Texas’ redrawn GOP-friendly congressional districts are back, for now.
Justice Samuel Alito temporarily restored the state’s new map — expected to net Republicans up to five seats in the 2026 midterms — while the Supreme Court weighs a lower court’s decision to toss that map altogether.
Alito’s move allowing Texas officials to continue to prepare for primary elections under the new map came just after the state asked the Supreme Court for an urgent ruling to revive the redistricting plan adopted at the urging of President Donald Trump.
Who is actually running Donald Tump’s White House amidst his Learish decline that has been on display for months? “He is acting like a man who is cornered, terrified, and irrational,” Tom Nichols writes in The Atlantic. Perhaps the man who famously has no real friends feels he needs one.
So Trump’s beaming press availability on Friday after his meeting with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was unexpected and completely out of character. It was further proof that the once and future god-emperor of Mar-a-Lago is a chocolate mess. (Those of a certain age know the reference.) The usual Trump > Fox > Trump propaganda loop has broken down or else Trump is so addled that he’s not watching. Tokyo Rose Garden (Karoline Leavitt) is going to snap her own neck in how fast she’ll have to pivot from calling Mamdani a communist to his being Trump’s new best friend.
“South Park” writers will be working nights. Satan will be so-o-o-o jealous.
Now add to the list of Trump’s Epstein distractions, his 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine and Russia. Ponder this observation on Trump’s peace plan from The Guardian:
Some of the phrases in the US’s “peace proposal” for Ukraine appear to have been originally written in Russian. In several places the language would work in Russian but seems distinctly odd in English.
The third point of the 28-point plan reads: “It is expected that Russia will not invade neighbouring countries and Nato will not expand further.”
“It is expected” is a clunky passive construction in English. The Russian version – ожидается or ozhidayetsya – makes more sense and is a familiar verb form.
Other Russianisms that appear to have crept into the text include неоднозначности (ambiguities) and “закрепить” (to enshrine).
The White House has acknowledged Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s envoy, wrote the proposal together with Donald Trump’s special representative Steve Witkoff. The pair hammered out the text during a meeting in Miami.
Ukraine and its European partners were excluded from the drafting process.
PeskovKremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insists that Ukraine negotiate now or it risks losing even more territory. Bold talk for a government that’s been stymied in gaining ground through force of arms. Russia has suffered heavy combat casualties in Ukraine.
The full details are not clear but the key tenets of the 28-point deal – reported first by Axios, the FT and the New York Times – are believed to include a demand for Ukraine to cede the rest of the Russian-occupied eastern Donbas region, cut its armed forces by half and reduce or altogether abandon certain types of weaponry, particularly long-range missiles that could hit targets in Russia.
That would mean Ukraine voluntarily handing over areas of its territory to Russia that Moscow has been unable to take by force.
Kyiv would also be expected to agree to reducing or halting US military assistance. Any future deployment of western troops to Ukraine – as envisaged by the Franco-British-led “coalition of the willing” – would also be banned.
As part of the deal, Ukraine and Europe could get some US security guarantees against future Russian aggression, although no details were reported of what this could entail.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Kyiv risks losing US support over a White House plan on how to end the war with Russia.
Addressing the nation on Friday, Zelensky said Ukraine “might face a very difficult choice: either losing dignity, or risk losing a key partner”, adding that “today is one of the most difficult moments in our history”.
One thing Zelensky doesn’t risk losing is Trump’s mind. Trump lost that some time ago.
Zelensky remains focused:
“We’re not making loud statements,” he went on, “we’ll be calmly working with America and all the partners… offering alternatives” to the proposed peace plan.
Zelensky also said he had been reassured of continuous support during a phone call with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s month-old baby eastern black rhino will be called “Ajani Joe”! Almost 300 people purchased shower gifts for the baby rhino for the chance to choose his name and an invitation to attend the Rhino Baby Shower, sponsored by Rhino Wipe. Martha Wolf was the winner, and her name choice was announced this morning during the shower.
“My father’s name is Joe and I wanted to honor him but also to choose a name that was of African origin, since that’s the black rhino’s native land,” said Wolf. “Ajani means ‘he who wins the struggle’. My dad has been a rock recently as my mom’s primary caretaker, and I hope the little rhino will be strong like him!”
Ajani Joe’s keepers describe him as spunky and curious. He has been venturing outside and exploring his yard with confidence. He is not on a set schedule, but visitors may catch a glimpse of him jumping and playing while his protective mom, Seyia, keeps a watchful eye.
“This little guy is an important ambassador for his species. Eastern black rhinos are critically endangered, and he is the first of his kind born this year in North America. Only eight others, including his brother, were born in the three years prior.”
