May 28, 2026

Criming in Plain Sight, Ctd. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: Donald “Trump earlier this year purchased more than $1 million in the stock of Dell Technologies, a transaction that is drawing scrutiny after the Pentagon this week announced a $9.7 billion contract with the Texas-based computer company.... Mr. Trump also went out of his way in February to praise Dell Technologies and its founder, Michael Dell, at an event in Georgia that took place nine days after Mr. Trump’s purchase of more than $1 million in Dell stock. The Georgia event took place after Mr. Dell and his wife pledged in December to donate $6.25 billion to help kick off the so-called Trump accounts program that creates special investment savings accounts with tax benefits for American children. At the event, Mr. Trump celebrated the donation by the Dell family and went on to endorse their computer products. 'Go out and buy a Dell computer,' Mr. Trump said.... The government estimated [Dell's Pentagon contract] is worth $9.69 billion.” ~~~

     ~~~ Jordan Novet of CNBC: "Dell reported its fastest pace of revenue growth for any period since its return to the public market more than seven years ago, and topped analysts’ estimates for sales and profit. The stock climbed as much as 27% in extended trading on Thursday.... One big winner in the Dell pop is President Donald Trump, who became a shareholder in the first quarter, according to U.S. government ethics filings." 

Desperately Seeking Aileen. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday refiled his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal over an article about a birthday book greeting to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A judge had dismissed Mr. Trump’s previous complaint. The amended complaint, like the original, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Judge Darrin P. Gayles had thrown out Mr. Trump’s first lawsuit in April, saying the president had not plausibly shown that The Journal published the article with 'actual malice,' a legal standard that public officials must meet in defamation cases. To meet that standard, the publication had to have either known that what it was publishing was false or acted with reckless disregard to the truth. Judge Gayles had given Mr. Trump until Wednesday to refile. The lawsuit centers on a Journal article published on July 17 that described a letter and a drawing of a naked woman that appeared to be signed by Mr. Trump in a 2003 birthday album compiled for Mr. Epstein.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fact, I don't know how the Southern District of Florida assigns judges to a suit that is being refiled. It's possible that the new suit would go right back to the judge who oversaw the first case. It's also possible that the new case would go into the hopper and be randomly assigned to a judge. And that assignment just might go to the Nation's No. 1 Trump Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida. 

