curated citations to news sources
Dispatch: ‘Just a Normal Life’
In Los Angeles, a prayer to the patron saint of lost causes.
…
An according-to-Hoyle miracle? Maybe, maybe not. But her cancer is in remission, and Diego has a big-ass tattoo of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. For a while, he and his family seemed like they would enjoy the blessing of the one thing he kept bringing up over the course of our conversation on a beautiful afternoon in downtown Los Angeles: a normal life.
…
“People are afraid,” Diego said. “Everybody is. They’re afraid to go out to a restaurant. They’re afraid to go to work.” He mentioned a colleague who now spends hundreds of dollars a week on rideshare apps rather than a few bucks on a transit pass because she is afraid she will be rounded up at a bus stop. (ICE raids have targeted mass transit in Los Angeles County, brandishing their firearms at literal little old ladies from Pasadena.) Immigrant-services groups have been printing up flyers with warnings and advice that would have sounded outlandish a few years ago: what to do if there is an ICE raid on your church, if ICE is targeting patients in a hospital, or if there is ICE activity at an elementary school.
(Dispatch more…)
CNN: Judge orders Trump administration to stop immigration arrests without probable cause in Southern California
-
NY Times: FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show
Two days after deadly Texas floods, the agency struggled to answer calls from survivors because of call center contracts that weren’t extended.
…
After floods, hurricanes and other disasters, survivors can call FEMA to apply for different types of financial assistance. People who have lost their homes, for instance, can apply for a one-time payment of $750 that can help cover their immediate needs, such as food or other supplies.On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
(NY Times more…)Mary Geddry: The Show Must Go On: Trump’s Texas Flood Tour
How a tragedy that swept away children became another stage for self-congratulation, grievance politics, and photo ops psychopathy, televised.
…
Of course, when a CBS reporter dared ask about the reportedly delayed flood warnings, Trump’s patience for the suffering of Texans vanished like FEMA stockpiles under Jared Kushner’s watch: “Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.” The children may be dead, but Trump’s inability to take the mildest accountability remains eternal.
(Mary Geddry more…)
-
NY Times: The Surprising Scientists Hit by Trump’s D.E.I. Cuts
The N.I.H. has terminated hundreds of diversity grants awarded to young researchers, many of whom come from the very places that supported Trump.
Lucas Dillard describes himself as sort of a JD Vance, scientist version.
…Mr. Dillard’s grant was one of thousands the N.I.H. canceled as it rushed to comply with President Trump’s executive order banning federally funded diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The order accused the programs of using race- and sex-based preferences that it said were “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” and “deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement.”
But Mr. Trump’s push to end D.E.I. has been a blunt instrument, eliminating highly competitive grant programs that defined diversity well beyond race and gender. Those who have lost grants include not only Black and Latino scientists, but also many like Mr. Dillard, who are white and from rural areas, which are solidly Trump country. The administration has denounced universities as hotbeds of liberal elitism, inhospitable to viewpoint diversity. The canceled diversity grant programs were intended to make science less elite, by developing a pipeline from poorer areas of the country that tend to be more conservative.
(NY Times more…)404 Media: Trump’s NASA Cuts Would Hurt America for a Long, Long Time
Scientists warn that “the cuts would prevent the US from training and preparing the next generation of the scientific and technical workforce.”
-
emptywheel: Trump’s Deep State Can’t Even Deep State Competently
I was and still intend to write a post arguing that all of the coverage of this comment from Trump is wrong. As I rant on Nicole Sandler’s show today, what we saw in these few moments was Trump, whose super power is in being able to command attention, not only failing that, but flubbing his lines when he tried to reassert his command over attention focused on Jeffrey Epstein.
The conspiracy theorists who put Trump in office will not let him take ahold of this conspiracy.
(emptywheel more…)
-
Democracy Docket: It’s the states, stupid
…
Let’s start with North Carolina. At this point, Republicans in the state see voter suppression as their side hustle — while outright election subversion is their main hustle. After trying to steal a Supreme Court seat with a failed effort to disenfranchise 65,000 voters, they’re back at it and raring to go.
…Texas Republicans have their own scheme to rig next year’s vote. After pressure from Trump, the state is trying to jam a rare mid-decade redistricting into a special session, targeting four majority-minority districts. It’s all about the midterms. Democrats only need a net gain of three seats to win the House majority and this redistricting attempt is just a Hail Mary aimed at weakening the power of Democratic votes ahead of the midterms.
(Democracy Docket more…)
-
BSEACD: Drought Update: June 2025
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
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