Package Deal: “The package, which passed the House on Saturday, includes $60 billion in aid to Ukraine that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said would give his country ‘a chance at victory’ against Russia. It includes $26 billion in aid to Israel and humanitarian relief in Gaza, in addition to $8 billion for security in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.” It also gives “TikTok’s China-based parent company nine months, which the president could extend to a year, to sell the popular social media platform or be banned in the U.S.” Senate advances Ukraine aid, Israel funding and TikTok ban.

+ In the Zone: “A few minutes earlier, I had been sitting on a stone bench on campus and speaking with a tall, brawny man named Danny Shaw, who holds a master’s in international affairs from Columbia and now teaches seminars on Israel in the liberated zone. When he describes the encampment, it sounds like Shangri-la. ‘It’s 100 percent love for human beings and very beautiful; I came here for my mental health,’ he said. He claims no hatred for Israel, although he suggested that the ‘genocidal goliath’ will of course have to disappear or merge into an Arab-majority state. He said he does not endorse violence, even as he likened the October 7 attacks to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Unreality of Columbia’s ‘Liberated Zone.’

+ Hamas or Menos: “Israel’s military operations in Gaza have weakened Hamas. Most Hamas battalions have been degraded and are scattered. Thousands of its members have been killed, and at least one senior military leader has been eliminated. Yet Israel has not achieved its primary goals of the war: freeing hostages and fully destroying Hamas.” NYT: The Stark Reality of Israel’s Fight in Gaza. “Six months into the conflict, the question of what Israel has achieved — and when and how the fighting could come to an end — is creating ever more intense global strains around a war that has cost Israel support from even close allies.”

+ FBIOU: “The Justice Department agreed to pay more than $138 million to victims of disgraced sports physician Larry Nassar and apologized for the FBI’s failing to act on warnings about the convicted sex abuser.”

+ Is That Everyone? Quartz: UnitedHealth Group says it paid a ransom to protect patient data from a cyberattack. “A preliminary review of targeted data found files that contained protected health information and personally identifiable information, ‘which could cover a substantial portion of people in America.'”

+ Have You Tried Unplugging It and Pluggin It Back In? “The 46-year-old Nasa spacecraft is humanity’s most distant object. A computer fault stopped it returning readable data in November but engineers have now fixed this.” (Imagine fixing your computer problem from 15 billion miles away.) Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space.

+ Just Due It: Last week, people were pretty surprised by the low salary Caitlin Clark will earn in the WNBA ($76,000 as a rookie.). Well, she made up for it this week with an 8 year, $28 million shoe deal with Nike.

+ The Vinyl Countdown: Online, Taylor Swift just smashed Spotify’s single day streaming record (beating her own record which previously beat her own record…) In the terrestrial world, she broke the record for weekly vinyl sales (in 3 days).