curated citations to news sources
NPR: Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose
The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated, because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere.
The data the two missions collect is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases.
It is unclear why the Trump administration seeks to end the missions. The equipment in space is state of the art and is expected to function for many more years, according to scientists who worked on the missions. An official review by NASA in 2023 found that “the data are of exceptionally high quality” and recommended continuing the mission for at least three years.
Both missions, known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatories, measure carbon dioxide and plant growth around the globe. They use identical measurement devices, but one device is attached to a stand-alone satellite while the other is attached to the International Space Station. The standalone satellite would burn up in the atmosphere if NASA pursued plans to terminate the mission.
(NPR more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – August 4, 2025
President Donald J. Trump’s firing of the commissioner of labor statistics on Friday for announcing that job growth has slowed dramatically has drawn a level of attention to Trump’s assault on democracy that other firings have not. Famously, authoritarian governments make up statistics to claim their policies are working well, even when they quite obviously are not.
…Summers shot down Trump’s claim that the commissioner had rigged the numbers in the jobs report to make him look bad. “These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals,” he said. “There’s no conceivable way that the head of the [Bureau of Labor Statistics] could have manipulated this number.”
…Today Trump quietly backed away from his demand for Murdoch’s deposition, and both sides put off discovery—the process of disclosing information and evidence to the other party—at least until after the motion to dismiss has been decided.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)NY Times: Heather Cox Richardson Enters the History of ‘Lincoln Portrait’
Cox Richardson, the historian behind the newsletter Letters From an American, discusses preparing for the narrator role in Aaron Copland’s piece.
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James Eagle: History’s biggest companies vs. Mag 7
Today’s tech titans may seem unstoppable, but history suggests otherwise. When you adjust for inflation, the Mississippi Company of 1720 reached $8.4 trillion – dwarfing Apple’s current $3.2 trillion valuation. This French trading venture, engineered by Scottish gambler John Law, promised untold riches from Louisiana’s gold and silver. Instead, it created history’s first stock market bubble, with shares rocketing from 500 to 10,000 livres in just one year before spectacularly collapsing.
Law had convinced France to swap its entire national debt for company shares, essentially making the firm too big to fail – until it did. The Dutch East India Company hit $10.2 trillion in 1637, while Britain’s South Sea Company reached $5.5 trillion before its infamous crash. All three companies enjoyed government-backed monopolies and promised endless growth from colonial ventures.
Sound familiar? Today’s Magnificent Seven control 30% of the S&P 500’s value, echoing these historical extremes. The lesson? When companies become proxies for national economic policy and their valuations detach from reality, the reckoning can reshape entire civilisations.
(James Eagle more…)Fortune: Top analyst says the next 5 years could see ‘no growth in workers at all’ and sends a warning about the fate of the U.S. economy
AXIOS: AI talent lottery
Howard Yu: What Netflix’s Real Origin Story Teaches Us About Conquering the AI Storm
History’s real disruptors often hide beneath the user interface. Reed Hastings taught us where untapped data hides.
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404 Media: Nearly 100,000 ChatGPT Conversations Were Searchable on Google
A researcher has scraped a much larger dataset of indexed ChatGPT conversations, exposing contracts and intimate conversations.
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Noah Berlatsky: Pritzker Models Solidarity
No red, no blue; just fighting fascism
“There are no red states or blue states, just the United States,” President Barak Obama famously declared. Since Obama, the US has only become more partisan, and the differences between right and left leaning states only seem more stark. At the same time, though, the ongoing fascist crisis, and Trump’s assault on the Constitution, has made the need for solidarity between people of every state more and more important.
(Noah Berlatsky more…)
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Borowitz: How to Identify Fugitive Democrats
By Texas Governor Greg Abbott
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The following are tips to help you identify Democrats in your midst:- Democrats are often seen carrying tote bags featuring the logos of PBS, NPR, Doctors Without Borders and other subversive organizations.
- Democrats can be found in Starbucks, ordering beverages with oat milk, or salads with quinoa. (Note: Democrats are the only people who like quinoa.)
- Democrats do not eat cats and dogs, but they do rescue them.
- Someone driving a car with a bumper sticker that says RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES could be a Democrat, but it could also be a member of QAnon. If the car stereo is playing Bruce Springsteen, it’s a Democrat.
If you see someone with any of these identifying characteristics, remember: Democrats are dangerous. Some may be armed with concealed pocket Constitutions.
To help bring these fugitives to justice, immediately report your sighting to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He will be standing by at one of his three primary residences.
(Borowitz more…)
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Ken Klippenstein: “NFL” Shooting Wasn’t Random
Another manifesto gets censored in a case that needs transparency
(Ken Klippenstein more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: Who, us? “Not official policy”
Words & Phrases We Could Do Without
On Friday evening, a 9th Circuit panel denied the Trump regime’s request for a stay of the district court’s order preventing masked ICE agents from engaging in racial profiling in their Los Angeles raids. The government denied there was any “official policy” to stop people without reasonable suspicion. Well, that’s a phrase that now should be met with suspicion.
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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TNR: Democrats Have Found Their Message—and Trump Is Freaking Out
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Sarah Jones: CNBC Tries And Fails To Explain Basic Economic Facts to ‘Scared’ Trump
A CNBC interviewer tried to explain to the President of the United States how jobs numbers work as Elizabeth Warren calls Trump ‘scared’.
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Daily Beast: Trump Rewrites History by Putting Up Confederate Statue
PRIDE OF PLACE
The bronze likeness of Gen. Albert Pike will be put on a plinth around a mile away from the White House.
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Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims: Trump supports ethics laws as long as he is exempt
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Mary Geddry: Redactions, Resistance, and the Epstein Firewall
How Allison Gill’s lawsuit could crack open the DOJ’s secret handling of Trump’s ties to Epstein one training video at a time.
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
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