Author: dizzy

This author has written 9471 articles

Raskin Introduces BLANCHE Act to Destroy Trump DOJ’s Plot for ‘Super Pardon’ of President and His Family

Spread the love

Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies before a House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“If the administration and its allies in Congress are truly walking away from the $1.8 billion criminal enrichment fund, they should have no problem joining us in banning it outright,” the Maryland Democrat said.

Though acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has said President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “weaponization” slush fund is now “dead,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin on Thursday unveiled draft legislation that would eliminate what he describes as a “super pardon” buried in the Department of Justice settlement reached last month.

While Blanche—whom Trump said he plans to nominate for a full term as attorney general—has backed off the fund that would allow the DOJ to disburse taxpayer money to Trump allies and January 6 insurrectionists amid bipartisan backlash, a news release from Raskin’s (D-Md.) office on Thursday said the acting AG has done nothing to rescind “the mother of all sweetheart deals he tucked into his unprecedented settlement with Trump.”

RECOMMENDED…

Acting AG Todd Blanche Testifies In Senate Hearing On Tuesday Morning

Top Democrats Demand DOJ and IRS Answer for Trump ‘Taxpayer Shakedown’ and ‘Super-Pardon’

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Testifies During House Hearing

‘Block Blanche’ Campaign Launched After Trump Says He’ll Nominate Acting AG to Lead DOJ

The settlement, created in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for improperly leaking his tax returns, gives Trump, his entire family, and all their business ventures total and permanent immunity for “any matters currently pending or that could be pending” not only before the IRS, which Trump sued in the case that led to the settlement, but also before “other agencies or departments.”

The Maryland Democrat also said that despite retreating on the “weaponization” fund, the DOJ is still using its Judgment Fund to improperly reward the president’s allies.

According to the Washington Post, as of April, the DOJ had already paid $8.5 million to prominent Trump allies who claimed to have been wrongly targeted by the Biden administration, even though no court formally determined that they had been.

“If the administration and its allies in Congress are truly walking away from the $1.8 billion criminal enrichment fund, they should have no problem joining us in banning it outright,” Raskin said. “But no one should be fooled by Trump and Blanche’s tactical pause: Nothing has been dismantled, and nothing has been renounced. Trump’s scheme to raid the Judgment Fund, bankroll political allies using taxpayer cash, and score a sweeping Super Pardon is alive and well and remains a clear and present threat to our constitutional order.”

Raskin, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a new legislative package on Thursday, aiming to destroy the remaining vestiges of the DOJ deal and ensure that future presidents can never use federal settlements to reward themselves.

The Block Lawless Agreements and Nullify Corrupt Handouts and Emoluments (BLANCHE) Act, bars sitting presidents from entering settlements for money damages with the federal government and requires independent judicial oversight of any such agreements, including ones that grant the president “super pardons” like the one granted to Trump by the DOJ.

“My legislative package would end the slush fund, outlaw collusive settlements, and make clear that no president can use taxpayer dollars to cut partisan loyalty reward checks,” Raskin said.

He also introduced the Constitutional Rights Defense Act, which would allow individuals to file suits against the federal government when their rights are violated by agents of the state.

In contrast with the January 6 Capitol riot participants who have been claiming compensation under the fund, Raskin said his bill “ensures that all people who have actually had their constitutional rights violated by the government will have access to justice.”

Raskin has previously introduced legislation that would block the use of federal funds to finance the Trump IRS settlement and prohibit payouts to January 6 Capitol riot participants and other Trump allies, including family members.

“Congress must act with urgency to shut down this presidential plunder once and for all,” Raskin said.

Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up

Continue ReadingRaskin Introduces BLANCHE Act to Destroy Trump DOJ’s Plot for ‘Super Pardon’ of President and His Family

‘The Country Is Not Trump’s to Liquidate’: New Report Details Depths of Presidential Corruption and Grift

Spread the love

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

US President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the White House South Terrace balustrade view as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

“Americans know they’re being ripped off and are demanding accountability.”

The American Economic Liberties Project and Groundwork Collaborative on Wednesday released a joint report detailing how President Donald Trump’s unprecedented corruption is padding his own pockets at the expense of US taxpayers.

