After a narrow loss in Virginia, Republicans are pointing fingers as President Donald Trump’s national gerrymandering fight slips into a stalemate.

Multiple Republicans say the party should’ve spent much more, much earlier to have a better shot at blocking Democrats’ Virginia map, which could give the party as many as four more House seats. And pressure is now growing on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to make up for Democrats’ gains with a GOP-led redistricting effort in his state, as soon as next week.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a single Republican tonight who doesn’t think the GOP should’ve done more in Virginia. It actually hurts more that it was so close,” said a GOP operative, granted anonymity to speak candidly, like others in this article.

There are mounting signs that Trump and the GOP have used valuable time and political capital on an arduous tit-for-tat that is so far looking like it will be close to a draw. Even if Republicans squeeze out gains in a new Florida map, their total gains are likely to be modest at best.

“I just don’t think that Republicans looked at the map and said, ‘Okay, what’s the worst case scenario, what could happen if all the Democrat-controlled legislators rebel against this?’” said one Virginia Republican. “We’re seeing a thing that felt really good at the moment erase gains that we fought for elsewhere.”

Tuesday’s results in Virginia, combined with gains in California and a new court-drawn seat in Utah, have effectively erased the advantage Republicans built off new maps in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri. It’s a stark reversal nearly nine months after Trump first urged Republicans in the Lone Star State to redraw maps, upending the midterm battlefield.

“Just so you get the truth and not the partisan spin here, Republicans came up with the idea of the mid-decade redistricting fight and started in Texas,” Erick Erickson, a conservative radio host and an influential voice with evangelical voters central to the MAGA base, wrote on X after the amendment passed in Virginia.

“Now, as drawn, the Democrats have an advantage from the redistricting fight,” he said.

The RNC and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

National Republican Congressional Committee chair Rep. Richard Hudson is holding out hope that the state’s Supreme Court, which reserved the right to weigh in on the new map after the election, voids Democrats’ effort.

“This close margin reinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn’t be represented by a severe partisan gerrymander,” Hudson said in a statement. “That’s exactly why the courts, who have already ruled twice to block this egregious power grab, should uphold Virginia law.”

Still, several Virginia Republicans said their party could have done more to prevent Democrats from edging out a victory Tuesday. Democrats outspent Republicans by a roughly three-to-one margin, putting Republicans at a disadvantage on the airwaves until the late stages of the race. Virginians for Fair Elections — which led the “yes” effort — raised $64 million, according to Virginia Department of Elections data, boosted by nearly $38 million in support from House Majority Forward, a political nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership.

Even though Republicans have far more money stacked up in outside groups — including $297 million brought in by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. since the start of last year alone — they ultimately never matched Democrats’ investment.

“If they had spent some money, they could have won tonight and someone’s got to own that and explain why that decision was made,” said a second Virginia-based GOP strategist.

Some Republicans turned their ire to the Indiana Legislature, where GOP lawmakers rejected the White House’s push to draw a new map that would give them two additional red-leaning seats. Chris LaCivita, Trump’s former campaign co-manager and a longtime Virginia-based GOP strategist, shared a social media post on Tuesday calling out Republicans in Indiana for not being more aggressive.

It’s now too late for the state to redraw its lines, and Trump allies have spent time and millions of dollars to defeat the GOP legislators who opposed the effort.

With most states off the table, Republicans are now looking to DeSantis as one of their last and best chances to win back the upper hand ahead of November. The Florida governor delayed a special session to take up redistricting in the state until after Virginia’s election, and he has yet to release a new map proposal.

Former Trump White House spokesperson Harrison Fields urged Republicans in Florida to respond to the Virginia outcome with an aggressive gerrymander.

“To my friends in Tallahassee: in a state that is ruby red, it’s time to respond to what we saw tonight in Virginia with a redistricting plan that reflects Florida’s true partisan lean — and adds 3–4 GOP seats to our supermajority,” Fields said in a social media post. “Virginia is a purple state being drawn as deep blue. Florida should draw a map that’s even redder — and get it passed ASAP.”

Not everyone is on board with escalating the redistricting arms race. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican-turned-independent who was targeted by California Democrats’ gerrymander, said the result was further proof that the redistricting war never should have been started.

“It’s very unfortunate that it’s happened in Texas. I think it’s very unfortunate that it happened in California and Virginia and everywhere else where it’s happened,” Kiley told POLITICO after the Virginia race was called Tuesday evening. “Now that this whole thing has just gotten completely out of hand, there have been no winners, and it’s created such instability, maybe this is the time that we can come together and say, ‘Alright, enough is enough.’”

