A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to remain out of reach, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the Biden administration’s belated public pressure with a respectful “fuck off.” 
 

• President Biden told Netanyahu on Wednesday that he “expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire,” according to the White House, the strongest language the administration has used publicly since the violence began. After their call, Netanyahu issued a statement saying that he was “determined to continue this operation until its aim is met.” Good talk!
   
• While Bibi flexes for the far-right, millions of innocent civilians are trapped in an unspeakable nightmare. The death toll in Gaza has risen to 227, including 64 children, while 12 people in Israel have been killed, including two children. The Norwegian Refugee Council said Tuesday that 11 of young victims in Gaza had been participating in its trauma program, already scarred by the endless cycle of violence. 
   
• Beyond the immediate terror, the pre-existing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has gone from bad to worse. Israeli airstrikes have damaged hospitals and schools, destroyed the only lab processing coronavirus tests in Gaza, broken water pipes and sewage systems, and displaced some 72,000 Gazans from their homes. A ceasefire alone won’t fix all that, nor will it repair the deepening rifts in Israeli society: Since last week, emboldened Israeli extremists have created at least 100 new WhatsApp groups for the explicit purpose of organizing mob violence against Palestinian citizens. 

The worsening situation has prompted louder demands from Democrats for both an immediate end to the violence, and greater accountability for Israel in U.S. foreign policy.
 

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that “after more than a week of hostilities, it has become even more apparent that a cease-fire is necessary.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) confronted Biden directly on the tarmac in Detroit to express her dissatisfaction with the U.S. response and urge Biden to do more to protect Palestinian human rights. (If you missed Tlaib’s speech on the House floor last week, it’s worth your time.)
   
• Tlaib is among a group of progressives led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that introduced a last-minute resolution on Wednesday to block a $735 million weapons sale to Israel, a day after a group of senior House Democrats decided against pushing for a delay. The Biden administration has already approved the sale and the resolution isn’t likely to make it to a House vote in the short time remaining, but it’s a sign of growing frustration with the longstanding U.S. policy of sending Israel billions of dollars in military aid with no conditions on how it’s used.

This is one of those unique instances where even those of us in blue states can make a genuine difference by calling our reps and making a pro-human-rights stink: (202) 224-3121. If you’re able, here’s how to support the groups providing aid on the ground.

This week on Keep It, Ira, Louis, and Aida discuss the Flamin' Hot Cheetos origin controversy and racist tweets against new iCarly star Laci Mosley. Plus, Wanda Sykes joins to discuss her new sitcom The Upshaws! New episodes every Wednesday. Follow Keep It wherever you get your podcasts →

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has opted to participate in the GOP coverup of a violent insurrection that killed five people at his workplace, saying he’ll oppose a bipartisan bill to establish a January 6 commission after all. That decision came after Donald Trump shocked the nation by announcing that he did not care for the idea, and urged Republicans to vote against it. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who said on Tuesday that he didn’t “want [the insurrection] to be swept under any rug,” has changed his mind and picked up a broom. Capitol Police officers have released an unofficial statement expressing their “profound disappointment” in the GOP leaders they risked their lives to protect. On Wednesday evening, the bill to establish the commission passed 252-175 in the House, with 35 Republicans voting in favor. Yell us out, Tim Ryan.

• New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office announced that it is now investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, in cooperation with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. James reportedly opened a criminal tax investigation into CFO Allen Weisselberg several months ago. Donald Trump is blogging through it.
   
• Three survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday, recounting their memories of the massacre and calling for reparations to the community.
   
• Colonial Pipeline has run into a new computer problem, which it said was unrelated to last week’s cyberattack, and hasn’t shut down the pipeline. 
   
• New Hampshire Republicans have been crafting a state-level workaround for the voting-access standards in the For The People Act, just in case Sen. Joe Manchin ("D"-WV) bonks his head down at the marina and agrees to pass it.
   
• Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has issued an order barring local governments and public schools from requiring masks, complete with fines for officials who impose mask mandates.
   
• UNC-Chapel Hill has abandoned its plan to offer a tenured position to 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones, after conservatives kicked and screamed. 
   
• The EU has agreed to open its borders to vaccinated travelers, as long as they’ve gotten an EU-approved vaccine. (The vaccines available in the U.S. are all on the list; the ones made in Russia and China, not so much.)
   
• A new report found that just 20 large companies account for half of the world’s single-use plastic. Americans—and Australians, our southern hemisphere trash brothers—are the ones using most of it. 
   
• A group of Jewish Google employees has called on the company to condemn Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza. The group formed in response to an overwhelmingly pro-Israel stance within “Jewglers,” which we regret to report is not a Jewish juggling group.
   
• A bunch of South Carolina kindergarteners peppered an armed school bus hijacker with questions until he got frustrated and let them go. A de-escalation tactic for the ages.
   
• Archaeologists have nailed down the age of an aggressively naked giant carved into the English countryside, but have not yet answered the more pressing question of “Why is he...I mean, who would...what?”

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has signed a bill banning abortions in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy, earning him a coveted spot in the elite Two Mentions For Harmful Governing Within One Newsletter Club. (This about sums it up.) That new law is one of the most extreme in the country, amounting to an outright abortion ban: At six weeks, pregnant people have missed a single period, and could very easily have no idea they’re pregnant. The law also empowers private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after that cutoff, a provision designed to make the ban harder to block in court. The law would be enforced by the kinds of creeps who harass women outside Planned Parenthood, not the government, so there’s nobody for pro-choice advocates to immediately sue. 

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Progressive Ed Gainey won the Democratic nomination for Pittsburgh mayor, setting him up to become the city’s first Black mayor. Pittsburgh voters also banned no-knock warrants and solitary confinement in jail, and Philadelphia voters slapped down a primary challenger to reform-minded District Attorney Larry Krasner. 

Lawyers working to contact migrant families who were separated under the Trump administration were able to locate the parents of 54 more children in the past month.

Pfizer is in the process of developing a version of its vaccine that can be stored at higher temperatures.

New York City will launch the country’s largest work development program for at-risk LGBTQ+ youth.