War on Civilians:  Israeli warplanes overnight destroyed about nine miles of militant tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders while also killing a senior Islamic Jihad leader, the military said.

  The Israeli response to Palestinian rocket attacks over eight days has killed close to 200 Palestinians, including 92 women and children. 

  Speaking on CBS’ “Face The Nation,”  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no clear end in sight to the violence in the Gaza Strip.  “We’ll do whatever it takes to restore order and quiet,” he said. “It will take some time.”

  On the Israeli side, 10 people including two children have died under the rain of 3,100 rockets fired by Hamas militants.

  A single Israeli strike in Gaza City killed at least 33 people, including 12 women and eight children, and wounded 50 others, according to Palestinian health authorities. The Israeli Defense Forces said the target had been an underground military facility that  “collapsed, causing the foundations of the civilian house above to collapse as well, causing unintentional casualties.” 

  The Israelis say they have killed at least 75 militants.

  The days are long gone when Palestinians just wielded machine guns. The IDF admits it is surprised by the number and quality of rockets fired by Hamas. Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system has intercepted about 1,100 of them. They also say they have destroyed several underwater drones armed with explosives intended for use against offshore gas drilling rigs. 

Stop the Presses: The international press is protesting after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a well-known 12-story building in Gaza City that housed some of the world’s leading media organizations including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

  The AP reported that, “Twelve AP staffers and freelancers were working and resting in the bureau on Saturday afternoon when the Israeli military telephoned a warning, giving occupants of the building one hour to evacuate. Everyone was able to get out, grabbing a few belongings, before three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it into a giant cloud of dust.”

  The Israel Defense Forces tweeted that the building was “an important base of operations” for Hamas that “gathered intel for attacks against Israel, manufactured weapons & positioned equipment to hamper IDF operations.”

  The AP said it had worked from the building for 15 years and had no indication that Hamas was operating there. 

Viral News: Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost said, “The CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks or socially distance …. except if you go to most places.”

  The latest guidance has set off a lot of confusion. The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that only unvaccinated people are at risk if they take off their masks. Facing criticism about the CDC’s latest guidance that vaccinated people can go maskless, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “If you are not vaccinated, you are not safe. Please go get vaccinated or continue to wear your mask.”

  Appearing on a variety of news shows, Walensky said that communities where cases are still high should consider keeping mask requirements, and that children and people with compromised immune systems keep their faces covered. “This was not permission to shed masks for everybody everywhere,” Dr. Walensky said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” but about “individual assessment of your risk.”

Unhinged: The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is in trouble with the voters after bucking Donald Trump on his claims of election fraud and losing her position in the House leadership.   

  The paper says, “Polling and reports show that support for Cheney in Wyoming has plummeted. In the GOP primary last August, she won roughly 73% of the vote. At the end of April, 65% of Wyoming Republicans viewed her unfavorably. More than half of GOP primary voters said they would vote against her regardless of who challenges her in 2022.”

  Interestingly, the paper in its news report describes Trump’s “unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud and corruption,” essentially saying the same thing that has Cheney on the ropes.

  Trump is pursuing his claims further down the rabbit hole. Last night he posted a statement claiming that “The entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED!” and “Additionally, seals were broken on the boxes that hold the votes, ballots are missing, and worse.”

  The Republican recorder of Maricopa County responded on Twitter “Wow. this is unhinged,” and “We can’t indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country.” 

Jaws: New research concludes that Sharks use the Earth’s magnetic field as a guide to navigate thousands of miles across the world’s oceans.

  The study published this month in the journal Current Biology says scientists had wondered how sharks take long journeys in oceans where there are few landmarks such as corals to act as navigation guides.  Researchers exposed 20 bonnethead sharks, a kind of hammerhead, to magnetic conditions that simulated locations hundreds of miles away from where they were caught off Florida. The scientists found that the sharks swam north when the magnetic cues made them think they were south of where they should be.

The Spin Rack: About 500 homes in the Pacific Palisades outside Los Angeles were evacuated because of a wildfire of suspicious origin. — Microsoft founder Bill Gates has admitted through a spokeswoman that he had an affair with an employee 20 years ago while he was married. Also, The NY Times reports that Gates pursued women who worked both at Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.He thinks he’s attractive even though he never finishes shaving.

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