Monday, August 17, 2026
Constitution Center at 400 7th Street SW in Washington, which houses the headquarters of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Photo by Tim1965 / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bank regulator clears a Trump family crypto venture to open a national trust bank

The OCC's own decision letter records four commenters raising conflict-of-interest objections involving the president and his family, and the agency placing most of those questions outside the scope of its review.
Abdul El-Sayed talking with voters at a campaign meet-and-greet

“Moderates” Support Extreme Injustice

The label goes to candidates who back endless war and block Medicare for All, while a CNN poll now finds a third of Democrats calling themselves socialists. Scolding them as interlopers plays well with donors and nowhere else.
The Lorain County Administration Building in Elyria, Ohio, where the county commissioners meet and striking Job and Family Services workers have picketed. Photo by WeaponizingArchitecture / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lorain County caseworkers reach day 180 of a strike over a dollar an hour

Union officials told the bargaining chair the walkout may be the longest in Ohio public sector history, a claim the county's newspaper could not confirm. Commissioners point to an $11 million deficit.
The United States Courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, where the case against 15 protest defendants is pending. Photo: Tony Webster / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Court filings describe a Homeland Security operation that infiltrated Minnesota unions and churches

Agents subpoenaed years of bank and payment records from the Sunrise Movement and two national unions, none of which has been charged with a crime.
The South Lawn of the White House. Photo: Daniel Schwen / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The sadistic MAGA Trump Death Spiral twists and turns – a fierce test for...

Motto for the Trump gang could well be J. Robert Oppenheimer’s chilling admission, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
The west front of the U.S. Capitol. The Protected Time Off Act, pending in Congress, would guarantee full-time workers two weeks of paid annual leave. Photo: Architect of the Capitol (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

US workers average 10 paid vacation days a year, and 33 million get none

Twenty-five OECD countries require employers to provide at least 20 days. The US legal minimum is zero, and 57 percent of the lowest-paid tenth of workers get no vacation at all.
The E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, home of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where Judge Amit Mehta issued the order. Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Judge dismisses the last January 6 case, writing that absolving the Oath Keepers is...

The Justice Department told the court a retrial would harass eight men whose sentences Trump had already commuted. Two Oath Keepers who pleaded guilty and cooperated keep their convictions.
Todd Blanche, sworn in as deputy attorney general in 2025, has led the Justice Department in an acting capacity since April. Photo: Ryan M. Biller, U.S. Department of Justice (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Senate panel to vote on Blanche for attorney general after he shuts down $1.776...

Two Republican senators who had blocked the nomination demanded the fund be killed in writing. A second order narrows the tax settlement that created it.
The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. Photo: w_lemay / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate primary after AIPAC’s super PAC spends a record $30.6 million

Outside groups supplied 88 percent of the money spent on the Democratic side of a contest AdImpact ranks as the third most expensive Senate primary in US history.
The Texas State Capitol in Austin. Photo: Larry D. Moore / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

James Talarico Accused Ken Paxton of Voter Fraud. His Own Voter Registration Is Raising...

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune’s review of the Democratic Senate candidate’s residency records found that he may have voted in up to five elections using an address where he no longer lived.