WORSE TO COME:  After a massive buildup of ground troops, The Israeli military says it is “in formation” to strike Gaza City and the heart of the Hamas militant organization. The world is holding its breath for the start of a battle that could be like Stalingrad and a humanitarian disaster.

  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been on a lightning diplomatic tour of the Middle East, trying to prevent the conflict from turning into a wider war.

  Already, eight days of Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed 2,670 people and wounded 9,600. Even while as many as half a million Palestinian have fled to the south, many more remain in the line of fire while living without electricity and supplies of food and water.

  Gaza hospitals are reported to be clogged with the wounded, many of them children, and running out of supplies. The border with Egypt remains closed, presenting people from getting out and emergency aid getting in.

  President Biden posted on Twitter/X: “We must not lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas’s appalling attacks, and are suffering as a result of them.”

  On the other side, Israel now says Hamas took 199 people hostage.

  The sectarian hatred is spreading. In Illinois, a man has been charged with a hate crime in the stabbing murder of a 6-year-old boy and wounding of his mother because they were Muslim.

CONGRESS OF CHAOS: Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is reported to be putting a big pressure campaign on Republican colleagues to make him speaker of the House, basically turning loose the angry right wing base of voters to call and threaten their representatives with removal. Representatives in his corner and activists have taken to social media, sometimes posting the office phone numbers of members of Congress who so far have not come out in Jordan’s favor.

  Jordan is one of the handful of congressional extremists who refuse to compromise in order to get their way. It’s interesting to see whether he will encounter opponents who refuse to compromise and let him become speaker. 

    CNN quotes a “senior Republican House member” who said he believes there are roughly 40 “no” votes, more than enough to block Jordan.  “The approximately 20 I’ve talked to know we must be prepared,” the anonymous member said. “They want a minority of the majority to dictate and as a red-blooded American I refuse to be a victim.”

ORANGE ALERT: Lawyers are expected to present arguments in court today on the question of whether Donald Trump should be issued a gag order preventing him from commenting on his federal election interference case. 

  Trump has claimed that a gag order would be a political move to silence an opponent during the presidential election season. His lawyer Gregory Singer wrote, “The prosecution would silence President Trump, amid a political campaign where his right to criticize the government is at its zenith, all to avoid a public rebuke of this prosecution,” 

  Prosecutors cite threatening remarks Trump has made about special counsel Jack Smith, the chief prosecutor, and the judge in the case, Tanya Chutkan. He posted on social media, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” 

  A major issue would be how Chutkan would enforce a gag order. If she succeeds, she would be the first person in history to make Trump shut up. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Suzanne Somers, the smart and beautiful actress who made her mark playing a dumb blonde in the sitcom Three’s Company, has died at age 76. She died of breast cancer a day before turning 77.

  The show was about two women who brought in a male roommate, John Ritter, who pretended to be gay because the landlord would disapprove of a straight man living with two unmarried women. The show became so popular that by the 5^th season Somers, who was making $30,000 a show, asked for pay equity with Ritter, who was paid $150,000. Instead of getting the money she was fired.

  Somers later told The NY Times, “I’ve been playing what I think is one of the best dumb blondes that’s ever been done, but I never got any credit. I did it so well that everyone thought I really was a dumb blonde.”

THE SPIN RACK: With billions of dollars in debt and facing lawsuits claiming it filled thousands of illegal painkiller prescriptions, the Rite Aid drugstore chain has filed for bankruptcy. The chain is going to attempt continuing to operate. — Another powerful earthquake hit Afghanistan in the same region where a quake killed thousands of people just a week ago. — Climate Power, a liberal advocacy group, plans to spend $80 million on advertising to improve President Biden’s image regarding environmental issues. — Banana Republic: Daniel Noboa, the 35-year-old heir to a banana empire, yesterday won Ecuador’s presidential election. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Comedian Pete Davidson, a former member of the cast, opened the season for Saturday Night Live with a somber refection:

  “This week, we saw the horrible images and stories from Israel and Gaza. And I know what you’re thinking: ‘Who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson?’ Well, in a lot of ways, I am a good person to talk about it because when I was 7 years old, my dad was killed in a terrorist attack, so I know something about what that’s like. I saw so many terrible pictures this week of children suffering, Israeli children and Palestinian children. And it took me back to a really horrible, horrible place. No one in this world deserves to suffer like that, especially not kids.”

  Davidson’s father was a New York firefighter who died on 9/11.

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