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      What do the US campus protests mean for Joe Biden in November?

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      The policies of Joe Biden and Democrats towards Israel, which have prompted thousands of students across the country to protest, could affect the youth vote for Biden and hurt his re-election chances, experts have warned, in what is already expected to be a tight election.Thousands of students at universities across the US have joined with pro-Palestine rallies and, most recently, encampments, as Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people.Some of the protests began as a call to encourage universities to ditch investments in companies that provide weapons and equipment to the Israeli military. But as the Biden administration has continued to largely support Israel, the president has increasingly become a focus of criticism from young people. Polling shows that young Americans’ support for Biden has been chipped away since 2020.With Biden narrowly trailing Trump in several key swing states, it’s a voting bloc the president can ill afford to lose.“The real threat to Biden is that younger voters, especially college-educated voters, won’t turn out for him in the election,” said Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history of education at the University of Pennsylvania.“I wouldn’t expect that the protesters on campuses today are going to vote for Trump, almost none of them will. That’s not the danger here. The danger is much simpler: that they simply won’t vote.”Turnout could be key to Biden winning November’s election, given the devotion of Trump’s base, and there are signs that Biden’s handling of the situation in Gaza is already costing him support.In Wisconsin, which Biden won by just 21,000 votes in 2020, more than 47,000 people voted “uninstructed” in the state’s Democratic primary, as a protest against the government’s support for Israel. It came after more than 100,000 voters in Michigan’s Democratic primary cast ballots for “uncommitted”: Biden won the state by just 154,000 votes four years ago.Biden triumphed in Pennsylvania by a similarly small margin, and average polling shows him currently trailing Trump in the state, albeit by less than two points. Protests at campuses at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh probably have Biden’s campaign worried.“In states like Pennsylvania, the margins are going to be so small, that it’s at least possible that a couple thousand people not turning out, or voting for one of the third-party candidates, could swing the election one way or the other,” Zimmerman said.In April, a Harvard poll found that Biden leads Trump by eight percentage points among 18- to 29-year-olds, down from a 23-point lead Biden had at the same point in 2020. In the same survey, 51% of young Americans said they support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, while just 10% said they were opposed.Just as worrying for the voting figures was the sentiments Harvard unearthed. Nearly 60% of 18-to 29-year-olds said the country is “off on the wrong track”. Only 9% believe things are “generally headed in the right direction”.On Tuesday, even the College Democrats of America – a centrist, Biden-supporting organization – criticized their own party.“Each day that Democrats fail to stand united for a permanent ceasefire, two-state solution, and recognition of a Palestinian state, more and more youth find themselves disillusioned with the party,” the group said in a statement.The White House said that Biden had “reiterated his clear” opposition to Israel invading the Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, in a call with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, over the weekend.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe administration said Biden had also “reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”. That came after Biden said he condemned “the antisemitic protests”, although the president added: “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”Zimmerman said “the most obvious” precedent for student protests influencing an election was in 1968, when Lyndon B Johnson dropped his re-election campaign in the face of anti-Vietnam war protests. Those protests, which had begun in 1965, weren’t the only reason for Johnson’s dropping out of the Democratic primary, Zimmerman said, but played a major role.The Vietnam-era movement grew to something much larger in scale than the current demonstrations, although with hundreds of students arrested so far, there is evidence the movement is growing, and according to National Students for Justice in Palestine, an advocacy group, there are more than 50 encampments at universities around the US.“A heavy-handed response to protests is basically not going to put them down. It’s just going to increase the protests and strengthen them, because then it becomes a question of free speech,” said Ralph Young, a history professor at Temple University whose work has focused on protest movements in the US.If the protests against Israel’s conduct – and against Biden’s ability or willingness to reel Israel in – continue, it will not be an issue for Trump. In a Gallup poll in March, 71% of Republicans said they approved of “the military action Israel has taken in Gaza”, compared with just 36% of Democrats.“The main negativity on this is for the Democrats. What Biden needs in order to win is a very heavy turnout of Democrats. If he loses even 10% of the Democratic vote and even if that does not go to Trump, I think the chances are slim for Biden to get re-elected,” Young said.“If there is a ceasefire, or if things ease up, then maybe cooler heads will prevail and things will settle down. Maybe then the protests will not have as much of an impact on the election. But the longer they go on, the more impact they will have.”Biden v Trump: What’s in store for the US and the world?On Thursday 2 May, 3-4.15pm ET, join Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer for the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live More

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      Mike Johnson denies collaborating with Democrats to defeat attempt to remove him – as it happened

