Daily Briefing: The cat lady army rises

The internet is taking up arms after a video of Sen. JD Vance attacking Kamala Harris resurfaced online. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of Congress amid the war in Gaza. The Olympics kicked off with a loss for the U.S. men's soccer team.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert , Daily Briefing author. Everyone's amped for Snoop Dogg at the Olympics .

Don't mess with cat (ladies)

Resurrected footage shows JD Vance on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in 2021 criticizing Kamala Harris and other Democratic figures as "childless cat ladies" and saying people without children don't have a "direct stake" in America's future. For the record, Harris has two stepchildren with her husband, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff. And maybe Vance shouldn't anger one very famous cat lady.

💡 Read about Harris' stance on Israel, abortion, the economy and other key policy issues .

What does Joe Biden want to do in his last six months as president?

President Joe Biden said in a primetime address to the nation on Wednesday that he ended his campaign for a second term because, even though he reveres the office of the presidency, “I love my country more.” In his first public remarks since dropping out of the presidential race on Sunday, Biden pledged during a somber 10-minute address to spend his last six months in office working to make sure the United States remains strong, secure and the leader of the free world. Read more

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As Netanyahu spoke, protesters converged on Capitol

Dozens of Democratic members of Congress boycotted the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress on Wednesday over mounting civilian deaths in Gaza.

While Netanyahu spoke on Capitol Hill, protesters clashed with police outside the U.S. Capitol and released maggots inside of a conference room at the Watergate hotel where the Israeli leader has been staying.

• USA TODAY reporters counted at least 10 demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed while expressing outrage at Israel's invasion of Gaza, which health authorities there say has killed almost 40,000 residents of the battered enclave.
• The vast majority of Democrats held back any applause as Netanyahu emphasized to lawmakers that Israel needs American "tools" to "finish the job" in Gaza, expressing that pro-Palestinian supporters should be "ashamed."
• Will the visit lead to a cease-fire agreement? U.S. officials have said for weeks that an agreement is in sight — and President Joe Biden will try to move that along when he meets on Thursday at the White House with Netanyahu (he will also meet separately with Vice President Kamala Harris).

Nothing like delivery pizza to sooth a stressful work day

Early in the day Friday, U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike pushed out what was supposed to be a routine software update to help monitor for possible emerging threats.  But the update had issues triggering a memory problem that set off Microsoft Windows' "Blue Screen of Death," affecting roughly 8.5 million Windows devices and disrupting banks, emergency call centers and airlines. Fortune 500 companies – not including Microsoft – face an estimated $5.4 billion in losses from the outage. The company says it's sending Uber Eats gift cards to teammates and partners who have been helping clients.

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She wears a hijab. So she's barred from France's Olympics team.

Diaba Konaté was considered her to be a breakout star in this year's NCAA Women's March Madness tournament. But she can't play basketball in her own country, including for the French national team during the Paris Olympics. That's because the French Federation of Basketball (FFBB), applies the country's laws on secularism that ban the wearing of symbols or clothing that express a religious affiliation in public schools and other institutions linked to the state. Read more

🏅 Want more news from Paris? Follow @USATODAYSports for on-the-ground updates and sign up for USA TODAY's daily Olympics newsletter, Chasing Gold.

Photo of the day: The Games have begun

The 2024 Paris Olympics started with on-field action Wednesday, with eight men’s soccer matches and 12 men’s rugby sevens matches. France walked away with a 3-0 victory against the USMNT in a packed Marseille Stadium.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daily Briefing: The cat lady army rises