May 5, 2026
Polls
MSN- A recent survey by Generation Lab found that more than 8 in 10 young adults rate economic conditions in the U.S. as either bad or terrible. The survey, conducted April 26-29, found that 55 percent of 546 respondents ages 18-24 said they view the economy as bad, while 29 percent said it was terrible.
Health
StudyFinds - Eggs have spent decades bouncing between dietary hero and villain, praised for their protein one year and vilified for their cholesterol the next. A new study may tip the scales again. Researchers who tracked nearly 40,000 older adults for more than 15 years found that people who ate eggs regularly were far less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease than those who never or rarely touched them. The most frequent egg eaters, those having five or more servings a week, showed a 27% lower risk.
Alzheimer’s disease casts a long shadow over American life. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and the national costs of managing the disease are projected to exceed $600 billion annually by 2050. During the same period, the share of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to roughly double, from about 10% to 20%. With no cure available and current drug treatments offering limited help, researchers have turned increasing attention to prevention, and specifically to what people eat.
The study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, drew on data from the Adventist Health Study-2, a long-running research project that enrolled more than 96,000 members of the Seventh-day Adventist church across all 50 states between 2002 and 2007. That population is especially useful for studying diet because Adventists have a wide range of eating habits, from strict vegans who never touch an egg to omnivores who eat them daily. By linking participants’ dietary records with Medicare claims data, researchers could track who eventually received a clinical Alzheimer’s diagnosis through the medical system rather than relying on self-reported memory problems.
Governor Gavin Newsom
SFGate - Gov. Gavin Newsom is celebrating a win after a judge ruled last week that his $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News can move forward. Newsom filed the defamation lawsuit in June against the conservative-leaning news network, alleging it misled the public about a phone conversation that took place between the California governor and President Donald Trump during civil unrest that erupted in Los Angeles earlier that month.
Judge Sean P. Lugg said in an April 30 decision rejecting the network’s motion to dismiss that he found it “reasonably conceivable” that Fox knew the statements were false before making them.
“Looking forward to discovery,” Newsom wrote Thursday on X after the judge’s decision, alluding to the legal process where each side turns over documents, including private communications that could be embarrassing.
Donald Trump
The Guardian - Donald Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”. The remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
In a report published Tuesday, Australia's 9News spoke with Canadian neurologist Ziad Nasreddine, creator of the Montreal Cognitive Test, which Trump has been taking multiple times throughout his second term. As MS NOW's Steven Benen recently observed, Trump has touted his results on these tests as if passing them means that "he’d been declared the smartest person on Earth," but in reality, the questions and the requirements are intentionally rudimentary.
"Sample questions include drawing an analog clock with the correct time, with points given for correct numbering," 9News explained. "Another question is to name as many words as they can in a minute beginning with the letter B. A failing grade would be less than 11 words. The final questions are to know the date, day of the week, their location and what city they are in."
"It wasn't designed to be a test of IQ," Nasreddine told the outlet. "It was designed to assess normal cognitive performance."
ICE
The Hill - The Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee on Monday night released legislative text for the $72 billion budget reconciliation bill that would bypass Democratic opposition to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol through 2029.....The package will be able to pass the Senate with a simple-majority vote instead of needing 60 votes to advance.
The text released by the Judiciary Committee would provide $30.73 billion for hiring, paying, training and equipping ICE personnel, including officers, agents, investigators, attorneys and support staff through fiscal year 2029, a year past the end of President Trump’s second term.
Platner's got Democrats thinking about outsiders
The Hill - Populist Democratic candidate Graham Platner shook up his party’s establishment when his primary competitor, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her Senate campaign last week amid polls that showed she was badly trailing her rival, an oyster farmer who had come out of nowhere to win a national following in the party.
Platner’s rise is just the latest example of the outsiders era in the Democratic Party, a period coinciding with President Trump’s tenure that has also seen Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the race for New York City mayor last year.
Platner, Mamdani and Trump all seemed to win political support with attacks on their respective parties’ political establishments; each has a brand signaling a desire to shake up the state quo.
