curated news excerpts & citations
Heather Delaney Reese: Pete Hegseth needs to be next
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Hegseth opened by comparing Operation Epic Fury favorably to every major American military engagement of the last century. Korea. Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. All of them, he said, dragged on for years with vague missions and little to show for it. Epic Fury, by contrast, has been “laser-focused from the very start.” A “decisive military result” delivered “in just weeks.” A “bold and historic” mission, led by a “bold and historic President.”
But here is what he does not seem to realize he just said. The reason those wars dragged on with vague missions and nothing to show for it is precisely because nobody could define what winning looked like going in. And that is exactly where we are right now. We are on day 55 of a war that was supposed to last four to six weeks. A war never authorized by Congress that is costing at least an estimated one billion dollars a day. And nobody, not Hegseth this morning, not Trump, not a single person in this administration, has been able to tell us what we are actually trying to achieve.
They keep saying that we can never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. That is the implied mission. Except their own people told us last summer that we neutralized their nuclear capabilities. Their own CIA said there was no immediate nuclear threat. Their own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified under oath after the war started that Iran had not rebuilt its nuclear enrichment capability since last summer’s strikes. …
William J. Broad and David E. Sanger@ NY Times: Trump Seeks to Abolish Iran’s Atomic Stockpile, a Problem He Helped Create
President Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear accord in 2018, saying it was the worst deal ever. But Iran responded with an enrichment spree that haunts the negotiations to this day.
Marcy Wheeler: Trump Is Not Ignorant of Iran Risks; He Is Attempting a Con to Cope with His Failure
E.J. Dionne Jr., Carlos Lozada and Robert Siegel @ NY Times: Trump’s True Deal-Making Abilities, Revealed
What moving deadlines — and red lines — in Iran means for America’s leverage.
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Joyce Vance: Virginia Giuffre Set Something In Motion That Can’t Be Stopped
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Virginia Giuffre’s death. One of the bravest Epstein survivors, she refused to let the men who hurt her get away with it and demanded public accountability. Today at a memorial service, her brother said she had turned her “pain into purpose.”
(Joyce Vance more…)Mary Papenfuss @ Daily Beast: Trump Stonewalls British Probe Into Epstein Scandal
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Britain’s Metropolitan Police have sent a formal request to the Department of Justice, after the DOJ insisted it do so to obtain the original, unredacted documents. The formal request was made after earlier U.K. attempts to obtain the documents were ignored, The Guardian reported.Any resolution of the formal request process could take a long time, and it’s not immediately clear what other conditions Trump officials may set before taking any action.
(Mary Papenfuss @ Daily Beast more…)Epstein Document Archive: US Blocks UK Access to Epstein Files as Political Firestorm Over Maxwell Pardon Erupts
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 25, 2026
Tonight the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) held its annual black-tie dinner, which is designed both to raise money for the institution and to provide a glitzy night out for journalists. In recent years the event has drawn criticism for the chumminess it reveals between White House journalists and the lawmakers they cover. This year, that concern was heightened dramatically when the WHCA invited President Donald J. Trump to attend the dinner and to give a speech.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Martha Pskowski @ Inside Climate News: Low-Producing Oil Wells in Texas Cause Headaches for Landowners
Jackie Chesnutt, who lives outside San Angelo, is tired of pollution from wells she says should have been plugged years ago. Experts say Texas rules allow companies to defer plugging wells for far too long.
(Martha Pskowski @ Inside Climate News more…)
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Lydia Pelot-Hobbs @ truthout: As Opposition Grows, Oklahoma Organizers Share How They Halted an ICE Warehouse
Organizers also channeled mass outrage into long-haul organizing for immigration justice in Oklahoma and beyond.
(Lydia Pelot-Hobbs @ truthout more…)Emiliano Tahui Gómez and Faith Bugenhagen @ Austin American-Statesman: ‘They didn’t believe me’: Austin man deported after traffic stop says he is a U.S. citizen
Authorities say he entered illegally, but records and his attorney say he was born in Denver and wrongfully removed
Hamed Aleaziz and Nicholas Nehamas @ NY Times: Under Trump, Green Card Seekers Face New Scrutiny for Views on Israel
In guidance to immigration officers, the administration describes participating in pro-Palestinian protests and criticizing Israel as “overwhelmingly negative” factors.
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Jes Psaki @ MS NOW: Trump’s blurt reveals he doesn’t understand his DOJ’s attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center
White Donald Trump’s Justice Department wages a bizarre political prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Trump seems to be confusing that attack with other political attacks the DOJ has carried out on his behalf. Rep. Dan Goldman talks with Jen Psaki about the DOJ’s “insane” case and Trump’s weird belief that it will lead to wiping his 2020 election loss “off the books.”
Sarah K. Burris @ AlterNet: Tempers flare as Trump’s voter fraud hunt implodes — again
Erik De La Garza @ RawStory: Judge signals deep skepticism in buried footnote as Trump tries to sue his IRS for $10B
Sabrina Haake @ AlterNet: Trump’s $4 billion empire could evaporate — thanks to one judge’s ruling
Olivia Ralph @ Daily Beast: How Trump’s Goons Cash In on His Crazy: Scaramucci
FOLLOW THE MONEY
The former Trump aide claims a tight inner circle could be profiting off the president’s erratic moves.
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Gil Duran: Peter Thiel Flees to Argentina
Last year, tech fascist guru Curtis Yarvin warned that Trump’s Silicon Valley supporters should prepare to flee the United States in case Democrats retake power. Now, one of Yarvin’s key followers—Palantir co-founder and Antichrist enthusiast Peter Thiel—appears to be heeding his advice.
(Gil Duran more…)
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Jacob Zinkula @ Business Insider: The new Amazon: How employees are navigating AI, RTO, and a shifting culture
Amazon’s hardcore culture transformation is becoming a case study in the employee-employer relationship in the AI era.
Companies from AT&T to Walmart are following Amazon’s lead, cracking down on efficiency and accountability. With more than double the combined headcount of Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta, changes at Amazon carry far-reaching implications for America’s workers.
While some of the effects of stricter performance reviews, return-to-office policies, and massive rounds of layoffs impact workers right away, other changes take time to trickle down to employees’ day-to-day work and personal lives. Twelve Amazon workers told Business Insider what life has been like as they settle into a new normal.
(Jacob Zinkula @ Business Insider more…)
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Ian Duncan @ Washington Post: White House pushed out new AI official after just four days on the job
The Department of Commerce had picked Anthropic researcher Collin Burns to lead the Center for AI Standards and Innovation.
Micah Zimmerman @ Motley Fool: The Iran War May End Soon. The Damage to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chip Supply Chain Has Already Been Done.
The AI boom has a hidden dependency no one priced in, and it just got disrupted in a way that could ripple through the entire market for years.
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Ezra Klein @ NY Times: A Dose of Wisdom From Silicon Valley’s Favorite Prophet
(Ezra Klein @ NY Times more…)
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Ewan Gleadow @ RawStory: Alarm bells as Trump memo gives White House license to destroy tens of millions of emails
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Terrence O’Brien @ Verge: Trump fires the entire National Science Board
Federal funding for scientific research was already in turmoil.
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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