May 8, 2026

David Fahrenthold & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald Trump let a no-bid $6.9 million contract to paint the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial “to somebody he said had worked on his swimming pools.... Mr. Trump’s administration invoked an exemption meant for urgent situations ...  only [--] to prevent 'serious injury, financial or other, to the government.' Administration officials made no public claim that such injury was likely; rather, officials said, Mr. Trump wanted it changed for the country’s birthday party on July 4.... The renovation plans exemplify how Mr. Trump views much of the nation’s capital as his imperial realm — to decorate, or even destroy, as he sees fit. In doing so, he and his administration have run roughshod over a decades-old review process for changes in Washington’s core, as well as rules intended to ensure government money is spent wisely and without favoritism....

“Government documents ... say the contract has already cost far more than Mr. Trump said it would, and that repairs would be needed again far sooner. They also show that Mr. Trump’s plan does not address one of the pool’s main problems: faulty plumbing in its filtration system. As a result, experts said it was unclear if Mr. Trump’s pool would remain blue — or if it would soon be obscured by a recurring layer of green algae.” Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. Do see his commentary below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was correct this morning to worry that driving the 22,000-pound Beast across the pool was idiotic. From the NYT report: “Tim Auerhahn, the chairman of the Aquatic Council, a consulting firm for the pool and hot-tub industry..., said he was also concerned by Mr. Trump’s decision to drive his motorcade across the pool’s surface on Thursday night.... That might have put huge amounts of weight on the notoriously leaky — and newly repaired — joints between its concrete slabs.” These people could not be stupider or more destructive. 

This. Is. Really. Bad. David Lieb & Geoff Mulvihill of the AP: “The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan [link fixed], delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections. The court ruled 4-3 that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize the mid-decade redistricting. Voters narrowly approved the amendment April 21, but the court’s ruling renders the results of that vote meaningless. Writing for the majority, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote that the legislature submitted the proposed constitutional amendment to voters 'in an unprecedented manner.' 'This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,' he wrote.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

Thom Hartmann on how billionaire social media owners engineered their platforms' algorithms to bring us Donald Trump (and other Republicans) in 2024. Hartmann, who has decades of experience in monitoring online influencers, offers some suggestions on how to level the playing field.  

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The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Iran war are here. From the pinned item at 6:15 am ET: Donald “Trump insisted late Thursday that the cease-fire with Iran was holding, even after the United States said it had attacked Iranian military sites in retaliation for strikes on U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Each side blamed the other for breaking the month-old truce. U.S. Central Command said that 'unprovoked Iranian attacks' on three American destroyers had involved missiles, drones and small boats. In response, the U.S. military said it had 'targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces,' including missile and drone launch sites. The Iranian military said the United States had violated the cease-fire a day earlier by firing on an Iranian oil tanker trying to cross an American blockade. It said it had 'retaliated by attacking U.S. military vessels.' Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters in Washington on Thursday evening, dismissed the Iranian attacks as a 'trifle' and again warned that Iran 'better sign their agreement fast,' an apparent reference to a one-page proposal from the United States for the two sides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and cease hostilities for 30 days as they negotiate a comprehensive deal.” ~~~

     ~~~ From the Times Now, published by MSN: "During a conversation with ABC News, asked about the latest exchange of fire between US forces and Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, the president called it a 'love tap' and insisted the ceasefire was still holding. The situation on the water told a more complicated story." MB: I would guess "love tap" is not a technical military term for shooting a barrage of missiles & deploying deadly drones.

Trump Is Still Lying His Fat Ass Off. Warren Strobel, et al., of the Washington Post: “A confidential CIA analysis delivered to administration policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the U.S. naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship, four people familiar with the document said, a finding that appears to raise new questions about ... Donald Trump’s optimism on ending the war. The analysis by the U.S. intelligence community, whose secret assessments on Iran have often been more sober than the administration’s public statements, also found that Tehran retains significant ballistic missile capabilities despite weeks of intense U.S. and Israeli bombardment, three of the people familiar with it said.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) The Independent's story, which is largely derivative, is here.

Doktor Zoom of Wonkette (May 6): “... >Trump’s dumb war appears to be accelerating the rest of the world’s transition to clean energy and electrification of buildings and transportation, as Paul Krugman points out (among many others this week). Investors are 'piling into clean energy funds,' the Financial Times tells us just above its paywall. Even beyond the disruptions to the 20 percent of oil that travels through the Strait of Hormuz, Krugman points out, Trump’s erratic moods are even making our own economic partners leery of buying US oil and gas exports.”

