☕️ THE OTHER ALIENS ☙ Saturday, May 9, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Good morning, C&C, it’s Saturday! Time for the all-good-news Weekend Edition Roundup: the Virginia Supreme Court strikes down a $70-million Democrat gerrymander; Pete Hegseth invites home the warriors discharged for refusing Biden’s jab; Trump quietly brokers the longest Russia-Ukraine ceasefire of the war; and the Pentagon’s much-anticipated UFO files prove the only aliens worth worrying about are already running our state legislatures. 🔥🔥🔥 Sometimes a headline is so delicious and satisfying that I simply must screen-grab it for you, and this morning’s New York Times version was one of the best yet: Imagine the excruciating pain experienced by the NYT headline editor forced to greenlight a headline including “Huge Blow to Democrats” and a “major victory for Republicans.” Anyway, that’s how badly Democrats are taking the final inglorious end of their most hopeful gerrymander law, which would have swapped Virginia’s current 6D-5R maps for 10D-1R. The gerrymandering law was so flawed that not even Virginia’s liberal Supreme Court could rescue it. They’d approved the gerrymandering bill after 40% of voters had already cast ballots without it. The court, not unreasonably, was skeptical of changing the ballot in mid-election. It was a setback, and for a reaction, the Times reported on progressives’ emotions. “Democrats seemed despondent over the decision,” the Times wrote. “They had invested eight months and nearly $70 million to pass the referendum.” That’s a lot, even in 2026 dollars. Will anybody be fired? Now, as the Times said, it’s all “wiped away.” They just lost $70 million of donor money that can no longer be spent on the midterm races. Money shredder go brrrrrrr. It’s not like we didn’t warn them. Mike Young, Virginians for Fair Maps, said: “On the first day Democrats tried to enact this scheme, we said it was illegal and unconstitutional.” Kamala “Chuckles” Harris, who herself was installed without a single primary vote, laughably complained that Virginia’s Supreme Court “ignored the will of the people.” House Minority Leader Hakeem “Praise be to Allah” Jeffries (D-NY) whined bitterly, “the decision to overturn an entire election is an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand.” Don Scott, Virginia House Speaker and the named plaintiff in the case, said “voices of the people matter” even as he pushed the referendum through with 40% of ballots already cast. The most ironic grousing was excreted by Gavin “Hairdo” Newsom, who spat, “MAGA has rigged the system.” Alert readers will recall that it was the Virginia gerrymander that made all this Democrat despondency politically possible. Remember that, before Virginia’s Dems rushed the last-minute measure onto the in-progress ballot, Indiana Republicans had high-mindedly declined to “unfairly” redistrict that red state (and then paid the price). But, after Virginia’s blatantly illegal trickery and all-costs maximalism, Republicans all around the country became highly motivated. So now, between this Virginia ruling, SCOTUS’s Voting Rights Act decision (Callais), and state-level redistricting in TX (+5), FL (+4), MO (+1), NC (+1), TN (+1), LA (+1), SC (+1), and AL (+1), the Cook Report projects Republicans will net +8 House seats from redistricting alone. Democrats went from only needing to flip +3 seats to needing +11— a nearly insurmountable margin. They literally redistricted themselves into a worse position than where they’d started. “While Democrats have themselves grown more ruthless about gerrymandering,” the article admitted, “they are broadly struggling to keep up.” That’s one way of putting it. 🔥 EDITOR’S NOTE: This was not Todd’s account, it was a very close lookalike. My proof missed it. Yesterday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche tweeted about the decision. He finally said what I’ve been telling you since last fall (and on which I recently doubled down on in my polycrisis article). As far as I know, this is the first time a top Trump Administration official has made this prediction. Behold, the last two paragraphs of Todd’s tweet, which I’d argue describes the polycrisis without naming it: Meanwhile, overnight, Virginia’s Democrats launched a long-shot petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. I would explain how wildly unlikely that is, but the Times grudgingly made the case for me, right in its own story: I give their SCOTUS appeal zero chances. They almost certainly know it, too. It’s probably just a play for time. For what? Who knows. In one amusing clip, Bill Maher was gobsmacked. “It seemed only a few weeks ago, maybe months ago, that it would be impossible for the Democrats to lose this election- no way,” he began. “Well, headline today: way.” CLIP: Bill Maher explains how “Republicans are winning the gerrymander war (1:28).” We expected corporate media’s unmitigated gaslighting that Trump’s redistricting battle plan would backfire. But too many Republicans who should have known better also boarded the doom bus. For example, Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA) said, “It was a mistake to go down this road.” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) called GOP gerrymandering “bad for our country” and said “nobody should ever go down this route.” But now, the President has been fully vindicated— even by the Grey Lady herself. Doubters are now welcome to apologize. Like I keep saying: Let the man work. 💉💉💉 I apologize for all the “I told you so’s” lately, but what can I say? We’ve been awash with opportunities lately. Next up: I’ve told you the covid wars weren’t even close to over. Yesterday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a Department of War COVID-19 Reinstatement and Reconciliation Task Force. They are making everything new again. Between August, 2021 and January 2023, about 8,700 courageous servicemembers were involuntarily discharged or separated by the Biden Administration for declining the military’s mandatory experimental covid shots. Around 4,000 were not even honorably discharged, but got ‘general’ discharge terms along with a reprimand, which penalized their re-enlistment options and reduced their benefits. “Under the leadership of President Trump,” Hegseth said, “the War Department is committed to doing everything we can to make it right. We want warriors of conscience — warriors who made a principled stand for truth.” (The phrase ‘warriors of conscience’ would have gotten a 2022 Pentagon staffer fired. Same words. Same office. Different planet.) Any servicemember discharged for refusing the covid jab, who wishes to re-enlist, will be reinstated at their original rank with full back pay and benefits. “You were mistreated by the Biden Pentagon, and we are fixing that injustice.” Second, “even if you do not intend to return to service,” the Secretary continued, “the War Department will provide a path for resolution of unearned bonuses, upgrades to discharge characterizations that will unlock your well-deserved benefits, and removal of adverse documents from your service files.” Finally, he addressed the future: “I have directed a review of policies and decision-making to ensure that we do not go down this path again.” This is terrific news for our servicemembers. Both those who bravely resisted Biden’s tyrannical jab mandates, and even those who gave in— who’ll now never face mandates like them again. (Last month, Hegseth even canceled long-standing flu shot requirements, making that seasonal jab optional for the first time.) It’s easy to connect these dots: flu shots made optional last month; covid-mandate discharges undone this week; a directed policy review behind both. The Biden-era mandate culture isn’t just being repealed— it’s being nuked from orbit. But more significantly, this proves the backlash against covid mandates continues. It shows people are still as quietly furious now as they were back when Biden was stiff-legging it across the lawn and the Autopen was scribbling like a runaway robot. Covid still remains a powerful political tool, so…