The #1 most endangered national park in America:

 

ENDANGERED NATIONAL PARKS  Nestled in Montana’s Rocky Mountains, Glacier National Park was once home to 150 majestic glaciers. Now, that number has dropped to 26. It’s literally disappearing before our eyes. Today, we’re launching a new initiative to elect pro-conservation Democrats who will fight to protect our country’s endangered national parks: Chip in $10 today towards our $25,000 goal and become a member of our national park rescue team! >>   Join our National Park Rescue Team! Not only are the beautiful glaciers in Glacier National Park gone – but the wildlife is in danger, too. Grizzly bears once roamed the vast wilderness here, but thanks to new bills pushed through by anti-wildlife Republicans that removed their endangered species protections, these animals are back on the hunting list. This is why your support is so critical: If we want parks like this to be open for future generations, we need to elect more Democrats who will fight to preserve them. Can we count on you to chip in $10 or more today and become a part of our National Park Rescue Team?  If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will process immediately. Give $10 Give $20 Give $50 Other Amount We won’t let you down. -The Democratic Conservation Alliance   Democratic Conservation Alliance PO BOX 15096 Washington, DC 20003 United States

Fox News is Now Using “Midas Touch” Name for Trump Ben Meiselas and MeidasTouch Network Jul 29 By Ben Meiselas Fox “News” is now calling Donald Trump “The Midas Touch.” It’s deliberate. I am hopeful that none of you watch Fox. But, as you know, I am forced to watch it and study it to see how they are brainwashing their audiences to prop up Trump. Also, in terms of views, they are our top competitor—although we frequently beat them—so I have to check out the competition from time to time. Also, they attack us and our hosts frequently, so the stuff they do is often brought to my attention. Many people started telling me this week that Fox keeps calling Trump “the Midas Touch,” or saying he has the “Midas Touch.” Fox spells it differently than our news network. But they keep saying he has the “Midas Touch.” Let me be the first to say he doesn’t have the Midas Touch. He kills everything he touches. Second, it is odd that Fox keeps using this phrasing all of a sudden. Sure, it’s possible it’s a coincidence—and the story of King Midas predates our use of the term, which we slightly altered as an ode to both our last name and our mom’s maiden name. But it seems like this is the latest example of Fox being upset that they keep losing to us in digital views per day. They are funded by right-wing billionaires, and they lose to our channel, funded by Substack subscribers. It is good to know we live rent-free in their heads and that their reign over controlling media narratives is finally facing competition—and being defeated. Thanks for keeping MeidasTouch—the real MeidasTouch—as the most-watched digital news network in America. Since we have zero investors, we’ve built MeidasTouch thanks to you subscribing to this Substack. I hope you feel we’ve met the moment each day with our reporting. We will continue to fight and put it all on the line. Please subscribe today and help the MeidasTouch Network reach its critical July subscriber goal before the month is officially over. We are so close to the goal. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

ADD YOUR NAME: Say NO to mass deportations >>

 

Hi, it’s Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner.    Donald Trump wants you to think that mass deportations will make us safer — but it doesn’t. And Donald knows it.   Here’s the truth: Undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens. When they do, they’re often deported before trial, meaning no jail time — and no justice. And when undocumented people are victims or witnesses, they’re afraid to come forward — leaving violent criminals free to keep hurting others. This is why I’m sounding the alarm: Trump’s mass deportation agenda is not about safety. It’s about fear. And it will make our communities less safe, not more.   That’s why I’m asking you to join me in opposing Trump’s mass deportation plan and fighting for policies that actually protect public safety.   Sign the petition now to say NO to mass deportation and YES to real justice. Every signature sends a message: We want smart, fair, and effective public safety — not political stunts that put lives at risk. ADD YOUR NAME >> We can’t let scare tactics undermine the rule of law or our basic humanity. When immigrants are afraid to go to court, everyone suffers — and the only ones who benefit are violent offenders who slip through the cracks.   Let’s build safer communities the right way — through justice, not cruelty.   -Larry Krasner   CONTRIBUTE

Lawrence Krasner for District Attorney 239 S Camac St Philadelphia, PA 19107 United States