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      At a press conference today, Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson denied making a deal with Democrats to defeat a far-right attempt to remove him as the chamber’s leader:Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is behind the attempt to remove Johnson as speaker, accused him of a “slimy back room deal” with House Democrats after their leaders earlier today said they would not support Greene’s motion to vacate.Democrats may have just saved Republican speaker Mike Johnson from an attempt by rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from his post as the chamber’s leader. House Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion, should she put it up for a vote, prompting Greene to accuse Johnson of making a “slimy back room deal” with the opposition (though it was unclear if her effort ever had much support). Johnson, for his part, denied any collaboration with Democrats, whose position was an about-face from the one they took last year, when they were more than happy to lend their votes to the GOP insurgents who ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. Johnson was meanwhile busy decrying anti-Israel protesters on college campuses, while announcing a wave of investigations, including a hearing next month with officials from three major universities, and scrutiny of federal research funding.Here’s what else happened today:
      The Biden administration is reportedly set to approve classifying marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, but advocates say it will not resolve the many conflicts between state and federal laws over the substance.
      Donald Trump was fined $9,000 for violating a gag order imposed by the judge in his trial in New York on charges related to falsifying business documents.
      Trump also gave an interview to Time, where he outlined the extreme rightwing agenda he would pursue, if he returned to the White House.
      Defense secretary Lloyd Austin was not immune to the protest wave, as a sign-wielding demonstrator interrupted his testimony to Congress.
      Why are anti-Israel protesters on college campuses wearing masks? The answer is here.
      The Senate’s Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer applauded reports that the Biden administration would approve moving marijuana to a less-dangerous category of drug, but said he would continue to advocate for removing it from the restrictive Controlled Substances Act.“While this rescheduling announcement is a historic step forward, I remain strongly committed to continuing to work on legislation like the SAFER Banking Act as well as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which federally deschedules cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act,” said Schumer. The SAFER Banking Act is a stalled bill that would allow cannabis businesses access to banking services.“Congress must do everything we can to end the federal prohibition on cannabis and address longstanding harms caused by the War on Drugs.”The Biden administration is expected to reclassify marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, the Associated Press reports, but cannabis policy advocates warn the decision will not resolve the many conflicts between the federal government and states that have decriminalized its use.Citing sources, the AP reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration has approved moving marijuana to schedule III from schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in response to a request made by Joe Biden in 2022 to review how the drug is regulated. The decision does not mean that marijuana is legal for recreational use nationwide, but will signal that the federal government regards it as less dangerous that other schedule I drugs, such as heroin and ecstasy.However, dozens of states have approved marijuana’s use for medical purposes, and a smaller group of states allow it to be sold and used recreationally. Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml), said the Biden administration’s impending decision, which still must be approved by the White House, will not resolve conflicts between these states’ laws and those of the federal government – which currently prohibits marijuana’s transportation across state lines, and greatly complicates the cannabis industry’s ability to access banking services.“The goal of any federal cannabis policy reform ought to be to address the existing, untenable divide between federal marijuana policy and the cannabis laws of the majority of US states,” Armentano said in a statement.“Rescheduling the cannabis plant to Schedule III fails to adequately address this conflict, as existing state legalization laws – both adult use and medical – will continue to be in conflict with federal regulations, thereby perpetuating the existing divide between state and federal marijuana policies.”The Biden administration’s decision was a long time coming. Here’s more on what it may mean:One defining feature of the campus protests against Israel and its invasion of Gaza has been the prevalence of masks and other face coverings among protesters. The Guardian’s Nick Robins-Early reports that there is a reason for that:As demonstrations over the war in Gaza have surged on campuses, around cities and in offices across the US in recent weeks, a visible tension has emerged between the desire for public protest and a fear of professional reprisals.On the Columbia University campus, where the latest spike in protests began on 17 April, demonstrators have worn masks and used blankets to block counter-protesters from filming students. Protesters at a tent encampment at the University of Michigan handed out masks upon entry, and students there refused to give reporters their full names in case the school took punitive action against them. At Harvard, the Palestine Solidarity Committee told the Guardian they had suspended doing press interviews out of regard for student safety.Concerns over retaliation and harassment have permeated the protests, as an intense and organized effort to bring down personal and professional repercussions on demonstrators has played out online. Counter-protesters and pro-Israel activist groups have attempted to post demonstrators’ faces and personal information to intimidate them, an act known as doxing, and demanded that pro-Palestinian protesters remove their masks at rallies. The professional threat is not theoretical: employers have terminated workers over their comments about the Israel-Gaza war, and CEOs have demanded universities name protesters so as to blacklist them.Mike Johnson and his Republican colleagues repeatedly criticized Columbia University’s administrators for not cracking down on student protesters. But plenty of other campuses are calling in the police, including one on California’s far northern coast. The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano reports what happened:Police cracked down on a pro-Palestine demonstration at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, early on Tuesday morning, clearing two buildings that protesters had occupied since last week, arresting dozens of people and detaining at least one journalist.The public university on California’s far north coast said in a statement early Tuesday that an operation by law enforcement, which included police from across the state, had “restored order” to the campus.“This is a difficult day, it breaks my heart to see it, and truly nobody wanted to see things come to this,” Tom Jackson Jr, the Cal Poly Humboldt president, said in a statement.Like other universities across the country, Cal Poly Humboldt was the site of major protests over the war in Gaza and the mounting civilian death toll. Students said they planned to hold a sit-in, but barricaded themselves in a university building using furniture, tents, chains and zip-ties as police arrived on campus.Returning to the podium, speaker Mike Johnson said that after visiting Columbia University last week, he challenged Joe Biden to do the same.“After we left the campus, I made a call to senior policy advisers in the White House. The president was on the road, as I was, and we did not connect immediately, but I’ve encouraged him to go and see it for himself,” said Johnson, who is by no means an ally of Biden’s, though they occasionally find common ground.Here’s more on Johnson’s appearance at Columbia, where he attracted criticism for alleging that Hamas “backed” the protesters:As chair of the House energy and commerce committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers oversees federal research grants that universities receive, and said she would scrutinize universities hit by anti-Israel protests.“We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act,” McMorris Rodgers said.The Washington congresswoman continued:
