Clear It With Sidney

The best of the week’s news by Lindsay Beyerstein

July 2025

July 18, 2025

Sidney's Picks: ICE Lawyers Hide their Names in Court

Photo credit:

Todd Huffman, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

It’s not just the masked agents, ICE lawyers are hiding their names in court. (Intercept)
Republicans vote to defund PBS and NPR. (NYT)
The US will incinerate 500 metric tons of emergency food aid rather than distribute it to starving children. (Atlantic)
Justice Department hits states with broad requests for voter data and two thirds of the lawyers defending the Trump administration in court have quit. (WaPo)
A proposed Trump policy could leave 1.4 million poor renters homeless. (AP)

July 11, 2025

Sidney's Picks: Trump May Double the Price of Coffee to Help a Fascist

Photo credit:

Steven Miller, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

Trump threatens a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports unless they stop trying to hold their former fascist president accountable for his failed coup. (Prospect, NYT)
Aid to Texas flood victims was delayed because Kristi Noem has to personally sign off on all expenditures over $100,000. Plus, the head of warning coordination at the National Weather Service was pushed out by DOGE. (WaPo, NYT)
Trump’s Department of Labor is dismantling critical workplace protections. (EPI)
Benjamin Netanyahu dragged out the war in Gaza in order to stay in power. (NYT)
Lawsuits allege Eric Adams created a culture of cronyism at the NYPD, including selling promotions. (Gothamist, Hellgate)

July 4, 2025

Sidney's Picks: The Budget by the Numbers

Photo credit:

Jack, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

The horrors of the Republican budget in 10 charts. (NYT)
“Free fall”: A public health crisis looms as RFKjr attacks vaccines. (TNR)
Camera catches ICE agents urinating in a California schoolyard. (NYT)
Immigration raids leave crops unharvested and California farms’ futures uncertain. (Reuters)
Putin bombards Ukraine in one of the most intense attacks of the war after call with Trump. (WaPo)