curated news excerpts & citations
Paul Krugman: How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy
Corruption is a germ’s best friend
Childhood vaccination is one of public policy’s greatest success stories. People who view the 1950s through rose-colored glasses, seeing them as an era of American greatness, miss many ways in which life was much worse then than now, ranging from gross racism and sexism to high poverty rates among the elderly. One often-overlooked feature of the “good old days” was that many children contracted, and some died from, infectious diseases that have now been almost eliminated — or had been almost eliminated, until today’s right-wing anti-vaccine agitators set the stage for their comeback.
In many ways the Trump administration’s hostility to vaccines is similar to its hostility to clean energy, which I wrote about yesterday. Both policy swerves will kill Americans. If Trumpists succeed in forcing the U.S. to burn more coal, thousands will die from air pollution. Only a year into the Trump 47 administration, there is already a resurgence in almost conquered diseases due to the anti-vax MAGA crusade. …
Moreover, the Trumpists aren’t content with just cutting off federal funding — they’re determined to stop anyone else from doing the right thing. …
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Last but by no means least, in both cases it’s crucial to follow the money.
(Paul Krugman more…)
Noah Berlatsky: Trump somehow got worse on public health after COVID
Paul Offit: Weaponizing the FDA Against Vaccines
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Jay Kuo: Censoring Colbert and Talarico
The FCC blocked CBS from airing an interview of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, and Stephen Colbert was none too pleased
(Jay Kuo more…)Charlie Sykes: Colbert Defies, CBS Cowers
This, my friends, is how it is done: Lean in. Expose. Defy.
Democracy Docket: Once again, CBS obeys in advance
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – February 17, 2026
Trump’s White House website welcomes visitors with a pop-up that reads: “WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE!” But on this heavy news day a year into Trump’s second term, it is increasingly clear that as his regime focuses on committing the United States to white Christian nationalism, the country is becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, and its own economy is weakening.
…Why is the administration worried about Talarico in a state Trump won in 2024 by 14%? “I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas,” Talarico said. “Across the state there is a backlash growing to the extremism and the corruption in our politics…. It’s a people-powered movement to take back our state and take back our country.”
As of 10:00 tonight, Colbert’s 15-minute interview with Talarico has been viewed on YouTube 3.8 million times. Forbes says it is Colbert’s most watched interview in months.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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NY Times: When Trump Officials’ Claims About Shootings Unravel in Court
Before the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, allegations against four others shot at by federal immigration agents failed to withstand scrutiny.
The Trump administration was quick to pin the blame.
Days after a federal immigration agent shot at Phillip Brown, a U.S. citizen, last October at a busy commercial intersection in Washington, D.C., a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security claimed Mr. Brown had made a “deliberate attempt” to run officers down with his car. Mr. Brown, 33, was arrested, charged with a felony — fleeing from law enforcement — and spent three days in jail.
In court, however, the case against Mr. Brown quickly unraveled as a judge found that the government failed to present any evidence supporting its claims. The judge dismissed the charges and said the agent had fired his weapon “for reasons that are completely unclear to me.”
Mr. Brown’s case is among the 16 shootings by on-duty federal immigration agents patrolling in U.S. cities and towns over the past year, including those that took the lives of Minnesota protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
(NY Times more…)ReligiousLiberty.TV: Federal Court Blocks DHS Policy Permitting Immigration Raids at Churches
Miles Taylor: Prices have skyrocketed under Trump. ONE thing has become more expensive than ever.
… The price of dissent.
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Marisa Kabas: For ICE to build concentration camps quickly, they’re leaning on this Dept. of War program
Border Czar Tom Homan announced late last week that Operation Metro Surge, the ICE and CBP campaign terrorizing Minnesota for more than a month, was supposedly winding down. What that means functionally on the ground remains to be seen, but logistically, though, this timing makes sense: DHS, with the help of the Department of War (née Department of Defense), are laser-focused on outfitting industrial warehouses into prisons for the people they round up. They call them detention centers, but we can call them what there are—concentration camps.
DHS is using a repurposed Navy logistics program to fund the buildings and materials necessary to create these concentration camps quickly, as first reported by CNN in October. The Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract (WEXMAC) program was created by the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) so that it could call on contractors quickly in the wake of international natural disasters, pandemics and the like, bypassing the traditionally lengthy bidding process. It served 26 designated regions—until last year when the United States itself was added as number 27. That region is called TITUS: Territorial Integrity of the United States. And now, thanks to this relatively new designation, domestic vendors are being fast-tracked by DoW and DHS to expeditiously furnish and run concentration camps around the country.
(Marisa Kabas more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: ‘Greatest’?
Donald Trump has finally accepted responsibility for the economy. He declared last week, “We have the greatest economy actually ever in history.”
“Greatest actually ever” for whom? Certainly, the Trump family and his billionaire pals have had the “greatest” accumulation of wealth in the shortest amount of time during the worst period of corruption the country has ever known.
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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Frederick Joseph: Shephard of Black Political Power
(Frederick Joseph more…)
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Judd Legum: Major corporations bankroll political ad featuring white supremacist slogan
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Dan Pfeiffer: Why Democrats Should Run Against the Epstein Class
Avoiding the false choices that plague Democratic messaging.
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Michele Hornish: Let’s Get Loud: This Is What Democracy Sounds Like
Singing the Resistance
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
Texas Tribune: A Walk for Peace: photos of Fort Worth monks’ journey to Washington
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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