      Imagine being a Jewish American, knowing that part of your hard-earned paycheck is going to fund antisemitic professors’ research while they threaten students and actively indoctrinate and radicalize the next generation.
      Virginia Foxx, chair of the House education committee, said she will invite officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan and Yale University to appear for testimony on 23 May.“As Republican leaders, we have a clear message for mealy mouthed spineless college leaders. Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students. American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back,” said Foxx, who represents North Carolina.Officials from the three colleges will testify “on their handling of the these most recent outrages”, Foxx said, referring to the student protests.Mike Johnson kept up his hardline rhetoric against anti-Israel protesters on college campuses, singling out demonstrators at Columbia University as “terrorist sympathizers” and vowing the House will investigate the protests nationwide.Referring to the New York City-based university’s administrators, Johnson said, “What do they need to see before they stand up to these terrorist sympathizers? And that is exactly what they are.”He blamed the Columbia demonstrators for inspiring similar protests nationwide:
      What’s worse, though, is that Columbia’s choice to ignore the safety of their Jewish students and appease antisemites has inspired even more hateful protests to pop up across the country.
      Without getting into specifics, he announced that House committees would open investigations into the protests:
      We will not allow antisemitism to thrive on campus, and we will hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students on campus. And that’s why today, we’re here to announce a House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses. Nearly every committee here has a role to play in these efforts to stop the madness that has ensued.
      Speaker Mike Johnson and other top House Republicans are expected to in a few minutes announce their plans for a “crackdown on antisemitism” at universities nationwide, amid pro-Israel protests that have prompted school administrators to call in the police and suspend students.Johnson has been aggressive in condemning these disruptions. He visited Columbia University last week – the site of one of the most intense protests – and alleged that Hamas “backed” the demonstrations, a remark that was criticized as baseless.We’ll let you know what he has to say about the House’s next steps.Democrats may have just saved Republican speaker Mike Johnson from an attempt by rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from his post as the chamber’s leader. House Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion, should she put it up for a vote, prompting Greene to accuse Johnson of making a “slimy back room deal” with the opposition (though it was unclear if her effort ever had much support). Johnson, for his part, denied any collaboration with Democrats, whose position was an about-face from the one they took last year, when they were more than happy to lend their votes to the GOP insurgents who ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. Johnson is meanwhile busy preparing for a press conference we expect to begin in a few minutes, where he will announce a “crackdown on antisemitism” at college campuses, amid a wave of protests that have drawn condemnation from the White house.Here’s what else is happening today:
      Donald Trump was fined $9,000 for violating a gag order imposed by the judge in his trial in New York on charges related to falsifying business documents.
      Trump also gave an interview to Time, where he outlined the extreme rightwing agenda he would pursue if returned to the White House.
      Defense secretary Lloyd Austin was not immune to the protest wave, as a sign-wielding demonstrator interrupted his testimony to Congress.
      Are you worried about Donald Trump returning to power? Are you counting the days until voters eject Joe Biden from the White House?Or do you just want to know which candidate is more likely to win?On Thursday 2 May from 8-9.15pm GMT, the Guardian’s Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer will hold a live event where viewers will get the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign.Book tickets here.Donald Trump told Time much about what he would have planned for a second term in the White House, which adds up to a far more extreme agenda than what he promised when elected in 2016.Here’s a summary of it all, from the interview:
      What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.
      Time also managed to break a bit of news about Trump’s intentions beyond 2028. If elected in November, the constitution only allows him to serve one term, and he told the magazine that he has no plans “to overturn or ignore the constitution’s prohibition on a third term”.Trump also signaled his support for the possibility that states hostile to abortion rights would attempt to monitor pregnant women.In the interview with Time, Trump was asked if he believes “states should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban?”.Trump replied, in part: “I think they might do that. Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states.”Trump was then asked if he was personally comfortable with people being prosecuted for receiving abortions after a state-implemented ban.He said:
      The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.
      And by the way, Texas is going to be different than Ohio. And Ohio is going to be different than Michigan. I see what’s happening.
      Read the full interview here.Donald Trump has said that he is considering pardons for every person accused of attacking the US Capitol on 6 January if elected president in 2024, according to a new interview.Trump told Time that he refers to those involved in the 2021 insurrection as “J-6 patriots”. When asked if he “would consider pardoning every one of them”, Trump said: “Yes, absolutely.”Trump characterized those persecuted for their involvement in 6 January as being victims to a two-tier justice system.Trump said:
      It’s a two-tier system. Because when I look at Portland, when I look at Minneapolis, where they took over police precincts and everything else, and went after federal buildings, when I look at other situations that were violent, and where people were killed, nothing happened to them. Nothing happened to them. I think it’s a two-tier system of justice. I think it’s a very, very sad thing. And whether you like it or not, nobody died other than Ashli [Babbitt].
      A pro-Palestine protester disrupted a US armed forces committee hearing where defence secretary Lloyd Austin was providing testimony.As seen in video of the incident, Austin was speaking when a protester carrying a “let Gaza live” sign, stood up and said: “How can you talk about US leadership when you’re supporting genocide in Gaza?”The protester added: “It is illegal. It is immoral. It is disgusting. The whole world is watching what we are doing in Gaza right now … Secretary general, you are supporting a genocide.”The protester was removed by security. More