Paul Krugman:“Almost every time Donald Trump makes a major announcement about the Iran War, that announcement is preceded — sometimes by only a few minutes — by huge and hugely profitable bets in the oil market.... Again and again, just before Trump makes announcements that raise hopes about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one or more 'whales,' very large traders, sell large quantities of oil futures, almost instantly reaping big profits as prices fall. What’s truly remarkable is that this keeps happening even though the pattern has become familiar. This tells us two things: The Trump administration is making no real effort to crack down on whoever is trading using inside information, and these inside traders are operating with a complete sense of impunity, assured that they can get away with it.... Under Trump II, corruption runs rampant.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Krugman is too prudent to say so, but the whales who make these huge, profitable bets are not independent traders who have hit on a clever, if unlawful, gimmick. They are people who know exactly what line of crap Donald Trump is going to tweet at 3 am. So Donald's goons in law enforcement need only find out just who knows has access to his tweets before he tweets them. Is it only Donald? Or does someone else have the knowledge to tip off the whales? This is a very easy question to answer. And, naturally, nobody in law enforcement -- not the SEC, not the commodities commission, not Todd, Kash & Karry -- is asking. Either Donald himself or somebody closer to him than Melania is running this "huge, profitable" criminal operation out of the White House.   

Tony Romm of the New York Times: “A panel of federal judges on Thursday found ... [Donald] Trump had violated the law when he imposed a 10 percent tariff on most U.S. imports, dealing yet another legal setback to the White House in its efforts to wage a trade war without the express permission of Congress. In a split ruling, the Court of International Trade found that Mr. Trump had wrongly invoked a decades-old trade law when he applied those duties beginning in February. The president imposed the levies after his previous set of punishing tariffs was struck down by the Supreme Court. The decision appeared to place, for now, strict new limits on Mr. Trump’s trade powers, which he has wielded aggressively in the hopes of resetting relationships with allies and adversaries, raising new revenue and encouraging more domestic manufacturing. The next steps in the case are less clear, given that the administration always envisioned the across-the-board tariff as a temporary solution, one that would buy time for Mr. Trump to craft a perhaps more lasting set of higher rates using other legal authorities.” (Also linked yesterday. The story has been updated.) An NPR story is here. The AP's story is here.

The thought of painting the beautiful granite facade of the E.E.O.B. is an absolute disgrace, and an absolute insult to all those who admire and work hard to preserve historic architecture.... Fifty years in the field of preservation, and I have never heard of such a stupid idea as this. -- Margo Steinberg, chair of the Marion(, Massachusetts,) Historical Commission, in a public comment

Aw, c'mon Margo, what about putting gold-painted Home Depot decals all over in the Oval Office? Or painting the Reflecting Pool "American Flag Blue"? -- Marie Burns, curator of Stupid Trump Tricks ~~~   

