May 19, 2026

The New York Times is liveblogging Tuesday's elections results here. From the pinned item at 8:15 pm ET Tuesday: “Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of ... [Donald] Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics, lost his re-election bid to a Trump-backed primary challenger. It was a major victory for the president that underscored his enduring influence over Republican voters and his ability to enact retribution against party rivals. Mr. Trump and his allies were intent on ousting Mr. Massie, who has broken with Mr. Trump over the Iran war and the Epstein files. The president recruited Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, to run against him, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned for Mr. Gallrein in the closing days. The race ballooned into a $33 million affair that became the most expensive House primary in recent years.

“Other races playing out on Tuesday in Kentucky and five other states — Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Idaho and Oregon — were testing the strength of Mr. Trump’s endorsement at a time when he faces plummeting approval ratings, high gas prices and an unpopular war in Iran. But he scored another early victory on Tuesday evening when another ally, Representative Andy Barr, easily won a primary for Senate in Kentucky to replace Senator Mitch McConnell, who is retiring.”

     ~~~ Here is the AP's liveblog of results. 

Liz Crampton, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate primary set off panic among Republicans who worry that keeping the seat will now be a more expensive and potentially futile endeavor. By endorsing Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn, Trump rejected the pleas of GOP leaders in Congress who for months had pushed Trump to back a proven winner in the Lone Star State. Now with Trump in his corner, Paxton is well situated to win the primary runoff next week and face Democratic nominee James Talarico in the general election — a matchup Democrats have dreamed of for months.”

Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “The Senate on Tuesday agreed to take up a measure that would force ... [Donald] Trump to end the war in Iran or win authorization from Congress to continue it, after a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in pushing forward with a resolution the G.O.P. has managed to block for months. Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who lost his primary over the weekend after Mr. Trump targeted him for defeat, was the latest member of his party to switch his vote and side with Democrats in an effort to limit the president’s war powers. That, combined with the absences of several other Republicans, was enough to push the resolution forward. The vote was 50 to 47 to advance the resolution, allowing it to be debated and receive a vote in the coming weeks. It was the eighth attempt by Democrats and a single Republican to rein in Mr. Trump’s war powers since he began the military campaign, now in its third month, which a majority of Americans say he should never have launched. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was again the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to beat back the measure, while Mr. Cassidy was one of four Republicans who sided with Democrats to push it forward.” Politico's report is here.