The buck stopped here. -- Patty Solimene, the first female director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, farewell email to colleagues ~~~

~~~ Marie: Earlier today I linked a WashPo story by Jonathan O'Connell about Trump administration officials who pressed the office responsible for printing the nation’s money to design a $250 bill featuring Donald Trump’s portrait. But I either missed this part or it was added after I read the story (I think the important part was added): 

“The director of the printing bureau, Patricia 'Patty' Solimene, and other staff repeatedly explained to [the administration officials] that there were legal and procedural obstacles to producing the note and that it would take years longer than they envisioned.... The two political appointees were dismissive in response.... Solimene said she was abruptly reassigned from her post by Treasury management on April 27, writing the next day in an email to colleagues that she was leaving with a 'heavy heart.' She wrote in her goodbye email, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, that she had been reassigned to another job in the Treasury Department and that her departure was 'not my choice.'”

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Marie: On today's page, I have linked several articles that implicitly or explicitly criticize remarks made during yesterday's Cabinet meeting. I also added criticisms of my own. Now I feel so ashamed about that because RAS has pointed out that everybody was strictly sticking to the meeting's agenda:

Digby is surprised to find that two of the most establishment D.C. establishmentarians -- Mike Allen & Jim VanderHei of Axios -- have accurately figured out Trump's impulsive power grabs. According to Mike & Jim, "You can sort [Trump's] choices into three buckets: 1. Rule of law as weapon: Trump has pointed the machinery of the federal government at his enemies while enriching himself and his family.... 2. Economy by improvisation: It often feels like Trump is running the world's largest economy on gut feelings and Truth Social posts.... 3. Power projection on personal whim: Trump often seems to be running U.S. foreign policy and the military via social media — by instinct, with an eye on the visuals.... The bottom line: Much of the policy Trump puts in place can be undone by the next Democratic president. That's the result of acting alone, without leaning on Congress to pass laws. But the world won't instantly trust America again. Generals don't just come out of forced retirement. Institutions, once bent, don't always snap cleanly back into place." Emphasis original. (Also linked yesterday.) 

The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Iran War. From the pinned item at 4:45 am ET: “Iran said that it had retaliated on Thursday against the latest U.S. strikes in southern Iran by targeting the American military base from which they were launched, warning that its response to further U.S. attacks would be 'more decisive.' The statement from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps did not say where the U.S. base was or how it had been targeted. The Kuwaiti military said on Thursday morning that its air defenses were intercepting hostile drones and missiles, without specifying the origin or extent of the attack. The United States has five military bases in Kuwait....

“In a cabinet meeting on Wednesday..., [Donald] Trump signaled that he was prepared for protracted negotiations and expressed indifference to the domestic political pressure caused by the unpopular war. Iranian officials 'thought they were going to outwait me,' he said, adding, 'I don’t care about the midterms.'... Mr. Trump on Wednesday warned Oman, a U.S. ally, not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the Strait of Hormuz or else face an American bombing campaign. He later said he didn’t believe the U.S. would have to take such an action.”

Natalie Allison of the Washington Post: “The United States and Iran traded strikes overnight after ... Donald Trump insisted he would not agree to a 'crummy agreement' in the negotiations to end the nearly three-month-old war.... [At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday] Trump said he believed that Iran is 'starting to give us the things that they have to give us,' without elaborating. 'And if they do, that’s great, and if they won’t, then the man on my left is going to finish them off,' he said, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Even as he reiterated maximum U.S. negotiating positions, Trump pushed up the pressure on his ostensible allies among Arab states in the Persian Gulf region, saying that he might refuse a deal with Iran if Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait did not sign on to the Abraham Accords — an agreement reached in his first term that aimed to normalize relations between Israel and longtime adversaries in the Middle East.

“The president also appeared to criticize Oman’s negotiations with Iran over possible fees on ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that 'nobody is going to control' the strait and that it would be 'open to everybody' under the deal he is pushing. 'Oman will behave just like everybody else, or the United States would have to 'blow them up,' he said at one point.” MB: To be clear, this is Trump threatening to “blow up” a U.S. ally. In addition, the Trump Organization has a multi-billion-dollar development deal in Oman that appears to include government participation. He's just nuts. Here's the New York Times' standalone story on Trump's threat to blow up Oman. Here's Politico's story.

     ~~~ Marie: I sometimes wonder if David Chase, the creator & primary writer of "The Sopranos," writes Trump's stuff. Chase's dialog is certainly in Trump's head when he speaks. Here he is, at a Cabinet meeting, of all places, talking about Oman: 

Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine. The strait is going to be open to everybody. Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it. We’ll watch over it, but nobody’s going to control it. -- Donald Trump, Wednesday (from the NYT report linked above)

Michael Kaplan, et al., of CBS News: Donald "Trump made time to visit with U.S. service members during his trip Tuesday to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but he did not see any of the 14 troops injured in the war he started with Iran who are also recovering at the hospital, according to the family of one soldier and another military official familiar with Mr. Trump's visit. The White House said Mr. Trump met with service members during his six-month checkup at the Army's flagship medical center, but repeatedly declined to say whether the president saw soldiers injured in Operation Epic Fury."

