WARTIME:  Dozens of people were killed and wounded today as Israeli bombing wiped out a residential area in Gaza.

  As Israel continues to pound Gaza, the Rafah crossing into Egypt to the south remains closed, blocking refugees from getting out and humanitarian aid from getting in. American officials have been saying Egypt would open the gate, but Egypt denies any agreement to do that, and the Hamas militants have not said they would open their side of the crossing.

  In the meantime, a crowd of people waiting to cross is growing, including Americans.

    President Biden announced that he will visit Israel tomorrow, a dangerous and politically precarious diplomatic outreach in the midst of war and the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Liberal Democratic representatives Cori Bush of Missouri and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan accused Israel of war crimes with its bombing and blockade of food and water for Palestinian residents. Bush said, “It’s happening with the support and the power of the United States government, and it is shameful.”

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US and Israel have agreed to try to find ways to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, possibly including “safe zones” off-limits to Israeli air strikes. 

  A masked Hamas spokesman, identifying himself as Abu Ubaida, said in a social media video that 22 Israeli hostages have been killed by airstrikes in Gaza and the group continues to hold between 200 and 250 people. Israel has put the hostage number at 199. 

  As for how the hostages are cared for, “They eat what we eat,” Ubaida said. “They drink what we drink. They are living today in the same conditions that we live here in Gaza.”

CONGRESS OF CHAOS: Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is putting himself up for a vote today to see whether he can get over the top and become the next speaker of the House. Jordan has gained some votes since the party nomination in which he was 55 short of the 217 he needs to win the hot seat.

  “The role of the speaker is to bring all Republicans together. That’s what I intend to do,” Jordan said in a letter to Republican colleagues. If he has the 217 he’d probably say so.

ORANGE ALERT: The federal judge in Donald Trump’s election interference case yesterday placed further restrictions on what the former president can say in an effort to balance his First Amendment rights against his attacks on people in the justice system.

  Here’s an example of the kind of thing the Special Counsel jack Smith wants stopped: “Deranged Jack Smith & his team of Thugs, who were caught going to the White House just prior to Indicting the 45th President of the United States (an absolute No Nol), have been working on this Witch Hunt for almost 3 years, but decided to bring it smack in the middle of Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent’s campaign against him.” 

   Judge Tanya Chutkan barred Trump from attacking witnesses, court staff, and specific prosecutors or their families. She said his right to free speech does not allow him “to launch a pre-trial smear campaign” and that, “No other defendant would be allowed to do so, and I’m not going to allow it in this case.” Chutkan said, “Politics stops at this courtroom.”

REMAINS OF THE DAY: Human remains have a story to tell, but the American Museum of Natural History in New York has decided to stop telling it with the bodies they have for public viewing. The museum has decided to remove all human remains from its displays.

  The museum has a collection of about 12,000 human remains, including skeletons robbed from the graves of native Americans and slaves, as well as bodies of New Yorkers taken as recently as the 1940s.

  Museum president Sean Decatur said in his letter announcing the move that, “Many researchers in the 19th and 20th centuries then used such collections to advance deeply flawed scientific agendas rooted in white supremacy – namely the identification of physical differences that could reinforce models of racial hierarchy.”

  There’s a general movement among museums to do the same, including in Philadelphia, at Harvard, and Penn. 

  Decatur, who is Black, told The NY Times, “The legacy of dehumanizing Black bodies through enslavement continues after death in how those bodies were treated and dehumanized in service of a scientific project.” 

CHECKBOOK STUDIES: Former Utah governor and ambassador John Huntsman Jr. has told the University of Pennsylvania that the Huntsman Foundation will no longer give money to Penn because he believes the school issued an insufficient condemnation of the Hamas attack on Israel. 

  “Moral relativism has fueled the university’s race to the bottom and sadly now has reached a point where remaining impartial is no longer an option,” Huntsman wrote to Penn’s president, Liz Magill.

  Magill last Tuesday issued a statement condemning the attacks but did not denounce antisemitism. Huntsman wrote, “Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate.” 

  The Huntsmans have given the school millions. Universities, which generally are neutral ground for intellectual debate, are under increasing pressure to declare a stand on major issues.  

THE SPIN RACK: Murders in the US dropped by 6 percent in 2022. — During an appearance at the University of Minnesota Law School, Justice Amy Coney Barrett yesterday called for the Supreme Court to establish an ethics code.  Amazingly, they don’t have one.  — President Biden’s campaign has joined Donald Trump’s Truth Social media platform, taking the word to the Donald’s voters. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The original ancient Olympics were tests of basic athleticism and combat skill in such things as running, jumping, wrestling, and spear throwing. The 2024 summer Olympics in Paris will include ping pong, skateboarding, and surfing. Surf’s up on the Seine!

  Now, organizers for the Los Angeles 2028 games want to add softball, flag football, lacrosse, baseball, and the sport of Olympic gods, cricket. 

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