THE SHOW NOTES: Biden's Red Line, Defending Murderers, & Pittsburgh Has No Police

Welcome! Joe Biden is sending 1,000 troops to Gaza instead of the southern border.

HEADLINE: San Francisco ties welfare to drug-screening, boosts police powers in stunning tough-on-crime shift - LA Times

OUTRAGE: FDNY turns up heat on firefighters who cheered Trump, booed Letitia James with scolding internal letter - NY Post

ROYAL SCANDAL: Kate Middleton has apologized for posting an edited family photo that is raising questions about her health.

WATCH: Gary Cohen explains the effects of inflation better than anyone.

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Biden’s Red Line

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ignore Biden’s “red line” and press ahead with an imminent invasion of Rafah to free the remaining Israeli hostages and finish off the remaining elements of Hamas. Netanyahu estimated that three-fourths of Hamas fighters in Gaza have been killed and that Israel should be able to finish the job in four to six weeks.

Why this matters: Joe Biden set a confusing “red line” on Saturday in an interview with MSNBC that appeared much more aimed at Michigan’s Muslim voters than it did at solving the war raging in the Middle East. Biden said, “The defense of Israel is still critical, so there’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons… But there’s red lines that if he crosses them…” Biden did not finish the sentence.

Bibi: When asked about Biden’s red line, Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We’re not going to leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that October 7 doesn’t happen again. Never happens again.”

The Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal put it best:

Mr. Biden’s vocal criticism of Israel can’t be separated from his desire to appease his party’s increasingly insistent anti-Israel wing. He wants to avoid a protest spectacle at the Democratic convention in August, and he’s worried about losing Michigan as young people and Arab-Americans defect. It sounds like his Israel policy increasingly runs through Dearborn, Mich.

36 seconds: Here’s part of Biden’s MSNBC interview where he attempts to explain why Hamas would want a ceasefire.

Biden Defends Murderers

Joe Biden apologized for fusing the term “illegal” when describing Laken Riley’s killer in his State of the Union address. Biden went on to claim that illegal immigrants “built this country” but refused to offer any additional comment regarding the murder. Here’s the quote:

"And I shouldn't have used illegal, I should've… It's undocumented. And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his – the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I'm not going to do, what I won't do. I'm not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing, we have to control the border and more orderly flow. But I don't share his view at all."

OUTRAGE: ABC Asks Nancy Mace a Question They Would Never Ask A Democrat

Stephanopoulos: "As a rape victim... how can you endorse Trump?"

Rep. Nancy Mace: "You're asking me a question about my political choices, trying to shame me as a rape victim. And I find it disgusting."

Pittsburgh Has No Police Officers From 3 AM to 7 AM

Donald Trump Defends TikTok Because… Facebook?

More Americans Are Treating Their 401(k)s Like Cash Machines

The 401(k) is doing double duty as both a retirement account and a source of emergency funds for more Americans.

A record share of 401(k) account holders took early withdrawals from their accounts last year for financial emergencies, according to internal data from Vanguard Group. Overall, 3.6% of its plan participants did so last year, up from 2.8% in 2022 and a prepandemic average of about 2%.

Retirement plans such as the 401(k) are designed to keep Americans’ nest eggs out of reach until later in life. And values in these accounts have risen substantially, in part because of a strong stock market and programs that automatically funnel money from people’s paychecks into their 401(k) accounts. These surging balances, however, have helped make more people comfortable dipping into their accounts when needed. 

Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall).

Trending news:

• Warnock says GOP using murder of student on UGA campus for 'cheap political points' - CNN

• Warnock defends Fani Willis: ‘Never surprised’ by ‘Donald Trump attacking women, especially black women’ - NY Post

• The TikTok battle heats up - SEMAFOR

• Pope Francis says Ukraine should consider negotiated end to war - Politico

• Russia’s air power roars back into the war with devastating guided bombs - MSN

• Daily marijuana users 25 percent more likely to have a heart attack - MSN

• WATCH: Obama in 2009: We can’t have half a million million flooding across our southern border - Twitter

• 50 people are injured by a ‘strong movement’ on a plane traveling from Australia to New Zealand - AP

• RuPaul’s Anti–‘Book Ban’ Bookstore Pledges to Stop Selling ‘Hate-Filled Books’ - National Review

• Both pilots fall asleep flying plane with more than 150 on board - CBS

• Peru arrests an Iranian man accused of planning an attack on an Israeli citizen - AP

• Brendan Carr: TikTok's Threat Requires It Break Ties With CCP - Newsmax

• Inside the surprise effort to force TikTok’s divestiture - The Spectator

• TikTok Holds America Hostage - National Review (paywall)

• Automakers Are Sharing Consumers’ Driving Behavior With Insurance Companies - NYT (paywall)

Market snapshot: