US SOLDIERS KILLED: Three American soldiers were killed and as many as 34 wounded yesterday in a drone strike on a small special forces base in Jordan. The strike is believed to have been carried out by Iran-backed militants, but the Pentagon has not identified where the drone was launched. The base is close to the borders of Iraq and Syria.

  Under immediate pressure from some congressional Republicans, President Biden said, “We will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing,” President Biden said.

  “Hit Iran now. Hit them hard,” wrote South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Twitter/X.

  An Iran-backed militia who call themselves the Axis of Resistance claimed responsibility saying it was a “continuation of our approach to resisting the American occupation forces in Iraq and the region.”

  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “The president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our troops and our interests.”

ORANGE ALERT: Some members of Congress including Republicans say Donald Trump is working behind the scenes to kill a compromise bill that would tighten border security while also freeing military aid for Ukraine. They say Trump wants inaction at the border so he can use that as a presidential campaign issue against Joe Biden in the fall.

  With a compromise deal almost ready to be revealed, Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said, “The fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is … really appalling.” 

  One Republican senator told CNN on the condition of anonymity that, “This proposal would have had almost unanimous Republican support if it weren’t for Donald Trump.” 

  The deal includes new authority for the president to shut down the border between ports of entry when unlawful crossings reach high levels and reforming the asylum system to resolve cases more quickly. Democrat Chris Murphy said, “This bill could be ready to be on the floor of the United States Senate next week. But it won’t be if Republicans decide that they want to keep this issue unsettled for political purposes.” 

HOSTAGES FOR PEACE: American-led negotiators are reported to be closer to reaching an agreement in which Israel would suspend its ferocious war against Hamas militants in Gaza for as long as two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas.

  Negotiators say they have produced a written draft of the agreement, a compromise between proposals offered by Israel and Hamas in the last 10 days.

  As talks continue so does the war. The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry says more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed and 62,000 wounded. 

 About 110 hostages have already been released. Under increasing pressure at home to secure the release of the rest. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We are dealing with this and we are doing so around the clock, including now.”

FORTUNES OF WAR: Ukraine has charged that employees of an arms company conspired with officials in the defense ministry to embezzle almost $40 million that was budgeted to buy 100,000 mortar shells for the war against Russian invaders.

  Five people have been charged, with one of them caught trying to cross the Ukraine border out of the country.

  President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected on an anti-corruption platform long before the war started, but he’s had trouble routing out the thieves, some of whom are stealing from the hands of soldiers fighting for the country.

FOOTBALL: Taylor Swift and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 late yesterday to win a slot in the 2024 Super Bowl in two weeks. Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce had 11 receptions, 116 yards of offense, and a touchdown. It will be the Chiefs fourth Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.

  Detroit scored a last minute touchdown but it was not enough to overcome San Francisco’s 10 point lead. San Francisco 34, Detroit 31, and the 49ers go on to meet Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

THE OBIT PAGE:  Harry Connick Sr., the former New Orleans District Attorney and father of the singer Harry Jr., has died at age 97.

  In 30 years as the prosecutor, Connick accrued a reputation for overreaching the facts of cases and wrongful convictions. According to the Innocence Project of New Orleans, 32 of those convicted during Connick’s run from 1973 to 2003, were “factually innocent” and later exonerated. The project says that in 27 of those cases there was prosecutorial misconduct by Connick’s assistants. 

  His reputation was cemented in a 2011 dissent by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in which she branded Connick for having a “cavalier approach” to the law. 

THE SPIN RACK: A snowboarder at Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly Ski Resort spent 15 hours trapped in a gondola that stopped two minutes after she boarded. Monica Laso said she told a lift attendant she was too exhausted to take a run down the mountain at the end of the day and he let her on the gondola to return to the bottom. Laso said she didn’t have a phone or a light and screamed until she lost her voice. She wasn’t found until the lift started to run in the morning. — Britain’s princess Kate has been released following two weeks in the hospital after abdominal surgery. The palace has not explained her medical problem.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Two environmental protesters over the weekend threw soup on bullet proof glass that protects the Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum in Paris. The painting was not damaged. But it was in France so the soup was probably delicious.

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