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      Democrats vow to block Marjorie Taylor Greene effort to remove House speaker

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      Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives vowed that the Georgia extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene “will not succeed” if she triggers an attempt to remove the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, from his role.In response, Greene promised to press on in her quest to show Johnson the door.Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader, made his position clear on Tuesday in a statement with other party leaders that cited Johnson’s recent success in passing a foreign aid package despite opposition from the far right of Republican ranks. Earlier this month, the House voted to send four foreign aid bills to the Senate, even as a majority of Republican members opposed the Ukraine funding piece of the proposal. Joe Biden signed the aid package into law last week.“From the very beginning of this Congress,” Jeffries and the other leaders said, “House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results. At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against Maga [pro-Trump] extremism. We will continue to do just that.“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of pro-Putin Republican obstruction. We will vote to table Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate the chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”Greene filed her motion to vacate, the mechanism by which a speaker can be removed, last month, after Johnson relied on Democratic votes to pass a government funding bill. But Greene stopped short of forcing a vote on the matter, and she has not yet followed through on her threat to do so.Since Greene filed her motion, Johnson has overseen passage of the foreign aid package and the extension of federal surveillance powers and taken other steps to which far-right Republicans object.Asked about Democrats’ show of support, Johnson reiterated that he remains focused on carrying out his conference’s legislative agenda.“I have to do my job. We have to do what we believe to be the right thing,” the speaker said at a press conference. “What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress. They need a Congress that works well, works together and does not hamper its own ability to solve these problems.”Johnson retains support from Donald Trump but Greene, an ardent Trump ally who has floated herself to be his running mate, has vowed to press ahead.Greene has gained support for immediate action from two fellow rightwingers – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona – but even the hard-right Freedom Caucus has indicated that it does not support an attempt to remove Johnson now.“We need to wait until November and have a speaker contest,” congressman Bob Good, chair of the caucus, told Punchbowl News.In response to the Democratic leaders’ statement, Greene issued a lengthy statement of her own – and vowed to press on in her quest to remove Johnson from the speakership.“Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat speaker of the House,” she said, using the wrong term for the Democratic party, which Republicans deliberately employ as a pejorative.Greene added: “What slimy back room deal did Johnson make for the Democrats’ support? He should resign [and] switch parties … If the Democrats want to elect him speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it.”She also alluded to rightwing conspiracy theories about the “deep state” or “uniparty”, which hold that a permanent government of operatives and bureaucrats exists to thwart the populist right.“I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes,” Greene said. “Americans deserve to see the uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming-out party!”Greene wants to subject Johnson to the same fate as his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who in October became the first speaker ever ejected by his own party. At his press conference, Johnson alluded to the chaos that followed McCarthy’s departure last fall, as House Republicans struggled for weeks to choose a new speaker. The gridlock brought the House to a complete standstill until Johnson’s election.“We saw what happened with the motion to vacate the last time. Congress was closed for three weeks. No one can afford for that to happen,” Johnson said. “We need people who are serious about the job here to continue to do that job and get it done. So I have to do what I believe is right every day and let the chips fall where they may.” More

