The Conversation -- October 9, 2023

Arlette Saenz, et al., of CNN: "Eleven US citizens have died in the conflict in Israel, President Joe Biden said Monday, and an unknown number remain missing. 'As we continue to account for the horrors of the appalling terrorist assault against Israel this weekend and the hundreds of innocent civilians who were murdered, we are seeing the immense scale and reach of this tragedy,' Biden said in a statement. 'Sadly, we now know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed -- many of whom made a second home in Israel.' It is 'likely,' Biden said, that American citizens may be among those being held hostage by Hamas, and that his administration is working with Israeli officials on 'every aspect of the hostage crisis.' Biden also noted that there are American citizens whose whereabouts remain unaccounted for. 'This is not some distant tragedy. The ties between Israel and the United States run deep,' he said. 'It is personal for so many American families who are feeling the pain of this attack as well as the scars inflicted through millennia of antisemitism and persecution of Jewish people.'"

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Melina Delkic & Anna Betts of the New York Times: "Two years after President Biden became the first U.S. president to formally commemorate Indigenous Peoples' Day, more than a dozen states recognize some version of the holiday in lieu of Columbus Day. More than 100 cities have adopted the holiday, choosing to heed calls from Indigenous groups and other activists not to celebrate Christopher Columbus, the Italian navigator after whom the holiday is named. They say he brought genocide and colonization to communities that had been in the Americas for thousands of years. Many around the country, however, still celebrate Columbus Day or Italian Heritage Day as a point of pride.... [Indigenous Peoples' Day] is not yet a federal holiday, though lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation that proposes to make it one. Here is more background." ~~~

~~~ Harmeet Kaur of CNN: "For centuries, the US celebrated Christopher Columbus as the intrepid explorer who discovered the Americas -- a symbol of the American ideals of entrepreneurship and innovation. The story of the Italian navigator taught to generations of schoolchildren is shrouded in mythology. But for the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the Americas long before Columbus ever arrived, Columbus and his namesake holiday represent something much more sinister: the violent colonization of their lands and the brutal treatment of their people. The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day has been decades in the making." First published a year ago.

Marie: Shame on me for forgetting on Indigenous Peoples' Day Randy Newman's historical perspective on my own peoples' "contributions" to the American experience. Thanks to Akhilleus for the reminder:

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Rep. Steve "Scalise [R-La.], a longtime rival to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is now mounting his own bid for the post. He has pitched himself as the man uniquely positioned to unite Republicans at a moment when they are deeply divided and demoralized after Mr. McCarthy's historic ouster last week. His candidacy is the culmination of a steady political climb for a deeply conservative Republican who once described himself, according to a local columnist, as 'like David Duke without the baggage.'... Under the current rules of the Republican conference, whoever receives a majority in [a] secret-ballot vote will be the party's nominee when the full House meets to elect a new speaker, now expected on Wednesday."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The fact that [Rep. Jim] Jordan [R-Ohio] is a viable [candidate for Speaker of the House] appears to be less about his own evolution than the Republican Party's.... 'I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart -- never building anything, never putting anything together,' former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote in his 2021 book, which lumped his Ohio colleague in with other 'legislative terrorists.'... For much of the 2010s, Jordan was a key leader of GOP efforts to push the government toward shutdowns while holding out for concessions.... That is relevant given that the next speaker would be thrust into an imminent shutdown debate, with the next deadline mid-November, according to the deal McCarthy cut.... But shutdowns aren't the only area in which Jordan has been to the right of his colleagues and held a hard line.... Jordan has aligned himself with [Donald] Trump in ways that even many of his fellow Republicans have been reluctant to[.]... And that's to say nothing of the personal questions." Blake details many of Jordan's, ah, shortcomings.

Where "Moderate" Means Timid or Whiney. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: is tired of hearing so-called "moderate Republicans" complain about their party's flamethrowers. "It's not the MAGA Republicans who are responsible for the House's descent into chaos, nor is it the responsibility of the minority party that has been lied to by [Kevin] McCarthy and his ilk. The culprit is the famed 'moderate' Republicans we keep hearing about.... If they and a supposed majority of House Republicans want to prove they are more responsible and more serious than their MAGA counterparts, they can either advance a sober contender for speaker or, better yet, place conditions on their support for any speaker (just as the far-right did with McCarthy).... This would entail an actual commitment ... to behave responsibly. Though this sounds almost inconceivable, this should be the bare minimum required of any member." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If they're so moderate, can't they come up with a candidate for speaker who did not associate himself with the Ku Klux Klan or help engineer a coup against the U.S.? Unfortunately, the answer is probably not.

