curated news excerpts & citations
Your Local Epidemiologist: 5 ways our health care system has become utterly insane
A deep dive into the U.S. health care system: rising costs, corporate takeover, and why reform keeps failing.
We could be on the verge of ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history—though nothing is guaranteed.
While Congress debates whether to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage, Americans with all types of insurance are bracing for higher premiums, narrower networks, and more impossible choices.
So, to me, the debate in Washington is far too small. The real story isn’t just whether subsidies stay or go—it’s how completely insane our health care system has become, and whether there will be a serious effort to address underlying costs in the system.
(Your Local Epidemiologist more…)
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James Eagle: China’s AI boom is just getting started and it’s reshaping tech
Power is shifting again in technology, in industry and in economics. The old centres of gravity that once seemed unshakeable are beginning to tilt.
China’s surge in open-source AI models shows how quickly dominance can change. For years the US and Europe defined the field. Now Chinese AI models are not only catching up but leading in global adoption. The world’s digital balance of power is moving east, powered by a mix of industrial policy, technical talent and the sheer speed of domestic innovation.
(James Eagle more…)
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Bill McKibben: The World Turned Upside Down
The developing world is apparently going to have to do the heavy climate lifting
In a rational world, it would have made sense for the rich countries to take the lead in fighting climate change. After all, it was rich countries got that way precisely by burning fossil fuel in the two centuries since the Industrial Revolution, and it’s the global south that is paying most of the price in terms of drought, flood and fire.
…But as this year’s round of global climate talks get underway in Belem, it’s becoming clear that this common-sensical (and moral) understanding of the situation has been essentially turned on its head. If there’s going to be a solution, for now it’s mostly going to come from the poorer nations of the world. The chart above shows China—it’s emissions of co2 have apparently now peaked, or at least plateaued. …
(Bill McKibben more…)
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ReligiousLiberty.TV: Religious Investing Groups Sue Texas for Forcing Them to Say Things They Don’t Believe
Three religious and nonprofit investing groups are suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over a new law that forces them to make statements they believe are false. The law punishes groups for including faith-based or ethical values in their investing advice and may result in fines of up to $10,000 for each time they do not comply.
We know this may seem like a dry and technical subject. But this case is about much more than economics or legal jargon. It affects the ability of religious and values-based organizations to speak freely when advising people who want their investments to match their beliefs.
(ReligiousLiberty.TV more…)
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Sarah Jones: Even The Police Can’t Tell The Difference Between ICE And Criminals
When a plain-clothed ICE agent aimed his gun at a woman for no reason, a police officer intervened on her behalf, only to be told the gun pointer was a federal agent.
(Sarah Jones more…)
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Guardian: Washington National Opera may move out of Kennedy Center due to Trump ‘takeover’
Ticket sales at about 40% unsold compared with before president made himself chair of US performing arts center
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MySA: Greg Abbott surprised by protestors in deep red East Texas city
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Chronicle of Higher Education: An Instructor Showed a Graphic on White Supremacy. Did She Break the Law?
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – November 12, 2025
It turns out Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and House Democrats were right to call it the “Epstein Shutdown” for the last several weeks on social media and in interviews. …
…With the House back at work, Johnson had little choice but to swear in Grijalva. The ceremony was scheduled for 4:00.
…Trump’s efforts to get someone to take their name off the discharge petition failed. Johnson swore in Grijalva at 4:00, as scheduled, and she immediately signed it. Now the petition needs to “ripen” for seven legislative days. Then Johnson has two legislative days to schedule a vote on a measure to require the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files it holds.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Julie K. Brown: New Epstein emails claim Trump ‘spent hours’ with victim
Emails from sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein released by a House Oversight Committee Wednesday say that President Donald Trump “spent hours” with a victim at his house and “knew about the girls.”The three emails – one of them between Epstein and his now-convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell – are the first to be released publicly by the Oversight Committee that say Trump was with a victim. Trump has denied he participated in any of Epstein’s crimes and has maintained that he was unaware the New York financier was trafficking underage girls and young women.
(Julie K. Brown more…)
Lucian K. Truscott IV: The guiltiest words that ever came out of Trump’s mouth
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According to NBC News, “The emails contain multiple references to a victim, whose name is redacted in the release. But the White House and Republicans on the committee said that the redacted name was Virginia Guiffre, a prominent Epstein survivor who died in April.”The thing that jumped out at me in the stories about the emails wasn’t even the juicy new quote about Trump and the victim who turns out to have been Virginia Guiffre. Instead, it was something Trump said last July when he accused Epstein of “taking people who worked for me.”
It wasn’t just “people.” It was Virginia Guiffre. Trump slipped up in July when referring to Guiffre and told the press that Epstein “stole her from me.”
That’s the single guiltiest statement Trump has ever made. Was Guiffre a slave, owned by Donald Trump? We fought a Civil War to end slavery, so that couldn’t be it.
Guiffre could only have been “stolen” from Donald Trump if he felt ownership because of a special relationship between them. Virginia Guiffre was 17 years old. What kind of a relationship could an adult man have with a 17-year-old girl? Only one that was illegal, and Donald Trump’s quote about her amounts to an admission of that illegal relationship.
(Lucian K. Truscott IV more…)NY Times: Republicans Release Emails After Democrats Disclose Several Mentioning Trump
Joyce Vance: But His Emails…
FreePress: Why Trump’s Epstein Problem Won’t Go Away
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Decoding Fox News: Pay No Attention to the Last Election! – Everyone Loves the Glorious Leader!
A condensed overview of 25 hours of Fox News for the week ending 11/9/25
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
