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Virginia Voters Torch Trump’s Midterm Power Grab
Virginia handed Donald Trump a black eye last night. Voters approved a constitutional amendment letting Democrats redraw the state’s congressional map, a move that could flip four Republican House seats in November. Governor Abigail Spanberger said Virginians pushed back against a president who claims he’s entitled to more Republican seats in Congress. The new map gives Democrats a shot at 10 of 11 seats, up from the current six. This is a direct response to Trump strong-arming Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina into rigging their own maps last year. California did the same thing Virginia just did. The scoreboard now favors Democrats heading into the midterms. When Trump tried to steal the House before a single ballot was cast, Virginia said no. And that changes everything.
Who Cashed In Five Hundred Million Dollars Fifteen Minutes Before Trump Paused the Iran Strikes?
This one’s going to make your blood boil. Reuters and the Financial Times report that somebody placed more than 500 million dollars in oil futures bets exactly fifteen minutes before Trump posted on Truth Social that he was pausing strikes on Iran. Oil prices crashed more than ten percent right after. Whoever made that bet walked off with a fortune. Congressman Ritchie Torres is calling it potentially the largest case of insider trading in history. He says no legitimate trader makes a 500 million dollar bet at 6:49 in the morning with no hedge unless they already know what’s coming. Somebody inside Trump’s orbit got the tip. And the SEC just sits on its hands while working Americans pay more at the pump.
Trump’s DOJ Indicts the People Who Track Nazis
The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent 55 years hunting Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and hate groups. Yesterday Trump’s Justice Department indicted them. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel filed 11 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. The charge? That the SPLC paid informants inside the Klan and Nazi groups to gather intelligence shared with the FBI to save lives. Blanche twisted that into manufacturing extremism. The SPLC calls the charges outrageous and false. Observers see the real message. If you track the far right, Trump’s DOJ will track you. This is what a weaponized Justice Department looks like. And the chilling effect on every watchdog group in America is the whole point.
Is Trump Really Dumping Our Afghan Allies in the Congo?
Trump already shut down the resettlement program for Afghans who fought alongside American soldiers. Now the New York Times reports he’s in talks to ship as many as 1,100 of them to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That includes U.S. military interpreters, former Afghan special forces, and family members of American service members. More than 400 of them are children. The Congo is a war zone with massive refugee and humanitarian crises. Senator Tim Kaine called the plan insane. These people risked everything for our troops. We promised them safety when we left. Trump’s about to dump them in a country tearing itself apart. That’s not immigration policy. That’s a betrayal of every American who wore a uniform in Afghanistan.
Did the Fifth Circuit Just Bulldoze the Wall Between Church and State?
A conservative federal appeals court ruled 9 to 8 that Texas can force every public school classroom in the state to post the Ten Commandments. Every classroom. Every grade. The ruling tears up a 1980 Supreme Court precedent and green-lights similar laws already passed in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama. Judge Stephen Higginson wrote in dissent that the framers intended to stop religious majorities from using political power to impose their faith on others. That’s exactly what’s happening now. Texas has 5.5 million public school kids from every faith and no faith. The state just told all of them which god they’re supposed to obey. This fight is headed to the Supreme Court. And the wall Jefferson built between church and state is hanging by a thread.
Does Our Health Secretary Spend More Time on Raccoon Parts Than on Americans?
And finally in closing. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got hauled before the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday. Congressman Troy Carter of Louisiana looked him dead in the eye and said he wished the man running American healthcare would spend more time on the American people and less time on whale heads, bear heads, and raccoon parts. Kennedy snapped back that he doesn’t talk about any of that. Except he does. He dumped a bear cub in Central Park. He chainsawed a whale’s head off and strapped it to his minivan. A new book says he cut the genitals off a dead raccoon beside I-684 while his kids waited in the car. This is the man in charge of your family’s health, your kids’ vaccines, your parents’ medicare. Laugh if you want. It stops being funny.
And that’s the way it is, Today Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