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Germany. Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "German voters handed a victory on Sunday to mainstream conservatives in a state election in Bavaria -- as well as in the smaller central state of Hesse -- while punishing the three parties running the country. While all three of the governing parties lost votes, symbolically at least, the far-right Alternative for Germany and another populist party were the evening's clear victors, notching record results in both states when compared with other western states." MB: While the article discusses the success of "conservatives" and "populists," you would not be wrong to think "Nazis," at least where it comes to "populists."

Israel/Palestine. Andrés Martínez & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israel's military acknowledged on Monday that it was still battling to drive Palestinian militants out of southern towns near the Gaza Strip and that more militants could still be crossing through breaches in the border fence, two days after an invasion that has killed hundreds and provoked furious retaliatory strikes by Israel.... More than 700 people have been killed in Israel, which has responded to the assault by striking nearly 500 targets in Gaza, leveling whole buildings that they say are linked to Hamas, the militant group that controls the territory. At least 493 Palestinians have been killed, according to authorities in Gaza.... The timing and scale of the next steps, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would dstroy Hamas, were unclear because Hamas and other militants held at least 150 Israelis hostage. And Israel appears to be nowhere closer to answering key questions about how it was caught unaware by the attack on Saturday despite having some of the most extensive and sophisticated intelligence, missile defense and spying networks in the world." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. The AP's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here: "Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant says he has given an order for Gaza's 'complete siege.' No electricity, food, fuel or water will be delivered to the enclave, which is surrounded on three sides by Israel and Egypt. 'We are fighting barbarians and will respond accordingly,' he said on camera." MB: Nothing medieval about that.

Susannah George, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israel formally declared war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday as it reeled from a surprise attack that killed more than 700 people, opening the way for a major escalation in fighting that already threatened to engulf the region. A swelling counterattack by Israeli forces in Gaza also killed more than 400 people, including 78 children, as residents braced for a more punishing campaign that some feared would include an Israeli ground invasion. The vote for war by Israel's cabinet could signal a wider operation -- it allows the government to expand military mobilization and deploy a more lethal range of military options. U.S. officials said Sunday that they expected Israel to launch a ground incursion into Gaza in the next 24 to 48 hours, according to people familiar with the matter. Israel also requested heightened cooperation with the United States on intelligence-sharing related to southern Lebanon...."

Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Sunday scrambled to prevent Hamas's assault on Israel from escalating into a multi-front, regional conflict, deploying a U.S. aircraft carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean and rushing arms to the Israeli military in a bid to deter the Lebanon-based Hezbollah and other actors from attacking.... American citizens are probably among the hostages that Hamas is holding inside Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. At least several Americans were killed in the attack, a senior administration official confirmed."

Tia Goldenberg of the AP: "Israel's intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements.... Israel's intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements.... the apparent lack of prior knowledge of Hamas' plot will likely be seen as a prime culprit in the chain of events that led to the deadliest attack against Israelis in decades.... The ferocious attack, which likely took months of planning and meticulous training and involved coordination among multiple militant groups, appeared to have gone under Israel's intelligence radar. Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general, said that without a foothold inside Gaza, Israel's security services have come to rely increasingly on technological means to gain intelligence. He said militants in Gaza have found ways to evade that technological intelligence gathering, giving Israel an incomplete picture of their intentions." ~~~

~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post: compares the intelligence failures that caused U.S. agencies to fail to connect the dots that signaled the 9/11 attacks to those that caused Israeli intelligence to miss the signs that pointed toward a major attack by Hamas.

