by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, May 9. Also, check out the video of Jamelle Bouie – who, in addition to writing for the NY Times, lives in Virginia – argue: “Democrats in Virginia — including the House speaker and Governor Spanberger — responded by accepting the ruling. That’s the wrong call. Three million people voted. A court of four cannot erase that. The right answer is the one Republicans in Ohio and Florida have already demonstrated: you make your ruling, you enforce it yourself. Anything less is unilateral disarmament — and Democrats who won’t fight on those terms should find another line of work.”
- Iran war is crushing Asia’s farmers, threatening global food supply (“High prices of fuel, fertilizer and other essentials are forcing farmers in Thailand and elsewhere to skip a planting season to avoid losing money on their harvests.”)
- Moscow marks Victory Day with a scaled down Red Square parade under tight security
- Putin denounces Nato at scaled back Victory Day parade
- Putin attends scaled-back WW2 victory parade as worries deepen over Ukraine war (“Once used to show off Russia’s vast military, the parade this year had no tanks or other military equipment rolling over the cobbles of Red Square.”)
- Trump Is ‘Bored’ With the War He Started (“He wants out, but Iran could likely keep going for months.”)
- US fires on and disables 2 more Iranian tankers as tensions rise in the Strait of Hormuz
- ‘Super Revolutionaries’: The radical Iranian hardliners bent on sabotaging a deal with the US (“A fringe anti-American faction is becoming more vocal in Iran. Whether it prevails could shape the country’s future.”)
- The Sailors Low on Supplies and Stuck in a War Zone (“Some 20,000 seafarers are stranded. Many are dodging drones or rationing food as they wait for an escape plan.”)
- US, Iran no closer to ending war as Gulf clashes flare
- Iran could withstand U.S. blockade for months, Western officials and experts say
- ‘They have screwed each other pretty badly’: tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance (“Israeli PM says he has ‘full coordination’ with US president amid reports that Washington no longer consults him”)
- Many Labour MPs are blaming Starmer himself for elections body blow
- Péter Magyar Led Hungarians out of Autocracy. Where Will He Take Them Now? (“In his first substantial conversation with a foreign journalist since being elected, the new Prime Minister promised, ‘We don’t want to build a power machine.'”)
- The Chaotic New Era of British Politics (“Keir Starmer’s unpopularity has led Labour to a humiliating defeat in local elections. Now, with five major parties competing for votes, the far right could be well positioned for a general-election victory.”)
- US military strike on vessel in eastern Pacific kills two people, leaving one survivor (Every one of these needs to be investigated and prosecuted, if there’s evidence to do so.)
- Justice Department moves to strip 12 Americans of their citizenship
- Facing Pressure, Trump Officials Reject Claims They’re Softening on Immigration
- Homan says he’s ‘sure’ ICE officers detain US citizens: ‘But we don’t deport them’
- ‘Everyone has a breaking point’: the immigration judges at the sharp end of Trump’s deportation drive (“‘Judges have been fired or taken buyouts, and those remaining say they toe the government line”)
- Samuel Alito Cited Fudged Data in His Ruling Gutting Voting Rights Act (“Alito cited data provided by the Department of Justice that used faulty methodology.”)
- Republicans Don’t Need to Win Elections Anymore. They Just Need Their Judges. (“The Virginia Supreme Court nullifies three million votes, boosting Trump’s effort to rig the midterms.”)
- Republicans Are Building an Advantage in Redistricting. How Much?
- The GOP’s Stunningly Swift Gerrymandering Drive (“It took barely a week to wipe a majority-Black district off the map.”)
- Democratic Redistricting Plans Might Be Totally Screwed (“Chief Justice John Roberts is probably over the moon that a court shot down a recently approved map that would give the Democrats an advantage in Virginia.”)
- Democrats just lost the redistricting war
- Two Weeks Ago, Democrats Were Winning the Redistricting Wars. What Happened? (“For a moment, Democrats thought they had thwarted Trump’s plan to rig the midterms. Then the courts stepped in.”)
- This was John Roberts’ plan all along (“The chief justice has declared that the Court is not political. The facts — and his own history — say otherwise”)
- Two Court Decisions Have Unleashed an Era of Perpetual Redistricting
- Blame John Roberts for Destroying the Voting Rights Act (“He’s been dismantling the country’s most important civil rights law for over 40 years.” Evil.)
- 10 Days That Shook the House Map and Democratic Confidence (“Republicans are charging ahead in the nation’s redistricting race, and showing new bullishness after months of growing midterm fears.”)
- Trump Is Planning to Fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary (“The doctor, a MAHA advocate, has had a tumultuous tenure” Wacko – and note that Glenn Youngkin appointed this guy as his top health/medical advisor.)
