Author: sauer@technologists.com

curated news excerpts & citations

John Pavlovitz: The January 6th Insurrection Didn’t Fail, it Just Took Five Years

Boy, do I feel like an idiot.

I honestly thought January 6th, 2021, was going to be a catalytic moment for our nation.

Five years ago, watching a vicious, snarling cosplay army emblazoned with his name breaking through the barricades around the Capitol, I thought for sure the almost unthinkable horrors of that day would be a dealbreaker for even the most devoted of his sycophantic rank-and-file.

Back then, I believed that witnessing law enforcement members being beaten on the steps of Congress with flags bearing his likeness would have fully sickened even his most ardent supporters to the point of defection.
…

Five years ago, a few thousand insurrectionists attempted to disregard the laws of this nation for a single career criminal.

And what they could not accomplish then in the Capitol rotunda on January 6th, 2021, 77 million Americans did at the voting booth just over a year ago: the voices of our forebears have been rendered silent, the protections of our Constitution have been destroyed, and a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and wannabe dictator has been given the keys to the kingdom of this nation.

Where we go from here is anyone’s guess.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

James Eagle: Venezuela after Maduro: what the data says, not the headlines

Venezuela rarely disappears. It simply recedes, becoming a background problem until something forces it back into focus.

That moment arrived over the weekend. A sudden escalation involving the United States and the removal of Nicolás Maduro from power has returned Venezuela to the centre of geopolitical attention. The reaction has been loud and polarised, but the underlying conditions did not change overnight. They have been building quietly for years
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Bulwark: Trump Says We Have the “Hottest” Economy. Markets Tell a Different Story.

The U.S. economy entered 2025 as the “envy of the world.” It exited well behind its peers.

MANY OF US HAVE BEEN raising hue and cry about the irreversible damage Donald Trump has wreaked on the economy. Tariffs! Corporate shakedowns! Destruction of research institutions! Deletion of data! Politicization of the Federal Reserve! Alienation of our allies! Socialization of private companies!

And of course, the collapse of the rule of law.

All of these things should be terrible for the U.S. economy, especially in the long term. And yet to date, the stock market has seemingly shrugged it all off.

In fact, markets look somewhat ebullient. In 2025, the S&P 500 grew a solid 16 percent—far better than the average year, and better than many forecasts, particularly in the wake of Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs.

So what’s going on? Why aren’t investors pricing in all these risks?

Some of it may be that they believe there’s a huge, sustainable Trump boom just around the corner. It didn’t come by the end of 2025, but perhaps it’ll arrive this quarter . . . or next quarter . . . or the end of 2026, per the latest goalpost-moving forecasts from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

But there are other ways to interpret what’s going on. None of them are particularly assuring:

1. U.S. markets actually aren’t doing that great, when compared to our global competitors.
2. The lion’s share of growth here in the United States—in both financial markets and hard economic data—is driven by a single sector: A.I . . .
3. . . . which looks an awful lot like a bubble right now.

I find these explanations to be more persuasive than the hope that a new economic golden age is about to dawn. And to understand why, it’s worth recapping why you should worry about the long-term damage from Trump’s policies in the first place.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Al Jazeera: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro ‘captured’ after huge US military strikes

US says Venezuelan president will face drug-related charges in New York as Caracas decries Nicolas Maduro’s capture.
(Al Jazeera more…)

Al Jazeera: US lawmakers react to attack on Venezuela, ‘capture’ of Nicolas Maduro

Sarah Burns: … Trump’s attack on Venezuela reflects Congress surrendering its decision-making powers

… This is regime change, and whether or not it has a positive impact on the United States, whether or not it has a positive impact on Venezuela, I think the likelihood is very low for both of those things being true.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Daily Beast: Sleepless Trump, 79, Threatens New War in 3AM Rage Post

PEACEMAKER IN CHIEF?
The president, who has been lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize, warned a foreign adversary that the U.S. is “locked and loaded and ready to go.”

President Donald Trump fired off a 3 a.m. social media post threatening to attack Iran after protests against the country’s supreme leader turned deadly.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Brian Allen: Federal Judges Blow the Whistle on DOJ Deception: 35+ Cases of Lies and “Sham” Evidence

…
The cleanest way to understand this is through the Goodman-led tracking work (published via Just Security) that compiles cases where judges themselves explicitly questioned the government’s truthfulness, accuracy, or good faith.

