‘Human scum’ / ‘Tragic mishap’ / Hey, kids! Christianity!

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‘Human scum.’ An ex-president of the United States of America used that phrase to wish everyone a “happy Memorial Day.”
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: Donald Trump is “a hateful, spiteful child.”
■ Message Box columnist Dan Pfeiffer: TikTok is helping Trump’s re-election campaign.
■ Live updates: Closing arguments in the trial were set to begin today.

The Post knew. Poynter media writer Tom Jones analyzes the embarrassing revelation that The Washington Post sat for more than three years on the story of an insurrectionist flag flying over the home of Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito.
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner: “As Alito provided an essential fifth vote hollowing out the Fourteenth Amendment’s bar to insurrectionists’ holding office, the Post sat silent.”
■ Parker Molloy: “Maybe it makes sense that the Post is losing tens of millions of dollars per year if this is the kind of anti-journalism they’re doing.”
■ Columnist Julia Gray: “WaPo shat the bed.”
■ At The American Prospect, cartoonist Tom Tomorrow channels Alito: “Look, I keep telling you—I don’t pay any attention to what my wife does! I’m not entirely certain I would recognize her on the street!”

‘Tragic mishap.’ That’s how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes one of Israel’s deadliest attacks of the war: A strike that set fire to a southern Gaza refugee camp, killing dozens.
■ More from the AP: “‘We have nothing.’ As Israel attacks Rafah, Palestinians are living in tents and searching for food.”
■ Self-described “pro-Israel” columnist Steve Sheffey: “Speaker Johnson’s invitation to Netanyahu is not pro-Israel. It’s … a political stunt.”

‘This absolutely feels like retaliation.’ Two former Cook County Jail officials say they were fired after complaining that they were pushed to do campaign work for Sheriff Tom Dart.
■ Chicago’s holiday weekend violence toll: At least 41 shot—including a five-year-old girl killed on the Near West Side Sunday.
■ Illinois Answers Project: A Chicago Public Schools principal and staff frustrated a police investigation of a December 2022 mass shooting at Juarez High School.

Hey, kids! Christianity! Popular Information: “Training materials produced by the Florida Department of Education direct middle and high school teachers to indoctrinate students in the tenets of Christian nationalism.”
■ For the first time in 155 years, a New Jersey beach that has closed on Sunday mornings during a Christian religious group’s ceremonies was opened on the morning before Memorial Day.

BuzzScreed. Former presidential candidate and Trump fanboy Vivek Ramaswamy—now an activist investor in BuzzFeed—has released a long letter calling for drastic cuts across the company.
■ A University of Chicago MBA student writes in the Tribune: “Hundreds of American companies have quietly continued operating in Russia, and one of the most egregious offenders is Chicago-based Mondelez International, the manufacturer of Oreo cookies.”

‘Classic story about two guys who seemed poised to grab the American Dream … only to have two other guys … burn the whole thing down.’ Critic Richard Roeper gives three stars to a new HBO documentary on the rise and fall of MoviePass.
■ T-Mobile’s planning to swallow almost all of U.S. Cellular.

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