~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has complained that the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which dates to the 1870s, is 'ugly,' and he is pushing to have its granite exterior painted white so it better matches the White House next door. On Thursday, the federal panel reviewing the proposal considered the overwhelmingly negative feedback that poured in during a public comment period. It then asked the Trump administration to report back with more details about potential costs and maintenance.... The National Capital Planning Commission, which is tasked with voting to approve or reject the plan, wants answers on cost and whether the paint the president has selected would damage the building’s granite exterior.... The Eisenhower building is the latest of Mr. Trump’s projects to remake Washington in his own style. The structure was built for the State, War and Navy Departments between 1871 and 1888, and now houses hundreds of federal workers. In an interview last November on Fox News, Mr. Trump displayed a rendering of the building painted in a stark white, and said, 'Look at that, how beautiful that is with a coat of paint.'” ~~~

~~~ Darlene Superville of the AP: “... Donald Trump on Thursday went on an unannounced trip to the Lincoln Memorial to see the Reflecting Pool after he had it coated in a color he calls 'American flag blue.' He did more than just see it — the Republican president was driven across the new coating before he got out of his SUV to make a statement and answer questions from reporters who had been taken there to await his arrival before the sun set.The new blue coating will hide the pool’s gray stone, a color Trump said was 'never good.' The project cost nearly $2 million, he said. 'It never had the color people wanted, but now it’s going to have the great color,' he said, standing in the pool surrounded by some of his Cabinet secretaries, including Doug Burgum of Interior and Markwayne Mullin of Homeland Security.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump's armored vehicle, the Beast, in which he had himself driven on the Reflecting Pool, weighs upwards of 22,000 pounds. It is almost unbelievable that anybody who wanted to "improve" the pool would stress its floor in that way. I say "almost" because Trump. BTW, here's what else Trump said at the Reflecting Pool: ~~~

Natalie Allison of the Washington Post: “White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has given birth to a baby girl and will take maternity leave for an unspecified amount of time away from the briefing room lectern, as she welcomes her second child. Leavitt, 28, announced Thursday that her daughter Viviana, or 'Vivi' for short, was born May 1. She is the first White House press secretary to give birth while in the job.”

Motoko Rich of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Friday with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, after weeks of deteriorating relations between their governments over the war in Iran and ... [Donald] Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV. Mr. Rubio, who met with the pope on Thursday, visited Ms. Meloni at the prime minister’s official residence in central Rome, shortly after meeting Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, at his ministry. The discussions followed an unexpected rift between Mr. Trump and Ms. Meloni, who was considered, until the U.S. attacked Iran, to be among the president’s strongest allies in Europe. With the war deeply unpopular in Italy, Ms. Meloni distanced herself from Mr. Trump and declined to participate in the American-led attacks. She then called Mr. Trump’s broadsides against the pope 'unacceptable,' and the U.S. president, who had previously praised Ms. Meloni’s leadership, retorted that she was the one who was unacceptable... At the foreign ministry on Friday, Mr. Tajani gave Mr. Rubio a family tree tracing his Piedmontese heritage....” ~~~

~~~ Motoko Rich of the New York Times: “Amid growing tensions between ... [Donald] Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the pontiff met privately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican on Thursday morning. They discussed 'the situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere,' according to a statement from Tommy Pigott, the spokesman for the State Department. The meeting, in the pope’s private library at a palace that overlooks St. Peter’s Basilica, took place days after ... [Mr.] Trump escalated his attacks on Leo, who has consistently criticized the U.S.-Israeli-led war in Iran.” MB: I hope the Pope didn't take Mario's confession because Leo probably would have assigned Mario enough penance to keep him busy for rest of his life atoning for the sins he's committed since January 2025. (And don't be getting after me for casting the first stone; I'm hardly without sin, but I would have a helluva time catching up to Mario's catalog of transgressions.) (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: “A State Department official ... portrayed the meeting positively, describing it as constructive and friendly. U.S. officials also highlighted the pomp and circumstance with which Rubio was greeted at the Vatican and noted that the meetings ran well over their allotted time. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said that Rubio and Leo discussed issues in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere and that their meeting underscored the 'strong relationship' between the Vatican and Washington.... The meetings involved 'an exchange of views' on the regional and international climate, according to a readout by the Vatican, with a focus on countries marked by war, political tensions and humanitarian crises. The Vatican stressed one final point: 'the need to work tirelessly for peace.'” ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: Or, as a Daily Beast headline put it, “Vatican Humiliates Rubio After His Tense Summit with Pope.” Thanks to RAS for the link to the Beast story. The WashPo report linked here is an update of one linked yesterday.

Matthew Lee & Megan Janetsky of the AP: “The Trump administration is conducting a review of the 53 Mexican consulates in the United States, a move that could lead some of them to be closed, a State Department official said Thursday. No reason was given for the review, which was earlier reported by CBS News, or what it would entail, but it is likely to further inflame tensions between the neighboring countries. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.” MB: What? Was Trump insulted when some consulates held Cinco de Mayo celebrations on TACO Tuesday?

Not Enough Shootings in Post Offices. Jessica Hill of the AP: “Handguns could be mailed through the United States Postal Service for the first time in nearly 100 years if a proposed rule under the Trump administration takes effect. Democratic attorneys general in two dozen states sent a letter this week in opposition. In 1927, Congress passed a law barring the USPS from mailing concealable firearms unless they were from licensed dealers in an effort to curb crime. In January, the Department of Justice revisited the 1927 law, calling it unconstitutional and arguing that it violated the Second Amendment, and urged the postal service to change its regulations. The Department of Justice said that as long as Congress chooses to run a parcel service, 'the Second Amendment precludes it from refusing to ship constitutionally protected firearms to and from law-abiding citizens, even if they are not licensed manufacturers or dealers.'”