It’s left some Democrats wondering whether that means there is a wide-open lane for an outsider to become the party’s presidential nominee in 2028.
Supreme Court pushes anti-black voter decision
The Guardian - The US supreme court on Monday allowed a recent ruling that gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act to take effect ahead of schedule – a procedural move that helps Louisiana Republicans redraw their congressional maps before this year’s midterm elections.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson strongly criticised the court for departing from its usual procedure of waiting 32 days to formally issue its judgment to the lower court. “The court’s decision to buck our usual practice under Rule 45.3 and issue the judgment forthwith is tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map,” she wrote.
....Red states, including Alabama and Tennessee, are rushing to revise their congressional maps after the original supreme court decision. On Monday, Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, signed a gerrymandered congressional district map into law that gives Republicans an electoral advantage in four additional races in November’s midterm elections.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson strongly criticised the court for departing from its usual procedure of waiting 32 days to formally issue its judgment to the lower court. “The court’s decision to buck our usual practice under Rule 45.3 and issue the judgment forthwith is tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map,” she wrote.
....Red states, including Alabama and Tennessee, are rushing to revise their congressional maps after the original supreme court decision. On Monday, Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, signed a gerrymandered congressional district map into law that gives Republicans an electoral advantage in four additional races in November’s midterm elections.
Aging
Up to 45 percent of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing these 14 risk factors. (Read on CBS News)
➡️ Awareness is the first step. The survey includes uncomfortable questions, such as whether you know who you would want to be your care provider if needed. Answering questions about life transitions can reveal the challenges you could face.
➡️ Savings are still important. One of the hardest challenges people face is deciding if they can afford their cost of living. For people who want to age in place with caregiving support, nonmedical caregiving like meal preparation and housekeeping can cost, on average, $80,000 a year.
➡️ Planning ahead can help reframe aging. By proactively anticipating and adapting to the inevitable physical changes of aging, people are able to envision the possibilities. The goal is not just to live longer but also to enhance the quality of your life.
Abortions
NPR - Medication abortion today accounts for 60% of all abortions in the U.S., most of them using mifepristone, according to longtime health policy journalist Julie Rovner. The drug is also used to treat miscarriage. Rovner says last week's ruling from the appeals court came as a surprise, in part because the Trump administration had asked the lower court to put the case on hold until the FDA finished a review of mifepristone’s safety.
Here's what to know about how medication abortions work, how safe they are and how patients can access them.
Here's what to know about how medication abortions work, how safe they are and how patients can access them.
Middle East
The Guardian - Donald Trump has again raised the stakes in the Gulf region with the Monday launch of “Project Freedom” to open a route through the strait of Hormuz. More than 800 ships and roughly 20,000 crew members remain stranded in the region.
Just hours after the operation began, the US military said it destroyed six small Iranian boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones – a claim that was denied by Iran – and Iran attacked the United Arab Emirates with drones and missiles, setting the oil port of Fujairah on fire. Trump then threatened that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacked any US vessels in Hormuz.
NPR - The U.S. military said it shot down incoming drones and missiles and sank six Iranian small boats yesterday as it launched an operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The incident threatened the fragile, month-old ceasefire between the two countries. Iran also fired on the United Arab Emirates, an American ally, and set off a major fire at the country's largest oil storage facility. The attack marks the first time Iran has attacked the Emirates since the ceasefire began.
Corporations, not people, getting tariff paybacks
The Contrarian - On “Liberation Day” in April 2025, Donald Trump imposed a massive set of tariffs on imported goods from around the world. The federal government then collected those funds — raking in ten upon tens of billions of dollars — for nearly a year, until the Supreme Court ruled that the president had unconstitutionally usurped Congress’s taxation powers.
As a result, the federal government has now begun the process of refunding about $166 billion in illegal tax revenue — payable to the corporations that originally handed over the money to the U.S. Treasury.
But did these corporations actually pay the tax? Or, after all, was it you and me?
