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DOJ agency claims it has no records of Trump's shady IRS settlement

(Raw Story) A Department of Justice division claimed it had no records related to President Donald Trump's IRS settlement, a watchdog reported. According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the DOJ's Civil Division came up empty-handed when responding to a request for records related to the settlement that led to Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.

BumRushDaShow

Democrats to call on Vance to testify to House committee over Epstein files

(The Guardian) Democrats on the House oversight committee, led by Representative Robert Garcia, plan to call on JD Vance to testify on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files following a major report on Wednesday from the New York Times, which described how the Epstein files became the source of an internal crisis within Trump’s administration. Garcia will call on the committee chair, James Comer, to summon the vice-president to speak, according to a post from Max Cohen, a reporter with Punchbowl News. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Vance would agree to appear.

BumRushDaShow

Group of Epstein survivors announce opposition to Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination

(CNN) A group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors came out in opposition to Todd Blanche’s nomination as President Donald Trump’s permanent attorney general, citing his participation in secret White House meetings on how to contain the political fallout from the Epstein files. In a new statement obtained by CNN, 19 women responded to The New York Times’s reporting that Blanche and other senior officials participated in Situation Room meetings to discuss how to respond to growing pressure for more transparency as the issue became a public relations crisis for the administration.

Pototan

Emerson Poll: Democrats lead Republicans by 10 points

(The Hill) A new poll shows Democrats have maintained a 10-point advantage over GOP congressional candidates. Emerson College released survey results on Thursday that found Democrats have 50.3 percent support from likely voters while Republicans have 39.5 percent support. A total of 10.2 percent of survey participants were undecided about which party they’d support. An April poll found near the same breakdown.

KS Toronado

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons

LetMyPeopleVote

After Senate Loss, Cornyn Predicts 'Miserable' Final Two Years for Trump

(NY Times) Mr. Cornyn stood by his attacks on Mr. Paxton and said that while he supported the party ticket, he would not campaign or raise money for his primary opponent — a loss for Mr. Paxton since Mr. Cornyn was a prolific fund-raiser. “It’s going to make things harder, certainly more expensive in Texas, and make it harder around the country,” Mr. Cornyn said, predicting that Mr. Trump would come to regret his actions. “I don’t say that with any sort of desire for vengeance; I just think that’s the way it’s going to be. He’s going to have the most miserable two years of his life in the last two years of his term, I think, because I think November is going to be a disaster.”

marmar

AI data centers are taking over. These Americans are fighting back

(Salon) In a rare moment of bipartisanship, there’s a force uniting Americans across the country: opposition to data centers. In nearly every state, hyperscale data centers powering artificial intelligence are being proposed and built. These facilities need much more computing power compared to other data centers and that comes with a much larger footprint, in the literal and carbon sense. A typical hyperscale data center needs 10 acres, or 435,000 square feet of land. However, many of these proposed sites plan to use over 1 million square feet, which could fit a few Eiffel towers or roughly 50 Boeing 737 jets.

BumRushDaShow

Trump Pushes to 'Expunge' His Impeachments From First Term: Report

(Mediaite) President Donald Trump is trying to have his two impeachments from his first term “expunged,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The idea would be for Congress to nullify those impeachments – which, constitutionally, is not a thing – in what would be a symbolic rebuke. “President Trump and his allies have discussed pushing lawmakers to pass a resolution aimed at voiding his first-term impeachments, according to people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported. “It would have little legal significance, however, because the Constitution provides no procedure for undoing an impeachment, according to experts.”

mahatmakanejeeves

Here's Why Trump's Name Is Still on the Kennedy Center

(Washingtonian) Yesterday afternoon, preparations seemed to be underway to scrub Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center’s facade: Fencing had appeared around the lettering, and rumors were flying of a dark-of-night removal, one that would comply with the recent court ruling that declared the renaming illegal. But as media and onlookers gathered around the building’s steps, hoping to witness the sign removal, the saga of the Trump-addled Kennedy Center took another odd turn; at a 4 PM meeting, members of the Kennedy Center’s board voted to appeal the court order.

RandySF

Judge rules Ken Paxton cannot move forward with ActBlue lawsuit

(The Hill) A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Thursday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) cannot move forward with a donation-vetting lawsuit against progressive fundraising platform ActBlue. District Judge Richard G. Stearns blocked Paxton from “continuing to litigate” the case, finding that ActBlue was likely to succeed in its claims that the action infringed on its First Amendment’s free-speech protections.

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Chicago nurses return to work following one-day strike

10 min ago - June 12, 2026 Nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago returned to work today following their one-day strike against Prime Healthcare’s illegal firings of six nurses. After hundreds took to the strike line on June 11, nurses are back ... (National Hurses United)

Pilot scolds plane load of Congress members as Trump show leaves them grounded

32 min ago - June 12, 2026 10:12AM ET A bipartisan group of Congress members sat grounded on a runway for more than an hour Thursday — all because of an airshow rehearsal for Trump's White House UFC fight. Politico Playbook's Adam Wren reported the delegatio ... (Raw Story)

ICE Should Show It Hasn't Been "Infiltrated by Violent Extremists," Senator Urges

35 min ago - Spurred by The Intercept's reporting, Sheldon Whitehouse calls out DHS for recruiting materials celebrated by white nationalists. Matt Sledge, Sam Biddle June 12 2026, 1:37 p.m. A Democratic senator has asked newly confirmed Homeland Security Secreta ... (The Intercept)