Mr. Potato Head Doesn't Care. Ursula Perano, et al., of Politico: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville is not relenting from his monthslong blockade of military nominations over the Biden administration's abortion policy -- even in the face of one of America's closest allies going to war.... [Because of Tuberville's hold on military nominations & promotions, more than] 300 nominees are in limbo, including two picks for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top officers slated to command U.S. forces in the Middle East. 'The severity of the crisis in Israel underscores the foolishness of Senator Tuberville's blockade,' Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed said in a statement Sunday. 'The United States needs seamless military leadership in place to handle dangerous situations like this and Senator Tuberville is denying it. This is no time for petty political theater, and I again urge Republican colleagues to help actively end Senator Tuberville's damaging blockade,' the Rhode Island Democrat added. 'The time for talking is over.'" ~~~

~~~ AND we all knew this was coming. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "...Donald Trump weighed in Sunday morning on the devastating attack Hamas launched against civilians in Israel on Saturday as only he would. 'THE HORRIBLE ATTACK ON ISRAEL, MUCH LIKE THE ATTACK ON UKRAINE, WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WERE PRESIDENT -- ZERO CHANCE!' Trump posted to his Truth Social platform.... 'They didn't have that level of aggression with me. They didn't have it. This would have never happened with me either,' Trump said [in a statement]. He also later in the day declared during a Cedar Rapids rally that Biden had 'betrayed Israel' by releasing $6 billion in funds to Iran in exchange for American prisoners." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, yes, the lion would lie down with the lamb if I were president, too, and the dove of peace would fly over every hill and dale. I'd teach the world to sing in perfect harmony and I'd buy everybody a Coke (okay a Diet Coke). What absolute crap. ~~~

~~~ AND here's what Kristen Welker of NBC News thinks is getting tough on Nikki Haley for claiming Hamas was using money the U.S. released for Iranian humanitarian relief: "And yet, there's just no proof of that yet.... Is it irresponsible to level that charge when you really don't have any evidence of that at this point in time?" MB: Good thing she wasn't interviewing Trump again; she would have asked him if it was irresponsible to claim Hamas was afraid of him. Most Americans don't have or don't take time to follow the news closely. They figure they're being extra-good citizens if they catch a few nightly news broadcasts & tune into a Sunday morning news show. That's not really unreasonable. Well, thanks to the networks for misleading them with milquetoast & honey.

News Lede

New York Times: "The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on Monday to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, for advancing the world's understanding of women's progress in the work force with her research. The Nobel committee announced the award in Stockholm. Ms. Goldin is the third woman to have won the economics Nobel, and the first one to be honored with it solo, rather than sharing in the prize. She has long been a groundbreaking woman in the field -- she was the first woman to be offered tenure in Harvard's economics department, in 1989." The AP's story is here.

The Conversation -- October 8, 2023

"The Trump Top Secret Challenge!" Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump has two modes of conversation. He is either ranting about all the things he intends to do when he becomes dictator of the country -- so many rights to strip away! so much vengeance to extract against his enemies! so many guardrails to dismantle! -- or he is volunteering classified information. Those are really it.... Is this a private party, or can anyone play? Yes! All you have to do is pay money to be around Donald Trump by, say, attending a fundraiser or joining Mar-a-Lago, the most valuable golf club on the planet..., and you, too, can take the Trump Top Secret Challenge! See how long you can go without having Donald Trump just hand you some classified information."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Digby isn't entirely convinced by Tom Rosenstiel's suggestions (first published in the Los Angeles Times) on how to cover Donald Trump, but she presents them here. MB: I do think that one way -- though certainly not the only way -- to cover Trump is to take Alexandra Petri's tack & mercilessly mock his outrageous behavior, if only because mockery certainly enrages Trump.

How George "Got Rich" Quick. Josh Kovensky & Hunter Walker of TPM have figured out how Rep. George Santos increased his annual income from $55,000 to more than $700,000 in just a few months & how he amassed a $1MM bank balance. According to his FEC filings, Santos lent his campaign more than $500,000 from these sources. But prosecutors' filings related to Santos campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy fraud, "accused Santos and Marks of falsely filing documents that showed their family members made donations to the campaign that were not actually received." The filings also alleged that Santos never the lent the half-million dollars to his campaign, and he "did not have the funds necessary to make such loans at the time." The reason for claiming the fake campaign donations was to qualify for a Republican Congressional Committee program that helps GOP candidates who bring in at least $250,000. MB: You don't have to be rich to say you're rich. See also "Trump, Donald & Co. New York Fraud Case." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alexa Spreads Stolen Election Lies. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Amid concerns the rise of artificial intelligence will supercharge the spread of misinformation comes a wild fabrication from ... Amazon's Alexa, which declared that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Asked about fraud in the race..., the popular voice assistant said it was 'stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,' citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives. The 2020 races were 'notorious for many incidents of irregularities and indications pointing to electoral fraud taking place in major metro centers,' according to Alexa, referencing Substack, a subscription newsletter service. Alexa contended that Trump won Pennsylvania, citing 'an Alexa answers contributor.'... Amazon promotes the tool as a reliable election news source.... Amazon declined to explain why its voice assistant draws 2020 election answers from unvetted sources.... Jacob Glick, who served as investigative counsel on the Jan. 6 committee, called Alexa's assertions nearly three years after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol 'alarming.... If major corporations are helping to give life to the "big lie" years after the fact, they're enabling the animating narrative of American domestic extremism to endure.'..."

