BORDERLINE: The do-nothing Congress continues to do nothing.

  Senate Republicans with five renegades from the other side yesterday shot down the $118 billion bill that would have paid for border protection as well as military aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and more.

  The bill contained much of what conservatives wanted on immigration. But the bill cobbled together by both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate lost support after Donald Trump called for it to be killed. The political theory is that Trump wants to campaign for president with the border still in chaos claiming only he can fix it.

  Despite complaining about migrants flooding over the border, some Republicans openly said they did not want to hand President Joe Biden a legislative victory in an election year. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican fostering the bill, said that one prominent right wing media personality told him, “‘if you try to move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year, I will do whatever I can to destroy you.’”

  Four Republicans voted “yes” on the bill: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, and James Lankford of Oklahoma. Independent Bernie sanders of Vermont and four Democrats went the other way: Senators Alex Padilla of California, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.

  Senate Democrats are now moving on a foreign aid bill stripped of the domestic border security element. But foreign aid, particularly for Ukraine, might hit a wall in the House. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene threatened to force out speaker Mike Johnson if he brings anything to the floor to help Ukraine.

TAKE THE CANNOLI: A US drone strike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad is reported to have killed asenior leader of the militia that the US blames for recent attacks on American forces in the Middle East. It was a pinpoint strike on an SUV that was left in flames as traffic passed.

  A senior Kata’ib Hezbollah official and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps both said that two commanders had been killed in the strike. Crowds gathered in streets of Baghdad, chanting “America is the devil.”

  The strike was part of what the Biden administration says will be a sustained campaign of retaliation for more than 160 militia attacks, one of which killed three American service members. 

 THE WAR ROOM:  Israel prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outright rejected a Hamas ceasefire proposal and vowed to fight on until “complete victory.”

  Hamas militants had called for the release of Israeli hostages, both alive and dead, over a four-month period in exchange for complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. 

 Netanyahu called the Hamas terms “delusional” and said that, “By giving in to Hamas demands, we will only invite another massacre.

ORANGE ALERT: The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today on whether Colorado and Maine, and therefore any state, can bar Donald Trump from election ballots because they consider him disqualified as an insurrectionist under the 14^th Amendment.

  Trump’s lawyers are likely to argue that the presidency is not an “office” of the government as defined in the third clause of the amendment, and therefore it does not apply to him. They are also likely to question whether the events of January 6^th amounted to an insurrection. 

  Lawyers for the other side will say that opposite on both points. 

  A tough call for the originalists on the court will be the question of whether the states have the right to make their own call about election eligibility. This is the court that said it’s the states that should make their own rules about abortion.

MONEY MATTERS: The Congressional Budget Office projects that the federal deficit will grow by $19 trillion over the next 10 years, topping $54 trillion. The good news … sort of good … is that because of legislated trims in federal spending the annual deficits over the next decade are 7 percent smaller than the $20.3 trillion the budget office forecast last year.

  On the bright side of the economy, the US imported more goods from Mexico than from China last year for the first time in 20 years.

BULLETS AND FLAME: At least six people are unaccounted for in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania,including children, following the shooting of two police officers and a fire that engulfed a 2 ½ story home.

  Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said authorities would have to dig through the charred debris.  

  The two officers responding to a call for a child wounded by gunfire were shot as they approached the house. As police surrounded the house, it started to burn and they never got inside.

THE SPIN RACK: A Marine helicopter that went missing has been located in Pine Valley, about 44 miles east of San Diego, but the five Marines on board have not been found. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter went down in extremely bad weather despite being designed to fly in bad conditions. Snow has made it difficult for responders to get to the chopper. — A volcano system in southwestern Iceland has erupted for the third time in recent months, threatening the homes of 31,000 people.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Spiritualist Marianne Williamson has quit her campaign for president. Name 10 people who even knew she was running.

  In character, Williamson issued a touch-feely kind of statement saying, “Processing this experience will itself be an ongoing journey, and forgiveness will guide me as I move through it.” She said, “There are hidden gifts that have only just begun to reveal themselves.” 

  Now, why couldn’t Ron DeSantis have said that?

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