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Tuesday against a vessel it accused of smuggling drugs, killing one person and leaving two survivors in the eastern Pacific, U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post. The result of the strike was unusual. There have rarely been survivors in the 58 attacks against boats the United States has claimed were engaged in drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. And in all but two cases, survivors were lost at sea. Military experts say the strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings. The strike on Tuesday, the first in nearly three weeks after the military accelerated its recent pace of attacks, brought the death toll to at least 194 since September.... Gen. Francis L. Donovan of the Marine Corps, the head of the Southern Command, ordered the strike, the command said in a statement on social media, which included a 19-second video showing a boat speeding along in the water and then exploding. Southern Command said in its social media post that it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate a 'Search and Rescue system.' A second U.S. official said on Wednesday that the Mexican Navy was in charge of the search for the survivors.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

This Is Alarming. Paul McLeary of Politico: “The Pentagon has spent months positioning the troops and weapons needed for the U.S. to launch a military attack on Cuba — all it needs is a final go-ahead from Donald Trump. The president has floated an invasion of the island after economic and political pressure failed to topple the Communist government. But the Navy’s built-up presence in the region — the largest in the world outside the Middle East — would allow the U.S. to act immediately.... Cuba is 'in a lot of trouble,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday at a full Cabinet meeting. 'Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.'”

Joshua Goodman, et al., of the AP: “The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid pursuing criminal investigations into Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of warming relations between the White House and the oil-rich nation.... A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email 'there was never an investigation into her to shut down.' But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year show she consistently surfaced on the radar of federal law enforcement dating to at least 2018, though she has never been criminally charged in the U.S.... It was not clear whether the White House, which deferred comment to the Justice Department, was involved in the decision.”

Judges: This Was Too Much. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges on Wednesday asked the judge who oversaw ... [Donald] Trump’s remarkable lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service to reopen the case and conduct an inquiry into whether the hasty deal to resolve it could be challenged as an act of fraud. The move by the former judges was one of an increasing number of legal efforts to attack the validity of the two extraordinary benefits that emerged from the agreement last week: a $1.8 billion fund that could compensate allies of Mr. Trump who claim they suffered 'weaponization' at the hands of the federal government and the conferral of lucrative tax benefits on the president, his family and his businesses. The motion by the former judges, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, was a direct appeal to Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who closed the I.R.S. case last week after Mr. Trump voluntarily dismissed his suit. It asked her to bring the matter back to life under a rule that permits her to set aside a judgment she had made and examine the terms of the deal that appeared to have been reached in a plan to avoid that sort of scrutiny....

“At the heart of the former judges’ argument was an assertion that Mr. Trump improperly used his lawsuit against the I.R.S. as a way to obtain 'unlawful private benefits' for himself and his family and to create a fund that would dole out taxpayer money 'without constitutional or congressional authority.' Moreover, the former judges claimed that the president tried to shield the deal from 'judicial scrutiny' by  'short-circuiting' Judge Williams’ ability to examine its terms.” Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. A CNBC story is here. ~~~

Here's the judges' motion to Williams' court, via the courts. 

⭐This. Is. Too. Much. Glenn Thrush & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the 82-year-old former magazine writer who accused Donald J. Trump of sexual assault, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The investigation centers on whether Ms. Carroll committed perjury in civil lawsuits against Mr. Trump, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Ms. Carroll won a $5 million civil judgment against Mr. Trump that he had sexually abused and defamed her, which the president last November asked the Supreme Court to overturn. She also won a $83.3 million civil judgment against him in another defamation case. An inquiry into Ms. Carroll would represent the latest chapter in Mr. Trump’s retribution campaign, which has been carried out by Justice Department officials.... Andrew S. Boutros, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, opened the inquiry into Ms. Carroll.... Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, is said to have recused himself from the probe because of his prior representation of Mr. Trump, although officials from department headquarters have been involved in the inquiry.” The link appears to be a gift link. An ABC News story is here.

Robert Faturechi of ProPublica: "When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a small North Carolina startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism. The president’s eldest son said through a spokesperson that he wasn’t involved. The Pentagon said Trump Jr. played no role in the record-setting deal. And the startup’s founder told reporters that his company, Vulcan Elements, received no political favoritism. But interviews and Defense Department records reviewed by ProPublica show that the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to ... Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s. Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president, said an official at the Pentagon.... After defense officials got the White House request, they asked Pentagon staff to move at an unusually rapid pace.... The staff worked late nights and with little sleep to get the loan through in a matter of weeks, [a] source said.... The deal is one of many actions by the Trump administration that have helped companies in which the Trump family holds stakes." 

