Good morning and happy Valentine’s Day to all the lovebirds (and florists) out there.

United Airlines grounded five planes this week. Why? Because the planes’ “No Smoking” signs were controlled by software. But federal law requires they be manually turned on by the crew. Now we’re all a little dumber for having read that.

WORLD

👑 King pushes ceasefire in Gaza

King Abdullah II of Jordan (Israel’s neighbor to the east) met with President Joe Biden at the White House. He spoke out in favor of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and said the "war must end.”

• Both men expressed concern for civilians in Rafah. The small city on the Egyptian border has over 1 million Gazan refugees from the north.

• Israel attacked Rafah on Monday to rescue two hostages and is said to be planning a larger operation.

• President Biden said Israel needs a “credible plan” to ensure the safety of those refugees before proceeding.

Abdullah reiterated his strong support for a two-state solution. He called for an independent Palestine that coexists alongside Israel. Jordan is a strong U.S. ally (or, in diplomatic terms, a “major non-NATO ally”).

Abdullah’s mother is English. On his father's side, he’s a 41st-generation direct descendant of Muhammad. He's actually in charge of the place, too, unlike most European monarchs.

Over in Egypt: The U.S. met in Cairo with Israel, Egypt, and Qatar yesterday (all three are U.S. allies). Talks failed to produce a truce ahead of Israel's likely assault on Rafah.

• Israel says Hamas’ last bastion is in Rafah.

• U.S. officials say Israel is nowhere close to destroying Hamas.

Egypt maintains a humongous concrete wall (with barbed wire and watchtowers) along its border with Gaza and doesn't want refugees from Rafah to flood its border in the event of an Israeli operation.

Just to the north…France is trying to broker an agreement with Israel's neighbor to the north, Lebanon. Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have attacked Israel recently, causing return fire and risking a larger war. France has hundreds of troops in Lebanon.

CONGRESS

💰 Senate passes bill, House kills it

The U.S. Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package at 5:14 a.m. yesterday morning. The vote was 70-29-1 (one senator was out with pneumonia).

• The bill includes billions in war aid to Ukraine and Israel, along with humanitarian aid to those in conflict zones (like Gaza).

• It also gives billions in aid to Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific countries to counter China’s influence.

The aid was initially passed packaged with an immigration overhaul pushed by Republicans. That deal later died in the House. So the Senate passed this standalone version. If the House also passes the bill, President Biden says he'll sign it.

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) pushed the deal and said he hopes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) will bring it up for a vote.

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) echoed that call.

But… Speaker Johnson said no dice. He wants a new bill combined with tougher border protections. The last bill, which Johnson also rejected, had border protections that weren’t tough enough for many Republicans.

POLITICS

🔵 President Joe Biden's (sorta cringe) campaign TikTok account hit 100,000 followers yesterday, three days after its Super Bowl Sunday launch. The U.S. government considers TikTok a security risk, but campaign officials say they're taking proper precautions. They view the app as an "innovative" way to reach young voters.

🔵 Democrat Tom Suozzi won the special election to fill the U.S. House seat of expelled former Rep. (and international man of mystery) George Santos (R). Suozzi will be sworn in soon, but if he wants to stay in Congress for long, he'll need to win another election in November. This special election only filled the remaining 10 months of Santos' term.

🔴 The Republican National Committee (RNC) is denying reports that Chair Ronna McDaniel is quitting soon. Regardless, former President Donald Trump endorsed a slate of three people to take over party operations. His choice for chair is the party's current general counsel, Michael Watley. And he wants his campaign advisor, Chris LaCivita, as COO. Spiciest of all, Trump wants his daughter-in-law Lara Trump (Eric's wife) as RNC co-chair.

⚪ Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. apologized to his extended family. Many of them strongly objected to a pro-RFK Super Bowl ad that repurposed a 1960 JFK jingle. RFK Jr. said the ad was created by an outside group he's legally prohibited from coordinating with.

TRIVIA

Egypt and Israel have been on friendly terms since signing the U.S.-brokered Camp David Accords and the peace treaty that followed. In what year were the Camp David Accords signed?

WORLD

🇷🇺 Russia: Russian police put government officials in all three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) on a meaningless wanted list. The three countries, once part of the Soviet Union, recently tore down old Soviet monuments. That's apparently a no-no in Moscow's eyes.

🇲🇽 Mexico: The Mexican military destroyed a gigantic meth lab in northern Mexico. They found thousands of pounds of meth and precursor chemicals in the increasingly violent State of Sonora. The lab was about 160 miles from the U.S. border.

🇺🇸 United States: The Republican-controlled House voted to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas by one vote, 214-213. To be removed from office, he’d need to be booted by the Democrat-controlled Senate. So that’s definitely not happening. Mayorkas is the second Cabinet official ever impeached (the last one was 1876).

A similar vote barely failed last week after Democrats secretly wheeled in a member straight from the hospital. This time, the vote succeeded after a Republican was released from the hospital.

BRIEFS

• Someone in Oregon literally has the bubonic plague

• Thousands of Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash drivers will refuse to take orders today in protest over pay

• AI chipmaker Nvidia briefly surpassed Amazon in value

• Stellantis (Chrysler) just became the final big U.S. automaker to adopt Tesla’s open NACS charging standard

• Former “Suits” co-star Meghan Markle is “proud” to take her podcasting talents to Lemonada Media after Spotify breakup

• Paramount is laying off 800 people amid rumors the company will be bought by Warner Bros.-Discovery or Skydance Media

• ChatGPT will begin remembering what you tell it and factoring that in to future conversations

• Jeff Bezos’ move to Florida could save him $600 million in taxes after selling loads of Amazon stock

• Notre Dame’s new spire is revealed as crews begin removing scaffolding

• A Netherlands court forbids the country from sending F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel

• After ditching Nike last month, Tiger Woods announced his new lifestyle brand, Sun Day Red

• As expected, Trump appeals immunity case to Supreme Court after lower court said he’s not immune from prosecution

SNACKS

🍿 Comedy: Elder Millennials rejoiced on Monday when Jon Stewart parachuted back in as once-a-week host of The Daily Show. If you’ve got 20 minutes to burn and want to party like it’s 2012, here’s Stewart complimenting our two presidential candidates on their youth and vitality.

🎞️ Movies: For those of you whose attention spans haven’t yet been fried by staring at a screen 8 10 12 hours a day, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour “Oppenheimer” will stream on Peacock starting this Friday, Feb. 16.

🐧 Zoo: For those of you trying to avoid actually working at work today, the San Diego Zoo has loads of live cams to distract you.

ANSWER

The Camp David Accords were brokered by President Jimmy Carter and signed by Egypt and Israel in 1978 after 12 days of negotiation at presidential retreat Camp David. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was later assassinated due (in part) to the agreement.