curated news excerpts & citations
… trying to ‘unbury the lede’
Heather Cox Richardson:
Letters from an American – October 5, 2026
Last night, on October 4, U.S. Southern Command posted that it had struck another small boat in the Caribbean, killing another four people it called “narco-terrorists.” This brings the number of strikes to more than 70, and the number of people killed in the strikes that began a year ago to more than 230 people.
The administration’s justification for the strikes has not been made public. …
Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) saw the memo in November and said: “If that opinion were to be adopted, it would not constrain any use of force anywhere in the world. I mean, it is broad enough to authorize just about anything.” …
On September 21 a report from the United Nations concluded that the extrajudicial killings broke international law and may be crimes against humanity.
Last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice to show him the memo and let him know who else has seen it, in order to evaluate whether to release it to the public.
…
In March 1941, eight months before the U.S. joined World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt noted that “Nazi forces are not seeking mere modifications in colonial maps or in minor European boundaries. They openly seek the destruction of all elective systems of government on every continent—including our own; they seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers who have seized power by force.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Donald Trump:
“They can take out a city, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”
Al Jazeera:
Ukraine says Russian drone attack sinks ship in Romanian waters
Ken Klippenstein:
Military Mobilizes for Upcoming Elections
… Pete Hegseth announced in a recent memo that “the Department of War (DoW) will effectively wield its capabilities to protect and uphold the reliability of America’s voting mechanisms against external manipulation and disruption from foreign actors,” before hinting at the broader foreign influence focus.
David Vine @ Intercept:
Trump’s proposed budget hides $1 trillion in military spending from the public by spreading it across disparate government agencies
Matt Sledge, Jorge Medellín @ Intercept:
Susan Collins’s Committee Bought Trucks the Army Didn’t Want. Then Campaign Donations Poured In.
Jennifer Rubin:
29 Days to the Midterms
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Collin Eaton @ WSJ:
Oil Is Flowing From Hormuz Again—Just Not the Kind the World Needs MostThe scramble is on for diesel, while damaged refineries and tight fuel supplies keep prices elevated around the world
(James Eagle more…)
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Eric Roston @ Bloomberg:
Climate Science Under Political Attack Reaches US Supreme CourtThe high court’s ruling has implications for other climate suits, and an entire field of science.
In 2018, local officials in Colorado sued oil companies in state court, charging that pollution from fossil fuels contributed to global warming and harmed Coloradans through extreme summer temperatures, more frequent wildfires and higher risk of some insect-borne diseases.
Their complaint did not cite potentially key scientific evidence. That’s because it didn’t exist yet.
Just then gaining public recognition was a field of research known as climate attribution, looking at how global warming affects the atmosphere in specific places or during specific weather events.
The field is now advanced, and climate advocates hope to harness it as legal evidence against polluters. But in the US, that may rest on the outcome of the 2018 case, which is now before the Supreme Court. It will hear arguments Monday in Suncor v. Boulder.
Read More: Exxon, Suncor Bid to Block Climate Suits at US Supreme Court
The key issue before the justices is whether climate lawsuits can be brought under state tort law, or if federal law preempts that. The high court will either leave open a path for dozens of suits around the US seeking climate damages, or close it.
Or the outcome could be somewhere in between. “It is possible that the court will rule in a way that preserves at least some, if not all, of state tort claims related to climate harms,” said Rachel Rothschild, an associate professor at the University of Michigan Law School, who on Saturday published an article on the topic in the Yale Law Journal.
(Eric Roston @ Bloomberg more…)
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Christina Jewett:
Texas Pediatricians Face Paxton Investigations for Vaccinating ChildrenPaul Offit:
Are religious exemptions to vaccination religious?ReligiousLiberty.TV:
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Washington Firefighters’ Title VII Vaccine Challenge
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Lauren Harper @ Intercept:
Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One CopA Eugene-based publication requested records about a cop accused of misconduct. The city slapped it with a prohibitive fee.
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Adam Clermont:
China Regulated the AI Girlfriend. The BBC Asked a Better Question Than Usual.
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Michael Wriston, Em Chapin, M @ Project Salt Box:
Introducing the next step in tracking ICE’s detention expansionThe Project Salt Box tracker now covers warehouses, private detention centers, and new construction.
Michael Wriston @ Project Salt Box:
DHS buys fifth private detention site since July, adding GEO’s Adelanto complex
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Jack Jenkins @ RNS:
Bishop Mariann Budde to resign, will remain in post during lengthy replacement process
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Elizabeth McKenna @ NY Times:
Brazil’s Problem Is Bigger Than Bolsonaro…
How is Flávio Bolsonaro — the son of a convicted coup plotter who is himself under criminal investigation for corruption — now the favorite against Mr. Lula, a global icon of the social democratic left?Economic grievance, backlash against cultural change, polarization and the erosion of democratic guardrails are all among the reasons voters around the world are turning to far-right leaders. In Brazil, Mr. Lula and his supporters add foreign interference to that list, pointing to the Trump administration’s efforts to tip the scales in Mr. Bolsonaro’s favor through tariffs, visa revocations and State Department funding for groups that oppose Brazil’s Supreme Court. A Flávio Bolsonaro presidency would give Washington another subordinate partner in Latin America. It could also bring a pardon for his father and amnesty for the rioters who stormed Brasília on Jan. 8, 2023.
Another crucial answer lies in how Brazilians take part in civic life. A democracy’s health depends on whether and how its citizens participate, and in Brazil, the trends are discouraging. …
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Curtis Johnson @ Truthout:
Trump’s Repeal of Roadless Rule Would Declare Open Season on Protected Forests
ICE Detention Expansion Tracker
A field guide to claims
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
- September 18: Carlos Josue Marchena Marchena
- 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
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