In truth, the fat tax-rebate checks from the IRS will be going to corporations that already passed those costs on to shoppers in the form of tariff-bloated prices. American consumers paid the premium, but Treasury’s refunds will be going to huge companies. Ford announced it expects a $1.5 billion payback; General Motors anticipates a $500 million return. Both companies will reportedly be using the cash to boost their earnings.
Doctors and AI
Like most doctors these days, I’ve been incorporating medical artificial intelligence tools into my practice. It’s become so easy to type in a quick description of an 86-year-old male with heart failure, diabetes and gout — toss in some test results, and see what the bot spits out. I appreciate that A.I. can expeditiously outline next steps for the clinical evaluation, or provide suggestions for rarer diagnoses or spit out a feisty appeal letter for an insurance denial. But the problem is that A.I. is evaluating only some statistical average of 86-year-old males with heart failure, diabetes and gout. It is not assessing that one specific 86-year-old man with these conditions whom I am looking at across the waiting room.
There’s an ocean of distance between the “patient” that A.I. is analyzing and the patient that the human doctor or nurse is assessing. Navigating the gap is something writers also grapple with. When making a diagnosis, as it were, of good writing to publish in the literary journal I edit, I look for characters that are fully realized, with physicality that is palpable and an emotional complexity both visceral and vivid. These details aren’t always made explicit, but pieced together in hints and subtle cues. What I’ve realized over the years is this is not so different from what a doctor has to do when assessing her patient’s health.
This is the inherent limitation of A.I. in medicine. It’s simply impossible — at least for now — for these tools to truly see the multidimensional patient. A.I. can’t know how the agony of a child estranged by substance use affects the blood pressure. It can’t factor in the economic and social crosscurrents that bear on medication adherence. It can’t account for the simmering grief of a lost spouse that influences a patient’s health decisions far more than any clinical guideline.
May 4, 2026
Kamala Harris
Independent, UK - Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ new home, tucked away in a celebrity-packed part of Malibu, may signal what’s to come for her political future, according to a report. Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump, bought a 4,000-square-foot home in the exclusive and secluded Point Dume neighborhood for $8.15 million this past December.
The former VP has recently said she is “thinking about” running in 2028. However, political consultants, real estate experts and Harris’s new neighbors had mixed opinions on what the new home might mean for her political future, according to a report from Politico.
Donald Trump
Congressional Insider - President Trump declared he would have the “honor” of taking control of Cuba as the island nation teeters on the brink of total collapse, signaling an unprecedented shift in U.S.-Cuba relations that could reshape the Caribbean and challenge decades of failed communist rule.
Trump stated Cuba is a “failed nation” with “no money, no oil, no nothing” during remarks following the island’s nationwide electrical grid collapse. The President suggested a “friendly takeover” while asserting he could “do anything I want with it,” leaving options open from liberation to regime change.
Cuba’s weakened state stems from tightened U.S. sanctions, loss of Venezuelan oil subsidies, and economic mismanagement under communist leadership. White House policies include designating Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism and imposing tariffs on nations supplying oil to the regime
Religion
Trad West - Catholics are now almost 18% (~17.7%) of the world population... According to the Vatican’s latest official records, the global Catholic population has just reached a staggering 1.422 billion baptized members for the very first time.
How the G.O.P. Came to Embrace Psychedelic Drugs
NY Times - Mindbending may be just the word to describe the Oval Office ceremony on April 18, when President Trump ordered federal agencies to speed up research into the potential therapeutic uses of illegal psychedelic compounds like LSD, peyote and MDMA. Here was a law-and-order Republican and lifelong teetotaler championing the hallucinogenic substances that a previous Republican president, Richard Nixon, had condemned as “public enemy No. 1.”
In the decades since 1970, when Nixon consigned psychedelics to the most restrictive category of federal prohibition, his absolutist, just-say-no approach was embraced by waves of conservative politicians.
They generally held to the view that psychedelics were a morally corrupting intoxicant, the indulgences of hippies, draft-dodgers and other liberal degenerates.