~~~ Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: “Trump administration officials have pressed the office responsible for printing the nation’s money to design a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait, according to four current and former employees, in what would be the first appearance of a living person on U.S. currency in more than 150 years. Starting last year, two political appointees at the Treasury Department — U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown — repeatedly urged staff at the agency’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes of the note, according to the employees, who said the move raised concerns because federal law currently allows only deceased people to appear on bills.... Beach in August and September provided bureau staff with mock-up designs for the note, including one that shows ... Donald Trump’s face in the center of the $250 bill between the signatures of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.... The artist who said he designed the mock-up told The Post that he had spoken with Trump about it. British painter Iain Alexander said Trump endorsed changes to his original design, such as adding the colors of the American flag and a logo commemorating the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.” Update: the link has been changed to a gift link.

Tony Romm of the New York Times: “A federal trade court has ordered Rodney S. Scott, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to appear at a hearing next month on the Trump administration’s handling of roughly $166 billion in tariff refunds. The unexpected demand, issued on Wednesday, hinted at a judge’s ongoing concern that the government has not fully complied with a directive to return all of the money amassed under duties that were declared illegal by the Supreme Court earlier this year. At the heart of the matter are the so-called reciprocal tariffs that ... [Donald] Trump previously applied to imports from around the world. In February, a majority of justices on the nation’s highest court struck down those tariffs, finding that Mr. Trump had exceeded his authority under law. That decision forced the government to repay the money, plus interest.... The government said in a court filing in April that it could process refunds for only about $127 billion out of the approximately $166 billion collected.... The [government's] lack of clarity prompted Richard K. Eaton, a judge on the trade court, on Wednesday to order a hearing for June....” 

He Took His Work Home with Him. Devlin Barrett of the  New York Times: “A senior C.I.A. official was arrested last week after investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth over $40 million stashed in his Virginia residence, a small fortune that he apparently brought home from work, according to court papers. The official, David Rush, is being held in jail while he awaits a detention hearing in the coming days on charges of stealing public money by filling out fraudulent time sheets. The charging documents filed in Alexandria, Va., still leave a lot unanswered about his recent conduct. The only charge lodged against Mr. Rush is that he inflated his academic credentials and obtained military leave pay worth tens of thousands of dollars.... Investigators also seized nearly three dozen luxury watches, many of them Rolexes. The court papers do not indicate why Mr. Rush appears to have kept so much gold, and $2 million in U.S. currency, in his home, or what work project would have required him to amass such wealth.” ~~~

     ~~~ Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "David Rush, who held a management position ... with top secret-level clearance..., was also accused of lying to his employers about his background for nearly two decades. The case raises questions about the effectiveness of the federal government’s security vetting.... The U.S. government conducts background investigations on every prospective employee at the CIA and other agencies granted access to sensitive and secret information. And after employees are hired, the government continues to monitor their financial activities, travel, credit records and other information through automated checks...." In various applications, Rush claimed he was graduated from Clemson University, that he had a graduate degree from  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, that he had been a thesis adviser at the Air Force Institute of Technology, that that he had been a Navy pilot. "None of it was true, according to the charges." He doesn't even have a pilot's license. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm pretty sure if I had stolen more than $42 million from the feds, I'd have put my gold bars & cash & Rolexes in a big ole sack & hightailed it out of the country and landed someplace with sandy beaches and no extradition treaty with the U.S. Rush either thought the feds were too dumb to catch him -- and he had plenty of evidence for that -- and/or he wasn't through with his criming spree.  

