
Somebody’s tryin’ to make me stay, you know I’ve got to be tabbin’ on …
Very convenient that she didn’t feel this way until the moment Democrats started losing the battle.
When it was Virginia Democrats drawing a 10-1 map, Abby had no complaints. She didn’t give a crap about representation when it was rural Republicans being shafted. https://t.co/uMqO2wkVRM
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) May 9, 2026
Ed: Just wait until the Department of Justice begins challenging congressional maps in blue states on the basis of Callais. Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, and maybe even Minnesota will face a real reckoning, and that’s before the 2030 census reapportions Congress in favor of red states where blue-state refugees have moved.
===
Mediaite: JONATHAN TURLEY: This was a just breathtakingly dumb move by the Democrats. When they began, when they went down this road, I wrote a column saying, you need to consider this because the Democratic states were already gerrymandered. So the Republicans had more ability to create new districts than the Democrats did. In Illinois, Massachusetts, California now recently, those are all gerrymandered states. But some of those states had done that years ago. So that the ability to pick up states favored the GOP.
Now that Virginia has blown this opportunity, the GOP is in a unique position. There are states moving after the Supreme Court decision to redesign districts, because as many as a dozen districts are now presumptively unconstitutional due to racial gerrymandering. And putting all of that aside, you have the 2[0]30 Census coming up. The Democrats were awarded districts erroneously in the view of many of us. That will be corrected, but on top of you of this exodus of people from blue states to red states. So, the GOP will pick up more seats after the census. So the Democrats are looking at a colossal loss. And I think that’s one of the reasons why they want to pack the Supreme Court and make radical changes to the constitutional system before it’s too late.
Ed: The hysterical screeching after this reversal exposes the Left’s hypocrisy. New England does not have a single GOP representative in Congress. Not only did blue states gerrymander Republicans into political oblivion decades ago, they locked down those changes with amendments to state constitutions that passed off redistricting to so-called “independent commissions” to maintain Democrat supremacy. That’s why Virginia had to submit changes in a referendum in the first place, and had to violate the state constitution to make it happen in time for the midterms.
===
I’m just wondering where all the vapors were when Democratic-majority Pennsylvania state Supreme Court issued at the end of February 2018 a new congressional district map that would go into effect weeks later in May of that year? It marked the first time a state court threw… https://t.co/j5tp2fSrsh
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) May 9, 2026
… It marked the first time a state court threw out federal congressional boundaries and was literally drawn by the Democrat majority Pennsylvania Supreme Court heavily favoring Democrats.
Ed: Phillip’s response, probably: That’s different because shut up, racist.
===
Jonathan Turley: The court found that effort was not only unconstitutional, but “wholly unprecedented in Virginia’s history.”
It characterized the state’s position as “a story of the tail wagging the dog that has no tail.”
While some of us had previously expressed skepticism over the rushed effort to circumvent the state constitution, the media almost exclusively relied on liberal experts who predicted the new districts would be upheld.
Ed: I have Professor Turley in tonight’s FW twice, but both of these points need emphasis. The media, and Abby Phillips specifically, attempted to gaslight its consumers into believing that this would pass legal muster. Now they’re hyperventilating because the failure exposed them as hacks, and rather than admit to error, they’re increasing the gas to the flame in hopes of burning everything down.
===
California voters voted to ban illegals from accessing welfare and to enshrine marriage as only existing between one man and one woman.
Liberal judges overturned both referendum results, and Liberals then celebrated these things as “Progress”.
Your fake moralizing about… https://t.co/nms196Or09
— Christian Heiens 🏛 (@ChristianHeiens) May 8, 2026
Your fake moralizing about democracy means nothing.
Democrats only support “Democracy” when the result is in the service of Leftism. The moment “the people” vote to do something they oppose, it suddenly becomes an illegitimate tool of oppression that must be dismantled.
Ed: This is another point that has to be addressed. In California, Democrats have spent decades fighting to have courts vacate referenda based on conservative and populist policies that Democratic-dominated legislatures refuse to address. They usually succeed in these efforts, too. It’s hardly unprecedented for courts to rule that referenda violate state and/or federal constitutions after passage, and it’s because referenda organizers can make the same mistakes that legislatures make in that process. On top of that, Virginia’s lawyers argued in January that the state supreme court couldn’t rule on this referendum because it would not be ripe for review unless and until voters passed it. As the majority pointed out in its ruling, the Left can’t have it both ways.
===
NY Times: As American women have fewer babies each year, the number of young children in the United States is dwindling. The trend is now catching up to the nation’s public school districts.
There are simply fewer children to attend school in America today: The number of public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade has fallen in 30 states since the mid-2010s. …
Fewer students means less funding, which is tied to enrollment numbers. Many districts are now facing painful budget cuts — and heated conversations about whether to close schools.
