Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Judge Nullifies Trump $1.776B Settlement With IRS And Treasury

 "Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles."



KPMG has hit a group of staff and partners with fines as high as $180,000 for misusing confidential information from Optus in the firm’s failed bid to win Telstra’s external audit contract.

Seven individuals received sanctions, ranging from first-and-final warnings and restrictions on career progression to reduced performance ratings, salary banding and several fines exceeding $100,000.

KPMG partners fined up to $180,000 over Telstra, Optus misconduct



Whistleblower Letter alleging Kennedy Center Mismanagement

Jim Acosta – Whistleblower Document Dump Accuses Trump Administration of Damaging Kennedy Center with No-Bid Contracts and Shoddy Work. “Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse released the documents which state facility may now require “extensive remediation.” It is more than just a tacky tarp that is plaguing the Kennedy Center. According to a large trove of government documents and emails, provided to members of Congress by a group of whistleblowers, the Trump administration rushed shoddy renovation work at the Center through no-bid contracts that could leave the facility in need of “extensive remediation” for years to come. The newly released documents, released by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, accuse the administration of “gross mismanagement and gross waste of public funds” in awarding projects to “preferred contractors.” 

A letter addressed to lawmakers from the Government Accountability Project on behalf of the whistleblowers said the president’s handpicked Center management made several of these renovation decisions in “unusually close consultation” with Trump himself. “Renovations were rushed to meet the deadlines driven by the President’s desire to host official events at the Center. Federal contracting laws and regulations were ignored. 

Preferred contractors were awarded no-bid contracts without proper justification. Management repeatedly told staff to ‘do whatever it takes,’ insisting that ‘we’ll deal with the lawsuits later,’ the letter stated. “The rushed timeline and deviations from contracting practices led to superficial cosmetic alterations that apparently failed to address underlying structural deficiencies and will likely require extensive remediation,” the letter added…”




Judge Nullifies Trump $1.776B Settlement With IRS And Treasury

 “Court finds that this matter was brought for an improper purpose—to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.”… At the heart of Judge Williams’ decision is a constitutional finding that there was never an actual “case or controversy” as required under Article III of the Constitution. 

The judge found that because President Trump, as head of the Executive Branch, ultimately controlled the agencies he sued—the Treasury Department and the IRS—the parties were never genuinely adverse. The ruling effectively dismantles what critics had described as a sweetheart deal between the Trump administration and the IRS…”


Meta used AI to target workers with medical conditions for layoffs, lawsuit claims

Reuters: “Twenty-six employees of Meta ‌Platforms have filed a novel lawsuit accusing the tech giant of using AI-powered software that disproportionately targeted people with disabilities or who took medical leave in selecting workers for mass layoffs. The lawsuit, filed in Oakland, California, federal court late Monday, says that the company ​relied on factors such as productivity and AI token usage when it slashed thousands of jobs earlier this ​year, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions or to care for family ⁠members. 

The plaintiffs, who were notified in May that their jobs would be eliminated starting on July 22, ​are seeking a preliminary ruling from the court blocking Meta from completing the layoffs while they pursue their ​claims in private arbitration. 

The workers say Meta’s agreements require employees to arbitrate workplace disputes individually, but do not apply to requests for temporary relief. A Meta spokesperson on Tuesday said the claims lack merit…The lawsuit appears to be the first against a major U.S. company ​to challenge the alleged use of AI in conducting layoffs.”

​The 26 plaintiffs, who ⁠filed the lawsuit anonymously, are accusing Meta of violating federal and state laws that ban discrimination or retaliation against workers who have disabilities, take medical leave or are ​pregnant. They also claim that Meta failed to test its AI systems for ​bias in ⁠violation of recently adopted California and New York City laws…”

St. Francis of Assisi

 "Remember, when you leave this Earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received—only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage."

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Monday, July 20, 2026

ABA Wants The White House’s Receipts On The Biglaw Executive Orders

 

Global Military Spending & Arms Trade

This map shows three dimensions of the global arms landscape for 167 countries, across six five-year periods from 1996 to 2024.

  • Military Spending % GDP — each country’s defence budget as a share of its economy, sourced from the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database.
  • Arms Imports — the average annual value of major arms imported, in constant US dollars, sourced from the World Bank / SIPRI Arms Transfers Database.
  • Arms Exports — the average annual value of major arms exported, in constant US dollars.

