IRAN: Two explosions yesterday in Iran killed 84 people and wounded 280 walking in a procession to honor Iran’s late former top military general, Qassim Suleimani. 

  So far no one is taking responsibility or declaring a motive for the attack.

  State media reports, according to government officials, that a pair of bombs placed in bags exploded as the procession passed on the way to commemorate the four-year anniversary of Suleimani’s assassination by the United States. The government officials said the explosions appeared to have been detonated by remote control, shredding the mourners. 

  General Suleimani was killed by a US drone strike on January 3^rd, 2020.

CULTURE WAR: The fall of Harvard President Claudine Gay is being hailed by right wingers as a victory against the liberal trends of diversity, equity, inclusion, multiculturalism, and acceptance of sexual identity, a win against “wokeism” itself. The conservative political war against liberalism has been taken to the seat of liberal thought in America, Harvard.

  Christopher Rufo, the right wing activist who pressed the case of plagiarism against Gay, said in an interview with Politico that the key was getting the story into “left wing media,” ultimately producing calls for Gay’s resignation. Rufo said, “This is a universal strategy that can be applied by the right to most issues.”

  On the receiving end was Gay, who wrote in a NY Times OpEd: “My character and intelligence have been impugned. My commitment to fighting antisemitism has been questioned. My inbox has been flooded with invective, including death threats. I’ve been called the N-word more times than I care to count.”

  Gay, who was Harvard’s first Black president, noted the irony that her scholarly work focused on how minorities holding public office improves the lives of all minorities.

  She wrote of the campaign against her that, “This was merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society.” She wrote, “Trusted institutions of all types — from public health agencies to news organizations — will continue to fall victim to coordinated attempts to undermine their legitimacy and ruin their leaders’ credibility.” 

ORANGE ALERT: Lawyers for Donald Trump appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday asking the justices to restore his name to the Colorado primary election ballot.

  The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump must be eliminated under the terms of the 14^th Amendment because he took part in the January 6^th insurrection.

  Trump’s petition to the Supreme Court argues that he did not participate in insurrection and that even if he did, “Congress – not a state court – is the proper body to resolve questions concerning a presidential candidate’s eligibility.”

  The lawyers also argue that Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment does not specifically list the presidency as an office that cannot be held by an insurrectionist. Section 3 says no “person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State …” In effect, they are arguing that a man who tried to topple the US government can still be president.

  But there is that clause that says, “or hold any office.”

INSURRECTION: Nearly three years after the January 6^th insurrection, participants are still being identified and arrested, The NY Times reports. So far, 1,240 people have been arrested.

  About 710 have pleaded guilty, 170 convicted at trial, and only two fully acquitted. Another 350 cases are pending.  

THE EPSTEIN PAPERS: Hundreds of pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein included names of famous people previously known to have associated with the late financier and provider of sex with underage girls who committed suicide in jail.

  The documents collected in a lawsuit against Epstein mention Britain’s Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton, both already known to have associated with Epstein. There are no revelations of wrongdoing by anyone famous, but the documents included the deposition of one young woman who said that in a conversation with Epstein, “He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.”   

RED SEA, RED ZONE: A dozen countries including the US, warned the Houthi militia in Yemen of consequences if they keep attacking ships in the Red Sea. 

  “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the United States and allies said in a joint statement. 

  The co-signers of the statement are Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

  The US has already carried out a missile strike and destroyed three attack boats carrying militia members. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Francoise Bornet, the woman in the famous “Paris Kiss” photograph taken in 1950 by photographer Robert Doisneau, has died at age 93. The picture of Bornet and her boyfriend kissing has become a lasting image of the romance of Paris.

  In the photo, Bornet is leaning back and the boyfriend, Jacques Carteaud, has his right arm around her as he holds her for the kiss. The picture that looks spontaneous was actually staged. Doisneau had seen the pair kissing and asked them to repeat for the camera.

  The image is everlasting, but the couple broke up only a few weeks after the shutter snapped.

THE SPIN RACK: As Speaker Mike Johnson visited the Texas border yesterday, migrants crossed the Rio Grande only a few yards from the crowd of press and officials. — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaxxer scion of a Democratic political family running as an independent, has qualified to appear on the presidential ballot in Utah.   

BELOW THE FOLD: A Minnesota woman has sued for negligence the dentist who in one session performed four root canals, eight crowns, and 20 fillings. She also claims he gave her too much anesthesia, which is hard to believe possible under the circumstances. 

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