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, NPR, Democracy Docket, Washington Examiner, Axios, HotAir, CBS News, Pluribus News, NBC News, MeidasTouch, Bloomberg, UPI, Washington Times, New York Sun, Semafor, Al Jazeera, NewsMax.com, DNYUZ, Townhall, BizPac Review, WVEC, WJBK-TV, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse, The Independent, Reason, Adam Kinzinger, Newsweek, KEYT-TV, MS NOW, American Greatness, Cardinal News, LifeNews.com, American Thinker, Ace of Spades HQ, The Virginian-Pilot and Grabien
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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 …
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Magazine, Washington Examiner, NOTUS, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Free Beacon, Mother Jones, Breitbart, The Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Post Millennial, Washington Times, IJR, The American Conservative, Mediaite, The Daily Wire, Erick Erickson's Show Notes, Election Law Blog and The Hill
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, RedState, The Hill and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
Louise Radnofsky / Wall Street Journal:
Virginia Supreme Court Deals Blow to Democrats' Midterm Hopes
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Andrew Solender / Axios:
House Dems despondent over “sickening” Virginia decision
House Dems despondent over “sickening” Virginia decision
Discussion:
New York Post, Politico, CNBC, The Daily Wire, NewsMax.com, Raw Story, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, CBS News and Political Wire
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, NewsMax.com, Democracy Docket, Blaze Media, NPR, American Greatness, Pluribus News, New York Times, The Hill, CBS News, 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, Raw Story, Associated Press, Newsweek, NOTUS, Talking Points Memo, 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
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 …
Discussion:
CBS News, Deadline, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »
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:
The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, New York Times and Raw Story
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, New York Post and Raw Story
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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Al Jazeera:
Iran says seized tanker in Gulf of Oman, as US ‘disables’ two ships — Latest claims come hours after US and Iran exchanged fire in Strait of Hormuz, threatening ongoing push for ceasefire. — Add Al Jazeera on Google — Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) …
Discussion:
UPI, New York Times, The War Zone, Reuters, Middle East Monitor, CNBC, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlantic Council
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Associated Press:
UAE reports drone and missile attack after US says it traded fire with Iran
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, WALV-TV, Straight Arrow News, New York Times, Semafor, MS NOW, News Talk 105.9, Bloomberg and Axios
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
U.S. says it struck two Iran-flagged oil tankers trying to skirt blockade
U.S. says it struck two Iran-flagged oil tankers trying to skirt blockade
Discussion:
Reuters, Stars & Stripes, DNYUZ, FOX 11 Los Angeles, UPI and The Guardian
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 and Washington Examiner
RELATED:
Joshua Yaffa / New Yorker:
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
Discussion:
HuffPost and NewsMax.com
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, Foreign Policy, Digby's Hullabaloo, NewsMax.com, Daily Kos, Truthout, DNYUZ, Politico, Deccan Chronicle, The Dispatch, New York Sun, Associated Press, CBS News, Deseret News, All Rise News, UPI, New Jersey Office …, The Independent, Forbes, The Hill, KEYT-TV, PoliticusUSA, Raw Story, Reuters, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Reason, Scripps News, Liberty Justice Center and The Gateway Pundit
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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.
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, ABC News, NBC News, Axios, TechCrunch, UPI, Al Jazeera, Scientific American, Bloomberg, Deseret News, TMZ.com, KTLA, Forbes and UNILAD
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.
Hannah Knowles / Washington Post:
Anti-woke Vivek Ramaswamy confronts racism in his run for Ohio governor — Vivek Ramaswamy built a political brand casting racism as an obsession of Democrats. As a Republican running for Ohio governor, he's facing racism on the right. — Summary — CINCINNATI — Vivek Ramaswamy …
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
Julia Ingram / CBS News:
Thousands of asylum-seekers abandon their cases as ICE seeks to deport them to nations they aren't from — Add CBS News on Google — Willian Yacelga Benalcazar's asylum case followed what had become a similar pattern in immigration courts across the country: After telling a judge …
Alex Roarty / NOTUS:
Thomas Massie Is Really In Danger of Losing His Seat — Allies of the occasional Trump adversary acknowledge his race is tightening, just as Trump's intraparty dominance reemerges. — Copy — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie's lead in his primary later this month is slipping …
Discussion:
Washington Times, MeidasTouch, The Dispatch and Washington Examiner
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.
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, Techdirt, Reuters, Straight Arrow News, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Raw Story, RedState and CBS News, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
We're at the Dawn of the Ozempic Era — and It's Really Weird — This is an edited transcript of “The Ezra Klein Show.” You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts. — Here's a number from a KFF poll that actually shocked me when I learned it: One out of eight American adults is taking a GLP-1.
Discussion:
Deseret News
Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
Exclusive: The Dems' New Plan for When Mass Deportation Fails — “Trump bad” or “No more mass deportation” just won't cut it. — AMERICANS MAY BE REJECTING the execution of Trump's mass deportation program, but if Democratic candidates want to have a shot at sustained electoral and governing success …
Discussion:
American Immigration Council and Politico
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, New York Sun, RedState, Zeteo, Advocate, Raw Story, Poynter, The Independent, Law and Chaos, New Republic, emptywheel, Meidas+ and Mediaite
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” …
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:
Politico, Breaking Defense, Raw Story, WACH-TV, The Portland Press Herald and Daily Montanan
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
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:
The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and DNYUZ, more at Mediagazer »
