AT WAR: Refugees are clogging the roads and casualties flooding hospitals as Israel invades southern Gaza. Troops are closing in on the city of Khan Younis as 

the war has moves to the area where Palestinians had retreated to escape fighting in the north.

  The United Nations’ office for humanitarian affairs says Israel has conducted some of the most intense bombing of the war. The Palestinian death toll is about 16,000 and an astonishing number of the wounded and dead are children.

  Israel has published an online map showing civilians the safe areas to go, but with the electricity cut off few if any of Gaza’s 2.2 million civilians are able to view Israel’s notices. The Gaza director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says that neighborhoods that are home to 600,000 people were ordered to be emptied. 

THAT OTHER WAR: With the war in Ukraine grinding into its second winter, the White House sent a warning letter to Speaker Mike Johnson saying money to send weapons to Ukraine will run out by the end of the year if Congress doesn’t act.

  The bluntly worded letter says, “Cutting off the flow of U.S. weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories.”

  Whether this moves the Republicans at all is a question. With the presidential election looming, many Republicans have been saying the US needs to worry about its own border security rather than far off Ukraine. 

  The White House argues that helping Ukraine thwart further Russian aggression is a national security issue. White House Budget Director Shalanda Young said in the letter to Johnson, “We are out of money — and nearly out of time.” 

ORANGE ALERT: Former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who was voted out of office for opposing Donald Trump and being a member of the House January 6^th investigating committee, said yesterday on NBC’s Today Show that a vote for him “may mean the last election that you ever get to vote in.”

 “It certainly is,” she said. “And Donald Trump has told us exactly what he will do. He will not abide by the rulings of the courts. He will certainly appoint people to office whether or not they can be confirmed by the Senate.”

  She went on, “He has talked about using the military in terms that really are fundamentally un-American. … So it’s a very dangerous moment, and it’s a moment for people to understand that that cannot be the path that we go down as a country.”

  If you think Cheney is guilty of hyperbole, then listen to Trump himself. This is what he posted on his Truth Social website two days ago: “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

  The Atlantic magazine yesterday published a collection of 24 articles under the heading, “If Trump Wins.” Writers warn that Trump will establish an autocracy that abandons NATO, strips the rights of immigrants, uses the Justice Department to evade the law while punishing opponents, and more.

  David Frum writes, “Trump operates so far outside the normal bounds of human behavior—never mind normal political behavior—that it is difficult to accept what he may actually do, even when he declares his intentions openly.”

THE SHOOTING GALLERY: Fatal shootings in Texas and Washington over the weekend pushed the nation into the gruesome record territory of 38 mass shootings in a year. A mass shooting is one in which four or more people are killed.

  In Dallas, a 21-year-old man who was supposed to be wearing an ankle monitor to track him because of a previous assault shot five people in a house, killing a toddler and three adults. Outside Vancouver, Washington five family members died in what sheriff’s deputies think was a murder-suicide.

  The latest incidents brought the 2023 total to 197 dead in mass shootings, not counting the shooters, also a record. 

THE SPIN RACK: A two story row house in Arlington, Virginia blew up collapsed, and burned last night as police were trying to serve a search warrant. The explosion was spectacular. The occupant had fired some shots before the blast. — Over 10 million people are under flood watch today across the Pacific Northwest as heavy rain is expected. — The music streaming service Spotify says it is cutting 17 percent of its staff this week, about 1,500 people, despite “robust” customer growth. The streaming business has trouble streaming profits. — A former employee of Elon Musk’s Tesla car company told the BBC he believes the technology behind the company’s self-driving vehicles is not safe for use on public roads. —A super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president is planning to spend $10 million to $15 million to get the political scion on the ballot in 10 states, possibly elevating him to the role of spoiler for Joe Biden in 2024. — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum dropped his campaign for president yesterday. You probably didn’t even know he was running.

BELOW THE FOLD: Deposed New York Rep. George Santos, one of the most profligate scammers in a legislative body loaded with them, is now offering personalized video messages on the website Cameo.

  For $200 Santos, who advertises himself as a “former congressional ‘Icon,'” will send you a birthday greeting, advice, encouragement in a crisis, anything you want for the money, which is how he got himself booted from Congress.         

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