14 Reasons not to trust Trump

ICE Agents to Wear Body Cameras but problems remain

ACLU - After years of delays, ICE has announced that it will equip all officers with body cameras. But, the agency’s policy says that it will retain broad control over what videos are released to the public — and that in particular it will only release footage of serious bodily injuries and deaths in custody if “it is in the best interests of the agency.” This is exactly the opposite of a policy that will make body cameras an effective oversight and accountability measure.

At the ACLU we’ve been saying from the beginning that body cameras won’t be an effective accountability measure unless they’re accompanied by good policies on exactly how they’re used — and that foremost among those policies must be ensuring appropriate public release of recordings. Without good policies, police body cameras are reduced to yet more government surveillance devices, with all that implies (such as over-policing and prosecution), and to propaganda systems that let agencies publicize videos showing officers in a positive light while burying those that don’t.

For your Trump archives

 

                           Via Morgan J. Freeman

Visitors from Canada

USA Facts - In 1996, 105.7 million people crossed into the US from Canada by land. In 2025, that number was 36.6 million and, outside of the three years when the pandemic restricted travel, it was one of the lowest totals in three decades. (Note: This data covers legal crossings, not unauthorized entries.)

Vaccines

Axios - President Trump's call for a controversial overhaul of the childhood immunization schedule puts high-risk vaccine policy changes front and center just three months before the midterm elections.

The most immediate impact of yesterday's executive order may be political, if childhood vaccines are as popular as polling suggests. But the announcement could further erode trust in vaccines and public health, in the midst of foodborne and infectious disease outbreaks, including measles. And it undercuts the agencywide reset HHS has been charting over the past several months, through filling vacancies with more mainstream picks and promoting efforts to lower prescription drug prices and make the food supply healthier.

Trump yesterday signed an executive order calling for a slimmed-down childhood vaccine schedule and breaking the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine into three separately administered shots.

It also advises states to review federal vaccine recommendations and update their requirements for school enrollment.

At an Oval Office signing event, Trump suggested the MMR vaccine could be "quite lethal," though, when pressed, acknowledged he had no evidence, adding there are "some people that say it is that way."

"The worst thing that would happen would be, nothing happens," he told reporters. "We're not going to lose anything. At the same time we could gain tremendous - save hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of lives."

The overwhelming majority of scientists and public health experts say the benefits of vaccines greatly outweigh the risks, and though the shots do have rare side effects, no link to autism has been found in numerous studies.

"It is simply astonishing that this administration would continue to respond to ongoing measles outbreaks and the return of other vaccine-preventable diseases by playing politics with children's lives," said Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Another failed Trump program

NPR - Today marks a year since thousands of National Guard members began patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., as part of the Trump administration's anti-crime mission. The armed troops' presence in the nation's capital has since been quietly extended to Inauguration Day 2029. marking the longest and largest National Guard deployment under this administration. President Trump ordered the deployment in the nation's capital last year after declaring a "crime emergency" and launching the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, despite violent crime being at a 30-year low. The nonpartisan watchdog Project on Government Oversight estimates that this deployment will cost around $3 billion by 2029, and multiple studies have since found that the National Guard's presence has had no effect on violent crime.

Climate

The Guardian  - Last month’s average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th-century average for the contiguous US as repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records. Scientists have made clear the increased heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis.

Health

Taylor Farms Recalls Dozens of Jalapeño Products in 26 States Over Salmonella Concerns

Wildfires

Newsworthy News - Fast-moving wildfires in British Columbia forced more than 20,000 people from their homes and pushed the province into a state of emergency. Officials said the Bald Range wildfire spread fast along Okanagan Lake and reached several towns in hours. Summerland, home to about 12,000 people, was ordered evacuated, along with about 8,000 people in and around Peachland…British Columbia already had more than 100 wildfires burning, with many still out of control in hot, windy, dry weather.

