curated news excerpts & citations
Heather Delaney Reese: The Epstein files are a who’s who of Trump’s inner circle
With puffy eyes and a bruised right hand hidden under his left, Donald Trump sat hunched over on his leather chair behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Behind him stood Pam Bondi, Dr. Oz, RFK Jr., and a few others from his inner circle of elite enablers, all poised to give a false sense of power, control, and normalcy. Instead, it just showed how dazed and detached he was. …
This was not normal. And they all knew it, standing there with him.
It wasn’t the only sign that something was wrong. European leaders are openly saying what American officials won’t. Politico reported that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who’s actually been one of Trump’s closest allies in the EU, told other European heads of state that his recent meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago left him deeply alarmed. While at the summit in Brussels, he described Trump’s “psychological state” as “dangerous,” according to multiple diplomats who were in the room. Fico didn’t say that lightly. He’s backed Trump’s nationalist agenda for years. But after seeing him in person on January 17, he brought his concerns to other EU leaders during an emergency summit that next week.
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And what we keep learning with every release of the files that comes to us is that Epstein didn’t just run a trafficking ring. He ran a blackmail operation. …
That’s why you’re seeing Trump propped up like Weekend at Bernie’s.
(Heather Delaney Reese more…)
WSJ: Epstein Files Release Exposes Names of at Least 43 Victims, WSJ Review Finds
Justice Department failed to redact dozens of Epstein victims’ names, including more than two dozen who were minors
NY Times: How Trump Appears in the Epstein Files
The New York Times found more than 5,300 files with references to Mr. Trump and related terms. They include salacious and unverified claims, as well as documents that had already been made public.
Allison Gill: Epstein Files Tipster Tells Me About Her Friend Being Trafficked to Epstein Through Trump Modeling Agency
One of the tipsters released in the Epstein documents this week reached out to me. She sat for a formal FBI interview, but her 302 wasn’t released pursuant to the Transparency Act.
Anne Applebaum: Rise of the Trump Loyalists
How the civil service purge damages democracy
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – February 1, 2026
On February 1, 1862, in the early days of the Civil War, the Atlantic Monthly published Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” summing up the cause of freedom for which the United States troops would soon be fighting. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” it began.
“He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.”
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On Saturday, in Minneapolis, where federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol are attacking immigrants and those marching to end the violence of the federal agents, people entered a Target store to protest the retail chain’s cooperation with federal agents. In unison, they sang: “We the people stand together, we the people stand together….”
The words were set to the tune of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Intercept: He Witnessed an Earlier Shooting. Feds Arrested Him at the Scene of Alex Pretti’s Killing.
A man who contradicted the government narrative about a prior shooting found himself pinned to the ground and detained after Pretti’s death.
(Intercept more…)
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AP: Mayor of Portland, Oregon, demands ICE leave the city after federal agents gas protesters
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators — including young children — outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest that he and others characterized as peaceful.
(AP more…)
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Timothy Snyder: Ethnic Cleansing in Ohio?
Nazi Lies in Vance’s America
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An ICE surge in Ohio is not inevitable. Trump could stop his promised “large deportation.” Perhaps Vance or Kristi Noem could stop it. It can be halted, by a court ruling tomorrow, Monday the second of February.And if the horror is not stopped, it can at least be resisted, recorded, given its place in history by those with the courage to be present and to speak about what they see. And the seeing, just the seeing, is of huge importance, for all of us. When we see, we can feel and we can act. We can empathize, communicate, shelter, protest, help.
(Timothy Snyder more…)
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Business Insider: Maple Leaf Makeover
It’s a best-of-times, worst-of-times scenario for Canada on the global stage.
To get the bad out of the way, its most important ally — the United States — has grown increasingly antagonistic, with renewed tariff threats and talk of annexation coming from the White House. On the upside, Canada is signaling it can stand more firmly on its own. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has identified a “rupture” in North American integration and is moving his country in a more self-sufficient direction — both economically and politically. …
(Business Insider more…)
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Hans Christensen: No Words – Veterans’ Protest in Copenhagen
Thousands marched in veteran anti-Trump protest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Police estimates that more than 10,000 participated in the protest against Trump’s belittling of NATO’s role in US’ wars.
