Virginia Supreme Court bails Trump out in galling ruling

Top Stories for May 8:

Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results, killing Democrats’ chances of picking up four House seats
During the same week that Republicans in Tennessee and Alabama passed brazenly racist, new gerrymanders stripping Black voters of their political power without ANY input from the public, the Supreme Court of Virginia just overturned last month’s voter-approved redistricting referendum, effectively declaring that the will of the people is merely a suggestion when Republicans don’t like the outcome.

The new maps would have almost certainly delivered Democrats four additional seats in the US House. By unilaterally killing the referendum, the high court didn’t just silence Virginia voters — it could decide the fate of November’s midterms.

Folks, we aren’t gonna lie. This one really stings, but it’s also further proof why it’s so important that we poor every available resource into winnable House races across the country. The fight continues, and so must we.

Take Action: Donate now to help elect Democrats in flippable seats!

Trump promises ceasefire with Iran is still intact, claims retaliatory missile strikes are just a “love tap”
Describing a missile strike capable of leveling an entire city block in a single second as a “love tap” is downright sociopathic. Quick question: was the Tomahawk missile strike on an elementary school in Minab on the first day of Trump’s pre-emptive war that killed 175 people — mostly children — also just a “love tap?” We know love is historically hard to define, but this really takes the crazy cake.

Take Action: Don’t let Trump bring back the draft!

Republicans RUSH to strip voting power away from Black communities in wake of disastrous Supreme Court decision
Stand Up America: The right-wing Supreme Court Justices just gutted Section II of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door for Republican legislatures across the South to completely redraw their maps and disenfranchise their Black populations – and they are eager to do so. Louisiana has already taken the unprecedented step of canceling their primary elections to redraw their maps, and other states are sure to follow soon – and when they do, this Court has made it clear they will give them the green light. We cannot allow Republicans to drag us back to the bad old days of Jim Crow. Add your name to tell Congress to fix the Supreme Court by passing REAL reforms and end the GOP’s stranglehold of extremism!

Democrats burn Confederate flag poster in protest as Republicans strip Black voters of political power in Tennessee
As soon as the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republicans immediately made it clear why the VRA was so critically important — by redrawing districts in Tennessee to strip Black communities of representation and drown out their voices in racist gerrymanders.

Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones, who became a national figure after protesting gun violence on the floor of the Tennessee legislature and getting expelled for it, was furious at what he was seeing and took a stand, burning a Confederate flag poster in the entryway while yelling, “We are not going back!” referring to the bad old days of Jim Crow and segregation. Democrats walked out in protest, many with tears on their faces as they saw 60 years of civil rights progress undone in an instant.

“A storm will come today. The repercussions of your decision will be felt for centuries. Your vote today will forever be carved in the history of this state,” warned Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar. It took barely a week for Republicans to once again gleefully disenfranchise Black voters.

Take Action: Do not let Donald Trump appoint another Supreme Court justice!

Trump is bringing back his Strait of Hormuz “Project Freedom” plan that he nixed on Tuesday two days after it began on Sunday
Stand by for a second pause this weekend before yet another reboot early next week. If you keep everyone guessing — including your own administration — then you maintain the element of maximum chaotic surprise.

Take Action: Stop Trump’s plan to dump coal ash in our drinking water!

Trump celebrates golden statue of himself as Americans struggle with skyrocketing cost of living
Anyone else remember that one time in the Bible when the Israelites built a golden cow and were subsequently stricken by a terrible plague for worshipping it? Seems like there’s some sorta lesson to be learned from that story.

Trump’s ICE goons arrested the parents of at least 27,000 kids in seven months
We should call the Trump regime’s draconian immigrant crackdown nightmare what it really is: a racist culling psyop in the name of naked white supremacy.

Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DOJ
You will be SHOCKED to learn that Samuel Alito, perennial contender for worst justice on the bench, relied on intentionally misleading analysis of voter turnout in Louisiana to justify gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In his disastrous concurring opinion that saw the high court roll back the clock on racial justice some 60 years, Alito erroneously claimed that Black voter turnout had exceeded white voter turnout in two of the five most recent presidential elections, both nationally and in Louisiana. In reality, the only national election that saw Black voter turnout proportionally eclipse white voter turnout was 2012, when the country’s first and only Black president, Barack Obama, was up for re-election.

Alito’s claim was copied almost verbatim from a friend-of-the-court brief filed by — you guessed it — the Trump Justice Department and was central to his bullshit argument that the kind of discrimination that once made the Voting Rights Act necessary no longer exists. Alito didn’t just cherry pick convenient data, he cited spurious figures provided by Trump’s own team, which effectively handed the Court the intellectual ammunition needed to gut the very law DOJ is supposed to enforce.

Trump regime set to revoke passports for parents who owe child support
We can’t believe we’re saying this, but at face value, this doesn’t seem like an unreasonable idea. Do forgive us in advance if and when we inevitably learn the nefarious ulterior motives driving the policy change.

Trump on hantavirus outbreak: “We should be fine”
Hey, remember back in early 2020 when Trump assured the nation literally dozens of times that COVID-19 would be gone by Easter? Let’s all be sure to listen to actual medical experts as we track the concerning developments of the current hantavirus outbreak.

Trade court strikes down a second round of Trump tariffs
Hoo boy, Grandpa’s gonna be pissed about this one. The Court of International Trade just struck down a second round of worldwide tariffs that America’ wannabe dictator ordered to replace import levies previously outlawed by the Supreme Court. While the court’s decision was limited to the two importers who challenged the tariffs and the state of Washington, it does throw into question whether other importers would have to keep paying Donald’s unilateral levies. After SCOTUS smacked down the president for exceeding his authority with his idiotic tariff crusade, Trump scrambled and replaced the import taxes using a different law. But that law only authorizes tariffs in response to large and persistent balance-of-payments deficits. The trade court ruled that condition does not currently exist, so the replacement tariffs are not warranted.