The report—titled “The Price of Corruption: How Trump’s Pay-to-Play Administration is Driving Up Costs for Working Families”—explains how Trump isn’t just using the presidency to enrich himself, but leaving ordinary Americans to foot the bill for his corrupt dealings.

RECOMMENDED…

A Trump supporter holds up a certificate of pardon in connection with the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection

‘He’s Just Stealing Your Money’: House Dems Launch Bid to Block $1.8 Billion Trump-MAGA ‘Slush Fund’

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and President Donald Trump

‘A $1,700,000,000 Fraud’: Trump Set to Drop IRS Suit in Exchange for MAGA Slush Fund

The report notes that the TrumpRx website, which purports to offer Americans deep discounts on drugs, is actually a scheme for funneling even more money to large pharmaceutical companies.

“When Trump rolled out TrumpRX earlier this year, the administration claimed it was a way for Americans to access more affordable prescription drugs,” the report states. “Instead, the platform fails to disclose information about less expensive generic alternatives and, in some instances, charges consumers more for products that are available for less elsewhere.”

Rather than providing real relief, the report charges, TrumpRx “serves as free advertisement for Big Pharma and may be lining the pockets of the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is on the board of prescription drug platform BlinkRX, which stands to benefit from the administration’s promotion of direct-to-patient medicine sales.”

The report also highlights the way that Trump has used his tariffs, which raise the cost of imported goods for US consumers, as a personal self-enrichment tool, such as when he slashed tariffs on Switzerland “just a few days after Swiss business leaders presented him with a personalized gold bar worth more than $130,000 and a Rolex desk clock.”

Trump levied tariffs against Brazil last year in retaliation for that country convicting a political ally, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, of plotting a coup to illegally stay in power after he lost an election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.

“Americans paid the price for Trump’s international allies breaking the law,” states the report, “as coffee imported from Brazil surged to a 40% increase in price.”

One particularly egregious instance of Trump’s corruption, the report explains, comes from the president’s unprecedented number of pardons of political allies, including hundreds of rioters who violently stormed the US Capitol on his behalf on January 6, 2021.

Beyond the high-profile rioter cases, the report shines a spotlight on a number of white-collar criminals who have received presidential clemency, including Paul Walczak, “a nursing home executive convicted of tax evasion” who was pardoned “three weeks after his mother donated $1 million to Trump at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser,” and cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao, who received a pardon months after helping boost the Trump family’s crypto venture.

The report notes that the Trump administration has also stacked regulatory agencies in ways that directly benefit the business interests of the president’s family members, most prominently in the realm of online prediction markets tied to Donald Trump Jr.

“Over the past year, Donald Trump Jr. has served as a strategic advisor to Kalshi and a large investor in Polymarket, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—the agency overseeing these firms—has acted as their ally, rather than their watchdog,” the report says. “Both firms had actively lobbied Trump’s CFTC to block states from regulating prediction markets in the same way they regulate gambling companies.”

Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, called the report on Trump’s corruption “a reminder that we cannot afford to look away or pretend that any of this is normal.”

“The country,” Harper added, “is not Trump’s to liquidate.”

Molly Claflin, senior fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, made the case that Trump’s corruption and the economic pain being felt by Americans are inseparable.

“As working families buckle under the weight of Trump’s high prices, the president is further driving up costs by abusing his position to direct taxpayer-funded kickbacks to his family and political allies,” said Claflin. “His erratic policymaking is making daily life more expensive. Americans know they’re being ripped off and are demanding accountability.”

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up

Continue Reading‘The Country Is Not Trump’s to Liquidate’: New Report Details Depths of Presidential Corruption and Grift

Voters in California City Become First in US to Approve Permanent Ban on Data Centers

Spread the love

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Anti-data center protest signs pepper front yards in a nearby residential neighborhood in Monterey Park, California on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.  (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“We hope that other communities will use the model set by residents here… as inspiration to stop data centers from encroaching in their backyard,” said a Monterey Park city councilmember.

Voters in Monterey Park, California on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a permanent ban on data centers within city limits, becoming the first city in the US to prohibit the power-hungry facilities via a ballot initiative.

In total, the anti-data center resolution passed with 86% voter support, with only 14% of voters opposed. The resolution’s text said that a ban was necessary to “protect air quality, drinking water resources, and public health” and “prevent impacts to electricity and water rates.”

