TV News LIES

Democrats are coalescing around progressive political outsider Graham Platner and his bid to oust incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine after primary rival Gov. Janet Mills ended her struggling bid Thursday.

Mills, who is term limited as governor, jumped into the race late last year as one of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) top recruits, but she had trouble gaining traction in polls and fundraising while Platner surged ahead — despite various controversies around his campaign. She ended her bid Thursday in a statement without endorsing Platner.

But Schumer and the Democrats’ Senate campaign arm got behind Platner as Mills exited the ring, joining progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and nearly two dozen state legislators who were expected to endorse on Thursday. The winnowed field adds to Democrats’ bullishness about what’s expected to be one of the closest Senate races in the country this fall.

“The base couldn’t have spoken more clearly,” Democratic strategist Christy Setzer said.

“Candidates and electeds who act like we’re living in normal times won’t fare well,” Setzer added. “We’re not interested in so-called establishment candidates who are bringing a butter knife to that fight.”

More...

A military entourage for King Charles and Queen Camilla's visit April 30 to Arlington National Cemetery carried the United Kingdom's national flag upside down, setting off pithy remarks in the British pres

Photographs show that during the royal couple's stop at the Virginia cemetery, the Union Jack's red and white stripes were wrong side up.

"King Charles' US state visit ended in bizarre fashion as the Union Flag was flown upside down during the farewell event," London's Daily Express tabloid wrote. The paper cited Mark Stone, a U.S. correspondent for British network Sky News, who posted on X: "Rather a diplomatic gaffe by the Americans here. The Union flag is upside down at the Arlington Cemetery event."

In its US version, the Express headline noted: "Huge 'signal of distress' mistake made as Trump and King Charles pay respects." In the world of flags, flying the Union Jack upside down literally signifies a situation of distress.

The king and queen have not yet remarked on the juxtaposition. Charles and Camilla paid their respects and laid a wreath and a posy at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the cemetery before traveling to rural Virginia to attend separate events. Arlington National is the final resting place for over 400,000 active-duty service members, veterans, and their families, honoring those who served the U.S.

More...

Today, the supreme court’s conservative majority struck down a major element of the Voting Rights Act which protects against racial discrimination in redistricting, in a ruling that paves the way for aggressive gerrymandering in states across the nation that could affect elections for years to come.

As my colleague Sam Levine notes, at the heart of the case, Louisiana v Callais, was a question of how much lawmakers are allowed to consider race when they redraw districts to ensure that black voters are adequately represented.

In a 6-3 decision, split along partisan lines, the court struck down a majority-black congressional district in Louisiana, rendering ineffective section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the last remaining powerful provision of the 1965 civil rights law that prevents racial discrimination in voting. Section 2 has long been used to ensure minority voters are treated fairly in redistricting.

The ruling gives lawmakers permission to draw districting plans that weaken the influence of black and other minority voters. It comes as Donald Trump has pushed for red states to redraw their congressional maps in ways that would help Republicans win more seats in this year’s elections.

More...

A divided federal appeals court said Wednesday it will not grant a rare meeting of its active judges to hear an appeal of an $83 million verdict against President Donald Trump for defaming a magazine advice columnist over an encounter three decades ago.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to reject a so-called “en banc” hearing comes several months after Trump appealed to the Supreme Court another jury’s decision to grant $5 million the writer, E. Jean Carroll, after concluding that he had sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in 1996 and later defamed her. The high court has not yet decided whether to hear the case.

Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that her client was “eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice.”

More...

The Virginia Supreme Court will allow a lower court order temporarily blocking the commonwealth from certifying the results of a redistricting referendum to remain in place, dealing a blow to Democrats who sought to challenge the ruling.

The high court on Tuesday denied a motion by Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones (D) to appeal last week’s ruling from a Tazewell County circuit court judge that found the referendum unconstitutional.

Judge Jack Hurley Jr. sided with the Republican National Committee (RNC) in February in a lawsuit seeking to block the April 21 referendum, arguing against its timing and the phrasing of the ballot question.

But the state Supreme Court stepped in and allowed it to continue, stating last month that while there were issues of “grave concern” regarding the process undertaken by the Virginia General Assembly, it declined to offer an opinion on the matter.

“It is the process, not the outcome, of this effort that we may ultimately have to address,” the court said. “Issuing an injunction to keep Virginians from the polls is not the proper way to make this decision.”

More...

The Supreme Court on April 29 threw out a congressional map in Louisiana that had been drawn to protect the voting power of Black residents, a decision that limits a landmark civil rights law.

An ideologically divided court sided 6-3 with the Trump administration and with the non-Black voters who challenged the map as relying too heavily on race to sort voters – and it did so just three years after upholding the 1965 Voting Rights Act’s vote dilution protections for racial minorities.

Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito called the map an "unconstitutional gerrymander" that violates the constitutional rights of the non-Black voters who challenged it.

The court's three liberal justices dissented. Justice Elena Kagan said the consequences of the majority's decision "are likely to be far-reaching and grave," rendering the protections of the civil rights law "all but a dead letter."

More...