Part of the Art of the Deal, it turns out, is flagrantly wasting taxpayers' money for the glorification of the Dear Leader: ~~~ 

The View from His Window. Our parks and public lands have been underfunded for decades, and there are many genuinely urgent projects in need of funding across the country. Instead, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is determined to divert millions of dollars to projects that President Trump can see out his window. -- Aaron Weiss of the Center for Western Priorities ~~~

(1) Maxine Joselow & Andrea Fuller of the New York Times: “The National Park Service is using at least $67 million worth of park entrance fees to help fund ... [Donald] Trump’s beautification projects in Washington, according to a New York Times analysis of federal records. Nearly $60 million in fees paid by visitors to national parks across the country is funding repairs to nine of the capital’s ornamental fountains, the analysis found. The government is putting another $7 million worth of entrance fees toward the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which costs $13.1 million overall, according to an internal Park Service document reviewed by The Times.... Some conservationists criticized the Trump administration for steering so much money to projects in Washington that appeared to be cosmetic fixes rather than urgent upgrades. National parks outside the capital have long maintenance backlogs, including repairs to deteriorating roads and water systems that threaten visitor safety.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

(2) David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: “A National Park Service analysis found that the contractor given a no-bid contract to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is being paid an inflated and excessive profit margin, according to federal documents obtained by The New York Times. That analysis, prepared by a Park Service contracting specialist, found that the typical profit margin of federal construction contracts like this one is 6 percent to 12 percent. But the firm fixing the Reflecting Pool, Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, submitted a bid that charged 20 percent, adding at least $850,000 to what a more typical contract would have cost. The Park Service accepted that bid after a contracting official reasoned that the company deserved it for accepting a difficult job on a tight deadline. The government eventually agreed to pay the firm $13.1 million, which is seven times the amount that ... [Donald] Trump initially said the work would cost. Now that the repair work is underway, however, other documents indicate that the same contractor had — at least initially — not been able to perform one of the most critical parts of its repair job: sealing the gaps between the concrete slabs at the pool’s floor.” Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link.

Citizen of Cherokee Nation Makes Racist Remark about Immigrants. Alex Woodward of the Independent: “As immigrant detainees inside a two-story detention center enter the sixth day of a hunger strike to protest conditions inside the facility, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed their complaints...: 'They’re refusing to eat because they want their ethnic food,' he said during a meeting with ... Donald Trump’s Cabinet on Wednesday. 'Well, they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want,' he said. 'We’re giving them the calories they want. This isn’t Holiday Inn.'... 'You have one of the senators [Andy Kim] complained because he got splattered with a pepper ball,' Mullin said Wednesday. 'I’m sorry, you probably shouldn’t have been there.'... 'These aren’t protesters. These people are fake. They’re all paid for,' Trump said Wednesday [of demonstrators outside Delaney Hall]. 'We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world of their type.… There’s nobody that runs a facility like we do.'” 