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Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "In the dense, damp forests northeast of Houston, a pair of brothers [-- John & William Harris --] hit on a viable real estate business model: Offer plots of cheap land and unconventional loans for people who wanted to build their own houses, with few restrictions. The concept took off, not least among the large population of undocumented immigrants in Texas, who often do not have the legal paperwork needed for most bank loans. The Colony Ridge community, whose first residents moved in a decade ago, is now home to 40,000 people or more, with plans to more than double in size. Over the years, its swift growth and predominantly Hispanic population drew opposition from the mostly white residents of a small nearby town and some local officials, who lodged complaints and filed lawsuits.... The sprawling development has become a lightning rod for conservatives in the state and highlighted a growing tension within the Republican Party: those who focus on business freedom, and others determined to control the border.... [Gov. Greg] Abbott [ARRRR] directed the Legislature to hold hearings on Colony Ridge during a special session that starts on Monday....

"William Harris, who has donated more than $1 million in recent years to Mr. Abbott's campaigns, said he was disappointed to see the governor attack Colony Ridge on national television [that would be Fox 'News"]. 'He's a politician, it is what it is, he's got to cover his butt first,' Mr. Harris said. 'But don&'t expect a million dollars next year. It ain't happening again, brother.'" MB: I'm not sure how much it's politics and how much Greggers just hates Mexicans. He's a nasty man. The photos accompanying the article let on that Colony Ridge is not Utopia, but it is a place for people who cannot manage ordinary home ownership to acquire their little piece of the U.S.A.

Wisconsin. Reid Epstein & Julie Bosman of the New York Times (Oct. 6): "The liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case challenging the state's Republican-drawn legislative districts, a decision that could spur impeachment proceedings against a newly elected justice, Janet Protasiewicz, who refused to recuse herself from the case. The decision to accept the case -- known as an original action because it means the case will bypass Wisconsin&'s trial and appeals courts -- comes over the objections of at least two of the court's three conservative justices and the state's leading Republicans, who have threatened to impeach Justice Protasiewicz before she can rule on it.... The court's conservative members reacted with fury to their liberal colleagues' decision to accept the maps case."

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** Israel/Palestine

Patrick Kingsley & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israel battled on Saturday to repel one of the broadest invasions of its territory in 50 years after Palestinian militants from Gaza launched an early-morning assault on southern Israel, infiltrating 22 Israeli towns and army bases, kidnapping Israeli civilians and soldiers and firing thousands of rockets toward cities as far away as Jerusalem. By early evening, the Israeli military said fighting continued in at least five places in southern Israel; multiple Israelis had been abducted and taken to Gaza, including an elderly grandmother; and at least 250 Israelis had been reported dead by officials and more than 1,400 wounded. Israel retaliated with huge strikes on Gazan cities, and the Gaza Health Ministry said at least 234 Palestinians had been killed in either gun battles or airstrikes. In an assault without recent precedent in its complexity and scale, the militants crossed into Israel by land, sea and air, according to the Israeli military...." This is the top, pinned story in a liveblog that began & was linked here yesterday. ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the New York Times live updates for today. The main AP story is here. CNN's live updates are here.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The stunning Hamas assault on Israel on Saturday served as a gut-wrenching reminder that the decades-old conflict with Palestinians remains a cancer that has not gone away even as leaders in Washington, Jerusalem, Riyadh and other Arab capitals would prefer to focus on building a revamped region. American officials said it was too early to say whether the attack was explicitly motivated by a desire by Hamas or its patron Iran to disrupt President Biden's effort to broker a landmark deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that would profoundly reorient the Middle East. But they acknowledged that it could complicate the already delicate negotiations and make it that much harder to reach an agreement akin to the Abraham Accords between Israel and smaller Arab nations." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Time for Donald Trump to announce he could solve all the problems in a day.

