Fast Takes: Singing the ActBlues, girl dads mobilized in Maine and more

ActBlue, the Democratic donation-processing behemoth, has “been criticized by its own stakeholders for being too careless in its compliance with campaign finance laws, too lax in its policing of PACs that use its platform, and for extensive internal chaos,” warns The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner.Worse, the criticism has brought no real changes, with reports of “sham PACs” that “use ActBlue to deceive donors” and steer money to PACs’ consultants rather than candidates.

Plus, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones has been slammed for her “top-down brand of management and a regal travel style.” A “criminal indictment” could bring “an unfortunate squandering of infrastructure that took three decades to build.” Democrats “deserve better from their own.”For all Maine’s “progressive credentials,” a group of 8,000 girl dads is pushing an initiative “rooted in biological reality to reclaim women’s sports,” for their daughters, cheers The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn.Leyland Streiff & Co.

aim to “get their Protect Girls’ Sports in Maine initiative on the November ballot.” They say it’s not about excluding trans students, but getting “their daughters to take their rightful places on fields.” Opponents say the proposition “violates the Maine Human Rights Act,” which “forbids discrimination on the basis of ‘gender identity,’ ” but it aligns Maine with federal protections under Title IX.The group collected 70,000 signatures, but “approval was then reversed after a review by Maine’s secretary of state found more than 12,500 signatures invalid.” Mainers support this initiative, polls show; if it doesn’t make the ballot this year, says Streiff, it will “in November 2027 or 2028.”“Do public school Gifted and Talented (G&T) programs improve outcomes, or unfairly favor affluent families?” asks City Journal’s John Ketcham.

Whines that “G&T is mostly a way to entrench disad...