Though MAGA believers call James Talarico “blasphemous,” he’s squarely within his Mainline Presbyterian tradition. And that’s a timely reminder of the diversity of Christianity in Texas and beyond. My latest for @texasobserver.org www.texasobserver.org/senate-james...

Pot, meet kettle

The triumphal arch that Donald Trump wants to build across from the Lincoln Memorial would pervert the significance of a uniquely meaningful place, Sebastian Smee argues. theatln.tc/ZBNdWAOL

If the IRS audit surrender has any legal grounding, it has to be, again, because it’s tethered to the settlement agreement. Otherwise, it’s just raw self-conferred immunity. But that means that the legal infirmities with the settlement agreement should also invalidate the audit surrender.

BESSENT: Under the Biden administration-- HASSAN: We're not talking about Biden. We're talking about this administration and its promise to lower costs, and the fact that this president says he doesn't care

Trump administration abandons $1.8 billion payout fund after revolt by GOP Journalism, protest, and public pressure can stop corruption. Pass it on!

Democrats are hoping to force Bill Pulte’s removal from his acting director of national intelligence side-gig—and they aren’t alone. “Well, we don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters. trib.al/paHQrpk

With key primary races taking place in Iowa, Steve Kornacki looks ahead to November’s general election where, in order to flip control of the Senate, Democrats will have to win seats in states that President Trump carried.

White voters in Louisiana want to eliminate the state's only remaining majority-Black congressional district — and a federal court has agreed to hear their arguments. State lawmakers just passed a new congressional map, dismantling one of two majority-Black districts. Soon, both could be gone.

🌉 BREAKING: Michael Gates, a former Trump DOJ official who helped lead the its crusade to seize voter data, advanced in California’s attorney general race. He’s set to face Rob Bonta — one of Trump’s most aggressive courtroom adversaries — in November.

The Supreme Court allowed Alabama to hold upcoming elections using a congressional map that a lower court found discriminates on the basis of race and dilutes the political power of the state’s Black voters.

in 2022, 55% of Republicans said they favored legal same-sex marriage, but today, the figure is 37%. Among independents, support has dropped six points, to 67%, while Democrats’ views are the same as in 2022 (87% in favor). news.gallup.com/poll/710810/...

This got overlooked, but it's important. Note that MAGA types like Steve Bannon and Jack Posobiec plainly expect Bill Pulte to use the national security state to target the left. They're salivating for it. @leahlitman.bsky.social and I discuss this here: newrepublic.com/article/2112...

Trump's pick of Bill Pulte as DNI is worse than you think. It hands the "vast powers" of our "national security apparatus" to the guy who's working to jail Trump's enemies, says @leahlitman.bsky.social, and that's "terrifying." On the pod, Litman pulls no punches: newrepublic.com/article/2112...

Thune hits breaking point with Trump www.axios.com/2026/06/03/t...

So in other words it still may happen

Bill Pulte, Trump’s pick to lead the intelligence community, has no national-security experience—but he does have one qualification that might appeal to the president, @dgraham.bsky.social writes in The Atlantic Daily:

New Rule Would Politicize Grant Decisions, Scientists Say www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...

BLANCHE: Who the president chooses to pardon is not a problem, period IVEY: What's the legal basis for that statement? BLANCHE: The Constitution IVEY: The Constitution does not give him the authority to pardon in exchange for payments. It does not permit bribery

The U.S. Justice Department's agreement with President Donald Trump to bar future audits into his or his family's past tax records will remain in place even as his weaponization fund has been put on hold, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

BREAKING: Blanche testifies that the Trump tax blanket immunity order portion of the slush fund “settlement” is NOT rescinded. Judge Williams, who has reopened the case, has said there IS NOT A SETTLEMENT. I imagine her probe into whether there was a fraud on the court will continue.

Rubio Suggests U.S. Return to Global Vaccine Program in Rebuke of Kennedy www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u...

L - GOP Rep and MI senate candidate Mike Rogers actual photo from the campaign trail. R - Photo put out by staffer.