Nick Robertson of the Hill: "The attacks ... were met with shock and prompted widespread support for Israel from most world leaders and governments. European and American leaders were quick to denounce the attacks, while governments in the Middle East often declined to explicitly back Israel in official comments while urging both sides to stop the violence." ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Holland & Matt Spetalnick of Reuters: "U.S. President Joe Biden offered Israel on Saturday 'all appropriate means of support' after a deadly attack from Palestinian militant group Hamas and warned 'any party hostile to Israel' not to seek advantage. U.S. and Israeli officials were coordinating about Israel's military needs in the wake of the attack, with a decision expected soon, a senior U.S. official said.... Biden spoke by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to offer U.S. support, with scenes of violence playing out on American news networks. The two leaders have had strained relations but met in New York last month in a show of solidarity." ~~~

     ~~~ Here is the "Statement from President Joe Biden Condemning Terrorist Attacks in Israel," via the White House.

GOP: Biden Responsible for 4,000-Year-Old Conflict. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Republican presidential candidates seized on the Hamas attack on Israel Saturday to try to lay blame on President Biden, drawing a connection between the surprise assault and a recent hostage release deal between the United States and Iran, a longtime backer of the group.... On several occasions, [Donald] Trump ... [said] that the hostage deal was a catalyst of the attacks. 'The war happened for two reasons,' he said. 'The United States is giving -- and gave to Iran -- $6 billion over hostages.'... 'Iran has helped fund this war against Israel, and Joe Biden's policies that have gone easy on Iran has helped to fill their coffers,' [Ron DeSantis] said.... 'This is what happens when @POTUS projects weakness on the world stage, kowtows to the mullahs in Iran with a $6 Billion ransom, and leaders in the Republican Party signal American retreat as Leader of the Free World,' [Mike] Pence wrote on X. 'Weakness arouses evil.'... , Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement, 'These funds [MB: released to restricted accounts in Qatar to provide humanitarian aid to Iran] have absolutely nothing to do with the horrific attacks today, and this is not the time to spread disinformation.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The NBC News story is here.

Brian Murphy, et al., of the Washington Post: "The violence erupted suddenly Saturday morning -- but comes after a year of rising tensions between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, which has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007. This year alone has seen a spate of deadly attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, an escalation that followed [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's move to cobble together the most far-right government in Israeli history. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and carried out Saturday's attacks, said the operation was in response to the blockade, as well as recent Israeli military raids in the West Bank and violence at al-Aqsa Mosque, a disputed religious site in Jerusalem known to Jews as the Temple Mount.... Here are some of the major incidents that took place this year in the lead-up to the current conflict."

Now What? Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "Nearly 50 years to the day after the Yom Kippur war of 1973, Israel has again been taken by surprise by a sudden attack, a startling reminder that stability in the Middle East remains a bloody mirage. Unlike the series of clashes with Palestinian forces in Gaza over the last three years, this appears to be a full-scale conflict mounted by Hamas and its allies, with rocket barrages and incursions into Israel proper, and with Israelis killed and captured.... There are few good options for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has declared war and is being pressured into a major military response.... A major war could have unforeseen consequences. It would be likely to produce sizable Palestinian casualties -- civilians as well as fighters -- disrupting the diplomatic efforts of President Biden and Mr. Netanyahu to bring about a Saudi recognition of Israel in return for defense guarantees from the United States. There would also be pressure on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that controls southern Lebanon, to open up a second front in northern Israel, as it did in 2006 after an Israeli soldier was captured and taken prisoner in Gaza."

Juan Cole of Informed Comment: "Periodic kinetic conflicts are the price of the American elite's studied inaction and, worse, coddling of the ugliest political forces on the Israeli side, as well as failure to offer ordinary Palestinians a dignified life that could allow them to develop alternatives to the ambitious and bloodthirsty fundamentalists who run Gaza. More recently, the standard line from both Israeli politicians such as Binyamin Netanyahu and from American politicians such as Jared Kushner... and Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has been that Palestinian citizenship in a state is not essential to a peace settlement.... As with all trickle-down theories, this one is a chimera, an illusion, in brief, a scam.... The rhetoric about making the Palestinians forget all about being Palestinians by luring them with a good economy always consisted of empty rhetoric. It was nothing more than a smokescreen for predatory projects of colonizing and appropriating Palestinian land or making Gaza into an open air penitentiary."

The New York Times has maps showing where Hamas hit Israel and where Israeli retalitory strikes hit Gaza. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ecuador. Samantha Schmidt & Diana Duran of the Washington Post: "Seven men arrested in the assassination of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate were found dead in the prisons where they were being held, authorities said. The suspects were all facing charges in the investigation into the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, a former investigative journalist and National Assembly Member who was shot in the head as he left a political rally on Aug. 9. The brazen attack occurred just days before the first round of voting in Ecuador's presidential elections. The suspected gunman in the assassination was killed by police, but six other alleged collaborators were detained shortly after. All of them were identified as Colombian nationals who were believed to have links to organized crime groups. Last month, seven additional people -- all Ecuadorian citizens -- were arrested in connection with the killing.... The Colombians were all found dead on Friday in their prison ward, authorities said. Hours later, on Saturday morning, officials said they found a seventh suspect dead in a prison near the capital of Quito.... Days earlier, the [Colombian] men had asked the attorney general's office and Ecuador's prison agency to be moved to a safer prison and were denied...."