State election contests

NBC News-  A week after a big win for progressive Democrats in Michigan’s Senate primary, the party’s ideological and generational divides are on full display again in another set of primaries, particularly in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In Wisconsin, state Rep. Francesca Hong’s campaign for governor is a major swing-state opportunity for the democratic socialist — and potentially a huge general election test for her movement and the broader Democratic Party. Hong, who has established a substantial polling lead, faces Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, whose candidacy is intended to unite the establishment wing of the Democratic Party.

In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan faces moderate Rep. Angie Craig in the Democratic primary for the Senate. Flanagan has stressed her support for progressive policies while Craig has touted her 2018 win, which flipped the GOP-held House seat, as evidence that she can keep the seat in Democratic hands.

Meanwhile in South Carolina, Republicans will vote for a new Senate nominee after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death. President Donald Trump threw his support behind appointed Sen. Darline Graham, the late senator’s sister, but it’s possible the crowded race will head to a runoff if no candidate wins a majority.

Primary races are also set for Vermont and Connecticut. And in Alabama, voters in a handful of House districts will pick their nominees now that a new congressional map is in effect, presenting a test of Trump’s endorsements.

GEORGIA 

Alternet-   More than 50 Black Georgia lawmakers have signed onto a statement condemning Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins for associates’ comments and posts that have been widely panned as racist and antisemitic. Collins is set to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November with the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

But since clinching the GOP nomination in a June runoff, Collins has come under fire for online posts by his son-in-law and former chief of staff last month after reports the staffer was in a group chat with white nationalists.

The statement issued by Black Georgia lawmakers this week criticized Collins for not apologizing or offering an explanation. “We condemn the Georgia congressman and urge our Republican state legislators to join us in demanding answers for his extensive ties to white nationalists,” the statement reads in part.

NORTH CAROLINA 

Congressional Insider -  Rep. Chuck Edwards dropped his reelection bid after the House Ethics Committee said it found enough evidence to recommend censure over harassment and hostile-workplace claims.

The House Ethics Committee recommended censure after reviewing Edwards's conduct toward two young female staffers. The committee said it found "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct" and no evidence of sexual activity.

Edwards's campaign said the report "completely exonerate[s]" him under House sexual-misconduct rules.

Climate

Insde Climate News   - As global warming continued to reshape Earth’s climate, the planet’s oceans reached record high temperatures for the third year in a row in 2025. Some northern forests and tundra released more carbon dioxide than they absorbed. And the Greenland Ice Sheet lost about 129 gigatons of ice, enough to form a cube of ice about three miles wide on each side.

Those were among the findings in the 2025 State of the Climate report, released Monday by the American Meteorological Society and led by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The report identified continued burning of fossil fuels as the primary source of record-high greenhouse gas levels, which are raising global temperatures and intensifying extreme weather. In Europe, for example, average temperatures have risen about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1960s, while extreme high temperatures have shot up by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

The findings carry added significance in light of an advisory opinion on climate change issued last year by the International Court of Justice, which concluded that countries may be liable for cross-border climate damage they knowingly cause or fail to prevent. As a result, governments that continue to promote fossil fuel use face increasing legal scrutiny and could be held responsible for ongoing and future climate-related harm.

NY Times -   Another round of intense heat is expected to sweep across large swaths of Europe this week, following a record-breaking start to the summer in Western Europe. Forecasters warned that rapidly rising temperatures, combined with persistently bone-dry conditions, could worsen the severe threat of wildfires.

The latest heat wave will be Europe’s fifth since May, as a broad area of high pressure — also known as a heat dome — intensifies across the continent.

The new heat wave comes after Western Europe recorded its hottest June to July period on record, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service. The average temperature across the region during the two-month period was 21.62 degrees Celsius (70.92 degrees Fahrenheit), 2.79 degrees Celsius (5.02 degrees Fahrenheit) above average, which surpassed the previous record set in 2022.

The most extreme heat is expected initially across parts of France, Spain and Italy before shifting toward Central Europe, where some of the highest temperatures are forecast across Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Money

America's best states

WalletHub compared the 50 states across 51 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs and income growth to the education rate and hospital systems.
 

