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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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Two killed and many injured after car driven into crowd in German city of Leipzig

9 min ago - Two people are dead and several others injured after a car drove into a crowd in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Monday afternoon, local authorities said. Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung said the suspected perpetrator - who authorities have confirm ... (BBC)

AP, Washington Post, Reuters and Minnesota Star Tribune among Pulitzer winners for 2025 work

18 min ago - Updated 3:48 PM EDT, May 4, 2026 NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for scrutinizing the Trump administration’s sweeping, choppy cuts and changes to federal agencies, and The Associated Press won t ... (AP)

Newspaper Guild members allege anti-union discrimination in Post-Gazette offer letters

25 min ago - by Colin Williams May 4, 2026 Members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh see anti-union discrimination in the way the Baltimore-based Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism is planning to staff the Post-Gazette as the institute takes ownership o ... (Pittsburgh City Paper)

Trump-Linked World Liberty Financial Accuses 'Victimized' Crypto Billionaire of Defamation

35 min ago - World Liberty Financial has filed a defamation lawsuit against crypto billionaire Justin Sun, escalating a legal battle that began when Sun sued the Trump-affiliated project last month over claims that it unfairly froze his WLFI token holdings. The b ... (Gizmodo)

In many states, election-denying candidates are running to control voting

40 min ago - May 4, 2026 5:00 AM ET Lost in the shuffle of the 2026 midterms — the unprecedented mid-decade redistricting, President Trump's sagging favorability numbers and Democrats' hopes of retaking the House and potentially the Senate — is an elect ... (NPR)

White House Considers Vetting A.I. Models Before They Are Released

45 min ago - President Trump, who promoted a hands-off approach to artificial intelligence and gave Silicon Valley free rein to roll out the technology, is considering the introduction of government oversight over new A.I. models, according to U.S. officials and ... (NYT)

Police search for suspects in Oklahoma shooting that sent at least 18 people to hospitals

45 min ago - By JAMIE STENGLE and ALONZO ADAMS Updated 2:01 PM CDT, May 4, 2026 Leer en español EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — Authorities in Oklahoma were looking for suspects Monday in a weekend shooting at an unsanctioned lakeside party packed with young ad ... (AP)

Trump administration claims food aid fraud but critics say 'there's no evidence'

1 hr ago - Mon 4 May 2026 07.00 EDT Last modified on Mon 4 May 2026 13.39 EDT The Trump administration’s attack on the 87-year-old food aid program that supports tens of millions of low-income Americans escalated last week as the agriculture secretary, Bro ... (The Guardian)

White House lawyers prep staff for dealing with a Democratic Congress

1 hr ago - The White House Counsel’s Office is giving private briefings to the administration’s political appointees on how to best prepare for congressional oversight as staff begin to brace for the likelihood of significant Democratic victories in t ... (Washington Post)

Pirro abandons plan to appeal Powell subpoenas in Fed investigation

2 hrs ago - Published Sun, May 3 2026 11:59 AM EDT Updated 23 Min Ago U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Monday asked a federal judge to vacate his decisions blocking aspects of her criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve under C ... (CNBC)

Optimistic Democrats add 8 more House seats to 'Red to Blue' program

2 hrs ago - Posted May 4, 2026 at 5:01am, Updated at 11:24am The House Democratic campaign arm is adding eight more candidates in competitive districts – including several locked in messy primaries – to its list of contenders eligible for additional re ... (Roll Call)

DHS Demanded Google Surrender Data on Canadian's Activity, Location Over Anti-ICE Posts

2 hrs ago - The Department of Homeland Security tried to obtain a Canadian man’s location information, activity logs, and other identifying information from Google after he criticized the Trump administration online following the killings of Renee Good and ... (Wired)

Future of East Potomac Golf Course in question after lease termination, judge denies request to halt work

2 hrs ago - Future of East Potomac Golf Course in question after lease termination, judge denies request to halt work Neal Augenstein | naugenstein@wtop.com Mike Murillo | mmurillo@wtop.com May 4, 2026, 11:00 AM A federal judge will not order work to be stopped ... (WTOP)

How Trump' bungling turned his top issue into his greatest liability

3 hrs ago - Julia Ainsley, senior Homeland Security correspondent for NBC News and author of the newly released, "Undue Process: The Inside Story of Trump’s Mass Deportation Program" talks with Rachel Maddow about her original reporting into how the Trump a ... (MS NOW)

UAE says Iran has resumed attacks as the US moves to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

4 hrs ago - Updated 12:37 PM EDT, May 4, 2026 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United Arab Emirates said Monday it came under attack by Iran for the first time since a fragile ceasefire took hold in early April. The attacks appeared to be in response to U ... (AP)

Trump officials threaten UN budget cuts as US pushes 'trade over aid' agenda

4 hrs ago - Mon 4 May 2026 06.00 EDT Last modified on Mon 4 May 2026 11.29 EDT The Trump administration is continuing to pressure the United Nations and the international aid sector more broadly to adopt trade-focused policies to benefit US firms – or face ... (The Guardian)

Supreme Court restores access to abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth, mail and pharmacies

5 hrs ago - Updated 10:55 AM EDT, May 4, 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortion is provided across the nation. The ... (AP)

Tribes sue to halt exploratory drilling in Black Hills near sacred ceremonial site

6 hrs ago - Updated 11:55 PM EDT, May 3, 2026 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Nine Native American tribes in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska are suing the federal government in a bid to stop exploratory drilling for graphite near a sacred site in the Black ... (AP)

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

7 hrs 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

7 hrs 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)