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Trump says the US will 'guide' stranded ships from the Strait of Hormuz, starting on Monday

(AP) The United States will launch an effort on Monday to “guide” stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said, as two ships around the strait reported attacks. Trump gave few details about what could be a sweeping attempt to help hundreds of vessels and some 20,000 seafarers. Iran quickly denounced the move as a ceasefire violation.

BlueWavePsych

US denies media reports that Iran struck American vessel in Strait of Hormuz

(France 24) A US official on Monday denied Iran state media reports that a US warship entering the ‌Strait ⁠of ‌Hormuz ⁠turned back after Iran fired missiles at it. Iran's military earlier warned that US forces would be attacked if they entered the strategic waterway after US President Donald Trump said the US would begin escorting stranded vessels.

BumRushDaShow

Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to Pentagon meetings after he ousted top officials: report

(The Independent) Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to meetings with Pentagon staffers as his inner circle grows tighter, according to a report. The move comes as Hegseth has faced increased criticism and ousted more than two dozen Pentagon officials in recent weeks. It also comes as Hegseth leads the nation’s efforts in the Iran war and constantly promotes the success the U.S. has had in its attacks. Hegseth has now grown increasingly isolated within the Pentagon, according to The Guardian.

BumRushDaShow

Trump and GOP push for aggressive voter roll purges up until Election Day, testing precedent

(CNN) For decades, it’s generally been assumed that any mass purges of voter rolls had to be completed at least 90 days out from an election. But Republicans and the Trump administration are now testing the scope of the federal law that imposes that ban on “systematic” removal programs within three months of an election, as President Donald Trump pushes for more aggressive reviews of voter rolls for non-citizens and other ineligible voters. The Justice Department has launched a sprawling effort to obtain nearly every state’s voter registration file and to review those files for suspected non-citizens.

KS Toronado

Monday's Condensed News Cartoons

BumRushDaShow

Republicans see high-risk plans as the future of health insurance

(Politico) Hundreds of thousands of Americans have switched to health insurance that covers a lot less of their care this year. Republicans hope a lot more will follow them. The shift since January was driven by GOP lawmakers’ decision at the end of December to reduce the help the government provides to people who don’t get insurance through work, but instead buy it in the Obamacare marketplace. The reduction in those subsidies sent Obamacare customers searching for plans that cost less. There’s a catch: The cheaper plans don’t cover the first several thousand dollars in sick visits, drugs and surgeries a patient needs. Nearly 4 in 10 Obamacare enrollees are in these “high-deductible” plans now, compared to 3 in 10 a year ago.

BumRushDaShow

Democrats seize on MAHA's growing frustration with GOP

(The Hill) Democrats see an opening ahead of the midterm elections with increasingly disappointed Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) voters. Many activists in the MAHA base are furious with the Trump administration over its backing of not only a controversial weed killer ingredient but also pesticides more broadly. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s defense of those moves has deepened the sense of disillusionment among his followers who helped deliver President Trump to the White House.

GoneOffShore

Spirit Airlines is not just a canary in a coal mine. It's part of a pile of dead birds.

Spirit didn’t collapse because of one bad quarter or one bad executive decision. It collapsed because a business designed to operate at the edge met a shock it could not absorb. And that shock wasn’t random. Fuel prices don’t double because of mood swings. They double because something in the world breaks. We’ve seen the pattern before. In 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy markets into panic. Prices surged—not because a president controls oil, but because war rewrites supply, risk, and expectation all at once. That’s the baseline reality: presidents don’t set prices. But they shape the conditions under which shocks happen, and how large they are when they arrive.

BlueWaveNeverEnd

Acting attorney Gen Blanche Says Others Who Post '86 47' Message Won't Be Charged Like Comey

(NY Times) Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, on Sunday sought to contrast the Justice Department’s indictment of the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey over a social media post with other instances in which people have shared the same message, saying that the department had gathered additional evidence during an 11-month investigation. The “86 47” message, Mr. Blanche said, is “posted constantly — that phrase is used constantly.” He added, “Every one of those statements do not result in indictments.” What makes Mr. Comey’s case different, he argued, is other evidence collected, which he said he could not describe.

riversedge

Wisconsin Republican Promised 2026 Would Be The Year Of Cheap Gas

(Crooks & Liars) In January, GOP candidate for governor Tom Tiffany took a selfie in front of a Wisconsin gas station and told Wisconsinites that 2026 would be “the cheapest year for gas” in the past six years. Now, gas prices in Tiffany’s district have seen the highest spike of anywhere in Wisconsin. The surging costs come as Tiffany just voted against legislation to rein in the White House from entering into a costly and cost-raising war without congressional accountability.

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Republicans split with Trump and back Haitians - to save their seats

26 min ago - Mon 4 May 2026 08.00 EDT For months Carl Ruby, a pastor at a church in Springfield, Ohio, and a prominent supporter of the city’s estimated 10,000 Haitian immigrants, had been trying to contact his local congressman, Republican Mike Turner. Rub ... (The Guardian)

Suspect in White House correspondents' dinner shooting hearing scheduled for today

29 min ago - Suspect in White House correspondents’ dinner shooting hearing scheduled for today Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. The suspect from the 25 April shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has a hearing co ... (The Guardian)

Republicans see GOP dysfunction as major liability ahead of midterms

56 min ago - 05/04/26 6:00 AM ET Senate Republicans say the dysfunction in the House is becoming a liability for the broader GOP brand ahead of this year’s midterm elections, warning that if Congress can’t break through legislative gridlock, the party&# ... (The Hill)