Top 20 States to Live in America
1. Idaho	11. Iowa
2. New Jersey	12. New York
3. Wisconsin	13. Virginia
4. Massachusetts	14. Montana
5. New Hampshire	15. Maine
6. Wyoming	16. North Dakota
7. Utah	17. South Dakota
8. Minnesota	18. Illinois
9. Pennsylvania	19. Vermont
10. Florida	20. Nebraska

 
Best vs. Worst

• Maine has the fewest violent crimes (per 1,000 residents), which is 7.2 times less than in Alaska, the state with the most.
   
• New Hampshire has the lowest share of residents living in poverty, which is 2.6 times lower than in Louisiana and Mississippi, the states with the highest.
   
• South Dakota has the shortest average commute time, which is 1.8 times shorter than in New York, the state with the longest.
   
• Kansas has the highest quality of roads, which is 7.1 times higher than in Rhode Island, the state with the lowest.

To view the full report and your state’s rank

Middle East

New Republic -   New Republic-  President Donald Trump may be willing to end the Iran war without a nuclear deal.  The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the president floated declaring victory in the war if Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz without a deal on the country’s nuclear program. But that seems increasingly unlikely with Iran now demanding that U.S. soldiers leave the area, as well as an end to the American blockade and billions of dollars in payment.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to escalate the war with more intense bombing of Iranian targets, but he hasn’t followed through, claiming that a deal is imminent. In reality, the America’s allies in the Middle East urged Trump not to ramp up bombing, and U.S. commanders have told him that missile and bomb stockpiles have dwindled.

Voting

 NPR  - American voters are open to sweeping changes as they grow tired of the two-party system, according to a new poll. The data shows that voters support a system that allows multiple representatives to be elected from a single district, with seats roughly proportional to each party's vote share.

Health

Intermed - Medicare Annual Open Enrollment is coming soon. Starting October 1, 2026, you will be able to review information about 2027 Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. Open Enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026. Any changes you make during this time will begin on January 1, 2027.

As we shared this spring, InterMed will no longer accept Martin’s Point insurance plans beginning in 2027. We understand that choosing a Medicare plan can feel confusing, and this year may bring extra questions for some patients. Open Enrollment is a good time for all Medicare-eligible patients, no matter which insurance plan they currently have, to review their options and choose the coverage that best meets their needs.

To help, InterMed is offering educational sessions for InterMed patients ages 64 and older. These sessions are meant to explain Medicare in clear, easy-to-understand terms, answer common questions, and help you feel more confident as you prepare for Open Enrollment.

Artficial Intelligence

The Guardian - Chinese AI labs reportedly narrow the frontier-model gap by purchasing the same training data used by leading U.S. developers rather than relying solely on domestic resources. A Forbes investigation says firms including Tencent source data through U.S. labeling companies such as Mercor and Surge AI, whose customers include Anthropic and U.S. government agencies. The report estimates the data supply chain is worth about $500 million and highlights growing scrutiny over cross-border AI infrastructure and data procurement.

Trump regime

The Guardian -   The Trump administration is offering grants of tens of millions of dollars to cities across the US to create more Memphis-style enforcement surges – on the condition that they abandon progressive ideologies on policing.

The US Department of Justice says it will announce up to four finalist cities which will split $300m in grant funding under a federal “Model Cities” policing initiative (MCI) next month, setting the stage for some of the largest federal policing grants ever awarded to individual US cities.

In exchange for the funding, cities are required to comply with federal immigration enforcement requests, enact conservative policies on anti-homelessness rules, and potentially repay millions of dollars in the event of a surge in violent crime or “civil unrest”, according to a grant document.

The document cites Washington DC and Memphis, Tennessee – two cities with national guard troops patrolling the streets – as a model to emulate. The administration has so far defied calls to suspend its controversial taskforce in Memphis, following four officer-involved deaths since its launch last September.

Melania Trump

Alternet - First Lady Melania Trump's glaring absence from the public eye has exposed a grim new dynamic for President Donald Trump, as one of his former officials told The Daily Beast, one that is making his behavior more and more unstable.

