“A climate protester glued his head to ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring,’ the famous painting by Johannes Vermeer that was on exhibit at a museum in The Hague on Thursday, the latest in a series of actions by activists that have targeted world-renowned paintings in recent months as the protesters have sought to draw attention to climate change,” the New York Times reports.

“The stunts have recently included hurling mashed potatoes at a painting by Claude Monet and splattering soup on a painting by Vincent van Gogh.”

“Cannabis advocates are calling for a ‘smoke out’ Thursday outside the Russian embassy in Northwest Washington, where protesters plan to smoke marijuana and demand the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been imprisoned in Russia since February,” the Washington Post reports.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) told ABC News that she intends to use her new political organization to combat the campaigns of Republicans who support former President Donald Trump and his unfounded claims around the 2020 election.

Said Cheney: “Donald Trump is certainly the center of the threat, but election denial, denying the fundamental function and principle, at the center of our constitutional republic, is dangerous broadly speaking. And he is certainly leading that effort and leading that movement.”

CNN: “The show is a hefty contributor to a grassroots surge that is sending political neophytes to city councils, school boards, and state legislatures, as well as to the polls to oversee voting.”

“But unlike other firebrand personalities, Bannon isn’t just tapping fear and resentment for ratings or money; he uses his show as a strategic vehicle.”

Related from the Associated Press: Trial expected to begin for ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

The Intercept: “Instead of fueling a groundswell of public support to reinvigorate the party’s ambitious agenda, most of the foundation-backed organizations that make up the backbone of the party’s ideological infrastructure were still spending their time locked in virtual retreats, Slack wars, and healing sessions, grappling with tensions over hierarchy, patriarchy, race, gender, and power.”

Said one organization leader who departed his position: “So much energy has been devoted to the internal strife and internal bullshit that it’s had a real impact on the ability for groups to deliver. It’s been huge, particularly over the last year and a half or so, the ability for groups to focus on their mission, whether it’s reproductive justice, or jobs, or fighting climate change.”

“The Brookings Institution said retired Marine Gen. John Allen resigned as the think tank’s president, following a controversy over his alleged lobbying efforts for Qatar,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Gen. Allen is under FBI investigation for allegedly trying to help Qatar navigate a diplomatic crisis in 2017 and then covering up that he did so.”

The Brookings Institution placed its president, retired Gen. John Allen, on administrative leave “amid a federal inquiry into whether he secretly lobbied for the government of Qatar,” the New York Times reports.

“As a disturbing string of mass shootings focuses the public spotlight on gun violence, the embattled National Rifle Association appears to have suffered another year of diminished membership revenue and cuts to core programs,” ABC News reports.

“Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive former presidential candidate who rose to prominence in part by denouncing the influence of wealthy interests in politics, has a new target in his sights: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its affiliated super PAC, which is spending heavily in Democratic primaries for the first time this year,” the New York Times reports.

Heather Cox Richardson: “If you google the history of Mother’s Day, the internet will tell you that Mother’s Day began in 1908 when Anna Jarvis decided to honor her mother. But Mothers’ Day—with the apostrophe not in the singular spot, but in the plural—actually started in the 1870s, when the sheer enormity of the death caused by the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War convinced American women that women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage.”

“Mothers’ Day was not designed to encourage people to be nice to their mothers. It was part of women’s effort to gain power to change modern society.”

The the so-called “People’s Convoy” was pelted by kids armed with cartons of eggs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“The trucker convoy, which aimed to emulate the disruptive Canadian protests against Covid-19 restrictions, has failed spectacularly at every turn. During a few weeks of driving around Washington, D.C., the convoy was held up by a single bicyclist, and some convoy members said they were having difficulty finding places for bathroom breaks and, as a result, were forced to urinate in their pants.”

Three weeks after the so-called “People’s Convoy” landed in Washington, D.C., the group is calling it quits after accomplishing nothing except injuring residents and circling the Beltway, the Daily Beast reports.

“AIPAC, the most influential pro-Israel lobby group in the United States, has defended its endorsing of dozens of Republicans who refused to accept President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, even as its new super PAC declares the group’s support for democracy,” Haaretz reports.

New York Times: “For the moment, the protest is perhaps most notable as a window onto the evolution of the American right in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, and one that Republican politicians are watching. Although organizers insist that their demonstration is nonpartisan and narrowly focused on Covid restrictions, in practice, it is animated by a broad, familiar array of conservative and right-wing issues and grievances. Complaints about schools mix with far-right conspiracy theories and refusal to accept the 2020 election results.”

“This worldview is increasingly incorporating ideas from the anti-vaccine movement, some of them preceding the Covid outbreak, even as the virus has receded and Covid restrictions have eased.”