Adam Bonica - 'There is another America inside this one, visible in the statistics of nations that made different choices. Call it Latent America: the nation that would exist if our democracy functioned to serve the public rather than protect the already powerful' open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

By many measures, reading skills for both students and adults continue to fall. Jeffrey Brown spoke with Elizabeth Alexander of the Mellon Foundation about a new effort to boost the world of words. check out the closing stat: 40% of adults did not read ONE book in 2025! www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

A federal judge ruled Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as President Trump seeks to shut it down. n.pr/3Na2v4f

The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. https://to.pbs.org/49RkBAH

lots of political space to convert those “not sures” into somewhat supports and those “somewhat supports” into strongly supports on eliminating ICE. also, with a funding battle coming up, plenty of political space to say “no government funding unless we claw back last year’s new ICE funding”

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski says the Trump DOJ is engaging in coercion and must be investigated

This YouGov poll on ICE is really eye-opening. Public opinion has really swung against DHS/ICE and their terror regime. d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/IC...

The epitome of a “Kavanaugh Stop.” “[CBP] sometimes makes brief investigative stops to check immigration status…. If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a US citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.” History will remember Brett.

"The wall looks permanent until the day it comes down." data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-wall-l... Several people I know have used the word "beautiful" for this piece, and that's exactly right. A beautifully phrased essay on the bind we're in— until we aren't. Recommended, in an extreme way.

“People are getting kidnapped where they work. People are getting taken away when they're cleaning snow out of their cars. My son's school, 25 people, only r people showed up yesterday. People are afraid to do their groceries. People are afraid to go to work. “We are not safe. We are under attack”

A Minnesota state representative said two Richfield Target employees detained by U.S. Border Patrol on Jan. 8 were U.S. citizens and were both injured in the incident.

This is sending marauding battalions through civilian cities, treating them like conquered territories

Trump administration's posts echo rhetoric linked to extremist groups The Trump administration has rolled out a campaign across departments drawing on images and ideas borrowed from right-wing and white nationalist circles. Hear what some of these images and posts mean www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

BREAKING: Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife has made a “transformational” donation to the LGBTQ+ advocacy group. This large gift comes just months after the Trump administration shut down counseling services for queer youth. My latest for @wired.com:

Would be useful for stories like this to point out, among her political ties, that her husband is the *GOP Senator from Pennsylvania.* (Beat Bob Casey by 0.2% in 2024.) Not even mentioned in CNBC dispatch.

Energy developers head to court as Trump says the US 'will not approve any windmills'

JUST IN: Judge Mehta rules that Trump/Russ Vought's termination of environmental grants during the shutdown — targeted solely at states that voted for Kamala Harris — violated the 5th Amendment's Equal Protection clause and orders them restored. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Marc Jacob: How to build a radically truthful news outlet Journalists must become radically truthful, following these rules of conduct.... excellent suggestions. Demand better. open.substack.com/pub/stopthep...

Seems like time to re-up: There's a reason why sports teams don't chant "I believe that we will lose" before a game, a reason so obvious that I'm pretty sure it needs no explanation in that context. Words have power. They not only describe but shape reality....

Sherrilyn Ifill with Some Thoughts on Measures We Can Support This Week ... such as: call your congressional reps on important issues like 1) impeach Kristi Noem; 2) demand Congress halt ICE funding and withhold immunity for agents ... so much more open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

HCR rightly summarizes the past week of extraordinary events and reframes it starting with the ongoing obstruction of Congress in not releasing all the Epstein files.. the whole column is especially rich - January 11, 2026 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

NEW: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) sued the Trump administration over its attempt to reduce his retired Navy rank and pension. The U.S. senator argues the move is unconstitutional retaliation and part of a broader effort by Trump to weaponize the military against political opponents.

E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...

Every week is overwhelming evidence of what we saw with our own eyes, but which our credulous media was afraid to print: the Nazi salute was a Nazi salute

Axios: “According to a source with knowledge, Iranian foreign minister Araghchi and Steve Witkoff have discussed potentially holding a meeting in the coming days.” Key to resolution of US concerns is the construction of a new Trump Tower Tehran. www.axios.com/2026/01/12/i...

