AID TO GAZA has been stopped, says the UN (Wikipedia).

The distribution of food aid into the Gaza city of Rafah by the United Nations has stopped.

UN officials say that the security situation is too dangerous and there’s not enough supplies to distribute to refugees from the fighting between Hamas and Israel.

Israel’s moving of troops and vehicles toward Rafah closed off a key crossing point at the Egyptian border as well as pushing more refugees out the city.

Another development is the reaction to statements from the International Criminal Court calling for the arrest of Hamas leaders and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Israel’s invasion into the Gaza Strip followed attacks by Hamas militants and the ICC condemned the actions of both combatants. Israel and the U.S. condemned the ICC’s comments, which are widely viewed as theoretical in that the ICC has no enforcement and apprehension capability.

Trump doesn’t take the stand

The defense rested its case in the “hush money” trial of former president Donald Trump on Tuesday, but without any testimony from the accused.

FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (Shutterstock).

With the testimony phase of the trial finished, the jury is expected to begin consideration of the case next week. Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records by claiming that $150,000 of “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels was actually legal expenses.

The jury will have the task of deciding whether the man who once occupied the White House is a felon who might be sentenced to prison. There is also the question of the trial’s impact on the 2024 presidential election. Will the result tip votes? If he is convicted and Trump wins, can he pardon himself from a federal crime? 

Rudy G. pleads not guilty

RUDY GUILIANI (Shutterstock).

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and former president Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges of seeking to overturn the Arizona results in the 2020 presidential election.

He was joined by 10 co-defendants in the case in claiming innocence. Giuliani and the others are accused of conspiring to commit election fraud was by allegedly using fake electors to be sent to Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021 certification of the Electoral College’s election of Joe Biden as winner.

John Eastman, a former Trump attorney and a one-time Chapman University professor has been disbarred by the California State Bar Association.

Extreme weather threatens 25 million

A TORNADO in Oklahoma in 1999 (Wikipedia).

More than 25 million people in the Plains states and Midwest are in danger as a “severe” weather pattern approaches.

Tornadoes, heavy rain, hail and powerful winds are predicted by the National Weather Service. People in the path of those threats are being urged to seek cover.

A tornado watch is in place for an area stretching from Minnesota to Iowa. The Hawkeye State is in a “particularly dangerous situation” from the threat of tornados.

Almost a month ago, the area was hit with 100 tornados in one day.

Dodgers home; Angels in Texas

Last year, Carlos Estevez was one of top relievers in the American League. This year, he – and the rest of his team’s bullpen – are among the top reasons that the Los Angeles Angels continue to lose games they could win.

Estevez (0-3) faced two batters in the bottom of the 10th inning of a tied game. He walked one intentionally and yielded the game-winning single to the second batter as the Houston Astros beat the Angels 6-5 on Tuesday night.

The Angels used five relievers, with all but one of them giving up at least one run. Collectively the relief corps yielded five hits and four runs as the Angels fell to 19-30 and are now back in fifth and last place in the American League West.

There were some highlights including home runs by Luis Rengifo and Kevin Pillar, and three hits by Nolan Schanuel.

Back at Chavez Ravine, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost 7-3 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game was close with the score 4-3 but the visitors pulled away with three runs in the seventh inning coming on Joe Pederson’s three-run homer.

As for the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani continued to shine, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. He’s now batting .356 with a stellar OPS (on-base, plus slugging) of 1.080.

Gavin Lux was 2-for-4 for the Blue Crew. LAD is now 33-28 and leads the National League West by eight games over the San Diego Padres (25-26). The D-backs are 23-26 and in third.

Weather: The Small Chill (sort of)

Summer-time is not yet here. The forecast for our West Orange County is for a descent into to the mid-60s into the weekend.  Wednesday is expected to have a daytime high of 70 with an overnight low of 59 under partly cloudy skies. After that, daytime times will slide down to 65 by Saturday, with nighttime temps at 57 with morning clouds and afternoon sun.