FIGHTING ON: UN Secretary General António Guterres referred to Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment” of Palestinians and called for a cease-fire that Israel and the US immediately rejected. Israel kept up its air strikes and Israeli officials called for Guterres to resign.

  The US said a cease fire would only benefit Hamas militants in Gaza. “It is ugly and it’s going to be messy, and innocent civilians are going to be hurt,” White House spokesman John Kirby said. About 5,800 Palestinian civilians have already been killed.

TUNNEL VISIONS: An 85-year-old Israeli grandmother released by Hamas militants gave reporters an indie view of what captivity is like for 220 other hostages and the evident planning that went into the operation.

  Yocheved Lifshitz said the Hamas militants were ready with food, medicine, shampoo and even sanitary supplies for young women. She said each hostage had an individual guard and that they were seen by doctors.

  But Lifshitz also said she went through hell. On the day of the Hamas attacks, she said she was beaten then slung over the back of a motorcycle which entered Gaza through its tunnel system, which she described as a “spider web.” Once inside, she said she had to walk several kilometers with other hostages.

GAME OF THRONES: In just one day, House Republicans immolated their third nominee for speaker and are now on #4, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. A floor vote is expected today.

  “Democracy is messy sometimes, but it is our system,” Johnson said. He is a lawyer who was part of Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team and supported Trump’s objection to certifying the election of Joe Biden. Asked by reporters last night about his efforts to overturn the election, Johnson replied, “Next question.”

  The third Republican nominee for speaker of the House was barely at the starting line yesterday when his candidacy collapsed, and he withdrew. Tom Emmer of Minnesota was nominated in a private vote of 117 to 97 after five rounds of secret balloting. But he was hit immediately with backlash from the far right wing and Donald Trump, who condemned Emmer on social media as a “Globalist RINO,” meaning “Republican in name only,” and saying his election would be a “tragic mistake.”

  It’s been three weeks since Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out and the Republicans are stalled by an uncompromising hard core. The Republicans have a minority that prevents them from governing as the elected majority. 

JUMPING SHIP: A fourth defendant and the third lawyer indicted in the Georgia election interference case pleaded guilty yesterday and agreed to testify.

  ABC News is also reporting that Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s last White House chief of staff, has been granted immunity from prosecution and has testified before a federal grand jury. Meadows was in a key position to know who did what in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

  In the Georgia case, Jenna Ellis, 38, echoed Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud and became part of what she called a legal “elite strike force team” to reverse the results of election. She was part of the plot to create false slates of electors to take the election away from Joe Biden.

  Ellis tearfully pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. Identifying herself as a “Christian,” she blamed other more experienced lawyers for feeding her false information and said, “If I knew then what I know now I would have declined to represent Donald Trump.” 

  The prosecution notably is going easy on the defendants who plead out. Ellis agreed to a sentence of five years on probation, $5,000 in restitution, and 100 hours of community service. 

ORANGE ALERT: In their first face to face encounter in five years, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen testified in a New York court yesterday that he was ordered to “reverse engineer” valuations of Trump assets in order to reach the net worth the former president wanted to claim he had. “I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Cohen said.

  The former lawyer admits he committed crimes at Trump’s direction.

  Trump has already been found to have committed fraud in his valuations. The question now is penalties.

  Trump is described as having sat stern-faced as Cohen testified. Trump had walked into the courtroom earlier calling Cohen a “proven liar” and a “felon.”

  In the federal election conspiracy case, Trump’s lawyers filed four new motions to have the former president’s charges either thrown out or drastically limited.

  Citing news articles, Trump’s lawyer claim that President Biden pressured the Justice Department to pursue a “nakedly political” prosecution of Trump and that the special counsel, Jack Smith, has failed to prove any of the three conspiracy counts against the former president.

 They also brought the novel argument that the indictment is a case of double jeopardy, an illegal attempt to try Trump twice on the charges because he was already acquitted by the Senate on many of the same accusations in his second impeachment.

THE OBIT PAGE: Richard Roundtree, the star of the 1971 “Shaft” and one of the first Black action heroes in the movies, died yesterday at home in Los Angeles. He was 81.

THE SPIN RACK: The Arizona Diamondbacks advance to the World Series with a 4-2 win over Philadelphia. — Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled to allow the state’s six-week abortion ban to remain in effect while a lower court hears arguments on the question of whether the right to privacy in the state constitution protects a right to abortion. At six weeks, most women don’t even know they are pregnant.

BELOW THE FOLD:  The off-duty pilot who tried to shut off the engines on an Alaska Airlines flight told investigators that he had taken magic mushrooms. Obviously that’s not the way a pilot is supposed to fly. 

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