“Jestine Iannotti, one of three ‘ghost’ candidates who ran as independents for Florida Senate seats in 2020, has been arrested on several criminal charges, alongside a political consultant involved in launching her campaign and Seminole County’s Republican Party chairman,” the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Biden to Sign Executive Order on Policing
“President Biden is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday aimed at bolstering police accountability, a move that could reenergize federal reform efforts as the nation marks the second anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd,” the Washington Post reports.
New Home Sales Plunged Last Month
Sales of new U.S. homes plummeted in April by 16.6% — the most in nearly nine years, dented by the combination of high prices and a steep climb in mortgage rates, Bloomberg reports.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports the Fed will face a tough decision regarding “how far and how fast rates need to go up to make a dent in the housing market without triggering a painful economic slowdown.”
Turkey’s President No Longer Recognizes Greece’s Leader
Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he “no longer recognized the existence of the leader of neighboring Greece and would not meet him at a planned summit this year, threatening to deepen a crisis within NATO over Turkey’s opposition to the alliance’s expansion,” the Financial Times reports.
Majority of Trump Voters Believe In ‘Great Replacement’
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that 61% of Donald Trump voters agree that “a group of people in this country are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants and people of color who share their political views” — a core tenet of the false conspiracy theory known as the “great replacement.”
Just 34% of Americans overall agree with that statement.
Peter Thiel Spends Big In Arizona
“Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur, put another $3.5 million this month into a super PAC supporting Blake Masters in the highly competitive Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Arizona,” the Washington Post reports.
But Masters is still waiting for an endorsement by Donald Trump: “People close to Masters say the money helps make him viable, and provides a symbolic boost, but is nowhere near as consequential as what Trump decides to do.”
Herschel Walker Won’t Say Who He Voted For
Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R) wouldn’t say if he voted for David Perdue (R) or Brian Kemp (R) in the state’s gubernatorial primary, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Said Walker: “I’m going to wait and see who wins. Whoever wins, I’m going to get behind him.”
He added: “And I hope the guy that loses gets behind him as well. I said it when I first got in this race, we have to come together as a party.”
Republicans Plot Foreign Intervention Pullback
“Republican lawmakers — following former President Trump’s lead — are working with a wide range of conservative groups to pull back American support for Ukraine, the Middle East and Europe,” Axios reports.
Hack Shows Ethnic Abuse in China’s Xinjiang Camps
“Tens of thousands of seemingly hacked files from China’s remote Xinjiang region provide fresh evidence of the abuse of mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs in mass detention camps there, which included a shoot-to-kill policy for escapees,” Bloomberg reports.
Henry Kissinger Says Ukraine Must Give Up Territory
“Henry Kissinger has urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe,” the Telegraph reports.
Said Kissinger: “Negotiations need to begin in the next two months before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome. Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante. Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself.”
Taliban’s Decree Takes Women Back In Time
Nikkei Asia: “While little has changed in the Taliban’s ways between its collapse in 2001 and its stunning return last August, everything has changed for Afghanistan’s women in that time. On May 7, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice announced a draft law ‘advising’ women and girls to stay at home. If they step out, they are to cover themselves entirely, preferably with a garment that only shows their eyes — essentially, a burqa.”
“If a woman or girl fails to obey this rule, her closest male relative, or as the Taliban would have it, her guardian, will be punished or jailed.”
Nearly Half of GOP Don’t See Need to Condemn Racism
A new CBS/YouGov poll finds that 48% of Republican voters say that it is “not very” or “not at all” important for political leaders to condemn white nationalism and white supremacy.
ISIS Plotted to Assassinate George W. Bush
“An alleged ISIS-linked operative in the U.S. was plotting to kill George W. Bush, going so far as to travel to Dallas in November to take video around the former president’s home and recruiting help from a team of compatriots he hoped to smuggle into the country over the Mexican border,” Forbes reports.
Trump’s Picks Today Spent $400K at Mar-a-Lago
“The campaigns of seven Republican candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump spent over $400,000, combined, at his private club Mar-a-Lago in the buildup to Tuesday’s primary clashes,” CNBC reports.
Measure to Raise Threshold Fails to Meet Threshold
“North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger (R) announced that a proposed measure to raise the threshold for amending the state constitution will not appear on the November ballot after thousands of signatures failed to meet legal standards,” the Fargo Forum reports.
“In a letter to the measure’s sponsoring group, the state’s top election official also alleged that several signature gatherers committed fraud.”
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Anaheim Mayor Resigns In the Midst of Bribery Probe
“Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu announced that he was stepping down after being accused of bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering in an affidavit supporting a search warrant application earlier this month,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
It’s the latest fallout “from a sprawling federal public corruption investigation linked to the proposed sale of Angel Stadium and allegations that a secretive ‘cabal’ controlled Anaheim’s politics.”
Oregonians Could Get Record Tax Kicker
Oregon taxpayers are on track to receive a record $3 billion, personal tax kicker, in 2024 powered by “unprecedented” income tax returns, the Salem Statesman Journal reports.


