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:
Washington Post, Democracy Docket, HotAir, CBS News, Fox News, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Townhall, WJBK-TV, BizPac Review, NewsMax.com, KEYT-TV, WVEC, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, Adam Kinzinger, Reason, Raw Story, LifeNews.com, Cardinal News, Newsweek, American Greatness and American Thinker
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Khaya Himmelman / Talking Points Memo:
Virginia State Supreme Court Strikes Down Dem Redistricting Proposal — In a major loss for Democrats on Friday, the Virginia state Supreme Court rejected, in a 4-3 decision, the state's recently approved redistricting proposal, which could have given Democrats four additional congressional seats …
Discussion:
CNN, ABC News, The Hill and The Guardian
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. — The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck …
Louise Radnofsky / Wall Street Journal:
Virginia Supreme Court Deals Blow to Democrats' Midterm Hopes — Democrats' map designed to counter Republican redistricting efforts is thrown out — Virginia's highest court threw out Democrats' effort to draw more blue-leaning seats ahead of the midterm elections, in another win …
Discussion:
Washington Times, Erick Erickson's Show Notes, The Daily Caller and The Hill
ABC News:
Tennessee passes new congressional map that splits state's only majority-Black district
Tennessee passes new congressional map that splits state's only majority-Black district
Discussion:
Letters from an American, Democracy Docket, Blaze Media, CBS News, NPR, Pluribus News, American Greatness, NewsMax.com, New York Times, The Hill, Action News 5, Mediaite, Reuters, The Daily Wire, Al Jazeera, Roll Call, Nashville Banner, The Gateway Pundit, The Independent, Washington Times, The National Pulse, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Scripps News, WVEC, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Newsweek, NOTUS, Truthout, American Thinker and Zeteo
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 …
Discussion:
The Downballot
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 unusual methodology, a Guardian analysis has found — The claims Samuel Alito, a supreme court justice …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Times and Raw Story
New York Times:
Trade Court Rules Trump's 10% Global Tariff Is Illegal — A panel of federal judges found that President Trump could not legally impose the tariff on most imports. — A panel of federal judges on Thursday found President Trump had violated the law when he imposed a 10 percent tariff on most U.S. imports …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Truthout, DNYUZ, Politico, Deccan Chronicle, Associated Press, CBS News, Deseret News, All Rise News, Reason, UPI, Reuters, New Jersey Office …, The Independent, Forbes, NewsMax.com, The Hill, Washington Examiner, KEYT-TV, PoliticusUSA, Raw Story, Liberty Justice Center, Scripps News and The Gateway Pundit
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Wall Street Journal:
Rule of Law 2, Trump's Tariffs 0
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, ABC News, DNYUZ, Reason, New Republic, Raw Story, Washington Times, Independent Institute, NOTUS, Axios and Los Angeles Times
Scott Horsley / NPR:
Trade court strikes down a second round of Trump tariffs
Trade court strikes down a second round of Trump tariffs
Discussion:
New York Sun, The Dispatch, Roll Call and Talking Points Memo
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, BizPac Review, DNYUZ and Raw Story
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
U.S. says it struck two Iran-flagged oil tankers trying to skirt blockade … Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news. — CNBC Councils — Join the CNBC Panel — News Tips — Got a confidential news tip?
Discussion:
Reuters, Stars & Stripes, DNYUZ, WJBK-TV, UPI and The Guardian
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Oren Cass / New York Times:
Is Trump About to Invite In the Biggest Predator in the World? — “If you look at my old speeches when I was young, very handsome,” President Trump said while announcing his “Liberation Day” tariffs last year, “I'd be on a television show. I'd be talking about how we were being ripped off.”
Discussion:
Raw Story
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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 …
Punchbowl News:
5/8/26☀️ AM: … Several House and Senate Republicans are privately raising alarms about the money and the political pitfalls of funding anything related to Trump's controversial ballroom, even as the White House, administration officials and GOP leaders insist the $1 billion is only for security.