Yet for all the recriminations over Republicans losing ground in the president’s redistricting campaign, one person escaped largely unscathed: Trump himself.

The president mostly stayed on the sidelines until he hosted a tele-rally alongside Speaker Mike Johnson to urge people to vote “no” in the race’s final hours.

Some Republicans in the state were glad he stayed away, given his flagging national standing, particularly in a light blue state. Thirty-three percent of adults approve of Trump’s job performance, according to an AP-NORC poll released Tuesday.

“If I was the Democrats, I’d want Trump on the stump every day,” Virginia-based Republican strategist Brian Kirwin said.

Blake Jones contributed to this report. 

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It was just two days ago that we suggested Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI), Stormont’s business development agency, needs:

…a full review into all current… spending to see if further skeletons lurk in the closet.

That was following revelations in the Belfast Telegraph that showed Invest NI was ploughing public money into a software company helping ICE’s murderous intimidation campaign across the US. Now campaign group Act Now has shamed the corporate welfare body again, by highlighting its role in assisting Cooneen Group.

Act Now spoke to the Belfast Telegraph, who report that the County Tyrone-based company’s subsidiary Cooneen Protection Limited secured from Westminster:

…two Israel export licences for one of the group’s subsidiaries, Cooneen Protection Limited.

Defensive equipment still aids war crimes

That was in 2015. One license permitted the subsidiary to provide “armoured plate, body armour, helmets”. Often, those supplying the illegitimate settler-colony attempt to justify sales of military equipment on the basis that it is for defensive purposes.

This is a meaningless distinction. Defensive equipment enables continued offensive action. Iron Dome interceptors can protect offensive ‘Israeli’ hardware from damage, enabling the terror regime to continue its genocidal violence. Body armour can sadly protect an Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldier from death, enabling them to continue raping and murdering their way round Palestine and beyond.

Despite this, Invest NI have continued to pump funds into Cooneen Group. The company has:

…received more than £1,397,000 from Invest NI since 2004.

The Telegraph also report that as recently as September 2025:

…Invest NI sponsored and exhibited with the group at the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London, the world’s largest arms fair, attended by companies that sell weapons to Israel.

Roan Ellis-O’Neill of Act Now emphasised this continued support long after the first export licenses to the Zionist entity were granted:

Invest NI have been using taxpayers’ money to provide specialised financial support to drive overseas trade before and after the UK government granted the Cooneen Group the military export licences in 2015.

Act Now: revelation is “clearest link yet” between Invest NI and ‘Israel’

He suggested that Act Now’s findings show:

…the clearest link yet between publicly funded local companies exporting military goods and Israel.

He continued, regarding Invest NI:

Our research reveals that public money has been provided to the Cooneen Group to expand their overseas trade.

There is a real chance that Invest NI provided specialised support so that the Cooneen Group could build the relationships and networks that must be first established before applying for a military export licence.

Even if the funding was not for the purpose of securing an export licence to Israel, the grant types and the reasons support was offered by Invest NI demonstrate how crucial that funding was to develop trade links with countries such as Israel.

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The likelihood is that Invest NI and those running the department of the economy of the years just didn’t care about the ethics of potential involvement in human rights abuses. They were just focused on corporate handouts to potentially profitable firms.

After all, they didn’t care when it came to helping to build F-35 warplanes, or when assisting ICE. Similarly, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) apparently saw nothing wrong with buying software and body armour from the land thieves of so-called ‘Israel’.

The fact that we now know a company inside the north of Ireland makes body armour, renders the PSNI’s purchase all the more shameful. We’ll say it again and go further – Invest NI, and all public bodies, need to ensure they have an ethics code that prevents this shit happening again. A good start would be to simply have a rule forbidding the funding of anything arms-trade related.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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Micheál Martin’s government has failed to disclose 248 flights by US military warplanes over Irish airspace since August 2025. There is a strong chance that many of these aircraft are involved in war crimes committed by the Washington terror regime. The Irish Times says they used “open source software” to track the flights, after official figures showed a major drop-off in the number of passing warplanes to just a couple each month. Previous government figures showed 30 to 50 aircraft per month. The government blamed the discrepancy on “administrative error”.

After the Times notified the government, the latter published corrected figures on Thursday 16 April, which were in line with those provided for earlier periods. However, the revised figures show some revealing trends. There was a large drop-off in military traffic around October 2025, when so-called ‘Israel’ agreed to its fraudulent ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza.

While the illegitimate settler-colony has maintained its genocide, killing over 750 Palestinians since the agreement to stop hostilities was reached, the intensity of bombardment has dropped off. This decrease in mass murder is paralleled by a decline in US military flights over Ireland, suggesting Irish airspace is indeed being used to ferry weapons of genocide to the Zionist land theft project.

