No money for pediatric cancer research but there's $1.7 billion for people who beat cops and smeared feces on the walls of the US Capitol.

oh my god -- Trump's hand is looking nastier than ever today (Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty) (That's RFK Jr's left hand next to his in the first shot)

This should be the headline story on every news publication and telecast including local news every day for several days. But it won’t. It will be shrugged off like so much else by so much of media. The most corrupt thing that has ever come out of the US govt.

the president is raiding the treasury to put your tax dollars into this mans personal checking account as a reward for what hes doing in this picture

The recent removal of FiveThirtyEight's archive is a reminder of how fleeting digital content can be. Our research found 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later. www.pewresearch.org/...

The Emoluments Clause exists for exactly this moment The Founders feared a president who would shake down the American taxpayer & Trump just tried it — to the tune of billions We're fighting back in this week's publisher's note 👇-TN

The U.S. health department has withdrawn an April charter renewal for a key vaccine advisory panel that laid out new membership rules and direction, citing an administrative error, according to a Federal Register notice issued on Monday.

The Trump regime’s $1.776 billion dollar slush fund is not only corrupt, it is a major source of funds for far-right extremists, including those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. The U.S. government no longer combats far-right extremists. It funds them.

Staggering corruption.

It’s bullshit for the Washington Post to call this looting of the Treasury a “deal“ and an “agreement.” The Trump regime is self-dealing to create an agreement between Trump and Trump, with no judge allowed to weigh in. It’s a dictator stealing from the people.

On Friday, federal judges in Wyoming tossed charges against 9 criminal defendants over Darin Smith’s “deeply concerning” misconduct as acting U.S. attorney. Tonight, the Senate is voting to confirm Smith to this job for the rest of Trump's presidency www.huffpost.com/entry/us-att...

"What concerns me is the apparent lack of strategic coherence surrounding this one—and a growing misunderstanding in Washington about what American forces in Europe are actually there to do." NEW from @markhertling.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4ue7voU

1. What I found in Trump's new 113-page financial disclosure report. It doesn't look good.

It was a political hire. We know that because Bari Weiss had no visible experience in broadcast journnalism. None. And as @status.news puts it: Why is Weiss so determined to remake 60 Minutes, "one of the few remaining programs that consistently delivers both prestige and ratings for the network."

Trump sits more for events now and sometimes, while in that chair, his eyes … begin … to … close. Trump’s aides have strenuously denied this. One recent retort: “He was blinking, you absolute moron” If true, this blink lasted for at least 10 seconds www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

A bedrock principle of America’s founding was religious freedom, not a national religion. Theocracy is the stuff of ISIS. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/u...

Trump promised during his campaign filled with false promises and lies that our electric bills would be cut in half 6 months after he took office.

Update: www.nytimes.com/athletic/728...

It’s a continuing pattern now: prosecutors around the world examining files released by the Trump DOJ say they find evidence of serious crimes. The DOJ insists there’s nothing to see there, and refuses even the most routine cooperation. By the way,

This popped up before the top of the 4th inning of the #nationals game.

Joint Senate Dem statement on this from Chuck Schumer, Jeff Merkley, Dick Durbin, Gary Peters, Sheldon Whitehouse and Martin Heinrich:

Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Dem on the budget panel, warns it's not over and says the GOP will likely try to tweak this provision to keep it in the bill. "While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill."

There it is. The Senate parliamentarian rules the $1 billion for Trump's ballroom in the GOP's budget reconciliation bill violates the rules + is subject to 60 votes vs 51. Via budget committee Dems:

This is flying under the radar, but Trump's cronies have started their own organization to plan 250th anniversary events. Not only is their "Freedom 250" receiving taxpayer funds, it's also soliciting big donations from corporations in exchange for face time with Trump. Everything is for sale.

Over the past 25 years, crashes involving truckers for Mike Collins’ business killed 5 people and injured over 50 others, including one who needs around-the-clock care due to a severe brain injury, according to data, court filings and police records.

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DEXTER: Your budget cuts parks by $1b. If you put this $1b towards parks instead of Trump's ballroom, you could avoid it. That would benefit everyone. Did you ever object to this level of spending on the ballroom? BURGUM: There's a massive security compl- D: It's clear to me you didn't do anything

Hey, #merrillmade @merrillcollege.bsky.social alums! No matter where your career path has taken you (in or out of journalism) please consider applying for our Merrill College Journalism Alumni Network (JAN) Board. Application link is below... THANKS! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

“None of them should've been able to go out and do this and feel like they could do this with impunity because they wore MAGA hats” Tim Miller gives his take on the troubling pattern involving several January 6 defendants who were pardoned by Donald Trump 

Big PPI jump is disaster for Trump. It supports what @simonwdc.bsky.social said on our pod: "Republicans are in a place of extraordinary denial and magical thinking about the hole he’s digging for them." Plus Trump admitting he doesn't think about people! newrepublic.com/article/2103...

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Trump says he ‘doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation’ as he heads to China for talks with Xi Jinping – US politics live

A @politico.com analysis finds that judges have ruled against ICE detention practices some 10,000 times, or roughly 90% of cases, since the agency mandated that millions of immigrants must be locked up while they face deportation proceedings. @kyledcheney.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

NEW: We've spent 10 months tracking the outcomes in tens of thousands of lawsuits brought by ICE detainees amid an unprecedented detention push. It's not a cose call: judges have ruled more than 10,000 times against ICE, a 9-1 ratio. See the database: www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

Trump has publicly championed the U.S. steel industry, and yet, the White House just secured tens of millions of dollars worth of donated foreign steel for Trump's $400 million ballroom project.

Same old same old. #JMSU

Trump could settle his tax dispute with the department he's in charge of, cutting out the judge, per NYT: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/b...

Survivor of Jeffrey Epstein breaks down in tears describing the moment she learned her name was revealed while the rich and powerful remained protected by redactions Roza: I kept my identity protected as Jane Doe. I woke up one day with my name mentioned over 500 times.

It's not drain the swamp. It's own the swamp.

California and Colorado, two states facing heightened wildfire risk this year, have scarcely received any money from FEMA since last July, a Post analysis found. The delay has affected about 20 wildfire-related projects across the West. https://wapo.st/4uH5vVV

Trump's second childhood is marked by violence, anger, invasions and polyurethane doo-dads from Taiwan coated with gold paint and glued to the wall. It's a common enough thing... among the criminally insane. bsky.app/profile/atru...

New in PN: Farmers are rightfully pissed at Trump "Trump put in place senseless policies that devastated farmers. As a result, rural communities have lost faith in Trump & begun to realize, belatedly, that he hates them, as he hates anyone who fails to lick his boots as he kicks them in the face."

"An ICE takedown caught on camera left a 19-year-old bleeding and requiring stitches to his head. Cellphone video showed the teen get tackled by agents. Once they figured out they had made a mistake, they dropped him off at a park, bloody and bruised..." www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/d...

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"...outlets like Voice of America, under the Trump administration, struggle to continue, amid calls for support from staff and press-freedom groups to keep the service alive."

Three doctors who have served on state maternal mortality review committees told ProPublica that Ciji Graham’s death was preventable. “There were so many points where they [doctors] could have intervened,” one expert said. (Published January)

The gumption of the young journalists here alone is worthy of commendation, but I’m most heartened by how local reporting by local people breaks through: “It’s like, ’Yeah, your granddaughter is going through this...it’s something different than Fox News.’” #icymi