“As someone who has worked with psychedelics for decades, watching the White House event was a very trippy experience,” said Dimitri Mugianis, an underground practitioner who was prosecuted by federal authorities for illegally treating a heroin addict with the psychedelic drug ibogaine.
Mr. Trump’s bold efforts to soften the federal government’s stance on certain illegal drugs have been head-spinning — last month, the Justice Department, at the president’s behest, loosened restrictions on medical marijuana, too.
LinkedIn may be searching your computer
Browsergate - LinkedIn’s scan reveals the religious beliefs, political opinions, disabilities, and job search activity of identified individuals. LinkedIn scans for extensions that identify practicing Muslims, extensions that reveal political orientation, extensions built for neurodivergent users, and 509 job search tools that expose who is secretly looking for work on the very platform where their current employer can see their profile. Under EU law, this category of data is not regulated. It is prohibited. LinkedIn has no consent, no disclosure, and no legal basis. Its privacy policy does not mention any of this.
Trump's weakening FEMA endangers response to floods and hurricanes
Rep. Bennie Thompson, MS NOW - Though President Donald Trump has not carried out his threat to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, his administration has systematically weakened it during his second term. He has hollowed out its workforce, pushed out experienced staff in favor of political lackeys, dismantled preparedness programs and undermined the agency’s ability to respond when Americans need it most. Last spring, the administration announced that it had canceled billions of dollars worth of key mitigation programs that helped communities become more resilient to the effects of floods, hurricanes and other disasters.
More than 5,000 employees have left or been pushed out of FEMA since the beginning of the second Trump administration. The elimination of those mitigation projects shifted risk onto states and local governments that lack the resources to pay for them themselves. More than 5,000 employees have left or been pushed out of FEMA since the beginning of the second Trump administration, worsening an already severe staffing shortage. Now reports suggest the Trump administration is considering even deeper workforce cuts — a highly dangerous proposal with the start of hurricane season less than a month away.
But just as worrisome as qualified people being pushed out of FEMA is unqualified people being brought in. Gregg Phillips, whom Trump appointed associate administrator of the Office of Response and Recovery in December, holds one of the most powerful positions at FEMA. It’s his job to lead the federal government’s frontline response to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires and other disasters. Because lives are on the line during such emergencies, the role ought to be filled by someone with relevant experience who has demonstrated a commitment to public safety, as well as has sound judgment and a steady hand. Unfortunately, it was clear before Phillips took his position that he lacks all those qualifications.
Best and worst states to be a police officer
WalletHub - WalletHub today released its report on the Best & Worst States to Be a Police Officer in 2026, to help identify where this hazardous but rewarding career is the most worthwhile....
Best vs. Worst
| Best States for Police Officers | Worst States for Police Officers |
| 1. California | 42. Mississippi |
| 2. Connecticut | 43. Vermont |
| 3. Illinois | 44. Oregon |
| 4. Maryland | 45. West Virginia |
| 5. District of Columbia | 46. Alabama |
| 6. Colorado | 47. Louisiana |
| 7. Minnesota | 48. Arkansas |
| 8. Washington | 49. Nevada |
| 9. Tennessee | 50. Hawaii |
| 10. Ohio | 51. Alaska |
Best vs. Worst
- The District of Columbia has the most police and sheriff’s patrol officers per 100,000 residents, which is 6.6 times more than in Washington, the fewest.
- Illinois has the highest median annual wage for police and sheriff’s patrol officers (adjusted for cost of living), which is 2 times higher than in Mississippi, the lowest.
- Rhode Island has the fewest individuals killed by police per 1,000,000 residents, which is 14.9 times fewer than in New Mexico, the most.
- Maine has the fewest violent crimes per 1,000 residents, which is 10.1 times fewer than in the District of Columbia, the most.
- The District of Columbia has the highest state and local police-protection expenses per capita, which is 4.1 times higher than in Kentucky, the lowest.
