The ICEBlock app is a game-changer. Allowing users to report ICE activity on a crowdsourced and anonymous—though this cannot be fully guaranteed—platform, the app is like Waze but for immigration enforcement. According to its creator Joshua Aaron, ICEBlock stores no personal data, offers no way to trace users, and deletes sightings after 4 hours. It’s iOS-only for now, but it delivers real-time alerts for ICE activity within a 5-mile radius—increasingly crucial in a country where ICE agents now routinely violate civil liberties and due process. This is the kind of tool that terrifies authoritarians. And as Apple blogger John Gruber notes, the Trump administration will almost certainly come after it. Protesters against ICE gather in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Apple has a poor track record in moments like this. When the Chinese Communist Party demanded the takedown of a pro-democracy app in Hong Kong, Apple caved. That precedent—combined with recent capitulations from U.S. media companies and even Columbia University—should set off alarms. If any tech company has the financial and legal muscle to defend its users’ First Amendment rights, it’s Apple. But this will be a test. Still, an iOS-only tool leaves out the majority of impacted users. Immigrant communities overwhelmingly use Android phones—for obvious financial reasons. The immigrant-focused publication Saber es Poder surveyed its users in 2022 and found that 72% use Android, while just 27% use iPhones.  So if we’re serious about defending civil rights in immigrant communities, we need an Android version. Though the developers of ICEBlock explain why Android’s inadequate privacy protections prevent them from expanding for now.  Another option would be a web-based tool, which would entirely circumvent any app store crackdown. In this era of Trumpist authoritarianism and corporate complicity, it’s clear we can’t rely on gatekeepers. Tools like ICEBlock are vital resistance infrastructure. The next battle may not be fought in the courts, but in the app stores.

Elon Musk’s Starlink internet terminals stopped working on Thursday due to a massive outage Read Full Article at RT.com

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said the government is on track to “erase” Gaza Read Full Article at RT.com

Two passengers were injured after a Ukrainian drone struck a train in southern Russia early Friday, a regional official said Read Full Article at RT.com

Bill Clinton wrote a personal note for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, The Wall Street Journal reports Read Full Article at RT.com

The diplomatic mission of non-existent nations was a cover for job and foreign exchange fraud, according to local law enforcement Read Full Article at RT.com

There is no doubt that the American public is pissed off about Donald Trump’s cover-up around the Epstein files—and his most loyal Republican minions are feeling the wrath.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was called a “pedophile” by a heckler during a press conference in Manatee County on Thursday. DeSantis was talking about the death of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan when a man stood up and shouted “Alligator Alcatraz, that’s your fucking legacy.” The protester was referring to the human rights disaster masquerading as a state-run immigration detention center that DeSantis eagerly built and funded at Trump’s request. “You bowed down to a fucking pedophile. You’re a fucking pedophile,” the man continued as security escorted him from the room. “Donald Trump and all of you are fucking Nazis.” x x YouTube Video Republicans are working hard to deflect attention from Trump’s failure to deliver the long-promised Epstein files. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson even started Congress’ summer break early to delay any vote on the matter until at least September. Right-wing news outlets are, in turn, running around like a chicken with its feathers on fire looking to latch on to any other conspiracy theory they can find so that the Epstein scandal blows over. Related | Trump and cronies are giddy to trample human rights at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is debasing herself in order to concoct the biggest nothingburger distraction in recent memory. She is alleging that former President Barack Obama orchestrated a vast conspiracy to undermine Trump that goes back almost a decade.  But despite all of their desperate efforts, that has not stopped the ongoing news cycle from linking Trump to his old buddy Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial for allegedly trafficking women and underage girls. And Trump’s eager Republican enablers are deservedly feeling the fallout—just like DeSantis did on Thursday. 

