*Emmanuel Macron Vanquishes Marine Le Pen to Become President of France

Emmanuel Macron has been elected the next president of France, defeating far-right candidate Marine Le Penand ending, for now, what had seemed a tidal wave of populism and nativism sweeping the West. Macron won by a landslide according to official counts, with 65.68 percent of the valid ballots versus 34.32 percent for Le Pen. Trump favored Le Pen’s anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, closed-border protectionist positions, which would have gone a long way toward destroying the European Union and NATO as we know them. He called Le Pen the “strongest” candidate on security issues, as he sees them. (Trump tweeted his congratulations to Macron in unusually stiff language, and the White House offered formal felicitations, while Germany’s Angela Merkel, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Britain’s Theresa May spoke with Macron directly within minutes of the announced results.)  The president-elect supports reforms on immigration issues, including much stronger European borders, and he takes a tough stand on terrorism, of course, but it is untainted by the thinly disguised racism integral to the history of Le Pen’s National Front party. Macron supports reforms to the European Union, not its dissolution and destruction, and is also a firm believer in the North Atlantic Alliance, which Trump used to call “obsolete,” then decided it was no longer so.

*EPA Cuts Half of Advisers on Key Panel

*Texas Gov. Signs ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Ban on Facebook Live

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed “sanctuary cities” ban Senate Bill 4 into law Sunday night, broadcasting via Facebook Live without a press conference or notifying the media. Dubbed a “Show Me Your Papers” law, the measure threatens law-enforcement officials with jail time if they don’t cooperate with federal agencies in cracking down on undocumented immigrants, and allows police to inquire about a person’s immigration status even for a minor traffic stop. It has been condemned by Democrats and human-rights groups as legalized discrimination; a similar law, Arizona SB 1070, was partly struck down in 2012 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Abbott, by himself, gave a five-minute speech on Facebook Live around 7 p.m. “Texas has now banned ‘sanctuary cities’ in the Lone Star State,” he said. “Now let’s be clear, the reason why so many people come to America is because we are a nation of laws. And Texas is doing its part to keep it that way.” A spokesman for the governor said Abbott chose to use Facebook Live “for the page views,” the Texas Observer reported. Local Democrats have said they will challenge the legislation before it takes effect Sept. 1.

*Hunger Strike Leader Secretly Ate

A surveillance video purporting to show a Palestinian hunger-strike leader secretly eating food in his prison cell in Israel is fueling accusations of hypocrisy—as well as charges it is a fake. Israel’s prison service released a video that purports to show Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted on murder charges in 2004, eating cookies inside his cell on April 27, and then another item on May 5. Barghouti’s wife disputed the authenticity of the footage, calling it a fabrication intended to discredit those taking part in the hunger strike—nearly 900 prisoners who are demanding better conditions. “This hunger strike was never about the conditions of the convicted terrorists, which meet international standards,” said Gilad Erdan, Israel’s public-security minister. “Barghouti is a murderer and hypocrite who urged his fellow prisoners to strike and suffer while he ate behind their back.” Qadoura Fares of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club told the Associated Press that Israel was waging “psychological warfare” against those participating in the hunger strike.

*Bill Clinton, James Patterson Writing Novel Together

Former President Bill Clinton and author James Pattersonare writing a novel together, two top publishing companies announced Monday. The book, The President Is Missing, will be released in June 2018. According to Publishers Weekly, Clinton and Patterson have been friends since they met on a golf course a decade ago, and the book idea originated withBob Barnett, an attorney in Washington, D.C. “Working on a book about a sitting president—drawing on what I know about the job, life in the White House, and the way Washington works—has been a lot of fun,” Clinton said. Patterson said it has been “the highlight of my career” to work with Clinton. “Having access to his firsthand experience has uniquely informed the writing of his novel,” he added.

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