- A Trump voter in North Carolina, and, uh, we’ll just leave it at that!

Mediators in the Israel-Hamas negotiations are scrambling to secure a temporary ceasefire  before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins on March 10. But as that deadline grows closer, hope is faltering. 
 

• President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the fate of a potential ceasefire deal was in Hamas’s hands as delegations held a third consecutive day of talks, with no signs of an end to the gridlock. Negotiators for Hamas, as well as mediators from Qatar and Egypt are in Cairo trying to secure a 40-day ceasefire. Israel’s delegation did not attend. The deal presented to Hamas would free some hostages the militant group captured in the October 7 terrorist attack, and aid to Gaza would be increased in an effort to avert famine. Hamas would be required to provide a list of all hostages held in Gaza. 
   

• The release of all women, the sick, wounded, and the elderly would result in an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani underscored in a meeting Tuesday, according to a White House statement. Hamas official Osama Hamdan repeated that his group’s main demands—an end to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, withdrawal of forces, and the return of all Gazans to the homes from which they have been forced—have still not been met. Hamdan said a ceasefire must be a precursor to any prisoner exchange, reflecting the group’s view that a ceasefire must be a step towards a permanent resolution to the conflict. Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said in a briefing before Hamdan spoke that the Islamist movement would have to “come down from their delusional positions and come into our orbit.”
   

• Israel has insisted it will not end the conflict until Hamas is “eliminated,” but wants a pause to release hostages from Hamas captivity. President Biden did not diverge from his long-held public support of Israel in this conflict, saying that a ceasefire deal is “in the hands of Hamas right now. Israelis have been cooperating. There’s been a rational offer.” Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said Hamas is awaiting a response from Israel about its own deal proposal, adding: “Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball is now in the Americans’ court.”

Violence between Israelis and Palestinians often spikes during Ramadan in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, even without an active war., so hammering out a deal in the next week is a top priority for negotiators. 
 

• On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as part of a deal to release hostages. But three current and former U.S. officials told NBC News that officials at the National Security Council toned down parts of her speech. The original draft, according to these officials, was more critical of Israel for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the need for more aid. Two officials said the initial draft explicitly called on Israel to immediately allow additional aid trucks into Gaza, and one of them described the original language “strong but not controversial.” The Vice President’s office called the report “inaccurate.” 
   

• The reported watering-down of Harris’s already-tepid language highlights how reluctant the White House still is to strongly criticize Israel in public, even as the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 30,000 according to the local health ministry. Since the conflict began, the Biden administration seems to have been operating under the hope that it can exert some influence over the Israeli government and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu if it keeps them close. But after almost five months of conflict and Gaza on the brink of mass-starvation, it’s unclear how successful that strategy has been, if at all. The U.S. has repeatedly urged Israel to do more to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, but the enclave is being pushed into famine. Health officials in Gaza are reporting unprecedented numbers of emaciated children arriving in their clinics. 

The U.S. military carried out another air drop of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, parachuting 36,800 meals as the Biden administration continues to urge Israel to allow for more aid to pass through Gaza’s borders.

Happy Women’s History Month! The Crooked Store is celebrating with a She-Commerce Pop-Up Shop featuring favorites from women of color-founded companies and authors. The shop has everything from delicious goodies to kids books to candles – all from small companies we love. It’s a great way to support women of color and your online shopping addiction at the same time. Check out what’s in stock at crooked.com/store, for this month only.

Ah, yes, Super Tuesday! A time when voters in 15 states head to the polls and we all collectively cross our fingers and hope for the best (or, uh, just not the worst, I guess). President Biden is expected to dominate the Democratic primary with no serious challengers and disgraced former president Donald Trump is expected to widen his already-huge lead over his former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. California, the nation’s most populous state, usually takes days, sometimes weeks, to count all of the votes cast. We’ll have a full rundown of the results for you tomorrow, but as of writing this, Trump has handily bested Haley in Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maine. Seems like we’re in for a deluge of results that are both terrifying and entirely predictable on the GOP side.

Ukrainian sea drones hit and sank a Russian patrol ship in the Black Sea off the coast of occupied Crimea in an overnight attack, according to a report from the Ukrainian military on Tuesday. 

In deeply troubling news, the number of voters who think disgraced former president Donald Trump committed crimes has decreased since December across the political spectrum, according to a new New York Times/Siena poll. 

Extreme heat caused by climate change is making women-led households in some of the world's poorest countries even poorer, according to a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. 

Bicycle deaths in New York City hit a 23-year high in 2023, according to new data from the NYC Department of Transportation. Of the 30 cyclists who died last year, 23 were riding electric bikes. 

Federal prosecutors charged Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Tuesday with extortion and obstruction of justice, adding to counts to a case alleging he acted as an illegal foreign agent for Egypt. The senator has denied wrongdoing (lol okay babe). Hooooo doggy. 

Former Governor of Maryland and Never-Trump Republican Larry Hogan said he decided to launch his bid for Senate after Senate Republicans killed the bipartisan border bill. That combined with a phone call from disgraced former president George W. Bush urging him to run was enough to convince him. 

Florida remains in the midst of a major measles outbreak because the Ron DeSantis-appointed state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo is a “vaccine skeptic” who has ignored medical consensus and let parents decide how to handle the outbreak. Cool guy!

The Department of Education announced it will impose a record $14 million fine on Liberty University for violations of federal law on campus safety. The DOE released a 100-plus-page report on its findings from reviewing the private evangelical Christian university, which detailed that in the years studied (between 2016 and 2023), the university committed multiple violations, including failures to issue timely warnings about criminal activity and not notifying the campus about emergencies or dangerous situations. The school also failed to maintain an accurate and complete crime log. The review concluded that Liberty had a, “systemic and persistent failure to develop and implement adequate campus safety and crime prevention compliance programs.” Liberty, founded by the late televangelist Jerry Fallwell, will also be required to spend $2 million on campus safety improvements and submit to a two-year monitoring period. The university said in a statement: “We acknowledge and sincerely regret past program deficiencies and have since corrected these errors with great care and concern.”

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Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) announced she will not seek reelection for Senate in Arizona, after polling basically made that decision for her. Enjoy your corporate lobbying gig, Kyrsten! We know that’s what you’ve always wanted. Her exit leaves the race a two-way contest between the progressive-leaning Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and MAGA psycho/former-Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. 

The men’s basketball team at Dartmouth voted to unionize, in a first-of-its-kind case that could alter college sports forever. To put this in basketball terms, they went from man-to-man to a zone defense. (Wow a sports reference can you believe?)