AI is cutting hours of office work, but also creating a new kind of busywork

50 min ago - -snip- There is a "thick, mostly invisible layer of human labor holding the whole thing together," the report said. The survey found that for every hour a worker spends getting useful output from AI, they spend roughly another hour making it usable. ... (LA Times)

King leads tributes to 'giant of the art world' David Hockney

1 hr ago - The King has joined the art world in paying tribute to David Hockney, one of the UK's most important and popular artists, who has died at the age of 88. In a personal message, King Charles said he and the Queen were "greatly saddened" to learn of the ... (Yahoo)

Paramount-WBD merger wins approval from DOJ, source says

1 hr ago - Published Fri, Jun 12 2026.4:35 PM EDT Updated 9 Min Ago The U.S. Department of Justice has signed off on Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC Friday. Paramount didn ... (CNBC)

Jane Fonda to host First Amendment celebration opposite Trump's UFC Freedom 250 event

1 hr ago - June 12, 2026 6:07 AM EDT Updated 1 hour ago LOS ANGELES, June 12 (Reuters) - As mixed martial arts fighters gather on Sunday on the South Lawn of the White House in a cage match to celebrate President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday — ... (Reuters)

Democratic senators question DOJ decision to drop case against billionaire

2 hrs ago - June 12, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT Democratic senators are questioning why the Justice Department moved to drop fraud charges against billionaire Indian businessman Gautam Adani, a significant reversal in a high-profile case. Elizabeth Warren of Massachuset ... (NBC News)

Tyler Robinson's attorneys ask court to rule out death penalty in Charlie Kirk assassination

2 hrs ago - U.S. news Tyler Robinson’s attorneys ask court to rule out death penalty in Charlie Kirk assassination Robinson’s attorneys have argued Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard violated a court order in an appearance on Fox News in A ... (NBC News)

Iran demands $300bn to end war

2 hrs ago - Tehran has demanded $300bn (£235bn) from the US to end the war in Iran and open up the Strait of Hormuz. However, it will not give up control over the strategic waterway, according to a draft agreement published by Iranian state media. The text ... (The Telegraph)

Trump pushes for Europe to pay more as US plans major NATO force reduction: report

2 hrs ago - Friday 12 June 2026 05:31 EDT The Trump administration is reportedly planning a significant reduction in the aircraft and warships it allocates to NATO operations in Europe, according to a New York Times report citing two senior European officials. ... (The Independent)

Washington National Opera sues, says Kennedy Center owes it $17M

3 hrs ago - 06/12/26 10:48 AM ET The Washington National Opera (WNO) filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging that the Kennedy Center failed to return more than $17 million in donations made to the organization after its split from the venue earlier this year. The WN ... (The Hill)

AG Ken Paxton blocked from suing Democratic donor platform ActBlue

4 hrs ago - June 12, 2026 Attorney General Ken Paxton must drop his lawsuit against ActBlue, the political donations platform primarily used by Democratic candidates, a Boston federal judge ruled Thursday in a decision that cited the Texas Republican's "well-kno ... (San Antonio Current/Texas Tribune)

Judge rejects legal effort to cancel White House's UFC event

4 hrs ago - The White House can host an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the South Lawn this weekend, a federal judge ruled on Friday. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a request to block the high-profile event brought by two Virginia residents who ... (ABC)

Sam Bankman-Fried loses bid to overturn crypto fraud conviction

4 hrs ago - Sam Bankman-Fried loses bid to overturn crypto fraud conviction By Luc Cohen June 12, 2026 9:19 AM EDT Updated 1 hour ago Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, arrives at a courthouse in New York, U.S., August 11, 20 ... (Reuters)

Consumer sentiment rises for the first time in three months

4 hrs ago - Updated Jun 12, 2026, 10:48 AM ET PUBLISHED Jun 12, 2026, 10:06 AM ET Washington - Consumer sentiment may finally be recovering after falling to historic lows due to wartime price spikes. The University of Michigan’s latest survey of Americans, ... (CNN Business)

Judge denies Kennedy Center request for pause in ruling ordering Trump's name removed from building

4 hrs ago - Judge denies Kennedy Center request for pause in ruling ordering Trump's name removed from building STEVEN SLOAN, Associated Press 10 minutes ago A worker sits on scaffolding at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Friday ... (Associated Press, via WAVY)

See the 97 billionaires and their spouses backing Susan Collins

5 hrs ago - The list comes from a Maine Monitor analysis of Federal Election Commission campaign finance data. ... (Portland Press Herald)

At least 1 dead, 9 hospitalized in mass shooting in Midland, Texas, officials say

5 hrs ago - U.S. At least 1 dead, 9 hospitalized in mass shooting in Midland, Texas, officials say By Mark Osborne Updated on: June 12, 2026 / 12:24 PM EDT / CBS News At least one person is dead and several others have been wounded in a shooting in Midland, Texa ... (CBS News)

Pentagon reviews are blocking wind farms, putting jobs at risk, lawsuit says

5 hrs ago - Updated 6:01 AM EDT, June 12, 2026 Renewable energy groups are suing the U.S. military because they say national security reviews for new wind farms on private land have been effectively frozen for months. The groups say this logjam jeopardizes $47 b ... (AP)