Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
Pic of the Moment

Democratic Underground on Facebook Democratic Underground on Twitter Democratic Underground on Instagram
Featured Stories
Johnny2X2X

Read the 14-point draft agreement between the US and Iran

(CNN) The agreement between Iran and the US lays out the terms of the ceasefire between the bitter rivals, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, some financial relief for Iran and a reiteration from Tehran that it will never produce a nuclear weapon, according to a draft copy of the text obtained by CNN. The 14-point memorandum of understanding has not yet been officially released but a copy of it was obtained by CNN from a US official. A diplomat who saw it at the G7 summit in France this week confirmed its contents, as did two other diplomatic sources with knowledge of negotiations.

BumRushDaShow

US officials downplay text of the Iran agreement, saying it doesn't account for back-channel commitments

(CNN) US negotiators are working to quickly release the text of the agreement between Washington and Tehran, even as they downplay the significance of the specific language in the document, US officials told CNN. The officials described the text of the agreement as incredibly vague, mainly intended to create a more favorable environment for the highly technical, in-person talks to come. “People shouldn’t read too much into the language of the MOU,” one of the officials said, describing the agreement as a “political document.”

BumRushDaShow

Trump delays Jay Clayton's nomination for intel director to try to push Congress on voting bill

(AP) President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he’s delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community in a bid to force Congress to act on a voter ID bill that currently lacks enough support for passage. Trump said in a lengthy post on his social media site that he will keep Bill Pulte, a top U.S. housing official, as acting director of national intelligence.

BumRushDaShow

Secret Service disbursements raise questions on ballroom funding

(Roll Call) The White House budget office released $351.6 million to the Secret Service on Friday for “White House Security Measures,” amid mounting criticism that taxpayer dollars may be tapped to help pay for President Donald Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom. The funds came from a $1.17 billion appropriation for the Secret Service contained in last year’s reconciliation package. That law specifies that those funds “may only be used for” additional Secret Service resources, including personnel, training facilities, programming, technology, and performance, retention and signing bonuses for Secret Service agents.

sop

Mullin's new controversy adds to the list of troubles for the White House Cabinet

(MS NOW) For years, federal health officials have warned about the risks associated with a supplement derived from the leaves of kratom trees that adherents say can kill pain or boost energy. During his tenure as a U.S. senator, he attended a Food and Drug Administration press conference and endorsed new federal restrictions on supplements that compete with kratom for shelf space. What Mullin did not mention was his financial investment in a kratom company, Botanic Tonics, that stood to benefit from the changes he recommended.

BumRushDaShow

New ICE rule, requested by top contractor, ends pay requirement for migrants who work while detained

(The Independent) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement eased its operating standards for migrant detention centers after being asked by a company that runs more than a dozen facilities, according to a report Tuesday. The new rules, posted online Monday, no longer require private prison contractors to comply with state and local laws, or to pay migrants at least $1 a day to work for them, The Washington Post said.

BumRushDaShow

Chronically ill immigrant children to be reported to ICE under Tennessee law

(USA Today) About 400 disabled immigrant children who are receiving lifesaving state-paid medical care will have their immigration status reported to ICE at the end of this month, because of a new Tennessee law drafted with input from the White House. The Tennessee Department of Health Children’s Special Services program is a “payer of last resort” that ensures access to lifesaving medical care for very low-income children who are not eligible for TennCare.

BumRushDaShow

Judicial committee votes to remove judge who threatened to 'personally have ICE' deport families during truancy hearings

(Law & Crime) A county judge in New Jersey is facing removal from the bench over a series of inflammatory threats to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deport truant students and their families. In February 2025, Britt J. Simon was suspended from the Bound Brook Municipal Court over what he termed "empty threats" and other "horribly unpleasant" comments during school attendance hearings.

yellow dahlia

'Bad Day to Be a Duck': Trump Reflecting Pool Disaster Continues With Hydrogen Peroxide Treatment

(Common Dreams) The pool in recent days has turned a bright green due to algae growth, which threatened to spoil Trump’s effort to make it appear “American flag blue” ahead of the celebrations of the country’s 250th anniversary next month. As noted by The New Republic, 12% hydrogen peroxide is strong enough to “cause problems if inhaled and burns if the chemical touches the skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” NOTUS reporter Igor Bobic, upon seeing the chemical being dumped into the pool, remarked it was a “bad day to be a duck.”

Latest Breaking News

'A signal of where power sits': Trump and world leaders joined by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google at G7

3 min ago - Chiefs of the world’s leading AI companies are descending on the G7 conference in France Wednesday, in a sign of their growing geopolitical influence as artificial intelligence rises to the top of the global agenda. CEOs including OpenAI’s ... (CNBC)

Iran will reopen Strait of Hormuz and can sell oil freely under deal with US, according to leaks

11 min ago - The U.S. agreement to immediately allow Iran to sell its oil freely and the offer to eventually lift all sanctions represent major concessions that outstrip the terms of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran will immediately take steps to ... (AP)

Detainees moved out of "Alligator Alcatraz" over hurricane concerns, ICE says

50 min ago - Updated on: June 16, 2026 / 11:23 PM EDT U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved detainees out of a controversial detention center in the Florida Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz," an ICE spokesperson told CBS News, citing safety co ... (CBS News)

DOJ urges appeals court to let Trump build ballroom, citing failed UFC attack

1 hr ago - DOJ urges appeals court to let Trump build ballroom, citing failed UFC attack A top Justice Department official said the ballroom's planned "Drone Port and Sniper Nests" would have been able to "destroy any effort" to attack the UFC event. June 17, 2 ... (Washington Post)