Arms figures cover major conventional weapons only — aircraft, ships, armoured vehicles, missiles and artillery. They represent actual deliveries, not licences or orders, and do not include small arms, ammunition, cyber systems or military aid.

Each period button shows the average of five years up to and including that year. The most recent period (2024) covers 2021–2024, as 2025 data is not yet available.






ABA Wants The White House’s Receipts On The Biglaw Executive Orders

Above The Law: “The ‘law firm intimidation policy’ suit just entered its ‘show us the memos’ phase. 

In a Tuesday filing in American Bar Association v. Executive Office of the President, the ABA asked U.S. District Judge Amir Ali to force the White House to hand over internal communications, including those involving Bannon and Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s personal senior counsel. According to reporting, Epshteyn connected two firms that struck deals with the administration, Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden, with the Commerce Department on matters related to U.S. trade negotiations. 

The ABA sued the administration back in June 2025, arguing that the executive orders, plus the wave of “deals” that spooked firms into capitulating before an order ever came for them, amounted to a coordinated policy, not isolated grievances against a handful of firms. As noted when the suit was first filed, the ABA had reason to worry about standing before it ever got to the merits, given this particular Supreme Court’s track record on associational standing…. 

The underlying grievance predates the ABA suit by months, of course. Four firms — Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey — fought their individual executive orders in court and won, repeatedly, sweeping the district court level on First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment grounds. Nine other firms didn’t fight, cutting deals worth roughly $940 million in pro bono commitments to Trump-approved causes instead. 

And DOJ’s posture toward the winning firms has been anything but consistent: in March, the department dropped its appeals of those district court losses, only to reverse course about two weeks later and go back to defending the orders, this time citing the nine capitulating firms as proof the policy worked exactly as designed. 

The DOJ, as you’d expect, does not want to produce any of this. The government has argued the requests raise separation-of-powers concerns and are overbroad, and last week, it asked a federal court in New York to block the ABA from deposing Epshteyn altogether. Whether that gambit works is now Judge Ali’s problem; DOJ’s response to the ABA’s Tuesday brief is due July 17…”

Treasury has borrowed $155 billion every month of this fiscal year

 






 Robodebt whistleblower was told her royal commission evidence ‘could cost you your job’, court hears  

Robodebt whistleblower was told her royal commission evidence ‘could cost you your job’, court hears 

Exclusive: Jeannie-Marie Blake is suing the Australian government over alleged threats, which her department denies making


Treasury has borrowed $155 billion every month of this fiscal year

Fortune via Yahoo Finance – and is now paying $24 billion a week in interest on its debts: “Despite concerns from debt hawks, the U.S. government is continuing to borrow at pace: For the fiscal year of 2026 so far, the federal deficit has totaled just under $1.4 trillion. The first nine months of this fiscal year (beginning in October) have now surpassed the borrowing levels of 2025, when deficits totaled just over $1.3 trillion for the same period. At the time of writing, the total U.S. national debt sits at $39.4 trillion, accumulated under administrations led by both Republicans and Democrats. As such, the monthly borrowing for 2026 now sits at roughly $155 billion, or $39 billion per week. And, like any borrower, that debt carries an interest cost. The latest monthly budget review from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that net interest on public debt for the fiscal year has hit $857 billion: roughly $23.8 billion a week. This is approximately $100 billion more (13%) than the interest paid out in the first nine months of 2025, the CBO adds, owing to a higher total debt burden than last year and higher long-term interest rates. In fact, interest payments on the debt are now $20 billion larger than the outlays for the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Homeland Security, Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Coronavirus Refundable Credits scheme—combined….”


Hegseth Ordered a New Study of Women in Combat

The War Horse – “Critics Say It’s Built to Reach One Conclusion: The researcher leading the assessment also led a controversial 2015 Marine Corps study that the defense secretary has used to argue women should not serve in combat roles Two months before Pete Hegseth appeared in front of Congress to testify in his confirmation to be secretary of defense, he sat across from the podcaster Shawn Ryan, talking about the Pentagon’s 2015 decision to open ground combat roles to women. “It hasn’t made us more effective. It hasn’t made us more lethal,” Hegseth said.

