Raid in Gaza: Information broke this morning that the Israeli navy is starting its raid of Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, within the Gaza Strip. The BBC reported that one trauma surgeon mentioned, from contained in the constructing, that “tanks and snipers” presently encompass the hospital from “all directions.”
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) have informed all folks contained in the hospital to evacuate instantly in order that it will probably start its raid.
The Israeli navy stories that it has intelligence—together with testimony from now-released hostages—that signifies that Hamas is utilizing Nasser Hospital as an essential spot for its navy operations, which might be in step with the well-established sample of Hamas utilizing civilians, together with the sick and wounded, as human shields. There’s some perception among the many Israeli navy that both dwelling captives or the our bodies of hostages is perhaps situated at Nasser Hospital.
In the meantime, Hamas-controlled Gaza Well being Ministry officers declare that the IDF’s operation has destroyed essential areas of the hospital, crippling its operations and harming displaced individuals who have been sheltering there.
Each might be true, and Israel should proceed weighing whether or not raids like these are price the associated fee—a state of affairs it has been pressured into partly as a result of Hamas’ callous disregard for human life.
In the meantime, on the Israel-Lebanon border, issues are heating up. Israel reportedly killed 10 Lebanese civilians in strikes in a single day, whereas Iran-backed Hezbollah has been launching increasingly rockets (together with one which killed an Israeli soldier on Tuesday).
Local weather activists wreaking havoc on D.C. this week: In case you missed it—and I dearly hope you probably did—local weather activists dumped red powder on the case holding the U.S. Structure, within the rotunda of the Nationwide Archives, yesterday. “We are determined to foment a rebellion. We will not be held account to laws in which we have no voice or representation,” mentioned one of many activists. “This country’s founded on the conditions that all men are created…and endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” mentioned the opposite. “We’re calling for all people to have all these rights, not just wealthy white men. We all deserve clean air, water, food, and a livable climate.”
They have been promptly arrested, however they weren’t the one vandals on the free.
Local weather activist group Declare Emergency has activated a number of teams this week (the Structure-desecraters are purportedly affiliated), with one set of protesters blocking site visitors on D.C.’s George Washington Parkway. Some drivers received confrontational with them, together with one lady who mentioned her son was within the hospital. “I don’t got time for this shit,” she added.
In recent times, local weather activists have seemingly grown emboldened, throwing cans of soup on the Mona Lisa on the Louvre; gluing themselves to Johannes Vermeer’s Lady With a Pearl Earring at Mauritshuis museum in The Hague; and gluing themselves to Vincent van Gogh’s Peach Bushes in Blossom at London’s Courtauld Gallery. Simply yesterday, local weather protesters focused Sandro Botticelli’s Delivery of Venus in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery:
#DeclareEmergency allies @UltimaGenerazi1 have been additionally lively this Valentine’s Day!
Local weather activists goal Botticelli’s ‘Delivery of Venus’ in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery @a22network #NoArtOnADeadPlanethttps://t.co/jYkEfSC7rh
— Declare Emergency (@DecEmergency) February 14, 2024
It is not clear who’s helped by all this—having automobiles idle in site visitors, as a result of human road blockages would not actually appear to assist cease local weather change—however the incidents do appear to be rising in frequency.
Scenes from New York: “A Plush Dog, Samurai Sword and 42,439 Guns: Inside an N.Y.P.D. Basement,” from The New York Occasions, is price your time.
QUICK HITS
- Tucker Carlson is now releasing the strangest brief movies, set to classical music, praising Moscow’s subway system, which was constructed by Joseph Stalin to be able to…impress foreigners. However even for those who concede that the Moscow subway system is gorgeous, Carlson appears to take this as hermetic proof that Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of tips on how to govern. I don’t take the identical lesson from this. It’s doable that Putin, following within the footsteps of Stalin, merely prioritizes devoting state sources (and harsh enforcement) to sustaining the opulent stations on the expense of many different priorities.
- “Zoning shifted the focus of city planning from stewarding the public realm to managing private development,” wrote M. Nolan Grey in The Atlantic. “The forebears of professional planners were unconcerned with land uses and densities, allowing mixed-use neighborhoods to emerge. But zoning remade cities into a fragmented landscape of malls, office parks, and residential subdivisions.”
- That is, uh, not the best takeaway from the Fani Willis scandal, by The New York Occasions:
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— Kmele ???? (@kmele) February 14, 2024
- Rachel Dolezal, who made headlines years in the past for figuring out as black regardless of being born to white dad and mom, just lately misplaced her instructing job over her OnlyFans account.
- Does Tom Suozzi’s Lengthy Island congressional seat flip inform Democrats how they must message on immigration?
- Japan’s economic system is in hassle.