ICE Charges Ahead With Building Megaprisons Despite Local Pushback

Department of Homeland Security officials are plotting to proceed with the construction of ICE’s mega-prisons in Texas and Maryland, despite the ongoing legal challenges, local pushback, and a federal watchdog investigation. 

An internal ICE memo revealed that staffers are exploring what work can be done at a warehouse near Hagerstown, Maryland, even after a judge blocked construction, The Washington Post reported Friday. 

DHS signed a $113 million build-out and operations contract in March with KVG, a defense contractor with no experience overseeing detention centers, to work on the Maryland facility. The contract could grow to $642 million over the next three years.

Last month, a Baltimore judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the project, arguing that the building’s four toilets and two water fountains were not sufficient to accommodate the estimated 1,500-person capacity. However, earlier this week, officials in Washington County, Maryland, relayed that ICE intended to conduct an environmental assessment on the property, even though the government had initially argued the renovations had no environmental threat.  

This month, ICE officials have also discussed awarding contracts to oversee the construction and operation of warehouses it acquired earlier this year in San Antonio and near El Paso, two people briefed on discussions told the Post. Local officials have raised concerns about the facilities. 

In San Antonio, ICE purchased a warehouse valued at $37 million for more than $66 million. Precinct 4 County Commissioner Tommy Calvert claimed the purchase “reeked of corruption.” In Socorro, Texas, ICE paid a Delaware-based company called El Paso Logistics II LLC  $122 million for a warehouse, infuriating local officials who said they were only notified after the sale. 

The DHS Office of Inspector General announced Thursday that it would investigate whether ICE had purchased the buildings “in a cost-effective manner.” CoStar, the real estate data tracker, found that DHS paid an average of 13 percent above market value for warehouse properties across eight states, the Post reported. 

El Paso is already home to ICE’s largest detention center Camp East Montana, where within the first 50 days of operation, the facility had already racked up 60 federal code violations. Now, Donald Trump wants to build eight more Camp East Montanas—and make them even bigger.

MAGA Representative Jim Jordan got caught in his own lie while trying to argue that it was actually no big deal that Americans are experiencing skyrocketing gas prices and inflation at the hands of President Trump.

Jordan was questioned by CNN’s Kaitlin Collins on how the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has negatively impacted U.S. consumers.

“What about his promise in 2024 that if he was reelected, gas would be under $2 a gallon because of his policies?” asked Collins.

“Well, gas prices were coming down until we had to deal with this situation. But, you know, that’s life. That’s dealing with the world and, you know, the world we live in,” Jordan replied. “I think the country gets the fundamental fact – and I know I understand this – President Trump makes decisions that are in the best interest of our nation, 250 years, greatest country in history.”

“But if someone’s listening to you and they were paying $2.98 a gallon gas before the war started, and now they’re paying $4.53, I mean, saying ‘that’s life’ might not, you know, make them feel better,” Collins replied.

“Those are– those are your words. Not mine. I’m saying–”

“No, you said, ‘That’s life’ just now.”

“This is the situation. This is the situation. They were pursuing a nuclear weapon. They wanted to get there. President Trump said, “I’m not gonna do that.” He ran on that, and he’s taken the appropriate action that I think you want your commander-in-chief to take for the security and safety of America.”

“But he also ran on bringing gas prices to under $2 a gallon.”

“Hopefully, we’ll get there soon. I want– I want gas prices low, too. I mean, we all want gas prices low. Who doesn’t, for goodness sake?”

Jordan’s response was widely ridiculed as a moment that represented the Trump-induced fugue state that many republicans seem to be in, particularly of late as prices get higher and higher with no end to the war in Iran in sight. Just two days ago Vice President JD Vance denied that Trump stated that he didn’t care about Americans’ economic situations “even a little bit” even as there is readily available footage of him saying exactly that.

The Justice Department is arguing that President Trump’s proposed ballroom will be a “gift to the American people,” and that anyone opposed to the vanity project simply has “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

The latest Justice Department filing from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche regarding the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit against Trump’s ballroom relies on the recent White House Correspondent’s Dinner assassination attempt and other MAGA-friendly arguments that display the deep levels of sycophancy present within the Trump administration.

