Axios: “As House Republicans meet to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership post for criticizing Donald Trump, swing voters in Axios’ latest Engagious/Schlesinger focus groups hold a near-unanimous view that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and his caucus are making a mistake. Nine of 14 voters said they could vote for a Republican for U.S. House or Senate races next year. All but one ruled out backing any candidate who clings to the former president’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. 13 of the 14 said Cheney (R-Wyo.) should not be removed and that it would be a mistake for House Republicans to go through with their plans.”

“These were the biggest takeaways from two back-to-back focus groups conducted Tuesday night, on the eve of an expected vote to purge Cheney from her No. 3 spot in the House GOP leadership. The two seven-member panels included women and men, from a mix of the most competitive swing states, who voted for Trump in 2016 but President Biden in 2020. While focus groups are not statistically significant samples like polls, the responses show how some voters in crucial states are thinking about issues that could shape next year’s midterm elections.”

More than 100 current Republicans, including leaders on the federal and state levels, have vowed to leave the GOP and form a third party if Republicans do not make fundamental changes in its leadership to minimize the impact of Trumpism on the Party, the New York Times reports.

The group is expected to release a letter outlining the ultimatum later this week in a move seen as a counter to House Republicans holding a vote Wednesday to remove Wyoming’s Liz Cheney from House leadership for voting to impeach Donald Trump and vocally opposing him.

“This is a first step,” said Miles Taylor, an organizer of the effort and a former Trump-era Department of Homeland Security official, told the Times.  “This is us saying that a group of more than 100 prominent Republicans think that the situation has gotten so dire with the Republican Party that it is now time to seriously consider whether an alternative might be the only option.”

A Republican Michigan state legislator wants to make it a law that “fact checkers” must register with the state and may be assessed fines of up to $1,000 if they fail to comply, the Detroit News reports.

Republican state representative Matt Maddock’s draft legislation, called the “Fact Checker Registration Act” would also require all “fact checkers” to carry a bond of $1 million.  Maddock defines a “fact checker” as anyone who publishes in print or online in Michigan, is paid by a fact-checking organization and is a member of the International Fact Check Network.

FACT CHECK:  The “International Fact Check Network” isn’t a membership organization; it’s a group formed by the Poynter Institute to put out some basic responsibilities and standards for fact checkers working independently or through other media. 

Caitlyn Jenner, the athlete-turned-reality television star-turned political hopeful, stated unequivocally in a CNN interview aired Monday that she didn’t vote in the 2020 election, saying that she “couldn’t get excited” about the election.

Stating that she did a very Trumpian thing in going golfing rather than voting for her friend Donald Trump, Jenner said her vote wouldn’t have mattered in the election because she’s a Republican in Deep Blue California.

“I didn’t even vote,” gubernatorial candidate Jenner told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Out here in California, it’s like, why vote for a Republican president?  It’s just not going to work. I mean, it’s overwhelming.”

But also in a very Trumpian way, she’s been proven to be lying.  Voting records are public in California, and Politico found that Los Angeles County records show that Jenner did, in fact, vote in the November 2020 election.  While the candidates for whom she voted is confidential, the fact that Jenner voted is public record.

Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney is not going quietly into the GOP’s dark night.

“We must speak the truth. Our election was not stolen. And America has not failed,” Cheney said.

Whether she’s doing it to save the American republic or to save her position as Republican Caucus Chair, Cheney laid it all on the table during an impassioned floor speech decrying the direction the GOP has taken:  in subservience to Donald Trump.

Actor Norman Lloyd, known for his television role on the 1980s television show St. Elsewhere as well as films directed by Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, died Tuesday at the age of 106, USA Today reports.

Typically, NatZero would not cover the death of an actor–no matter if his career was as successful and honored as Lloyd’s–but Lloyd wasn’t just an actor.  He was also someone who stood up to the bully of McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklist, one of the last living artists impacted by it.

The Hollywood Blacklist was conservative “cancel culture” at its worst.  Actors, producers, directors, singers–even low-level crew–were denied work because of alleged ties to communism and the Soviet Union.

A little history lesson:  In 1947, Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate during the Truman administration.  In the start of the Cold War, radical anti-communist Republicans took over the House Un-American Affairs Committee, a one-time ad hoc committee set up to investigate activities by communists, fascists and “enemy sympathizers.”

The Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department has been hit by a severe ransomware attack by the Babuk hacker group, who has released personnel files and is threatening to release information on ongoing investigations and informants, the Washington Post reports.

The group has posted a password-protected file that it says contains information on criminal investigations, secret informants and gang members, but it has not yet posted the password to unlock the file.  “You still have the ability to stop it,” the group wrote.

