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“No country can accept the proposition that terrorists can come in, slaughter – and I use the word very advisedly – slaughter thousands of its citizens, riddling babies with bullets, burning people alive, decapitating soldiers, executing children in front of their parents, executing parents in front of their children – no country can tolerate this,”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Al-Arabiya, speaking during a Sunday interview about the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas against Israelis.The U.S. public message to Israel Sunday was “restraint.” How that can be achieved has not been spelled out. It is not clear who will rule Gaza once the terrorist group Hamas has been “eradicated”, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
promises. The United Nations, White House, Pope Francis, and others have all warned of the dangers of a wider Middle East conflict, including Iran. The expected ground assault by Israel, on top of the airstrikes in Gaza, has not yet begun. The Israeli evacuation deadline of 24 hours was impossible to meet for one million Palestinians who were ordered to leave northern Gaza last week. However, the order was repeatedly extended over the weekend due to confusion about where to find food, transportation, and shelter. Israel turned back water to the southern parts of Gaza with U.S. assistance. He is considering it. The German Chancellor Olaf Schholz is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Tuesday. Jordan’s King Abdullah II,
using shuttle diplomacy to try to prevent a widening war,was in London to meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
, and is in Rome where he will meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss the Middle East situation.The Palestinian Embassy said that today foreign national Palestinians will be able to cross the border into Egypt starting at 9 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET). Biden also conferred with his advisers and sent Blinken, who was in Egypt Sunday and met with leaders in six Arab nations over the weekend, back to Israel today. Biden has also met with his advisors and sent Blinken back to Israel, after he had been in Egypt on Sunday, and meeting with leaders from six Arab countries over the weekend. “But there must be a Palestinian Authority,” . Biden stated that there must be a way to achieve a Palestinian State. Officials from the administration reiterated Sunday that they could not detail what is being done in order to free U.S. Hostages held by Hamas, or even their number. However, Biden has made it clear that this situation is a top priority. The U.S. is also trying to assist Americans who live in Gaza and are eager to leave. Last week, the State Department ordered U.S. staff out of the area and warned U.S. travellers not to travel to Gaza or the West Bank. 1,400 people were killed in Israel and 3,500 others injured. The number of Israeli and Palestinian casualties is likely to increase with the start of any ground conflict, as a campaign against Hamas fighters and leaders will be launched. Gaza, home to a dense population exceeding 2 million people, is roughly 5 miles wide and 25 miles long.Senators are back in the nation’s capital today and GOP members appear decidedly more talkative about global unrest than the upheaval as House Republicans say they will vote Tuesday on a Speaker. Sen. Lindsey GRAHAM(R-S.C.), warned in an NBC interview on “Meet the Press,” Sunday, that the U.S. would retaliate if Iran or Hezbollah started a war with Israel (The Hill). “I will introduce in the United States Senate a resolution to allow military action to be taken by the United States and Israel in order to knock Iran out the oil business.” Iran, if you escalate this war, we’re coming for you,”
he said.
Administration officials said Sunday the U.S. has no plans to put boots on the ground in Gaza. The Pentagon is sending a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent to potential involvement by Iran.The Hill: A bipartisan Senate delegation in Tel Aviv, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), on Sunday said U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict is in “the world’s interest.”Republican Sen.
Tom Cotton of Arkansas said he will vote against Biden’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Israel. Jacob Lew will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday for a confirmation hearing. Cotton called Lew a “Iran sympathizer,” who “lied” to Congress. Lew is a former Treasury Secretary, former State Department Deputy, former Budget Director, and former White House Chief of Staff (who also happens to be Jewish). A 71-year old landlord, armed with a military style knife, killed a 6-year-old Muslim child near Chicago, and injured his mother. In his address on Sunday night, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky
announced that the country is working hard to evacuate 260 citizens from Israel and Gaza. Cuban officials are seeking to begin extensive negotiations with the Biden Administration in light of the persistent economic problems and the growing emigration out of the island. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Judiciary Committee chairman, at the Capitol Friday.
The House will try again to elect a Speaker this week. The vote will be held on Tuesday, at noon. House Republicans are expected nominate Judiciary Committee Chair
Jim (R) Jordan to the position. The chamber is at a standstill after the ouster of former Speaker
Kevin Mccarthy
(R, California). While an interim speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), has been named, Republicans have been unable to agree on a replacement for McCarthy.“I think I can bring our team together,” Jordan told an ABC News reporter Friday afternoon.
