICE agent arrested over shooting of Venezuelan man in US immigration raid
The charges stem from the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.
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Jennifer Rubin: The fight against Jim Crow continues
Marisa Kabas: Starved, smashed and bloodied: The violence at ICE’s Delaney Hall
Brutality towards detainees and protesters continues to unfold in Newark, NJ.
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Now we’ve learned that ICE agents within Delaney have begun physically retaliating against the hunger strikers. Outside in clear view of cameras, they’ve taken to physically attacking protesters and journalists, pushing one into the wheel of a moving truck and smashing a camera. What’s emerged in Newark is a new front in the battle against Donald Trump’s vicious and deadly immigration policy, and a strong sign that the campaign to abolish and prosecute ICE is alive and well.AP: Ghanaian Mother and Child Detained at Airport for Days After Arriving on Valid Visas, Lawyers Say
A pregnant woman from Ghana who entered the U.S. on a valid visa with her son so he could get medical attention has been held for more than a week in a windowless detention room at a Washington airport, her lawyers said in court documents
Lisa Needham: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a true victim of weaponization
The regime refuses to leave him alone *because* he’s an everyday person.
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James Eagle: The world is running out of babies
(James Eagle more…)
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Home of the Brave: She served her country. Trump’s VA betrayed her.
(Home of the Brave more…)Quil Lawrence, Chris Arnold @ NPR: Trump’s VA killed a home loan program. Vets are now losing their homes because of it
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Thom Hartmann: America Just Expanded Voting Rights To Corporations. Yes, Really
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Joyce Vance: E. Jean Carroll
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Small Wars Journal: Drone Swarm vs. US Navy Frigate
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The former USS Simpson—ironically the last U.S. warship to sink an enemy vessel—became the first to be sunk by an autonomous swarm. The era of drone-enabled sea control is here. The challenge now is organizational adaptation. How can we build the command structures, personnel frameworks, and acquisition pipelines that autonomous warfare at scale demands?
(Small Wars Journal more…)
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Beth Mole @ arsTECHNICA: Kenyan court blocks Trump admin from dumping Ebola-exposed Americans there
The Trump administration is refusing to repatriate Americans exposed to Ebola amid the outbreak still raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But the plan to send US citizens to Kenya has hit a snag, and officials are still scrambling to find other countries that might take them.
(Beth Mole @ arsTECHNICA more…)
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Heather Delaney Reese: J.D. Vance tells Air Force graduates “You can’t boo me, I’m the Vice President”
The Vice President of the United States stepped up to address the graduating class of the Air Force Academy and delivered an awkward speech. But it wasn’t just weird, it was a direct reversal of his previous remarks. A little over a year ago, standing before graduates at the Naval Academy, J.D. Vance built an entire commencement speech around the promise that this administration was finished with “open-ended conflicts” and “undefined missions,” that Trump would be the president who stopped sending Americans to die in other people’s wars. Yesterday morning, with the United States actively at war with Iran, he told a new graduating class to prepare for “an entirely new era of warfare,” and that within just 60 days, they could be the ones asked to enforce it. The anti-war candidate became the war’s recruiter the moment war became politically useful.
Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting
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
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