curated news excerpts & citations
Marisa Kabas: The voices of SNAP
Recipients have become political pawns. They explained, in their own words, what Trump withholding funds has been like.
Stephanie boarded a city bus Monday morning to make the 90 minute trek from one end of Mesa, Arizona to the other. It was a long journey just for groceries, but they didn’t see any other choice: They’re a current recipient of SNAP benefits, and because the Trump administration has refused to fund the essential food program during the government shutdown, they were willing to travel wherever necessary to access fresh fruits and vegetables. A few farmers markets were participating in a program called Food Bucks, and for $30 she was able to stock up for now. “So even if it’s stressful to navigate and took all morning, I’m grateful for it,” Stephanie said. “But it shouldn’t have to be like this, of course.”
(Marisa Kabas more…)
KFF: KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Weighs in on Health Care Debate and Government Shutdown
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Norman Eisen: How to Counter Trump’s Coming Election Tricks
… Even more fundamentally, it also means continuing to grow the democracy movement’s massive, peaceful, diverse mobilization to oppose any attempted electoral theft.
… We need to contest from the grassroots to the treetops the illegitimate conduct and the possible theft of these seats in the South to limit the damage there. We need to invest in a large public education campaign so people are aware of what’s at stake. We need to build on the existing and successful 2025 mass mobilization efforts to make these issues the focus of massive peaceful protest throughout the country. And we must be ready to vigorously litigate bad maps in the court of law and the court of public opinion.
(Norman Eisen more…)
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Steven Beschloss: Will This Photo Define the Trump Years?
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These are just a handful of examples that help explain why the photograph above has captured so much attention. It was taken on Thursday in the Oval Office after a pharmaceutical executive passed out. While several people tended to the medical emergency and the press were ushered out, Agence France-Presse photographer Andrew Caballero-Reynolds lingered just long enough to capture how Trump was responding to the situation.Video revealed that Trump at first looked at what was happening, then quickly turned away as if the events had nothing to do with him and were not his problem. In this single moment, we got more visual evidence of Trump’s absence of compassion, indeed the indifference to the suffering of another human
(Steven Beschloss more…)
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CRFB: How Much Did President Trump Add to the Debt?
There are at least two ways to measure how much President Trump added to the debt – though coincidentally they lead to similar conclusions of about $8 trillion.
(CRFB more…)
Politifact: Barack Obama, 9/1/2014, “We cut our deficits by more than half.”
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ReligiousLiberty.TV: ICE Restricts Public Prayer Outside Broadview Facility, Prompting First Amendment Concerns
… Members of the coalition, which includes Catholic, Protestant and inter‑faith leaders under the banner of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), had for years gathered on Friday mornings outside the site, offering Mass, prayer vigils and attempts to deliver communion to detained immigrants. …
The clergy state that the federal authorities did not provide a publicly released written policy imposing the prayer restriction, though they received verbal communications indicating that outdoor worship near the facility would no longer be allowed. The absence of a written directive means the exact terms and scope of the ban remain unclear.
(ReligiousLiberty.TV more…)
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