Several factors are affecting enrollment. For cities, housing costs and other expenses are driving some families out. The recent crackdown on immigration means fewer children are arriving from other countries, a demographic that had buoyed enrollment nationwide.
Many public school districts also lost students during the pandemic, and are now facing more competition than ever, from private schools, home-schooling, charter schools and virtual schools.
Ed: It’s an interesting report, but it predictably fails to include the biggest reason for this stunning decline: abortion. America lost more than 60 million babies in the 50-plus years since Roe. That first generation of aborted children would be having grandchildren now. Did the teachers’ unions object to abortion, or loudly support it? They are reaping what they have sown … in many different ways.
===
Chaos at Grand Central 4-5-6: Machete maniac slaughters three elderly riders in broad daylight.
Bodycam drops the horror—Anthony Griffin, 44, screaming “I am Lucifer,” hacks an 84-year-old man’s face open, splits a 65-year-old’s skull, and slashes a 70-year-old woman. Blood… pic.twitter.com/Ssj89BUPvW— Kate❤️🔥💕 (@katee_K1) May 9, 2026
… Blood everywhere on the crowded platform.
Cops roll up, scream 20+ times for him to drop the blade. He charges them instead. Bang—two shots, Griffin drops dead.
While city officials brag “crime is down,” New Yorkers are getting chopped up by machete-wielding demons in the middle of morning rush hour. This is the reality they’re hiding.
Ed: Is this an anomaly in Mamdani’s Commie Paradise? Not hardly….
===
NY Post: Crime is down but some violence is up in the Big Apple’s transit system, according to NYPD data.
A maniac repeat-offender pushed an elderly man to his death on Manhattan subway stairs Thursday, cops said — the fourth homicide in or around the subway this year, up from just one a year ago at this time.
Cops brought Rhamell Burke, described as an “emotionally disturbed person,” to Bellevue Hospital’s psych ward at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. He was released an hour later and at 9:30 p.m. allegedly shoved Ross Falzone, a 76-year-old retired teacher, down the stairs of a Chelsea subway station. … Robbery in the transit system has also shot up by 18% so far in 2026 over the same span last year, to 156 from 132, according to NYPD data.
Ed: Left-wing policies that force police to retreat inevitably precede increases in violent crimes. We saw this after the “defund the police” campaign of 2020.
===
People have been surprised by the misspelling of “Virginia” and “Senator” in the court filings, but some saw this coming……. https://t.co/tPKj84zNDH
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) May 9, 2026
Ed: My mother always wanted me to be a toney general. Or a toney lawyer. Or a toney something. Miyares is poking fun at Jones’ appeal filing with the Supreme Court, which misspelled both words and set off waves of ridicule on social media. I speculated that “Virgnia” is a sector of Narnia restricted only to those born between August 23 and September 22. That’s every bit as fanciful as Jones’ appeal.
===
Newsmax: Iran questioned the seriousness of American diplomacy on Saturday in the wake of renewed naval clashes in the Gulf, while keeping Washington waiting for a response to its latest negotiating position. …
“The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” he said, according to an Iranian account of the call published by the ISNA news agency.
In an incident on Friday, a U.S. fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that Washington accused of challenging its naval blockade of Iran’s ports.
An Iranian military official told local media the country’s navy had responded “to American terrorism with strikes” and that “the clashes have now ceased”.
Ed: The change in posture this week by Trump may have the Iranians on the back foot at the moment. Supposedly, the Iranians had promised a response to Trump’s one-page “framework” by EOB Friday. As of Saturday afternoon, though, the Iranians have yet to respond. They objected yesterday when CENTCOM interdicted two more tankers by force, but have not yet responded otherwise.
===
.@POTUS on Project Freedom: “We’ll go a different route if everything doesn’t get signed up, buttoned up… We may go back to Project Freedom if things don’t happen — but it’ll be Project Freedom Plus, meaning Project Freedom plus other things.” pic.twitter.com/QpKc78vo6p
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 8, 2026
Ed: Looks like the Iranians want to keep stalling. Their earlier provocations finally got a robust military response, so those appear to have ended for the moment, but their delay on responding to the proposal is transparently manipulative. Trump needs to impose a firm deadline and then return to Project Freedom Plus, or better yet, Operation Epic Fury II: We’re Not F*****g Around Any More.
===
Or, a headline without the liberal bias from the WaPo:
Democratic cheating, nullifcation of rural votes, failed.
With GOP wins on election maps, Democrats have a steeper climb to victory https://t.co/jSXGgxepCj
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) May 9, 2026
Ed: Protection Racket Media gotta protection-racket, y’all.
Editor’s note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you’re digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments — and support independent platforms — why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
