Congress
The Hill - The GOP only narrowly held onto its majority in the House in 2024, starting the term with a 220-215 edge. That would only require Democrats to net a few pickups in November to take back control. And polling widely suggests Democrats are favored to win the majority, even more so as voter frustration grows with the Iran war and rising energy costs.
Middle East
Word: “There are now only two outcomes to the conflict: either the kind of wholesale destruction of Iran that Mr. Trump posited, or a settlement that will leave the government intact and empowered, and a blustering American president humiliated.” - Scott Anderson, the author of “King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation” Read
Health
Axios - When people delay care because of cost, small health issues are more likely to become serious — and far more expensive — problems later. 36% of adults say they've skipped doctor appointments in the past year because of cost. Adding to the concerns about overall affordability is the fact that health insurance premiums are swiftly rising as well.
Abortion
Axios - The legal battle over accessing abortion pills is returning to the Supreme Court after a panel of appeals court judges on Friday froze federal rules allowing the teleprescribing and mailing of the widely used drug mifepristone. The ruling was a major win for the anti-abortion movement, which had been pressing the Trump administration to reinstate in-person dispensing requirements.
Danco Laboratories, the maker of mifepristone, asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to stay the decision, saying it "injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions." The maker of a generic version made a similar request.
- A 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Friday sided with Louisiana in a case challenging Biden administration rules that expanded access to mifepristone.
- The state argued the federal rules undermined its laws protecting unborn human life and caused it to spend Medicaid funds on emergency care for women harmed by mifepristone.
- A lower court judge had ruled last month that mail-order prescriptions for mifepristone should continue while the FDA finishes a safety review of the drug.
Reproductive rights advocates said the appeals court ruling will force women to navigate new barriers to access the drugs, even in states where abortion is legal. It also puts the Trump administration in a bind after the president vowed not to block access to abortion pills on his watch.
The Supreme Court threw out a challenge to the mifepristone rules in 2024, finding that doctors who pressed the case lacked legal standing. More
Electric vehicles
NY Times - Washington turned against electric vehicles after Donald Trump became president. Congress eliminated a $7,500 tax credit for buyers last year, causing sales to plunge. But rising gas prices strengthen the argument for E.V.s, because electricity is almost always cheaper. And electric vehicles are becoming more affordable: Used models sell for about the same as comparable gasoline-powered cars. All of which may explain a recent revival. Monthly sales of new E.V.s rose 20 percent in March. Used ones soared 54 percent.
Is it true that there will be an automatic draft registration for men between the ages of 18 and 25 starting in December?
NY Times - Yes, under a rule pending final approval. No one has been drafted since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 — and that’s not going to change anytime soon. But young men (yes, it’s only men) have been required to register for the draft, just in case the military needs them. Now, instead of filling out a form online, they’ll be automatically enrolled by the government.
May 3, 2026
The economic hazards of AI
NY Times - Since its early years, OpenAI believed that A.G.I. would transform the global economy and generate untold wealth for its creators. The leadership held that government action would be critical for helping people navigate the disruption that A.I. caused. In a 2021 blog post, the company’s chief executive, Sam Altman, predicted that within decades, “unstoppable” A.I. systems would be able to do almost any job a human could, and thus would shift power from labor to capital. His proposed solution was to aggressively tax assets: land and A.I.-company shares. “If public policy doesn’t adapt accordingly, most people will end up worse off than they are today,” Mr. Altman wrote....
This premonition is not a well-kept secret. It shows up in the Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei’s public pronouncements about a white-collar blood bath and in the disappearing-message Signal chats in which tech executives boast about the roles they plan to automate. You feel it in the fretting of recent college graduates who apply to hundreds of jobs without landing a single interview. You hear it in the gallows humor of the software engineers who joke about replacing themselves with Claude Code.
Money
Robert Reich - A history of the top marginal tax rates on the wealthiest Americans:
1940: 81%
1950: 84%
1960: 91%
1970: 72%
1980: 70%
1990: 28%
2000: 40%
2010: 35%
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