FLAMETHROWER: The FBI says that the Egyptian man in Boulder, Colorado who sprayed flaming liquid on people demonstrating on behalf of hostages in Gaza had planned his attack for a year and wanted to “kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.” Twelve people ages 52 to 88 suffered burns.

  Recent antisemitic incidents, including the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, is raising fears among Jewish people across the country.

  The Colorado suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is believed to have used an improvised flamethrower made from a garden sprayer and carried Molotov cocktails. He yelled “Free Palestine!” as he attacked, injuring eight people.

  Soliman appeared in federal court yesterday to face charges of carrying out a hate crime. Charges of terrorism, which carry the federal death penalty, could follow. He has a wife and five children living in Colorado Springs, according to the criminal complaint. Chief Stephen Redfearn of the Boulder Police Department said, “He was not on our radar in Boulder. We had no prior contacts with him.”

THE SUPREMES: The Court yesterday turned down a major Second Amendment challenge to the Maryland law that bans assault rifles  like the AR-15 and has a 10-round limit on ammunition magazines. Three conservative justices objected to the order.

  The law was passed in response to the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting in Connecticut.

  Justice Clarence Thomas said the Court should have accepted the case and decided whether such bans are legal. “I would not wait to decide whether the government can ban the most popular rifle in America,” Thomas wrote. “That question is of critical importance to tens of millions of law-abiding AR-15 owners throughout the country. We have avoided deciding it for a full decade.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— The Trump administration announced that it plans to eliminate federal protection of millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness, allowing drilling and mining in some of the last remaining pristine wilderness in the country.

  Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration exceeded its authority when it banned oil and gas drilling in more than half of the 23 million-acre area, known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. It includes the largest area of public land in the United States,  habitat for grizzly and polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.

  The decision is part of President Trump’s promise to “drill baby drill” for more and cheaper oil even though the US has been the world’s top oil producer for at least six years. Burgum said in a statement, “We’re restoring the balance and putting our energy future back on track.” 

  The Trump administration is pushing a return to the burning of fossil fuels that cause climate change and global warming. The President doesn’t believe it climate change is real. 

— The President posted two rambling messages on his social media feed yesterday, one of which said: “Passing THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL is a Historic Opportunity to turn our Country around after four disastrous years under Joe Biden. We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors — Something 80 Million Voters supported in November.”

  Trump’s “beautiful bill”  by the calculations of the Congressional Budget Office would not balance the budget but increase the federal deficit by more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

— Reuters News reports that staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency were astounded after David Richardson, the Trump-appointed head of the disaster relief agency, said he was not aware that the country has a hurricane season. The Department of Homeland Security claims Richardson was joking.

THE WAR ROOM: Israeli troops opened fired again today on Gazans crowding toward a food distribution site, killing 27 people. The military said they fired on “a few” people who strayed from the designated route a half mile from the distribution site and had ignored warning shots.

  In. a similar incident near the same food site Israeli troops killed 23 people.

  Gazans are desperate for food and aid agencies say they face widespread starvation.

  Breaking this morning in the  other big war, Ukraine says it planted explosives underwater to damage the bridge between Russia and Crimea, a prime supply route for Russian forces. The severity of damage has not been reported.  

THE SPIN RACK: Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that most of his $200 billion fortune will be spent on improving health and education in Africa over the next 20 years. The 69-year-old Gates said that “by unleashing human potential through health and education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity”. — Intelligence files seen by the BBC confirm that missing American journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by the Assad regime. Tice went missing near the Syrian capital of Damascus in August 2012 and it is unknown what ultimately happened to him.  — Tourists on Sicily’s Mt. Etna ran for their lives yesterday after the volcano erupted, spewing ash, gas, and rocks. The eruption was brief and no one was reported injured.— CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt departed the network yesterday months after the CNN settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from his reporting. Marquardt had reported that a defense contractor had gouged people paying money to flee Afghanistan as the US withdrew its forces from the country. 

BELOW THE FOLD:  The Walt Disney Company for its 70^th anniversary plans to present an animatronic robot version of its patriarch in a new Disneyland show, “Walt Disney — A Magical Life.”Disney’s granddaughter says the man who brought the world Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Disneyland would never have wanted to be a robot.

  Joanna Miller on Facebook called it “dehumanizing.”

  And if you can imagine having a beloved grandfather rendered as a robot, it’s pretty creepy.   

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