Al Franken, Giant Of The Senate

In 2022, Royce White—a former first-round NBA draft pick and George Floyd protest leader—ran in the primary for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District as a far-right Republican and disciple of Steve Bannon. White lost—badly. This is probably because he was hard to take seriously as a candidate. White’s campaign centered less on issues affecting Minnesota voters and more on incendiary comments about the Chinese Communist Party, women, and Jews. At the time, it prompted the obvious question: What happened to turn this erstwhile civil rights activist into MAGA podcaster?

When they first crawled out from under their rocks, Moms for Liberty pretended to be just a grassroots group of moms with everyday concerns such as having threesomes, underage drinking parties, shoplifting, book burning, fascism and quoting Hitler. But now they are dropping their facade and have announced an initial drop of $3 million on four swing states, including Wisconsin: The coordinated push in presidential swing states also raises questions about the group’s intentions and funding.

I hope you are all having a peaceful Memorial Day weekend! Here is your Sunday cartoon and open thread. Pull up a chair and tell us what you're doing this lovely weekend. - Karoli read more

New York Times: “Homicide rates are tumbling from pandemic highs in most cities, funding for law enforcement is rising, and tensions between the police and communities of color, while still significant, are no longer at a boiling point. But property crime, carjackings and smash-and-grab burglaries are up, adding to a sense of lawlessness, amplified on social media and local online message boards.” “Mr.

New York Times: “Now, with the battlefield crises seemingly behind him and Mr. Prigozhin dead, the Russian leader has decided to act, changing defense ministers for the first time in more than a decade and allowing a number of corruption arrests among top ministry officials.” “The moves have ushered in the biggest overhaul at the Russian Defense Ministry since the invasion began and have confirmed Mr.

“U. S. and allied intelligence officials are tracking an increase in low-level sabotage operations in Europe that they say are part of a Russian campaign to undermine support for Ukraine’s war effort,” the New York Times reports. “The covert operations have mostly been arsons or attempted arsons targeting a wide range of sites, including a warehouse in England, a paint factory in Poland, homes in Latvia and, most oddly, an Ikea store in Lithuania.” “But people accused of being Russian operatives have also been arrested on charges of plotting attacks on U.