News Lede

Afghanistan. AP: "Powerful earthquakes killed at least 2,000 people in western Afghanistan, a Taliban government spokesman said Sunday. It's one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades."

The Conversation -- October 7, 2023

The New York Times has maps showing where Hamas hit Israel and where Israeli retalitory strikes hit Gaza.

How George "Got Rich" Quick. Josh Kovensky & Hunter Walker of TPM have figured out how Rep. George Santos increased his annual income from $55,000 to more than $700,000 in just a few months & how he amassed a $1MM bank balance. According to his FEC filings, Santos lent his campaign more than $500,000 from these sources. But prosecutors' filings related to Santos campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy fraud, "accused Santos and Marks of falsely filing documents that showed their family members made donations to the campaign that were not actually received." The filings also alleged that Santos never the lent the half-million dollars to his campaign, and he "did not have the funds necessary to make such loans at the time." The reason for claiming the fake campaign donations was to qualify for a Republican Congressional Committee program that helps GOP candidates who bring in at least $250,000. MB: You don't have to be rich to say you're rich. See also "Trump, Donald & Co. New York Fraud Case."

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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... a massive surge of migration in the Western Hemisphere has scrambled the dynamics of an issue that has vexed presidents for decades, and radically reshaped the political pressures on [President] Biden and his administration. Instead of becoming the president who quickly reversed his predecessor's policies, Mr. Biden has repeatedly tried to curtail the migration of a record number of people -- and the political fallout that has created -- by embracing, or at least tolerating, some of Mr. Trump's anti-immigrant approaches." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Yesterday, I linked to a New York Times story that said, "... Donald J. Trump said undocumented immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country' in a recent interview, language with echoes of white supremacy and the racial hatreds of Adolf Hitler." If you look in the right-hand column, you'll see a link to a Washington Post story about how archaeologists had discovered footprints at White Sands, New Mexico, that may be as old as 29,000 years; that is, roughly 28,900 years before Donald Trump's family got to this continent. Most of the migrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border are Indios or mostly Indio. So I'd like to know who's "poisoning" whose blood? Anyhow, Happy Indigenous People's Day, Donald.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "As a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, once antagonized his party's leadership so mercilessly that former Speaker John A. Boehner, whom he helped chase from his position, branded him a 'legislative terrorist.' Less than a decade later, Mr. Jordan -- a fast-talking Republican often seen sans jacket, known for his hard-line stances and aggressive tactics -- is now one of two leading candidates to claim the very speakership whose occupants he once tormented. Mr. Jordan's journey from the fringe of Republican politics to its epicenter on Capitol Hill is a testament to how sharply his party has veered to the right in recent years, and how thoroughly it has adopted his pugilistic style.... His candidacy for speaker has drawn a stark warning from former Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who was the No. 3 Republican and vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, who said that if he prevailed, 'there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution.'" ~~~

~~~ Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "... one critical aspect of [Jim] Jordan's history that has been omitted by most Beltway publications is the prominent role he played in spreading lies about the 2020 election and rallying supporters to contest the results.... 'Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives,' former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who co-chaired the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the insurrection, said in a speech at the University of Minnesota this week. 'Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election,' she added. Jordan ... refused to cooperate with the select committee regarding his communications with Trump as the attack was occurring, defying subpoenas for testimony. Trump spoke on the phone with Jordan for 10 minutes on the morning of Jan. 6. Jordan has never divulged the nature of the conversation, saying only that he had spoken to Trump 'a number of times' that day." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There much more than Bobic mentions to Jordan's integral role in Trump's attempt to overthrow the election. For instance, he "attended a Dec. 21 White House meeting focused on efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to help overturn the 2020 election, according to the Jan. 6 committee." When Trump told the DOJ to "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen," he was talking about Jordan & the other 146 GOP members of Congress who voted to challenge certain states' Biden electors -- after the insurrection. (Had DOJ done as Trump demanded & made a false claim that the election was corrupt, the number of challengers most certainly would have been larger.)

