curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Stephanie Kaloi @ MEDIAite:
U.S. Air Force Officer Arrested on Capitol Steps for Call to Impeach Trump: ‘The Bill Must Come Due’
Air Force Major Jason Watson was arrested on the Capitol Steps Wednesday after taking part in a protest that called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Watson, an active member of the Air Force, delivered a speech ahead of his arrest. He listed several perceived crimes committed by the president and vice president.
Sarah Jones & Jason Easley: Court Blocks Trump From Banning 8647 Signs And Flags In National Parks
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Alex Barrientos @ Yahoo!: Immigration Checkpoints Set Up Across The U.S.: The Shocking New “Papers, Please” Mandate Snaring Domestic Travelers
More than 213 million Americans live inside a zone where federal agents can stop your car and demand proof of immigration status. No international border crossing required. The zone stretches 100 miles inward from every land and coastal boundary, swallowing ten entire states and cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
(Alex Barrientos @ Yahoo! more…)Thom Hartmann: I Saw This Happen Behind the Iron Curtain. I Never Expected to See It Here…
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Mitch Jackson: In 12 Months, Trump Made $2.2 Billion (About $1.4 Billion from Crypto). The 927-Page-Long Receipt Dropped Yesterday.
Editorial Board @ WSJ: They are profiting off the Presidency in ways that demean the office
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – Juky 1, 2026
Today President Donald J. Trump took his first flight on the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar. The Constitution prohibits presidents from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the consent of Congress, so Trump’s announcement he would accept the $400 million plane from a foreign country raised a bipartisan outcry.
…Yesterday Sarah Blaskey and Jonathan O’Connell of the Washington Post reported that last summer, White House officials awarded a no-bid contract for $500 million for the construction of a ballroom where the East Wing of the White House used to be.
…An obscure U.S. company, Kaz Resources, won access to resources of a metal the U.S. needs for missile warheads, fighter jets, and computer chips. Before the deal went through, officials from the Trump administration advanced applications for as much as $1.6 billion in federal funding for the company.
Then an investment firm partly owned by Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric took a 20% stake in a corporate entity related to the project, and the investment firm run by Lutnick’s sons Brandon and Kyle, Cantor Fitzgerald, helped to raise $210 million for a related entity, likely pocketing millions in fees.
…Yesterday a federal filing showed that Trump took in about $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures last year. …
Trump also made more than $600 million from meme coins stamped with his face.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Joseph Zeballos-Roig @ moneywise: Trump fired the BLS chief last year over ‘rigged’ data claims. New research says the move cost the US economy $20 billion
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Judd Legum: GOP Senate candidate spent $400,000 of taxpayer money on campaign-style ads
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James Eagle: Global energy investment is heading to $3.4 trillion
(James Eagle more…)Summer Maxwell, Alastair Marsh @ Bloomberg: US Home Storage is Booming Even as Solar Installations Stall
Mary Geddry: How fossil power turns political choices into inevitabilities, and teaches communities to negotiate the terms of their own surrender.
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Camille Fournier @ Medium: Guidelines for Respectful Use of AI
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Duncan Hollis, Orde F. Kittrie @ Small Wars Journal: Why Hasn’t the Trump Administration Complied with the Law on Reporting Iran Agreements to Congress?
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Joyce Vance: The Women Who Told Trump “No”
When Donald Trump appealed the $5 million dollars the jury awarded to E. Jean Carroll in the first of her two defamation victories against him, he put that money, plus extra to cover interest, into escrow. The money would go to her immediately if the appeal terminated in her favor. Trump stipulated that would be the case if, once he asked the Supreme Court to hear his appeal on a writ of certiorari, they declined to do so, which would finalize the decision in Carroll’s favor. That’s exactly what happened on Monday. That means it’s time for Donald Trump to pay up.
So of course, he did, right? He’d made an agreement and he honored it.
Alas—and as you all undoubtedly anticipated—that did not happen. Donald Trump, in fact, did not honor his agreement. He was not, yet again, a gracious loser. He has not paid up. He owes Carroll $5,779,783.00, the amount of the judgment plus post-judgment interest. Instead, he wants to delay making the payment. It’s so on brand. But it’s not going to work this time.
(Joyce Vance more…)Lisa Needham @ Daily Kos: Trump won’t pay E. Jean Carroll—no matter how many times he loses
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Hawk Dunlap @ Houston Chronicle: I ran as a Republican for railroad commissioner. Here’s why I’m voting for the Democrat.
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I ran for railroad commissioner because I believe that seat is one of the most consequential offices in Texas, even though most Texans never think about it. The Railroad Commission decides whether your water stays clean, whether abandoned wells get plugged, whether the next freeze takes down the grid.A job like that doesn’t need a partisan politician. It needs someone who actually knows how the equipment fails. We have spent too many years in this state treating the Railroad Commission’s seats as prizes to be handed out for party loyalty, then acting surprised when the people we elect can’t tell a casing failure from a campaign slogan.
(Hawk Dunlap @ Houston Chronicle 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
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