Eastern black rhinos, native to Eastern and Central Africa, have two large horns made of keratin that they use for defense, intimidation, and feeding. An adult can weigh anywhere between 1,760 and 3,080 pounds, and newborns (calves) weigh between 73 – 121 pounds. The species is critically endangered due to poaching and habitat loss. Only an estimated 5
Here’s another one, also born in Ohio in September:
Mamdani, meanwhile, is the much more skilled politician — mainly because he isn’t a very stupid, psychologically damaged weirdo:
Q: Just days ago you referred to Trump as a 'despot' and accused him of having a fascist agenda. Are you planning to retract any of these remarks?
MAMDANI: We are both very clear on our positions and our views and what I really appreciate about the president is our meeting… pic.twitter.com/BYktWVbkog
Q: Just days ago you referred to Trump as a ‘despot’ and accused him of having a fascist agenda. Are you planning to retract any of these remarks?
MAMDANI: We are both very clear on our positions and our views and what I really appreciate about the president is our meeting focused not on places of disagreement but the shared purpose we have
TRUMP: I’ve been called much worse than a despot
He loves him a star and always wants to be run with the winners, no matter who they are.
I’ll be looking forward to seeing how MAGA deals with this.
Recently,Clifford “Buzz” Grambo decided to upgrade his electric scooter. The old one he had purchased online reached only 16 mph and wasn’t cutting it anymore. He needed to go faster to keep up with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement cars he chases around Baltimore. So Grambo bought a Segway Max G3, which features a 2,000-watt motor and can get up to 28 mph.
“The first time I caught up to them, I could tell that they already knew who I was,” he told me when we first spoke on the phone in late October. “They had seen me before, so they thought they were just going to speed away. I was like, ‘Ha ha, bitches, I got a new scooter!’”
Grambo’s nickname comes from the buzz cut he has sported ever since a drunk driver crashed into his childhood bedroom, hitting him in the head and sending him to the hospital. Of late, hehas earned another moniker, according to the Baltimore Banner, from fans of his mission to warn neighbors of ICE presence: modern-day Paul Revere. . . .
Grambo, 43, is one of countless everyday people across the country stepping up to repudiate the descent of federal law enforcement agencies onto their cities and the violent abduction of their immigrant neighbors in broad daylight. In the face of increased threats of repression and at risk of retaliation, their displays of defiance, however small, show that resistance can surface anywhere.
These acts of peaceful disobedience look like the dozens, if not hundreds, of rapid response networks and neighborhood watch groups cropping up to bear witness to raids. It is the Chicago teachers blowing whistles outside schools when immigration agents are in the vicinity or someone is in the process of being detained. It is the Los Angeles “soccer mom” who drives after ICE cars and documents sightings on TikTok, raising more than $122,000 in donations. And it is Grambo on his scooter.
The work started a few months ago, after Grambo and his wife, Mandy, came across a post on social media about community members who had taken to the streets to protest ICE agents stopping an immigrant. The pair got in their car and drove over to join, shouting at officers until they left. Afterward, Grambo and others got together to discuss what seemed to have worked and what more they could do. A loose network formed.
I dearly hope that we will look back on this time as one in which the average, everyday people came out of their houses to confront a violent authoritarian takeover on the streets of American cities and they backed them down with brave, peaceful resistance. It’s the true meaning of patriotism.
After this November’s off-year elections, I argued that the Democrats’ sweep from Georgia to New Jersey wasn’t the result just of Democratic-leaning turnout, but the product of real swings to the left among key voting groups. Two such groups were Latinos and voters who care most about the economy — the latter of which went from backing Trump by over 60 points in 2024 to backing Democratic candidates for governor by roughly 30 points in 2025. Latino-heavy precincts in New Jersey moved left by 50 points.
This week, polls confirmed the Democrats’ rosy position with voters, and even showed a sizable shift toward the party compared to previous data. In one notable survey from Marist College, sponsored by NPR/PBS News, Democrats held a 14-point lead over Republicans in the U.S. House “generic ballot” test (the “generic ballot” is a poll question that asks voters who they would vote for in their local congressional district if the 2026 elections were held today). NPR ran with the headline “Democrats have biggest advantage for control of Congress in 8 years.”
The Marist poll is an outlier, but not the only poll to show a trend toward Democrats this week. Today’s Chart of the Week: Democrats post their best week yet in generic ballot polls for the 2026 midterms.
First, consider the toplines. Since Nov. 13, six national pollsters have released House generic ballot surveys. All of them show Democrats ahead, with margins ranging from D+3 to D+14 and an average of about D+6. That’s a noticeably bluer environment than what we were looking at even a month ago, when Democrats’ edge in most surveys was in the low single digits or non-existent (more on that later).
He notes that, “these aren’t just “friendly” outfits — the list includes everyone from non-partisan firms like YouGov and Verasight to media pollsters, including Marist and Marquette, to Republican consultant shops like Echelon Insights. The data here are from high-quality firms with solid track records of accurately measuring public sentiment.”
So what does it mean?
The “Trump realignment” among young and Latino voters looks increasingly fragile. The exits in Virginia and New Jersey already suggested that Trump’s gains with these groups were built on economic discontent, not durable ideological change. The new polls are consistent with that story. As the economic narrative has turned against Republicans, these voters have drifted back toward Democrats.