The FBI Director Is Huddled in a Closet in the Fetal Position. Carol Leonnig &Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: "FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the polygraphing of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail, as well as other staff, and has been described as being in panic mode to save his job and find leakers among his team, according to two people briefed on the development. Patel walled himself off from some senior bureau leaders this week after multiple media reports raised red flags about his leadership, according to three people familiar with his recent actions. Two of the people told MS NOW that the director ordered the polygraphing this week of former and current security detail members, as well as several information technology staff. The director has also avoided meeting this week with some key operational leaders of the bureau, the people said, raising concerns inside the FBI about Patel’s ability to stay abreast of pressing threats and investigations in order to make the best decisions.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "... Kash Patel is seeking $250 million from [a] lawsuit [against the Atlantic & reporter Sarah Fitzgerald], which he filed as a private citizen. This effort to find Fitzpatrick’s sources might help him win that lawsuit. That makes these polys a clear attempt to use government resources to achieve private gain, an abuse if not a crime itself." Emphasis added.

Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “A federal appeals court panel signaled on Thursday that it would not clear the way for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to punish Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, for warning active-duty service members not to follow illegal orders. Two of the three judges on the panel that heard the case appeared likely to side with Mr. Kelly, a retired Navy captain and astronaut who has sued Mr. Hegseth.... That would be enough to uphold a federal judge’s ruling from February that the Trump administration had 'trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees' in seeking to penalize him for his comments. The Justice Department had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn the lower court’s order. That ruling had temporarily blocked Mr. Hegseth from disciplining the senator for his remarks in a video released in November with several other Democratic members of Congress who served in the military or intelligence agencies. 'Our laws are clear,' Mr. Kelly said in the video. 'You can refuse illegal orders.' After ... [Donald] Trump accused Mr. Kelly of sedition and called for him to be hanged, Mr. Hegseth echoed the accusation, censured the senator and initiated a disciplinary procedure that could result in the reduction of his military rank and pension.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Outta Here. Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “Immigrants are giving up their claims for humanitarian protection and opting to depart the United States in exponentially higher numbers under the Trump administration, mostly from the austere confines of federal detention centers where they increasingly face prolonged stays. Immigration judges issued more than 80,000 'voluntary departure' orders from January 2025 through March of this year, according to court data obtained by the Vera Institute of Justice and shared with The Washington Post. Such orders are granted to immigrants who request to leave on their own terms while giving up the opportunity to seek a new life in the U.S. They are not given a formal deportation order, which could make it easier for them to return legally in the future. The number of people abandoning their immigration cases is at least seven times as high as the number seen in the last 15 months of the Biden administration, when 11,400 took that option.”

Lisa Song, et al., of ProPublica: “ProPublica identified 79 children across the country who have been harmed by tear gas or pepper spray as immigration officers dramatically stepped up their use during ... Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly defended its use of the chemicals, asserting its agents aren’t to blame. The fault, a spokesperson said, lies with 'agitators' in the crowds and parents who put their children in harm’s way. But videos reveal the way agents use these weapons. One captures them releasing tear gas into a crowd with at least seven kids just before someone yells, 'There’s children here.' Another shows them hurling tear gas canisters at protesters without apparent provocation; then, with the streets already flooded with white smoke, a Customs and Border Protection agent wearing a body camera shoots pepper balls before muttering, 'Fuck yeah,' and shouting, 'Woo!'” Via Heather Cox Richardson. Read on.

Patricia Mazzei & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Florida is in talks with the Trump administration to shut down a high-profile immigration detention center that opened last summer in the Everglades and has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to operate, according to a federal official, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, and a person close to the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis.... Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have concluded that it is too expensive to keep operating the center, known as Alligator Alcatraz. Homeland security officials have also come to consider the center ineffective, the federal official said.... Mr. DeSantis has repeatedly called the center a success.... But the center’s shutdown would be hailed by immigration lawyers, activists and many detainees and their families as a huge win. Critics have denounced what they describe as unsanitary and inhumane conditions at the center since it opened 10 months ago....”

