Bellarusque

Happy 250th, everybody! Reupping this piece on the Trump-MAGA betrayal of the Declaration, Obama's vision of patriotism, and Lincoln's "electric cord" speech, which is worth rereading to commemorate this moment: newrepublic.com/article/2121...

Also in this piece: A response to JD Vance's recent indictment of creedal nationalism, which got a lot of attention but gets some basic things really wrong: newrepublic.com/article/2121...

"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

Nearly one million people who bought Trump's memecoin have lost money through the end of June. Their losses total $3.81 billion. Trump walked away with a $636 million payout on the same crypto bet.

Trump turning America's 250th anniversary into his own vanity project? If this playbook feels familiar, it should. Authoritarian leaders have long understood that controlling the landscape, literally what people see when they look up at a building, is itself a form of power.

Does Trump fit James Madison’s definition of tyranny?

Trump may be getting tired of losing, but Elias Law Group is not tired of winning! www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans often equate nationalism with patriotism. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The fight over the NVRA’s quiet period goes beyond one state law or lawsuit. It is a fight over whether eligible voters will have meaningful protection from being wrongly removed from the rolls at the moment when the consequences are hardest to undo. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/fed...

Authoritarianism cannot exist with free thought. It must dominate the societal discourse and prevent debate. That means it must also dictate history. The Nazis knew this. And it appears that the Trump administration knows this as well.

On this July 4 — the 250th anniversary of the start of this country — many people believe that celebrating America means waving the flag or standing for the national anthem or shouting, “America First.” That’s not what real patriotism is. Let me explain.

Whether you are MAGA or a democratic socialist, it’s worth reading our founding document in full.

Hundreds of uniformed members of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, marched toward the Capitol today. Their faces covered in white masks, the men beat drums and carried flags — some upside down, others Confederate — as they chanted, "Reclaim America!"

Patriotism isn't about building walls, punishing immigrants, cutting taxes for the rich, attacking the press, or dividing us by race & faith. True patriots don't pander to divisiveness or hate. They work to confirm the "WE" in "We the People of the United States."

Cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world. Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent. Depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury. These were all complaints written about King George III 250 years ago. Unfortunately, they could've easily been written about Trump today.

“This is typical behavior from the Trump administration, where everyone feels they have license to do sleazy self-dealing.”

A year ago, Donald Trump signed a bill to slash health care for millions of Americans, including children. Here’s how many kids have lost Medicaid and CHIP because of Donald Trump so far. Alabama: 5,663 kids Alaska: 12,388 kids Arizona: 74,680 kids Arkansas: 10,523 kids

California: 382,776 kids Connecticut: 5,516 kids DC: 4,635 kids Delaware: 4,360 kids Florida: 121,219 kids Georgia: 93,697 kids Hawaii: 1,366 kids Idaho: 7,541 kids Illinois: 92,727 kids Indiana: 174,016 kids Iowa: 8,340 kids Kansas: 12,535 kids Kentucky: 60,522 kids

Louisiana: 32,496 kids Maine: 1,910 kids Maryland: 23,906 kids Massachusetts: 25,169 kids Michigan: 50,421 kids Mississippi: 11,259 kids Missouri: 28,129 kids Montana: 2,178 kids Nebraska: 6,793 kids Nevada: 16,300 kids New Hampshire: 5,629 kids New Jersey: 9,691 kids

New Mexico: 19,054 kids New York: 31,849 kids North Carolina: 58,250 kids North Dakota: 2,474 kids Ohio: 80,467 kids Oklahoma: 17,618 kids Oregon: 13,797 kids Pennsylvania: 55,519 kids Rhode Island: 11,163 kids South Carolina: 49,298 kids

South Dakota: 5,555 kids Tennessee: 17,633 kids Texas: 190,956 kids Utah: 11,325 kids Vermont: 2,034 kids Virginia: 67,520 kids Washington: 30,047 kids West Virginia: 11,883 kids Wisconsin: 28,820 kids Wyoming: 3,829 kids

Today of all days, let's remember that immigrants make America great.

So, @michaelharriot.bsky.social asked me how I would re-write the constitution and... of course I had some thoughts. Happy White Man's Independence Day. www.contrabandcamp.com/p/250-in-bla...