If Big Brother doesn’t like your science topic you won’t be funded and if Big Brother doesn’t like your results you will be defunded. A recipe for backwardness that seems to be designed by people who want America to humiliate itself and collapse. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

Breaking News: President Trump signed an executive order that asked tech companies to give the government oversight of new A.I. models before releasing them to the public, a shift for an administration that had promoted a hands-off approach to the powerful technology.

BREAKING: In June, a federal court will consider white voters’ effort to eliminate Louisiana's remaining majority-Black district following SCOTUS’ gutting of the Voting Rights Act. White voters argue that even the new, current gerrymander with only one such district still a racial gerrymander.

Q: Speaker Johnson told us it's his understanding that the weaponization fund is off the table. Is that your understanding as well after speaking with the acting AG? THUNE: That is correct

So many good tidbits in here, but this is particularly illuminating: @texastribune.org found that nearly half of the planned data centers in Texas are set to be built in unincorporated areas — up from 12% now. That's important bc TX counties lack the broad zoning power cities have.

👀

“This particular report reflects a very dangerous attempt to characterize that protected First Amendment activity — activity which is fundamental to our democracy — as something other, something more dangerous, a breeding ground for something more sinister” said civil rights lawyer Paul Hetznecker

Have you ever heard of “biblical economics”? At first blush, you might presume that the phrase must involve the application of love-thy-neighbor moral teachings to business practices and economic policy. trib.al/UAeXuC8

Read @gelliottmorris.com on James Talarico's path to victory in Texas. It's hard but doable. Basically if independents keep breaking for Dems by 55% or 65% he doesn't need to win over *that* many Rs, maybe 6%. And "moderation" alone isn't enough: www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-01-01...

Breaking news: President Trump is appointing Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, tapping a political supporter who heads a federal mortgage regulation agency but has no intelligence experience.

President Donald Trump appointed federal housing regulator Bill Pulte as acting director of national ​intelligence on Tuesday, elevating a political loyalist without national ‌security experience to lead the country’s sprawling intelligence community. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Congressional statute: "There is a Director of National Intelligence who shall be appointed by the President ... Any individual nominated for appointment as Director of National Intelligence shall have extensive national security expertise." 50 U.S. Code § 3023

i have no words

Hearing backlash from residents, cities and counties across the country in recent weeks have blocked...

Trump tells CNBC: ‘I don’t care’ if Iran negotiations are over www.cnbc.com/2026/06/01/t...

NEW: Californians are voting in primaries that could shape who leads the state's opposition to Trump's agenda. From governor to attorney general, here are the races that will determine whether pro-voting candidates or election deniers earn a statewide platform this November. https://bit.ly/4egYBRV

Some Republicans are disenchanted with the GOP as it exists today, especially after Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff in Texas.

A case study in the dangers of religious tyranny

If using AI for writing means you never have to stop, backtrack, or start over, you’re missing the most important part of the process, writes Eve Fairbanks: theatln.tc/FqOCuLuP

The Fort Worth school board meeting took place after the reassignment of a Western Hills High School principal.

Pentagon press office is now off-limits to reporters www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

Trump told Netanyahu he's "fucking crazy," Axios reports. www.axios.com/2026/06/01/t...

Seven months after President Trump announced his peace plan for Gaza and more than four months since he convened his Board of Peace to implement and pay for it, the plan is stalled and expected donations to the fund it created are nonexistent.

BREAKING: President Said to Be Backing Off Plans for $1.8 Billion Fund After Backlash. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06...

Trump is said to be leaning toward scrapping his plan to establish a $1.8 billion fund to give taxpayer money to his allies amid intense blowback from both parties, though as with all things Trump, he could still reverse course and proceed with it. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06...

📬 USPS wants to require states to send a list of voters who have requested a mail-in ballot —an alarming step toward implementing Trump’s attack on mail voting ahead of the midterms. Voting-rights advocates argue that using this list could prevent eligible voters from casting ballots.

CASSIDY tells me he’s not yet convinced the Trump admin is dropping the $1.8B weaponization fund. He’s still open to voting for legislation to shut the fund down.