AI Chatboxes Can't Revoke Grants to “Woke” Projects. Meryl Kornfeld of the Washington Post: “A federal judge ruled Thursday that the U.S. DOGE Service did not have the authority to cancel National Endowment for the Humanities grants, which made up more than $100 million in congressionally appropriated funds. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said DOGE selected grants for termination last year in ways that violated the First Amendment and the equal-protection component of the Fifth Amendment, calling the case 'a textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.' Citing depositions of two members of DOGE who had directed the grant cuts, McMahon wrote that the cost-cutting group had used ChatGPT to decide which grants would promote diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, but did not tell the AI chatbot how it defined the term.... McMahon said Congress had conferred no authority on DOGE to cut funding it appropriated, and it was ... Donald Trump’s 'duty to execute the laws Congress has enacted.... DOGE had no statutory authority to terminate NEH grants.... And on the undisputed evidence, DOGE — not the NEH Chairperson or anyone else at NEH — effectuated the terminations at issue here.'” The AP report is here.

Noor Ibrahim of Marie Claire on Congresswoman LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), "a Black girl from Newark" who has found friends and supporters in other congresswomen, especially since Donald Trump's DOJ brought federal criminal charges against her.

⭐Pema Levy of Mother Jones: "When the Supreme Court delivered a death blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act last month, endangering the project of multiracial democracy that flowed from the Second Reconstruction of the 1960s, it did so by using many of the same logical — and illogical — devices the high court deployed to help end the first Reconstruction. From the late 19th century, the Roberts court borrowed the false naïveté and judicial supremacy that define some of that era’s darkest opinions. There are obvious echoes between Louisiana v. Callais, in which Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion finished off the VRA, and the notorious Plessy v. Ferguson decision, in which the court blessed Jim Crow. The Roberts court is in many respects a neoconfederate court, and it repeatedly applies the tactics and ideas of the 1880s and 1890s court, whose members likewise could not abide a robust vision of equality.... Just as Plessy denied the discriminatory reality of segregation..., Callais ignores the inseparability of race and party affiliation, asserting that partisan gerrymandering is race-neutral when it is demonstrably not." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND That Arrogant Prick Alito Cheated on His Math Test. Sam Levine, et al., of the Guardian: “The claims Samuel Alito ... made about voter turnout in Louisiana ... were based on a misleading data analysis, a Guardian review has found. In his opinion gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act last week, Alito said that Black voter turnout had exceeded white voter turnout in two of the five most recent presidential elections, both nationally and in Louisiana. Alito’s claim was copied almost verbatim from a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the justice department. It was a critical data point Alito used to make the argument that the kind of discrimination that once made the Voting Rights Act necessary no longer exists....

 “The justice department brief that Alito cited calculated Black and white voter turnout in Louisiana as a proportion of the total population of each racial group over the age of 18. Such an approach is not preferred by experts in calculating statewide turnout because the general over-18 population may include non-citizens, people with felony convictions and others who cannot legally vote.... The widely accepted approach is to consider voter turnout as a proportion of the citizen voting age population or the voter eligible population, the latter of which excludes ... people who cannot vote.... When the Guardian analyzed turnout numbers in Louisiana using the citizen voting age population, it found that Black voter turnout in Louisiana only exceeded white voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election [when President Obama was running for re-election].”

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Job creation was better than expected in April, as the U.S. labor market continued to defy expectations for a slowdown this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 115,000 for the month, down from the 185,000 created in an unusually strong March but better than the 55,000 forecast in the Dow Jones consensus estimate. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%, further proof that the labor market has reached a point where only modest job creation is needed to keep the jobless level steady, given little growth in the labor force."

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Alabama. Come Hell or High Water. Anna Barrett & Andrea Tinker of the Alabama Reflector: "The Alabama Legislature on Wednesday passed legislation that could set new primary dates for the state amid protests within the Statehouse and flooding that led the Alabama Senate to quickly pass its bill before a mass evacuation of the building. HB 1... would allow for a new special election if the U.S. Supreme Court lifts an injunction preventing the state from redrawing congressional maps before 2030. SB 1 ... affects two Montgomery-area Senate districts. The legislation drew sharp criticism from Democrats, who said the bills aimed to reduce Black political representation in the Legislature.... House members debated for five hours over the measure.

"The Senate late Wednesday appeared to be heading for a similarly lengthy debate. But a storm ... led to flooding in the building, which prompted an abrupt end of debate and a vote on the bill. Water burst into the first floor of the building around 5 p.m. and flooded the area around the Statehouse. Staff and lawmakers’ cars swam in the lowered parking deck behind the Statehouse. There was water pouring in from the sides of glass doors into the hallway of the first floor." Thanks to RAS for the link. See also RAS' commentary in Thursday's thread.

