Crooked Media - The hateful bait

President Biden urged protestors to stay peaceful, as demonstrations and arrests continued to roil campuses around the country.

• More than 2,000 demonstrators have been arrested at pro-Palestinian campus protests nationwide. That includes more than 200 at UCLA, where cops dismantled the protest encampment after clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Those arrests have taken place at no fewer than 36 schools, according to the AP. Still, at some campuses, protesters and administrators have reached agreements to move encampments so protests can continue while allowing finals and other school functions to proceed. 

• President Biden addressed the protests today from the White House, where he supported protesters’ right to dissent and free speech, but also condemned violence, destruction of property, and ethnic abuse. “Peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues,” Biden said. “Violent protest is not protected, peaceful protest is.” Biden claimed the protests haven’t impacted his thinking on Gaza at all. But the fact that he felt compelled to give these remarks shows they’ve clearly captured his attention—and, presumably, the attention of his pollsters.  

• Republicans, by contrast, seem to have boiled the protests down to one, endlessly repeated claim: antisemitism. It’s not hard to see the drive-a-wedge-among-Dems advantage to this charge for the GOP. What’s more subtle is the utter cynicism of the claim. The GOP’s staunch defense of Jews would be a lot more believable if: they didn’t support Donald Trump when he dined with America’s best-known Holocaust denier at Mar-a-Lago, years after taking two days to condemn the amalgam of white nationalists and neo-Nazis intermixed with “very fine people” at Charlottesville in 2017; or if Kevin McCarthy hadn’t tweeted an antisemitic rallying cry to supporters before the 2018 midterms; or if the GOP hadn’t imported “Great Replacement” theory — the very one that inspired mass murderers at the Tree of Life Synagogue, Buffalo, El Paso and elsewhere — from the fringes of racist message boards to the heart of GOP immigration rhetoric. To be clear, antisemitism has sometimes reared its head at protests. But the vast majority of student-led protests have kept their focus on criticizing Israel’s government, its actions, and their schools’ relationship with them. Which is part of the point. Cynically tarring all protest as antisemitic also spares GOPs from giving a thought to the demonstrators' key charge: The bombardment of Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians.

Republicans are pretending to care about antisemitism, hoping it drives division among Democrats and promotes a feeling of chaos in Joe Biden’s America. Pretty cynical and pretty gross!

Disgraced former president Donald Trump was back in court—aka, the nap room. (Seriously, the guy can’t seem to stay awake in his own criminal trial. Unbelievable.) This time there were four NEW alleged gag order violations. Judge Juan Merchan has already fined Trump for nine other online posts attacking witnesses and the jury, and warned him that he can be jailed if he keeps it up. 

Meanwhile, the legal circus continued. Michael Cohen’s hilarious “Donald Von SchitzInPantz” insult of Trump actually made it into evidence, after being read outloud in court by Trump's own lawyer. Trump used his lunch break to deny reports that he falls asleep in the trial, despite all the witnesses who insist that he does. (Apparently, his lawyers can’t keep him awake!) And the jury heard actual evidence, including Michael Cohen’s bombshell tape where he tells Donald Trump, "I need to open up a company for the transfer about our friend David." ‘David Dennison’ was a code name for Trump, who was paying “Peggy Peterson,” aka Stormy Daniels. 

Arizona’s Dem Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of that state’s 1864 abortion ban that nearly came into effect thanks to Republicans’ overturning of Roe v Wade. But confusion in Arizona is far from over. The repeal won’t go into effect for months, and court challenges are likely to muddy things even further. 

Russia, China, and Iran are using online propaganda tactics to inflame the politics around pro-Palestinian and divide Americans. See above: So interesting how closely their incentives align with Republicans’ these days!

Trump confirmed what everyone already knew: he won't commit to accepting the results if he loses (again) in 2024.

Some Senate Republicans are not buying Donald Trump’s outrageous immunity arguments pending in the Supreme Court. Take Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) illustrated his point by making a shooty-gun-hand-sign at a reporter today and asked: “Could I, as president, shoot you in the head? Of course not.” 

South Dakota Gov. and Trump veepstakes hopeful Kristi Noem is tripling down on the wisdom of shooting a 14-month-old dog in a gravel pit. Now Noem says the dog was a mortal threat to her childrens’ safety. She actually said: “I chose my kids.”  

More self-owning veepstakes! Here’s Ohio GOP Sen. and Trump veep hopeful JD Vance getting owned for urging police to arrest anyone who vandalized a school building, after raising money on behalf of those who stormed the Capitol. 

Our great national nightmare of expensive chocolate seems to finally be drawing to an end. Cocoa prices are dropping fast!

Check out the first-aid skills on Rakus, the Sumatran orangutan! It’s the first time scientists have observed an animal doing self-care with a medicinal plant.