Undaunted

How to start on the right foot.

open.substack.com

Eye-Popping Sum Taxpayers Paid for Ivanka’s Birthday Trip Revealed

The president’s eldest daughter celebrated her 45th birthday in style—and American taxpayers appear to have picked up a hefty security tab.

thedailybeast.com

More than 40% of names on DOJ list of alleged noncitizens not on California's voter rolls: analysis

More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration can’t even be found on the state’s voter rolls.

apnews.com

Our American Matrix, Our American Skynet

And how to liberate ourselves

snyder.substack.com

How Billionaires Are Fighting the Prop 40 California Wealth Tax (Gift Article)

The latest Silicon Valley billionaire club is a $333 million political ad machine that is heavily engaged in next week’s elections.

nytimes.com

Pardon Industry Offers Rich Offenders a Path to Trump (Gift Article)

One inmate paid lobbyists and lawyers with ties to the president’s team and walked free. Others are following his blueprint, but it is not always clear who can deliver.

nytimes.com

October 18, 2026

Tonight Lingling Wei, Alex Leary, Thomas Grove, and Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal reported that Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has proposed a meeting next month with Trump and China’s pres...

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

‘I will hunt you down’: U.S. attorney baselessly threatens voters as polls open in Texas

He also threatened local election officials with criminal prosecution.

democracydocket.com

7 Years Old, No Lawyer: Migrant Children Face Deportation Hearings Alone (Gift Article)

For years, the government has helped secure lawyers for minors who arrive at the southern border. But a contract dispute has forced many children to face immigration judges on their own.

nytimes.com

ACA Premiums Will Rise by Double Digits for the Second Year in a Row

The health insurance costs won’t spike as badly as last year but will still rise 11%, per documents provided to The Washington Sun.

washingtonsun.com

Elon Musk leads the megadonors pumping $2.3 billion into midterm elections

Billionaires and Elon Musk, who recently temporarily achieved trillionaire status, make up the top individual donors.

wapo.st

See the full list of major donors to the White House ballroom

Many of the donors on the list have not been previously reported.

wapo.st

Public Sadism

Trump’s and Hegseth’s barbaric decision to live-stream an execution

robertreich.substack.com

Unfit to Serve

People we’d like to see banned from government.

open.substack.com

First Them, Then Us: America’s Shift from Police State to Prison State | By John & Nisha Whitehead

America, you got fooled. Again. Think the breakdown of due process only affects immigrants? Think again. From secret databases to erased records, the infrastructure of authoritarianism is being built ...

rutherford.org

Exclusive: Trump administration removes resources to help U.S. citizens born abroad vote

The move could make it harder for a small but significant group of American citizens abroad to understand their voting rights. It’s part of a sweeping attack by the administration on access to the bal...

democracydocket.com

Trump’s mass detention machine in Pennsylvania

"ICE is just churning bodies into the detention system."

motherjones.com

Malaysia begins sending home Myanmar refugees despite safety concerns

Malaysia began the process ‌of deporting around 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday as part of a refugee repatriation programme, defying objections from the United Nations and dozens of human rights groups.

reut.rs

Trump Sharply Scales Back Fuel Economy Rules for New Cars (Gift Article)

The move marked the final step in the administration’s efforts to dismantle policies aimed at speeding the shift to electric vehicles.

nytimes.com

A Quiet ICE Surge That Unfolded ‘Everywhere All at Once’ This Summer (Gift Article)

A review of dozens of incidents caught on camera sheds new light on a largely invisible crackdown.

nytimes.com

Trump administration uses rare authority to claw back nearly $1B in spending approved by Congress

President Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1 billion in spending approved by Congress. The White House announced the move on Friday, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant serv...

apnews.com

AI exec: We may have pulled off “the largest theft of labor in human history.”

Documents from our lawsuit reveal how tech leaders talk when they think no one is listening.

motherjones.com

E.P.A. Moves to Curb Public Input on Data Centers (Gift Article)

Under the proposal, states would no longer need to provide public notice or solicit comments on air pollution permits for data centers and other projects.

nytimes.com

Jim Crow was on the ash heap of history. Then came the Roberts court.

The disaster the justices have unleashed has its roots in one of the darkest periods of our past.

motherjones.com

September 22, 2026

In 1945, still reeling from World War II, representatives from 50 nations reached back to the U.S.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

The California lawmaker forcing Big Food to clean up its act

While DC dithers, Jesse Gabriel has quietly become America’s de facto food safety chief.

motherjones.com

How Trump Has Disrupted National Parks (Gift Article)

Maintenance projects have been put off around the country and resources diverted to the president’s favored projects in Washington.

nytimes.com