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Democrats Discuss Removing and Replacing the Virginia Supreme Court
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The New York Times reports that Hakeem Jeffries and top Democrats in D.C. are considering asking Virginia legislators and Governor Spanberger to pass legislation to “retire” the members of the Supreme Court and then replace them en masse. New York Times: The conversation reflected the desperation and fury that have gripped the party after the state Supreme Court struck down a favorable map that had been ratified by voters. The most dramatic idea they discussed — which would involve an unusual gambit to replace the entire state Supreme Court, with a goal of reinstating their gerrymandered map — drew mixed reactions on the call, said the people, and it was not clear that it would even be viable, or palatable to Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly. ( NYT).
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NYT: Forget Climate Change and Run on Other Issues
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This Opinion piece in The New York Times angered the online crowd after it was published under the headline “Forget Climate Change. Democrats Need to Talk About Other Issues.” New York Times: For the past several months, Democratic elites have been debating how much to talk about climate change, if at all — in part because these new candidates have narrowed their focus to energy affordability to win back the working class. It is a striking shift from a few years ago, when many Democratic politicians thought the promise of a Green New Deal would build a coalition based on green jobs and fighting inequality… The Democratic Party remains deeply unpopular. The way out is to stop elevating a litany of single-issue policies that appeal to the already converted. When it comes to climate change, for now, it might be better to say nothing at all. (NYT). The headline for the piece brought so much backlash from green-obsessed lefties that they stealth edited it to “Democrats Don’t Have to Campaign on Climate Change Anymore.” This suggests that the Democratic Party base isn’t ready to move on from a losing issue.
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Platner for President? Some Say Yes, Some Say He’s a Moderate
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The Democratic Party is in love with Graham Platner. Some are calling him a moderate because of his stance on gun control, which differs from the average Democrat, and others are speculating that he could be the presidential nominee. In an essay for The Bulwark, Jonathan V Last makes the case for Platner. The Bulwark: Right now, today, I give Graham Platner a 1-in-3 chance to be the next Democratic nominee. For president. I know. It sounds like I’m taking crazy pills. But before you click off, let me show my work. ( Bulwark). It’s good to see The Bulwark “conserving conservatism.” Josh Barro: It’s good to run candidates like Graham Platner who break with progressive orthodoxy and shift to the center on issues where our party is out of step with a state’s voters. ( Josh Barro on X).
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Is Putin About to Give Up on Ukraine?
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Vladimir Putin had to beg Donald Trump to get a 3-day ceasefire with Ukraine to ensure the safety of his Moscow Victory Day parade, and now he is saying that the Special Military Operation is near completion. CNBC: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. ( CNBC). The Victory Day parade was the shortest in memory, at 45 minutes, featured no tanks or other weapons systems, and included North Korean troops. It was, in other words, laughably pathetic and was ridiculed as such.
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Reformageddon in UK
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Keir Starmer has been looking weak since, well, forever. But never so weak as after the slaughter of Labour Party candidates in council elections last week. If the council results are indicative, Reform is now the most popular political party in the U.K. Starmer may soon be moving out of No. 10. Telegraph: Ms Rayner criticised the “toxic” culture in No 10 and said it might be Labour’s “last chance” to reverse its fortunes, she stopped short of joining the more than 40 MPs who have called for Sir Keir to go. The Prime Minister is facing calls to leave office from more than 40 of his own MPs, after disastrous results for Labour in this week’s local elections. Catherine West, a little-known backbencher, has threatened to launch a leadership challenge on Monday unless the Cabinet moves to oust him. Ms Rayner is thought to be planning a run if a contest takes place, but is not expected to challenge Sir Keir imminently. One ally of Mr Streeting told The Telegraph: “Wes has made it clear to No10 that he won’t challenge Keir, but he is preparing a case if it all falls apart. ( Telegraph). Starmer keeps saying he won’t leave. We’ll see.
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Iran Keeps Firing Drones and Missiles
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Iran keeps firing off rockets and drones at the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and takes potshots at ships in the Gulf. Associated Press: The fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the ship attack a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region.” The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center gave no details about the ship’s owner or origin. Kuwait Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said forces responded to drones but did not say where they came from. Iran and armed allied groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28. ( AP).
