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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The speech was worth your time: “President Joe Biden denounced a wave of antisemitic incidents that have broken out since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, assuring Jewish-Americans in a speech Tuesday that they shouldn’t feel isolated and alone as they face down bigotry. The president also used the address to reaffirm his unswerving commitment to Israel, though he hinted at disagreements with Israeli government leaders whose offensive in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians.”
* In Gaza: “The Israeli military said its ground forces have seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, closing a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.”
* Ahead of Stormy Daniels’ testimony: “Trump took to his social media site this morning to rip Merchan after learning who will testify today, but within minutes he deleted the post.”
* I’m starting to notice a pattern here: “As Stormy Daniels was testifying about her defamation claim against Trump, the former president appeared for a while to be solidly asleep.”
* The last time TikTok filed a big suit like this one, it won: “TikTok is suing the United States government in an effort to stop enforcement of a bill passed last month that seeks to force the app’s Chinese owner to sell the app or have it banned.”
* It’s almost as if Judge Aileen Cannon is taking deliberate steps to advance Trump’s electoral strategy: “Reversing one of her own decisions, the federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case granted his request on Monday to postpone the deadline for a crucial court filing in the criminal proceeding, increasing the chance that any trial would be pushed past the November election.”
* On a related note: “Over and over, Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, has treated seriously arguments that many, if not most, federal judges would have rejected out of hand. Often, her acceptance of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox claims have resulted in significant delays in bringing the charges in the classified documents case in front of a jury.”
* Quite a moment: “Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) stepped to the microphone on the House floor Monday to speak about one of her latest pieces of legislation, as she has done many times before during her five years in Congress. But the voice that gave the speech wasn’t hers — it was from a text-to-voice application, an assistive device she uses to help her navigate a degenerative brain condition with which she was diagnosed last year.”
* Fresh evidence that all is not well in Florida: “Javier Ortiz, the Miami police captain whose long history of citizen complaints alleging beatings, false arrests and harassment made him notorious in the city he swore to protect and serve, has joined Ron DeSantis’ Florida State Guard. Ortiz, 44, joined the paramilitary organization in February, about a year after the Miami Police Department rescinded his firing on the condition that he give up his work-issued gun, work a nighttime desk job and commit to an early retirement.”
See you tomorrow.