Extreme Measures

 These are extreme times and they require some choices I would prefer to avoid.

Take gerrymandering, the practice by which the party in power redraws Congressional districts to squeeze more seats out of the electorate. I hate it.

But yesterday I mailed in my ballot in California’s special election in favor of Proposition 50.

This is the measure proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter the move by the GOP in Texas to gerrymander up to five seats in next year’s midterm election.

I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but that election — assuming it is not cancelled under some sort of pretext by Trump — may be our best chance to check Trump’s naked grab for complete power.

To do so we will need any extra seats Newsom can squeeze out of my state to counter Texas.

Extra times sometimes require hard choices. This is one.

HEADLINES:

• The Moral Foundation of America (Atlantic)

• The Nobel Peace Prize Didn’t Go to Trump (AP)

• Venezuela’s opposition leader Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize, White House critical (Reuters)

• Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals (Guardian)

• Israel and Hamas sign Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal (Reuters)

• The Insurrection Problem (Atlantic)

• Pentagon’s revised press rules are unacceptable, journalists’ group says (WP)

• Hegseth’s firing of Navy official compounds ‘culture of fear’ inside Pentagon (Politico)

• Pete Hegseth Wants Women Out of the Military—and He’s Not Hiding It (ACLU)

• Pam Bondi More ‘Reprehensible’ Than Nixon’s Attorney General: Ex-White House Lawyer (HuffPost)

• Oregon bid to block Trump’s National Guard orders hits skeptical appeals court (Axios)

• Kristi Noem calls Oregon leaders liars, says feds will ‘double down’ in Portland (Oregonian)

• Brace for the Single Largest Spike in Health Insurance Premiums—Ever (Mother Jones)

• Scientists Completed a Toxicity Report on This Forever Chemical. The EPA Hasn’t Released It. (ProPublica)

• HHS hits back at former surgeons general who wrote op-ed saying RFK Jr. is endangering nation’s health (ABC)

• Pope Leo urged the world’s Catholics to help immigrants in his first major document, which invoked one of the late Pope Francis’ strongest criticisms of Trump’s anti-immigration policies. (Reuters)

• Stephen Miller Cited ‘Plenary Authority,’ Then Paused. Conspiracy Theories Started Flying. (NYT)

• The Great Whitewashing of American History Orchestrated by Generalisimo Donald Trump (Daily Kos)

• X-rated, AI-generated country songs are taking over the internet (Economist)

• Will AI destroy us? Consider the nature of intelligence. (WP)

• Bored National Guard Goes Door To Door Asking If Chicagoans Have Any Order They Need Restored (Onion)

MUSIC: Zach Bryan - Bad News (Cover Full Song) | “Didn’t wake up dead, or in jail”