“The assassination attempts make clear what Defendants have been explaining from the start of the case: Presidents need a secure space for significant events, which currently does not exist in Washington, D.C., and this Court’s injunction stalling this Project cannot defensibly continue. To ensure construction proceeds, and to conserve judicial resources, this Court should immediately issue a ruling indicating that it would dissolve its injunction at once,” the filing reads, noting that Trump’s ballroom will have “missile resistant steel columns, Military grade venting, drone proof ceilings, and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass”—which will cost at least $1 billion. They even refer to it as the “Militarily Top Secret Ballroom” and allege that the plaintiffs are only suing because it was Trump’s idea.

“That fact is also relevant to the merits here because it is further evidence that rank political bias led to this meritless, dangerous lawsuit being filed. A bipartisan chorus of legislators, analysts, and media pundits have agreed the Ballroom is needed more than ever. The Ballroom is a gift to the People of the United States and to future Presidents,” the filing continues. “Plaintiff’s frivolous suit should be dismissed, and the Court should indicate that it would dissolve its injunction and allow construction of this vital for National Security Project to be completed without any risk of hindrance.”

A Tennessee lawmaker is retiring because his district will no longer exist after this year.

Democratic Representative Steve Cohen announced Friday that he will not be representing Tennessee’s 9th congressional district after his term expires due to the state legislature’s recent decision to carve up the predominantly Black and Democratic voting base.

In future, the area will consist of several rural voting areas that are expected to lean Republican.

“This is by far the most difficult moment I’ve had as an elected official,” Cohen said during a press conference at his office.

Currently, Tennessee’s 9th district covers most of Memphis and its inner suburbs. The new map creates three alternative districts in the area, none of which include Memphis proper.

The progressive lawmaker told reporters that he has considered running in one of the other districts.

Cohen was first elected to the House in 2006 and has consistently won re-election ever since. He is the first Jewish person to represent Tennessee, a detail that has sparked criticism from some of his electoral challengers, who have argued that the majority-Black district should be represented by a person of color.

Tennessee state Representative Justin Pearson was aiming to challenge Cohen for his seat before the state passed its new map.

“I have an opponent who’s verbally facile, and can jump around and dance, and things like that, and if somebody thinks that’s who they wanted, that’s who they can have, because I can’t,” Cohen said Friday of Pearson. “I don’t dance anymore, jump around, but I think I was gonna win that race.”

Tennessee passed its maps last week, offering Republicans all nine seats in the House while eliminating the state’s lone Democratic district. Pearson will continue to run in the newly redrawn 9th district.

Donald Trump’s blatant corruption just got even more outrageous.

A recent financial disclosure revealed that the president bought and sold millions of dollars worth of stocks in tech companies and government contractors, including Palantir and Nvidia, NOTUS reported Friday.

On February 10, Donald Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of stock in Nvidia, a massive AI chip maker. A week later, Nvidia announced a major computer processing power deal with Meta. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, has spent more than a year cozying up to Trump.

Trump previously purchased between $500,000 and $1 million worth of Nvidia stock on January 6, after clearing the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips, the company’s second-most powerful AI chip, to China. A week later, the Commerce Department officially approved the sale. This week, after Huang traveled with Trump to China, the Commerce Department cleared 10 Chinese firms to buy Nvidia’s chips—making way for Trump to make millions more.

Also on January 6, Trump purchased between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of stock in AMD, another AI semiconductor company, which was authorized to sell their chips to Chinese customers a week later. Trump purchased at least $740,000 in AMD stock last quarter, according to NOTUS.

In the first quarter of 2026, Trump also purchased at least $260,000 worth of stock in Palantir, a private weapons manufacturer with hefty government contracts and ties to the president.

In January, Trump bought between $65,000 to $150,000 of Palantir stock, and sold between $1.1 million and roughly $5.3 million of it in February. That same month, Palantir won a billion-dollar purchasing agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to use the company’s software to aid Trump’s sweeping deportation efforts.

