curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Ryan Kennedy
@ pv magazine:
FCC bans foreign-produced solar inverters
…
This means any solar or battery storage project relying on an inverter made outside the United States that has not already received an official FCC ID cannot legally turn on or interconnect. Because there is no phase-in period, grandfather clause, or grace window, the regulatory pipeline is frozen today, forcing developers to halt active procurements and find new hardware vendors. Crucially, this applies strictly to new inverter model filings rather than an absolute freeze on all foreign-built components. Find a fact sheet from FCC here.
…
The action effectively overrides the Department of Energy analysis from January 2026, which inspected 30 Chinese inverters and found zero evidence of malicious hardware. …
The immediate practical result is a massive equipment shortage that will delay upcoming commercial and utility projects. Department of Energy data shows that domestic manufacturers supply only seven percent of the U.S. solar inverter market, leaving a 93% deficit that cannot be filled by local factories anytime soon. This impact will primarily materialize down the line as manufacturers introduce new product refreshes or next-generation hardware designs that require fresh FCC grants.
The hardware blockade hits right as developers plan to connect more than 58,000 MW of new solar and storage over the next year. Without certified inverters, fully built solar farms will sit dark and unable to feed electricity to the grid.
Osmond Chia @ BBC: Trump administration bans new Chinese humanoid robots
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Michael Amon, Lara Seligman, Shelby Holliday @ WSJ:
Iran Launches Surprise Missile Attack on U.S. ForcesStrikes came before the U.S. military confirmed joint attacks with Saudi forces on Iran-backed groups in Iraq
(Michael Amon, Lara Seligman, Shelby Holliday @ WSJ more…)
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Patricia J Wentzel:
Another attempt by the Trump administration to punish the disabled for being disabledProposed rule for Medicaid would undo decades of progress – NAMI issues urgent request for public comment due July 31, 2026
(Patricia J Wentzel more…)
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Ken Klippenstein:
FEMA’s New Mission: Domestic TerrorismThe disaster response agency forgets the weather, embraces pre-crime
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, often criticized for its inadequate response to natural disasters like wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, has been assigned a new mission: “domestic terrorism.”
Now FEMA is shelling out grant money to state and local authorities to build up capacity to carry out pre-crime operations against “organized political violence,” as one FEMA information bulletin I obtained says.
The bulletin, dated July 9, instructs local authorities to prioritize “domestic terrorism” in their grant applications. Titled “Implementation of National Security Presidential Memorandum-7…,” the document echoes President Trump’s emphasis on rooting out suspected domestic terrorists before an attack takes place.
(Ken Klippenstein more…)
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Malcolm Ferguson @ TNR: Kentucky Gov Orders McConnell to Give a Real Update or Resign Already
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Hafiz Rashid @ TNR: DOJ’s Own Witness Wrecks Reflecting Pool “Vandalism” Case
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Katelyn Jetelina @ Your Local Epidemiologist: Measles record (and hot questions), foodborne illness summer, Covid-19 summer wave, and more
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Bob Dylan, 1993: “Technology to wipe out truth is now available. Not everybody can afford it but it’s available. When the cost comes down look out!”
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
- July 14: Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran
- July 13: Joan Sebastian Guerrero
- July 7: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
- 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
