Crooked Media - Ceasefire and brimstone

A Gaza ceasefire failed to materialize as talks continue to avert a potentially devastating assault on the city of Rafah by Israeli forces. 

• Hopes of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas appeared to fall through Monday as diplomats continued negotiating and Israel said it would move ahead with its imminent invasion of Rafah. Palestinians in Gaza had celebrated when Hamas officials said they accepted a ceasefire-for-hostages agreement. But Israeli officials quickly dismissed Hamas’ claim, saying Hamas had accepted a different version than the one on offer. 

• Israel warned Gazans sheltering in Rafah to evacuate a humanitarian zone, suggesting the Israel Defense Forces may launch an operation there soon. Some strikes have already started, the IDF said. The United Nations human rights chief denounced the evacuation order as “inconceivable” and “inhumane,” warning that Gazans essentially have nowhere left to go without aid. Cindy McCain, head of the U.N.’s World Food Program said Sunday that Northern Gaza has entered a “full-blown famine.” Official famine declarations require meeting three grim benchmarks that U.N. officials say are close to being realized in Gaza. 

• In the U.S., four Palestinian children arrived in New York to receive medical care. The Biden Administration is considering admitting Palestinians fleeing Gaza under the refugee assistance program, according to CBS News, though the White House hasn’t confirmed the decision. Columbia University canceled its campus-wide commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 15 in the wake of crackdowns on protests, though individual schools and facilities will still have ceremonies. Meanwhile, journalists and media workers covering the war in Gaza received a Pulitzer Prize special citation Monday. As of this week, 97 journalists and media workers have been killed covering the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

U.S. officials are in the region trying to salvage the deal, while Israel says it’s still up for more talks. The next few days seem critical.

Disgraced former President Donald Trump now appears to be officially on notice that another violation of the gag order in his New York election-interference & hush-money trial would mean jail. After finding Trump in contempt for the 10th time today, Judge Juan Merchan said fining Trump for non-compliance isn’t working. “Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan warned. 

This dynamic raises some gnarly questions. Will Trump risk a jail cell to burnish his self-styled martyrdom and raise more campaign cash? Does he actually have the guts to take the ride to Rikers like his former CFO, Allen Weisselberg has done, twice? How much self-control does Trump actually have over his jumpy Twitter-thumbs? And what does jailing a former Commander-in-Chief even look like, practically speaking? 

After court, Trump told reporters jail is a “sacrifice” he’d do “any day.” For days Trump’s been falsely stating that Merchan's gag order keeps him from testifying on his own behalf. Today he added that the Constitution is “much more important than jail.” This could be the empty bluster of a blow-hard, or what Trump imagines is grounds for appeal if he’s convicted. For better, or worse, we’re all about to find out.

Trump veep pick-me Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) refused over the weekend to say what she and literally everyone else knows to be true: That she’s never met North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Noem keeps saying she moved to remove the story from her book as soon as “it came to my attention”...which, amusingly, does NOT explain why she blew right through the fabricated Kim tale when she recorded the audiobook version. 

Noem has apparently been itching for years to tell the story of how she very leaderishly shot her 14-month-old dog in a gravel pit: She wanted to include the horrible episode in her first book, but literally her entire team of agents, publicists and a ghost writer managed to cut it, according to Politico. 

Noem, who insists on tripling down on the importance of shooting dogs, also suggested Joe Biden’s dog, Commander — who has a reputation for biting people — should be shot, too. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the comments “disturbing.”  

GOP and veep c’mon-pick-MEE Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) arguably out-clowned Noem on Sunday by repeatedly refusing to say he’d honor the results of the 2024 election. WANTED: MAGA VP. Must lie about the election. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) met for two hours with Speaker Mike Johson, who’s she’s threatening to try to oust. She doesn’t have the votes now that Dems are pledging to protect Johnson, but, as ever,she loves to be at the center of  GOP chaos. They’re planning to meet again tomorrow.  There’s truly no one to root for here, which is, in a way, kind of relaxing!

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced he’s running for re-election to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate in November. Sanders, who’s 82, reiterated his opposition to Pres. Biden’s policies toward Israel and Gaza, but also his support for Biden's re-election.

The Republican who served as Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor when Trump tried to steal the 2020 election there says he’s voting for Joe Biden. “I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass," Geoff Duncan wrote on Monday. 

Did Texas GOP Congressman Troy Nehls receive one Bronze Star medal, or two? And why does the congressman continue wearing a Combat Infantryman Badge lapel pin from his time in Afghanistan when the award was revoked in March, 2023?

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An eighth-grade boy in Wisconsin named Acie Holland III saved a speeding bus full of students from a near crash when the driver became unresponsive due to a medical emergency. Holland took charge, applied the brakes, and safely parked the bus, quite frankly making Keanu Reeves look like an amateur. 

Canceling billions of dollars in student debt isn’t just for Joe Biden’s America. Australia can do it to…for up to 3 million Aussie borrowers.

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