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants Elon Musk’s companies to “thrive”—a sharp turnabout just one day after the White House expressed doubt about whether Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, should continue receiving government contracts. “Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before!”  It was the latest twist in the Trump-Musk rollercoaster—one that’s swung between public threats and awkward praise since their breakup in June.  Just a day earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether Trump wanted xAI to get federal contracts. “I don’t think so, no,” she replied. Leavitt added that she’d check with the president about possibly canceling existing deals, including one between the Department of Defense and xAI that is worth up to $200 million. It wasn’t just xAI under scrutiny. Reuters reported earlier this week that the administration is exploring alternatives to Musk’s SpaceX for work on the Golden Dome missile defense system—another sign that Musk’s hold on federal funds may be slipping. A person protesting Elon Musk's actions in the Trump administration holds a sign outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle on Feb. 13. This wouldn’t be the first time Trump has threatened to pull the plug. Back in June, he floated the idea of gutting Musk’s funding entirely. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump posted online. He also took a swipe at Musk’s political ambitions earlier this month, calling his newly launched political party, the “America Party,” “ridiculous.” (He’s not wrong there.) “It’s ridiculous to start a third party,” Trump told reporters. “We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party. The Democrats have lost their way, but it's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion.” Now Trump may be walking it all back. His latest Truth Social post came just days after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department had told Trump he was mentioned in the Epstein files—something Musk had publicly claimed during their spat. Since The Journal’s report, Musk hasn’t mentioned it again. The timing didn’t go unnoticed. Trump’s administration is already facing heat over its handling of Epstein-related documents, and Musk has been a loud amplifier of the controversy. The two have been trading shots since late May, when Musk’s stint as a special government employee ended and he quickly began slamming Trump’s tax-and-spending agenda. Things escalated quickly—Musk accused Trump of ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Trump responded by threatening to cut Musk’s contracts and subsidies. Before the fallout, Musk wasn’t just an ally—he was also at the helm of Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, and he’d pumped hundreds of millions into Trump’s reelection campaign. In March, Trump even promoted Teslas from the White House lawn like a QVC host, urging Americans to buy Musk’s cars. He even bought one—though after their fallout, he claimed he was considering tossing it. Still, if Musk was hoping for a win, Thursday didn’t bring it. According to Axios, Tesla shares dropped 9% in mid-morning trading after the company reported weak earnings and warned that Trump’s tax bill could hurt future results. Also, on a Wednesday earnings call, Musk predicted Tesla would face “a few rough quarters” due to rising tariffs and other factors. Now the ball’s in Musk’s court: Does he accept the olive branch—or strike again?

A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Not today, brother: Trump-loving Hulk Hogan booed at WWE event

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. The worst person you know just filed the worst abortion lawsuit in Texas The arguments are nonsense, but that doesn’t matter when the courts are stuffed with conservatives eager to ban abortion. Sorry, kids: Trump's tariffs are coming for your Halloween candy His tariffs are truly ruining everything. Fox News in crisis mode over Epstein bombshell Leave it to Fox News to always cover for Dear Leader. Cartoon: Why power hates humor It’s the best-kept secret weapon. 'South Park' dresses down Trump in shocking PSA You’ll truly have to see it to believe it. GOP senators push Obama conspiracy to hide Trump’s Epstein scandal This is one seriously far-fetched distraction. Columbia caves to Trump, setting dangerous precedent for higher ed How far the great (institutions) have fallen. 'That's bullsh-t': Pete Buttigieg slams Trump’s anti-DEI crusade Mayor Pete tells it like it is. Click here to see more cartoons.

As it turns out, no amount of ass-kissing could save beleaguered New York City Mayor Eric Adams from President Donald Trump’s wrath.  Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that the Department of Justice is suing the Big Apple and its mayor for protecting immigrants. This is the latest in a string of lawsuits filed against cities which the feds claim are obstructing immigration enforcement. “The Department of Justice is suing New York City and Mayor Eric Adams for continuing to obstruct law enforcement with sanctuary city policies,” she wrote via X. “If New York’s leaders won’t step up to protect their citizens, we will.” All of this follows the shooting of an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent in the Bronx over the weekend. Two undocumented immigrants were taken into custody for shooting the agent during what appeared to be an attempted robbery. Despite the tragedy, he is expected to survive. And while Adams basically opened the door to the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans earlier this year in an attempt to avoid his own corruption scandal, that doesn’t seem to be good enough for Trump’s team any longer.  Even flirting with a party switch to join them on the GOP side wasn’t enough to keep Adams out of the hot seat.  Related | Trump's team throws NYC Mayor Eric Adams under the bus Now, despite numerous one-on-one meetings between Adams and so-called border czar Tom Homan, he and his city are facing a 37-page lawsuit.  Homan stood alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Monday as she accused Adams during a press conference of “protecting criminals who go out and murder, rape, rob.” Of course, the Trump administration’s overstepping of power when it comes to sanctuary cities seems to be commonplace these days.  Just last month, they were activating thousands of National Guard members and deploying hundreds of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles not only to quell protests by shooting at journalists, but to assist in snatching up undocumented immigrants.  Then again, the administration’s stance, according to the lawsuit, is that if you just let these violent and masked immigration agents do their job, no one will get hurt—except immigrants.