However, 55 House Republicans said in Friday’s secret vote that they would not cast ballots for Jordan in the full floor vote, calling into question his ability to reach the required 217 votes. McCarthy said he now backs Jordan for the position, and former
President Trump endorsed Jordan early in the race for speaker, which could work both for and against his chances.INTERNAL OPPOSITION:
Jordan is still facing at least 10 to 20 holdouts (CBS News). A faction of House Republicans who strongly oppose Jordan has promised to challenge him during the vote on the floor (Politico). They haven’t yet decided on a name but they think the candidate will be able not only to prevent Jordan from becoming speaker, but also provide cover for those who wish to vote against him. Dan Crenshaw, (R-Texas), predicted that Jordan would have a hard time getting the votes. Crenshaw told CNN’s State of the Union that “nothing is impossible, but I think it will be very, very difficult.”Rep. Mike Johnson
(R-La.) a member of the GOP leadership team, plans to jump into the race if Jordan can’t secure the 217 votes needed on the House floor (NBC News).
ACROSS THE AISLE,
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that there are
“informal conversations”
taking place for a bipartisan solution to the House Speakership, which has been vacant for nearly two weeks.
Asked by NBC’s
Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” why formal conversations haven’t happened yet, Jeffries said: “At this point, that is on my House Republican colleagues. The Wall Street Journal reports that Jordan’s supporters believe this time will be different. Allies say support from grassroots conservatives will help him win, but dozens of GOP holdouts present a tough hurdle.
# The Washington Post: Jordan allies threatened vulnerable Republicans representing districts that Biden won in 2020, telling them that if they don’t vote for him behind closed doors, they will get primaried.SENATE JITTERS: Senators return to Washington this week feeling flummoxed by the turmoil in the House. Alexander Bolton of The Hill reports that Republican senators had asked their House colleagues for unity behind a speaker as soon as possible. However, this plea was not heeded. Senate aides, strategists and politicians say that the lack of a leader in the House raises questions about Congress’s abilities to fund the government beyond November 17 or pass aid to Israel and Ukraine. They also fear that the chaos in the House will hurt Republicans’ chances to regain the Senate and White House because it could make them look less capable. “If you are a senator, and you look at the House leadership right now, you feel pretty good about your leadership because the Senate has nowhere near the same issues getting things done,”
Brian darling a GOP strategist, former Senate aide told The Hill.
“The House does not have a functioning leader right now. No end is in sight. The endgame is not in sight. How do you get out of this situation?”The Hill: Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-Fla.): The House GOP doesn’t “care what senators think about their affairs.”
WHERE AND WHENThe House officially convenes at 6 p.m. Republicans have scheduled a Speaker vote Tuesday at noon.The Senate returns to work this week and convenes at 3 p.m. with plans to debate the nomination of
Jennifer Hall to be a U.S. District Court judge for Delaware.The president
will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden will fly to Colorado to tour and then speak at 1:45 p.m. MDT at CS Wind America Inc. in Pueblo, described as the largest wind turbine tower manufacturing plant in the world. The White House argues that it is a beneficiary of tax breaks granted by the Inflation Reduction Act, and also happens to be in the district where conservative Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert(Colo.) lives. Biden will return to the White House at 9:50 p.m.Vice President Harris is in Los Angeles and has no public schedule.The secretary of state
is in Israel.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Luxembourg to participate in the Eurogroup finance ministers meeting. She held a bilateral discussion with Yuriko backes
the Luxembourg finance minister and also met with
Paulo gentiloni
the European commissioner for economy. Yellen and Gentiloni will be meeting during a lunch working session with Eurogroup president Pascal Dohoe
and European Commission executive vice president Valdisdombrovskis. Donohoe and the secretary will take questions from journalists at 9:45 am during today’s Eurogroup Meeting. ET. She will return to the U.S. She will return to America.First Lady Jill Biden is visiting Florida for a Cancer Survivorship Summit at Davie. The event is hosted by Rep.
Debbie Waterman Schultz(D-Fla.). Denis McDonough, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Florida, will accompany the first lady to the Sunshine State. As part of the Joining Forces Initiative, they will meet military spouses and their families at Patrick Space Force Base. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Friday at the New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord filed to get on the Republican presidential primary ballot.POLITICS & CAMPAIGNSFormer South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
, the former South Carolina governor, is becoming a more viable alternative to Trump. Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis continues to struggle in the Republican primary. Haley continues to close in on DeSantis, who remains the second favorite for the GOP’s nomination. Haley’s polling numbers have risen, especially in New Hampshire. A poll released by Suffolk University, The Boston Globe, and USA Today earlier this month showed Haley as second behind Trump. Trump led Haley 49 percent to 19%. Haley is now in third place nationally, just behind DeSantis. Fox News released a poll this week that showed Haley’s support increasing to 10 percent. DeSantis was at 13 percent. The same poll showed Trump dominating the field with 59 percent support.
