curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Tom Schaller:
Declaring War on The Declaration
The Declaration is loaded with meanings, some of them inherently self-contradictory. Its opening paragraphs are spine-tinglingly profound, but the bulk of the document is a grievous rant. The document set a global standard for freedom and self-governance as naturally inherent human rights, yet bounded those rights to a privileged white, male minority. It is timeless yet also somewhat outdated for American politics today.
Unfortunately, the Declaration of Independence penned primarily by Thomas Jefferson allows self-interested parties to validate their agendas by importing into that sacred document their preferred interpretations of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Precisely because the Declaration is so ripe for political manipulation, having Donald Trump lead the nation during this semi-quincentennial anniversary offers a fitting, if bleak, opportunity to litigate anew the Declaration’s political utility.
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Historians and political scientists typically rank Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as among the greatest US presidents. But Washington was the nation’s most indispensable chief executive, and for one reason: He relinquished power.
In a stunning rebuke of the precedent set by centuries of priests, kings, and authoritarians before him, Washington surrendered control of the continental army after the war and then voluntarily returned to his homestead in 1797 following two terms as America’s first president.
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Unfortunately, not everyone reveres Washington’s example.
(Tom Schaller more…)
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Gil Duran:
“Cultural heroin.” JD Vance on Donald TrumpTen years ago today, JD Vance published an essay that called Donald Trump “cultural heroin” and “an opioid of the masses”:
During this election season, it appears that many Americans have reached for a new pain reliever. It too, promises a quick escape from life’s cares, an easy solution to the mounting social problems of U.S. communities and culture. It demands nothing and requires little more than a modest presence and maybe a few enablers. It enters minds, not through lungs or veins, but through eyes and ears, and its name is Donald Trump.
Vance used a striking drug metaphor to explain the Trump phenomenon in 2016. In Vance’s telling, Trump was addictive and dangerous, a substance that gave people an artificial feeling of wellbeing while causing them dramatic harm.Ten years later, Vance—Trump’s vice president—is the #1 pusher of the toxic man he once referred to as “America’s Hitler.” What does this tell us?
(Gil Duran more…)
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Heather Delaney Reese: Donald Trump changed everything tonight
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During the next thirty minutes, the inspiring and optimistic address Americans had been promised to celebrate 250 years of this nation never came. Instead, Donald Trump delivered one of the most radical and dangerous speeches of either of his presidencies, declaring that the Democratic Party was made up of communists, promising that communists would be sent into exile, and outlining a plan that he said would ensure Republicans “will not lose an election for a hundred years.”
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Clearwater was removed from the Sail4th 250 Parade of Sail by the USCG and escorted out of the Exclusion Zone by the US Coast Guard, US Navy, and NYPD.
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CDR Bobby R. Jones, USN (Ret.):
Hegseth’s ‘DEI’ Purge is a Betrayal of American Service Members
(CDR Bobby R. Jones, USN (Ret.) more…)Anna Oakes @ Al Jazeera: This immigrant served in the US military. Now he faces deportation.
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Michael Fanone: The GOP Has a Pedophile Problem and Nobody’s Talking About It
Michael Fanone: A nonpartisan study says the National Guard did nothing measurable for violent crime — at $1.5 million a day. So why is Trump sending in thousands more?
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Zeynep Tufekci @ NY Times: The Unstoppable Force of A.I. Hype Is Meeting One Immovable Fact
Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting
resources tracking the “Andes” hantavirus outbreak
Apocalypse Early Warning System
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
Mike Ludwig @ truthout: ICE Says 51 People Died in Custody Under Trump. Experts Say That’s an Undercount.
ICE Accountability Project
Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, Ximena Bustillo, Jasmine Garsd @ NPR: Deaths of migrants in ICE custody hit record high under Trump
- June 4: Mamuka Artmeladze
- 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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