Fun quote from a data analyst on Spencer Pratt's chances of becoming the next mayor of LA, regardless of whether he makes the runoff: “It’s like he’s the best rapper in a country bar"

"More than 800 data centers are currently under construction worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica...Global data centers already consume as much power as France." TIME's latest cover story:

JUST PUBLISHED Janay Kingsberry obtained a Kennedy Center memo that shows lawyers are ordering staff to remove “Trump” from email signatures, letterhead, webpages, brochures,signs, &c. Clearest sign yet that the president may be giving up the fight on this one. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Amazing premise for a mid-tier X-Files episode: “The archbishop of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday removed a longtime archdiocesan exorcist, saying his recent comments about UFOs being demons ‘gravely undermine’ church teachings.”

I’m probably only going to say this sentence once in my lifetime: I think Texas might need more ivermectin.

The 4 House Republicans who voted with Democrats to end the war in Iran: Thomas Massie (Ky.) Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) Tom Barrett (Mich.) Warren Davidson (Ohio)

"After a gender reveal party went tragically wrong — sparking a major wildfire that led to the death of a firefighter — three companies have agreed to pay more than $4 million for their role in the blaze...Pink or Blue Gender Team Inc., a marketer of the device, agreed to pay $50,000."

“In Iowa, Trump's pick for governor lost to a first-time candidate who centered his campaign around fighting corporate agriculture and Big Pharma.” From Zach Lahn’s victory speech: “I will take on the big ag cartels. I will break up their monopolies, and I will get Iowa farmers a fair deal.”

ICYMI: The top election official in Texas just announced her retirement, which will take effect less than four months before the state’s most closely watched election in a decade. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u... #TXLEGE

“To set the record straight: Talarico eats meat and has a girlfriend. That isn’t stopping this line of attacks, which make clear that the GOP hopes to make one of the marquee midterm races a referendum on what it means to be a man.“ time.com/article/2026...

"To a degree without modern precedent, the Democratic Party’s House and Senate primaries are being inundated with spending from outside groups...In nearly every case...an ad’s subject matter appears deliberately misaligned with a group’s actual goals" www.notus.org/2026-electio...

The amount of money — much it funded anonymously — surging into Democratic primaries continues to be one of the biggest political stories of 2026. Democrats said there’s a perfect storm of reasons for the deluge. www.notus.org/2026-electio...

Maine Gov. Janet Mills reminding voters she's still on the ballot for the Democratic primary for Senate. “People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out’ but I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.” www.pressherald.com/2026/06/01/m...

A writer in the midst of fighting back allegations his book on AI is AI-generated: “If the only way for me to not end up with a mistake ever again is to literally stop using AI, that's just not realistic. If the answer is to stop writing, that's not out of the realm of possibility.”

So it looks like Backrooms and Obsession are going to combine for $110-120 million this weekend. By comparison the Blair Witch Project opening weekend was $29 million (~$60 million inflation-adjusted):

One of the most uniformly beloved news products in DC— @capitalweather.bsky.social — is going independent, reports @maxtani.bsky.social

In a closed-door interview about the Epstein Files investigation, Pam Bondi said she has not met with any of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse, some of whom were outside the hearing room as the interview was under way. "Bondi herself was not under oath, nor was the interview videotaped"

A post this morning from Senator John Cornyn—who no longer has much of a political reason to do what Trump wants:

“UPDATE: Late Thursday night, Bret Michaels finally released a statement. He's out.” But whether Milli Vanilli is playing depends on who counts as part of a group best known for being fraudulent. This is the best story I’ve seen on this mess so far: stereogum.com/2500500/mill...

The rocket that just exploded on a Florida launch pad was one of Blue Origin’s New Glenn models. “On Tuesday, NASA announced that it had awarded contracts to Blue Origin for two New Glenn rockets to take rovers to the moon in 2028”

Martina McBride has backed out of Trump’s Freedom 250 festival on the National Mall — leaving just 4 of the 9 acts that were announced yesterday. The lineup as it stands: Vanilla Ice, C + C Music Factory, Flo Rida and Bret Michaels

The Commodores have now backed out—the 4th of 9(!) acts announced for the Freedom 250 festival just yesterday.