Marie: I'm sorry, but the day is not over, so we have a new scandal. Look at how Trump & Blanche have expanded their criminal conspiracy to defraud the U.S. taxpayer: ~~~

~~~ Alan Feuer & Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “The Justice Department on Tuesday expanded the agreement it reached this week with ... [Donald] Trump to resolve his extraordinary lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service to include a provision that would bar the agency from pursuing tax claims against the president, his family or his businesses. In a one-page document signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and quietly posted on the department’s website, officials vowed not to pursue any matters, including those involving Mr. Trump’s tax returns, that are currently pending.... Protection from audit could be quite remunerative for Mr. Trump. In 2024, The Times reported that a loss in an I.R.S. audit could cost Mr. Trump more than $100 million. It is unclear if that examination has concluded or if Mr. Trump, his family members or affiliated entities are under other audits. I.R.S. procedures call for the mandatory audit of the president’s tax returns annually.... Federal law prohibits the president, vice president and other executive officers from instructing the I.R.S. to start or stop specific audits. But that broad prohibition does appear to include a carve out for the attorney general.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The link to the addendum which the the NYT provides doesn't work in Firefox -- but NBC News lays out what I wanted to know: ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Reilly, et al., of NBC News: “In a sweeping one-page addendum to Monday’s settlement agreement establishing a nearly $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund, Blanche agreed that the U.S. is 'FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims' including 'monetary relief' that 'have been or could have been' asserted by the IRS against Trump, his family or his businesses.... The addendum ... blocks the U.S. from seeking damages that could have been asserted against the plaintiffs in the case — Trump, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and their company — as well as 'related or affiliated individuals (including, without limitation, family or others filing jointly), and their companies' in 'any matters currently pending or that could be pending (including tax returns filed before the Effective Date) before Defendants or other agencies or departments.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That is, Trump, et al., don't have to pay any taxes for any year up to and including the 2025 tax year. I don't think that means just Dumb & Dumber. It would include, for instance, Jared and Ivanka, too. That means none of them has to pay any taxes for any tax year prior to this one, and there's nothing the IRS can do about it. 

“Out of Bounds”: An Excellent Idea. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “The NAACP is calling on Black athletes and their supporters to boycott public universities in states that have moved to 'limit, weaken or erase Black voting representation' in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to dramatically limit the landmark Voting Rights Act. With what it has dubbed the “Out of Bounds” campaign, the civil rights group is asking Black athletes and recruits to withhold their commitments to schools in eight states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — where flagship universities generate millions of dollars in annual athletic revenue. The public pressure campaign also asks fans to stop purchasing tickets and merchandise from those athletic programs, and for current athletes to use their platforms to question school leaders about voting rights. Recruits and current athletes are being encouraged to strongly consider committing or transferring to historically Black colleges and universities.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The great majority of these kids are excellent athletes whom other schools would be more than happy to pick up for their own teams. It shouldn't be up to Black athletes to bear this burden alone; all student athletes in these Southern states should be telling recruiters, "Sorry, I'm not interested in playing for Racist U." 

JayDee: Alleged Medicaid Fraud = Bad. Admitted Trump Fraud = Good. Brendan Rascius & Ariana Baio of the Independent: “In continuing his anti-fraud crusade at a rally in Missouri, [Vice President J.D.] Vance condemned billions of dollars in alleged Medicaid fraud, claiming, 'When people steal billions of dollars from the Medicare program, that is theft from you, and it’s also theft from the people who use the Medicare program to pay their bills.' Last week, the White House announced that Vance’s task force had withheld $1.4 billion in federal funding after 'a sweeping crackdown on fraud operations in California, Minnesota, & other states.' However, the vice president’s remarks Monday came hours after the Justice Department announced it would commit $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars ... to pay out allies of Trump who were investigated under Democratic administrations. Critics denounced the 'slush fund' as 'outright theft' from taxpayers.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

The New York Times is liveblogging a Senate hearing of Trump's consigliere Todd Blanche. ~~~ 

Megan Mineiro: “Senator John Thune, the majority leader, was asked by reporters outside the Senate chamber about the president’s $1.8 billion fund for compensating people who claim they have been the victim of political prosecutions. He said he expects the fund will face opposition and will undergo a 'full vetting' by lawmakers during the appropriations process. 'My assumption is that, based on some of the blowback that’s come since this was announced, that there would be a significant amount of attention paid to it,' he said.”  

Devlin Barrett: “At the end of the contentious exchange between Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island and the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, the senator compared Blanche to a mafia boss’s right hand man. 'This whole hearing is exposing something which is to me very frightening,' Reed said to Blanche. 'You’re a very gifted lawyer but from my perspective, you have very little faith to the Constitution and the people of America, and you’re the president’s consigliere.'”

Chris Geidner, the Law Dork, has published Trump's "settlement agreement" with the IRS. 

Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic calls Trump's $1.776BB slush fund "worse than stealing," as it is part of his ongoing effort to "[recast] the January 6 insurrection as the work of heroic patriots.... To ensure that it will never be used for a deserving victim, the fund is scheduled for termination on December 15, 2028.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

With a little help from Rachel Maddow ~~~ 

We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow, and I put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to. -- Donald Trump, to reporters, yesterday ~~~

~~~ He Really Doesn't Know What He's Doing. Tyler Pager & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said Monday that he had authorized a new wave of attacks against Iran this week but that he was holding off to make room for 'serious negotiations,' after he said three Gulf leaders requested more time to work out a nuclear deal. Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch new strikes, only to pull back at the last minute from plunging the United States back into an unpopular, expensive war. On Monday, he confirmed plans to strike and canceled them at the same time.”