Babuk earlier released the personnel files of more than 3,600 current and former police officers and other employees.  The Department employs more than 3,800 officers and about 700 civilians.

“Congratulations to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts for the privilege they will have in looking at massive windmills that have been approved by the Biden Administration and are being built, in China of course, as part of an extraordinarily large wind farm. Wind is an incredibly expensive form of energy that kills birds, affects the sea, ruins the landscape, and creates disasters for navigation. Liberals love it, but they can’t explain why. In any event, Martha’s Vineyard, an absolutely wonderful place, will never be the same. Good Luck!” says Former Guy on his blog – which isn’t doing so hot.

NBC News reported Tuesday that, per data compiled by an analytics firm, “Trump’s new blog has attracted a little over 212,000 engagements, defined as backlinks and social interactions – including likes, shares and comments – received across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Reddit. Before the ban, a single Trump tweet was typically liked and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times.”

UPDATE:  Annnnnndddddd…. it just got scrubbed, again.

A NASA rocket launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, could create a light show along the East Coast tonight just before sunset, with a launch window running from 8:04 p.m. to 8:44 p.m. ET, according to Space.com.

The four-state Black Brant XII rocket is on a mission called the KiNETic-scale energy and momentum transport eXperiment, or KiNet-X.

The rocket will release barium vapor, former two green-violet clouds as it flies overhead, approximately 10 minutes after launch.  The clouds will last for about 30 seconds and be visible up and down the East Coast and as far west as the Mississippi River.

Daily Beast: “Multiple women paid by Rep. Matt Gaetz’s wingman and close associate Joel Greenberg claim they felt pressured to do drugs and have sex with him. Twelve women agreed to talk with The Daily Beast about their experiences with Greenberg and his friends under the condition of anonymity. All of them said it was their understanding that Greenberg – who until his indictment last June served as the elected tax collector for Seminole County, Florida – was paying them at least in part for sex, going as far back as 2013. Ten women told The Daily Beast they felt pressure at one time or another to drink or take drugs as an entree to sex.”

“And all 12 said Greenberg encouraged them to invite friends, either for himself or men he knew. None of the women The Daily Beast talked to used the phrase ‘sexual assault’ in their interviews, and the encounters seemed to cover a spectrum of experiences. Some women described platonic encounters where they still got paid. Others relayed that they had consensual sex for money. But some characterized their experiences as a trauma, and four women said Greenberg pressured them them to have sex – with one recounting that she had sex with Greenberg and another woman after being plied with ‘an endless supply of drugs.'”

The House Judiciary Committee filed a court motion Tuesday afternoon confirming that former White House Counsel for Donald Trump will testify before the committee, an action that had been challenged by the Executive Branch for more than two years.

McGahn, now a partner in the Jones Day law firm, had been ordered to not comply with a House subpoena by the Trump Administration.  Although he had left the White House, McGahn had been called by the Judiciary Committee to testify about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Mueller investigation and the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Trump White House, citing Executive Privilege, continued to block McGahn’s testimony, and oral arguments were set to be heard by the DC District Court on May 19th.  The motion removes that case from the court docket, saying that an agreement was reached between the White House Counsel’s office, now part of the Biden White House, and the House Judiciary Committee.  The motion notes, “Former President Trump, who is not a party to this case, is not a party to the agreement in principle regarding an accommodation.”

Two transgender women in Cameroon were found guilty of “attempted homosexuality” after being arrested in a restaurant for dressing in women’s clothing, Reuters reports.  They face a sentence of up to five years in prison each.

A local social media celebrity known as Shakiro, who also is identified as Loic Njeukam, and Patricia, also identified as Roland Mouthe, were arrested on February 8th and also charged with public indecency and failing to carry identification.  Cameroon is one of 39 countries in Africa where homosexuality is illegal.

“This is a political decision,” said one of the lawyers, Alice Nkom. “It’s Yaounde (the central government) that said these people must not bring homosexuality to Cameroon.”  Nkom said she would appeal the decision to a higher court.

Palestine doesn’t exist. I definitely did not say Palestine. https://t.co/0FCJPE8mOd

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) May 11, 2021

Daily Beast: “Students for Trump co-founder and pugnacious MAGA Twitter star Ryan Fournier allegedly helped his friend create a fake law firm to bilk innocent clients, only to turn against his one-time partner to help federal law enforcement, according to records and statements made Tuesday by a lawyer involved in the case. The new revelations about Fournier’s alleged involvement in the fake law firm came after a Tuesday sentencing hearing where a federal judge sentenced Fournier’s Students for Trump co-founder, 25-year-old John Lambert, to 13 months in jail for operating a fake law practice. Court records have long suggested that Fournier was the unnamed ‘Co-Conspirator 1’ named in Lambert’s 2019 indictment.”