In March, Trump purchased between $200,000 and $500,000 in Palantir stock. Last month, Trump made a public call for people to buy stock in Palantir—including the stock’s ticker symbol in his social media post—in an obvious effort at market manipulation. A few weeks later, Palantir landed yet another major federal contract.

Trump’s May 14 financial disclosure showed that the president has shifted away from his prior strategy of investing mostly in corporate and municipal bonds, and had made more than 3,600 individual stock and other financial trades during the first three months of 2026.

In a statement to NOTUS, the White House said that Trump and his family were not responsible for their investments, or notified of their trades.

For Trump to get rich off of companies he regulates is insanely corrupt, but not necessarily surprising from the president who runs several schemes to get rich from the Oval Office. That said, Americans should not stand for it, nor for any lawmakers who sit idly by and watch it happen.

Before Dr. Brian Christine was tapped to lead America’s public hantavirus response, he was an Alabama-based urologist who specialized in penile implants, CNN reported Friday.

Christine currently serves as the assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as such is one of the top public health officials running the country’s infectious disease policy. Earlier this week, he told reporters in Nebraska that the agency’s response to the dangerous outbreak would be “grounded in science” and “grounded in transparency.”

Yet Christine’s resume seems far and away from that of a typical U.S. health official. While he has some public health experience under his belt, having served as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, he has also espoused dangerous far-right beliefs and spread wellness conspiracy theories.

He rebuked coronavirus mandates and spread conspiracy theories about treatment plans that sowed doubt and division over the government’s public health response at the time. He has claimed that the pandemic was a part of a wider government plot to control people, and he skirted questions from the U.S. Senate as to whether or not he would recommend the Covid vaccine to his patients.

The 62-year-old admiral also hosted a YouTube series titled “Erection Connection,” a professional show for other urologists discussing erectile dysfunction.

More than 40 people in the U.S. are currently being monitored in connection to a hantavirus outbreak aboard a Rotterdam-bound cruise ship last month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that there are currently no cases in the U.S. and that risk to the general public remains low. Nine cases have been confirmed in connection with the ship.

A Dutch couple were identified by the WHO as the first passengers infected with the virus. It is believed that they were exposed to the virus while birdwatching at an Argentinian landfill. Both the husband and wife died as a result.

Trump is dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS regarding the 2019 leaking of his tax returns, and is instead having them create a $1.7 billion “weaponization” fund to dole out taxpayer money to his supporters who feel they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration—like the January 6th insurrectionists.

“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people,” an attorney for the president wrote. “President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

This lawsuit is at best a brazen last-gasp money grab that even Trump himself has even acknowledged, stating candidly that it “sort of looks bad.”

“It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes a decision, right, and, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk,” Trump said late last year. “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”

While dropping the lawsuit does prevent Trump from using the IRS to pay himself, it still leaves plenty of wiggle room for the president to personally enrich himself, as his super PAC could apply for the weaponization fund just as J6ers or any other far-right wing group can. Trump can also pick, choose, and fire the members of this weaponization committee without cause, forming it in his own image with little to no oversight.

“An insane level of corruption—even for Trump,” Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote Thursday on X. “A $1.7 BILLION slush fund for Trump’s hand-picked stooges to hand money to January 6th insurrectionists and his political allies. Here’s the President’s priority as Americans sell their plasma to afford gas and groceries.”

From the visibly declining president that brought you incredibly stupid terms such as “Tpublicans” and “Panicans” comes a new nickname for Donald Trump’s critics:

“Dumocrats. Because they’re dumb, I—they’re dumb. It’s D-U-M. I got rid of the B. So you’re only changing one letter, right? E goes, the U comes,” Trump told Fox New’s Sean Hannity Thursday.

Just a reminder: this imbecile is who represents us on the world stage.

Is it any wonder he’s walked away from a two-day summit with China without securing any significant breakthroughs? Or in negotiations with Iran for that matter, in which Trump revealed Thursday he discards deals from the other side if he doesn’t like the first sentence?

Based on how Trump’s talking, it would be a wonder if he could read much further than that.