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      Kamala Harris visits Atlanta to tout investments in minority communities

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      Kamala Harris once again visited Atlanta to tout investments made by the Biden administration in minority and underserved communities, highlighting $158m in infrastructure spending on a project to build a cap over Atlanta’s most traveled highway, the Downtown Connector.The vice-president’s appearance is the continuation of a full court press in Georgia to solidify support among Democrats – and specifically Black Democrats – for the administration.Harris has visited Atlanta repeatedly since winning office, acting as one of the administration’s primary surrogates to the Black community, keenly aware that Georgia remains in play and that perceptions of flagging support among African American voters could be the difference between a win and a loss.Harris kicked off a nationwide tour discussing economic opportunities for minority voters with this visit, she said.The Atlanta project, which local planners call the Stitch, would build parkland and mixed-use buildings including affordable housing and is meant to address the intentional destruction of Black communities by highway construction in the 60s, Harris said.“There was this whole policy push called urban renewal,” Harris said. “It was supposed to be about making life easier for people … but essentially it was about making it easier for folks who had wealth and means to move to the suburbs and still have access to downtown. It ended up decimating these communities for years.” Harris said the Stitch project would create an estimated 13,000 jobs and help reconnect a community bifurcated by the highway.Harris spoke on Monday at the Georgia International convention center near Atlanta’s airport in a conversation moderated by Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, hosts of the financial podcast Earn Your Leisure. She emphasized the work the Biden administration has been doing to expand access to capital for communities of color.Black entrepreneurs do not have access to the capital needed to launch capital-intensive companies, Bilal said. “Especially when we look at the next generation of unicorn companies – billion-dollar companies – they’re tech companies,” Bilal said.That access is often about relationships that Black business owners often do not have. But federal spending can provide a base from which a business can grow and ultimately build those relationships, Harris said. Home ownership is also critical for building intergenerational wealth and entrepreneurial opportunities, as a source of equity for startups.“To achieve true equality, we must have an economic agenda,” Harris said. “That agenda must mean speaking to people’s economic ambitions.”Harris’s message sharply contrasts with increasing rhetoric from Republicans decrying diversity, equity and inclusion programs. “In spite of those who want to attack DEI, you can’t truly invest in the strength of our nation if you don’t pay attention to diversity, equity and inclusion.”Among other programs and spending made by the federal government since 2021, Harris presented the Stitch as an example of what the Biden administration has accomplished.After federal courts struck down zoning laws that segregated housing, federal legislators responded with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Massive highway projects like Atlanta’s Downtown Connector were deliberately driven through Black neighborhoods in the name of “urban renewal”. In Atlanta’s case, the connector – which brings I-75 and I-85 together – displaced residents and businesses around Auburn Avenue, which was the heart of Atlanta’s Black middle class.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMartin Luther King Jr grew up a five-minute walk from where the connector splits the city today, a massive highway with more than 300,000 cars passing through every day. Similarly, the construction of I-20 decimated the Summerhill neighborhood, once home to many of Atlanta’s Black doctors. Summerhill has only recently recovered its economic vibrancy. But even as much of the rest of Atlanta experiences gentrification, the area around Auburn Avenue is poor.The representative Nikema Williams and the senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff addressed attendees briefly before the main event, each extolling the virtues of infrastructure investments in Georgia from the infrastructure bill. The Stitch received outsized attention by all three in their remarks.Williams is in her sophomore term as a congresswoman representing much of Atlanta, and sits on the House transportation committee. She and Warnock worked closely together to draw funding on the Stitch project, which eight years ago was little more than a twinkle in the eye of AJ Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, a non-profit civic group for downtown businesses which is leading the design process on the Stitch.“We are truly a model for the world,” Williams said, describing the investments by the Biden administration in the Black community as “unprecedented”.Warnock has a particularly high political stake in the Stitch. The cap stands to transform the area around Auburn Avenue, famed home of Martin Luther King Jr and Ebenezer Baptist church, where Warnock is now senior pastor. The church is two blocks east of the Connector, which decimated the once-vibrant street after its construction about 60 years ago.“Let’s be very clear, today is a day of celebration,” Warnock said. “Because at last, we start repairing and revitalizing and reconnecting neighborhoods in the heart of the Black neighborhoods that have been historically torn apart by highway construction … This happens in every community in America.” More

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      Tensions high at Columbia University after protesters defy deadline to leave – as it happened