⭐They. Did. It. The Most Corrupt Administration in U.S. History Jumped into the Abyss. Fatima Hussein, et al., of the AP: “The Trump administration on Monday announced the creation a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department. The 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve ... Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was 'a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.' Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a 'corrupt' and unprecedented resolution, warning that the arrangement would unjustly enrich people close to the president with taxpayer dollars and open the door to meritless claims of political persecution.

“Trump’s lawyers disclosed the dismissal of the case in a filing Monday in federal court in Florida, where the president sued earlier this year.... Trump’s attorneys suggested in their court filing seeking to dismiss the case that the resolution would not be reviewable by a judge. But a group of 93 members of Congress filed a brief teeing up a challenge.” The Washington Post's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Where exactly does the American taxpayer go "to be heard and seek redress" from this criminal project?

     ~~~ Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “The highly unusual 'anti-weaponization' fund was denounced by critics as a slush fund and as a brazen misuse of a once-independent Justice Department to carry out the president’s personal and political agendas.... 'This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,' said Donald K. Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.... Administration officials said Mr. Trump, two of his sons and his family business, who sued the I.R.S. together, would receive an apology but would not be paid out of the new fund.... Mr. Trump, insisting that he knew 'very little' about the fund, declined to say whether people who had committed violence against Capitol Police officers could be paid from the fund, saying a committee would decide.... Mr. Trump’s decision to drop his suit against the I.R.S. appeared to be intended to strip Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who had been overseeing the I.R.S. case in the Southern District of Florida, of her appointed role in approving a formal settlement agreement.... Judge Williams, tacitly acknowledging her hands were tied, accepted the president’s dismissal of the suit and formally closed the case by the end of the day.”

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “The top lawyer at the Treasury Department stepped down on Monday in the wake of the creation of a $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization fund' that could soon make payments to ... [Donald] Trump’s political allies, according to three people familiar with the move. Brian Morrissey, the Treasury’s general counsel, resigned from the position seven months after he was confirmed to it by the Senate and just hours after the Trump administration announced the fund on Monday.... The Treasury Department is responsible for depositing $1.776 billion into an account that will be controlled by a group of people selected by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, according to the terms of the fund released on Monday.” Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. 

Rachel Maddow & Jamie Raskin are helpful: ~~~

~~~ Mike Masnick of TechDirt calls Trump's slush fund “An Unconstitutional $1.776 Billion Loyalty Rewards Program For MAGA”: “What will the fund be used for? To pay anyone on Team MAGA — including, in theory, January 6th insurrectionists — who claim the Biden administration “weaponized” the government to target them. Many of these claims are simply not true. January 6th insurrectionists were arrested and convicted for actually breaking the law. But now they get to ask Trump for money, and the evidentiary standard appears to be 'trust me, bro' and a red MAGA hat. Let’s first dispense with the most obvious bit of the charade: the idea that this is actually related to the 'settlement' of Trump’s already corrupt bullshit lawsuit against the IRS.... This is entirely separate. Trump needed to drop that lawsuit in order to end it before a judge called bullshit on the fact that he was negotiating with himself to take $10 billion from American taxpayers.... They’re taking the money out of the Treasury Department’s 'Judgment Fund.' But that fund is clearly designed to pay out the results of duly litigated court cases against the government — not a board of Trump’s friends deciding who gets a check.... The fund also, notably, will be put into a private account that (according to the settlement) the US government has no control over and no liability for.” ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman: “...  this development — in which a Justice Department that works for Trump is paying a vast sum to 'settle' a lawsuit brought by Trump himself — is a new nadir in self-dealing, further revealing Trump’s utter contempt for the American people.... Until now, we’ve seen a combination of crony capitalism and insider trading. Plutocrats and corporations have been enriching Trump through back channels, especially crypto, in return for government contracts and policy favors, while Trump himself and people close to Trump have been making hugely profitable market bets thanks to advance knowledge of government policies. But now Trump has eliminated the middlemen, effectively telling his officials to pay money directly to him or anyone else he favors.... At this point Trump and his MAGA minions have stolen so much, committed so many crimes — not just theft but taking America to war illegally, abusing ICE detainees, and much more — that if and when they lose power many of them will face personal ruin at best, years of jail time at worst. This would happen even if they stopped committing more crimes. So there’s no incentive for them to end their criminality....” 

When a Huge Trump Scandal Isn't the Biggest Trump Scandal of the Day. Now here's the sort of Trump corruption we've been covering for the past several days. Rachel Maddow wraps it all up in a bow for us. As I mentioned recently, Trump is practicing a unique form of insider trading, where instead of going the usual route and trading on his insider knowledge of factors that would likely alter the values of certain stocks, he is trading stocks in which he has actually created the factors that changed their values: ~~~

 

     ~~~ Darius Tahir of KFF Health News: "... Donald Trump earlier this year bought as much as $680,000 in stock of Eli Lilly, the maker of blockbuster obesity drugs, as the agencies he oversees undertook an agenda that largely benefited the company.... The timing of Trump’s purchases coincides with several favorable government decisions benefiting the drugmaker’s GLP-1 business, including progress toward a long-held goal: qualifying the drugs for reimbursement from Medicare.... The disclosure forms — which bear Trump’s distinct signature — give ranges rather than exact dollar amounts for the trades. They show seven purchases of Lilly stock made on the president’s behalf through the end of March, the first of which occurred on Jan. 6. During that period, and just afterward, several Trump administration initiatives ultimately benefited Lilly."

I had a total military victory. But the fake news, guys like you, write incorrectly. You’re a fake guy. We had a total military victory. I actually think it’s sort of treasonous what you write. You should be ashamed of yourself. I actually think it’s treason. -- Donald Trump to multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning NYT reporter & Times Washington Bureau Chief David Sanger, Friday ~~~

