After days of testimony and a marathon closing argument from the prosecution, the jury for the Trump hush-money trial begins its second day of deliberations. They have requested a replay of not only some of the crucial testimony, but at least a portion of the hour-long instructions Justice Merchan provided. The specific crime Trump is charged with turns out to be fairly complex, and Lawfare has an explainer.

Young voters despairing over US politics "49% agreed to some extent that elections in the country don't represent people like them; 51% agreed to some extent that the political system in the US "doesn't work for people like me;" and 64% backed the statement that "America is in decline." A whopping 65% agreed either strongly or somewhat that "nearly all politicians are corrupt, and make money from their political power" — only 7% disagreed."

There has been 1 arrest since counterprotesters violently attacked the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment on April 30. Archive.is. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified before the House committee on the protests, where he admitted that he thought he should have removed the encampment sooner to prevent violence. Other universities also participated in the hearing, where the focus was mostly on how/whether the protests were antisemitic and should have been shut down earlier. Over 1000 people walked out of the Harvard commencement to protest Harvard denying 13 student protesters from participating. Encampments and student protests have spread to Australia, England, Germany, Italy, and more.

Billionaires sharing a WhatsApp chat group apparently urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams to crack down on Columbia's student encampments. Archive.is. Sonoma State University President Mike Lee announced his retirement after being placed on leave for "insubordination" due to committing to supporting student protesters demand to boycott and divest from Israel. Archive.is Trinity College in Ireland has agreed to divest from Israel. United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 graduate teaching assistants, researchers and others at 10 UC campuses, started its academic strike on May 20 at UCSC; the strike is expected to spread to other UCs. Previously.

A New Centrism is Rising in Washington (NYT gift)

A GOP Texas school board member campaigned against schools indoctrinating kids. Then she read the curriculum. The pervasive indoctrination she had railed against simply did not exist. Children were not being sexualized, and she could find no examples of critical race theory, an advanced academic concept that examines systemic racism. - Her fellow Republicans were not relieved to hear this news.