A Lesson From History: Judge Frank Johnson on the Right to Protest The Voting Rights Act Turns 60 Joyce Vance Jul 29 Alabama, June 11, 1963. An American president deployed federalized National Guardsmen to help implement Brown v. Board, the desegregation case. When Alabama Governor George Wallace refused to comply with court ordered integration of the University of Alabama, President Kennedy sent in National Guard troops to help the federal government escort the first Black students onto campus. George Wallace Stands in the schoolhouse Door. Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report Magazine, via Library of Congress When Trump federalized and deployed the California National Guard in Los Angeles, over 60 years later, desegregating the University was one of two Alabama examples offered as justification. In addition to integration at the University, there was the well known situation involving the voting rights protest marches that began in Selma, where President Johnson ultimately federalized the Guard for use as support without the governor’s request. And why not use Alabama as an example? Stephen Miller, the advocate for the harshest treatment of immigrants imaginable got his connection to Trump when Alabama’s Jeff Sessions became attorney general and took Miller, a Sessions aide, into Trump’s orbit with him. Miller’s Sessions connection left him with an awareness of what happened in Alabama but not of its full implications. What happened in Alabama doesn’t set the unambiguous precedent for federalizing the National Guard to backstop ICE against protestors that Trump supporters might think. The bare facts, with the apparent similarity of a president using the guard, might imply it does. A slightly deeper dig into law and history suggests that using Alabama as an example undermines the administration’s desire to shut down protests over the way it is treating immigrants. In 1965, after Bloody Sunday, when a peaceful march led by John Lewis in support of voting rights for Black citizens was met with blunt force from state troopers, Federal Judge Frank M. Johnson ordered Governor George Wallace to use the Alabama National Guard to protect marchers. Although Judge Johnson went on to become an Eleventh Circuit Judge, one of the great Civil Rights judges of that era, he was a district judge in 1965. His memorandum opinion and order illustrate the flaws in the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down citizen protests against ICE. In his opinion on March 17, 1965, Judge Johnson considered how to handle the mistreatment the local sheriff and his special forces were raining down on the protestors. He described mass arrests that weren’t justified by law and abuse of the prisoners. Judge Johnson wrote that, as citizens, protestors had the “right to petition one’s government for the redress of grievances” and that right could be “exercised in large groups.” He continued, “where, as here, minorities have been harassed, coerced and intimidated, group association may be the only realistic way of exercising such rights.” The remedy? That same day, Judge Johnson issued a preliminary injunction that ordered Alabama’s governor and other state officials to stop interfering with people marching in support of voting rights. He also enjoined state officials from “failing to provide police protection” for those participating in the voting rights march Judge Johnson had ordered could proceed. Judge Johnson swept broadly, telling law enforcement officers who wanted to prevent Black citizens from exercising their rights what they were forbidden to do: And he told them they could no longer fail to provide police protection to marchers, a legal mechanism for ordering them to offer it. The result? A march for voting rights, led by Martin Luther King Jr., that galvanized America and ushered in the Civil Rights era. Without Judge Johnson, that might not have happened. So yes, the Trump administration wants to expand ICE’s work. Trump’s so-called border czar, Tom Homan, has openly acknowledged his interest in expanding the Guard’s role to include enhanced support for ICE anywhere anti-ICE protests crop up—in other words, using the Guard to shut down protests against the treatment of immigrants. But Judge Johnson’s words echo today; Americans have a right to protest unfair treatment of minorities, and they have a right to do so in large groups. National outrage over images of protests being suppressed in the 1960s galvanized Americans into action. Alabama’s history teaches us to protest and to insist on our right to protest, especially when cruelty is used and people are deprived of constitutional rights at the hands of a unit of government. The worst risk in this moment is that the administration will manage to normalize its treatment of immigrants. That it will normalize the denial of due process to people with brown skin. That it will rock the foundations of our Constitution, which offers fundamental protections to all people, not just citizens. Next time you have the choice of protesting or doing something else, make a commitment to democracy. Go out and exercise the right Judge Johnson and other judges throughout our history have secured for you. Don’t let the opposition to the horrific anti-immigrant fervor that spawned the use of CECOT prison, dropping people into a war zone in South Sudan with no preparation, and the creation of Alligator Alcatraz die down. None of us want to be that country. Yes, Epstein and the meltdown inside of the Republican Party are interesting and important. But let’s not take our eyes off of this administration’s horrific policy goals and give them the freedom to continue implementing them under the cover of all the drama. We’re in this together, Joyce

Former Mashpee Wampanoag leader pleads guilty to tax charges as tribe’s controversial casino grows

28th July 2025 | By Jess Marquez

Cedric Cromwell, a former tribal leader in Massachusetts, will face sentencing this fall for federal crimes related to a casino project that now seems to be on track after years of delays.