~~~ Robert Reich: “Note Trump’s use of the pronoun 'I.' He didn’t say 'we' had a military victory. Trump’s malignant narcissism is worsening. Also take note of his blatant lie. His war in Iran has been anything but a victory. His delusions and deceptions about the war are escalating.... And note the not-so-subtle threat Trump directed at Sanger — that Sanger could be accused of treason if he continued to report that Trump’s war is failing.... Trump has made it harder for us to switch from oil and gas to renewable sources of energy, in which China is excelling.... Trump’s and Israel’s aggression apparently have proven to Iran’s new (and more extremist) leaders how much they need [a nuclear weapon].... A madman is in charge of American foreign policy — but almost no Republican member of Congress, no major CEO or university president or head of a major foundation, and certainly no member of Trump’s regime is willing to sound the alarm. They are all cowards.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's nice that for once Trump picked on a White, male reporter instead of his preferred targets: women of color. Of course in Trump's mind, anyone who works for the New York Times -- the "fake news," the "enemy of the people" -- can land on Trump's hit list at any moment. 

Taylor Giorno & Al Weaver of NOTUS: "... Donald Trump pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire the Senate parliamentarian after she ruled Republicans could not include funding for the president’s ballroom in a budget bill, two sources familiar with the request told NOTUS.... Elizabeth MacDonough, the nonpartisan parliamentarian who gives determinations on the rules of the Senate, determined Saturday that the provision [to give the Secret Service $1 billion for the ballroom], as written, did not pass the so-called Byrd Rule, which prevents non-budget items from passing with a simple majority. Republicans said they would revise the proposal to try to get the ballroom into the bill." Thune told NOTUS he would not fire MacDonough.