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      Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, defying an ultimatum from its administrators to leave by 2pm ET or face suspension.The demonstrators are asking college leaders to divest from Israel, which they have declined to do. Earlier today, Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik said negotiations with protest leaders to dismantle their encampment on the college campus had broken down:Columbia had earlier in the month called police to disperse protesters, resulting in more than 100 arrests and leading to accusations Shafik and the college’s leaders were cracking down on free speech. Here’s more on today’s deadline, and the ongoing protests at campuses nationwide:
      Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were given an ultimatum to abandon their encampment or risk suspension, after the breakdown of talks aimed at having it removed voluntarily. The ultimatum, setting a Monday deadline of 2pm, has passed. Protesters overwhelmingly voted to defy the order and stay.
      Texas governor Greg Abbott said no encampments will be allowed after at least five people were arrested by dozens of law enforcement officers, many in riot gear, at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon.
      The Portland State University (PSU) will “pause” accepting donations from Boeing after students called on the school to cut ties with the manufacturer amid the war in Gaza, one of the first from university administrators to distance their school from a major weapons manufacturer.
      Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House who visited the Columbia University campus last week, reiterated his threat to revoke visas from foreign students involved in protests, and cut funding to universities that do not protect Jewish students.
      Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, released a letter to Johnson requesting consideration of a bipartisan bill to counter antisemitism.
      Joe Biden and Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to search for new ways to decrease border crossings by undocumented migrants, as the US president faces pressure to crack down on the issue of immigration ahead of the November elections.
      Anyone who thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene will drop her threat to force the removal of Johnson is “high, drunk, or simply out of their mind”, a senior aide to the far-right Georgia congresswoman said.
      The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.
      Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the key battleground state of North Carolina on Thursday, the White House has said.
      Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis met on Sunday for a golf course breakfast in an apparent attempt to thaw their relationship after the Republican primary.
      The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has said no encampments will be allowed after at least five people were arrested at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon.Demonstrators gathered on campus to protest against the conflict in Gaza and demand the university divest from companies that manufacture machinery used in Israel’s war efforts, carrying signs and chanting.Dozens of local and state police – including some in riot gear – were seen encircling the encampment. Several protesters have been seen being treated for heat-related illnesses, according to local media.Last week arrests were made at the Austin campus at the request of university officials and Governor Abbott, who said the protesters “belonged in jail”. In a post to X last week, he wrote:
      Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.
      The response from Portland State University (PSU) is one of the first from university administrators to distance their school from a major weapons manufacturer.Though hundreds of students across the country have been protesting on their campuses, setting up encampments demanding divestment from weapons manufacturers and companies with ties to Israel, many universities have repeatedly said they will not divest from Israel or manufacturers.Colleges and universities in the United States have endowments that they often use as financial buffers. Harvard, which has the largest endowment at $51bn, said that it “opposes calls for a policy of boycotting Israel and its academic institutions”. The University of California, which has an endowment of $169bn for its 10 campuses, also said that it “opposed calls for boycott against any divestment from Israel”.A university in Portland, Oregon will “pause” accepting donations from Boeing after students called on the school to cut ties with the manufacturer amid the war in Gaza.In addition to setting up an encampment on campus, students also addressed a letter to Ann Cudd, the president of Portland State University (PSU), demanding the university cut ties with Boeing.In a campus-wide message, Cudd said she had been motivated by “the passion with which these demands are being repeatedly expressed by some in our community”. She wrote in her memo:
      PSU will pause seeking or accepting any further gifts or grants from the Boeing Company until we have had a chance to engage in this debate and come to conclusions about a reasonable course of action.
      Cudd reiterated that the university “has no investments in Boeing but accepts philanthropic gifts from the company and, given that Boeing is a major employer in the region, many of our alumni work there”.At least five people have been arrested after setting up a pro-Palestinian encampment and protest at the University of Texas in Austin, according to local media reports.Dozens of Texas state troopers in riot gear arrived at the campus on Monday afternoon and were seen forming a circle around the encampment, along with university police officers and Austin police officers, the Austin American-Statesman reported.It comes less than a week after 57 people were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing at an anti-war protest on campus. All of those protesters were later released from jail, and all charges were dropped.Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House who visited the Columbia University campus last week, reiterated his threat to revoke visas from foreign students involved in protests, and cut funding to universities that do not protect Jewish students:Activists condemned Johnson last week, after he said Hamas “backed” the protesters. While the group has praised the demonstrations, there is no evidence they have been involved in their organization.Columbia University administrators have said they will not call police on protesters again, NBC New York reports.However, protesters appear to be ready for another attempt to remove them. Here’s footage of faculty members linking arms to protect students:And here’s a protester explaining why they are making their stand:Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, defying an ultimatum from its administrators to leave by 2pm ET or face suspension.The demonstrators are asking college leaders to divest from Israel, which they have declined to do. Earlier today, Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik said negotiations with protest leaders to dismantle their encampment on the college campus had broken down:Columbia had earlier in the month called police to disperse protesters, resulting in more than 100 arrests and leading to accusations Shafik and the college’s leaders were cracking down on free speech. Here’s more on today’s deadline, and the ongoing protests at campuses nationwide:At her ongoing briefing to reporters, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration does not support the international criminal court’s reported investigation into officials from Israel and Hamas.Jean-Pierre said:
      We’ve been really clear about the ICC investigation. We do not support it. We don’t believe that they have the jurisdiction.
      She did not elaborate further.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that charges could be imminent in the investigation launched three years ago, which covers events since 2014. Here’s more:Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has condemned the international criminal court amid reports that it is considering bringing charges against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials over their handling of the situation in Gaza.“It is disgraceful that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is reportedly planning to issue baseless and illegitimate arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials,” Johnson said in a statement.“Such a lawless action by the ICC would directly undermine U.S. national security interests. If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.”The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.The White House office of management and budgeted targeted six bills proposed by Republicans, including measures to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered species, open up land in Alaska to oil production, and allow mining in a federal wilderness area in Minnesota.Even if they clear the House, the bills are unlikely to go anywhere in the Democratic-led Senate.When he is not hobnobbing with Donald Trump, the administration of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s is disenrolling children from a health insurance program for low-income residents, the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports: Florida is continuing to “callously” strip healthcare coverage from thousands of children in lower-income households in defiance of a new federal law intended to protect them.Since 1 January, more than 22,500 children have been disenrolled from Florida KidCare, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip) that is jointly subsidized by states and the US government for families with earnings just above the threshold for Medicaid.Florida healthcare officials admit at least some were removed for non-payment of premiums, an action prohibited by the “continuous eligibility” clause of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act that took effect at the beginning of this year. The clause secures 12 months of cover if at least one premium payment is made.Last week, the administration of Republican governor Ron DeSantis challenged the rule in federal court Tampa, arguing it makes Chip an entitlement program that illegally overrides a state law requiring monthly payment of premiums.Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the key battleground state of North Carolina on Thursday, the White House has said.Biden will visit Wilmington to talk about how his agenda is “rebuilding our infrastructure and creating good-paying jobs in Wilmington and across the country,” the White House said in a statement.Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis met on Sunday for a golf course breakfast in an apparent attempt to thaw their relationship after the Republican primary.The meeting in Hollywood, Florida, was first reported by the Washington Post. Steve Witkoff, a Trump ally, New York and Florida real estate developer, and donor who testified at the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York, reportedly brokered the meeting.The Florida governor was once considered the former president’s top rival in the Republican presidential primary dominated by Trump, with a platform that rested primarily on fighting the “woke” cultural forces of diversity, inclusion and tolerance.However, a bungled presidential run meant DeSantis left the race after the Iowa caucus in January at the beginning of the primary. That left him in need of repairing his relationship with Trump – now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – after aiming attacks at him for months.Relations have been frosty between DeSantis and Trump since the primary began. However, Trump has proven to be transactional with rivals when necessary, and the former president also stands to benefit from improved relations with DeSantis.The Florida governor developed a network of wealthy donors to back his presidential run, moneyed supporters Trump needs to woo if he hopes to catch up to the fundraising of Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent seeking a second term in the presidency.Matt Gaetz, the far-right Florida Republican congressman, has drawn a last-minute primary challenger, after a former naval aviator filed to run as a Republican in Gaetz’s district last Friday.Aaron Dimmock is a retired navy officer who serves as the director of the Missouri Leadership Academy in Missouri, the Hill reported. In a statement to the outlet, Gaetz called Dimmock a “Missouri-based DEI instructor”. Gaetz wrote:
      Aaron is not in Kansas City anymore. This is Trump Country. Our pronouns are USA and MAGA. I’m a proud Trump Republican. I stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to defeat Joe Biden, secure our border, restore our economy, and support our veterans.
      The primary challenge comes as tensions remain high between Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy, months after the former speaker was ousted from his post with the help of Gaetz. Allies of McCarthy have been working to recruit challengers to Gaetz, the Washington Post reported.More than 100 rights groups have sent a letter demanding Congress and Joe Biden reinstate funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa).The letter comes after the president signed a $95bn foreign aid package that finalized the Biden administration’s suspension of US funding to the UN agency, a “lifeline for the Palestinian people in Gaza” that Israel has sought to disband.An independent review published last week said that Israel had yet to present evidence of its claims that employees of the relief agency are affiliated with terrorist organizations.On Wednesday, Germany, Unrwa’s second-biggest donor after the US, announced that it will resume cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip.The letter by more than 100 immigrant, refugee, human rights and humanitarian organizations, seen by HuffPost, reads:
      Cutting off funding to Unrwa completely erodes the international community’s ability to respond to one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.
      It added that international non-governmental organizations and other UN agencies have “repeatedly stated that they do not have the personnel, resources, or infrastructure to respond to the humanitarian needs in Gaza appropriately.”Congress is lurching back into gear, with the House convening to consider several pieces of legislation that amount to conservative messaging platforms with poor prospects in the Democratic-led Senate. One of the bills coming up would crack down on antisemitism by forcing the government to adopt a definition that has been criticized for equating condemnation of Israel with prejudice against Jews. The top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, wrote to the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, asking him to hold a vote on a different piece of legislation that has bipartisan support – we’ll see if that goes anywhere. Speaking of Johnson, all eyes are on Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right congresswoman who is attempting to boot him from the speaker’s post for his collaboration with Democrats. She does not seem to have much support, but has reportedly vowed to press on.Here’s what else is going on today:
      Joe Biden and Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to work together to deter migrants.
      Campus protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza showed no signs of ebbing over the weekend.
      More grim poll numbers for Biden, including that voters increasingly view Donald Trump’s presidency as a success.
      CNN came out this weekend with some familiar disquieting news for Joe Biden: the president trails Donald Trump in general election polling.In a head-to-head matchup, CNN finds Trump leads Biden with 49% support against the president’s 43%. But there’s a caveat: the use of national polls is somewhat limited, given that a handful of swing states is what will decide the election (some polls have lately shown Biden struggling in these states, while others indicate the president is regaining momentum.) But the CNN survey is also a warning for Biden’s hopes to campaign on the economy’s recovery during his administration.CNN find 55% of respondents see Trump’s presidency as a success, versus the 44% who regard it as a failure. In January 2021, after the January 6 attack and before Trump left office, it was about the opposite. As for Biden, 61% of respondents see his presidency as a failure, and 33% a success. More

