CAMPUS CLASHES: As pro-Palestinian protesters remain encamped on college campuses across the country, more than 200 of them were arrested at four universities over the weekend. The cops moved in Saturday at Northeastern University, Arizona State, Indiana, and Washington University in St. Louis.

  That brought the number of arrests in the past 10 days to about 800 since the first arrests at Columbia University in New York.

    Not all of the protesters are students. A Northeastern spokeswoman said the demonstration had been “infiltrated by professional organizers” and that the “use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews,’ crossed the line.” A student protester at Penn said outsiders were among the students.

  At Washington University in St. Louis, 100 arrests were made and the campus was locked down on Saturday evening. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate for 2024, was arrested, along with her campaign manager and another staff member

IT’S POLITICAL:  Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in the presidential race by 49 percent to 43 percent among registered voters, according to the latest CNN poll. Eight percent say they are undecided

  Fifty-five percent of those same people polled say they believe Trump’s presidency was a success, while 44% see it as a failure. In discouraging news for Biden, 61percent say his presidency so far has been a failure, while 39 percent say it’s been a success.

  Polls, as we know, differ. The Most recent polls from Marist, Morning Consult, and Siena all have Joe Biden leading — Siena by 10 points. NBC’s latest poll has Trump leading.

SCOUT’S HONOR: Kate Lindley, a girl scout in Hanover County, Virginia was honored recently with a “Gold Award” before the county board of supervisors for her work helping kids get access to books banned from school libraries.  She set up what she called “Banned Book Nooks,” providing access to the 91 banned books, which include Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Slaughterhouse Five” about surviving the Dresden firebombing.

  But when Lindley’s citation was read before the board, the citation itself was censored. It didn’t include the word “banned.”

  “You have bestowed upon me the greatest honor you could,” the high school senior said in her acceptance, “Greater than that of any proclamation… in your censorship of my Gold Award project.” She went on, “You have shown the world that you are afraid to call something what it is, be that a banned book or a ‘de-selected’ one.”

THE WAR ROOM: President Biden spoke on the phone yesterday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about stopping the shooting in Gaza for a prisoner and hostage exchange. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is engaged in Gaza cease-fire talks in Saudi Arabia with officials from Persian Gulf states.  He heads to Jordan and Israel next.

  World Central Kitchen, the food relief charity, said it will resume operations in Gaza, less than a month after seven of its staff were killed in Israeli airstrikes. World Kitchen CEO Erin Gore said, “The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible.”

THE SPIN RACK: More tornadoes ripped through the Midwest on Saturday, destroying homes and businesses while killing at least five people. Downtown Sulphur, Oklahoma was largely destroyed by a twister with winds of 130 mph. The façade was torn off a clothing store but the clothes were still on the racks. — After weeks of complaints about the new Major League Baseball uniforms with transparent pants, visible sweat stains, and lettering that flows into the arm pits, Nike said it will be replacing them. An internal memo said, “At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”  

BELOW THE FOLD: One of the running jokes at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents Dinner was President Joe Biden’s age, but at times it was the headline comedian Colin Jost who was dying up there.

  In an uneven performance Jost worked for laughs from an audience that takes itself very seriously. It fell a little flat when the co-host of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update said, “Like many of you here tonight I pretend to do news on TV.” 

  The correspondent’s dinner was once a gathering of 30 or 40 journalists that has grown into a Hollywood East event with highly paid news anchors and actual Hollywood celebrities parading a red carpet. What has been nicknamed “The Nerd Prom” has become a black tie celebration of themselves broadcast live on CNN … and it feels wrong.

  Jost was preceded by President Biden, who opened up the age jokes. “Age is an issue.” He said, “I’m a grown man running against a six-year-old.”

  For Jost, it seemed to be a difficult audience, but he delivered some zingers: 

– “Can we just acknowledge how refreshing it is to see a president of the United States at an event that doesn’t begin with a bailiff saying ‘all rise’?”

– “It’s the end of an era. Rupert Murdoch stepped down at Fox News, which is strange. I didn’t think there was a step down from Fox News.”

– “I would really like to take a moment to recognize all the print journalists in this room. Your words speak truth to power. Your words bring light to the darkness. And most importantly, your words train the AI programs that will soon replace you.”

  In the end, Jost turned a tribute to his late grandfather into an endorsement of Biden. The comedian said Biden reminds him of his grandfather, a firefighter who voted for the President.  “My grandpa voted for decency, and decency is why we’re all here tonight. Decency is how we’re able to be here tonight,” Jost said. “Decency is how we’re able to make jokes about each other and one of us doesn’t go to prison after — we go to the Newsmax after party.”

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