Potential House "Leaders" Have No Idea What They're Doing. Melanie Zanona & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "House speaker candidates have pulled out of a planned joint interview on Fox News next week just hours after it was announced amid fierce blowback from GOP lawmakers, the latest sign of how simmering tensions within the conference are boiling over as Republicans scramble to find a new leader following Kevin McCarthy's stunning ouster. Both of the leading Republican candidates for speaker -- Rep. Jim Jordan and Majority Leader Steve Scalise -- backtracked from the plan to be interviewed jointly on Fox News with anchor Bret Baier from the Capitol next Monday after it had been announced by the network Friday morning. A third potential speaker candidate also said he would not participate in the forum." (Also linked yesterday.)

Former House "Leader" Has No Idea What He's Doing. Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Kevin McCarthy is considering resigning from the House before the end of his term, two people familiar with the matter told Politico. The deposed former speaker has made clear he plans to stay at least through the speakership election that begins next week before ending his House career, these people said, in order to help the party steady itself after a seismic shakeup." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. BUT this CNN story by Melanie Zanona & others, which originally said My Kevin was leaving Congress, perhaps in a few weeks, now leads with, "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is denying reports that he is expected to step down from Congress before the end of his term -- telling reporters on Friday that he still has 'work to do,' after sending signals in private conversations that he could step down early from Congress. 'No, I am not resigning,' he told reporters." (Also linked yesterday.)

** House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Washington Post op-ed: "Over the past several weeks, when it appeared likely that a motion to vacate the office of speaker was forthcoming, House Democrats repeatedly raised the issue of entering into a bipartisan governing coalition with our Republican counterparts, publicly as well as privately.... Regrettably, at every turn, House Republicans have categorically rejected making changes to the rules designed to accomplish two objectives: encourage bipartisan governance and undermine the ability of extremists to hold Congress hostage. Indeed, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) publicly declared more than five hours before the motion to vacate was brought up for a vote that he would not work with House Democrats as a bipartisan coalition partner.... Things further deteriorated from there.... [Republicans'] decision to strip Speaker Emerita Pelosi and Leader Hoyer of office space was petty, partisan and petulant....

"The rules of the House should reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing. A small band of extremists should not be capable of obstructing that cooperation.... Traditional Republicans need to break with the MAGA extremism that has poisoned the House of Representatives since the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and its aftermath -- when the overwhelming majority of House Republicans continued to promote the 'big lie' and voted not to certify the presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ryan Lizza & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Just hours after Kevin McCarthy was deposed as House speaker, the 'draft Trump' movement began. 'I called him and I said, "Sir, I'm nominating you for the speaker of the House,"' said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), describing a Tuesday call to ... Donald Trump. 'I said, "I think that you would do a great job fixing the brokenness we see in the Congress."' So began a wild 48-hour scramble that saw Trump openly pondering a quixotic bid to become the first nonmember to be elected speaker before his political advisers and House allies managed to convince him it was a terrible idea. The Trump-for-speaker bubble officially popped early Friday morning, when he took sides in the brewing battle between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The remarkable news here is that someone claimed he really did address Trump as "Sir."