This matters because it is not punditry. It is not Twitter. It is not “some guy says.”

It is judges putting it in orders and on transcripts.

And the allegations are not all one flavor. They cluster into repeatable misconduct categories:

• False sworn declarations used to win emergency rulings
• Evidence problems judges call “sham,” “misleading,” or “unsupported”
• Noncompliance with court orders followed by legal gymnastics to justify it
• Agency narratives that fall apart under basic cross-checking

(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Techno-Science: ⚠️ A robot, missing for 9 months, resurfaces with an alarming message

…
The discovery is more alarming for the Denman Glacier. The profiler clearly identified the presence of a layer of warmer water circulating beneath its floating part. This water is already causing melting at the base. Scientists believe the configuration is precarious: a slight increase in the thickness of this warm water layer could significantly accelerate the disintegration process, committing the glacier to a potentially irreversible retreat.

The stakes are high. The Denman Glacier alone contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by about 5 feet (1.5 meters) if it were to melt completely. Combined with the Totten Glacier, whose potential is estimated at 11.5 feet (3.5 meters), these two giants of East Antarctica represent a major long-term threat. Their confirmed vulnerability to warm ocean water requires integrating these new parameters into sea level rise forecast models.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Joyce Vance: Inherent Contempt

…
Whether Bondi would respond is uncertain, perhaps even unlikely, but inherent contempt would be a modest first step toward getting the administration to comply with the law and release the files. If it failed, it would be easier to justify a more serious step like impeaching Bondi, particularly if the public is determined to see the files released. At the end of the day, Bondi has a law license to worry about. The cautionary tale of state bars that disbarred lawyers like Rudy Giuliani who strayed too far from their ethical obligations as lawyers in service of Trump during his first term should weigh heavily on anyone who hopes to have a future, post-Trump.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Central News: From Classroom to Community: Ugandan Youth Create Portable Solar Shelters for the Homeless

A group of innovative students in Uganda has turned a simple idea into a life-changing solution for people without stable homes, designing solar-powered tents that fold neatly into backpacks. This clever invention, born from classroom creativity, offers safe, portable shelter to the homeless, displaced persons, and communities hit by disasters, blending technology with compassion to tackle real-world problems. For families in Uganda and across Africa facing hardship, these tents mean more than just a place to sleep – they bring light, power, and hope in dark times. As the world looks for sustainable ways to help the vulnerable, this youth-led project shines as an example of African ingenuity, showing how young minds can drive change with limited resources. In a continent where millions lack proper housing due to conflicts, poverty, or natural disasters, inventions like this could transform lives, one backpack at a time. With solar panels providing renewable energy for basics like lighting and charging phones, the tents address not just shelter but also safety and connectivity. As 2025 ends, this story inspires hope for 2026, reminding us that solutions to big challenges often start small, in the hands of determined students.
(more…)

curated news excerpts & citations

Dean Obeidallah: We must support the musician Trump is targeting for refusing to play the “Trump Kennedy Center”

…
As a lawyer myself, I can only assume Grennell didn’t speak to any lawyers before releasing this letter because dubbing Redd’s boycott “political” speech just made it just about impossible for them to win given the US Supreme Court decision cited above. And Grennell just undermined a breach of contract claim by saying in essence that no one was buying tickets to the show. That begs the question: What are the damages to the Kennedy Center if no one was buying tickets?!

But let’s put aside if the lawsuit will be successful or not. Trump’s lawsuits are not about winning or losing: They are about sending a message designed to intimidate others into submission and silence. Same goes for his Executive Orders targeting everything from Act Blue to universities.

This potential lawsuit is intended to scare other artists into not boycotting the Kennedy Center out of fear Trump will sue them—or use the power of the government to target them from IRS audits (like Richard Nixon did) to trumped up BS investigations.

Controlling the arts and artists is right from the far-right playbook. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin made control of the arts one of his priorities–utilizing the arts to further Stalin’s “cult of personality” as well as by creating an idealized version of the Soviet Union. And those artists who refused to submit to Stalin were dubbed an “enemy of the people” and then punished —including interrogation, torture, humiliating public trials, and execution. Trump now threatening to destroy this musician for defying him is right from the Stalin playbook.
(more…)