Jeffrey Gettleman, et al., of the New York Times: “... for the past four months, negotiators from the United States, Greenland and Denmark, which controls Greenland’s foreign affairs, have been holding confidential talks in Washington about Greenland’s future. The talks were meant to give Mr. Trump an offramp to his threats of a military takeover of Greenland and to scale back a crisis that risked breaking apart the NATO alliance. But Greenlandic leaders are worried about what is being proposed, which is a much larger U.S. role on the Arctic island. And they fear that if the conflict with Iran winds down, the president will swing his aggression back on them.... The American demands are so steep, Greenlandic officials fear, that they amount to a major imposition on their sovereignty. Despite all of the talk from Danish and American officials that Greenland’s future is up to the island’s 57,000 people, Greenlandic officials said the American demands would tie their hands for generations.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Miranda Bryant of the Guardian: “Greenland’s government has criticised the arrival of a US doctor in Nuuk alongside Donald Trump’s special envoy, Jeff Landry, saying that Greenlanders are not 'experimental subjects'. Joseph Griffin said he had joined the delegation as a volunteer to 'assess the medical needs' of the Arctic island, which the US president has repeatedly threatened to invade. Greenland’s health minister, Anna Wangenheim, immediately condemned his presence.... 'Greenlanders are not experimental subjects in a geopolitical project. Our healthcare system must be developed through respectful cooperation and Greenlandic self-determination, not through political envoys with hidden strategic interests.'  Speaking on Monday after a meeting with Landry, who is also governor of Louisiana, and the US ambassador to Denmark, Kenneth Howery, the Greenlandic prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, also criticised the doctor’s presence.”

The State Department is a junk drawer now. -- Rachel Maddow: ~~~

     ~~~ News from the Junk Drawer. Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: “The Senate voted Monday to confirm a new ambassador to Iceland whose joke about making the country a U.S. state infuriated Icelanders. Billy Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri, apologized during his confirmation hearing in February for joking about making Iceland the '52nd state.'... Donald Trump has talked repeatedly about his desire to admit Canada as the 51st state. Icelanders responded by starting a petition asking Iceland’s minister of foreign affairs to reject Long and urging Trump to nominate someone else. The petition attracted more than 5,500 signatures.... 'I just hope that the people in Iceland will give me a second chance to make a first impression,' [Long] said [during his confirmation hearing]. The Senate voted 46-43 along party lines to confirm Long and 48 other lower-level presidential nominees, including ambassadors, U.S. attorneys and assistant secretaries of state, transportation, defense and commerce.” ~~~

     ~~~ Ah, here's another of Trump's bottomless pit of "all the best people." GOP senators chose to confirm this guy, too: ~~~ 

     ~~~ Clair McFarland of the Cowboy State Daily: “The U.S. Senate majority voted 46-43 Monday to confirm Darin Smith as Wyoming’s top federal prosecutor for the next four years, among a slate of other Trump-backed nominees for federal offices. The Senate’s approval comes four days after all three sitting judges of the U.S. District Court for Wyoming dismissed nine felony cases, citing 'flagrant' misconduct by Smith that prejudiced nine defendants. One of those cases contained a first-degree murder charge. Smith had ingratiated himself with grand jurors at an indictment proceeding in March, had called prospective defendants 'murderers,' and 'bad people,' and called the cases 'slam dunks,' court documents say.... Wyoming’s two Republican U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis both voted in Smith’s favor.... Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, voiced objections last week and in December over Smith’s presence at the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach.” 

Gordon Lubold & Mosheh Gains of NBC News: "The Defense Department’s inspector general said Monday that it’s investigating U.S. Southern Command over its targeting of alleged drug-smuggling boats in the military’s campaign against drug cartels, which some critics have argued is illegal. Southern Command has targeted nearly 60 small boats the military says were transporting drugs through the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, destroying 59 vessels and killing 193 people since the campaign began last fall, according to the Pentagon. The internal watchdog will look at the intelligence and targeting Southern Command used for the strikes, as well as other aspects of the operations against the drug cartels, according to a letter from the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General dated May 11.... The inspector general initiated the investigation, the spokeswoman said.” MB: These deadly strikes began in September. It sure has taken a long time for the inspector general to get around to investigating them.

 

