curated news excerpts & citations
WSJ – Karl Rove: Republicans Have an Economy Problem
President Trump’s triumphal tone isn’t helping matters for everyday Americans.
It’s bad news for Republicans that recent coverage of President Trump has been dominated by topics ranging from invading Greenland and Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings in Minneapolis to trashing the Grammys and ordering a giant Jeffrey Epstein document dump. These aren’t as important to Americans as the economy.
To correct this problem, the president came to Iowa last month for an economic speech. His team hoped his appearance in a Des Moines suburb would recenter the discussion.
It didn’t. Mr. Trump made two mistakes.
The first was straying from the subject for almost half his speech. Victories and stolen elections. Immigration. Introducing politicians on the stage. Attacking his predecessor for multiple sins. Lots of different foreign issues. He went everywhere—and therefore nowhere.
The second problem was Mr. Trump’s triumphal tone. He congratulated himself on “the greatest first year of any administration in American history.” The “economy is booming,” he said. It’s been “the best first year of any president ever maybe.”
(WSJ – Karl Rove more…)
James Eagle: Extreme wealth is concentrating even faster
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – February 5, 2026
The past two days have seen a growing struggle between Democrats, who are demanding accountability from the Trump administration, and Republicans trying to hide what the administration is up to.
Last night, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) published a letter he sent to Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe. …
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Wyden has a long history of alerting the public in whatever way he can when something bad is going on that he cannot reveal because of its classified nature. This letter appears to be a way to alert the public while also notifying Ratcliffe that the CIA director will not be able in the future to deny that he received Wyden’s letter.
…Also last night, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) sent Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) and House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a letter outlining demands Democrats want incorporated into a measure that will appropriate more funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). …
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As Schumer and Jeffries wrote, these are commonsense measures that protect Americans’ constitutional rights and ensure responsible law enforcement, and should apply to all federal activity even without Democrats demanding them.Thune has said the demands are “very unrealistic and unserious,” and Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the second-ranking Senate Republican, called them “radical and extreme” and a “far-left wish list.” But Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) agreed that agents “need body cameras. They need to remove masks. They need proper training. They need to be conducting operations that are consistent with their mission.”
…Finally, the last existing arms treaty between the U.S. and Russia expired today. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Mary Geddry: Prayer Breakfast or Power Breakfast?
Trump wandered into the National Prayer Breakfast like a man who’d accidentally been scheduled for a revival service in between a rally and a grievance deposition, and proceeded to deliver what can only be described as a theological Mad Libs stitched together with ego, revenge fantasies, and intermittent references to God as a kind of celestial brand sponsor.
Pastor Paula White opened with a level of flattery normally reserved for North Korean state television, assuring the room that Trump’s true character is revealed “away from the cameras,” where he is apparently a humble street-ministry benefactor quietly writing checks for the vulnerable, a story so perfectly crafted it might as well have come with a Hallmark logo and an NDA.
Then Trump took the microphone and did what Trump always does: he turned a prayer breakfast into a self-review, a campaign rally, and a personal therapy session conducted in front of Congress and God.
(Mary Geddry more…)
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NPR: Some Public Health Service officers quit rather than serve in ICE detention centers
In 2025, as immigrant arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement soared, so did the demand for health care providers to staff hastily constructed detention centers.
One group tapped to meet the need is the U.S. Public Health Service, or USPHS: In the past year, nearly 400 officers have done monthlong tours helping to provide basic medical care to detainees at ICE facilities nationwide, according to a USPHS employee who reviewed a roster of staff deployments.
The deployed officers include nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals. A growing number say these ICE assignments are not what they signed up for. Life-threatening delays in getting medicine and care to detainees, chaotic screenings, and overcrowded yet understaffed conditions have pushed some medical professionals to quit.
(NPR more…)
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Hans Christensen: Poland to Investigate Epstein-Russia KGB Link
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that Poland will launch an official investigation into possible links between Russian intelligence services (KGB) and Jeffrey Epstein.
(Hans Christensen more…)
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Jess Piper: All Hat. No Cattle.
Intercept: Welcome to the Jade Helm Presidency
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Intercept: Federal Agents Left Behind “Death Cards” After Capturing Immigrants
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Patricia J Wentzel: Reality Check
A day navigating the system
I recently spent the day with our son A who lives in supported housing in the Bay Area and today’s post is about that trip. If you haven’t tried to help someone with behavioral health challenges negotiate “the system” you may not have any idea just how time consuming and frustrating a process that can be. …
(Patricia J Wentzel more…)
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Decoding Fox News: Jeffrey Epstein Who? There are COMMUNISTS in Minnesota!
A condensed overview of 19 hours of Fox News for the week ending 2/1/26
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