Good morning! Get your fancy hats ready. The 150th Kentucky Derby starts tomorrow at precisely 6:57 p.m. EDT. It ends tomorrow at around 6:59 p.m. Hey, they don’t call it "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" for nothing.

USA

🇺🇸 Laying down the (flag) law code

What does a $514,513 (and counting) frat party look like? The gentlemen at Pi Kappa Phi at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are about to find out. A GoFundMe is cruising right now in its mission to “Throw 'em a Rager” for defending the American flag. Donors include billionaire investor Bill Ackman, a guy who may or may not be Kid Rock, and about 15,000 others.

Here’s the story. Protestors removed the American flag from a large flag pole on campus and replaced it with the Palestinian flag. The school's chancellor, along with campus police, switched it back and left. Protestors took their chance and lowered the American flag again. That's when the Vineyard Vines fan club stepped in to stop it.

• They reportedly endured thrown bottles, curses, and insults from protestors but stood their ground.

Country music star Zach Bryan Morgan Wallen John Rich picked up on this and plans to play a free show at UNC.

Around the country, nearly 2,000 protestors have now been arrested. One is an armed 39-year-old at USF. One is a 63-year-old professional protest manager (you can do anything, kids!). And one went viral in all the wrong ways for demanding "basic humanitarian aid" to her encampment.

• Protestors at UCLA requested skater helmets, strobe lights, vegan food, and very specifically no coffee (or bananas?).

• High school students in Chicago have now joined the fun as well.

In New York, the NYPD replaced an American flag in a similar incident at City College New York. Mayor Eric Adams slammed the protestors, saying:

• "Don't take over our buildings and put up another flag. That may be fine to to other people but it's not to me. My uncle died defending this country... It's despicable that schools will allow another country's flag to fly in our country."

The Supreme Court has ruled that tearing down (or even burning) an American flag is a legal expression of freedom of speech. And Congress has repeatedly failed to pass a Constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration.

So protestors are welcome to remove a flag. But it'll be replaced. And, most importantly, they’ll miss out on that $500,000 rager.

CITIES

⚜️ Louisiana has a brand-new city

Welcome to St. George, Louisiana: the newest city in America. Local voters approved in 2019 the secession of a large, wealthy chunk of Baton Rouge into a new city called St. George (population: 86,000). They don’t believe their voice was being heard by the government of Baton Rouge.

Why the five-year delay? Cash. Obviously.

• The area in question here is significantly wealthier than Baton Rouge as a whole. So Baton Rouge sued.

• The mayor argued her city couldn’t survive without the $48 million in tax revenue an independent St. George would take with it. She simultaneously argued St. George wouldn’t have the cash to operate on its own.

Lower courts agreed, saying the new city didn’t have a sufficient plan to provide city services to residents. The Louisiana Supreme Court disagreed. They allowed St. George to legally incorporate and become the nation’s newest city (suburb, really).

So what’s next? Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry will appoint the city’s first mayor and city council. Then they’re off to the races — create a school district, police force, and weird local lore about a miniature horse.

Similar movements exist in other large cities. The most notable is Atlanta’s affluent Buckhead neighborhood. Buckhead has about 20% of Atlanta’s people but 40% of the tax revenue. RIP the accountants who have to work out that budget if Buckhead leaves.

Over in Congress…

• 🏎️ Twelve members of Congress wrote a letter to F1’s American parent company. They want to know why a new American F1 team led by Mario Andretti and General Motors hasn’t been allowed into the league.

• 🏫 The House passed a bill clarifying the definition of antisemitism. Proponents say it will let the Dept. of Education better fight antisemitism on college campuses. Opponents worry about government overreach and freedom of speech. It moves on to the Senate now.

POLITICS

🔴 Trump: He’s stuck in New York four days a week for his hush-money trial. But the former president is making the most of his time in the decidedly not competitive state. He delivered a stack of pizzas to a NYC fire station yesterday. If there’s one thing that united us all, it’s free pizza.

