PARTY POLITICS: Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton with the endorsement of Donald Trump soundly defeated four-term Senator John Cornyn in the state’s Republican primary runoff for senate. It’s proof that Trump still has a firm grip on the MAGA wing of the Republican party

  Paxton will face rising Democrat James Talarico in November in one of the country’s highest-profile and critical US Senate races.

  Paxton’s nomination confirms that Trump’s MAGA Republicans have abandoned character and family values as a qualification for their candidates. A conservative firebrand, Paxton was accused of adultery and divorced by his wife of 38 years. He’s been indicted, impeached, and acquitted. And in his quarter-century of politics, he has never lost an election.

SHIFTING LINES: Republicans looking to fix the midterms with gerrymandering congressional districts sustained two setbacks yesterday with members of their own party blocking new districts in South Carolina and a federal court halting them in Alabama. 

   The Republican failure to approve a new map in South Carolina saved the district and the seat held Rep. James Clyburn, a power within the Democratic Party and the first Black member of Congress elected from the state in nearly a century. A few Republicans  in the state Senate joined with Democrats to prevent approval of a new map.

  In Alabama, a panel of federal judges rejected the state’s new voting map for the November midterms, saying that the districts discriminated against Black people and could not be used so shortly before a vote.

  The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that Alabama could not use its map because it “represents an intentional effort to crack the Black population in Alabama.” Alabama’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, said he would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court. 

  Florida Republicans racked up somewhat of a win when a judge declined to temporarily block the state’s aggressively Republican new congressional map while  a lawsuit challenging it moves forward. A voting and civil rights groups is suing, arguing that the map violates a state ban on partisan gerrymandering, known as the Fair Districts amendments, that voters passed in 2010.

DEAL OR NO DEAL: Oil prices fell again yesterday as the truce with Iran holds without any agreement to end the war.

  In a sign of possibly diminishing internal tensions, Iran has been restoring internet access for tens of millions of its citizens, lifting its blackout imposed after the US and Israel attacked on February 28th. “In line with the esteemed president’s mission and in fulfillment of the government’s promise, the first step toward free and regulated access to cyberspace has been taken,” Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, wrote on social media.

  The Iranian government had said the shutdown was for national security but you can assume it was primarily to control information and the population during the war.

  President Trump’s vaunted defeat of Iran has failed to result in Iran acting like it is beaten. It’s as if Trump believes he can win by promising and bragging.

  The NY Times compiled some of Trump’s statements about the war in person and on social media: 

• “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” — March 6
• “They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal.” — March 26
• “We’ll be leaving very soon.” — March 31
• “Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.” — April 4
• “ They’ve made a proposal, and it’s a significant proposal.” — April 6
• “We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow, and I put it off … because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran …  May 18
• “Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly. “ — May 23
• “It will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all.” — May 25

INFINITE SCROLL:

— The Trump administration is planning to impose government-wide nondisclosure agreements to bar federal workers from sharing a wide array of “confidential government information,” according to a draft notice posted to the Federal Register.  

  One of the prime concerns of the Trump administration is the public and the press finding out what it plans to do. As laid out by the drafted rule, employees would be blocked from sharing “non-public, confidential, or proprietary information” or “any sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative material that is not currently publicly available and should not be disclosed under applicable law.”

— President Trump came out of his physical checkup yesterday posting on his social media that, “Just finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY.”

  Nobody’s health is perfect at 80. The White House did not release details of tests, and medications the President might be taking, or even an update on his obviously swollen ankles.

— A giant star-spangled lighted arch is being erected  on the South Lawn of the White House as a venue for an Ultimate Fighting Championship cage fight to be held on June 14, President Trump’s birthday on which he will turn 80. It’s being billed as part of the 250^th anniversary celebration for the country, but it’s an obvious appeal to the bro culture in Trump’s voter base. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Robert Daly, a former foreign correspondent for The NY Times and gun-toting spokesman for the New York Police Department who wrote 31 books, most notably “Prince of the City,” died at age 96 in the Bronx.

  His best-known work was the 1978 “Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much” about  a bribetaking New York police detective who, after being caught, went undercover and exposed corruption among fellow officers in an elite narcotics unit. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Krispy Kreme customers whose personal data was exposed in a 2024 cyberattack could qualify for up to $3,500 in a class-action settlement over security failures. That’s 1,750 original glazed donuts.

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