On Friday the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that Cedric Cromwell, the former chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and president of its gaming operations, pleaded guilty to four counts of filing a false tax return. It is the latest chapter in a winding, multi-year legal saga surrounding the disgraced chairman and his former tribe.

Cromwell failed to report more than $177,000 in income on federal tax returns between 2014 and 2017, authorities said. About two-thirds of that was connected to the tribe’s First Light Resort and Casino project in Taunton, Massachusetts, which is a decade in the making and still ongoing. The other income came from side deals not related to the casino scandal.

Sentencing is set for 5 November before US District Court Judge Nathaniel M Gorton. Cromwell could face up to three years in prison, a year of probation and a $100,000 fine for each charge. But in addition to the tax counts, the 60-year-old Cromwell will also face sentencing for three extortion charges and one charge of conspiracy to commit extortion. Those charges were originally dropped by a lower court in 2022 but were reinstated by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2024.

The extortion charges carry sentences of up to 20 years, three years of probation and a $250,000 fine, per count.

From bribery to extortion

Originally, Cromwell was indicted in November 2020 alongside David DeQuattro, CEO of prominent development firm RGB Architects. Authorities alleged that Cromwell conspired with RGB to be the “owner’s representative” for the casino project and that he received more than $57,000 from DeQuattro between 2014 and 2017 in exchange for a lucrative development contract. This was in addition to about $45,000 of other unreported income from a previous architectural partner who is not named.

According to prosecutors, Cromwell received a home gym and a hotel suite vacation from DeQuattro in addition to the money.

“Instead of working honestly on behalf of the Mashpee Wampanoags as their duly elected representative, Cedric Cromwell is accused of using his position as chairman of the tribe to enrich himself by extorting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and engaging in a conspiracy with David DeQuattro to commit bribery,” Joseph Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said at the time.

Both men were convicted of bribery in May 2022, although the trial court severed the tax charges and ruled only on the extortion and bribery charges. However, after appealing to the First Circuit, DeQuattro was ultimately acquitted of all charges in 2024, whereas all of Cromwell’s charges were reinstated.

Now back to work, DeQuattro has emerged as a victim, with Cromwell now pegged as the extorter and ringleader. He will now face his dual sentencing for both sets of charges this fall.

“One of the greatest things that has happened throughout this whole thing is it’s almost like you wear a set of X-ray glasses, where you can see people for who they are,” DeQauttro told GoLocalProv in March. “And I think I did that at a young enough age, where you know who your real friends were.”

Casino saga just as complicated

As Cromwell’s legal troubles have played out, his former tribe has had no better luck in its quest to develop the casino project without him.

The Mashpee Wampanoags were federally recognised in 2007, and the city of Taunton in 2012 signed an Intergovernmental Agreement with the tribe for a massive casino development that came to be known as First Light. The first phase of the project alone was slated for 3,000 slots and 150 tables.

More than a decade of legal battles ensued after the original agreement, keeping the project at a standstill. Several court rulings during that time flip-flopped on the legality of the project and the original agreement.

A detailed breakdown of these rulings, compiled through mid-2023, is available on PlayMA.com. In 2024, the tribe finally came out victorious in its legal defence of First Light and announced plans to build a temporary “welcome centre” in Taunton.

From 10 to 50 to 250?

Adding to the complexity of the case is the fact that Genting is funding the casino project and is partnered with the tribe to operate it. That relationship was rocky in previous years due to the project’s legal troubles but seems to have improved. When the temporary welcome centre was opened in January, Kevin Jones, chief strategy officer for Genting Americas, was on hand.

He told the Taunton Daily Gazette that the facility was meant to educate the public about the tribe and its future casino plans. It also included a “sampling” of gaming, in the form of 10 slots.

In the months since, the small facility has continued to expand. It has grown from 10 to 50 slots, lengthened its operating hours and obtained an alcohol licence. An updated agreement with the city could allow the centre to further expand to 250 slots.

The Daily Gazette has also noted the tribe is now directly referring to the center as a “casino” instead of a welcome centre, as it did previously. If the tribe does intend for the facility to become a permanent casino, it would still be far below the scope outlined in the original 2012 agreement under Cromwell.

iGB