curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Lingling Wei, Joyu Wang @ WSJ:
In Trump, Xi Sees ‘Rare Window’ to Convince Taiwan That Resistance Is Futile
Beijing is courting Taiwan’s opposition—and quietly helped stage its leader’s landmark visit to the mainland—to pull the island into its orbit
In April, the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party traveled to mainland China for a red-carpet six-day tour, the first such visit in nearly a decade.
Officials treated Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang, or KMT, to high-level meetings and a Shanghai river cruise. The chairman of Meituan, one of China’s biggest tech companies, gave Cheng a plushy kangaroo, the corporate mascot. Capping it off, Cheng got an audience with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
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Xi sees an opening because of rising concerns in Taiwan that President Trump might be willing to sacrifice support for the island in return for better relations with Beijing.
Trump has at times echoed Chinese talking points on Taiwan’s government, and repeatedly accused Taiwan of having stolen the U.S. semiconductor industry, a charge Taipei rejects. He has also withheld approval on a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan, describing the package as a good bargaining chip in negotiations with China.
A recent Brookings Institution poll found that only 24% of Taiwanese voters consider the U.S. a trustworthy ally.
(Lingling Wei, Joyu Wang @ WSJ more…)
Trevor Hunnicutt, Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard @ Reuters:
China’s Xi expected to press Trump to halt Taiwan arms sales under 1982 agreement
Times of London:
Confident Xi may have the edge in his almost decade-long war with Trump
Vivian Salama @ Atlantic:
America’s Allies Are No Longer Waiting for Trump to Leave
They now figure isolationism and protectionism will be U.S. foreign policy for a long time to come.
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Heather Cox Richardson:
Letters from an American – September 22, 2026In 1945, still reeling from World War II, representatives from 50 nations reached back to the U.S. Constitution when they wrote the Preamble to the United Nations charter. …
Central to that effort was the principle, stated in Article 2, that “[a]ll Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”
…In his speech today, President Donald J. Trump, reading haltingly off a teleprompter, said: “I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”
Much of the Iranian delegation walked out.
Trump’s immediate switch to a talking point about the midterms suggests that his speech was aimed at U.S. voters more than the U.N. audience, but it should not be overlooked that he stood in front of world leaders and rejected the premise of the U.N.
Touting his own “Board of Peace” and continuing his fiction that he has solved multiple wars, he outlined a fantasy worldview of himself as a powerful dictator, a man of action who rejects the diplomacy at the heart of the U.N.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Jude Russo @ American Conservative:
The president’s UN speech articulated his second-term foreign policy in its purest form to date.… Most of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday address to the congregation was devoted to self-congratulation about American aggression.
Dean Blundell:
Trump and Netanyahu Are Trying to Bankrupt The International Criminal Court Before It Comes For ThemIan Austen @ NY Times:
At U.N., Carney Lays Out a Broad Plan for a Divided WorldHans Christensen:
Australia, New Zealand as Associate [EU] Members
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‘The Babylon Bee’ Has Obtained The Fall Lineup For Trump TV
Sarah Jones:
‘Trump TV’ Compared to North Korean State TVKareem Abdul-Jabbar:
Trump Declares War On the Real News by Calling It Fake“News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.”
―attributed to William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), media tycoonW. James Antle III @ American Conservative:
I Want My Trump TV
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Jack Hopkins:
The FCC Chair’s Mob Boss Moment Was No Accident
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Stephanie Kelton:
85% of the potash we consume in the US comes from CanadaDarryl Coote @ UPI:
Belarus says it can’t supply U.S. potash as Trump says deal underway
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Bo Erickson, Ahmed Aboulenein, Christy Santhosh @ Reuters:
Trump administration halts Obamacare coverage for 760,000
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William Turton, Avi Asher-Schapiro, Molly Redden, Kirsten Berg @ ProPublica:
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the WayJoyce Vance:
A Bad Tuesday in Maine if Your Name is Susan CollinsGlenn Thrush, Alan Feuer, Devlin Barrett @ NY Times:
F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan CollinsAdam Kinzinger:
Susan Collins’ Bribery Scheme Exposed, Trump’s Press Ban Backfires, GOP Breaks With Trump on Diesel, and more…
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Jennifer Rubin:
42 Days to the Midterms
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Katelyn Jetelina @ Your Local Epidemiologist:
Where are the fall vaccines? Plus Covid-19 and norovirus, and what another measles death meansMeasles: The PA outbreak is much bigger than you think
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Borowitz:
Court Orders Kennedy Name Removed From RFK Jr.
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Alastair Marsh @ Bloomberg:
Carbon Removal Falls Short as World Blows Past 1.5C TargetTaking CO2 from the atmosphere is seen as necessary to mitigate climate change.
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Katey Psencik, Dante Motley @ Austin American-Statesman:
APD videos show moments before, after Austin ICE shooting
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Joseph Cox @ 404 Media:
OpenAI has thousands and thousands of contractors helping improve the company’s AI models. Multiple contractors have been fired for using AI to train the AI.
Last Days in Two Nations
Climate.us
formerly Climate.gov
Climate Solutions Explorer
Have I Been Flocked?
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
- August 31: Pierre Damas Bel
- August 1: Edwin Lopez-Cornejo
- July 19: Jose Chajon-Raxon
- 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
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