Six senators accused Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche this week of having a conflict of interest when he shut down investigations into crypto companies, dealers and exchanges and eliminated an enforcement team dedicated to looking for crypto-related fraud and money-laundering schemes. A letter written by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin and Mazie Hirono and signed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Christopher Coons and Richard Blumenthal cited a ProPublica investigation that revealed Blanche owned at least $159,000 worth of crypto-related assets when he ordered an end to the work.
National leadership at the Department of Veterans Affairs initially blocked a memorial planned for Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. In an email obtained by The New Republic, officials at the Minneapolis VA claimed that "local leadership was instructed to pause the memorial" for Pretti, initially scheduled for Tuesday at noon. Two employees also told The Washington Post that a memorial for Pretti had been initially blocked, but another service is scheduled for next week. In response to an inquiry Wednesday about why the first memorial was canceled, Minneapolis VA Medical Center spokesperson Melanie Nelson told TNR that the organization was still working to schedule an event.
A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol employee is facing charges after a Minnesota state trooper found him passed out in his car this week, "covered in vomit," according to a report. Alfredo Mancillas Jr., 31, of Corpus Christi, Texas, was found in St. Paul "slumped over in the driver's seat" around 3:30 a.m. near Allianz Field, according to court documents reviewed by the Sahan Journal. The vehicle reeked of booze and was parked illegally in a no-parking zone. Mancillas displayed telltale signs of intoxication, including "bloodshot and watery eyes" along with visible vomit all over him, the report said. After failing a field sobriety test, the agent refused to take a breath test. He was arrested and faces charges of 3rd and 4th degree driving while impaired. read more
After the recent murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Donald Trump sent a fundraising email warning supporters that they could be flagged as "illegal aliens" if they failed to respond to his donation request. read more
The U.S. deficit with its global trading partners nearly doubled in November as the shortfall with the European Union swelled and the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs worked their way through the economy, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. The increase in the deficit counters Trump's efforts to use tariffs to reduce imbalances around the globe. When announcing so-called reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, the White House used the level of trade deficits with varying countries as a baseline for determining the duties. As the year went by, Trump softened his stance. A framework agreement between the U.S. and the EU in August put the tariff rate at 15% on most European goods and sought to stabilize relations between the two sides.
The mush-brained orange nonce was thrilled by this revelation.