This week, Donald Trump took advantage of the recess in his trial for paying hush money to a porn star by gracing the state of Minnesota with his presence. He’s also in the state for the Republican fundraiser. It was an opportunity for him to belch out lots of lies.

Former President Donald Trump is again falsely claiming he won Minnesota in the 2020 election while describing the state as “out of control,” attacking Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and suggesting Minneapolis would have “burned down to the ground” that same year if not for him.
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In the Alpha News interview, Trump railed against Biden as the “worst president in the history of our country” and called his withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”

Trump claimed without evidence that many immigrants who cross the border illegally come from “prisons, mental institutions and terrorists.” Additionally, he said, “You’re going to have to have mass deportations. The country can’t stand it, the country can’t handle it.”

Asked about anti-police sentiments, Trump said “you have to give them back their respect and dignity.” Then he shifted his comments toward Minnesota and Minneapolis, specifically.

“If I didn’t let things happen a certain way, you would have had Minneapolis — this would have burned down to the ground. It was terrible what they were doing. You look at what happened during that time, and we were very — I got awards for saving certain areas and saving certain towns because your politicians didn’t want to act. They were unwilling to act,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney (remember that loser?) is opining on what should be done with Trump: he should have been pardoned for everything, so that he got less attention, and so Biden would look like a gracious big dog.

During an interview on Wednesday with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, Romney said that President Joe Biden should have “immediately pardoned” Trump from federal charges, and that Biden also “made an enormous error” by not pushing New York prosecutors to drop their charges against Trump in the hush money case.

“He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Romney said. “It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

That’s the kind of strategy a rich guy who thinks the law doesn’t apply to the wealthy would advocate.

No.

The law should apply equally to everyone, and you shouldn’t get a pass on criminal acts because they’re rich and powerful and it gives other rich and powerful people the opportunity to practice noblesse oblige. Romney looks at this situation and has decided it’s an excuse for class solidarity among the aristocracy. No wonder he’s a loser.

I’m no expert in Irish history, but I do know that the root of modern conflicts were planted in the 17th century, when the English colonized Ireland, and native Irish Catholics were displaced by grants of land around Ulster to Protestant invaders. This is a problem that has simmered for centuries and erupted in the Troubles and is still a huge political issue between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

OK, I’ve exhausted my knowledge of the history of the region, but as an American, it is my right to be oblivious of the concerns of foreign countries. Wouldn’t it be tragic if an Irish person were to forget the history of their country?

Behold, Glinner:

Graham Linehan: ‘Colonialism’, another American obsession. The Irish Left doesn’t have a single thought unless Americans had it first.

Gosh. Did American liberals invent the IRA?

Does anyone like King Charles’ official portrait? I understand the artist didn’t intend this, but I look at it and see imperialism soaking in blood.

The BBC calls it “vibrant”, but they would. The butterfly seems like an ironic touch, or maybe a reference to the flitting silliness of the man’s brain.

I actually rather like the painting for it’s weirdness and the ability to read whatever I want into it — and I don’t like royalty, or this dimwitted king, so that’s what I see. You’ll have to come up with your own meaning.

Kristi Noem may have callously killed a puppy, but RFK Jr. claims he has a dead worm in his brain.

In 2010, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was experiencing memory loss and mental fogginess so severe that a friend grew concerned he might have a brain tumor. Mr. Kennedy said he consulted several of the country’s top neurologists, many of whom had either treated or spoken to his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, before his death the previous year of brain cancer.

Several doctors noticed a dark spot on the younger Mr. Kennedy’s brain scans and concluded that he had a tumor, he said in a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Times. Mr. Kennedy was immediately scheduled for a procedure at Duke University Medical Center by the same surgeon who had operated on his uncle, he said.

While packing for the trip, he said, he received a call from a doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who had a different opinion: Mr. Kennedy, he believed, had a dead parasite in his head.

The doctor believed that the abnormality seen on his scans “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Mr. Kennedy said in the deposition.

This is a real thing called neurocysticercosis. It is unusual for political candidates to chat about the worms eating their brain while on the campaign trail, though.