US military flights over Ireland likely involved in war crimes against Iran

Similarly, another change in flight numbers matches the launching of the illegal US-‘Israeli’ attack on Iran. The Irish Times says:

The figures show a 56 per cent surge in US military overflights of Ireland last month as the US launched hundreds of strikes on Iran.

The overflight of US warplanes is governed by the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952. This mandates that all foreign military aircraft must obtain diplomatic clearance to enter Irish airspace. Exemptions can be granted on this basis, provided the plane is unarmed, not carrying weapons, not involved in intelligence gathering and not part of a military operation.

The Irish government takes this on trust from the US government. That is, they trust a government led by a war criminal and pathological liar. However, Micheál Martin’s band of sycophants have found it impossible to conceal the appalling truth. They admitted in October 2025 that they:

…allowed munitions of war – onboard a US military plane authorised by Simon Harris to touch down at Shannon Airport – to travel through Irish territory on their way to Israel.

The Irish Times point out the government breached the no surveillance aircraft rule when it allowed:

…multiple overflights of Poseidon P-8 surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft in early January.

These too were engaged in illegal activity by aiding:

…in the pursuit by the US military of a ship in the North Atlantic which had earlier attempted to collect sanctioned oil from Venezuela.

This was part of Trump’s illegal sanctions against the Central American nation, culminating in the murderous abduction of the country’s president Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

The Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989 permit exemptions to allow civil aircraft to carry weapons through Irish airspace, if granted an exemption by the minister for transport. According to Al Jazeera:

In 2024, the Department of Transport approved 1,354 applications for civil aircraft or Irish-registered aircraft to carry military weapons or ammunition through Ireland…

Government maintains absurd pretence that Ireland isn’t aiding US atrocities

Despite the fact that weapons transfer through Ireland has literally been confirmed by the Irish government itself, ministers and the Taoiseach himself are still happy to shamelessly lie about the matter. In the face of the damning new overflights figures, and evidence Shannon is a stop-off point for US warplanes on their way to the main German staging post for the assault on Iran, Martin said:

First of all, Shannon [Airport] is not being used for those purposes and there have been repeated attempts to conflate Shannon with both the war in Gaza – which was absolutely false, and there were false claims – and this is a continuing narrative from certain quarters politically within Ireland, which I think will damage Shannon.

Minister for foreign affairs Helen McEntee similarly insulted the public’s intelligence when she said there is “no reason to believe” weapons of mass murder are being moved through Ireland. She said of the rules prohibiting weapons transfer:

…we have no reason to suggest that they’re not [being adhered to].

Oh yes no reason at all, until you recall that the US, even pre-Trump, were serial liars when it came to their illegal killing sprees abroad. These kind of comments from the government are only likely to further enrage anti-war activists, and prompt more direct action against the criminal use of Shannon airport. Until Martin and co. stop participating in atrocities, long may these acts of resistance continue.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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Trigger warning: themes of sexual violence and abuse.

The UK state-corporate press and broadcasters are continuing to ignore a CNN report. The report shows that over 64 million men signed up for an online ‘rape academy.’ In this academy, they learned how to drug and rape wives, girlfriends and other women.

MSM turns the other way

Although the report was published in March 2026, searches confirm that none of the UK ‘mainstream’ media have covered it:

The case of Gisele Pelicot

Singer and activist Annie Lennox pointed out the similarity to the case of Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman whose husband drugged her while a string of men raped her:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Annie Lennox (@officialannielennox)

The Pelicot case and the sentencing of her rapists received media attention in isolation. However, it appears UK media are uninterested in reporting the widespread phenomenon of millions of men studying how to do what her husband did.

Whyever would the establishment media in country riddled with powerful paedophiles and rapists not be interested in covering the existence of a mass rape ring?

Featured image via CNN

By Skwawkbox

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The UK can now roll out a racist surveillance measure that had been delayed by a legal challenge filed by anti-facial recognition campaigners. The appeal has now been lost. Met commissioner Mark Rowley has once again praised facial recognition measures. He believes that the technology helps to catch criminal, while civil liberties groups are not quite so sure…

Imminent roll out

Rowley said facial recognition technology would:

help us catch more criminals quickly and precisely, saves officer time, and ultimately saves money.

And police minister Sarah Jones, channeling every authoritarian since time began, says only the guilty should be fearful…

I welcome today’s ruling because there can be no true liberty when people live in fear of crime in their communities.

Live facial recognition only locates specifically wanted people — law abiding citizens have nothing to fear.