Drone Attack Targets Moscow Building Just Miles Away From Kremlin

1 hr ago - Updated May 04, 2026 12:09 Aftermath of a drone strike on a high-rise building in Moscow, May 4, 2026. (Source: Astra) Long-range strike drones targeted Moscow overnight, with debris and damage reported just a few miles from the Kremlin, according to ... (united24media)

Trump and GOP push for aggressive voter roll purges up until Election Day, testing precedent

2 hrs ago - PUBLISHED May 4, 2026, 4:00 AM ET For decades, it’s generally been assumed that any mass purges of voter rolls had to be completed at least 90 days out from an election. But Republicans and the Trump administration are now testing the scope of ... (CNN Politics)

'There's Fun in Fascism!' White Nationalists Tells 60 Minutes They Use 'Disaster Tourism' As a Recruitment Tool

2 hrs ago - May 3rd, 2026, 8:07 pm White nationalist groups like Patriot Front and others have been descending on storm-ravaged areas across the U.S. to help rebuild communities and recruit new members, according to a 60 Minutes report on Sunday. Correspondent ... (MEDIAite)

Live: US denies media reports that Iran struck American vessel in Strait of Hormuz

3 hrs ago - A US official on Monday denied Iran state media reports that a US warship entering the ‌Strait ⁠of ‌Hormuz ⁠turned back after Iran fired missiles at it. Iran's military earlier warned that US forces w ... (France24)

Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to Pentagon meetings after he ousted top officials: report

3 hrs ago - Sunday 03 May 2026 20:02 EDT Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to meetings with Pentagon staffers as his inner circle grows tighter, according to a report. The move comes as Hegseth has faced increased criticism and ousted mo ... (The Independent)

UAW to hold strike vote at Stellantis truck plant over outsourcing dispute

3 hrs ago - Local union escalates concerns over contractor use at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. By Jaelyn Campbell May 4, 2026 The United Auto Workers (UAW) will hold a strike authorization vote May 7–8 at Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Ma ... (CBT News)

NATO's Rutte Says Europeans Have 'Gotten Message' From Trump

3 hrs ago - May 4, 2026, at 2:53 a.m. BRUSSELS, May 4 (Reuters) - ⁠European ⁠nations have "gotten the message" ⁠from U.S. President Donald Trump and are now ensuring that agreements on the use of military bases are ‌being implement ... (US News & World Report/Reuters)

UK set to enter talks to join the European Union's $105.9 billion Ukraine loan

5 hrs ago - May 3, 2026 5:31 PM EDT Updated 6 hours ago LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Britain is set to enter talks to join the European Union's 78 billion ‌pound loan ($106 billion) to Ukraine, the government said on Sunday, in a further sign of deepeni ... (Reuters)

Democrats seize on MAHA's growing frustration with GOP

5 hrs ago - 05/03/26 5:00 PM ET Democrats see an opening ahead of the midterm elections with increasingly disappointed Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) voters. Many activists in the MAHA base are furious with the Trump administration over its backing of not on ... (The Hill)

Poland Has Not Received Signals Suggesting Delays in Patriot Deliveries, Says Defence Minister

6 hrs ago - May 3, 2026, at 4:11 p.m. WARSAW, May 3 (Reuters) - Warsaw ⁠has ⁠not received any ⁠signals suggesting that possible delays of American weapons deliveries to Poland could affect Patriot ‌systems, Polish Defence Minister ... (US News & World Report/Reuters)

Republicans see high-risk plans as the future of health insurance

6 hrs ago - Sun, May 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM EDT Hundreds of thousands of Americans have switched to health insurance that covers a lot less of their care this year. Republicans hope a lot more will follow them. The shift since January was driven by GOP lawmakers&# ... (Yahoo! News/Politico)

Ukraine hits key Russian oil-loading port and 3 'shadow fleet' tankers

12 hrs ago - Updated 9:55 AM CDT, May 3, 2026 Leer en español KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Sunday launched a wave of strikes against Russian oil targets, hitting a key loading port on the Baltic Sea and two tankers that Ukraine alleges were illega ... (AP)

Schiff: DOJ prosecuting Comey because Blanche 'wants to keep this job'

13 hrs ago - 05/03/26 3:01 PM ET Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) sought another grand jury indictment of James Comey because acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wants to stay in the post full-time. Schiff told host ... (The Hill)

United flight strikes light pole, damages truck while landing in Newark

14 hrs ago - United flight strikes light pole, damages truck while landing in Newark Updated 44 minutes ago {video} Lucy Yang has the latest updates from Newark Airport. NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- A United Airlines flight arriving from Italy struck a light pole ... (WABC, ABC7, New York City)

Landlords want to be paid for pandemic losses and hope to reach a deal with the Trump administration

14 hrs ago - Updated 8:41 AM EDT, May 3, 2026 BOSTON (AP) — Just months into the pandemic, Matthew Haines, like landlords across the country, learned he was barred from evicting tenants who didn’t pay their rent under a federal eviction moratorium that ... (AP)

Rudy Giuliani hospitalized in critical condition: Spokesperson

14 hrs ago - Rudy Giuliani is hospitalized in critical condition, his spokesman said on Sunday. The spokesman, Ted Goodman, said in a statement the 81-year-old former New York City mayor is critical but stable. The statement does not say what happened. ... (ABC News)

'This is just disarray': alarm inside Pentagon after Hegseth staff purges

14 hrs ago - Sun 3 May 2026 07.00 EDT Last modified on Sun 3 May 2026 10.38 EDT Since Donald Trump’s first term, they have been viewed comfortingly as the “adults in the room,” a last line of defense against the impulsive whims of a president with ... (The Guardian)