Good morning! The Drake-Kendrick Lamar beef has hit Google Maps now. Fans with too much free time are tagging the artists’ homes with in-map insults.

On this day in 1980, the World Health Organization confirmed one of humanity’s biggest accomplishments: the worldwide eradication of smallpox (aside from samples in a few labs).

COURT

⚖️ TikTok v. United States

Your friend who swears by YouTube Shorts might not win the short-form video debate after all. TikTok is suing the federal government in an attempt to overturn the recent law that could ban the app.

Quick recap: President Biden last month signed a law that gives TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, two options:

• Sell the app’s U.S. business to an American company by January 2025.

• Watch as TikTok is banned in the U.S. (which is 25% of TikTok's global revenue).

It's not relevant to Tiktok's legal argument, but it should be noted that China bans American apps like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more.

The lawsuit: TikTok says the law would prevent Americans from taking part in a global "speech platform" and that a ban is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment akin to banning a newspaper.

As a refresher for the civics class we all slept through, the Constitution’s First Amendment says (in part) this:

• “Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."

Let's take a look at this from two angles:

• Why TikTok’s lawsuit will succeed: A state-level ban in Montana was overturned by a federal court last year on First Amendment grounds. A Trump-era ban on another Chinese app, WeChat, was also overturned.

• Why TikTok's lawsuit will fail: Banning TikTok doesn't ban anyone's speech rights. And courts have held that Congress can ban foreign businesses over national security concerns. Defining "concerns" is tough. But courts will likely defer to Congress on that -- especially since the law passed with huge bipartisan majorities.

TikTok execs claim separating and selling the U.S. business is next to impossible. The algorithm is their secret sauce. Not only would ByteDance not want to give up a copy of that sauce, but Chinese law makes the split difficult. And China's government opposes the sale.

Future: If the lawsuit goes down in flames, expect Instagram, YouTube, and Snap execs to make big pushes for TikTok's user base. Those dance videos have to go somewhere.

Further reading: Take a look at other countries, most notably India, that have banned TikTok.

WORLD

🌍 Israel begins “limited” Rafah operation

Invasion of Rafah: Israel began limited operations in Rafah this week. Rafah is a city of 1.3 million (many displaced from other areas) on the southern border of the Gaza Strip just north of Egypt.

• Israel believes Rafah is home to the last few battalions of Hamas fighters. Authorities view it as a key final step in their quest to destroy Hamas.

• Many observers worry the vulnerable civilian population could get caught in the crossfire. Israel announced a plan to evacuate many to safe areas nearby. But skeptics say that's not enough.

Israel has so far held off on a full-scale invasion of Rafah. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that will come soon.

Peace talks: Hamas accepted a truce negotiated by Egypt and Qatar. Israel rejected the deal, citing differences on, well, everything. One key detail? Whether hostages are returned dead or alive. CIA Director William Burns is in Cairo taking part in the peace talks.

Aid delivery: The U.S. military finished building its temporary pier off the coast of Gaza. It's meant to allow for easier delivery of humanitarian aid. This is important since Israel just took control of the final border crossing into Gaza.

Elsewhere, over in the U.S. government:

• A probe found widespread sexual misconduct at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

• New Biden administration rules ease rules on Chinese parts, leave only ~20% of U.S. electric vehicle models eligible for tax credits

• As the Senate races to reauthorize the FAA by May 10, debates include a no-fly list for disruptive passengers, pilot retirement age, and extra flights to D.C.

POLITICS

🔴 Trump's attorneys requested a mistrial (a do-over) in his NYC criminal trial. Former porn star Stormy Daniels, who received the hush money at the core of the case, testified yesterday. They alleged she gave too many irrelevant personal details. The judge agreed but denied the mistrial.

• The judge also said Trump again violated his gag order. He's not allowed to comment on the jury but recently called it “95% Democrats.” If the violations continue, the judge could decide to throw Trump in jail as punishment.

• More than twice as many young voters (ages 18 to 24) trust Trump (47%) to handle the Israel-Hamas war than Biden (23%). Young people vote strongly Democratic, so the more dissatisfied they become with Biden, the better for Trump.

• Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed Trump’s federal criminal case over his handling of classified documents. She said more time is needed to sort out how to handle classified evidence.

🔵 Biden spoke yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He slammed the "ferocious surge" of rising antisemitism and vowed the world would never forget the Holocaust.

• Biden picked up another endorsement from a former Republican officeholder. This time it’s ex-Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan, who said Biden is a “decent person” and Trump has “no moral compass.”

• VP Kamala Harris visited Detroit as part of her Economic Opportunity Tour. She announced government grants to help small auto supply companies begin making electric vehicle parts. Polling shows Trump up by 1% in the state.

🔵 Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 82, announced he will run for reelection this year. Sanders is virtually guaranteed to win in one of the nation’s most Democratic states. Sanders is technically an independent but sits (and votes) with Democrats in the Senate.

🔴 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) backed off her plan to push a vote on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) after a private meeting with him. Trump also called her to voice his support for Johnson.

⚪ Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. picked up the not-at-all coveted support of Kevin Spacey. On a related note, he won the less controversial support of Woody Harrelson, who produced a short film about the candidate.

TRIVIA

For a lot of reasons that depend entirely on whom you ask, the modern State of Israel has been controversial since its founding. In what year was Israel granted its independence?

Hint: This happened post-World War 2 but before Madonna was born.

WORLD

🇵🇦 Panama: Jose Mulino won Panama's presidential election. He's widely seen as a stand-in for ex-President Ricardo Martinelli and literally ran under a new political party named for the guy. Martinelli is accused of corruption and is in exile to evade arrest.

🇷🇺 Russia: Vladimir Putin was sworn in yesterday for a fifth six-year term as president. Most diplomats from the United States, NATO, and the E.U. boycotted the carefully managed, dissent-free event. Putin has led Russia for over 24 years.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: Security officials arrested two Ukrainian colonels for treason. The men were allegedly plotting, with Russian backing, to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They had already purchased drones and mines and were searching for accomplices in Zelenskyy's security team.

BRIEFS

• The Boy Scouts of America announced it will, beginning next February, change its name to Scouting America to be more inclusive

• The University of North Carolina will “support sanctions” against any professors who join protests by refusing to submit student grades

• Microsoft built an AI model that doesn’t need to be connected to the internet, which makes it usable by intelligence agencies

• Disney+ is finally profitable and will soon begin streaming selected live sporting events from a coming built-in ESPN section

• Dutch police literally bulldozed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the University of Amsterdam

• Russia arrested a U.S. Army soldier for theft after he traveled there to visit his girlfriend when leaving his duty station in South Korea

QUOTE

SNACKS

🤖 AI: Want to learn about something but can’t find a good audiobook on it? Say no more. AnyTopic AI will make one for you. About anything. Instantly.

🍏 Apple: New iPads just dropped for the first time since 2022. They’re thinner, faster, and finally have front-facing cameras on the long edge.

🎮 Gaming: Nintendo announced an announcement. Details on the rumored successor to the Switch console will come before March 31, 2025.

🦸 MCU: CEO Bob Iger said Disney will limit Marvel content going forward to 2-3 movies and 2 TV shows per year to boost dropping quality.

ANSWER

Israel was founded in 1948 from a British territory called Mandatory Palestine that (pretty much) encompassed all of what is today Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

Whether (and to what degree) Mandatory Palestine is related to modern Palestinians, again — like anything on this topic — depends on whom you’re talking to.