Over the weekend, the Daily Beast released an extensive "audit" of the first lady's schedule of public appearances throughout 2026, finding that she has only appeared at official events or been spotted in public less than 40 times this year, with her 2025 schedule also being notably scarce.

Speaking with the outlet for a recent podcast episode, Anthony Scaramucci, the infamously short-lived White House press secretary from Trump's first term, said that this situation with his wife exposes a grim wider reality of his second term: the president is no longer as close with his family as he used to be. Scaramucci observed that he appears to have "nobody in there," in comparison to his first term, and argued that the distance from his wife in particular has made him more erratic and unstable.

“When she was more friendly with him, she would tell him to tone it down and he would actually listen to her,” he explained. “There’s very few people that Trump listens to.”

He added, speaking about the couple's relationship: "I think it’s distant for a number of different reasons, but I think they probably have grown apart."

Scaramucci further noted that Trump's family was not fond of the experience they had in Washington, D.C., when they accompanied Trump during his first term, leading them to avoid it more upon his return. Beyond his wife, Trump's sons have been more preoccupied with their business ventures, while his oldest daughter, Ivanka, has kept her distance, reportedly out of concern for the reputational damage her association with his first term caused her.

Trump ballroom fight

NY Times - The proposed "Arc de Trump" in Washington is less a monument than a … travesty that, if built, would dramatically change the landscape of the nation's capital. This is probably why President Trump is so eager to get it made as fast as he can. It would be an unavoidable monument to a presidency and a man whom many Americans would rather not honor so conspicuously, if at all. He understands that once it is there, it will be hard for anyone to make it go away.

America's weapons shortage

The Hill - America’s depleted arsenal of premier offensive and defensive weapons is undermining President Trump’s leverage with Iran.  The military’s supply of its premium long-range missiles and interceptors for key missile defense systems is nearly exhausted after more than five months of airstrikes against Iran, recent news reports revealed, constraining Trump in authorizing major combat operations against the Islamic Republic. 

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta characterized the shortage of munition stockpiles as “poor planning” by the Pentagon at a time when not only is there is a real chance of renewed attacks against Iran if diplomatic talks fail, but also when there are potential threats from Russia and China — particularly should Beijing decide to invade Taiwan.

How's the economy?

Robert Reich

Meanwhile. . .

 NPR  - Virtually everyone has heard of New York City's Wall Street, but have you heard of Dallas' financial hub, dubbed "Y'all Street?" Wall Street banks are setting up camp in the city. It's already home to Goldman Sachs' second-largest U.S. presence after its Manhattan headquarters. The company plans to dwarf that office with a   $700 million, 800,000-square-foot campus in Dallas, expected to open in 2028. The state's business-friendly laws make it easier for companies to protect themselves against lawsuits and other challenges from shareholders.

Treating addiction

Brittney Melton, NPR  - Many of us have someone in our lives who struggles with a substance use disorder. One study found nearly one-third of Americans know someone who died from a fatal overdose.
But studies also show that many doctors, nurses and other clinicians actively avoid treating this vulnerable group of patients.

It’s not that they don’t have tools. There are low-cost, life-saving prescription medications, proven for decades to reduce cravings for alcohol and opioids in ways that save lives. Most American medical professionals simply don’t offer these treatments to their patients. 

Instead, research shows, many clinicians view people experiencing addiction with fear, distrust and hostility. … This kind of stigma among health workers remains widespread, and it affects decisions about how and when physicians care for patients.

…. Nearly a decade after President Trump declared opioids a national public health emergency, most U.S. medical schools still don’t teach addiction care as a core, normalized part of the profession.

New federal data released just last month shows that in 2025 — as Trump was extending the national opioid public health emergency — 80% of Americans facing addiction still received no treatment at all for their substance use.

I think about this a lot when I talk to people on the street experiencing severe addiction and when I interview family members grieving loved ones lost to alcohol and drugs.