RECOMMENDED…

Rural New Jersey Town Moves to Ban All Data Centers After Community Revolts

Rural New Jersey Town Moves to Ban All Data Centers After Community Revolts

Ocasio-Cortez Corners EPA Administrator on Water Quality Near Data Centers

Ocasio-Cortez Corners EPA Administrator on Water Quality Near Data Centers

Steven Kung, a leader of the local initiative, told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that the result was “a landslide victory.”

Kung listed multiple reasons why residents in the city resoundingly rejected building data centers in their community.

“The noise pollution, the air pollution, the rise in the electricity rates,” he said, “the deal just didn’t make sense and it doesn’t make sense for most, if not all, cities data centers go to.”

In an interview with Politico, Monterey Park Mayor Elizabeth Yang predicted that her city would be far from the last to pass data center bans, noting data center projects have spurred protests across the country.

“A lot of the other cities that are facing data center proposals are going to follow suit,” said Yang. “There’s [a] bad reputation across the board, across the country, from other data centers that have been built in neighborhoods.”

Monterey Park city councilmember Jose Sanchez expressed a similar sentiment, telling The Guardian that he hoped his city would become a inspiration to others.

“We hope that other communities will use the model set by residents here in Monterey Park,” said Sanchez, “as inspiration to stop data centers from encroaching in their backyard.”

Data centers have become political lightning rods in recent months, as residents across the country object to their massive resource consumption, which is leading to a major spike in utility bills, as well as the noise pollution they generate.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) earlier this year introduced a bill that would impose a nationwide moratorium on AI data center construction “until strong national safeguards are in place to protect workers, consumers, and communities, defend privacy and civil rights, and ensure these technologies do not harm our environment.”

A poll released on Wednesday by Public First showed US residents more opposed to data center construction than any nation in the world, with just 26% of Americans registering support for building more data centers.

This opposition isn’t merely abstract, as it has caused major headaches for Big Tech firms that have been scrambling to increase their AI models’ compute power.

As The Financial Times reported on Thursday, “dozens of projects collectively worth at least $156 billion have been blocked or stalled since 2025” thanks to local opposition to their development.

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingVoters in California City Become First in US to Approve Permanent Ban on Data Centers

To Crush Global Inequality and Secure Livable Future, Scholars Call for 90% Tax on Mega-Rich

Spread the love

Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Demonstrators call for higher taxes on the rich during a protest in Davos, Switzerland on January 19, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

“The current international order is plutocratic,” said French economist Thomas Piketty. “It is essential to move away from this plutocratic system to a new democratic order.”

A sprawling report released Thursday argues that averting the “bleak techno-authoritarian futures now being sold to us” and laying the groundwork for a just, livable future requires restructuring the world’s economic order to widely redistribute wealth that has been hoarded at the very top for decades.

The report, compiled by hundreds of researchers from around the world and published by the World Inequality Lab (WIL), is billed as the first comprehensive attempt to lay out a plan to “reconcile planetary habitability and high well-being for all.” Achieving that aim will be impossible, the authors argue, “without a drastic reduction in inequality of income, wealth, and power.”

RECOMMENDED…

Jeff Bezos

‘Keep Digging’: Progressives Welcome Jeff Bezos’ Entrance Into Tax-the-Billionaires Debate

President Donald Trump sits for an interview with Lara Trump

Watch: Trump Admits ‘We Shouldn’t Have Been in Iran’

“The current international order is plutocratic,” said French economist Thomas Piketty, a renowned expert on inequality and co-director of WIL. “It is essential to move away from this plutocratic system to a new democratic order.”

The report outlines a number of proposals that would redress staggering levels of wealth and income inequality. Currently, the top 10% of the global population brings in more income than the remaining 90% combined. Wealth inequality is even more extreme, with the top 10% controlling 75% of global wealth, compared to 2% controlled by the poorest half of humanity.

Specifically, the authors call for a new, progressive global income tax that would peak at 90% for those who earn 5,000 times the average adult disposable income. They also propose taxing the wealth of millionaires and billionaires at a rate up to 20%.

Revenue from the new taxes would flow into a Global Justice Fund, which would distribute dividends to countries to help boost spending on climate, education, and healthcare. The fund would also invest in a World Sovereign Fund, whose returns on “sustainable assets” would be used to finance country dividends.

