curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Thom Hartmann:
What Would Trump Be Doing Differently If Putin Were Giving the Orders?
America’s defenses are being drained, Ukraine is being abandoned, and Russia and Iran are growing stronger. At what point does incompetence stop being an explanation?
In one of the most obscene segments ever aired on Fox “News,” yesterday morning our billionaire Treasury Secretary said the inflation Americans are suffering from is Ukraine’s fault because, in response to Putin’s criminal regime daily murdering Ukrainian civilians (a war crime), Zelenskyy has been blowing up Russia’s energy assets.
Stupidity? Hypocrisy? Owned by Putin? Or is something even more sinister at work here?
That same morning, the Financial Times revealed that for the past three years Russia has been helping Iran build a supersonic cruise missile capable of blowing our ships out of the water, and at an Iran/Russia/China summit with Iran’s president, Putin, and Xi in Bishek this week, Putin said he’ll continue to supply Iran with “the necessary goods” that can be used to kill Americans.
(Thom Hartmann more…)
Chad P. Bown @ Foreign Affairs:
The Real Risk of a Trade War With Canada
America Needs Its Neighbors to Counter China
Alex Ballingall, Mark Ramzy @ Toronto Star:
Donald Trump accuses Mark Carney of making him ‘the enemy’ as PM announces $4.7B Via Rail investment
Hans Christensen:
Norway Seizes Russian Cruise Ship in Svalbard
-
Military.com:
Widow of Airman Killed in Iran War Claims She Was Denied Death BenefitsU.S. Air Force Maj. John “Alex” Klinner died in an aircraft crash in Iraq in March, supporting the United States’ military operation against Iran.
(Military.com more…)Aaemer Madhani @ AP:
Vance says Iran fight isn’t a ‘war’ as Trump tries to navigate unpopular conflict as election nearsAndy Borowitz:
Vance Says World War 2 Wasn’t a “War”
-
Guido Imperiale:
LLMs: Intelligence vs. cost… using a super-intelligent and super-expensive model to accomplish menial tasks that could be done by a much dumber and cheaper one is just a waste…
(Guido Imperiale more…)Brian Merchant:
Whether or not you like AI at work ultimately boils down to a question of powerHoward Yu:
Chinese companies have started asking employees to train their own AI replacements, and the employees found a very polite way to say “no.”
-
Akshat Rathi, Olivia Rudgard @ Bloomberg:
How to Make Money Selling Electricity From HomeMore people are taking advantage of volatile prices and modern technology to make money selling electricity.
(Akshat Rathi, Olivia Rudgard @ Bloomberg more…)
-
Jason Koebler @ 404 Media:
Flock Taught Cops How to Surveil No Kings ProtestersA Flock webinar teaches police how to surveil protests, fireworks shows, parades, bike races, and more.
(Jason Koebler @ 404 Media more…)Dell Cameron, Dhruv Mehrotra @ Wired:
This Is Flock’s AI Search Tool for CopsWIRED rebuilt Flock’s latest search tool from code the company sends to a police officer’s browser. Its AI can keep watch across multiple cameras for anyone fitting a written description.
-
Jennifer Rubin:
61 Days until the MidtermsChris Geidner:
DOJ rushes to SCOTUS in effort to enforce new U.S. Postal Service mail ballot restrictionsDespite multiple procedural reasons why the matter should not be before the justices yet, Solicitor General John Sauer went to the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Caroline Vakil, Julia Mueller @ Hill:
Missouri Supreme Court throws out GOP-favored House mapsHeather Cox Richardson:
Letters from an American – September 3, 2026Election analyst Charlie Cook told Republicans today to “brace themselves” for the midterms. “The three most plausible outcomes are that it will be bad, really bad, or truly horrible.”
To stop voters from turning Republicans out of office and handing Democrats control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or both, the Trump administration is trying to implement a new rule for the United States Postal Service that would enable it to act as a gatekeeper for who can vote by mail. Such a measure flies in the face of the fact that the Constitution gives states, not the federal government, control over elections, while the role of the USPS is simply to carry mail. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
Ossiana Tepfenhart:
Freedom Acres Ranch Is Experiencing Modern-Day Economic LynchingThere were prior examples of this throughout American history.
…
What many White people don’t realize is that physical lynching was only one type of racial terror attack that was once commonplace in the United States. The other type of attack was what could best be described as a “Financial Lynching.”
(Ossiana Tepfenhart more…)
-
Mindy Belz:
The United States zeroes out admitting refugees experiencing religious persecution
-
Yasmeen Abutaleb, Dan Levine @ Reuters:
Kennedy asked to remove Pennsylvania measles death from CDC tally, sources sayBeth Mole @ arsTECHNICA:
CDC staff had already accepted the measles death reports when RFK Jr. meddled.
-
Oliver Darcy @ Status:
Bartiromo’s Fox BetrayalFox News offered no explanation for Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt firing. But Status has learned what happened behind the scenes, and why it put the longtime host at odds with her own network.
-
Decoding Fox News:
Fox News is Desperately Trying to Make the Midterms About a Twitch StreamerA condensed overview of 23 hours of Fox News for the week ending 8/30/26
Last Days in Two Nations
Climate.us
formerly Climate.gov
Climate Solutions Explorer
Have I Been Flocked?
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 31: Pierre Damas Bel
- August 1: Edwin Lopez-Cornejo
- July 19: Jose Chajon-Raxon
- 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