curated citations to news sources
Jennifer Rubin: Check out the Declaration’s list of grievances
It’s time to recapture our freedoms.
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – July 3, 2025
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But just as in the 1850s, we are now, once again, facing a rebellion against our founding principle as a few people seek to reshape America into a nation in which certain people are better than others.
The men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, pledged their “Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor” to defend the idea of human equality.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Steven Beschloss: Independence Day Is Resistance Day
Reflections on the Declaration of Independence, Frederick Douglass and our historical commitment to fighting tyranny
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USA Facts: What’s in the “One Big Beautiful Bill”?
From tax reform to shifts in healthcare, immigration, and SNAP, this legislation will likely affect you.
(USA Facts more…)Fortune: Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will accelerate an American energy crisis—and it could cost the U.S. the AI race
America is facing an energy imperative: Grow power from all sources or face potential failure.
Thomas L. Friedman: How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again
Can you hear it — that loud roar coming from the East? It’s the sound of 1.4 billion Chinese laughing at us.The Chinese simply can’t believe their luck: that at the dawn of the electricity-guzzling era of artificial intelligence, the U.S. president and his party have decided to engage in one of the greatest acts of strategic self-harm imaginable. They have passed a giant bill that, among other craziness, deliberately undermines America’s ability to generate electricity through renewables — solar, battery and wind power in particular.
And why? Because they view those as “liberal” energy sources, even though today they are the quickest and cheapest ways to boost our electricity grid to meet the explosion of demand from A.I. data centers.
It is exactly the opposite of what China is doing. Indeed, Beijing may have to make July 4 its own national holiday going forward: American Electricity Dependence Day.
You cannot make this up: China and even Saudi Arabia are doubling down on solar power to meet the needs of the A.I. data centers it wants to recruit from the West, while Trump’s “big beautiful bill” actually does just the opposite. It quickly phases out tax credits enjoyed by utility-scale solar and wind — as well as electric vehicle tax credits. This virtually guarantees that China will own the future of solar energy, wind power and electric cars and trucks, as well as autonomous vehicles.
(Thomas L. Friedman more…)
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Foreign Affairs: Trump Is Breaking American Intelligence
Politicizing the System Makes Dangerous Failures More Likely
…The United States possesses an intelligence community that is the envy of the world. But under President Donald Trump, some of the same pathologies that make authoritarian regimes prone to intelligence failures are making the U.S. system similarly vulnerable. His populist, personalist style has led him to disregard the value of intelligence and abuse the agencies that produce it. In late June, the day before he sent U.S. bombers to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump dismissed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s congressional testimony that Iran was not close to developing a nuclear weapon—an assessment that conflicted with the president’s own claims. “I don’t care what she says,” Trump said. After the U.S. strikes, he triumphantly declared that the targeted Iranian nuclear sites were “completely and totally obliterated,” whereas a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report made a more conservative estimation of the damage.
The problem is not just that Trump himself belittles intelligence. His administration is also creating conditions in which senior officials tailor their assessments to please him. …
(Foreign Affairs more…)
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NBC News: Hegseth halted weapons for Ukraine despite military analysis that the aid wouldn’t jeopardize U.S. readiness
The move blindsided the State Department, Ukraine, European allies and members of Congress, who demanded an explanation from the Pentagon.
…“We are not at any lower point, stockpile-wise, than we’ve been in the 3½ years of the Ukraine conflict,” Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, told NBC News.
(NBC News more…)Daily Beast: Putin Humiliates Trump With Unprecedented Attack Right After Their Phone Call
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“I didn’t make any progress with him at all,” Trump admitted to reporters on Thursday, before a barrage of missiles and drones that left much of the Ukrainian capital in flames.Politico: Putin is invading more than Ukraine
We all know Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with tanks in 2022. But many don’t know that in 2024, he invaded Romania — with tweets.In both cases he failed — for now. But Putin’s aggression is focused on the U.S. and all its allies. He’s spending millions of dollars, bombarding European voters with manipulative social media and disinformation campaigns on a mass scale. It’s a new type of warfare on democracy that eliminates the need to roll tanks into capitals.
(Politico more…)
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Closer to the Edge: Alligator Auschwitz
Trump built a concentration camp in the Everglades, filled it with tents, barbed wire, and migrants — then laughed about the alligators guarding it.
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KUT: Hays County officials demand answers from law enforcement about raid near Dripping Springs
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SCOTUSblog: Court allows Trump administration to move forward in sending group of immigrants to South Sudan
The Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon cleared the way for the Trump administration to send a group of immigrants currently being held on a U.S. military base in the east African country of Djibouti to South Sudan. In a brief opinion, the justices made clear that their June 23 order, which paused an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts limiting the government’s ability to deport immigrants to countries that are not specifically identified in their removal orders, applies fully to the eight immigrants in U.S. custody in Djibouti.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, in an opinion that was joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She argued that Thursday’s order “clarifies only one thing: Other litigants must follow the rules, but the administration has the Supreme Court on speed dial.”
(SCOTUSblog more…)
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Apple Insider: DOJ lack of TikTok ban enforcement appears to be due to broad Article II interpretation
NY Times: Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show
In purporting to license otherwise illegal conduct by tech firms, President Trump set a precedent expanding executive power, legal experts warned.
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Sarah Jones: Get Angry and Get Busy
Here’s a list of actions to take to get busy fighting back against this hostile takeover of our government, our rights, and our healthcare.
(Sarah Jones more…)
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NY Times: Trump Withholds Nearly $7 Billion for Schools, With Little Explanation
The money, which was allocated by Congress, helps pay for after-school programs, support for students learning English and other services.
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The move is likely to be challenged in court and has already been criticized as illegal by Democrats and teachers’ unions, who emphasized that the money had been appropriated by Congress and was approved by President Trump in March as part of a broader funding bill.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: New Poll Shows We Have Less Pride in America & Iran’s Ban on Dog Walking May Be Its Demise
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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