Source: ABC News
“In a rare move on Thursday, the Supreme Court spared the life of an ‘intellectually disabled’ death row inmate, dismissing an appeal by Alabama officials who claimed the man’s multiple IQ scores show he is competent and eligible for execution. The justices were narrowly divided, 5-4, in allowing a lower court ruling to stand that determined death for Joseph Clifton Smith, a convicted first-degree murderer, would violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition of ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment. The high court did not formally explain its decision. … Two lower federal courts ruled that a holistic analysis of Smith’s IQ scores and other evidence, including his behavioral history and school records, proved he is intellectually disabled.” (05/21/26)
https://abcnews.com/Politics/supreme-court-narrowly-spares-intellectually-disabled-murderer-execution/story?id=133187107
Source: Waste No More Time
by Nicholas Sarwark
“The Libertarian Party is holding a national convention in Grand Rapids, these are priorities for delegates who want to reconstruct the party to be effective moving forward.” (05/21/26)
https://nsarwark.substack.com/p/a-delegates-guide-to-the-2026-libertarian
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Tennessee man who was jailed for more than month following his arrest over a Facebook post related to the killing of Charlie Kirk has settled an ‘unlawful incarceration’ lawsuit for $835,000 (£621,000). Larry Bushart, a retired police officer, spent 37 days behind bars before authorities dropped the felony charges against him, during which he lost his post-retirement job and missed the birth of his grandchild. He was arrested last September by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office for sharing a meme in a thread about a vigil honouring the conservative activist. ‘I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,’ Bushart said in a statement announcing the settlement on Wednesday. ‘The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy,’ his statement went on to say. ‘I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.'” (05/21/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7pyjxjxrvo
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The DNC Autopsy RISES! How Political Outsiders are Dominating the Midterms (with Chris Cillizza).” (05/21/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-dnc-autopsy-rises-how-political
Source: Associated Press
“The Israeli government said Thursday that hundreds of flotilla activists who attempted to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza have all been released and deported. Outrage abroad over the activists’ treatment prompted several countries to summon Israeli envoys to hear their concerns. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that ‘all foreign activists’ from the flotilla had been deported. They were being flown out of Israel from a civilian airport near the southern Israeli city of Eilat, according to the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah.” (05/21/26)
https://apnews.com/article/israel-flotilla-gaza-sumud-deportations-f1101fc45ecf0d384c43e3562c3a1c61
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. Like all the other amendments to the Constitution, the Fifth Amendment operates as an express higher-law restriction that the people of the United States have placed on federal officials. The idea is that federal officials are expected to obey our higher law just as they expect us to obey their lower laws. … No more. Today, it is undisputed that the president, the military, and the CIA wield the omnipotent power to deprive people of life (i.e., kill them), without due process of law. In other words, federal officials are no longer complying with the Fifth Amendment restriction on their power.” (05/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/21/the-omnipotent-power-to-kill/
Source: Space.com
“SpaceX tried to launch its new Starship V3 megarocket for the first time ever this evening (May 21), from the company’s Starbase site in South Texas. Technical issues cropped up late in the countdown, however, and SpaceX couldn’t resolve them in time to get Starship V3 off the ground. … the next opportunity for a liftoff is Friday evening (May 22), likely in the same window as today’s try — 6:30 p.m. EDT to 8 p.m. EDT (2230 to 0000 GMT). … Starship is a fully reusable vehicle consisting of two stages — a giant booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, or simply Ship. SpaceX is developing Starship to help humanity colonize the moon and Mars, finish deploying its Starlink megaconstellation in Earth orbit and do pretty much everything else the company wants to do in the final frontier.” (05/21/26)
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacexs-1st-starship-v3-megarocket-launch-scrubbed-at-last-minute-sorry-nicki-minaj
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Western and Israeli officials are currently wagging their fingers in faux outrage at Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for publicly boasting about the mistreatment of flotilla activists attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Ben-Gvir’s Twitter account shared a video of the minister taunting activists who were abducted by Israeli forces in international waters earlier this week, captioning it ‘This is how we accept the supporters of terrorism’ in Hebrew and ‘Welcome to Israel’ in English. The video shows flotilla activists from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand being shoved, held in stress positions on the ground, and mocked by Ben-Gvir while restrained. This all of course pales in comparison to the abuses endured by Palestinian captives on a daily basis, but it’s the subject of international outcry today because the victims are from the west.” (05/21/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/05/21/theyre-not-mad-at-ben-gvir-for-being-evil-theyre-mad-at-him-for-being-honest/
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Can Rituals Save Us? | Robert Wright & Bruce Feiler.” (05/21/26)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/69502
Source: Persuasion
by Saeid Golkar
“Of all the names that could appear in a Western-backed plan for postwar Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be the strangest. The former president was once known for Holocaust denial, anti-Israel speeches, claims that gay people don’t exist in Iran, support for his country’s nuclear program, and the violent repression of domestic dissent. Yet according to a new report in The New York Times, the United States and Israel considered him as a possible political leader after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei …. The story sounds too crazy to be true. But if it is true, it shows just how little the Trump administration understands the way power works in the Islamic Republic.” (05/21/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/trump-and-netanyahu-wanted-this-man