“Nikki Haley’s rise or piqued interest, among particularly donors and Trump critics is due more to Ron DeSantis’s falling in the polls than anything else,” Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, told The Hill. The Hill: North Carolina has emerged as a battleground in 2024 for Democrats. Al Weaver of The Hill breaks down the five most important Senate races. According to The Hill’s Caroline Vakil, Arizona Democrats believe that Senate Majority leader
Chuck Shumer(D-N.Y.), will support Gallego even if it is only in the background, given the animosity felt by many Democrats toward Sinema. Others, however, believe that the calculation is more complex. “She caucuses together with the Democrats. She may not be a Democrat any more, but she caucuses with us. In that sense, I think there is an incumbency. The 2024 presidential elections could be marred by chaos and confusion due to the high turnover among local election officials and workers. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about signs that voters may be gravitating towards independent candidates. This is a warning for his bid in 2024. His campaign announced Sunday that Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, raised nearly $6 million between his political committees in the third quarter for his presidential bid. Glenn Youngkin
, a Republican, believes he can respond to Democrats’ attacks on abortion. Jeff Landry (a Trump supporter) won Louisiana’s Governors’ Race on Saturday. He will succeed Gov.
John Bel Edwards (D), who could not run again, in January.
ELSEWHERELEGAL TROUBLES Trump’s first few months in federal court as a defendant have shown that he is employing the same strategy he typically brings to his civil cases: seeking delay. Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill reports that Trump’s motion to delay his trial in the Mar-a-Lago case until November 2024, after the election, made headlines. He and his attorneys have complained about how the cases he’s facing could impact the election season — both in terms of his campaign schedule as well as influencing the results.“From the beginning, they have been tactically, I think, as clear as they can be — the lawyers — in saying that they do not want these trials to happen before the election,” said Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor. She shows no sign of being intimidated by it. She does not seem intimidated. Taylor Giorno, Ella Lee, and The Hill write that federal prosecutors may find it difficult to prove the case, as they have increased enforcement actions related to undeclared foreign influence operations within the U.S. “Their allegiance has to be to the United States.” “Their allegiance has to be to the United States.”Politico: Embattled Rep. George Santos
(R-N.Y.) has less than $23,000 in his campaign account after refunds — and reports debt he didn’t disclose previously.(c) The Associated Press / Paul Sancya | United Auto Workers members held picket signs near a General Motors Assembly Plant in Delta Township, Mich., Sept. 29.LABOR The largest health care strike in U.S. history produced a tentative labor agreement for a coalition of unions at Kaiser Permanente — but the deal was reached almost a week after the strike ended. It may seem counterintuitive, but what is the incentive for an employee to settle a dispute after a strike has ended? The union’s victory is just the latest reason why short strikes are happening more and more (CNN). The union’s victory is the latest reason for the increase in short strikes (CNN). CNBC reports that some analysts think so. UAW President Shawn FAIN announced Friday that the union will not expand its strike to include Detroit’s “Big Three Automakers”, but said it was ready to add additional workers to the picket line at any time. Fain announced the change in rules during a livestream on negotiations. He said, “We are ready at any moment to call more locals to walk out and stand up.” There is now only one rule: pony up. The lives of hundreds of thousands of crew members have been upended, and even a deal between the actors and the studios might not help much in the short term.
OPINION
#
Israel must topple Hamas’ genocidal regime. But not by killing countless Palestinian civilians, by Eitay Mack, opinion contributor, Haaretz.# The U.S. should think twice about Israel’s plans for Gaza,
by Rashid Khalidi, guest essayist, The New York Times.
THE CLOSER(c) The Associated Press / Chris Pizzello | A Los Angeles fan attended the world premiere of the concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” Wednesday.And finally …
Taylor Swift
is a music, movie and economic juggernaut. The concert film “The Eras Tour” opened to massive acclaim over the weekend. It was a huge financial success for AMC theaters across the country. According to one projection, Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert performances and the film that is now being released could bring in $4.1 billion. The film features Swift for 2 hours 48 minutes at her Los Angeles concert – the final performance on the first leg of Swift’s musical march. AMC reported that pre-sales for the film had generated $100 million, which is what fans consider to be a cheaper stop on Swift’s sold-out tour. The star is also driving traffic to news sites, as The New York Times has published an extensive movie review, along with four other lengthy articles about Swift. Swift’s reported romantic duet, which involved Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce
, has been dubbed “the most unexpected thing of the NFL season.” Up. Merchandise sales? Up. Spotted: Swift sitting next to Kelce’s mom.Software company QuestionPro recently quizzed 592 Swifties who responded to an opt-in online survey. According to their responses and the average concert attendance, QuestionPro estimated that Swift fans spend about $93,000,000 per concert. This includes tickets, merchandise, travel, hotel, food, and outfits. Stay EngagedWe’d love to hear from YOU! Email: Alexis SIMENDER or
Kristina KARISCH. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger
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