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Jones’ bizarrely inferred that criticism from people challenging the excessive deployment of facial recognition technology was unwarranted, saying:

This technology puts dangerous rapists and murderers behind bars — and I question any group who call that uncivil.

We are rolling out facial recognition across the country with record investment to keep communities safe.

A bit of a reach, minister…

Lost appeal ushers in surveillance state

Two concerned citizens had challenged the roll-out in the courts:

Youth worker Shaun Thompson, and Silkie Carlo, director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, brought the challenge over concerns that facial recognition could be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory way.

The pair had argued that the use of the van-mounted technology:

breaches the right to privacy outlined in the European Convention of Human Rights.

Judges presiding over the case ruled:

We are not able to accept, on the thin submissions advanced before us, that concerns about discrimination infect the legality of the policy.

The government and police claim that the technology has resulted in few mistakes. However, Thompson said he had been misidentified by facial recognition:

No one should be treated like a criminal due to a computer error, I was compliant with the police, but my bank cards and passport weren’t enough to convince the police the facial recognition tech was wrong.

He likened its reliability to:

stop-and-search on steroids.

For several years now, the Canary has been covering the risks of facial recognition. On 1 November 2025, we shed light on the ways in which AI-integrated facial recognition is inherently racist, noting that the:

UN’s office for human rights, as well as anthropologists and tech experts, have long known that AI systems are inherently racist, either by design or through the biases of their creators — but the police facial recognition systems are going above and beyond in the service of racist discrimination.

Facial technology’s race bias

Examples include the case of the appeal claimant in the latest ruling, Shaun Thompson. The other claimant, civil liberties NGO Big Brother Watch, warned in the same month that cops were feeding passport photos into their AI.

Further evidence of the racialised use of AI facial recognition emerged on 15 September 2025. Police used the technology at Notting Hill Carnival—an annual celebration of black British culture—but not at the fascist-organised Unite the Kingdom event.

British securocrats have gotten their way today. Those of us who care about basic, hard-won freedoms must continue to challenge the UK’s bipartisan authoritarianism wherever we can.

Featured image via Unsplash/ the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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The post Why Iran is not a new ‘forever war’ appeared first on spiked.

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DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 21

TRUMP FOR CONSTANTINO: Republican House candidate Anthony Constantino’s campaign to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik is a textbook example of how aligning with the MAGA extended universe pays off.

President Donald Trump today endorsed Constantino, the brash and hard-edged CEO of Sticker Mule, over Assemblymember Robert Smullen.

Trump’s nod for the businessperson is a microcosm of a decade of Republican politics. Smullen has lined up institutional support from the state GOP, county chairs and his fellow elected officials in Albany.

But none of that matters to Trump, who won his own insurgent primary a decade ago by bucking the Republican establishment.

Now the president is backing Constantino, who has assembled his own slate of endorsees far more suited to Trump’s temperament. That includes Rudy Giuliani, who backed Constantino after the candidate, according to his telling, wrote a “beautiful two-page letter” to the former New York City mayor.

Constantino has also enlisted Trump confidant and political operative Roger Stone.

Those ties were not lost on the president when he posted on Truth Social this afternoon. “Anthony is strongly supported by many of the most Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in our Movement, including Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone!” he wrote.

Then of course, there’s the large “Vote for Trump” sign Constantino erected atop a building that can be seen from Interstate 90.

That kind of tangible loyalty — which withstood a legal challenge by local Democrats — also played well with the president.

“Anthony has been such a Great Supporter that he actually put up a somewhat ‘controversial’ sign, against strong opposition, in my honor,” Trump posted. “The sign is still there!”

For his part, Smullen — whose support from numerous county chairs doesn’t quite equate to the large pro-Trump signage visible from I-90 — was publicly unconcerned by the president weighing in on the primary.

“A consultant got to the president, somebody who is being paid by my opponent,” he told our Bill Mahoney. “And I think the president’s made a mistake here.”

Still, it’s hard not to view this development as anything but a massive blow for Smullen, running to succeed an ardently pro-MAGA House lawmaker in a district that the president won three times.

The endorsement also highlights the strange position the state GOP finds itself in. The party took the unusual step of backing Smullen in the race amid deep concerns from party leaders over Constantino’s temperament.

New York Republicans are preparing for a future without Stefanik as its leader and top fundraiser with national standing. The North Country House lawmaker was in line to become Trump’s United Nations ambassador, only to have the nod yanked amid a messy selection process to pick her successor. Hard feelings from Stefanik’s team following the scuttled special election to replace her have lingered as a result.

One GOP official chortled at the situation, which also comes after Stefanik bowed out of the race for governor following Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s entrance.

