Notes to My Future Self
by Brad Rourke
Shining a light on the things we will want to remember when we wonder what happened.
THE RECORD
-
Trump Orders Probe of Democrats
The officials facing scrutiny will now decide whether to investigate the people scrutinizing them.
-
White House Targets Nonprofits
The election placed a new check on presidential power. The White House is already signaling how hard it intends to push back.
-
What to Watch After Election Day
It is us, the people watching, who will be the bulwark against what history could otherwise call a coup.
-
ICE Infiltrated Americans’ Political Meetings
Americans exercising their constitutional rights to organize and protest are now intelligence targets.
-
When a Birth Certificate Doesn’t Make You an American
What happens when the government or ruling party decides that documentary proof of American citizenship is not enough? I think we know.
-
FCC Threatens Broadcasters Over “Fake Polls”
When the government threatens broadcasters over “fake polls” and “fake news,” it is claiming jurisdiction over which is which.
-
A Plan to Manipulate the Midterms?
The Trump administration is taking an everything, everywhere, all at once approach to getting its way in the midterms.
-
Armed Federal Agents Investigate Voters at Home
The administration says it is just enforcing laws that prohibit noncitizen voting. It is impossible to tell how many eligible voters will stay away from the polls because they fear a knock at the door.
-
ICE Plans $100M Spy Network
The domestic surveillance apparatus on which a dictatorship will depend is being built before our eyes.
-
Inside America’s Largest ICE Detention Camp
Detention camps like this are what we will look back on and wonder how it is we could have let this happen.
-
DOJ Sues California Over 20,000 Voters’ Ballots
The plan appears to be: Disqualify first. Ask questions later.
-
Justice Department Seeking to Denaturalize Citizens
For naturalized Americans in this new America, even citizenship acquired decades ago can be reopened for review.
EARLIER NOTES
-
Deported to Third Countries
The Supreme Court says that, for now, people can continue to be deported to countries they may never have set foot in before.
-
Your Money, Trump’s Campaign
We are paying for our own propaganda.
-
US, Russia: Let AI Pick Targets
Two nations, each in their own war of choice, agree that humans do not have to be in the loop when a machine identifies a target. Why should be obvious.
-
Amnesty: Dismantle ICE
Autocrats often seek to build a secret police answerable only to them. Ours is called ICE.
-
Armed Agents at the Polls
The upcoming midterm elections, who gets to vote in them, and how they are conducted, are shaping up to be one of the most important battles for the future of our democracy.
-
Trump Arch to Have Snipers
Who are these snipers supposed to protect Washington from?
-
Press Banned From the White House
We may well look back on these press attacks as yet another step in our vanishing democracy.
-
Kennedy Center 30-Day Demolition Warning
“If we don’t do that,” he said, “it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down.”
-
Abortion Battle’s New Front
The battle over abortion has reached the fight over our water supply.
-
The Trump Loyalty Question
More than 140 years after the Pendleton Act began dismantling the spoils system, nurses and firefighters applying for federal jobs are facing “loyalty tests,” being asked how they will help advance the president’ priorities.
-
ICE Brings Batons to Suburbs
We are now watching where they go next.
-
Armed Man Rushes Candidate
Political violence does not have to succeed to erode a democracy. It needs only become ever more ordinary.
