Clear It With Sidney

The best of the week’s news by Lindsay Beyerstein

August 2026

August 21, 2026

Sidney's Picks: White House Fury Made Natalie Harp National News

Photo credit:

Natalie Harp, Donkey Hote, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

A few well-placed attacks could destroy the entire US power grid. (NYT)
The Natalie Harp blunder. (The Atlantic)
MAGA Rep. Max Miller is bleeding union support as he faces serious allegations of child abuse. (Politico, WaPo)
Unions remain defiant in the face of federal surveillance in the wake of anti-ICE protests. (MN Reformer)
DOGE broke the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and fishermen, farmers, insurers, and consumers are paying the price. (Forbes)

August 14, 2026

Sidney's Picks: Trump's War on Wind Farms is Killing Jobs

Photo credit:

Offshore wind farm, Fernando Butcher, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

Trump’s bizarre war on wind farms is killing jobs and hurting workers. (MoJo)
A Cuban immigrant has been deported to an obscure African country because Cuba won’t take him back, he may never go free. (NYT)
A million immigrants came here legally but now their status is being stripped away. (New Yorker)
ICE officers may soon have gloves that deliver electric shocks. (AP)
Fiasco at General Dynamics: How a half-billion dollar artillery plant ended up producing nothing (ProPublica)
The government is monitoring social media accounts critical of Flock cameras. (404media)

August 7, 2026

Sidney's Picks: IRS Union Sues to Stop Trump's $100 Million Tax Immunity Deal

Photo credit:

Alyson Hurt, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

Union representing IRS workers sues to stop Trump’s $100 million tax immunity deal, arguing that it would force them to break the law. (AP)
What’s the deal with Trump’s “Freedom Fuel” gas stations? (WaPo)
Climate change dropped the water level in the Danube, now Romania is sinking barges of rocks to bring it back up to keep a nuclear reactor running. (AP)
A St. Louis woman self-deported to Guatemala, weeks later she and her husband were found shot to death in a field. (MoJo)
Trump’s boat strikes in the Caribbean have killed innocent people (ABC)