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      The culture war in North Carolina is playing out in the race for governor

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      In front of a conservative talkshow host two weeks ago, Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican candidate for governor, was grousing a bit about being snubbed by the state’s Democratic governor on a matter of race.“He talks a lot about diversity, equity and inclusion, but apparently the line for diversity, equity and inclusion stops at the Republican party,” Robinson told Lockwood Phillips. “Roy Cooper has had several chances to congratulate me on the accomplishment of being the first Black lieutenant governor, and he has never taken it.”Phillips, who is white, chuckled, then re-introduced Robinson to the audience, “who by the way is African American, Black, whatever. But, frankly, you don’t wear that. You really do not wear that in our entire conversation.”For a conservative speaking to a Black candidate, this is a compliment. For others, it is a jarring illustration of Robinson’s comfort with accommodating the racial anxieties of white Republicans and with the problematic – and at times inflammatory – rhetoric of the far right.But sitting for interviews and being perceived at all as a Black candidate is a different universe compared to the relative obscurity of Robinson’s life six years ago, before a viral video created his fateful star turn into the conservative cosmos. The former factory worker is now a national name, and drawing national attention, for his flame-throwing slurs against the LGBTQ+ community, antisemitic remarks and derision of other Black people.“The same people who support Robinson are the people who support Trump,” said Shelly Willingham, a Black state legislator from Rocky Mount. “It’s a cult. It’s not necessarily citizens supporting a candidate but following a cult leader.”Robinson’s political career began in an inspired four-minute flash in 2018 in front of the Greensboro city council, as he argued against the city’s effort to cancel a gun show in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.“I’ve heard a whole lot of people in here talking tonight about this group, that group, domestic violence, Blacks, these minorities, that minority. What I want to know is, when are you going to start standing up for the majority? Here’s who the majority is. I’m the majority. I’m a law-abiding citizen and I’ve never shot anybody,” he said.Robinson, now 55, invoked images of gang members terrorizing people who have given up their weapons under gun-control laws. He said he was there to “raise hell just like these loonies on the left do”.The speech became a social media hit after being shared by Mark Walker, the former North Carolina representative. Robinson drew the attention of the NRA, which was under fire for its callous response to the Parkland shooting and looking for champions.Born into poverty and working in a furniture factory while attending college, Robinson quit his job and dropped out of school to begin speaking at conservative events. (Robinson, if he wins, would be the first North Carolina governor without a college degree elected since 1937.)Robinson beat a host of competitors for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2020, winning about a third of the primary vote. He faced the state representative Yvonne Holley, an African American Democrat from Raleigh. Holley’s campaign focused on North Carolina’s urban territory while largely ignoring rural areas of the state, while Robinson barnstormed through each of the state’s 100 counties. He won narrowly but outperformed Trump’s margin over Biden by about 100,000 votes.View image in fullscreenAt a rally in Greensboro in March before the state’s primary election this year, Trump endorsed Robinson, referring to Robinson as “Martin Luther King on steroids”. But try to imagine King saying something like: “Racism is a tool used by the evil, to build up the ignorant, to try and tear down the strong,” as Robinson wrote in 2017.That sentiment helps explain his initial appeal to white conservatives in a political moment in which rolling back racial justice initiatives has become central to the Republican brand. The right had found the face of a man who could not be easily accused of bigotry, at least not until people began to pay attention to what he said.“He should not be governor of North Carolina or any other place,” said Shirl Mason, who was attending a Black fraternity invocation and scholarship ceremony by Omega Psi Phi for her grandson in Rocky Mount. Her nose wrinkled and her posture shifted at the thought, as she fought for composure in a way people conversant in the manners of church folks would recognize.“He really should not be a politician. Anybody who can say that race did not play a part in the political arena, they should not be in politics at all,” Mason said.Like Trump, Robinson has a litany of provocative outrages in speeches and on social media that have been resurfacing, from referring to school shooting survivors advocating for gun control reforms as “prosti-tots” and “spoiled little bastards”, to describing gay and transgender people as “filth”.Robinson has shared conspiracist comments about the moon landing and 9/11. He has attacked the idea of women in positions of leadership. His swipes at Black culture and public figures are talk-radio fodder, describing Barack Obama as a “worthless anti-American atheist” and suggesting Michelle Obama is a man.“Half of black Democrats don’t realize they are slaves and don’t know who their masters are. The other half don’t care,” he wrote in one Facebook post. He described the movie Black Panther in another as the product of “an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic marxist”, and wrote: “How can this trash, that was only created to pull the shekels out of your schvartze pockets, invoke any pride?”, using a derogatory Yiddish word to refer to Black people.View image in fullscreenThe antisemitism of that comment is not singular. He has repeated common antisemitic tropes about Jewish banking, posted Hitler quotes on Facebook and suggested the Holocaust was a hoax. “There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered,” wrote Robinson, with scare quotes around the figure.Robinson’s campaign has pushed back on accusations of antisemitism, citing his support for Israel and criticism of protests against the war in Gaza. But his past comments are likely to be revisited throughout the campaign in no small part because his opponent, Josh Stein, could be the first Jewish governor of North Carolina.The two present a sharp contrast in policy, temperament and experience. After graduating from both Harvard Law and the Harvard Kennedy school of government, Stein managed John Edwards’ successful Senate campaign. Stein then served in the statehouse before winning the attorney general’s race in 2016, becoming the first Jewish person elected to statewide office in North Carolina.Stein, 57, is running as a conventional center-left Democrat. At a stump speech in pastoral Scotland county near the South Carolina line, Stein focused on fighting the opioid-addiction epidemic, the state’s backlog of untested rape kits, clean drinking water and early childhood education. But he had some words about Robinson’s rhetoric.“The voters of North Carolina have an unbelievably stark choice before them this November, between two competing visions,” Stein said in an interview. “Mine is forward and it’s inclusive. It’s about tapping the potential of every person so that they have a chance to succeed where we have a thriving economy, safe neighborhoods, strong schools.“My opponent’s vision is divisive and hateful, and would be job-killing. I mean, he mocks school-shooting survivors. He questions the Holocaust. He wants to defund public education. He wants to completely ban abortion. And he speaks in a way that, frankly, is unfitting of any person, let alone a statewide elected leader.”Is Robinson an antisemite? “There are certainly people who are Jewish who feel that he does not like them,” Stein replied.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“He says vile things. He agreed that Jews were one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It’s unfathomable to me that someone would hold those beliefs and then feel comfortable saying them out loud.”North Carolina has a relationship with bilious conservatives; this is the state that produced Jesse Helms and Madison Cawthorn. But voters here have a temperamentally moderate streak and a long history of split-ticket voting that also produces the occasional John Edwards or Roy Cooper.In six of the last eight general elections, voters here chose a Democratic governor and a Republican president. Though every lieutenant governor in the last 60 years has run for governor, only three of 11 have won, each a Democrat. The last two attorneys general of North Carolina also have subsequently been elected governor, also both Democrats.But the margins are always maddeningly close. Stein won his first race for attorney general in 2016 – a Trump year – by about 25,000 votes. He won re-election four years later by about half that margin.Cooper, a Democratic moderate, has been a political fixture in North Carolina politics for a generation, and has been able to fend off some of the more radical impulses of Republicans over the years with a combination of veto power and moral suasion.But while Democrats hold the North Carolina governor’s mansion today, Republicans achieved a veto-proof majority in both legislative chambers in 2022 after Tricia Cotham, the newly elected state representative, switched parties shortly after winning an otherwise safely Democratic seat. Since that political shock, Cooper’s vetoes have been routinely overcome by a Republican supermajority.North Carolina’s political maps are also notoriously gerrymandered – manipulated in favor of Republicans – but winning two-thirds of house seats in the legislature is an open question in a year where abortion rights are emerging as a driving political issue. As of 1 May, North Carolina will be the only southern state remaining where an abortion can be obtained after six weeks of pregnancy.Given the stakes, Stein’s campaign hopes to avoid the pratfall of tradecraft that led to Robinson’s victory in the lieutenant governor’s race four years ago. For the moment, the tables have turned on the campaign trail in their favor.In one of Robinson’s three bankruptcy filings, reporters discovered that he had failed to file income taxes between 1998 and 2002. Questions have been raised about personal expenses charged to campaign funds from the 2020 race.His wife shuttered a nutrition non-profit after a conservative blogger began to raise questions about the Robinson family’s financial dependence on government contracts. Reporters later learned that the North Carolina department of health and human services is investigating the firm for questionable accounting.In the hothouse of abortion politics this year, video also surfaced of Robinson at a rally in February calling for an eventual ban on abortion. “We got to do it the same way they rolled it forward,” Robinson said. “We got to do it the same way with rolling it back. We’ve got it down to 12 weeks. The next goal is to get it down to six, and then just keep moving from there.”His campaign spokesperson later re-characterized those remarks as support for a ban beyond the six-week “heartbeat” stage of a pregnancy.Robinson acknowledged in 2022 paying for an abortion for his wife 33 years earlier.The question is whether Robinson’s full-throated anti-abortion stance hinders not just his own candidacy but that of Trump. Planned Parenthood plans to double its spending in North Carolina, to $10m, with an eye on defending the governorship and ending a veto-proof Republican legislative majority. Trump, meanwhile, has backed away from publicly endorsing the most extreme abortion bans.Down in the polls, Robinson has until this week apparently kept a light campaign schedule and stayed away from places where a reporter might pick up yet another unscripted comment. With the exception of an appearance at the Carteret County Speedway on 3 April and the radio interview on 9 April, there is scant evidence that Robinson has been campaigning at all since the March primary. A request to his campaign for a list of his recent campaign stops went unanswered, as did requests for an interview or comment for this story.Stein, meanwhile, has been averaging a campaign stop every two days – 22 events since the March primary – showing up in small towns and rural counties across the state. Stein’s father founded North Carolina’s first integrated law firm, and he spent many years in consumer protection and racial equity roles as a lawyer, a point he raises in rural Black communities.“I think his coming here alone says that he understands that he needs rural communities in order to be successful,” said Darrel “BJ” Gibson, vice-chair of the board of commissioners in Scotland county. “And I say it because so many times we get left out of these gatherings, and state candidates don’t understand that.”The question for both Stein and Robinson is whether the bombast of Robinson’s life as a self-described social media influencer will overshadow substantive policy discussions.When Phillips, the conservative talkshow host, asked Robinson in April about how his approach has changed over time, he described Robinson as more Trumpian than Trump.“My message has not changed,” Robinson replied. “Now, I can tell you clearly that my methods have, because I’ve switched buckets. I’ve gone from social media influencer to advocate, to now elected official. But my heart is still in the same place.” More