Several infectious disease experts and neurosurgeons said in separate interviews with The Times that, based on what Mr. Kennedy described, they believed it was likely a pork tapeworm larva. The doctors have not treated Mr. Kennedy and were speaking generally.

Dr. Clinton White, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said microscopic tapeworm eggs are sticky and easily transferred from one person to another. Once hatched, the larvae can travel in the bloodstream, he said, “and end up in all kinds of tissues.”

Though it is impossible to know, he added that it is unlikely that a parasite would eat a part of the brain, as Mr. Kennedy described. Rather, Dr. White said, it survives on nutrients from the body. Unlike tapeworm larvae in the intestines, those in the brain remain relatively small, about a third of an inch.

What next? Is some politician going to confess to paying for sex with a porn star?

Nahlia Al-Arian

They’re a terrifying force of nature. They’re so scary that their presence is sufficient pretext to marshal a squad of cops to deal with the threat.

The mayor of New York City Eric Adams and the police department have used the claim of outside agitators to justify their use of force in clearing the protestors from Columbia University. Adams pointed to the presence of Nahlia Al-Arian as the “tipping point” in his decision to authorize the military-style raids on the campus.

Who is she? Jeremy Scahill writes about how this 63-year old retired fourth grade teacher and grandmother, whose family is from Gaza and who has lost about 200 of her family and friends in the recent Israeli onslaught there, ended up as the embodiment of ‘outside agitators’ that required such brutal force.

Oh no! And a teacher, too? They’re the worst. She’s got the NY police trembling in their jackboots.

I’ve got one of those grandmas living in my house, and I tell you, sometimes I’d like to call out the National Guard, but I’m too scared.

The encampment on campus has been disbanded. It didn’t require the police, or the National Guard, or any tanks — representatives from the administration met with protesters, listened, and negotiated an agreement.

You can read the negotiated settlement.

I don’t know. For such a ferocious gang of militant radicals, they gave in fairly easily. Most of the administrations concessions are things like allowing students to meet with the board of regents and present some formal demands, or to “explore” new programs, or to disclose more budget information. Meanwhile, the students promise to not disrupt commencement. It’s not very exciting stuff, and mostly just defers actual changes to some later date, maybe.

Other universities should pay attention. The students are actually reasonable, but the university had better follow through.

University of Minnesota grad student Taher Herzallah’s family is from Gaza, and he has lost nine family members due to the violence since October of 2023. “We are prepared to disrupt,” he says in reference to the university keeping its promises.

Somehow, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this accusation is true.

Jerry Coyne SPIT on me yesterday. This man is a professor at @UChicago and a biologist and the university has been letting him spit on students and protestors. I just heard reports that someone matching his description was roaming the camp spitting on/near students last night

In his defense, in this article from 6 years ago, his leftist “credentials” are unimpeachable. OK, man, if you say so.

Very leftist. Very free speech.

My daughter works here!

I notice the wall of cops with shields lined up against a group of students sitting quietly, watching the spectacle. Who has shown up prepared for violence?

Administrators claim they are “balancing students’ right to protest with a desire to minimize disruptions to their campuses and enforce a state rule banning encampments”. I don’t see much evidence of “balance” when one side brings in hired guns to enforce their will.

While my daughter is somewhere on campus, I’m pretty sure she’s nowhere near the protest. She had knee surgery a short while ago and is only able to hobble…so as much as I support the protest, it would be unwise to face off against brutal enforcers who wouldn’t be at all averse to compounding her current problems with a little violence.

All across the country, students are rising up to protest US support for the genocidal state of Israel. The response is growing!

Washington Post

Unfortunately, Columbia University is leading the way in authoritarian counter-reaction.

New York police arrested dozens of people on two campuses Tuesday night after officers cleared out a Columbia University building occupied by protesters.

At Columbia, New York police used a massive armored vehicle to push a bridge into a window of Hamilton Hall, the building demonstrators began occupying the previous night. Officers then streamed over the bridge — quickly retaking the building.

Yeah, to their shame, the Columbia administration called in a tank to put down their students.

In happier news, the protests have spread to Antarctica.