“During his State of the State address in January, Governor Mike Kehoe indicated Missouri is opting into the federal government’s new school choice tax credit program. The program resembles Missouri’s MOScholars program. Taxpayers can receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for donations up to $1,700 annually to a scholarship-granting organization, or SGO, in Missouri. The SGO then distributes scholarships to families in Missouri seeking alternatives to their residentially assigned public schools. For many families, the scholarships will be used to pay private school tuition. But the potential is broader.” (05/29/26)
“The latest poll of the California governor’s race just days before the primary election shows Democrat Xavier Becerra widening his late lead. A sprawling survey published Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California asked nearly 40 questions on California and national issues and gauged voters’ preferences in the governor’s race. Becerra, who has climbed in recent polls, is the leading candidate with 23% support among likely voters in PPIC’s poll, despite heavy scrutiny from his opponents in the last gubernatorial debate. … Just behind Becerra in the recent poll is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton, with 20% support. Hilton has consistently fared well in the polls and received an endorsement from President Donald Trump. … While Becerra and Hilton appear to be the leaders ahead of the primary, billionaire and Democratic candidate Tom Steyer is next behind the front-runners in the PPIC poll with 15% support.” (05/29/26)
“In [Auberon] Herbert’s day, as in ours, people took for granted that the state (‘the people’) may properly exercise power over peaceful others (through, say, a parliament) for a variety of purposes. So he asked, ‘Have men any right to this power?’ And again, ‘If they have it, do they possess it for all matters? If not for all matters, for what matters? and in this last case how are we to tell what these matters are?'” (05/29/26)
“A federal judge declared a New Hampshire law that would have required new voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship because it is unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliott wrote in the ruling, issued on Thursday, that New Hampshire House Bill 1569 would have made it harder for people to register to vote and cast ballots by removing methods for them to do so. The law would have required all new voters to provide a document proving citizenship, rather than attesting to their citizenship under penalty of perjury on an affidavit. New Hampshire state law already states that the form filled out and signed when registering qualifies as an affidavit, whether it is filed 30 days before an election or on election day, per state law, Elliott wrote.” (05/29/26)
“Lindsey Granger gives her lens on Republican consultant Karl Rove bashing Texas senate candidate Ken Paxton, and suggesting that it may not be a good idea for President Trump to support him.” (05/29/26)
“[I]n his own erratic way, Trump wants to pacify the Middle East and claim sole credit for that. This is probably why he’s been pushing his improbable proposal that all countries in the greater region — from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan — join the Abraham Accords. Sharing a diplomatic trophy with Brussels, Berlin or London would presumably detract from his achievement.” (05/29/26)
“A Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Romania early Friday, injuring two people and setting the building ablaze, exactly the type of spillover from the war in Ukraine that many in Europe have long feared. It was one of 232 drones and one ballistic missile launched by Russia against neighboring Ukraine, authorities there said, the latest nearly nightly attack against Ukraine’s power grid. An unknown number of these drones crossed over into Romanian airspace, its government said. ‘This incident represents a serious and irresponsible escalation by the Russian Federation,’ Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu said in a statement, promising to respond …” (05/29/26)
“Once a deal is reached, the Trump administration will apply buckets of lipstick to this pig and insist that it is some sort of strategic victory. Few observers will be convinced, however, and such efforts will just make the president and his coterie of sycophantic advisors look silly. There’s just no credible way to spin this debacle as a success. The more they try to do so, the more delusional they’ll appear. That got me thinking: What if Trump just admitted that he’d made a mistake?” (05/28/26)