• Now that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has poetically killed her chances at becoming VP for (stupidly) admitting to killing her dog (in a book no less), Trump’s taking a good look at the other side of the border: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s VP stock is on the rise.

🔵 Biden: It’s good to be president. Biden delivered a speech in North Carolina yesterday alongside the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Technically this was an official White House event, not a campaign event. During campaign season, the difference is more technical than practical.

• On his way through the state, he stopped in Charlotte to meet with the families of the four police officers killed on duty this week.

• VP Kamala Harris swung through Florida to talk abortion. She believes a Trump reelection will mean “more suffering, less freedom.”

⚪ Donald Trump (R) will speak at the Libertarian Party’s national convention later this month. This is a win-win that gets media eyeballs on the event and allows Trump to make a play for Libertarian voters. Biden reportedly declined an invitation. The Libertarian Party will still run its own candidate for president, of course — they notched 1% of the vote in 2020.

🔵 Rapper Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell decided not to run for Congress in Florida. Since no one of any party filed to run against her, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) has won reelection automatically.

TRIVIA

Sometimes we see presidential middle names or initials everywhere (JFK, George W. Bush). Others, like that of our current president, are a little fuzzier. What is Joe Biden’s middle name?

Hint: Think superhero sidekicks (sort of).

WORLD

🇮🇱 Israel / 🇵🇸 Palestine: A ceasefire deal to end the war is on the table. The truce would see Hamas return the ~100 living hostages and promise not to rebuild its arsenal. Israel would agree to slowly pull troops out of Gaza.

🇮🇹 Italy: A European court ruled Italy can seize an ancient Greek statue owned by a California museum. The statue sat in international waters for 2,000 years before its 1964 discovery and sale. Italy plans to ask the U.S. government for help.

🇷🇺 Russia: The U.S. State Department believes Russia has used a chemical weapon called "chloropicrin" against Ukrainian forces. Doing so is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty that almost every country in the world (including Russia) has signed.

🇹🇷 Turkey: The Turks stopped all trade (imports + exports) with Israel yesterday. The restrictions will remain until Israel allows "a sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza." Israel-Turkey trade volume was $6.8 billion last year, or about 1% of Israel's total economy.

BRIEFS

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a first-in-the-nation law banning lab-grown meat in the state as part of an effort to “save our beef”

• TikTok and Universal Music Group inked a new deal to allow music from Ariana, Billie, Drake, Taylor, and more to return to the platform

• Private passenger rail company Brightline announced Siemens will build the trains for its $12 billion, 220mph rail line from L.A. to Vegas

• As Florida’s 6-week ban kicks in, Arizona’s governor signed a law legalizing abortion in the state by repealing the old 1864 ban

• T-Mobile's deal to buy Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile for $1.35 billion has closed after getting the FCC’s approval

• You can now go bankrupt losing at Skee-Ball — Dave & Busters, aka adult Chuck E. Cheese, will let patrons place bets on arcade games

• Regulators at the FTC approved ExxonMobil's $60 billion purchase of Pioneer but accused Pioneer's ex-CEO of illegal price-fixing

QUOTE

SNACKS

🤖 AI: The geoguesser guy is about to be out of a job. Within a few miles, a new AI model can determine where any outdoor photo was taken.

🍿 Movies: The Fall Guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EySdVK0NK1Y

⚒️ Olympics: Until 1948, the Olympics included art events. Competitors received the same medals as athletes. Take a look at some of the best.

🐻 Shrek: Turns out “Shrek” is dark. What happened to Mama Bear after her family's capture by Lord Farquaad? Hint: there’s a crying cub. And a rug.

ANSWER

We were looking for Robinette. Robinette. Super common name. This should’ve been a layup, right? Robinette is his grandma’s maiden name. Biden’s a junior, so this came from Dad. His dad — Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr. — was named for his mother.