The YES has won in Virginia; voters approved the constitutional amendment to adopt Dems' congressional gerrymander.
This is likely to deliver a 10-1 (Dem) congressional delegation in November, compared to 6-5 (Dem) now.
The remaining obstacle: State supreme court will be weighing in still.
I maintain "shitload" is a scientific term and an accurate volumetric descriptor of how much sulfuric acid gets used in spodumene (lithium) processing.
Read my takes on Hormuz battery supply chain impacts + more in @zeitlin.bsky.social's latest for @heatmap.news.
🔌💡
heatmap.news/energy/sulfu...
BREAKING: Virginia voters approve a Democratic redistricting plan that could allow the party to pick up as many as four new seats in the midterm elections, NBC News projects.
When Trump began pressuring Texas and other red states to re-gerrymander their maps, the immediate consensus was that Democratic-led states could do little or nothing to counter it. But it turned out that Democrats were anything but helpless.
Virginia voters just sent a clear rebuke of Trump's attempt to dismantle free and fair elections in the state—a powerful show of democracy in action.
Remember, Democrats have repeatedly advanced measures to ban partisan gerrymandering and Republicans have voted against them time after time.
This is the game Republicans wanted to play. OK, then.
as it becomes clear that Yes has won in VA and gerrymandering will pass, a message to Republican voters:
you brought this on yourselves
you convinced the most fairness-obsessed, That Wouldn’t Be Fair-minded voters in the country to affirmatively vote to put you in the dumpster
you earned this
Trump is quieter today, for whatever that means.
I would guess that leaders of other nations are pressuring him, and perhaps corporate leaders if they think this will impact their profits.
I would also think that Repubs facing election in the fall would be on him too. It's only gonna get worse.
Heavily Hispanic Manassas City is nearly complete
Yes +24 Harris +15
I struggle with the reality that some of the nation’s least wealthy people continue to support a man so deeply, irredeemably corrupt he routinely uses the power of public office to enrich himself.
Karma, baby. Plenty of bulls have no doubt experienced much worse at his hand. Hooray, Mr.Bull!
JUST IN: A federal judge has tossed a defamation lawsuit Kash Patel brought against former FBI official / pundit Frank Figliuzzi.
Figliuzzi’s claim that Patel spent more time in nightclubs than at FBI HQ was “rhetorical hyperbole,” the judge rules.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Richmond and Fairfax county are still zero percent reporting. Some of the bluest areas.
Our 2nd completed jurisdiction, Lexington City — a small blue city.
The YES won 61.6% to 39.3%, so +22%.
November results: Spanberger won 36% and Jones by 26%.
For a complete list of Trump’s known third-country removals, see my tracker here.
And please consider subscribing/sending me a one-time tip. I’m an independent journalist (former WaPo, sigh) covering ICE flights full-time. These flights are wrong and inhumane.
gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...
Ford’s move into the Middle East comes after it set a record on Wednesday with 296 days on deployment. That broke the post-Vietnam War carrier deployment record of 295 days held by USS Abraham Lincoln. Ford departed its homeport in Norfolk, Va., in late June for a routine deployment to Europe. Since then, the carrier has operated in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Red seas. It likely will go into a record-breaking 11th month of operations, the Navy’s top official has said. This is at least the second time Ford has been on duty in the Middle East during its current deployment. In early March, Ford entered the Red Sea, continuing its role in Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran. On March 12, a fire broke out in the ship’s main laundry areas, causing damage to multiple compartments and displacing some 600 personnel. Three sailors suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
Btw, the USS Ford set a record for longest post-Vietnam (which Trump could have won) deployment last week. I'm sure that has nothing to do with its toilet problem or laundry fire.
These sailors have been away from home since June.
www.stripes.com/branches/nav...
Iran's Military warns of powerful attack on predetermined targets in view of repeated threats by Trump.
This is important and shocking news from NYT.
And it doesn’t mention the DRC third-country deportation program has already begun. ICE sent 15 immigrants from Latin American countries there five days ago.
gillianbrockell.com/breaking-ice...
For Taco Tuesday I wrote a long post which, buried w/in it, includes a description of 2 acute psychological dilemmas Trump is facing.
1) To win v Iran, Trump has to fight Putin
2) To make a deal, Trump has to admit Obama is smarter than him
Neither is tenable.
emptywheel.net/2026/04/21/t...
"Low-income households will get [free] plug-in solar panels to cut their energy bills, the Government has announced."
This is how you do a just transition.
inews.co.uk/news/politic...
this is so profoundly dishonorable
Trump has created a defence crisis for the US. The military has heavily depleted key missile stockpiles during the Iran War, raising concerns about readiness for another major conflict, CNN reports.
One expert warned it has opened “a window of increased vulnerability”.
1/
It’s going to take up to five years to replenish stockpiles due to slow production timelines.
3/3
I don't feel safer now. Do you?
“Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt, a 27-year-old man from Cuba, died on April 12, one day after the 16th death of the year. The pace of detention deaths holds at an average of 1 every 6 days.” austinkocher.substack.com/p/aled-damie...
NEW: Mozilla has already used Mythos to find hundreds of bugs, which is good and interesting in its own right and also points up that contra some catastrophizing coverage, it isn’t only attackers who will have access to these capabilities. @lhn.bsky.social has the news:
Iran’s UN envoy: Our government has ‘received some sign’ the US is ready to stop the blockade - AP News
Vice President JD Vance has for now paused plans to travel to Pakistan on Tuesday for negotiations with Iran over ending the war, according to multiple people, after a flurry of meetings inside the White House.
The Pentagon will stop requiring members of the military to get flu vaccines. Image Hegseth, wearing a blue suit, a tie and American flag pocket square, stands in front of an American flag. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that service members would no longer have to get flu vaccines.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times The Pentagon will no longer require troops to get annual flu vaccines, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, calling the policy an “absurd, overreaching” mandate.
George Washington LITERALLY would not have won the Revolutionary War had he not vaccinated the troops against smallpox.
Meanwhile, this idiot: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04...