Trump Immigration Policies are Cruel ... Miriam Jordan & Jeff Adelson of the New York Times: “A new analysis suggests that more than 100,000 children have been separated from their parents during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. And roughly three-quarters of those children ... are likely U.S. citizens, according to estimates from the Brookings Institution that were shared with The New York Times.... The researchers, whose report is based on a statistical analysis of the detainee population, argue the official statistics are an undercount because of how the government collects that information. The findings point to a scale of family separations that far eclipses that of the first Trump administration’s 'zero tolerance policy in 2018, when about 5,500 children were removed from their parents immediately after crossing the southern border.” (Linked yesterday with a standard link.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the Brookings report. ~~~ 

~~~ ... AND Stupid. Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: Donald “Trump moved ahead on Monday with plans to allow 10,000 more white South Africans into the United States as refugees, even as the program remains closed off to people from every other country in the world.... In a report submitted to Congress on Monday, Mr. Trump has proposed lifting the record-low refugee admissions level of 7,500 to 17,500, reserving the additional openings for Afrikaners, who are primarily of Dutch descent. The administration argued that an 'emergency refugee situation' in South Africa warrants the expansion of Mr. Trump’s carve-out for Afrikaners, which has reoriented the U.S. refugee program into essentially a pipeline for members of a white minority to reach the United States. The government has calculated that the additional 10,000 refugee slots for Afrikaners will cost roughly $100 million, according to the report submitted to Congress.” The Guardian's report is here.

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, and I'm going to propose we invite in a special class of Europeans: all the descendants of Queen Victoria. As long as they're still White, of course. As a welcoming gesture, we can give each of them an adorable little tiara if they don't already have a crown of their own. ~~~

~~~ ... AND Stupider. Alba Dominguez of the Guardian: “The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could cause the US to potentially lose up to $479bn in ... tax revenue over the the next 10 years, with enforcement deterring undocumented workers from filing their taxes this year, according to tax experts. Tax advisers say major changes, including proposed data sharing with immigration enforcement, have made filing taxes risky for undocumented immigrants. Tax benefits for immigrant parents have also been removed, further removing incentive to file taxes at all.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~ 

~~~ ... AND Illegal. Jonah Bromwich & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “A judge on Monday largely barred federal agents from making arrests in immigration courts in New York City, putting an abrupt halt to a policy that emerged last year as the centerpiece of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Manhattan. The federal judge, P. Kevin Castel, issued the ruling two months after the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office sent a highly unusual letter to the court saying that it had mistakenly relied on a Department of Homeland Security policy memo when detaining noncitizens in immigration court. Opponents of the Trump administration, including Brad Lander, the former comptroller of New York City who is running for Congress as a Democrat, said the letter amounted to an admission of a 'bombshell lie' that had been used as a rationale for the detention of thousands of immigrants. The policy had led to remarkable scenes within the immigration courts at 26 Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan, as immigrants attending court for routine hearings were suddenly detained and, sometimes, dragged away from their families. Protesters began to attend in droves and some — including Mr. Lander — were arrested alongside the immigrants.” ~~~

~~~ ... AND (Allegedly!) Violent (and Illegal and Evasive). Arelis Hernandez of the Washington Post: “Minnesota prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who allegedly shot a Venezuelan immigrant during the federal government’s enforcement surge in Minneapolis early this year. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty identified Christian J. Castro, 52, as the ICE agent alleged to have shot Julio C. Sosa-Celis in the leg on Jan. 14, as agents chased after another man.... Castro is facing multiple second-degree felony assault charges involving a weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor, according to charging documents. Prosecutors said the ICE agent fired his weapon at a home where Sosa-Celis and others, including children, were inside.

“Moriarty accused federal officials of trying to stonewall the investigation by refusing to cooperate or help facilitate follow-up interviews with federal agents. State prosecutors said they were not given access to any evidence that the FBI collected. The Department of Homeland Security attempted to deport people who witnessed the crime or were inside the home that was shot at, prosecutors said, even though some were in the country lawfully with temporary protected status.” A NOTUS report is here. The AP's report is here.