Discussion:
Breaking Defense, Raw Story, WACH-TV, The Portland Press Herald and Daily Montanan
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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, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner and New York Times
RELATED:
Joshua Yaffa / New Yorker:
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
Discussion:
HuffPost and NewsMax.com
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Pentagon Releases Files on U.F.O.s — The initial files are murky images that show what could be anything. The government said more would be released on a rolling basis. — The Pentagon released what it called “new, never-before-seen” files on U.F.O.s on Friday, hailing the step …
Discussion:
New York Post, NBC News, ABC News, Axios, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, UPI, Al Jazeera, Scientific American, Deseret News, TMZ.com, NewsMax.com, Forbes, KTLA and UNILAD
Carol Leonnig / MS NOW:
Kash Patel ordered polygraphs of more than two dozen members of his team, sources say — FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the polygraphing of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail, as well as other staff, and has been described as being in panic mode to save …
Discussion:
The Nation, RedState, Zeteo, Advocate, New Republic, Poynter, Law and Chaos, Raw Story, The Independent, emptywheel, Meidas+, Mediaite and twitchy.com
Gillian Tett / Financial Times:
Humans still matter more than AI in finance — Recruiting digital natives with critical thinking skills is going to be crucial — A few months ago a New York financier told me he had just experienced a “first”: his 2025 summer interns “were the first true AI natives I have seen”.
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Did Amazon just deliver a blow to Josh Shapiro's White House dreams? — There are many hurdles facing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro if he truly hopes to make the transition from a popular governor, seemingly cruising toward reelection this November, to a Democratic presidential contender in 2028.
Lisa Needham / Public Notice:
Stephen Miller's closed system of white supremacy — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🔁 Subscribe to PN 🔁 — Working in the Trump administration these days is no doubt a dream come true for Stephen Miller.
Dave Collins / Associated Press:
Judge rules Trump administration's cancellation of humanities grants was unconstitutional — The Trump administration's cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department …
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News, Straight Arrow News, Reuters, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, RedState and CBS News, more at Techmeme »
Julie Bosman / New York Times:
Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Rob Sand Is Worrying Iowa Republicans … At a recent stop at a brewery in Des Moines, Rob Sand, a Democrat running for governor, didn't hold back about what the matter with Iowa is. — The state has among the worst economies of all 50 states in the country, he said.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Radio Iowa
Zachary Faria / Washington Examiner:
The Los Angeles fires are just the latest example of left-wing violence — The Los Angeles fires caused some $150 billion in damages and killed at least 12 people. Now, we know that it was likely yet another act of left-wing political violence. — The man arrested and charged with setting …
Discussion:
The Daily Wire, The American Spectator and The Federalist
Elina Shirazi / Charleston Daily Mail:
New DHS chief already humiliated as insiders make demeaning ‘queen’ comparison... and nasty infighting over Kristi Noem's replacement begins — When Markwayne Mullin attempted to install his personal pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement inside the Department of Homeland Security, the White House shot it down immediately.
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Paramount's Paper Trail … Early on Thursday afternoon, Paramount's chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, received a letter from lawyers representing Freedom of the Press Foundation and Reporters Without Borders—both organizations of which are shareholders in the David Ellison-owned media conglomerate.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times and DNYUZ, more at Mediagazer »
Fox News:
Trump admin releases highly anticipated files documenting UFOs, ‘extraterrestrial life’ — Release includes Apollo operator transcripts describing ‘jagged, angular fragments’ seen from the spacecraft — FIRST ON FOX — The Trump administration on Friday released a batch of “never-before-seen” …
New York Times:
U.S. Schools Face a Crisis as the Number of Children Drops — With fewer students, many public school districts are confronting unfilled classrooms, and hard choices about school closures. — As American women have fewer babies each year, the number of young children in the United States is dwindling.
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor, American Greatness and Local News Matters
Samuel Chamberlain / New York Post:
AOC mocked after she claims no one can ‘earn a billion dollars’: ‘Her entire salary is stolen from people’ — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has been roundly scorned after she claimed on a podcast this week that the idea anyone can earn their way to billionaire status is a “myth.”
Discussion:
Reason, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, Fox News, HotAir, Mediaite, The Wrap and twitchy.com
Reuters:
UK's Labour Party suffers heavy early losses as Reform gains in elections — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Friday to stay in office to “deliver change” after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections that deepened doubts over his ability to govern.
Discussion:
HotAir, New York Times, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, spiked, Modern Diplomacy, NBC News, HuffPost, American Thinker, The Gateway Pundit, RTÉ, Foreign Policy, GB News, The Daily Sceptic and The Guardian


