Extra, Extra

Look Away, Look Away: “Even though he appears poised to potentially lock up the nomination this week on a bombastic campaign laced with the kind of once-shocking remarks that used to spur highly-rated days-long news cycles, the evidence continues to show one thing: many fewer people care.” Inside the collapsing U.S. political-media-industrial-complex. (This collapse is a good thing. Let’s hope it’s not followed by a democracy collapse.)

+ Taken: “Relatives of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip burst into a session of the Knesset Finance Committee on Monday to demand that the government do more to secure their family members’ release.” Kfir Bibas, a hostage kidnapped on October 7, just reached his first birthday while in captivity.

+ Modi Operandi: “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday opened a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a historic mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya, in a political triumph for the populist leader who is seeking to transform the country from a secular democracy into a Hindu state.”

+ You’ve Got the Brains, I’ve Got the Ron: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drops out of the presidential race, endorses Trump. (Florida, Ron DeSantis spent the last couple years completely screwing you up for nothing. Sorry.)

+ Say It Ain’t Joe: “The message says that ‘it’s important that you save your vote for the November election.'” An undertold story about American elections is the use of the so-called dark arts—tricks that get people to vote, or more commonly, not to. Here’s one example: Fake Joe Biden robocall tells New Hampshire Democrats not to vote on Tuesday.

+ Nothing is Forever: USPS stamp prices going up: Forever first-class stamps now cost 68 cents. (I still find it remarkable that someone will deliver a physical object for this low, low price.)

+ Stanford’s Court: Tara VanDerveer passes Mike Krzyzewski as all-time winningest D-I college basketball coach.