Top Items:
David A. Lieb / Associated Press:
Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats' redistricting plan, dimming party's midterm hopes — The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans …
Discussion:
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Public Notice:
What the Virginia ruling does — and does not — mean for 2026 — The news is not good for Democrats, but they can still win the House. — On the latest episode of Nir & Rupar, our live weekly video show, David Nir of The Downballot and Aaron Rupar of Public Notice discuss the fallout …
Andrew Solender / Axios:
House Dems despondent over “sickening” Virginia decision — House Democrats fell into a state of anguish on Friday after the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a congressional map that would have netted them as many as four seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
Discussion:
DCCC, The Daily Caller, Townhall, The Daily Wire, HotAir, DNYUZ, The National Pulse, twitchy.com, NewsMax.com, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, NPR, Mediaite, CNBC and CBS News
Ari Berman / Mother Jones:
Republicans Don't Need to Win Elections Anymore. They Just Need Their Judges. — The Virginia Supreme Court nullifies three million votes, boosting Trump's effort to rig the midterms. — The redistricting news for Democrats has gone from bad to worse. — A week after the US Supreme …
Dan Pfeiffer / The Message Box:
The Virginia Ruling Was a Gut Punch. Democrats Can Still Win the House — This morning's ruling killed four Democratic pickups, but there's still hope — Like me, you were probably going about your Friday morning feeling bad about the world but good about Democratic prospects this fall …
Discussion:
The Hill, RedState, Democracy Docket, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal
New York Times:
In Huge Blow to Democrats, Virginia Court Strikes Down House Map — The decision is a major victory for Republicans, wiping away a measure approved by voters to allow Democrats to gain as many as four House seats in the midterms. — Virginia's top court on Friday struck down a congressional map drawn …
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
The glaring error in the Virginia Supreme Court's gerrymandering decision — By a 4-3 vote, the Virginia Supreme Court just struck down that state's recently enacted congressional maps, which were intended to give Democrats four additional seats in the state's congressional election after the upcoming midterms.
Discussion:
HotAir, Election Law Blog, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, New York Sun, CBS News, Newsbusters, Blaze Media and Reason
Bill Mahoney / Politico:
Why Democrats' New York gerrymander won't be as aggressive as the GOP's efforts … “People were walking across bridges and being mauled, and have lost their lives for these rights,” New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said of the VRA. “These laws are there because there …
Discussion:
The Atlantic and NewsMax.com
New York Times:
Alabama Asks Supreme Court to Allow it to Use New Voting Map
Discussion:
The Hill, Montgomery Advertiser, SCOTUSblog, Alabama Attorney … and Los Angeles Times
Tim Balk / New York Times:
4 Takeaways From the Virginia Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decision
4 Takeaways From the Virginia Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decision
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, MS NOW, Fox News, The Post Millennial, NBC News, Slate, Cardinal News, RedState, IJR, Democracy Docket, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit, NOTUS, New York Post, The Federalist, NewsMax.com, Erick Erickson's Show Notes, New Republic, DNYUZ, Washington Examiner, All Rise News, Washington Times, CBS News, The American Conservative, Rick Wilson's … and Mediaite
Khaya Himmelman / Talking Points Memo:
Virginia State Supreme Court Strikes Down Dem Redistricting Proposal
Virginia State Supreme Court Strikes Down Dem Redistricting Proposal
Elaine Mallon / Fox News:
Leftist streamer calls violent revolution ‘inevitable’ as Democrats explode over Virginia court decision
Leftist streamer calls violent revolution ‘inevitable’ as Democrats explode over Virginia court decision
Discussion:
RedState, The Daily Caller and The Daily Wire
New York Times:
ABC Accuses Government of Violating First Amendment — The network's argument, made to the F.C.C., is the most aggressive posture taken yet by a television network toward the Trump administration. — ABC has accused the Federal Communications Commission of violating its free speech rights …
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Liz Essley Whyte / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Planning to Fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary — The doctor, a MAHA advocate, has had a tumultuous tenure that has included clashes over vaping, abortion and vaccine policy.
Discussion:
UPI, Ars Technica, Washington Post, MedPage Today, Raw Story, NewsMax.com, STAT, Bloomberg, Mediaite, The Daily Signal and New Republic
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New York Times:
The No-Bid Contract That Is Turning Washington's Reflecting Pool Blue … For a century, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has captured Washington's history, a vast mirror for moments great and small. — Then, this spring, President Trump said he decided to paint it blue …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Samuel Chamberlain / New York Post:
Pentagon releases dozens of UFO files offering transparency on ‘alien and extraterrestrial life’ — The War Department released more than 160 files Friday related to sightings of UFOs dating back nearly 80 years, two days after President Trump predicted, “I think some of it's going to be very interesting to people.”