“They knifed Elise in the special and then they got crushed by Roger Stone,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “It is just the beginning of Elise’s allies including the president settling the score as Elise is in the midst of her successful book tour!”

For Constantino’s part, the endorsement is another step in what had initially seemed like a long-shot bid.

“I had a great talk with President Trump and am honored to receive his endorsement,” he said in a statement. “He noted every primary candidate he endorses wins so I look forward to winning the general election and making everyone who supported me very proud once I am in Congress.”

FROM CITY HALL

CC YOU IN COURT: A prominent police union filed a federal lawsuit against the Civilian Complaint Review Board today, alleging the oversight body is tarnishing officers’ reputations by releasing unredacted — and unsubstantiated — complaints against cops.

Beginning in October, the suit from the New York City Police Benevolent Association alleges, the CCRB began responding to Freedom of Information Law requests about three types of allegations against officers — sexual misconduct, racial bias and offering false statements — by releasing unredacted complaints that are then subsequently uploaded to a public database. Because CCRB does not redact identifying information, the police union argued, the accused officers’ reputations, safety, and employment prospects are unduly damaged.

“CCRB’s under-the-table collusion with anti-police activists to smear cops with false complaints is not only unfair and unconstitutional — it is a calculated effort to end proactive enforcement and drive cops away from the job,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said.

The PBA argued the complaint board is aware of how damaging the allegations can be to cops. The CCRB publishes a redacted version of the complaints on its own website.

The city’s Law Department declined to comment. And a CCRB spokesperson defended the agency but noted its ability to comment was limited by the suit.

“The CCRB’s investigations are complete, thorough and impartial,” spokesperson Dakota Gardner said in a statement. “The Agency continually reviews all applicable laws and regulations regarding the public release of its records, including disciplinary histories of members of service, to ensure it is fully compliant.” — Joe Anuta

CHARTERING A NEW COURSE?: Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference that his administration is weighing its options regarding the future of former Mayor Eric Adams’ Charter Revision Commission, which convened publicly for the first time Monday.

“We are reviewing all of the options that we have when it comes to this previously set up charter review,” Mamdani said at the press conference in Brooklyn.

Pressed on what those options might entail, the mayor added little clarity aside from noting with a laugh that “more and more are being presented by the day.”

The commission’s meeting focused on procedural steps, including selecting acting chair Gilford Monrose, as reported in today’s Playbook.

Created on Adams’ final day in office, the commission is tasked with crafting ballot proposals, including one to establish an open primary election system. This shift could complicate reelection prospects for Mamdani by opening the Democratic primary electorate up to a larger, more moderate-leaning pool of voters.

Mamdani — who has previously criticized the body as undemocratic — has several avenues to blunt its work. Charter experts say one option for the mayor’s office would be installing a chair who could stall proceedings.

Randy Mastro, the former first deputy mayor under Adams who’s now advising the commission pro bono, told Playbook yesterday he has received no assurances from the Mamdani administration about its plans. A person familiar with the matter said Mastro has also discussed the commission with Mamdani’s corporation counsel, Steve Banks.

Still, Mastro downplayed the influence of any single appointee amid the possibility of a Mamdani-selected chair helming the commission.

“I welcome anyone who wants to participate in a constructive process to improve our local democracy,” Mastro said. — Gelila Negesse

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

PRIMARY COLORS: Former state Assemblymember Taylor Darling ended her primary bid against battleground Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen earlier this week.

“Unfortunately, the technicalities of the current system make it challenging for community focused campaigns to fully participate in the Democratic process,” Darling wrote on social media. “While I respect the rules, it is clear that these barriers need to be addressed if we want a system where all voices, especially those from our communities, are heard and valued.”

Any primary challenger is poised to have an uphill climb against the incumbent Gillen, who has more than $3 million on hand. Darling, who entered the race after Gillen voted in support of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, raised just $24,000 last quarter and had $15,000 in the bank. Progressive organizer Kiana Bierria-Anderson is also in the race, though she said her petitions to get on the ballot are being challenged. — Madison Fernandez

IN OTHER NEWS

— WATCHDOG BARKS: Citizens Budget Commission urges lawmakers to limit government spending and hold off on tax hikes as new report shows tens of thousands of New Yorkers are leaving the city. (Gothamist)

— POLLUTERS PAY: Republicans in Congress are aiming to end New York’s climate law that requires fossil fuel companies to pay for weather-related damages. (Newsday)

— THAT STINKS: As state-funded daycare expands in New York, new education mandates regarding potty training and diaper changes for young students have left schools scrambling to create new policies. (New York Post)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

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