(Also linked yesterday.)

Ohio. A-mazing. Vivek Discovers Racism & Xenophobia. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: “Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t mention the racist taunts that follow him online or the GOP primary opponent who said he’s not a real American. But the Ohio gubernatorial candidate who clinched his party’s nomination this week alluded to bigotry on the right in his opening message to a town hall full of young Republicans.... It’s not the Jews,' Ramaswamy [said]. 'It’s not the White people. It’s not the patriarchy. It’s not the Black people. It’s not the foreigners.' It was a striking message from a candidate who has long cast racism as an obsession of Democrats and has more recently confronted it on the right. After building his political career denouncing 'wokeness' on the left, at one point dismissing 'the myth of white supremacy' during his 2024 presidential campaign, he is trying to steer his party away from the extremist fringes that have flared up in his own race.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Ramaswamy ran for president in 2026. So running in this Ohio contest can hardly be the first time he's encountered racism & xenophobia. Why is he just now confronting it? 

Pennsylvania. In case you want to read it, here's Senator John Fetterman's (D-Pa.) excuse for his abominable behavior & betrayal of Democratic/democratic principles, as recounted in a Washington Post op-ed. MB: I didn't read it, but I guess somebody should. 

Tennessee Erases All the Black People, Ctd. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Gov. Bill Lee [R] of Tennessee signed a new congressional map into law on Thursday that slices up Memphis to scatter Black voters into neighboring districts, a move intended to eliminate the state’s last Democratic House seat. It is the first map crafted since the Supreme Court weakened the remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act, by making it difficult for states to craft majority-minority districts that would not be considered racial gerrymanders.... The new map, passed over angry, loud protests that sought to at least slow the vote, splits Memphis and Shelby County into three separate districts, blasting apart the seat of Representative Steve Cohen, Tennessee’s last House Democrat. It also aims to shore up the seat of Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican who was facing a well-funded Democratic challenger, by shifting the boundaries around the liberal city of Nashville. Mr. Lee’s signature came just hours after the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly approved the new maps.” Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Evan Hurst of Wonkette on the fight against Tennessee's white supremacist legislators & governor. 

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South Africa. John Eligon of the New York Times: “South Africa’s highest court ruled on Friday that President Cyril Ramaphosa should face an impeachment inquiry in Parliament over a scandal involving a theft on his farm, dealing a potentially grave blow to his political future. The ruling, which refers to a case in which more than half a million dollars was stolen after being stashed in a couch at Mr. Ramaphosa’s game farm, immediately generated calls from political opponents that he resign. On Friday, the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg declared invalid a law that allowed Parliament to reject an independent panel’s recommendation in 2022 that Mr. Ramaphosa face an impeachment hearing. The panel had expressed skepticism at Mr. Ramaphosa’s explanation of how such a large sum of money had ended up being hidden in, and then stolen from, a couch in 2020. The panel also said that the president had abused his power by trying to get Namibia’s president to help in the theft investigation, that he may have flouted foreign currency laws and that he may have violated the Constitution in conducting private business in conflict with his official duties.” ~~~

      ~~~ Marie: The best defense? Blame JayDee. 

U.K. The New York Times is liveblogging the results of U.K. municipal elections. From the pinned item at 7:30 am ET, by Michael Shear: “Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday that he took responsibility for large Labour Party losses in early results from Thursday’s elections, saying that he would 'not sugarcoat' voters’ scathing verdict on his 22 months in office. In returns announced early on Friday, Labour had already lost almost 260 seats on municipal councils across England, while the right-wing populist Reform U.K. party headed by Nigel Farage had gained close to 400 seats. About 5,000 council seats are being contested in total. 'Voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved,' Mr. Starmer told reporters. But he insisted he will not resign, saying: 'I was elected to meet those challenges, and I’m not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.' At almost the same time, Mr. Farage declared that Reform had made 'historic' gains and should now be treated as a national party with broad support across Britain. 'It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way,' he told reporters.” ~~~

     ~~~ Jill Lawless of the AP: “Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resign after bruising elections that saw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the hard-right party Reform U.K. make major gains. The local and regional elections are widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led Labour to power less than two years ago[.]”