No worries though, we’ll just add it to the slush pile of unintelligible things Trump said this year—and pray for peace some other day.

Fox News’s Sean Hannity is tiring of Donald Trump’s non-answers.

In a new interview between the pair, aired Thursday evening, the longtime face of the conservative news behemoth appeared visibly frustrated and irritated that the president would not directly address the war in Iran.

“Do you think President Xi and China have the ability to influence the Iranians, considering they are one of their biggest customers?” asked Hannity.

“Yea probably but—um, look, he’s not coming in with guns, they’re not coming in shooting,” Trump said.

“I’m not asking—” Hannity interjected. “—Influenced.”

But Trump was keen to switch the topic, reorienting his answer towards the possibility of U.S. oil sales.

“He’s been very good. They get a lot of their oil—40 percent of their oil—from that location. So what has happened, and one thing that I think we’re going to make a deal on, is they’ve agreed they want to buy oil from the United States,” Trump said.

In another concerning exchange, Trump suggested that he was unlikely to get a clear answer out of Xi on Iran’s nuclear program.

“I don’t think China wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon, either,” Trump said. “I said, ‘They’re stone cold crazy. You don’t need them having a nuclear weapon.’”

“And what did he say?” asked Hannity.

“Well, he’s not going to respond too much, he’s a pretty cool guy. He’s not going to say, ‘Oh, that’s a good point,’” Trump said.

“Do you think he agreed?” pressed Hannity. “What was the impression?”

“I don’t think he wants them to have—no, he would like to see it end.”

Trump intends to amp up pressure on Iran until its leadership caves to his key demand: ending Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. But the reality of Iran’s progress on that front is still murky.

Prior to the war—which never obtained congressional approval—Trump ordered strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites, hitting Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan on June 22. At the time, the Trump administration claimed that the one-off air raid had set Iran’s program back by “years.”

Ex-National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who sparked a maelstrom in Washington when he resigned over the issue in March, argued in his resignation letter that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

In the 11 weeks since the war began, the U.S. and Israel have killed thousands of Iranian civilians and obliterated Iranian civilian infrastructure. Fourteen U.S. soldiers have also died in the process, according to CENTCOM.

Kash Patel can’t stop living the good life.

The FBI director reportedly went on a VIP snorkeling trip while on a visit to Hawaii last summer that the bureau stressed was not a vacation. Patel was officially in the state to tour the FBI’s Honolulu branch and meet with local law enforcement, or at least that’s what the bureau’s news releases said.

But the Associated Press obtained government emails showing that Patel took part in the snorkeling excursion, coordinated by the military, near the USS Arizona, which was sunk in the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor. That wasn’t mentioned in the bureau’s public releases, nor was Patel’s return to Hawaii for two days after initially visiting the state.

Snorkeling and diving are usually prohibited around the sunken battleship, with rare exceptions. It’s essentially a military cemetery, as over 900 sailors and Marines died in the 1941 attack by Japan. Most dives either are done by Marine archaeologists or crews from the National Park Service to examine the wreck’s condition, or to inter the remains of survivors of the attack who wish to be laid to rest near their fellow shipmates.

Only a few dignitaries have been allowed to swim at the site since at least the Obama administration, but none of them were FBI chiefs, even though they have visited Pearl Harbor. Patel, yet again, appears to be using his job and access to a private FBI jet to get away with vacationing on the taxpayer’s dime.

Patel has used FBI resources to fly to see his girlfriend sing at a wrestling event and have agents protect her, as well as buy a new fleet of BMWs to ride around in. He went to Italy to party during the Olympics, and drinks so much on the job that he once passed out behind a locked door, requiring “breaching equipment” to get him out. And how many other FBI directors had their own personalized bourbon, and lashed out when it went missing?

Patel appears to think that he gets to party and carry out President Trump’s bidding, such as going after the president’s political enemies and purging agents who don’t toe the administration’s line, even when they are experts on Iran. The list of Patel’s transgressions is long, but he still has a job until his misdeeds outweigh his pro-Trump sycophancy.