Cruel AND Stupid. Amanda Marcotte of Salon: Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s push to get Americans off antidepressants is not to free people from the fog of psychiatric drugs, as one might imagine. Rather, “Kennedy has become a bog-standard right-wing Republican. His aims are political in nature, not medical. His heated, misleading rhetoric about SSRI [-- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors --] use, including demonizing people who need mental health medication as coddled weaklings, functions primarily as a justification for stripping people of medical care.... He has a long history of talking about people on SSRIs in dehumanizing, often racist language that implies their actual problem is they’re lazy and need to just work harder.... Kennedy has a real talent for taking reactionary, often sadistic ideas and reframing them to sound compassionate and therapeutic.... Kennedy has defended kicking millions of people off healthcare, falsely claiming that they’re 'almost all illegal immigrants.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: “The affordability crisis for many people who have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act came into sharper focus Tuesday, with a new analysis projecting that higher premiums will cause millions more people to lose insurance this year. Another sign of economic distress: Average deductibles for policyholders are now the highest ever, a result of people switching to the exchange’s cheapest 'bronze plans' in response to premium hikes, according to the report released Tuesday by KFF, a health policy research organization. With greater migration to bronze plans, the average deductible for ACA recipients rose more than $1,000 a year, to $3,786, the KFF analysis found.” MB: But, hey, who cares, because “they’re 'almost all illegal immigrants.'” ~~~

~~~ AND Toxic. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: “The Trump administration announced Monday that it will drop some limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water that officials had determined can cause cancer and other serious health problems.... The Environmental Protection Agency said it would unravel the nation’s first federal drinking water limits for the compounds, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The Biden administration established the limits on six of the substances in 2024, after the agency determined that long-term exposure to PFAS was linked to kidney cancer, immune system suppression, developmental delays in infants and children and other issues. Instead, the Trump administration will issue narrower regulations that rescind protections for four of the substances and continue to protect against two of the them, though companies will be able to request two extra years to comply with those. But the move, which had been planned for more than a year, has sparked fury within the Make America Healthy Again movement, a diverse group of anti-vaccine activists, wellness influencers and others who make up a key part of Mr. Trump’s coalition.”

Ari Berman of Mother Jones: “The revival of Jim Crow is happening with alarming speed across the South, following the Supreme Court’s destruction of the Voting Rights Act, with Southern Republicans set to dismantle at least five majority-Black districts in South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.... Justice Samuel Alito wrote in Callais that 'the Nation had faced nearly a century of “entrenched racial discrimination in voting,’” when the Voting Rights Act was passed, but claimed those days were now over. However, the rush to eliminate Black representation in the wake of his decision shows that just the opposite is true.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Berman doesn't go far enough, IMO. The confederate justice may pretend they believe John Roberts' infamous dictum, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." But the way they rushed through their ruling in two separate actions to make sure Louisiana & Alabama could wipe out their Black-majority districts this year shows that their intention was to rid the South of Black representation ASAP. Does anybody think these confederates are going to look at what's happened, admit they made a terrible, terrible mistake, and issue a correction re-establishing Black-majority districts? Of course not. Sure, Clarence Thomas is Black and Amy Phony Barrett has two Black children, but Thomas & Barrett are just as racist as any Neo-Nazi in Donald Trump's fan base.

Jocelyn Noveck of the AP: “The New York Times sued the Defense Department on Monday for the second time in five months, arguing that a requirement that journalists be escorted while on Pentagon grounds violates the First Amendment. The escort policy is 'an unconstitutional attempt by the Pentagon to prevent independent reporting on military affairs,' a Times spokesman, Charlie Stadtlander, said in an email to The Associated Press.... The new policy included a requirement that journalists be accompanied by escorts at all times while in the Pentagon.”

Barbara Ortutay of the AP: “A federal court on Monday dismissed claims filed against OpenAI and its top executives by Elon Musk, who accused them of betraying a shared vision for it to remain a nonprofit dedicated to guiding artificial intelligence’s development for the good of humanity. Musk, the world’s richest man, was a co-founder of OpenAI, which launched in 2015 and went on to create ChatGPT. After investing $38 million in its first years, Musk accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his top deputy of shifting into a moneymaking mode behind his back. The nine-person jury found that Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit and missed the deadline for the statute of limitations. The jury had deliberated only two hours. The jury served in an advisory role, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the verdict Monday as the court’s own and dismissed Musk’s claims.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Cade Metz of the New York Times has five takeaways from the trial. 

