curated citations to news sources
Jim Palmer: What are we born with?
Unpacking the myth of human nature
Distinguished evolutionist Michael Ghiselin asked, “What does evolution teach us about human nature?” His answer: “It teaches us that human nature is a superstition.”
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The way we perceive human nature today is still influenced by assumptions from the Medieval Christian world view (human nature as fallen, depraved, and flawed) and the Age of Enlightenment (human nature as inherently good and capable of continuous improvement through reason and education). Consequently, much of humanity behaves according to these assumptions, and both pessimistic and optimistic view of human nature has its problems.
Human beings are the most compassionate, most violent, most creative, and most destructive of all animals.
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In my mind, Eve is the hero in the story. God said don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She did. The world often makes its greatest advances by disobedient people who break the rules. Oscar Wilde wrote, “Disobedience is man’s original virtue.” Except it was a woman and it was Eve. She was the was first rule-breaker, and we should honor her for this.
(Jim Palmer more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – July 5, 2025
… When House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) presented Trump with the speaker’s gavel during the signing event, the symbolism of the gift was a little too on the nose.
…At the White House on Friday, Trump said: “I just want you to know, if you see anything negative put out by Democrats, it’s all a con job.” He claimed the new law is the “most popular bill ever signed.”
…According to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council, the law gives ICE more funding than the Federal Bureau of Investigations; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; and Bureau of Prisons combined. In fact, Reichlin-Melnick told Democracy Now!, the law will make ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency “in the history of the nation.”
…Within hours of Trump’s signing the bill into law, Gun Owners of America and a number of other pro-gun organizations filed a lawsuit claiming the measure makes the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) unconstitutional. That law regulated machine guns and short-barrel guns by imposing a tax on them and making owners register their weapons. The Supreme Court upheld that law as a tax law. The budget reconciliation bill ended those taxes and thus, the plaintiffs claim, the constitutional justification for the law.
…At an event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Trump complained that Democrats had not supported the budget reconciliation bill. Less than three weeks after a gunman murdered a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and shot another legislator and his wife, Trump said Democrats had opposed the measure only “because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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MEIDAS+: Texas Officials Blame Agency Gutted by Trump for Results of Deadly Storm
Experts warned for months about cuts to NWS and NOAA
Wired: Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas
DOGE cut hundreds of jobs at the NWS, but experts who spoke to WIRED say the agency accurately predicted the state’s weekend flood risk.
Daily Beast: MAGA Congressional Candidate Calls Texas Floods ‘Fake’: It’s ‘Murder’
‘JESUS, GUNS & BABIES’
Kandiss Taylor, who is running for Congress in 2026, insists that someone manipulated the weather.
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Dean Blundell: Canada And It’s Allies Are Crippling U.S. Tourism As Trump’s America Becomes the World’s No-Go Zone:
Travel bans, ICE brutality, and political interrogations at the border have made Americans pariahs. Double-digit tourism declines reveal how badly Canada and its allies are punishing the U.S.
Tourism Is Booming – Just Not in Trump’s America
“While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign.”
— Julia Simpson, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council2025 is turning into a banner year for global travel—unless you’re America. While international travel rebounds with a vengeance across Europe, Asia, and Canada, the United States is being skipped over like expired airport sushi.
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the U.S. is the only country out of 184 expected to see a decline in international visitor spending this year. The revised forecast? A $12.5 billion loss in inbound tourism. Other estimates put the total damage at $25–29 billion, once you factor in missed growth projections.
(Dean Blundell more…)
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Orlando Sentinel: Trump administration takes aim at rainbow crosswalks like at Pulse nightclub site
(Orlando Sentinel more…)
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FactCheck.org: A Dedicated FEMA Fund Will Pay for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Q: Are FEMA funds being used to construct an immigrant detention facility in the Everglades?
A: Yes, the immigrant detention facility in Florida, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is being “funded largely” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. The funding does not come from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund.
(FactCheck.org more…)
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Jason Furman: A Road Map for Undoing the Damage of the Big, Awful Bill
In the 30 years I have been a part of fiscal policymaking I don’t think I have ever seen a legislative push as impressive as the passage of President Trump’s big, dubious tax and policy bill.Don’t get me wrong: The consequences for health insurance, poverty, climate change and macroeconomic stability, in roughly that order of importance, will be horrendous. …
But before Democrats — and hopefully some Republicans — even try to fix the damage, they should learn the lessons of how the Republicans got all this done, working against tremendous odds on a much faster timetable than the major legislative accomplishments from Mr. Trump’s three predecessors.
The first lesson is that ideas really do matter. This legislation did not happen because the public or lobbyists were clamoring for it. Instead Donald Trump and congressional Republicans wanted it and were willing to overcome public disfavor and opposition from vested interests. …
The second lesson is that while ideas matter, expert ideas do not necessarily matter. …
The third lesson is that you can overcome opposition to a bill that delivers a direct loss to far more people — and a direct win for far fewer — than conventional wisdom would suggest is possible.
… Fixing the damage that the Trump bill will inflict on health care, poverty programs and clean energy will cost a lot of money: trillions of dollars that will have to be achieved through savings lest they add even more to the swelling debt.
That’s going to make the political hurdles even higher — and the lessons of this last round all that much more crucial. Don’t get bogged down in details; focus on the idea behind the details. Don’t be overly timid; not everyone is going to be a winner, and getting past this is going to require raising taxes on more than just the top 1 percent. And as much as I hate to say it, don’t be too beholden to the wonks, though some of us are really pretty nice.
(Jason Furman more…)
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Guardian: Nurse on new CDC vaccine panel said to have been ‘anti-vax longer than RFK’
Vicky Pebsworth has spent decades saying vaccines caused her son’s autism – a connection refuted by years of research
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Decoding Fox News: Pete Hegseth Testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee 6/11/25
… The Senate is reviewing the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2026 budget.
The full hearing was over two hours long. Gen. Dan Caine … conducted himself in a professional manner and was far more forthcoming with the committee than Hegseth.
I’ve also included some fact checking and hyperlinks to sources for additional context. Hegseth made a number of false statements and was generally defensive and evasive throughout the hearing.
Just a few days ago Hegseth blocked a transfer of weapons to Ukraine with very little warning. The weapons were approved by Congress.
(Decoding Fox News more…)
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