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| Josh Hawley |
Grandstanders… Republican tough-guy senators Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton want president Biden to send the National Guard to Columbia University to put an end to student protests.
The shameless Hawley is the guy who gave a big salute to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill rioters, and then was seen running for his life when being pursued by the mob.
Josh and Tom may have slept through their American history class that dealt with the 1970 Kent State massacre in which four students were killed and nine wounded by the trigger-happy National Guardsmen.
About 300 students turned out at the Ohio college to demonstrate against president Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia.
They were on the right side of history.
The May 4 Kent State shooting followed a national strike on May 1, in which 4M college and high school students walked out of their classes to demonstrate against the war.
They helped turn the tide of public opinion against Vietnam War.
History will show whether today’s college protests will have an impact on US policy regarding the Israel/Hamas conflict.
Bernie Blasts Bibi. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is fed up with Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s claim that any criticism of his government is antisemitic.
In an April 25 statement, Sanders said:
"Mr. Netanyahu. Antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people.
“But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government.
“Do not use antisemitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts. It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.”
A poll conducted in March by the Israel Democracy Institute found the nearly six-in-ten (57 percent) of Israelis rate Netanyahu’s response to the Oct. 7 invasion by Hamas to be “poor or very poor.”
Nearly three-in-ten (28 percent) of respondents give Bibi “good or excellent” marks, while 14 percent rate his performance as “so-so.”
Netanyahu has never taken responsibility for the security breach that killed about 1,200 Israelis, led to the deaths of 34K Palestinians and the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, and upended his country’s relationship with the US.
A majority of Americans (55 percent) oppose Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza, according to a March Gallup poll, and only 36 percent support his policies.
His disapproval numbers are up 10 points since November.
Iin the event that the IDF launches an offensive into southern Gaza to wipe out the remaining Hamas fighters who are entrenched there with more than 1M Palestinians, Bibi's disapproval numbers will soar.
Financial shenanigans… A 48-year-old former PR advisor has been sentenced by a German court to three years and three months for insider trading on information that he received from Perella Weinberg Partners. He also must repay more than $25M of his ill-gotten gains.
The PR executive admitted to buying shares and options based on tips about what “stocks should be looked at,” “could become interesting,” or “may turn into a takeover target,” according to the Financial Times.
He contended that he was unaware that it was legal to trade on tips.
The guy’s identity could not be disclosed due to German law. That’s too bad. The repentant crook could have provided guidance to financial PR people.
The North American 'united bid' for the World Cup doesn't look so united these days... State Dept muzzles political speech as it investigates deporting an influential opponent of Iranian war... Wall Street Journal 'discovers' corporate communications.
Momentum is building for nuclear power but public support is not guaranteed, according to a survey conducted by Ruder Finn... America First PR founder admits to assaulting a woman in a London tube station... If they knew their presence would disrupt the lives of thousands of people, neither Barack Obama nor George W. Bush would have attended the NBA Finals. They were not narcissists-in-chief. 
Ukraine struck PR gold as its launches drone attack on St. Petersburg oil depot ahead of 'Putin's Davos' designed to put a positive spin on Russia's economy that is reeling under the 'special military operation' that has cost the lives of more than 500K soldiers... Defense Secretary Hegseth ups war against reporters... Extremist government ministers marching in NYC Israel Day Parade further hurts the country's image. 
Cuba will make or break Secretary of State Marco Rubio's bid for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination... Ballard Partners and BGR Group push for justice for the family of Robert Levinson, who was abducted and vanished in Iran 19 years ago... Robert Daley, the pistol-packing larger-than-life PR guy who was PA chief for the NYPD, dies at 96.
Pope Leo's encyclical on dangers of AI has JD Vance rethinking his justification for Trump's war with Iran... Software tools remove guardrails on Google, Meta AI models that aim to protect against biological war, child sex abuse, stealing credit card info, reports the Financial Times... US tech sector drops nearly 100K jobs during first four months of the year.