“On Tuesday, Lambert’s defense attorney said that Fournier was the co-conspirator in an interview with the New York Daily News. Lambert’s attorney confirmed Fournier’s involvement in an email to The Daily Beast. Fournier didn’t respond to requests for comment. Fournier will not face prosecution himself, according to a document filed by federal prosecutors. In a federal court filing, the man now identified as Fournier is described as ‘providing information to the government since in or about April 2018 in the hope of not being charged for his role in the wire-fraud conspiracy.'”

Barry Glazer, a Baltimore lawyer (in)famous for his late-night commercial appeals to potential clients saying, “Don’t urinate on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” spent more than $80,000 in an online auction to purchase a bicycle owned by the late Princess Diana, and the people of England are deeply chagrined about it, the Baltimore Sun writes.

Glazer says the bike is a symbol of “white supremacy” and will display the bike in his downtown office, a building once used to house escaped slaves.  Glazer said he bought the bike as a publicity stunt, and that he felt a connection to Diana’s bike because she would ride it around the Pimlico neighborhood of London when she worked as a teaching assistant; Glazer grew up in the Pimlico neighborhood of Baltimore.

Britain’s Daily Mail doesn’t think too highly of Glazer’s acquisition, calling him a “Royal hater” and suggesting that Glazer’s $80K could have gone to better causes.

“Police said a Dunkin’ store employee fatally punched a 77-year-old customer in Florida after the employee said the man repeatedly used a racial slur against him. The victim, a man who police did not name, was punched May 4 and died Friday. That led to a manslaughter charge against 27-year-old Corey Pujols, who worked at the store. Pujols told police that the man was ‘extremely rude’ the day of the punch and had called him a racial slur. Pujols, who is Black, said he confronted the man about the slur, at which point the 77-year-old repeated it. The slur was not described further by police. A Tampa Police Department report says after he was punched, the victim fell backward and hit his head on the concrete floor. The Tampa Bay Times reports an autopsy shows the man suffered a skull fracture and brain contusions” – AP.

Washington Post: “Kentucky Derby champion Medina Spirit was cleared to race in Saturday’s 146th Preakness Stakes after embattled trainer Bob Baffert agreed Tuesday to enhanced blood-testing and monitoring of the horse – conditions required by Preakness organizers in the wake of the Medina Spirit’s positive test for a banned substance in the aftermath of his Derby win.”

“At Tuesday’s post-position draw at Pimlico Race Course, Medina Spirit drew the No. 3 position and was installed as the morning-line, 9-5 favorite. Baffert revealed Sunday that Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a corticosteroid, touching off three days of chaos for the sport. After initially denying giving the horse the substance, Baffert acknowledged Tuesday morning Medina Spirit was being treated with an anti-fungal ointment containing the banned substance.”

Two then-acting heads of Cabinet departments during the Trump administration will attempt to defend the actions they took to protect the Capitol and members of Congress during the January 6th insurrectionist attack in a Congressional hearing scheduled for Wednesday, according to advanced copies of statements obtained by Politico.

Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen have been widely criticised for failing to provide sufficient security and support to the Capitol Police and DC Metropolitan Police who were besieged by a mob of Trump supporters.  Media reports and testimony from other officials outline a delay of many hours in reinforcements arriving at the Capitol, and lawmakers question preparedness of security based on intelligence collected by federal law enforcement.

In the statements obtained by Politico, Miller says he stands by “EVERY decision I made that day and the ones I made in the days following January 6. Our Nation’s Armed Forces are to be deployed for domestic law enforcement only when all civilian assets are expended and ONLY as the absolute last resort.”

“A federal judge has dismissed the NRA’s bankruptcy case, finding that the NRA was just using the bankruptcy as a vehicle to avoid the New York AG’s attempt to dissolve it for alleged corruption. The federal judge said the NRA did not file the bankruptcy case in good faith, and ‘agrees with the NYAG that the NRA is using this bankruptcy case to address a regulatory enforcement problem, not a financial one'” reports NPR’s Tim Mak.

Israel Palestinian explosion, Middle East conflict news today, media reported. Concern controversy Gaza Israel Hamas Hezbollah. Peace process Netanyahu Israel settlements. Explosion reported Dome of the Rock Settlement West Bank something. Jerusalem conflict controversy, fucking Destiny 2 won’t load on Xbox server error but write article about Israel explosions while waiting even though don’t care something. Israel Palestine whatever don’t care rockets this shit has been happening for decades even though Kushner was supposed to fix it. Dishwasher needs to be emptied, go Israel dishwasher Palestine drying rack. Hamas Crunch Berries good, might eat even though not hungry. Kushner did not fix Israel whatever problem. Palestine. Gaza. Crunch Berries.