THE WAR ON HARVARD: The Trump administration revoked the right of Harvard University to enroll foreign students because the school refuses to turn over the conduct records of foreign students requested by the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem. 

  A DHS release quotes Noem as saying, “This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” 

  About a quarter of Harvard’s 6800 students are from other countries. It is an international institution and if the order holds, it’s crippling. The students are in shock. The DHS said Harvard’s foreign students must transfer to another school or lose their visa status.

  President Trump and his administration are trying to crush Harvard in the name of battling antisemitism on its campus. First the administration withheld billions of dollars in funding, and now this. Noem in a letter to Harvard accused the university of “perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes-pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ practices.”

  Harvard is sure to sue to block this.

PRIME SUSPECT: The Chicago man arrested following the murder of two Israeli diplomatic employees in Washington is being held on federal weapons and murder charges.  Charges of committing a hate crime and terrorism could follow.

  The charges are federal because the victims were diplomatic employees.

  Witnesses related that Elias Rodriguez told police officers, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.” The cops recovered a 9-milimeter pistol.

  Yaron Lischinsky, 30, who grew up in Israel and Germany, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, from Kansas, were killed. They were about to become engaged to be married.

  Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has said she plans to seek the death penalty in serious federal crimes, is likely to demand it for  Rodriguez.

THE SUPREMES: The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether Oklahoma could use government money to establish a Catholic charter school, thereby letting stand the state supreme court ruling against funding the school.

  Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic, recused herself from the case. The ruling did not reveal how the justices voted, but at least one conservative had to have voted with the liberals. Because there was no definitive decision the issue is likely to come back to the Supreme Court in other cases from states where officials are attempting to inject religion into public education.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— A federal judge in Boston blocked President Trump’s order to dismantle the Education Department and commanded the agency to rehire employees who were fired in mass layoffs. The administration said it would challenge the ruling.

  U.S. District Judge Myong Joun’s ruling came in response to lawsuits filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts as well as the American Federation of Teachers and other education groups. Joun said in his ruling that the plaintiffs had painted a “stark picture of the irreparable harm that will result from financial uncertainty and delay, impeded access to vital knowledge on which students and educators rely, and loss of essential services for America’s most vulnerable student populations.”

  The Trump administration appealed within hours. A spokesman for the Education department said, “Once again, a far-left Judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs, and issued an injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department of Education more efficient and functional for the American people.” 

— Senate Republicans passed a law killing California’s ban on the sale of new gasoline powered cars in the state by the year 2035. 

  The current Republican regime does not believe in environmentalism or the phenomenon of global warming and climate change caused by carbon emissions.

With 11 states preparing to follow California’s lead, the US auto and oil industries consider California’s ban a threat to their industries.

  California and those 11 other states account for about 40 percent of the new car market.

— The US Mint is moving ahead with plans to stop making pennies. President Trump says a penny costs two cents to make and that’s wasteful. The nickel costs 14 cents to make and getting rid of the penny will increase the demand for nickels.

— President Trump last night held a dinner for the biggest buyers of his $Trump meme coin who are obviously currying favor with the chief executive. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel said, “Listen, he’s only corrupt in his free time, guys.”

UNSCIENTIFIC EMPIRICISM: It’s not wise to disappoint your dictator.  North Korean  leader Kim Jong-un is furious after witnessing the botched launch of a new navy destroyer in which the stern of the ship got hung up on the ways, tearing a hole in the hull and landing on its side in the water. The ship probably needs to be put in drydock for repair and North Korea doesn’t have one.

  This was the second destroyer launching in a month. North Korea has been building up its arsenal, both nuclear and conventional, while also sending troops and artillery shells to Russia for its war on Ukraine.

  Kim, who was present at the launching, said the mishap was a “criminal act”  caused by carelessness, irresponsibility and “unscientific empiricism.” 

THE SPIN RACK:  A business jet carrying six people crashed in fog into a San Diego neighborhood yesterday, killing all on board. The splashing jet fuel set off a trail of fires in houses and vehicles along the street. No one in the neighborhood was seriously hurt. — A man whose cottage is just feet from the shore of the Trondheim Fjord in Norway woke up to the bow of a giant container ship grounded just feet from his bedroom.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Former assistants to music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs testified in his federal  racketeering trial that Diddy likes to put applesauce on his cheeseburgers. At least it wasn’t baby oil. 

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