Its not that the media is not covering what is happening, but it does feel like the military occupation of an American city should be treated as a national crisis.

⚠️Former Fed Chairs Greenspan, Bernanke, and Yellen issue joint statement: “The Federal Reserve's independence and the public's perception of that independence are critical for economic performance…The reported criminal inquiry into…Powell is an unprecedented attempt…to undermine that independence.”

Peter Beinart - American Progressives Must Support the Protests in Iran That Doesn’t Mean Supporting Another Lawless US Military Attack open.substack.com/pub/peterbei...

The nonprofit Trevor Project received a $45 million gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025.

Margaret Sullivan - We need hard truths and tough reporting, not 'both-sides-equal' trash The CBS anchor again embarrasses the network’s legacy. Plus: some examples of journalists who are doing it right open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

How once storied, independent journalistic organizations are captured.... And that's the way it is: At CBS News, the suppression of critical reporting and the promotion of appeasement reveal Bari Weiss’s true colors. www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Latin America reacts to Trump's intervention www.nytimes.com/video/world/...

Israel Is Still Demolishing Gaza, Building by Building More than 2,500 buildings have been deestroyed since the start of the 'cease fire' www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A WV Law Bars One Trans Athlete. Her Case Could Affect the Country. The Supreme Court hears a case Tuesday that could affect laws in 27 states that bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams. "I want to be able to play on the team with my friends" www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...

Scientists use new technology to track individual monarch butterfly migrations www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Pro-Publica investigation raises concerns about lack of FDA quality testing for generic drugs www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Highlights from PBS News Weekend as show goes off the air www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

FYI: Judge Ellis (Chicago ICE case) noted in November that video evidence shows ICE "brake-checked other motorists in an attempt to force accidents that agents could then use as justifications for deploying force."

WATCH: Under Trump, the Education Department is encouraging an exodus from public schools and rolling back civil rights protections. What will our democracy look like if public schools are diminished? ProPublica reporters spent months investigating:

this is at least the third clip I've seen of journos asking Frey about the F bomb and I mean, give me a fucking break

Incredibly sad––and downright angry at Congress for cutting @pbsnews.org ––to lose PBS News Weekend. This has contributed such important reporting, strong features and breaking news follow-up. Will especially miss the international correspondents and hope they remain. Thank you, John Yang and team!

By some estimates, about 90% of prescriptions in the U.S. are filled with generic drugs. A ProPublica investigation found that the FDA rarely tests the quality of generic drugs the agency has approved. https://to.pbs.org/4qf9kjk

Once Again, Oldest Mississippi Synagogue is Attacked With Fire A suspect was in custody and charged with arson for setting the Saturday morning fire. It’s not the first time the Beth Israel house of worship has been attacked. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/u...

The Board should all be flogged for not looking into conflicts of interest with the firm.

President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader. https://to.pbs.org/3YDkBxU

Trump Says Civil Rights Led to White People Being ‘Very Badly Treated’ The president's comments were a blunt distillation of his administration’s racial politics, which rest on the belief that white people have become the real victims of discrimination in America www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/u...

A recent Israeli decision to bar Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups means international staff and aid can no longer enter Gaza or the West Bank. Local staff must rely on dwindling supplies and no international expertise.

This seems to strongly suggest that the incoming president of UVA doctored his CV to the edge of outright dishonesty, and that the most recent changes came months before Jim Ryan was forced, as if they were made in anticipation in Ryan’s removal. augustafreepress.com/news/vanishi...

HCR: "What is truly astonishing is that the administration thought this video would exonerate [ICE Agent] Ross and support the administration’s insistence that he was under attack from a domestic terrorist trying to ram him with her car. " January 10, 2026 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Trump Administration Live Updates: Noem Says ‘Hundreds More’ Agents Will Be Sent to Minnesota Over ‘Corruption’ www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...