“The result is not a transfer from many to few but a gain for almost everyone,” Piketty and other report contributors wrote in an op-ed for The Guardian. “Close to 90% of the world’s population would double their income between 2026 and 2100, and once leisure and a habitable planet are counted, more than 99% come out ahead.”

“Technical impossibility is not what is standing in the way, but rather the absence of a shared vision of social progress, at once concrete and radical.”

Redressing inequality would not be sufficient to secure a livable future, the report authors emphasize, given that continued fossil fuel use and expansion are pushing the world in the direction of climate catastrophe. What’s required to prevent planetary disaster is a “fundamental transformation of energy systems,” the report argues.

“This means electrifying energy demand wherever feasible (such as transitioning vehicle fleets) and switching to low-carbon fuels (for example, in steel and cement production),” the report states. “Crucially, electricity generation itself must be decarbonized, moving away from fossil fuels toward renewables like hydropower, solar, and wind.”

The report also envisions a move away from overconsumption toward what the authors call a future of “sufficiency,” which would entail shorter work hours for the global labor force, changes to land use, and other reforms.

Such ambitious goals will not become reality, the report stresses, without “a powerful citizen movement and a dense network of broad-based organizations (including labor unions, political parties, civic platforms, and other collective initiatives) which are sufficiently well-organized and effective at promoting broad institutional and policy change.”

“A habitable, equal, and prosperous 21st Century is materially possible,” the authors declare. “Technical impossibility is not what is standing in the way, but rather the absence of a shared vision of social progress, at once concrete and radical. What it will take instead is political choice, and the hard work of coalition-building behind it.”

Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up

Continue ReadingTo Crush Global Inequality and Secure Livable Future, Scholars Call for 90% Tax on Mega-Rich

Over 80% of All US Voters Support Ending Dark Money’s Grip on Democracy

Spread the love

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Attendees hold signs during a rally calling for an end to corporate money in politics on January 21, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“The public’s conception of what has gone wrong goes far deeper than super PACs or White House ballrooms or even slush funds. To them, it is a system that is fundamentally misfiring.”

The Brennan Center for Justice on Tuesday published a poll showing that American voters believe the country faces a serious corruption problem, and supermajorities support taking major action to end the role of dark money in US politics.

The poll, which surveyed 2,000 registered voters across the country, found 79% support “a constitutional amendment to restore limits on money in elections.” The proposal would essentially overturn the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which opened the door to unlimited corporate spending in US elections.

RECOMMENDED…

Elon Musk Holds Town Hall Ahead Hotly Contested Wisconsin State Supreme Court Election

72% of Americans Agree: There Is Too Much Money in US Politics

The Abolish Super PAC Act: Sanders and Lee Seek End to 'Corrupting Influence' of Dark Money

The Abolish Super PAC Act: Sanders and Lee Seek End to ‘Corrupting Influence’ of Dark Money

The poll further found that 85% of Americans support “mandatory disclosure for all federal campaign contributions and spending”; 81% support “the creation of a new federal ethics enforcer”; and 69% support “a constitutional amendment limiting the president’s pardon power.”

Support for these anti-corruption measures was widespread across both political parties, with 84% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans backing the amendment granting government the power to regulate and limit campaign spending. The proposed mandatory disclosure law drew even more widespread support, with 88% of Democrats and 85% Republicans registering approval.

The poll found Republican voters far less inclined to support proposals that would specifically limit presidential powers, but even in those instances, a majority of Republicans favored a law limiting presidential pardon powers and a law that would let the US Congress and state governments sue the president for alleged violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clause that bars presidents from receiving foreign gifts.

Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote that he was struck by Americans’ widespread support for the poll’s proposed reforms, noting that “it’s hard to find a set of proposals with a wider bipartisan appeal.”

Waldman also noted that voters see corruption as why the government has become unresponsive to key voter concerns about housing and affordability.

“Policymakers should understand that the public’s conception of what has gone wrong goes far deeper than super PACs or White House ballrooms or even slush funds,” he wrote. “To them, it is a system that is fundamentally misfiring. A government that is not performing. And there is a willingness to name names and assign blame.”

Article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up

Continue ReadingOver 80% of All US Voters Support Ending Dark Money’s Grip on Democracy