When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a small North Carolina startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism. The president's eldest son said through a spokesperson that he wasn't involved. The Pentagon said Trump Jr. played no role in the record-setting deal. And the startup's founder told reporters that his company, Vulcan Elements, received no political favoritism. But interviews and Defense Department records reviewed by ProPublica show that the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.'s.
The US economy expanded less than initially estimated in the first quarter, government data showed Thursday, while a key inflation gauge separately hit a three-year high on fallout from the Middle East war. The figures sound a warning on pressures that American households are facing ahead of midterm elections, as steeper gasoline prices squeeze budgets and a boost from tax refunds fades. Gross domestic product in the world's biggest economy rose at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first three months this year, the Commerce Department said. This was down from an earlier estimate of 2.0 percent, with the pullback "primarily reflecting downward revisions to investment and consumer spending," the department added.
A former senior CIA official has been implicated in a scheme to apparently steal some $40 million in gold bars that he has obtained from the government for unspecified "work-related expenses." Read more
Carroll, whose advice column ran in the women's magazine Elle from 1993 to 2019, has reportedly accused at least six prior men of raping her, including former CBS President Les Moonves. Her bizarre social-media history also included posts making light of sexual trauma and even asking her followers if they found Trump sexually attractive. Trump was prevented from submitting that evidence in his trial. Read more
The Department of Justice filedlawsuitsagainst Maine, Washington, Oregon, and Massachusetts challenging their policies of denying confidential license plates to federal law-enforcement officers (e.g. DHS and ICE agents).
The sinister Trump junta wants to protect ICE thugs from lawsuits and an angry public today or after the junta finally falls
A 69-year-old man known in his San Diego County neighborhood as the owner of the "Trump house" died from injuries suffered when he was brutally assaulted outside of his home. Kerry George Sheron of Escondido was hospitalized in critical condition last week after he was attacked outside his MAGA-themed residence at East Mission Avenue and Buchanan Street around 2 p.m., according to the city Police Department. The alleged attacker, Thomas Caleb Butler, 32, fled on foot and was apprehended that day.
A bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges on Wednesday asked the judge who oversaw President Trump's remarkable lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service to reopen the case and conduct an inquiry into whether the hasty deal to resolve it could be challenged as an act of fraud.
A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to implement his executive order tightening mail-in voting, slapping down Democrats' arguments for now that federal efforts to police voter rolls with citizenship checks was illegal.
Faux TV tumor MAGA "economist" Larry Kudlow, a thrice-married former cocaine addict and recovering alcoholic who converted from Judaism to Catholicism, denigrated the popular and effective NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) as a "stupid kid" and a "Stalinist," after His Honor introduced a bold new plan to create hundreds of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments for struggling New Yorkers.
Why NYC Roundly Rejected Good-for-Nothings Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams"It's just pure communist, pure Stalinism," 12-step program useless dinosaur Larry Kudlow bleated on TV.
On the first night of Eid celebrations and family visits in the Gaza Strip, Israeli fighter jets carried out intense air strikes targeting a residential building in central Gaza City, killing seven, including three women and a child, wounding 18 others. Meanwhile, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz has advanced plans to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip through "voluntary emigration" which would take place "at the proper time and in the proper manner."
Israeli Settlers Merrily Celebrating Deaths of Muslims
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is moving to have his wife, Christie, hired as a Special Government Employee (SGE) which would allow her to fly free with him on federal flights. Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem hired her rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski, in the same manner. With this sinecure, Mrs Christie Mullin could also earn $130,000 per year.
Mr and Mrs Mullet Wedding Portrait
Oil prices have jumped after the US carried out new attacks on Iran, targeting a military site in Bandar Abbas, a strategic port city. The US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces also shot down four Iranian drones "that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz". Global oil benchmark Brent rose by 3.75% to $97.83 (73.15) a barrel, while US-traded crude was 4% higher at $92.22. Read more
Back-to-back-to-back within six months, Nevada US Army National Guardsman PFC Mace Veit (19) graduated from Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, and Pathfinder schools all without injury or problem. When PFC Veit catches his breath, and if his unit has the funds to send him, he can attend the newly-reconstituted US Army Jungle Warfare School (18 days) in Panama. This Cavalry Scout (Honor Graduate) should easily pass the rigorous qualification for the sought-after Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB).
Rangers Lead the WayI would deploy with PFC Mace Veit.
A former US government official has been arrested after FBI investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40 million in his Virginia home. David Rush made several requests to the US government to receive the bars for "work-related expenses" over the past year, according to court documents. He has been charged with criminal theft of public money in a complaint filed last week. Read more
The US Navy commissioned the last of its 35 littoral combat ships, the USS Cleveland, earlier this month at a pier in its namesake Ohio city. "Steel. Strength. Power," acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao posted on social media to mark the occasion. Critics of the littoral combat ship (LCS) program had some other descriptions. "Easy meat," said one. "An experiment that didn't work," said another. Read more
The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former Elle magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The investigation is allegedly centered around whether Carroll committed perjury during her civil lawsuits against President Trump, after which she was awarded a $5 million judgment, the sources said.