What would their path have been like if the first doctor or nurse they encountered early in their illness said, “What you’re experiencing is treatable, we have good medications, and we can help.”

California hit with decline in wine sales

NY Times - - In California, a place famous around the world for its viticulture, winemakers produced less wine last year than at any point in the last quarter century. It’s often cheaper to let grapes rot on the vine than to harvest them because so many unsold bottles clog the shelves of storerooms and wine shops.  So on a sunny morning in Soledad, Calif., in a valley made famous by the author John Steinbeck, Jason Smith acquiesced to simple economics.

A worker unceremoniously drove a tractor and ripped out Mr. Smith’s pinot noir grapes from the ground. Another set fire to the wooden posts that for years had propped up the vines. And Mr. Smith leaned against his white Suburban, under the shade of a coastal oak, watching one of his pinot vineyards go up in smoke.

He had decided to sell all of his land and shut down his family business, which had survived for 51 years. “There’s literally no way for me to make money,” Mr. Smith, 57, said.

Trump war on history

Art News - For fiscal year 2027, the White House has proposed giving the Smithsonian $961.3 million in federal funding, roughly an 11 precent cut from the $1.08 billion Congress provided to it fiscal year 2026 and the institution’s lowest proposed funding level since at least 2020.

The reductions would fall most heavily on facilities spending, which would drop by about 21 percent from $152 million in fiscal 2026 to $120 million under the new proposal, reducing it from roughly one-seventh to about one-eighth of the Smithsonian’s overall budget….

The proposal would reduce the Smithsonian’s federally funded staffing by about 6 percent, cutting the equivalent of full-time positions from 4,047 in fiscal 2026 to 3,804 under the fiscal 2027 request. It would also cut the salaries and expenses account by $87.2 million, bringing it from $928.5 million in the current fiscal year to $841.3 million.

…. President Trump has kept the Smithsonian in the headlines for months as a target of his second administration’s push against what it calls “anti-American” interpretations of history. her patriotism. Hartig defended the museum’s scholarship as “fact-based” and said it was committed to telling a complex story of America through “competing perspectives.”….

President Trump’s second term has already brought major proposed cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Park Service.

Wildfires

Congressional Insider - Fast-moving wildfires in British Columbia forced more than 20,000 people from their homes and pushed the province into a state of emergency. Officials said the Bald Range wildfire spread fast along Okanagan Lake and reached several towns in hours.

Summerland, home to about 12,000 people, was ordered evacuated, along with about 8,000 people in and around Peachland. Premier David Eby said the fire caused major losses, trapped some residents, and led to air evacuations. British Columbia already had more than 100 wildfires burning, with many still out of control in hot, windy, dry weather.

Anthony Fauci

The Hill -  The push to charge former COVID czar Anthony Fauci with contempt of Congress is full of pitfalls for prosecutors, should the Justice Department choose to take up the case.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the criminal referral Thursday, arguing that Fauci's assertion of his Fifth Amendment rights 111 times during a hearing the week before amounts to contempt. 

Spearheaded by Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the resolution has not been vetted by the full Senate, something former prosecutors say is key in building a contempt case.

But even if the measure is taken up and approved after the August recess, experts see other issues with a potential case, questioning grand jurors' interest in bringing charges after an individual asserted a valid constitutional right, as well as Trump administration appetite for a case that could diminish the power of a presidential pardon.

"Fauci would have a bulletproof motion to dismiss on Fifth Amendment grounds. He may invoke the right if he has reasonable fear that his testimony could be used against him in a criminal proceeding. Based on Rand Paul's statements that he would like to see Fauci 'behind bars,' Fauci has that reasonable fear," said Barb McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in Michigan.

Paul and the committee's Republicans argue the pardon received by Fauci from former President Biden negates his right to a Fifth Amendment claim, as he has no reasonable fear of prosecution.

But that pardon only covers the period from January 1, 2014, through January 19, 2025, meaning Fauci could still face charges for things such as perjury before the committee or any state-level crimes.  Indeed, three state attorneys general have all issued subpoenas to Fauci after launching investigations into him.