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Iran Sends Absurd Peace Proposal, Trump Erupts; Netanyahu: War Not Over
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President Trump has been waiting for Iran to transmit its latest negotiating proposal, and on Sunday, it finally landed on his desk. It was not exactly greeted warmly by the president. Associated Press: Iran sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wants negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, but President Donald Trump quickly rejected it as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” with no details. Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, state TV said. Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program. Trump earlier on social media accused Tehran of “playing games” with the United States for nearly 50 years, adding: “They will be laughing no longer!” Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC earlier. ( AP)
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Medical Schools: White? We Don’t Want You
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These days, it should surprise nobody that DEI rules in medical schools. Compact Magazine: So I did what failed applicants are told to do: I sought feedback. Eventually, I spoke with an admissions officer at one of the schools that rejected me. He told me that I was extremely qualified and had everything the school looked for in an applicant. He said he couldn’t give me a concrete reason I wasn’t accepted, other than that I didn’t fit the demographic the school was prioritizing, and that other applicants were viewed as having “traveled a longer distance” to medicine. My application, he said, was evaluated through that lens. That conversation unsettled me in a way I didn’t immediately recognize. I was being told I was qualified, capable, and deserving but simultaneously that those qualities were not enough due to certain immutable characteristics. I had spent years learning about discrimination as something that happened to other people. Nothing in my education had prepared me to think that it could happen to people like me. Then it did. Perhaps I should have seen it coming. The requirements for admission into medical school vary markedly depending on who the applicant is. According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the academic thresholds required for acceptance differ substantially between racial groups. The average MCAT score of a white applicant who is accepted into a medical school is 512.4, approximately the 85th percentile nationally. By contrast, the average MCAT score for accepted American Indian applicants is 502.2 (56th percentile), for accepted black applicants 505.7 (67th percentile), and for accepted Hispanic applicants 506.4 (69th percentile). ( Compact Magazine).
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Republican Spencer Pratt Gains Real Momentum in L.A. Mayor’s Race
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A Republican Mayor of Los Angeles? The Magic 8 Ball says, “Maybe.” Spencer Pratt, the former reality TV star who lost his home in the Palisades fire, is taking L.A. by storm with a killer debate performance and a series of viral ads that are hitting home. Fox News: An aggressive and impassioned debate performance this week by reality TV star and online influencer-turned Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt is the latest evidence that his populist pitch to lead the nation’s second-most populous city appears to be gaining traction. Pratt tangled with the debate moderator after charging that incumbent Mayor Karen Bass was an “incredible liar” and argued that progressive City Council member Nithya Raman would get “stabbed in the neck” if she tried to offer treatment to homeless people encamped in underpasses below the city’s freeways. His apparent rise is fueled in part by his well-known status as one of the victims who lost their homes in last year’s devastating wildfires, when over 17,000 homes in Los Angeles County were destroyed, as well as his right-leaning focus on homelessness, crime, and government accountability in a city long run by Democrats. (Fox News). Pratt’s ads are a key part of his appeal, and fans are making more on their own. ( X) ( X) ( X) ( X) ( X)
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Democratic Socialists of America Endorse Billionaire Tom Steyer for Governor of California
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Democrats are rallying around candidates with Nazi tattoos, and Democratic Socialists are endorsing billionaires. No word on whether lions and lambs are trying to interbreed. New York Post: California’s Democratic Socialists have made their pick for governor — but they’re not happy about it. The nation’s largest socialist organization grudgingly threw its weight behind billionaire Tom Steyer, who made a fortune in private equity before blowing nine figures on two political bids — first for the 2020 presidential nod and now for Golden State governor. “Even if he glibly considers himself a ‘class traitor,’ his wealth was earned through the exploitation of the working class,” the California Democratic Socialists wrote in its voter guide. “Much of his wealth was also invested in private prisons and coal mining, accumulated by the same things he now decries,” the organization wrote. “However, the most progressive of the current viable candidates for governor is Tom Steyer. Time will tell whether he’s truly a class traitor,” the group added. ( New York Post).
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