curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Valerie Gonzalez @ AP: ‘Sister Letty,’ a Texas nun taken by ICE while walking to Sunday Mass, released
A nun was released from immigration custody after she was arrested while walking to Mass in her habit in South Texas.
Sister Leticia Ugboaja, aka “Sister Letty,” was walking to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, on Sunday when she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have not responded to a request for comment since Sunday.
Parish officials posted a message on social media shortly after the arrest that gained traction in the news and prompted members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Monica de la Cruz, to intervene on Ugboaja’s behalf.
Marisa Kabas: How a former HUD civil rights lawyer courageously challenged Trump
-
Amanda Greenwood, Jasmine Laws @ Newsweek: Data Centers Proposed on Top of Largest Underground Water Reservoir in US
The rapid expansion of AI data centers is bringing a new environmental question to the forefront across the Great Plains: can one of America’s most important groundwater reserves support both a growing digital economy and the agricultural communities that already depend on it?
New mapping compiled by Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting shows that several proposed and under-construction AI facilities are located directly above, or immediately adjacent to, the Ogallala Aquifer, a groundwater system that underpins much of America’s agricultural production.
(Amanda Greenwood, Jasmine Laws @ Newsweek more…)Francois de Beaupuy, Mark Chediak, Tasneem Hanfi Brogger, Joe Wertz, Laura Millan, Olivia Rudgard: Paris Embraces District Cooling to Battle Deadly Heat
Europe is experiencing an early, intense heat wave.
[A friend in Vienna reported 107F there last evening!]
-
Fernanda González @ Wired: China Defies US Restrictions and Builds the World’s Fastest Supercomputer
China now has the world’s fastest supercomputer, overtaking the United States. The system, known as LineShine and installed at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, displaced the US system El Capitan from the top spot in the TOP500 ranking in terms of computing power.
(Fernanda González @ Wired more…)
-
James Eagle: Major tech IPOs usually fade after the first-day rush
-
Jonathan Larsen: Trump Invents Two-Day War Week
The U.S.-Iran War is now on a two-day per week schedule to avoid bombing Wall Street
-
Jaidyn Bridgeforth @ Atlanta Black Star: Scott Bessent Smirked While a Dem Accused Him of Helping Trump Rob Taxpayers — Then Dropped a Secret Memo He Couldn’t Answer
-
Evan Hurst: Kids Need Protection From Conservative Pastors, Not Pete Buttigieg.
A long overdue update of the Pervert Pastor Project
-
Tom Latchem @ Daily Beast: Trump Allegedly ‘Threatened’ Beauty Queen After Groping Her
‘HORROR SHOW’
Beatrice Keul claims she was assaulted by the president, and was also marked as Jeffrey Epstein’s “prey.”
(Tom Latchem @ Daily Beast more…)
-
Mitch Jackson: She Told Trump No. He Ignored Her. Today the Supreme Court Told Him No, and He Could Not Ignore That.
E. Jean Carroll’s refusal meant nothing to him in that dressing room. The justices just handed him a refusal he has no power to overrule, and his sexual assault verdict stands for good.
(Mitch Jackson more…)
-
Joyce Vance: The Last Monday At SCOTUS
With the end of this term of the Supreme Court in sight, Monday started off with a bang when the Justices declined to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of the $5 million verdict against him in the first of E. Jean Carroll’s two successful defamation cases. The case was listed as “denied” on the 28-page order list the Court entered this morning, taking a few cases but declining to hear most, as it did with Trump’s request.
(Joyce Vance more…)Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – June 29, 2026
“To show the importance of the Slaughter Case, 90 years of precedent has been COMPLETELY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY OVERRULED, greatly increasing Presidential Power at a time when it is most needed!” President Donald J. Trump wrote this afternoon. He continued: “Today’s Historic Slaughter Decision by the Supreme Court is the Greatest Increase in Presidential Power in the last 100 years. Such a Monumental Ruling at such an important time!”
Political theorist Jacob T. Levy posted in response: “No, see, ‘overruled 90 years of precedent in order to expand presidential power’ is the way *critics* describe it. *Your* side says: resisting intrusion into core executive functions, protecting the sanctity of the separation of powers, and acknowledging that the precedent has been whittled away.”
But Greg Sargent of The New Republic countered that “Trump constantly and explicitly holds up his naked corruption *as a badge of honor* that his supporters are supposed to thrill to (and see benefit for themselves in). He thinks corruption is the highest form of winning.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Robert Reich: The Supreme Court majority throws out the New Deal and much else
-
Sterling Dudley @ Internet Archive:
The Declaration of Independence, America at 250 and Past CentennialsAs America celebrates its Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) this year, explore a curated list of materials preserved at the Internet Archive documenting the nation’s founding, the Declaration of Independence, past ephemera created for the nation’s anniversaries, and new efforts to capture and preserve the materials published by democracies.
(Sterling Dudley @ Internet Archive more…)Lucian K. Truscott IV: Trump wanted his “Great American State Fair” to be all about him. He succeeded. It’s ugly. It’s empty. It’s not fun.
Borowitz: Trump Boasts About Crowd Size at His Medical Appointments
-
Ken Klippenstein: 450 Years in Prison for Saying “Anti-Fascist”
How the Prairieland Eight got convicted as domestic terrorists
(Ken Klippenstein more…)
-
Ruth Ann Crystal MD: Dr. Ruth Report, 6/29/26
First, I wanted to highlight an important article that affects us all.
How The OMB Rule Could Hurt You And Your Town | Dr. Judy Stone, Forbes 6/24/26
A proposed OMB rule (2 CFR Part 200) would extend Trump administration grant cuts beyond scientific research to all federal grants to states, cities, and nonprofits nationwide. Political appointees would replace peer review panels, DEI research would be effectively banned, agencies could terminate grants at any time for any reason, and all grant programs would have to “align with the President’s policy priorities” or be denied if an organization’s affiliations or views are deemed “un-American”.
What can you do? Please write a comment on the Federal website here before July 13. Here is a guide giving examples of how to write your comment regarding the OMB proposed rule change to 2 CFR Part 200.
(Ruth Ann Crystal MD more…)
-
Christina Pagel: Two weeks in Trump’s America: elections, environment, health and corruption
(Christina Pagel more…)
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
Leave a Reply