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Donald Trump’s willingness to mix public office with personal benefit is facing scrutiny, as are his latest pardons.

Trump’s Abuse of Pardons Undermines Entire Justice System: Reagan Official Bruce Fein

President Donald Trump has signed a wave of pardons for people convicted of fraud, including a Virginia sheriff who took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and a reality TV couple who evaded millions in taxes after defrauding banks. Last month, Trump pardoned a Florida healthcare executive convicted of tax evasion for stealing nearly $11 million in payroll taxes from the paychecks of doctors and nurses.

As Courts Battle Trump on Tariffs, Will Right-Wing Supreme Court Rescue the President’s Trade Agenda?

President Donald Trump has vowed to go to the Supreme Court to keep his tariffs in place after a whirlwind 24 hours that saw a court temporarily reinstate the measures, soon after two courts blocked most of the tariffs, saying Trump overstepped his presidential authority. Trump has been infuriated by the legal challenges and lashed out on social media against the Federalist Society and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.

“Worse Than McCarthyism”: Historian Ellen Schrecker on Trump’s War Against Universities & Students

We speak with esteemed historian scholar Ellen Schrecker about the Trump administration’s assault on universities and the crackdown on dissent, a climate of fear and censorship she describes as “worse than McCarthyism.”
“During the McCarthy period, it was attacking only individual professors and only about their sort of extracurricular political activities on the left. … Today, the repression that’s coming out of Washington, D.C.

“Mt. Everest of Corruption”: Crypto Investors Buy Access to President; Trump Expands Bitcoin Holdings

We speak with Robert Weissman of Public Citizen about Donald Trump’s various conflicts of interest after Trump hosted a private dinner at his Virginia golf club for the 220 top buyers of his $TRUMP cryptocurrency. The Trump family has also announced it is expanding its holdings in cryptocurrencies, with the Trump tech startup set to raise $2.5 billion to invest in bitcoin. “There’s millions of losers for every few winners in the crypto game.

Mosquito Protocol: Ex-Israeli Soldier on Army’s Systematic Use of Palestinians as Human Shields

Israel has repeatedly claimed without evidence that Hamas endangers civilians by hiding behind human shields. It turns out, however, that Israel has systematically used Palestinians as human shields in violation of both international and Israeli law. A new investigation by the Associated Press joins reports by +972 Magazine, Haaretz and the Red Cross in documenting how Palestinians have been used as human shields to inspect buildings, tunnels and other sites in Gaza and the West Bank.

“Mt. Everest of Corruption”: Crypto Investors Buy Access to President; Trump Expands Bitcoin Holdings

We speak with Robert Weissman of Public Citizen about Donald Trump’s various conflicts of interest after Trump hosted a private dinner at his Virginia golf club for the 220 top buyers of his $TRUMP cryptocurrency. The Trump family has also announced it is expanding its holdings in cryptocurrencies, with the Trump tech startup set to raise $2.5 billion to invest in bitcoin. “There’s millions of losers for every few winners in the crypto game.

“Corporate Criminal”: Nadia Milleron, Whose Daughter Died in 737 Crash, Slams New DOJ-Boeing Deal

The Trump administration has reached a deal with the aerospace giant Boeing that will allow the company to pay $1.1 billion to avoid criminal prosecution for two deadly crashes of the company’s 737 MAX jet in 2018 and 2019, which together killed 346 people. Under the non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, Boeing would pay fines and fund safety improvements while providing an additional $445 million for crash victims’ families, among other measures.

“I Am a Political Prisoner”: Immigrant Rights Activist Jeanette Vizguerra Speaks from ICE Jail

We speak with the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa after she got extraordinary access to an ICE detention center in Colorado, where she interviewed the immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra. The undocumented mother of four was arrested by federal agents in Denver in March after she successfully fought multiple deportation efforts since 2009, including when she took sanctuary in a Denver church with her children in 2017.

Trump’s media company touts another fun way to bribe the president

Good news for anyone who hasn’t yet had the opportunity to shower money on President Donald Trump’s private companies: Trump Media & Technology Group is going to raise $2.5 billion to invest in bitcoin, giving big-money investors another chance to buy influence. 

Announcing the investment, TMTG, the parent company of Truth Social, filed a report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that it already has subscription agreements from about 50 institutional investors.

Watch King Charles take a swing at Trump’s attacks on Canada

King Charles III voiced his royal support for our neighbor to the north on Tuesday, delivering a none-too-subtle dig at U.S. President Donald Trump while addressing the Canadian Parliament’s opening session and shading Trump’s fractious foreign trade policies. 

“Today, Canada faces another critical moment.

RFK Jr. says no more COVID vaccines for kids and pregnant women

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t want people to take medical advice from him—unless he is telling specific groups of people to stop getting vaccinated. 

The Health and Human Services secretary said in a video posted to X Tuesday that he was removing the COVID-19 vaccine from the recommendation list for children and healthy pregnant women.

The Recap: Another pardon for a MAGA monster, and who’s suing Trump now?

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.

Trump’s waging a war on fridges—and voters hate it

Not only is food getting more expensive, but it may also get less safe to eat.

The FTC is being weaponized for Elon Musk—and it won’t stop there

Because an infomercial for Tesla on the White House lawn wasn’t enough.

Georgia Abortion Ban Forces Family to Keep Pregnant, Brain-Dead Woman on Life Support

A 30-year-old Black woman in Georgia has been kept on life support for three months against her family’s wishes because of the state’s “fetal heartbeat” anti-abortion law. Adriana Smith was declared legally dead in February after a medical emergency caused her brain function to cease. Smith, a nurse, had been initially turned away when she first sought medical care. She was nine weeks pregnant at the time.

Israel Bombs Home of Gaza Pediatrician, Killing 9 of Her 10 Kids, in Latest Attack on Health Workers

Pediatric physician Dr. Alaa al-Najjar had just begun work in the emergency room at Nasser Medical Complex when she was suddenly called to return to her home in Khan Younis. When she arrived, emergency workers were pulling the charred bodies of her children from piles of rubble. An Israeli airstrike had destroyed her home, killing nine of al-Najjar’s 10 children and seriously wounding her husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, and their only surviving child, Adam.

“King of the North”: New Book Examines MLK’s Fight Against Police Brutality & Racism Outside Dixie

Historian Jeanne Theoharis’s new book, King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life of Struggle Outside the South, is a major reexamination of the civil rights leader that offers a different picture of both King’s own experiences of police brutality and his sustained critique of police brutality and the criminal legal system in the North as well as the South.
“We’ve southernized Dr. King.