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      I left my suit in San Francisco: thieves swipe bags from Adam Schiff’s car

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      San Francisco has earned an unwelcome national reputation for car burglaries, which Adam Schiff was reminded of the hard way: the Democratic representative had his luggage swiped from his car while it was parked in a downtown garage.With his formal clothing gone, Schiff ended up at a fundraising dinner Thursday for his US Senate campaign dressed like he was headed to a Los Angeles Dodgers game – in shirtsleeves and an insulated vest. Others who attended the event were mostly decked out in suit jackets and ties.Schiff’s campaign confirmed the burglary and declined further comment, citing an ongoing investigation.“Yes, they took my bags,” the representative lamented to the San Francisco Chronicle.Statistically, reported auto break-ins are down in San Francisco, but vehicles with busted windows leaving sprinkles of broken glass remain a common sight in the city. Visitors and residents are constantly reminded to remove valuables from parked cars.It was advice Schiff neglected to follow.In August, the city’s police chief announced a crackdown on auto smash-and-grabs. The San Francisco police department reported nearly 900 break-ins in February, down from 1,850 in July. There were more than 3,000 reported thefts in September 2022. More

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      Senior Democrat calls for arrests of ‘leftwing fascists’ urging Gaza ceasefire

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      Protesters calling for Israel to cease fire in its war with Hamas who have disrupted US public events and infrastructure are practicing “leftwing fascism” or “leftwing totalitarianism”, a senior US House Democrat said, adding that such protesters are “challenging representative democracy” and should be arrested.“Intimidation is the tactic,” said Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the House armed services committee. “Intimidation and an effort to silence opposition … I don’t know if there’s such a thing as leftwing fascism. If you want to just call it leftwing totalitarianism, then that’s what it is. It is a direct challenge to representative democracy now.”Smith was speaking – before the outbreak this week of mass protests on US college campuses, many producing arrests – to the One Decision Podcast and its guest host Christina Ruffini, a CBS News reporter.Ruffini asked Smith about protests in his district, including vandalism at his home and a town hall meeting disrupted by protesters demanding an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza prompted by attacks by Hamas on 7 October.Disruptive, aggressive protests are “illegal … completely wrong … and enormously dangerous”, Smith said, adding: “I really want people to understand – and I put out a statement after they shut down a town hall meeting that I was trying to have [in March] – what’s going on here.“And everyone’s like, ‘Well, you understand their passion and all that. And I do understand that, I do. This is a life-or-death situation. It is certainly not the only life-or-death situation that I and all policymakers deal with. But it is one that is important. But that’s not what [the protesters are] doing.“What they are trying to do is they are trying to silence opposition and intimidate decision-makers. I’ve been doing town hall meetings for 34 years now, in some pretty hotly contested environments … [but] I have never had a town hall that I couldn’t keep under control enough so that people had the chance to say their piece.“But [the protesters’] goal and their objective was not to get their point across. It was to silence anyone who dared to disagree with them, to make sure that only one voice was heard. And their other goal was to intimidate. That’s why they’re showing up at member’s houses.”More than 1,100 people were killed on 7 October when Hamas attacked Israel, also taking hostages. Since then, more than 34,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, where the population also faces displacement and starvation.Protesters, Smith said, “would say, ‘Children are dying. This is a huge humanitarian crisis.’ And they’re right about that … and by the way, I do have some sympathy with these people. If there are members of Congress who won’t meet with them, I meet with them. All the time. So they have an opportunity to be heard. They’re not trying to be heard. They’re trying to silence people who disagree with them.”Asked what kind of protest might be appropriate, Smith cited a recent instance in an armed services hearing in which “people came in and they didn’t say anything, they just held up bloody hands. And the chairman noticed that and said, ‘You can’t do that, you’re out, and they got up and left.”But he said: “You go back to the civil rights movement, they expected to be arrested, they knew they were violating the law. And also … you have to enforce the law. You have to make clear … that this is about more than just the issue. You know, they can be heard, but then other people get to be heard.“You come to our town hall meeting, it’s one thing to try to get attention. They got their attention. But literally, they wouldn’t stop screaming insults at me. They wouldn’t … even let me answer the very questions they were raising.“I got two words into it and they started screaming at me again. So this is a different thing than your standard protest. In my view, the solution to it is if they are committing a crime – which by the way, shutting down a freeway, shutting down an airport, intimidating people, there’s a crime – [they] ought to be arrested.”Protesting at public figures’ homes should also be subject to arrest, Smith said.“The point of it is intimidation. And I think it is harassment. It’s a crime, and I think [they should] be arrested for it.“… But you know, when you are shutting down freeways, shutting down airports, frankly putting people’s lives at risk – If you’re an ambulance trying to get through to hospital – then that’s going beyond getting your point across, and you’re trying to intimidate and silence people in a way that I think is troubling.” More