…On Tuesday, a group of veterans quietly placed 44 small Danish flags in the planters/obstacles outside the US Embassy, each with the name of a soldier that fell in Afghanistan stamped on it. Same evening, the news channel TV2 documented Embassy security staff removing the flags. Asked why, the answer was ‘orders of my employer’, pointing at the Embassy. On Friday, Ambassador Ken Howery apologized for the ‘misunderstanding’ and said he had been in Washington for urgent talks on Greenland. He personally planted 44 new flags, assisted by embassy personnel.
(Hans Christensen more…)
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The North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church issues an appeal for human dignity and decency for our immigrant brothers and sisters.
ReligiousLiberty.TV: Analysis of the NAD Immigration Statement, Appeal for Human Dignity and Decency
The Seventh-day Adventist Church leadership addresses immigration enforcement through the lens of biblical equality and constitutional rights.
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Walk For Peace – Day 98 – Petersburg, Virginia
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Paul Krugman: A Wonkish Note on Tariffs and Inflation
There isn’t really a puzzle here
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Rebecca Solnit: What technology takes from us – and how to take it back
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Guardian: Why TikTok’s first week of American ownership was a disaster
zeteo: The Disastrous Rollout of the Trump-Approved TikTok Serves as a Stark Warning for Us All
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Hill: Fourth wind farm blocked by Trump is allowed to resume construction
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National Memo: Trump Lawsuits: Of All His Grifts, They Are By Far The Most Efficient
… Trump has decided he needs more money, so he’s demanding more than 40 times as much, suing the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion for releasing information from his tax returns. One of the ironies of this story is that the leak took place in Trump’s first term, so ostensibly, as president, he is responsible for the harm for which he is suing the government. …
…As bad as it is to steal $10 billion from the taxpayers, the worse part is that Trump now realizes that the federal Treasury is an open piggy bank for him. He can file a lawsuit about literally anything, no matter how crazy, for any amount, and then tell Attorney General Bondi or the relevant agency head to hand him the cash.
(National Memo more…)
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Ruth Ann Crystal MD: COVID, Flu, Measles & More, 2/1/2026
TL;DR: The Midwest and Northeast have high levels of COVID. Flu had peaked, but looks like there may be a second wave starting which is common for influenza. RSV remains high across the United States and is affecting young children and older adults. Babies under age 1 are most often being hospitalized for RSV. The CDC ACIP chair proposed making polio and measles vaccines optional for children, despite a raging outbreak of measles currently in South Carolina that is already even bigger than the Texas measles outbreak from last year.
(Ruth Ann Crystal MD more…)
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Daily Beast: Why Even Trump Is Annoyed at Melania’s Doc: Wolff
TRUMP’S WIFE PROBLEM
Michael Wolff details Trump’s obsession with control—from Melania’s detachment to federal force in Minneapolis.
…“There’s absolutely no interaction with Donald Trump at all,” Coles said.
“She is signaling to us, the viewer, that they are not in the same bedroom—and she doesn’t want us to think they are,” she added.
(Daily Beast more…)
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Thom Hartmann: Chapter 11: The Climate Collapse Presidency
Your weekly excerpt from one of my books. This week: “The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink”
(Thom Hartmann more…)
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Heather Delaney Reese: Trump’s obsessive plan to destroy America’s national identity
Earlier today, in a move that’s both devastating and entirely predictable, Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he’s destroying yet another pillar of our shared cultural memory. We should come to expect that he’ll keep doing this, because it’s exactly what other authoritarians have done in the past. But this one is deeply troubling, because it’s personal and symbolic. It erases what American art, history, and identity were meant to preserve.
Trump is shutting down the Trump-Kennedy Center for the next two years, starting on the 250th anniversary of the United States. He framed it as a bold step forward, something about revitalization and grandeur. But the truth is simpler and darker: no one wants to perform there anymore, and no one wants to buy tickets to a stage stamped with his name. He attempted to turn the building into a monument to his ego and failure. And when that happened, he decided to close it and build a monument to himself in its place.
(Heather Delaney Reese more…)Borowitz: Trump Begins Renovation of Kennedy Center by Removing Audience
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.- January 24: Alex Pretti
- January 14: Heber Sanchaz Dominguez
- January 14: Victor Manuel Diaz
- January 9: Parady La
- January 7: Renée Good
- January 6: Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz
- January 5: Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres
- January 3: Geraldo Lunas Campos
- December 31, 2025: Keith Porter
Walk for Peace – Dhammacetiya – The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas
Margaret Chase Smith: Declaration of Conscience
NPR: January 6, 2021: A visual archive
Accountability Initiative ICE List
GriftMatrix
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
