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:
Axios, NPR, Balls and Strikes, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Democracy Docket, Washington Post, Esquire, Bloomberg, So What, The Daily Wire, PBS NewsHour, Raw Story, UPI, NewsMax.com, WJBK-TV, Newsweek, IJR, Semafor, The Daily Signal, Adam Kinzinger, The Independent, Cardinal News, MS NOW, Washington Times, Al Jazeera, WVEC, Townhall, The Daily Caller, LifeNews.com, MeidasTouch, New York Sun, HotAir, BizPac Review, Pluribus News, American Greatness, American Thinker, Ace of Spades HQ and The Virginian-Pilot
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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, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Townhall, HotAir, Mediaite, The Daily Wire, DNYUZ, NewsMax.com, Raw Story, NPR, Washington Examiner, CNBC and CBS News
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 …
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:
Wall Street Journal, Democracy Docket and Bloomberg
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:
Washington Examiner, oag.state.va.us, Ace of Spades HQ, The Contrarian, DNYUZ, The Preamble, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, twitchy.com, The Dispatch, The Federalist, The Daily Wire, The Washington Free Beacon, Deseret News, NextDraft, The Intercept, No More Mister Nice Blog and Erick Erickson's Show Notes
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
Khaya Himmelman / Talking Points Memo:
Virginia State Supreme Court Strikes Down Dem Redistricting Proposal
Tim Balk / New York Times:
4 Takeaways From the Virginia Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decision
4 Takeaways From the Virginia Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decision
Discussion:
Politico, MS NOW, Fox News, The Post Millennial, NBC News, Slate, New York Post, Washington Examiner, CBS News, RedState, Cardinal News, The Hill, IJR, Democracy Docket, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit, NOTUS, The National Pulse, The Federalist, NewsMax.com, Erick Erickson's Show Notes, New Republic, DNYUZ, All Rise News, Washington Times, Rick Wilson's …, The American Conservative, Mediaite, The Daily Wire and Grabien
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
George Chidi / The Guardian:
‘This is not democracy’: voting rights activists shocked by speed of US states moving to stifle Black voters
‘This is not democracy’: voting rights activists shocked by speed of US states moving to stifle Black voters
Discussion:
Democracy Docket, RNS, Scott MacFarlane Reports, Chicago Sun Times, The Hill, Reuters and Al Jazeera
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:
MedPage Today, Raw Story, NewsMax.com, STAT, The Daily Signal, Mediaite and New Republic
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New York Times:
Trump Plans to Fire F.D.A. Commissioner Marty Makary — Dr. Makary has been a supporter of the Make American Healthy Again Movement but made some enemies in the administration over vaping, the abortion pill and rejections of new drugs. — President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Dr. Marty Makary …
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, VINnews and The Independent
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:
NBC News, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, Al Jazeera, TechCrunch, UPI, Axios, KTLA, DNYUZ, TMZ.com, ABC News, Blaze Media, CBS News and Mediaite
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Samuel Chamberlain / New York Post:
Pentagon releases dozens of UFO files offering transparency on ‘alien and extraterrestrial life’
Discussion:
New York Times, SPACE.com, Fox News, The Independent, Breitbart, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, WALV-TV, NPR, PBS NewsHour, Wired, New Scientist, Reuters, WJBK-TV, Task & Purpose, The Hollywood Reporter, Raw Story, The War Zone, Stars & Stripes, Modern Diplomacy, KTLA, CBS News, Malone News, The Daily Wire, DNYUZ, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, The Daily Caller, Deseret News, UNILAD, BizPac Review, Forbes and Althouse
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, Charleston Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit, Straight Arrow News, Daily Kos, El País, One America News Network, The National Pulse, Washington Times, The Wrap, RedState, CBS News, GB News, DNYUZ, IJR, Washington Examiner, KEYT-TV, UNILAD and The Post Millennial
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 …
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, NewsMax.com and New York Post
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, Above the Law, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, 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, Washington Post, New York Times, NewsMax.com, UPI, Federal News Network, NOTUS, GovExec.com, The Independent, CBS News, MPR News, Washington Times, New York Sun, Associated Press and The Hill
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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
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, NewsMax.com and News Talk 105.9
RELATED:
Joshua Yaffa / New Yorker:
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
For Putin, Problems (and Paranoia) Keep Mounting
Discussion:
GB News, HuffPost, NewsMax.com and Asia Times
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, Newsweek, Mediaite, BizPac Review, New Republic, New York Post and Raw Story
New York Times:
Trump's Latest Tariff Setback Looms Over China Talks — For the president, a major legal defeat could undercut his leverage as he prepares to head to Beijing next week for high-stakes trade negotiations. — A day after a federal court ruled against President Trump's latest global tariffs …
Discussion:
RedState, Truthout, DNYUZ, Wall Street Journal, New York Sun, The Dispatch, Politico, NewsMax.com, The Hill, Reuters and Al Jazeera
RELATED:
Oren Cass / New York Times:
Is Trump About to Invite In the Biggest Predator in the World?
Is Trump About to Invite In the Biggest Predator in the World?
Discussion:
Commonplace and Raw Story
Bloomberg:
New York's Hochul to Back Trump's Tax Credit for School Choice — New York Governor Kathy Hochul is planning to participate in President Donald Trump's controversial federal school choice program, according to a statement Friday. — Hochul will be one of the few Democratic leaders to opt …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Yeshiva World, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The City
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
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.
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
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 …
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