The Trump administration’s fireworks show will likely produce unhealthy levels of pollution at the National Mall and the surrounding area. To fund the extravagance, Trump is using $1.6 million in revenue from entry fees to national parks—five times more than what’s usually spent on the show.

-A living wage -Guaranteed healthcare -The right to join a union -The right to vote -The right to choose when, how, and with whom you start a family -The right for you and your family to live free from gun violence Remember: These are the foundations of real freedom.

As America’s 250th anniversary commences, the president wants to control the country’s future by bulldozing its past.

One year ago today, Trump signed his and Republicans’ big, ugly bill. Since then, millions have lost healthcare and food stamps — but the super-rich and corporations are doing better than ever.

Benito Miranda Hernandez completed three tours during the Iraq war but now faces removal from the US to Mexico.

I knew record amounts of glyphosate were being sprayed in California’s forests, much of it in the wake of the megafires that have hit the state in recent years. But it was hard to fully get a sense of the scale of the destruction until I saw it from the sky.

For decades, the senator has argued that concentrated wealth threatened American democracy. Now he’s betting that frustration with Big Tech, billionaires, and unchecked AI is reaching a tipping point.

In the biggest voting news of the week, the Supreme Court rejected a Republican attempt to restrict mail voting by barring states from accepting ballots that arrive after Election Day. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

The sequence of events following Trump's reflecting pool debacle follows a pattern characteristic of many of the president’s projects and policies. While the steps may occur in different orders, they end in roughly the same place: failure, with regular people paying the price.

“We don’t tax wealth, we tax income. For people who have a huge amount of property and are ultrawealthy, they can avoid having very much income.” Unrealized gains are, essentially, ­income—just ask the bankers who accept them as collateral. But Congress has never touched them.

A federal judge has rejected Trump's request for more time to respond to E. Jean Carroll's demand for the $5.8 million she won in the civil lawsuit against him. Trump must now reply by July 7.

Sarah Keys Evans’ story is one of thousands about women and people of color to be removed since Trump’s return to office.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum just defended the white nationalist march in D.C. "There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, reprehensible. But in America, free speech is allowed," he said, before comparing a public display of racial supremacy to communism.

We are working every day to keep Oregon communities safe. That’s why we’ve taken dozens of legal actions to protect Oregonians from unlawful federal overreach related to immigration enforcement. #orpol Learn more: https://ow.ly/ZHwg50ZiqMS

Remember: Almost all of us are the descendants of immigrants who fled persecution, or were brought to America under duress, or simply sought better lives for themselves and their descendants. Donald Trump wants to stoke so much fear and hatred that people forget this. Do not.

As the Trump administration tries to erase the legacy of slavery and lynching from the nation’s museums, Bryan Stevenson’s Legacy Sites are confronting America’s full past head-on. Hear more on this week’s episode of @revealnews.org: tinyurl.com/3crr3xmj

"The democracy challenges of the present and the history of the youth advocacy for the 26th Amendment demonstrate that a Second Founding is both necessary and possible. July 5th should be America’s first day of a bold Second Founding agenda." www.democracydocket.com/opinion/we-n...

"Kennedy’s health department added several new members to a panel that will review some peptides next month. At least seven of the members have ties to peptide-related businesses and clinics..." www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Montana's Trump-endorsed Republican U.S. Senate nominee... www.huffpost.com/entry/montan...

Culling American history leaves gaping holes in the American story that make it unintelligible.

Albanian court frees protesters who rallied against Kushner-linked resort https://aje.news/9p260m

“You can significantly politicize the federal workforce by firing them, and then loosening the standards and restrictions on which you bring people in...” www.notus.org/agencies/dog...

"In nearly every state, the official humanities nonprofits created by a congress to help make history and literature accessible to all Americans had to give up their 250th anniversary planning when DOGE pulled their federal funding..." www.notus.org/agencies/dog...

NYT confirms: Trump personally asked FIFA to review a U.S. player's suspension. Now he's eligible to play. The reversal of Folarin Balogun's World Cup suspension is highly unusual. It was the first time since 1962 that FIFA has nullified a suspension for a red card received during the World Cup.

www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/u...