 “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.” By the time of Hegseth’s appearance on the show in late 2024, women had been serving in combat positions for nearly a decade across the military. The decision to integrate women had been thoroughly studied—before, during, and after the process—and thousands of women had served in roles ranging from infantry to combat engineers to special operations. 

The debate over women in combat was largely considered to be over. 

But Hegseth was looking to reignite that debate. His book, “The War on Warriors,” which he was on the show to promote, dedicated a full chapter to the idea. “Dads take us to push risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes,” he wrote in the book. “We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.”…

Futbol Yamal 🇪🇸 1 v Messi 🇦🇷 0 with extra time


I think we are all Spain fans

Suddenly, I have become a Spain fan!

The "Curse" affected Argentina the way it has affected all other sports teams Trump has been involved in!


In extra time Spain 🇪🇸 scored a goal


Trump’s curse The Trump curse is real. The fascist curse is real.


Via Bluesky Ray


Final Final - Spain v Argentina Monday at 5am 


Extra time as nil all Spain dominant but scoreless. Red card dished out late.


Lamine Yamal is 19: He wears the #19 World Cup final is on the 19th Yamal will play Messi 19 yrs after Messi bathed him in iconic photo shoot Messi wore 19 back then.


A 20-year-old Lionel Messi washes a five-month-old baby Lamine Yamal in a photo taken in December 2007

When Alexander the Great was 33, he wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. Lamine Yamal is only 19 👑


The remarkable story of Lionel Messi’s meeting with a baby Lamine Yamal



“It was a difficult shot,” photographer Joan Monfort told The Athletic. “We can say I sweated some blood to take it.

“Lionel Messi is still shy now. He was much more shy when he was starting out, and he finds himself there with a tiny baby in a plastic bath full of water. At the start, there was not much interaction. It was difficult for all of them. But, bit by bit, it started to happen and in the end, it’s a pretty good photo.”




Trump cursed the USA team, they lost. Trump cursed the English team by playing golf with Kane. They lost. The curse is ALIVE. Messi shakes Trump hand and presents trump with signed futbol. 🤫



They left the music turned up so I couldn't hear the fans boo Trump. Trump booedBooed loudly trump was

Trump Hit With 'Chorus Of Boos' At The World Cup Final


Messi gets absolutely dragged for applauding Trump’s war boasting



Lionel Messi Bathing a Baby Lamine Yamal

These have to be some of the most remarkable sports photos of all time: a 20-year-old Lionel Messi bathing a five-month-old Lamine Yamal.

Two of the best football players in the world, one a Barcelona legend and another a Barca legend in the making. Both came up through the ranks of the club’s La Masia youth academy. Both wore number 19 for Barca before switching to the number 10. And if Argentina can advance past England in this afternoon’s semifinal match, the two will face each other in the World Cup final on Sunday. It’s like if there was a photo of Muhammad Ali holding Mike Tyson as a baby. Remarkable.

And the way the photos happened is completely random; Yamal’s family didn’t have footballing connections or anything like that. The photos were taken by photographer Joan Monfort in 2007 for a UNICEF fundraiser (UNICEF was the jersey “sponsor” for Barca’s 2007-2008 season).

“UNICEF did a raffle in the neighbourhood of Roca Fonda in Mataro where Lamine’s family lived,” said Monfort. “They signed up for the raffle to have their picture taken at the Camp Nou with a Barca player. And they won the raffle.” 

“He [Messi] didn’t even know how to hold him at first,” Monfort said, recalling the difficulties of the shoot. “Messi is a pretty introverted guy, he’s shy. He was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated.”

More from Monfort in The Athletic:

“It’s the most famous photo I’ve taken in my life, by a long way. So many people have been interested, again during this World Cup now. If Lamine keeps growing like he is growing, the photo will be even more historic. The chances of all this happening was like winning the lottery. Although it’s not sorted me out financially for life (laughs).

“I’m just really happy it happened. It’s especially nice in today’s football, when so much is to do with money and power.




Lamine Yamal’s little brother takes World Cup by storm 




Mbappe scores his 10th goal of this World Cup! He passes Messi in this World Cup by 2 goals !🔥 Also, passes Messi with all-time World Cup goals at 22 goals! 😤 He’s only 27. Messi is 39 years old and played more World Cup games than him! Mbappe shredding the record books.


How FIFA built a $10bn World Cup: ‘A global mega-event with no parallel’


World Cup winners to be presented with championship rings in tournament first