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California. Julie Watson & Eugene Johnson of the AP: “Before the first shot rang out at a San Diego mosque in a deadly shooting that would leave three men dead, police were already scrambling to find two teenagers who would ultimately be responsible. The search began after a mother of one of the teenagers reported her son was suicidal and had run away, according to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, who said weapons were missing from the home and her vehicle was gone. Two hours later, the shooting began at the Islamic Center of San Diego, just blocks away from the home. The suspects, ages 17 and 18, were found in a vehicle after killing themselves a few blocks from the site of the shooting.... There was no specific threat made against the Islamic center, but authorities found evidence that the suspects engaged in 'generalized hate rhetoric,' Wahl said, noting that the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.... Among those killed was a security guard, who police believe 'played a pivotal role' in keeping the attack from being 'much worse,' Wahl said.... The center includes the Al Rashid School, which offers courses in Arabic language, Islamic studies and the Quran for students ages 5 and up, according to its website.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Though most of the stories don't make this clear, it appears to me that the teenagers shot and killed three people before killing themselves. That is, five people are dead. 

California. Clyde Haberman of the New York Times: “Mark Fuhrman, a Los Angeles police detective who in the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson went from being the prosecution’s star witness to its disastrous liability when defense lawyers used his past racist language to discredit him, died on May 12 in Kootenai County, Idaho. He was 74.” 

Colorado. Jack Healy of the New York Times: “A Colorado hospital that halted gender-transition treatment to transgender minors after the Trump administration threatened to cut off funding must resume providing those treatments, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The 5-2 ruling from the heavily Democratic state’s highest court was a victory for four transgender minors and their families who sued Children’s Hospital Colorado, one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation, over the hospital’s decision to stop providing hormone therapy and puberty blockers to transgender youth. The hospital’s suspension of care left the plaintiffs 'suddenly abandoned during a precarious time,' the Colorado Supreme Court said. Some experienced depression, and two contemplated suicide, the court said.”

New York. Stefanos Chen & Ashley Southall of the New York Times: “Transit authorities and workers’ unions reached a deal on Monday to end a strike that shut down the Long Island Rail Road, America’s busiest passenger rail service, and upended the routines of a quarter million weekday riders. Officials said that service on the railroad — which carries about 270,000 people a day between New York City and its eastern suburbs — will gradually resume on Tuesday, with full service restored in time for the evening rush hour. Gov. Kathy Hochul sounded triumphant at a news conference alongside officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority late Monday, emphasizing that the deal would avoid raising taxes and fares. Officials did not disclose details of the labor agreement, noting that the contract must still be ratified.”

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Ruth Maclean of the New York Times: “As soon as Ebola was identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda late last week, the severity of the outbreak was clear. There were already hundreds of suspected cases and dozens of suspected deaths. Shortly after the outbreak was announced, the World Health Organization declared it a global health emergency. But by then, the virus had already been circulating for weeks. Congo has surveillance systems meant to identify outbreaks early so that they can be effectively contained.... And yet, precious time was lost when officials in Ituri, the province at the heart of the current outbreak, did not raise the alarm when patients began to show symptoms. Samples may not have been sent quickly enough to Kinshasa, the capital, for testing.... The latest suspected death toll, according to Congo’s health ministry, stands at 105 in Ituri alone — a toll that climbs daily.” ~~~

     ~~~ Lena Sun & Lauren Weber of the Washington Post: “Public health authorities and experts warn the world is confronting a dangerous convergence of factors that could make the latest Ebola outbreak extraordinarily difficult to contain: a fast-moving epidemic in a conflict-ridden region, involving a strain with no approved vaccine, at a moment when the global health infrastructure built after past Ebola crises has been weakened by funding cuts and political upheaval. The concern comes as the United States on Monday tightened entry rules for some travelers and disclosed that an American infected with the deadly disease was flown to Germany for treatment.” ~~~

     ~~~ Yan Zhuang & Hannah Ziegler of the New York Times: “An American man tested positive for Ebola while working as a medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an outbreak of the deadly virus was first identified, officials said. The man, Dr. Peter Stafford, was exposed to the virus while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital in Bunia, the main city in the country’s Ituri Province. Dr. Stafford has worked at the hospital since 2023, Serge, the international Christian missions organization where he works, said in a news release.”