- Exclusive: Kennedy’s health officials explored US ban of some widely used antidepressants
- Hantavirus misinformation runs rampant as the US is unequipped to respond to infectious disease health scare
- How Worried Should We Be About the Hantavirus Outbreak?
- ‘The FDA is a complete mess’: Trump makes fate of agency chief unclear as public trust plummits (“Food and Drug Administration commissioner’s decisions have hurt staff morale and put his job in crosshairs”)
- Trump administration relaxing hunting restrictions in US parks and refuges (Appalling)
- Education Department launches hiring spree in key office, roughly a year after mass layoffs (“The Federal Student Aid office plans to hire 334 full-time employees by 2027, despite staffing cuts last year and efforts to send the department’s work to other agencies.”)
- Compare the Purported Epstein Suicide Note to His Writings (“The New York Times has not authenticated the note. But some of its phrases are similar or identical to ones Jeffrey Epstein used in emails and another handwritten letter.”)
- Handwriting on newly released note matches one found after Epstein’s death, experts tell AP
- ABC Accuses Government of Violating First Amendment (“The network’s argument, made to the F.C.C., is the most aggressive posture taken yet by a television network toward the Trump administration.”)
- In Legal Dispute Over ‘The View,’ ABC Argues Trump Administration Is Trying To Chill Free Speech (“ABC is accusing the Trump administration of trying to chill free speech and hinder open political discussion.”)
- The No-Bid Contract That Is Turning Washington’s Reflecting Pool Blue (“President Trump handpicked a firm he said had worked on his swimming pool to repair the iconic site near the Lincoln Memorial.”)
- Meta Is Dying. It’s About Time.
- Warner slams court ruling on Virginia redistricting: ‘Justice was not served’
- Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Says Republicans Will “Come to Regret” Their “grab based on race and power” – “We can have a West Coast where there’s not a single Republican district” (On another topic, Walkinshaw says Trump “would fire Howard Lutnick” after his “nonsensical” testimony)
- Virginia Democrat who helped lead state’s redistricting push also played part in killing it (“Sen Mark Warner, D-Va., previously appointed the judge who wrote the opinion striking down Democrats’ redistricting referendum”)
- BREAKING: VA Supreme Court, on a 4-3 Vote (Along Partisan Lines), Strikes Down Redistricting Amendment (The 2026 midterms in Virginia will be run using the existing map, not the proposed 10D-1R map)
- 4 Takeaways From the Virginia Supreme Court Gerrymandering Decision
- Political leaders react to state Supreme Court decision on redistricting referendum (“Current and former elected officials, candidates and others share their thoughts on Friday’s high court ruling.”)
- Virginia’s high court strikes down voter-passed House map favoring Democrats (“The finding is a major setback for Democrats in their effort to counter GOP-led redistricting in other states. The measure approved April 21 gave Democrats an edge in four districts.”)
- Who wins, who loses: 10 things to know about the Supreme Court ruling on redistricting
- Four Virginia Supreme Court justices white out 1,604,276 ‘Yes’ votes (“In plain English: four Republican justices on the state Supreme Court erased the votes of 1,604,276 Virginians from the history books.”)
- Supreme Court of Virginia strikes down redistricting amendment, keeps current maps in place
- Back to square one: Reset of Virginia’s congressional races post-Scott v. McDougle (“At least two of the incumbent Republicans, Rob Wittman in the First District and Jen Kiggans in the Second District, are vulnerable – based on both the 2024 and 2025 votes in their districts. Tom Perriello has an outside shot in the Fifth District, which is held by MAGA Congressman John McGuire. It would take a miracle for Beth Macy to unseat Ben Cline in the Sixth, but the Red Sea once parted, and the U.S. hockey team beat the Russians in Lake Placid.”)
- Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats’ redistricting plan, dimming party’s midterm hopes
- Republicans praise, Democrats criticize court ruling invalidating redistricting referendum
- How Virginia Democrats can overturn the redistricting ruling: Retire the Supreme Court (“The state Constitution gives lawmakers complete latitude to set the judicial retirement age. They should use it.”)
- The glaring error in the Virginia Supreme Court’s gerrymandering decision (“The court buried itself in dictionaries and missed the obvious.”)
- Tom Perriello Set for Showdown with Rep. John McGuire (R-VA05) over Skyrocketing Costs and Corruption (“The Only Democrat in a Generation to Win Virginia’s Fifth District Is Committed to Winning It Again”)
- The main beneficiary of the Supreme Court redistricting ruling: Ben Cline
- Redistricting Ruling Adds to Virginia Governor’s Headaches (This article is kind of a hit job on Spanberger by the NY Times.)
- Give Me a Break – Vote Yes Won, They Know It and Now We Will Define What Winning Looks Like (As Maya Angelou said, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”)
- Portsmouth, a ‘city on the rise,’ commemorates halfway point of casino hotel construction
- CWG Live: Warmer with afternoon storm chances this weekend
