curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Chris Geidner:
If DC had statehood, armed soldiers wouldn’t be patrolling our cat cafes
One year in, Trump’s troop deployment in D.C. is ongoing, unending, pointless — and very bad
The “America 250” flags are a particularly empty emblem on the uniforms of troops deployed on the streets of the nation’s capital.
On Tuesday, it will be one year since President Donald Trump called up the National Guard to be deployed in Washington, D.C., “to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital.“
It was a lie then, it’s a lie now, but here we are. And here they are. And here they are to remain through 2029, if Trump has his way.
On Sunday, like clockwork, moments after I saw a sign about the armed troops’ presence in D.C., a group of National Guard troops walked by.
The sign proclaims, “If DC had statehood, armed soldiers wouldn’t be patrolling our cat cat cafes.“
Although that is likely correct, I do want to add two notes. First, some Republican governors (in Tennessee and Louisiana) have made it possible for there to be National Guard deployment in Democratic-led cities — with deployments in Memphis and New Orleans. Second, even without statehood, the D.C. deployment still is likely illegal. A district court judge ruled as much last November, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit allowed the deployment to continue during litigation (which is moving slowly at the D.C. Circuit).
Returning to the bigger picture, though, the legal case aside, what Donald Trump has done — and what Congress and the courts have thus far allowed — is appalling.
There is no plan for this deployment to end. At this point, it basically involves National Guard troops who are deployed within D.C. or sent away from their homes to patrol D.C. with no real purpose for their deployment beyond showing Donald Trump that he has troops and showing D.C.’s residents that Trump can use those troops to attempt to intimidate us.
(Chris Geidner more…)
-
Jacob Shamsian @ Business Insider:
How Jeffrey Epstein’s island became a nightmare for influencersWhen billionaire Stephen Deckoff purchased a pair of Caribbean islands that once belonged to Jeffrey Epstein, he saw it as a potential paradise. In a press release, Deckoff said he planned to open a world-class destination resort befitting the territory’s “natural grace and beauty.”
Over three years since the purchase, no resort has been built, but the islands are still attracting visitors from around the world — unwelcome ones.
Deckoff, the CEO of asset management firm Black Diamond Capital Management, has sued nine social-media influencers, content creators, and conspiracy theorists, accusing them of trespassing on the property to capitalize on the islands’ notoriety.
(Jacob Shamsian @ Business Insider more…)
-
Sadie Dingfelder @ NOTUS:
Why the R-Word Is the Defining Slur of the Trump Era
-
Dr. Eric Lullove @ Blue Amp Media:
How a Line Buried in a Medicare Rule Will Punish the Sickest Patients— and Why Your Silence Helps It Pass
… Buried inside is a change to something called Modifier -25. In plain English: when a doctor addresses a separately identifiable problem and performs a procedure on the same day, the current system pays for both. Under the proposal, the most expensive service that day gets paid at 100 percent — and every other service gets paid at 50 percent. Half. CMS is specifically proposing to cut payment when a physician handles a same-day office visit alongside a procedure that carries a global surgical period.CMS calls this eliminating “duplicative” payment. I call it what it is: a financial penalty for taking care of complicated patients in a single visit.
(Dr. Eric Lullove @ Blue Amp Media more…)
-
Adam Kinzinger:
A North Carolina congregation has wiped out millions in medical debt for neighbors they’ll never meet.
-
Heather Cox Richardson:
Letters from an American – August 9, 2026On August 9, 1974, Richard M. Nixon became the first president in U.S. history to resign.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
Egberto Willies:
James Talarico’s Sermon Exposed Christian Nationalism—and Revealed His Moral Core
(Egberto Willies more…)
-
Hans Christensen:
World tourism continues to grow, except for certain places hit by conflict or political controversy, such as Dubai and USA.
-
Heather Cox Richardson: Week Eleven in 250 to 250
This was the eleventh week of videos from the 250 to 250 Project that we’re producing to honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
It was another week of favorite stories and favorite people narrating, but I guess I feel that way every week. A number of this week’s videos were suggestions from the narrators themselves, making them even more fun for us than usual.
Our hope was for the videos to emphasize the agency of Americans—mostly everyday Americans—to change the country. Each falls into a category that defines what it means to be an American, including community, democracy, innovation, mobility, civil rights, education, conservation, and creativity. Having narrators choose their own topics added different facets of those stories to the ones we had previously chosen.
https://www.youtube.com/@twofiftytotwofifty
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
Thom Hartmann: Chapter 10: The Cover-Up
Your weekly chapter excerpt from one of my books. This week: “Who Killed the American Dream: The Greatest Political Crime Ever Told.” See Thom’s take on how this chapter relates to today below…
(Thom Hartmann 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
Leave a Reply