curated news excerpts & citations
Rev. Mel West: America needs to find its way back to compassion
A well-known ball player said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
It seems that my beloved USA took the fork in the road marked compassion as the country developed, and we did not stray from that lane until lately. Three words that well describe our country were embodied in statues that I call “The Three Sisters.”
In 1886, a statue named “Liberty” was placed on Liberty Island, New York City, and since then has stood with her torch held high to welcome “the teeming mass.” …
The second sister is named “Justice” and appears blindfolded with a balance scale in her right hand. …
The younger is named “Responsibility” aka “The Madonna of the Trail.” As a statue she is seen as a pioneer woman with a baby in her arms and a child at her feet and facing West. …
We have gone well down the trail led by the three Sisters, lost at times along the way, but finding our way back. But now there are those who say we took the wrong trail years ago, and must go back to the fork and take the other trail. We must, they claim, take the trail marked by power, strength, wealth, force and domination. Compassion, we are told, is no longer a mark of good leadership, but of weakness. Our country should be feared more than loved and respected. Truth is what is told by those in power. Loyalty, no matter what, is the mark of citizenship. Wealth is for the taker.
(Rev. Mel West more…)
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – February 11, 2026
On February 12, 1809, Nancy Hanks Lincoln gave birth to her second child, a son: Abraham.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Judd Legum: Major corporations bankroll “America First” propaganda
Mastercard, Deloitte, and ExxonMobil are spending millions to promote events supporting Trump and his divisive political agenda.
People’s World: Germany pushes European rearmament, using Trump as excuse
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KUT: Trump administration is sending pregnant migrant girls to South Texas shelter flagged as medically inadequate
Government sources and advocates for the children worry the goal is to concentrate them in Texas, where abortion is banned.
The Trump administration is sending all pregnant unaccompanied minors apprehended by immigration enforcement to a single group shelter in South Texas. The decision was made over urgent objections from the administration’s own health and child welfare officials, who say both the facility and the region lack the specialized care the girls need.
(KUT more…)
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WSJ: OpenAI Executive Who Opposed ‘Adult Mode’ Fired for Sexual Discrimination
OpenAI fired executive Ryan Beiermeister in January, citing sexual discrimination, after she opposed the planned AI erotica feature in ChatGPT, sources said.
(WSJ more…)404 Media: ‘The Most Dejected I’ve Ever Felt:’ Harassers Made Nude AI Images of Her, Then Started an OnlyFans
Kylie Brewer isn’t unaccustomed to harassment online. But when people started using Grok-generated nudes of her on an OnlyFans account, it reached another level.
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James Eagle: Inflation has hit essentials far harder than everything else
… Households cannot opt out of healthcare, housing or education in the same way they can delay buying a new television. That means lived inflation feels much higher than official averages suggest, especially for families and lower income households.
Inflation has not been broad-based. It has been concentrated where people have the least flexibility.
(James Eagle more…)Bulwark: Shock Poll: Americans Miss Joe Biden’s Economy
ARStechnica: Trump orders the military to make agreements with coal power plants
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Coal is the second most expensive source of power for the US grid, eclipsed by gas, wind, solar, hydro—everything other than nuclear power.
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ARStechnica: El Paso airport closed after military used new anti-drone laser to zap party balloon
Reuters: El Paso flights resume after FAA, Army clash over anti-drone tech
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Daily Beast: Epstein Assistant Told Feds He Introduced Melania to Trump, Files Reveal
ReligiousLiberty.TV: Epstein’s “Baby Ranch” and His Obsession with Eugenics Research
Jeffrey Epstein discussed a plan that reporting described as “seeding the human race with his DNA” by impregnating women at his New Mexico ranch, including an account that he imagined at least 20 women at a time. Harvard later reported it received $9.1 million in gifts from Epstein between 1998 and 2008, including a $6.5 million gift in 2003 that established the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, and that he visited the program’s offices more than 40 times from 2010 to 2018. MIT reported a review found 10 Epstein donations totaling $850,000 between 2002 and 2017 and examined multiple campus visits. Epstein’s reproductive pitch echoes a longer eugenics history: Kellogg’s 1914 Race Betterment Foundation promoting eugenics, the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor (1910 to 1939), Buck v. Bell (May 2, 1927), and Nazi forced sterilization under the July 14, 1933 law described by USHM
(ReligiousLiberty.TV more…)
Ossiana Tepfenhart: The Biggest Epstein Bombshell That No American Wants To Discuss
Joyce Vance: Two Days On The Hill: ICE & Pam Bondi
Daily Kos: Pam Bondi is performing for an audience of one
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In fact, Bondi’s histrionics may have been an effort to save her own skin. Despite her corrupt attempts to weaponize the DOJ to Trump’s liking, the department has failed to notch a single notable victory in Trump’s vindictive prosecution attempts. It has reportedly led Trump to grow disillusioned with Bondi, to whom he once mistakenly posted a message on Truth Social complaining about her lack of results.
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FreePress: The Afrikaners Welcomed to America—and the Ukrainians Forced to Leave.
… She talks to some of the Afrikaners Trump invited to America and hears tales of languishing in cockroach-infested apartments, walking miles to the grocery store for food, eating just one meal a day to save money—and very well-paid nonprofit executives.
(FreePress more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: How to Rein in ICE
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Democrats would be wise, then, to think of the current push for reform as the beginning, not the end, of refashioning ICE, Border Control, and the entire Department of Homeland Security. The issue before them this week is: What meaningful reforms can they get passed in the short run to save lives, reduce terror inflicted on mostly Hispanic and Black communities, and protect constitutional rights?
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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NY Sun: House Rejects Effort To Shield Trump’s Tariffs From Congressional Scrutiny, Teeing Up Vote To Kill President’s Import Taxes on Canada
Daily Beast: Trump Hit With Stinging Defeat as Republicans Finally Rebel
Al Jazeera: Breaking with Trump, US House votes to pass a bill ending Canada tariffs
Miles Taylor: Trump’s prosecutors just tried — and failed — to jail six Democrats in Congress.
Trump said their video warning troops about “illegal orders” was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Yesterday, a grand jury declined to charge them.
Robert Reich: The Citizen’s Revolt
Ordinary people serving on grand juries have become a new front line in the resistance against the Trump regime.
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Waging Nonviolence: The fight to keep ICE from reopening a notorious prison
Survivors of abuse at a shuttered federal prison known as “the rape club” are teaming up with local activists to keep ICE out of Northern California.
(Waging Nonviolence more…)
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Gil Duran: Palantir for Governor?
Why is extremist MAGA billionaire Joe Lonsdale funding a California Democrat?
(Gil Duran more…)
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Fred Wellman: Missouri’s Attorney General Thinks You Can Edit Reality.
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This is not about protecting taxpayers or fixing a broken system. It is an intentional attempt to strip power and money from Missouri communities Republicans do not like. People who live here, work here, and raise families here are being written out on paper so politicians can reshape the map in their favor.That is not how the Census works. The Constitution requires counting people, not immigration status. Representation and funding are based on who actually lives here. When politicians decide some people do not count, they are not fixing the system. They are rigging it.
(Fred Wellman more…)
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Your Local Epidemiologist: What’s new in the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines and why it matters (or doesn’t)
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Decoding Fox News: Fox News: Let’s Pretend Nothing Happened With Our Racist Glorious Leader
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 2/8/26
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USA Today: Feds remove pride flag from Stonewall, iconic site in LGBTQ+ movement
Stacy Lentz, one of the bar’s current owners, said, ‘We cannot allow the government to erase a historical fact.’ She got no prior notice from the government the flag would be removed.
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
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