LEADER TO LEADER: Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US, spoke on the Senate floor yesterday condemning the wartime leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for elections to replace him.

  With more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed since the opening of the war last fall, Schumer said Netanyahu “has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.”

  This reflects a widening split between Democrats and Republicans over the question of supporting Israel no matter what it does in the war. Republicans have been hewing to the pro-Israel line while Democrats increasingly speak out against the slaughter of civilians as Israel tries to eradicate the Hamas militant organization.

  Taking up the line that disagreeing with Israel or its leadership is the equivalent of being anti-Israeli, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The Democratic Party doesn’t have an anti-Bibi (Netanyahu) problem, it has an anti-Israel problem.”

PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: James Crumbley, the father of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley who killed four high school students in 2021, was found guilty yesterday of involuntary manslaughter for failure to secure the gun his mentally disturbed son used in the massacre. 

  This follows a verdict in a separate trial that found Ethan Crumbley’s mother, Jennifer, guilty of similar charges. Both face a maximum of 15 years in prison.

  Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, is serving life in prison. The pistol he used was given to him as a gift only days before the shooting, and his parents were called to school that day because he was displaying violent tendencies. They did not bring him home.

  The guilty verdict in the cases of both parents establishes legal responsibility for parents who do not properly store weapons and act to curb the actions of their children.

POLITICAL CHOICE: Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday became the highest ranking US official to visit an abortion clinic when she went to a Planned Parenthood facility on the border between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

  It’s a signal that Joe Biden and Harris intend to make reproductive rights a major issue in their re-election campaign. “How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need,” Harris said. “We have to be a nation that trusts women.”

  Protesters across the street held signs that said “life is a human right” and “abortion kills a human being.”

ORANGE ALERT: The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution in his classified documents case yesterday shot down a defense motion to have the case dismissed on the grounds that the charges under the Espionage Act are too vague. It’s the first time Judge Aileen Cannon has denied a defense attack on the indictment.

  She rebuffed arguments by Trump lawyers that the statute should be struck down entirely. The Justice Department charges that Trump violated the law 32 times by taking a trove of highly classified documents with him when he left the White House.

  In Manhattan, a judge is considering how long to delay what was to be the March 25^th start of Trump’s trial in the Stormy Daniels porn star payoff case. Trump lawyers asked for 90-days to allow time to review a new batch of records. The Manhattan DA suggested 30 days. 

THE MOON AND STARS:  Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX yesterday successfully launched the most powerful rocket ever built, sending it outside Earth’s atmosphere.  Two previous launchings of the 400-foot rocket ended in explosions within minutes and yesterday’s mission was not perfect. The spacecraft did not survive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

  But there were some successes. All 33 of the booster’s engines ignited and after nearly three minutes, the Starship separated and began to power around the with its six engines.

 The Starship system consists of two stages, the Super Heavy rocket booster and the upper-stage spacecraft, also called Starship. The plan is for both to be fully reusable in the future as SpaceX takes on the role of carrying NASA astronauts to the moon. SpaceX needs as many as 10 successful launches before putting astronauts on board.

GHOSTBUSTERS: Authorities in New York City and state have gone to the streets to combat what they call “ghost cars,” cars that have missing, modified, or counterfeit license plates that can dodge bridge and tunnel tolls. A task force on Monday seized 73 cars, issued 282 summons, and arrested eight people. 

  New York mayor Eric Adams said the ghost cars are a menace to city streets and that some criminals carry several sets of license plates

THE SPIN RACK: Voting has begun in the Russian elections in which President Vladimir Putin is almost certain to win another six years in office. — A ruling is expected today in an Atlanta court on whether District Attorney Fani Willis must be disqualified from prosecuting the Georgia election meddling case. She had an affair with her chief prosecutor and defense lawyers argued that it was a conflict of interest that prevents their clients from getting a fair trial. — Mitch Albom, author of the bestseller “Tuesdays With Morrie,” was among a group of people rescued from Haiti, which has been overrun by criminal gangs. Albom runs an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. — Even with extra police and National Guard patrolling the New York subways, a man was shot and wounded on a train as it arrived at a stop in Brooklyn. — A late winter storm dumped nearly 4 feet of snow in parts of Colorado yesterday, closing as much as 50 miles of I-70 that crosses the state.

BELOW THE FOLD: The West Point military academy has replaced the clause “Duty, Honor, Country” in its mission statement with “Army Values,” which we thought was “Duty, Honor, Country.”

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