Even his loyal followers can see Dear Leader is getting quite old

A Stockholm tribunal has blocked an Armenian government plan to nationalize Samvel Karapetyan’s energy firm Read Full Article at RT.com

A suspected Ukrainian agent has been arrested in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Federal Security Service has reported Read Full Article at RT.com

Influencer Pascal Kaiser has reportedly filed complaint after Fulham’s goalkeeper Bernd Leno liked a violent clip targeting a gay parade Read Full Article at RT.com

Moscow has designated Poland as a “hostile” state in response to economic sanctions and support for Ukraine Read Full Article at RT.com

The largest opposition party in Pretoria’s coalition government had threatened to block the legislation but later voted in favor Read Full Article at RT.com

GOP Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri appeared on CNN with Kasie Hunt Tuesday, and it was certainly something to behold.  When asked if he would consider using his position as House Ways and Means Committee chair to investigate Jeffrey Epstein, Smith pretended like the very idea was absurd. “Well, you may use subpoena powers at any point,” he replied. “That is not a common thing that I have utilized within the Ways and Means Committee. But if I felt like that it was a priority for Americans, then of course.” “But you did use subpoena power with Hunter Biden,” Hunt said. “Exactly. We have the authority to use it, but that is the only time that I have used it,” he responded. “Epstein is not the priority of the everyday American who's working 9 to 5, just trying to put food on their table, clothes on their backs, and gasoline in their cars.” x x YouTube Video A couple of years ago, Smith used that same subpoena power in one of the many dead ends in the GOP’s quixotic search for proof of a Biden crime family—a crusade that Republicans like House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer refuse to abandon. Congressional Republicans are scrambling to shut down for summer break, dancing around questions about why—after years of vowing to release the Epstein files—they have suddenly decided it’s “not a priority.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is reportedly demanding answers from right-wing billionaire Elon Musk after his AI chatbot, Grok, repeatedly parroted antisemitic hate speech on X, his social media site. Led by Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the lawmakers slammed Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, for failing to prevent Grok from spitting out hate speech, including Holocaust denial, praise for Adolf Hitler, and use of the antisemitic meme “every damn time,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios. “xAI’s failure to take reasonable measures to mitigate against its AI models from engaging in hate speech is reckless, unacceptable, and antisemitic,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which they sent on Tuesday. But the antisemitism scandal is only one of Grok’s many ugly episodes recently.  Just days after that firestorm erupted online, Grok rolled out two animated characters who pushed users into sexually explicit and violent conversations. One, a flirty anime woman named Ani, promised to make users’ lives “sexier.” The other, a red panda named Bad Rudi, insulted users with vulgar language and tried to recruit them into a gang. Musk has become so affiliated with far-right extremism that Americans took to protesting his Tesla vehicle dealerships, like this one in Decatur, Georgia, in March. According to NBC News, Bad Rudi said it wanted to bomb banks, spike a town’s water supply with hot sauce and glitter, spike baby formula with liquor, and kill billionaires, among other chaos. In other encounters, it reportedly claimed inspiration from a notorious Russian anarchist. Musk brushed it off, saying, “Just wanted to do a soft launch to make sure things are stable and working well.” Meanwhile, the backlash to Grok’s antisemitic speech has only intensified. Musk admitted earlier this month that Grok was “too eager to please and be manipulated,” and Grok’s X account claimed that xAI had since taken steps to prevent hate speech from making it onto X. “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X,” the chatbot’s account posted on July 8. But that’s not reassuring to lawmakers. Their letter tells Musk to explain how Grok’s antisemitic responses made it past internal testing, and whether any red flags were raised before its latest updates were deployed. So far, more than a dozen lawmakers have signed on, including Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Reps. Dan Goldman of New York and Chris Smith, a Republican. The timing of the letter is striking: It lands just as xAI secured a Pentagon contract worth up to $200 million. It also hits as Musk announces plans to develop a kid-friendly version of Grok, after the adult version went so well. And while Musk has floated the idea of being done with the federal government—especially after his public falling-out with President Donald Trump and sliding Tesla sales—he’s clearly not out of the political arena.  Lawmakers are deep in debates over how to regulate AI. But Grok’s behavior, paired with Musk’s willingness to personally steer how his chatbot answers controversial questions, is adding urgency—and ethical red flags—to the conversation. Musk may dream of building an empire on his own terms. But for now, the federal government isn’t done with him. And with Grok’s growing list of scandals, it looks like they have plenty of reasons not to be.

www.patreon.com/keefknight Keef on Substack Keef Summer Book Sale!