The November elections really did signal a meaningful shift in the national mood. Whereas some commentators characterized the elections as local contests plagued by weak Republican candidates, the voters who punished Republicans over affordability and Trump’s second-term agenda don’t exist only in the election returns; they appear in national opinion polls, too.
A D+4 generic ballot in November 2025 is not a guarantee of anything. District maps still favor Republicans, and we’re nearly a year out from the midterms. Economic data, world events, and candidate scandals can all move opinions again. A court has temporarily taken the Republican gerrymander in Texas off the table, but the Supreme Court could reinstate it.
Normal patterns of midterm backlash should push Democratic numbers up. Historically, the party in control of the White House tends to lose ground in generic ballot polls as the midterms approach. From the previous November to Election Day, the out-party typically gains about 4 points in the generic ballot. That would put Democrats at D+8.2, higher than their vote margin in the 2018 “blue wave” elections.
I’m not holding my breath on anything and I don’t predict anything. But this is good news if only for the fact that it’s making Republicans very nervous about this next year and they’re starting to resist Dear Leader a little bit. After all, the reason they have succumbed to him like a bunch of beaten animals is their fear of losing their seats if he comes out against him. If these numbers hold up, he may be the least of their problems.
The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.
The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.
Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.
He hates the sight of offshore windmills but oil derricks are a beautiful sight to see, I guess.
Is there anything he’s done that isn’t a total abomination? Even one thing?
Trump-Mamdani meeting: President DonaldTrump will meet with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani today in the Oval Office. Trump has labeled the democratic socialist a “communist” and threatened to withhold funding from the city, and Mamdani invited Trump to “turn the volume up” in his victory speech earlier this month.
First, let’s see if Trump, 79 and increasingly erratic, thinks he still has the chops to control the narrative from this meeting with Mamdani, 34. Mamdani requested this meeting. He’ll come prepared for a frontal attack even while he hopes to head off Trump’s threatened cuts to the city’s federal funding. Mamdani told reporters, “I’ll be ready for whatever happens.”
Will Trump go one-on-one with Mamdani’s dazzle? Does Trump have the nerve? Or will he bring in JD Vance to double-team him, as Trump did with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in February?
The White House is not saying whether or not the press will be allowed into the Oval Office for any part of the meeting.
Tokyo Rose Garden (Karoline Leavitt) laid down suppressive fire on Thursday, saying, “It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House, because that’s who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country.” Trump’s press secretary wouldn’t know a communist if one seized her means of production.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council, posted a lengthy Bluesky thread worth your perusal. He highlights finding behind the preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and others over their use of excessive force and riot control weapons during their “Operation Midway Blitz.” Find the 233 page ruling here.
Before anyone gets their hopes up that Gregory Bovino, the Chief Border Patrol Agent of CBP’s El Centro Sector, and his CBP/ICE thugs are brought to heel, they appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That panel put the injunction on hold Wednesday while under review. The appeals panel finds the Ellis ruling overbroad and promises a quick appeals process, but cautions “do not overread today’s order” (WBEZ):
“In no uncertain terms,” the panel wrote, “the district court’s order enjoins an expansive range of defendants, including the President of the United States, the entire Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, and anyone acting in concert with them.
“The practical effect is to enjoin all law enforcement officers within the executive branch,” it said.
But the Ellis assessment of Bovino and his underlings is particularly harsh. My sense in reading her comments is that she feels CBP holds the judicial branch in contempt. Their testimony in incident after incident of excessive force is not credible. Often, its is directly contradicted by body worn camera (BWC) footage Ellis reviewed.
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
Body cam footage, for example, seems to disprove DHS allegations that protesters were ramming their vehicles “every day during the operation.” In fact, it suggests that agents slammed on their brakes “in an attempt to force accidents that agents could then use as justifications for deploying force.” (You’ve probably seen stories.)
DHS claimed an incident on Oct. 3 showed agents were in danger of being "rammed."In fact, body cams "suggest[] that the agent drove erratically and brake-checked other motorists in an attempt to force accidents that agents could then use as justifications for deploying force."
Judge Ellis writes, “While Defendants may argue that the Court identifies only minor inconsistencies, every minor inconsistency adds up, and at some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that Defendants represent.”
In one footnote, Ellis adds, “The Court also notes that, in at least one instance, an agent asked ChatGPT to compile a narrative for a report based off of a brief sentence about an encounter and several images.” This “further undermines their credibility and may explain the inaccuracy of these reports when viewed in light of the BWC footage.”
As for Bovino himself, Ellis finds he “appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing ‘cute’ responses to Plaintiffs’ counsel’s questions or outright lying.”
The federal government claims that the day after it was sued for allegedly abusing detainees at an ICE detention center, a “system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility.
People detained at ICE’s Broadview Detention Center in suburban Chicago sued the government on October 30; according to their lawyers and the government, nearly two weeks of footage that could show how they were treated was lost in a “system crash” that happened on October 31.