January 6 defendants pursue millions in claims through obscure federal process

1 hr ago - Federal Tort Claims Act, over which DoJ has total discretion, provides workaround to Trump’s $1.8bn slush fund January 6 defendants who assaulted police officers are pursuing legal claims for millions in compensation from the Trump administratio ... (The Guardian)

Prison staff at Ghislaine Maxwell's facility evade questions during lawmaker visit: report

1 hr ago - June 16, 2026 10:16PM ET The officials running Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's prison dodge questioning from visiting congressional staff, according to reporting by Politico. Maxwell transferred from a prison in Florida to the minimum-security ... (Raw Story)

Ohio Republican governor urges end to death penalty, saying it cannot be morally justified

2 hrs ago - Tue 16 Jun 2026 19.44 EDT Last modified on Tue 16 Jun 2026 21.27 EDT Republican governor Mike DeWine, the who co-wrote the bill to reinstate Ohio’s death penalty more than 45 years ago, has called for the state to abolish capital punishment, say ... (The Guardian)

Secret Service disbursements raise questions on ballroom funding

2 hrs ago - Posted June 16, 2026 at 9:21pm The White House budget office released $351.6 million to the Secret Service on Friday for “White House Security Measures,” amid mounting criticism that taxpayer dollars may be tapped to help pay for President ... (Roll Call)

A person is in custody in a Chicago cross burning investigation, police say

3 hrs ago - Updated 7:57 PM EDT, June 16, 2026 A person is in custody in an investigation of a large cross set on fire in a well-known Chicago park, police said Tuesday. The burning cross was discovered June 9 in Grant Park, where Barack Obama delivered his acc ... (AP)

Hacking group claims major hack of Novo Nordisk and attempted $25 million extortion

3 hrs ago - 11h June 16 (Reuters) - A cyber extortion group claimed on Tuesday to have stolen more than a terabyte of data from pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk and said it is exploring selling parts of the data after unsuccessfully demanding $25 million from t ... (msn/Reuters)

Paratransit drivers avoid strike after reaching deal with DART contractor

4 hrs ago - KERA | By Pablo Arauz Peña Published June 17, 2026 at 5:04 AM CDT Drivers for Dallas Area Rapid Transit's paratransit service avoided a strike Tuesday after ratifying a contract with the company. Leaders for the Amalgamated Transit Union local ... (KERA News)

US officials downplay text of the Iran agreement, saying it doesn't account for back-channel commitments

4 hrs ago - PUBLISHED Jun 16, 2026, 6:50 PM ET US negotiators are working to quickly release the text of the agreement between Washington and Tehran, even as they downplay the significance of the specific language in the document, US officials told CNN. The off ... (CNN Politics)

US sues New York health officials over alleged fraud in Medicaid homecare program

4 hrs ago - June 16, 2026 6:15 PM EDT Updated 9 hours ago NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - The Trump administration sued top New York health officials on Tuesday over an alleged scheme ‌to rig the bidding process for managing the state's estimated $10 billion ... (Reuters)

Chronically ill immigrant children to be reported to ICE under Tennessee law

5 hrs ago - Updated June 16, 2026, 6:28 p.m. ET About 400 disabled immigrant children who are receiving lifesaving state-paid medical care will have their immigration status reported to ICE at the end of this month, because of a new Tennessee law drafted with in ... (USA Today)

Trump delays Jay Clayton's nomination for intel director to try to push Congress on voting bill

5 hrs ago - Updated 4:59 AM EDT, June 17, 2026 EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he’s delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community in a bid to force Congress to act on a voter ... (AP)

Trump asks to toss NAACP pollution suit against xAI

6 hrs ago - 06/16/26 5:41 PM ET In April, the civil rights organization alleged that xAI did not get an air pollution permit for its Colossus Gas Plant, which powers its Colossus 2 data center that in turn powers the AI chatbot Grok. In a filing on Monday, the J ... (The Hill)

New ICE rule, requested by top contractor, ends pay requirement for migrants who work while detained

6 hrs ago - Tuesday 16 June 2026 17:37 EDT U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement eased its operating standards for migrant detention centers after being asked by a company that runs more than a dozen facilities, according to a report Tuesday. The new rules, ... (The Independent)

Obama Slams Institutions Caving to Trump: 'Fallen Victim' to the Idea 'Everything Is About Money'

7 hrs ago - Jun 16th, 2026, 5:03 pm Former President Barack Obama slammed institutions who have caved to President Donald Trump by falling victim to the notion “everything is about money” and other perceived status symbols. Obama and former First Lad ... (MEDIAite)

Judicial committee votes to remove judge who threatened to 'personally have ICE' deport families during truancy hearings

7 hrs ago - Jun 16th, 2026, 3:18 pm A county judge in New Jersey is facing removal from the bench over a series of inflammatory threats to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deport truant students and their families. In February 2025, Britt J. Simon ... (Law & Crime)

Struggling Pizza Hut restaurant chain will be sold for $2.7 billion

9 hrs ago - Private equity firm LongRange Capital is buying Pizza Hut, excluding the mainland China business, for about $1.5 billion, the company said Tuesday. The mainland China Pizza Hut will be purchased by Yum China Holdings Inc. for approximately $1.2 billi ... (The Independent)

Archives

2026 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2025 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2024 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2023 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2022 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2021 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2020 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2019 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2018 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2017 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2016 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2015 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2014 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2013 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2012 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2011 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2010 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2009 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2008 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2007 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2006 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2005 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2004 J F M A M J J A S O N D

2003 J F M A M J J A S O N D

Back to the top
Enter Discussion Forums