Discussion:
CBS News, New York Times, SPACE.com, Fox News, Breitbart, WALV-TV, NPR, PBS NewsHour, Task & Purpose, The Hollywood Reporter, Raw Story, The War Zone, Stars & Stripes, The Independent, Modern Diplomacy, KTLA, Malone News, The Daily Wire, DNYUZ, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, The Daily Caller, Deseret News, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, New Scientist, UNILAD, WJBK-TV, BizPac Review and Forbes
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Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Pentagon Releases Files on U.F.O.s
Discussion:
NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, Scientific American, Al Jazeera, TechCrunch, UPI, Axios, KTLA, DNYUZ, NewsMax.com, TMZ.com, ABC News, Blaze Media and CBS News
Fox News:
Trump admin releases highly anticipated files documenting UFOs, ‘extraterrestrial life’
Trump admin releases highly anticipated files documenting UFOs, ‘extraterrestrial life’
Discussion:
Telegraph, Scientific American, Associated Press, Charleston Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit, Straight Arrow News, Daily Kos, El País, One America News Network, Washington Times, The Wrap, RedState, CBS News, DNYUZ, GB News, IJR, Washington Examiner, KEYT-TV, UNILAD and The Post Millennial
Reuters:
Exclusive: Kennedy's health officials explored US ban of some widely used antidepressants, sources say — U.S. health department officials last week explored whether they could ban certain drugs in a widely prescribed class of antidepressants as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prepared …
Discussion:
MedPage Today, New Republic and NewsMax.com
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
The simple statistical error Republican Supreme Court justices used to gut the VRA — The Court says vote dilution can be proven only after “controlling” racial polarization for partisan polarization. This is a nonsensical and impossible test … The six Republican-appointed justices …
The Guardian:
Supreme court's Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DoJ — Exclusive: Data in justice department filing quoted by Samuel Alito in his opinion relied on questionable methodology, a Guardian analysis has found — The claims Samuel Alito, a supreme court justice …
Discussion:
New Republic, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Above the Law, Raw Story, Wonkette, Talking Points Memo and New York Times
Julia Angwin / New York Times:
Mark Zuckerberg Is Running Meta Into the Ground — There is a moment when internet companies get the stink of death on them. For AOL, it was 2003, when it became clear that its users were abandoning its clunky dial-up internet service for far-faster broadband.
Thomas Frank / Politico:
Trump gets his chance to upend FEMA … That would help the agency meet one of Trump's biggest complaints about FEMA — that it's too slow to deliver money. The report says payments to states would occur within 30 days of a flood, storm, wildfire or other disaster.
Discussion:
RedState and Washington Post
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Alex Nitzberg / Fox News:
US intel community agreed before war 'Iran wasn't developing a nuclear weapon': ex-counterterrorism chief — Joe Kent declared ‘the narrative & agenda spun by a foreign government- Israel, won the argument & forced us into this war’ — Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent asserted …
Discussion:
Responsible Statecraft and WTTG-TV
Jonathan Lemire / The Atlantic:
Trump Is ‘Bored’ With the War He Started — He wants out, but Iran could likely keep going for months. — President trump really, really wants the war with Iran to end. He has declared victory many times, including about three weeks ago, when Iran briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz.
Discussion:
DNYUZ, Commentary Magazine and Asia Times
Melania Trump / Washington Post:
Mothers are America's strength … Melania Trump is the first lady of the United States. — A mother's devotion to her child is unmatched. This love takes many forms: strength, compassion, wisdom, grace, joy, labor, humor and even grief, to name a few. The love between mother and child …
Discussion:
Mercury News, Raw Story, Townhall, The Independent, The Federalist, NewsMax.com, Marie Claire and Institute for Family Studies
The Economist:
Secret document reveals Russia's plans to aid Iran — Unjammable drones would be used against American forces, according to proposals seen by The Economist — There are many reasons why America's war on Iran has been failing. One of them is the effectiveness of Iranian drones.
Discussion:
GV Wire, Washington Examiner and NewsMax.com
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Joshua Yaffa / New Yorker:
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
Discussion:
GB News, Asia Times, HuffPost and NewsMax.com
Madeleine Ngo / New York Times:
Facing Pressure, Trump Officials Reject Claims They're Softening on Immigration — Immigration hard-liners have grown frustrated with the level of deportations and the Department of Homeland Security's attempts, under its new secretary, to stay under the radar.
Discussion:
The Bulwark and Charleston Daily Mail
Catherine Bouris / The Daily Beast:
MAGA Rep Accused of Brutally Beating GOP Senator's Daughter — FAMILY TRAUMA — Rep. Max Miller was elected in 2022 and previously served in the Trump administration. — A MAGA congressman has been accused of years of physical abuse against his ex-wife, the daughter of a prominent Republican senator.
Discussion:
Charleston Daily Mail, Mediaite, Newsweek, BizPac Review and New Republic
Emily Peck / Axios:
Ted Cruz: Trump accounts are personal Social Security accounts — At a conference earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that the new Trump accounts, the “401(k)s for babies” that launched this year, could be a way to push forward the Social Security privatization effort that failed during the Bush administration.
New York Times:
Compare the Purported Epstein Suicide Note to His Writings — The New York Times has not authenticated the note. But some of its phrases are similar or identical to ones Jeffrey Epstein used in emails and another handwritten letter. — A suicide note purported to be written …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Megyn Kelly and MS NOW
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Judge schedules criminal trial for James Comey for July 15 — A federal judge on Friday set a July 15 trial date for former FBI Director James Comey on his new criminal charges of threatening President Trump. — U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, who will oversee the trial …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit
Politico:
4 people convicted of conspiracy in US trial tied to 2021 assassination of Haiti's president … “These defendants pursued power, influence, and profit through violence,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, DNYUZ, Al Jazeera, Reuters, New York Times, Florida Politics and Fox News
