Another day, another $1,000. That’s the fine the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York slapped on him today for violating a gag order …
■ … and that comes with a renewed threat of jail if Trump keeps making statements that undermine “the fair administration of justice.”
■ Here’s what Trump said.
■ Follow AP’s live updates through the day.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke compares those vying to be Trump’s running mate to people asking for “sticking-your-finger-in-a-light-socket duty.”
‘Those who pay the greatest lip-service to freedom—overpaid college presidents and news anchors, or self-serving members of Congress—are also the first to call in the riot police on those trying to exercise it.’ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch: “Trump is wrong about almost everything but he was 100% right about this: When it comes to dictatorship, there are a lot of people who like it.”
■ Over a weekend of escalating tension on Chicago’s college campuses, 68 anti-war protesters were arrested at the School of the Art Institute.
■ University of Chicago faculty members acting as liaisons between police and protesters had scheduled a news conference for this morning.
■ Columbia University in New York’s canceled its commencement ceremonies.
■ Amplifying some of the most insightful journalism on the protests, New York Magazine has teamed up with the Columbia Daily Spectator student newspaper.
■ NOTUS: Congressional Republicans are in the hunt for ways to punish colleges.
■ Popular Information spotlights the corporations—hi, Coca-Cola, Verizon, Delta, AT&T—backing a Republican congressman who cheered on the racist hecklers of a Black anti-war protester at the University of Mississippi.
■ Humorist Andy Borowitz mocks the Trump administration’s education secretary: “Betsy DeVos Calls For All Colleges and Universities to Be Closed Forever.”
■ Marking his HBO show’s 300th episode, John Oliver last night slammed a Fox News reporter for confronting a Columbia University protester with “what might be the dumbest question ever asked on TV.”
Get out. Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate the city of Rafah ahead of a long-threatened ground invasion.
‘Chicago is a deep, deep well of major Democratic campaign cash.’ Which is why the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet says President Biden’s headed back to town Wednesday.
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos reports that “Pro-Palestinian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden’s biggest donors.”
■ The Onion: “Advisors Assure Biden This Will Blow Over Once All Gazans Dead.”
■ Pro-Israel Political Update columnist Steve Sheffey: “In a fit of childish pique, several Jewish organizations withdrew from a White House meeting on antisemitism because they didn’t like some of the other Jewish organizations invited.”
■ Public Notice: Fox News hosts have cooled it on all that Hunter Biden stuff, because “smear campaigns have consequences.”
Parade rest. Reports of shots fired—and subsequent arrest of some people—brought Little Village’s Cinco de Mayo celebration to a premature end yesterday.
■ Ahead of two shows that brought out almost 500 people Saturday night, burglars early that day stole lighting equipment, alcohol, laptops and iPhones from FitzGerald’s Nightclub in Berwyn.
■ A post to the club’s Facebook page: “Thanks, misfortune, for reminding us who we really are.”
Thirsty? The Lever reports that Congress has quietly yanked from an aviation bill a guarantee of airline passengers’ right to drinking water …
■ … and watered down that much-celebrated rule promising automatic refunds for passengers whose flights are delayed significantly or canceled.
‘Amazon is very good at everything it does, including being very bad at the things it doesn’t want to do.’ Columnist and author Cory Doctorow: “When it benefits Amazon, … they are … relentless in inventing new forms of f**kery.”
■ Business Insider: Amazon’s warehouse robot fleet has more than doubled over the last three years.
■ Wired: What you should know about Apple’s worsening iPhone spyware problem.
Pandemic flashback. From Chicago Public Square on this date in 2020:
‘Someone will get hurt.’ Illinois retailers are worried that enforcing the state’s guidelines for the wearing of masks inside stores will lead to violence.■ Visiting a factory that makes masks, President Trump declined to wear a mask.■ The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah acknowledges “wearing a mask can make it hard to breathe” but adds: “You know what else can make it hard to breathe? Coronavirus.”