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. ICE is paying retirees big bucks to come back and terrorize immigrants It takes a heartless person and a lot of money to do this awful job. Senate candidate shows Democrats how to run on Trump’s Epstein scandal Sometimes you just have to be direct. White House offers new shiny objects to distract from Epstein scandal From assassination files to Hillary Clinton’s email investigation, Trump is willing to try anything. Trump's tariffs are wrecking this key industry Big Auto is losing billions. Cartoon: Can't touch this Trump just can’t escape. Top House Republican will never stop investigating Biden Rep. James Comer is a dog with a bone when it comes to Biden. ‘Border czar’ makes ridiculous excuse for ICE goons acting like Nazis Sure, rhetoric is the real problem here. Trump team fails to get lax sentence for cop involved in Breonna Taylor raid For once, justice is (kind of) served. Here’s how Trump wants to weaponize the DOJ next When in doubt, use a conspiracy theory. FEMA official quits after Trump cuts hobble Texas flood response Cuts to federal agencies are doing more and more damage. Click here to see more cartoons.

Don't look now, but Ghislaine Maxwell's time in federal prison for aiding and abetting accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein could be cut short. In an effort to distract from the fact that President Donald Trump is refusing to release all of the files the government possesses about Epstein, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice to speak with his known accomplice Maxwell to see if she has any information that implicates third parties, as Epstein died by suicide while in custody before going to trial. Maxwell has a whole lot to gain in this situation. The former British socialite is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for helping Epstein carry out “heinous crimes against children,” as the Department of Justice said in 2022 when she was sentenced for “conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor.”  That means Trump—who wished Maxwell «well» in 2020 after she was arrested for her role in Epstein's sex-trafficking schemes—has the power to pardon her and set her free.  And that gives Maxwell motive to tell federal prosecutors lies that could exculpate Trump from Epstein's sordid deeds. Related | White House offers new shiny objects to distract from Epstein scandal «The Epstein files don’t have an incentive to lie for a coverup. A convicted sex trafficker in search of a pardon does,» New York University law professor Ryan Goodman wrote in a post on X. «The dead giveaway: DOJ can simply release all the Epstein files, but refuses.» Even more fishy is the fact that the person who will meet with Maxwell to interview her is Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—who served as Trump's defense attorney during his numerous federal indictments that have now been corruptly dismissed. «Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?» Blanche wrote in a post on X. «At @AGPamBondi’s direction, I’ve contacted her counsel. I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits.» The fact that Trump's former criminal defense attorney is meeting with Maxwell should also give everyone pause, as Blanche would likely put Trump's best interests over the truth. «Any meeting between Blanche, DOJ, or any other Trump representative, on the one hand, and Ghislaine Maxwell and her attorneys or other representatives, on the other, should be audiovisually recorded. Full stop,» George Conway, a lawyer and frequent Trump critic, wrote in a post on X, adding that the situation «reeks of corruption.» Even if Maxwell isn’t pardoned, the Trump administration’s announcement that it will interview her is just another attempt to distract the public from the fact that the government is not releasing more information about the Epstein case. It feeds into speculation that Trump—who was friends with Epstein and took trips with the accused sex trafficker on multiple occasions—is worried about being implicated by the documents. Already, Bondi has sought to change the subject from the Epstein files by releasing hundreds of thousands of documents relating to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, as well as the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails. In an Oval Office appearance, Trump also said he is going to go after former President Barack Obama for “treason” over the Russia investigation—an insane and authoritarian declaration, as even Trump’s own Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw a Senate investigation that found that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election. But the biggest sign yet that Trump is worried about what’s contained in the Epstein files is that he is now calling the scandal the “Epstein hoax”—his favorite way to claim that something that will make him look bad is fake. Ultimately, the Epstein files scandal is not going away. And how Trump and his cronies handle Maxwell could fuel the flames even further.

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