Add Milli Vanilli to this list. A full third of the acts announced yesterday for Trump's Freedom 250 festival have already backed out. apnews.com/article/free...

This is wild. Almost unheard of for a major metropolitan newspaper to endorse in a high-profile race this far before the election.

In less than 24 hours, 2 of the 9 acts announced for Trump's Freedom 250 festival have dropped out. First Morris Day and the Time and now Young MC. Posts from multiple artists suggests they didn't understand beforehand that performing would be viewed by many as a Trump co-sign.

They Gerrymandered His District Away in Three Days. He is Still Running time.com/article/2026...

CNN: Justice Department launches criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. “The investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the president”

Brutal: “The announcement promises "many more." Imagine being one of the ‘many more.’”

Hegseth says there will be a “surge” of national guard in DC this summer, per pool report

Interestingly, more Black/multicultural artists than white ones.

Hijackings from Somali pirates are on the rise. Security experts say the Iran War is at least partly to blame. “Pirate gangs in Somalia are rebooting their business operations…We’ve already tracked 18 incidents this year, more than the entirety of last year” time.com/article/2026...

New TIME Op-Ed from @warren.senate.gov: Why We Need to Tax AI "A well-designed tax would focus on the companies that can afford it and scale with AI’s impact: the bigger the data center, the more they pay." time.com/article/2026...

“Trump, after receiving all of this flattery, endorsed Paxton and dubbed Cornyn just a ‘good man,’ an insult in Trump-ese.”

“$250 million. That’s the internal price tag being circulated among Republicans for the task of helping Paxton to hold the seat—all at the expense of chasing flipping Democratic seats in places like Georgia, Michigan, or New Hampshire.” time.com/article/2026...

What a quote on Ken Paxton, by a party colleague. A gift basket to Talarico. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/u...

Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in almost 40 years. Republicans think they might need $250 million to ensure Ken Paxton beats James Talarico. If they fail, it would end the longest Democratic dry spell in the nation, and Trump would take a good share of the blame

Mayes Middleton wins the Republican nomination for Texas attorney general, @nbcnews.com projects. He defeats Chip Roy, who gave up his House seat to run for this position. Roy will leave the House in January.

Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in almost 40 years. Republicans think they might need $250 million to ensure Ken Paxton beats James Talarico. If they fail, it would end the longest Democratic dry spell in the nation, and Trump would take a good share of the blame

The White House is ordering its new "overtly political app" be installed on all government phones. "In at least one agency, the automatic downloads will start next week in a move directed by the White House itself, according to internal communications obtained by Government Executive."

In 3 weeks, the White House will host a UFC cage match on the South Lawn. Some new details: -The main-event competitors will walk out from the Oval Office. -Invited South Lawn gusts include Adam Sandler, Tom Brady, Jared Leto, Jason Statham and The Rock -85k expected to watch from the Ellipse

"Once Paxton took the stage, he went straight for the red meat. The aroma of barbecue gave him a perfect excuse to mock Talarico for being a vegan (an allegation that Talarico denies)." Yes, in a statewide race in Texas, that amounts to an allegation

“He’s tiny!” exclaimed one researcher. “It’s blue!” said another. “Like one of those plushies.”

"The University of Michigan’s sentiment survey dates back to 1952: Americans are feeling worse now than they did during wars, 9/11, the Great Recession, the Covid-19 pandemic and the inflation surge afterward."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump says he is postponing signing an executive order on AI because he was concerned it would hurt the AI industry.

“The report is mostly summarizing what happened. It contains many judgements about why Democrats lost. But when it comes to solutions for making things better, it generally just suggests the party needs to re-think things and do certain things better – without necessarily detailing how.”

New: Spencer Pratt's MAGA-coded campaign for L.A. mayor is exciting Trump and his allies—who hope he can be a kind of West Coast counterpoint to Zohran Mamdani. Yet their cheering may instead help seal the re-election of the deeply unpopular Karen Bass. time.com/article/2026...

New TIME cover just dropped: an in-depth, revealing profile of Graham Platner time.com/article/2026...