Marie: Okay, so Markwayne is a racist, but to be fair, like most Trumpists, he also longs to get in on the corruption: ~~~

~~~ Bennito Kelty of the Raw Story: "The head of the Department of Homeland Security is trying to land his wife a plush government job, according to Washington insiders who spoke out in a new report on Wednesday. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin ... keeps suggesting that his wife, Christie Mullin, should have a job with his department, four insiders told The Daily Mail. 'He pitches the idea on the regular,' a source revealed to The Daily Mail. The Cabinet member frequently travels via a $70 million government jet to his Oklahoma ranch, and he wants his wife on the DHS payroll 'so that he does not have to pay for her airline ticket when she flies,' according to sources.... 'Mullin seems to think DHS requires less work than a senator, and it shows,' a DHS source said. 'Meanwhile, ICE has no direction.'"

Heather Cox Richardson reprises some atrocities the Department of Homeland Security has been committing in our names, starting at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. AND for this (see linked Mediaite item below) DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin plans to halt international flights into Newark airport. They are cruel, and they are stupid. See also RAS's commentary on this in today's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)  

Ryan Kost of the Gothamist: New Jersey officials --including the governor, a U.S. Senator, members of the U.S. House and the mayor of Newark -- have tried to gain some control over the federal government's Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, which houses immigrants in reportedly unsafe and unsanitary conditions. So far the officials' efforts have failed. A federal court has ruled against them in one case, and Trump and the DHS Secretary are threatening the state.   

Paxton Blowout Gives Trump New Leverage on Capitol Hill. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and other Senate Republicans are under new pressure to deliver on ... [Donald] Trump’s agenda after Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) suffered a blowout loss in the Texas GOP primary. Republican strategists say Cornyn’s lopsided loss is a major blow to Senate GOP leaders who poured tens of millions of dollars into the Texas Republican primary only to watch Cornyn lose by 27 points to state Attorney General Ken Paxton.... [Cornyn's lopsided loss] will mean redoubling efforts to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act as well as legislation authorizing and funding the White House ballroom — two of Trump’s top priorities.... [Meanwhile, i]n an appearance on 'The Hugh Hewitt Show' on Wednesday, Thune said that Senate Republicans would pivot and go 'all in' to help Paxton win in November.” More on the Texas Senate race linked below.

Democrats Would Nix Arc de Trump. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “House Democrats on Wednesday announced legislation intended to block the construction of ... Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch, which would be built on parkland just inside Washington’s boundaries and tower over nearby Arlington National Cemetery. The legislation, which was previewed with The Washington Post, would explicitly bar construction of an arch on the small island where Trump seeks to build his project, as well as prohibit the use of federal funds for the project. It would also prohibit construction of a large arch or similar structure on other Washington-area parkland unless the project received congressional approval.... The Trump administration is not planning to seek congressional authorization to build the arch.... The Democrats’ bill faces long odds in Congress, where Republican leaders have hesitated to publicly oppose Trump’s construction projects.... The legislation is being proposed by Democratic Reps. Don Beyer (Virginia), whose district includes Arlington National Cemetery, and Dina Titus (Nevada), who co-chairs the Congressional Humanities Caucus. They said they would formally introduce the bill on Friday.”

Alabama Redistricting. Pema Levy & Ari Berman of Mother Jones on the Appeals Court decision rejecting Alabama’s effort to redraw district lines for the November elections (related stories linked yesterday). Levy & Berman aren't letting the Supremes get away with anything (though as I indicated below, I'm confident they'll green-light a racist response): "Tuesday’s decision from the three-judge panel, however, takes Callais [the Supreme Court's decision in a Louisiana redistricting case that guts Section 2 of the voting rights act] at its word. Step by step, it lays out why the Alabama map fails under Supreme Court precedent, the VRA, and the Constitution. It repeatedly reminds readers that the Supreme Court agreed with their finding in Allen v. Milligan that Alabama had violated the VRA, and that Callais claimed not to have upset that opinion. If the Supreme Court meant to use Callais to end all claims of anti-Black racial discrimination in gerrymandering, the panel effectively sends the case back to the high court and tells them, do your dirty work yourself." (Also linked yesterday.)

