curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Justin Glawe, Ava Shook:
How everyday Americans are forced to fund Trump’s corruption
On top of his self-dealing, taxpayers are spending billions on his vanity projects.
…
The line from giving Trump money to receiving favorable treatment from his administration is straight and short, according to the Wall Street Journal. “If a company encounters an issue with the federal government that comes to Trump’s attention, he will want to know how much money the company gave, according to a person familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported on July 30.
The private sector money flowing into Trump’s vanity projects is also costing taxpayers. His ballroom is funded by hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars as well as private donations. …
A Public Notice-American Doom analysis shows that Trump is spending nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars to fund his many renovation projects. Meanwhile, Trump and his family’s digital currency companies have raked in more than $2.25 billion during Trump’s second term, including as much as $600 million from foreign interests, …
Mary Papenfuss @ Daily Beast: Trump, 80, Sets Sights on New Government Office He Plans to Loot
The president would love to get his hands on the State Department’s chandeliers, Corinthian columns, and a painting or two.
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Sherrilyn Ifill:
Republican Senate Confirms Trump As Attorney GeneralThe Vote to Confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General is Catastrophic
…
Because by this vote, the United States Senate will have unleashed the full weight of the federal legal apparatus on Americans who have committed no crimes and violated no laws, but who oppose the authoritarian agenda of this President. The Senate is fully aware of what a Blanche DOJ is prepared to do – the DOJ is doing those things right now under Blanche’s supervision and encouragement. They include …
(Sherrilyn Ifill more…)Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 8, 2026
… This makes President Donald J. Trump’s personal criminal lawyer the top law enforcement officer of the country.
The attorney general is supposed to be the lawyer for the people of the United States.
Some Republicans, like 92-year-old Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley of Iowa, were enthusiastic about Blanche. …
Other Republicans were more skeptical but said if they didn’t confirm Blanche, Trump would choose someone worse. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Mike Brock:
Bill Cassidy cast the deciding vote for Todd Blanche after Trump had already taken everything from him, and six weeks after saying on national television that the last man he trusted this way had liedHeather Delaney Reese:
Donald Trump is lost in his own lies…
Donald Trump does not and never has really seen himself as a Republican. The Republican Party was just the vehicle he used to get where he wanted to go. He has switched parties at least five times. … He is loyal to no one but himself. He will use people for as long as they are useful to him. And the moment things start going wrong, like how the midterms are projected to be, he will blame them to save himself.
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John Valliant @ Time:
What Happens When the World is on FireMorgaan Sinclair, Ph.D.:
Atlantic ocean currents are near collapse. That could bury Europe in glaciers.The Economist gets it right. Only complete destruction by atomic bombs could cause greater damage to Europe.
Fabiano Maisonnave and Jennah Haque:
Bolivia’s deforestation crisisXylom:
Lake Victoria’s Peatland Conundrum
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Dissent in Bloom:
How a Shell Game of Defense Subsidiaries Turned an Iranian Schoolyard Into a $245 Billion Payday
(Dissent in Bloom more…)
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Austin C. McCoy @ Truthout:
ICE and Data Centers Aren’t New, But Face Growing Pushback as They IntertwineA New Jersey township ordinance is the first in the US reflecting the link between the deportation regime and Big Tech.
(Austin C. McCoy @ Truthout 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
- August 1: Edwin Lopez-Cornejo
- 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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