American history has known flawed, scandal-ridden and even disgraced presidents. But no modern American president has accumulated the sheer volume of legal exposure, ethical controversy, civil judgments, criminal proceedings, public deception and democratic instability surrounding one individual quite like Donald…
SPLC pleads not guilty to feds’ fraud charges
The Southern Poverty Law Center pleaded not guilty to 11 fraud-related charges and is tentatively set to face trial Oct. 5 in an Alabama federal court. SPLC Interim President Bryan Fair entered the plea May 7 to the indictment handed…
Newsmax settles third defamation case over 2020 election falsehoods
Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the “faith-friendly” right-wing cable network of defaming Dominion Voting Systems. Newsmax falsely claimed Dominion helped rig the 2020 election for Joe Biden. Newsmax was not required to…
Donald J. Trump’s ‘Greatest Show on Earth’
President Donald Trump may be the world’s greatest salesman. His greatest skill is offering political analysis in the language of a profane oaf. He sold the American voter on his toughness by being vulgar, crude and lacking in decorum. In…
You won’t believe our story of Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse
Three days before what we thought would be my wife, Ruth Ellen’s, final surgery for stage three breast cancer, my mind was racing as I was trying to finish moving out of our old house while confirming plans for where…
Trump administration accuses Habitat for Humanity of fraud
Habitat for Humanity is among nonprofits the Trump administration claims benefited from “programmatic fraud, waste and abuse” through a climate action fund authorized by Congress. Not only has Trump shut down the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the Environmental Protection Agency…
DC court asked to limit use of ‘ecclesial abstention’ when fraud is involved
On Feb. 11, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals will hear a largely unknown case that has potential nationwide influence on the legal doctrine of “ecclesial abstention.” For decades, this legal doctrine has shielded courts from adjudicating cases deemed…
Judge calls Tina Peters ‘charlatan,’ sentences her to nine years for election crimes
Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who became a 2020-election-denying hero to conservative Christians after granting conspiracists access to voting machine data that was published online, has reached a point in her three-year legal odyssey she had worked and…
Calling Donald Trump a ‘good businessman’ illustrates the problem of bowing down to ‘business’
Driving down the road last week, I (Mark) heard a radio journalist interview Hispanic immigrant voters (legal ones, for all you who worry about this) about how they’ll vote in this fall’s presidential election. One made the case that he…
North Carolina children’s home trustees release scathing report on longtime president’s misuse of funds
Note: This article was updated on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 21, to add comment from Michael Blackwell. The longtime president of Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina has retired after trustees presented a scathing report on his use of a “discretionary…
Bruce Springsteen is a fraud, and so are we
Bruce Springsteen confesses: “I made it all up. … I’ve never held an honest job in my entire life. I’ve never done any hard labor. I’ve never worked nine to five. … I come from a boardwalk town that is…
Florida Baptist Convention is victim of financial fraud
The Florida Baptist Convention has been the victim of financial fraud, its leaders said in a public statement May 10. The exact nature of the fraud and the amount of money involved were not disclosed. Baptist News Global asked an…