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: “On the evening of June 27, 2024, millions of viewers watched with alarm and confusion as President Joseph R. Biden Jr., appearing listless and lost, made an ultimately campaign-ending appearance in his only presidential debate against Donald J. Trump. Among the viewers who came away frightened: his wife, Jill Biden. 'I don’t know what happened,' the former first lady said in an interview with 'CBS News Sunday Morning.' “As I watched it, I thought, “Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.” And it scared me to death.' In a 30-second snippet of the interview, which is scheduled to air in full this weekend, she said that she had never seen her husband have a meltdown like the one she saw when he took the debate stage in Atlanta. Next week, she is releasing 'View From the East Wing,' a memoir of her time as first lady.” The CBS News story is here.

Chris Kelly of the Washington Post: “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to Nationals Park on Wednesday night on the penultimate date of the Land of Hope and Dreams American tour — an apt venue for a tour that has largely doubled as a political call to action against ... Donald Trump and his administration. 'If you’re feeling helpless, if you’re feeling hopeless, if you’re feeling betrayed, if you’re feeling frustrated, if you’re feeling angry, I understand. That’s why we’re here tonight,' Springsteen told the crowd. 'We needed to come to Washington and feel your strength and your hope and your faith … We needed to bring to your city some strength and some hope and some faith.'... During his show, the artist announced the first Power to the People Festival in D.C. on Oct. 3, exactly a month before the midterm elections, featuring Springsteen, Morello, Foo Fighters, Dropkick Murphys, the Dave Matthews Band and more.”

Nitasha Tiku of the Washington Post: “A software engineer at Google unlawfully used confidential company information to make a series of bets that won him about $1.2 million on the online prediction market Polymarket, the Justice Department alleged in a criminal complaint Wednesday. Software engineer Michele Spagnuolo used internal data about search activity to place roughly $2.7 million in bets on which public figures would be announced as among the most searched for in 2025, according to the federal complaint. The 36-year-old Italian citizen used an account called AlphaRaccoon to place bets late last year on whether and how figures including singer D4vd and Pope Leo XIV would appear in rankings released by Google in its Year in Search report last December, according to the complaint and a Justice Department news release.”

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Colorado. Oh, This Heroic Insurrectionist Is a(n Alleged!) Murderer. Jason Salzman of the Colorado Times Recorder: “Tim Arvidson, who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for Colorado Senate, was arrested yesterday after allegedly shooting and killing a man in Colorado Springs. According to the arrest affidavit, Arvidson approached his neighbor and accused a group of people of selling drugs and having guns. After an altercation, Arvidson then amarkwllegedly shot 43-year-old Robert Dougher, who later died of his injuries. In a series of Facebook posts, Arvidson boasted multiple times about taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, posting a photo of himself driving to the event, uploading a video of it as he participated, and later processing what he 'experienced.'” 

Texas Senate Race. Adam Wren & Irie Sentner of Politico: “Within two hours of Ken Paxton’s GOP primary win on Tuesday, [Democratic Senate nominee James] Talarico had hauled in $600,000 — the strongest two hours of his entire campaign. Recent internal polling from a pro-Talarico PAC shows the Democrat has a 7-point lead against Paxton.... But Talarico faces a Texas-sized challenge to finally deliver on Democrats’ long-held fantasy of flipping the state, just two years after Trump won it by 14 points. It’s an open question whether the state representative, who participated in Paxton’s impeachment trial, can successfully capitalize on the general-election candidacy of the scandal-plagued GOP nominee. Talarico said Tuesday night that to win in November, he must convert supporters of Sen. John Cornyn — a conservative by almost any metric, except Trump’s. After Cornyn conceded, Talarico thanked the four-term incumbent for his service and told his supporters 'you have a place in our campaign.'” ~~~

~~~ AND They're Off! Kayla Guo of the Texas Tribune: “The moment the Republican runoff was called Tuesday night, state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee and a Presbyterian seminarian, released his attack in a video titled: 'The People vs. Ken Paxton,' tying the scandal-plagued attorney general directly to the Austin Democrat’s broader campaign message against 'the billionaire megadonors and their corrupt political system.'... Talarico launched a five-stop ... [tour] of Texas this week, starting with Houston on Wednesday — the first full day of the general election.... He opened his remarks with a story about his great-grandfather, whose favorite Bible verse came from the Gospel of Matthew and features Jesus telling his disciples, 'The greatest among you will be a servant.' 'I ran for office not to be served, but to serve. And then there’s Ken Paxton.' Talarico said. 'I have a legislative record — Ken Paxton has a criminal record.'...

“In his victory speech Tuesday, Paxton declared Talarico the 'most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated.' After workshopping nicknames for Talarico on the campaign trail over the last week, Paxton rolled them out again in his remarks, referring to his opponent as 'Tofu Talarico,' 'Six-Gender Jimmy,' 'James Tala-freak-o,' and 'Low-T Talarico.'” ~~~

~~~ Kayla Guo of the Texas Tribune performs a post mortem on John Cornyn's long political career.