The Trials of Trump

Surprise, Surprise! Alex Nguyen of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "A federal judge has gifted Donald Trump a step toward getting his classified documents case delayed until after the 2024 presidential election. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted a temporary stay on a filing deadline for Trump as she deliberates whether to postpone the entire schedule of pre-trial proceedings. Her order didn't, however, address whether the May 2024 trial date will be moved. Trump's legal team had requested in a Wednesday filing that Cannon push back the trial from May to 'until at least mid-November 2024.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Ella Lee of the Hill: "Attorneys for former President Trump are seeking to temporarily pause his civil fraud trial, along with the enforcement of a ruling issued before the trial started that found Trump and his business liable for fraud, until after the case has been appealed. Trump's legal team wrote in a 1,154-page court filing that Judge Arthur Engoron's decision imposed 'unauthorized, undemanded, overbroad relief' to the New York attorney general's office, which will result in 'significant, irreparable harm' to the former president and his business." MB: Curious that Trump's lawyers didn't file this tome before the trial started Monday. I supposed Trump had one of his hissy-fits and ordered his lawyers to make this mess go away. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Lauren del Valle & Kara Scannell of CNN: "A New York appeals court judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to stop the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial, but temporarily halted the process of breaking up the former president's businesses. Associate Justice Peter Moulton issued the ruling after a brief hearing Friday afternoon. It leaves Trump's empire untouched for at least another month and perhaps offers the former president and his family a glimmer of hope.... Trump's legal team believes the appellate court could eventually reverse at least part of Engoron's bombshell order and gut New York Attorney General Letitia James' case by dismissing a majority of the lawsuit's claims.... The New York attorney general's office opposed the request to delay the trial, saying Trump and the other defendants are attempting'to sow chaos by disrupting an ongoing trial that has now been going for a week. Yet defendants fail to point to any purported irreparable harm from proceeding with a trial that has already begun.' The attorney general's office also criticized Trump's team for waiting days into trial testimony to file the stay request." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has dropped a last-resort lawsuit against the judge overseeing his New York fraud trial. The former president's attorneys withdrew their lawsuit against Justice Arthur Engoron, which had been seen as a long-shot attempt to stop his real estate empire from being dismantled after he found that Trump and his adult sons had filed fraudulent financial statements, reported The Daily Beast." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has been raging against the New York judge who will decide his financial fate, but his attorneys botched a crucial deadline that could have put the case in a jury's hands.... 'I wish I'd had a jury trial,' Trump grumbled to his lawyers in court, after [Judge Arthur] Engoron reminded him that he alone would decide his fate. A Daily Beast reporter was present in court when Trump attorney Alina Habba requested a jury trial, but neither she or anyone else on the former president's defense team ever followed up, and they blew a 15-day deadline to respond when New York attorney general Letitia James' office alerted the court they were ready for trial." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lauren del Valle & Kara Scannell of CNN: "The former controller of the Trump Organization says that Eric Trump directed him to make certain decisions that led to the inflated valuations of several Trump properties. Jeff McConney, also a co-defendant of ... Donald Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., testified Friday as the first week of the civil fraud trial came to an end. Internal Trump Org. spreadsheets shown in court Friday show notations by McConney that say Eric Trump directed McConney in phone conversations about certain property valuations that would later appear on the financial statements the judge in this case has ruled fraudulent." The article outlines some of the schemes McConney, Eric Trump & Allen Weisselberg used to inflate the values of Trump properties, like including the value of structures that had not been built yet & ignoring deed restrictions that lowered a property's value.

Trump Choir Boy Sentenced to Seven Years. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A man who joined a nightly performance of the national anthem inside the D.C. jail that has been promoted by ... Donald Trump and his allies was sentenced to seven years in prison for assaulting police and obstructing Congress on Jan. 6. Shane Jenkins, 46, acknowledged in D.C. federal court that he had an 'extensive' criminal history and apologized 'for all the pain and suffering I've caused.'... Using a tomahawk he brought with him from Texas, Jenkins was the first to smash a window on the West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol, and was caught on video shouting: 'We paid for it, it's our f---ing building.' That breach gave rioters access to senators" offices, which were trashed and ransacked."

Tracey Tully, et al., of the New York Times: "The New Jersey attorney general's office seized records on Thursday from Bergen County law enforcement agencies to review whether the investigation of a fatal 2018 car crash involving the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez was handled properly.... The attorney general's office began its inquiry a day after details of the collision were reported publicly for the first time by The New York Times and The Record of New Jersey, nearly five years after it happened. A review by The Times of police reports, dashcam footage, 911 call recordings and a video of the collision raises new questions about the rigor of an investigation that [the victim's] relatives have long believed was inadequate." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former U.S. Army soldier who fled to Hong Kong has been charged with trying to deliver classified secrets to the Chinese government, according to federal court documents unsealed on Friday. Joseph D. Schmidt, 29, who served in a military intelligence battalion in Washington State, was indicted in Seattle on two counts of violating the Espionage Act. He was arrested this week after flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco and appeared in federal court on Friday." An NPR story is here. MB: Other than committing treason, Schmidt's big mistake was not becoming president* before he started hawking U.S. classified secrets. You don't see Donald Trump in jail, do you? And Trump stole hundreds of secrets which he may or may not sell but definitely doles out as party favors.

Gary Grumbach & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Hunter Biden will seek to dismiss the federal indictment against him that included three charges he was arraigned on earlier this week, according to a new court filing. The president's son 'maintains' that the original plea deal, or diversion agreement, 'remains in force,' Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, wrote in the filing on Thursday.... Under the terms of the original agreement, the younger Biden would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges over his failure to pay income taxes, and prosecutors had agreed to a related agreement that could have resulted in the gun charges being dismissed. But the deal collapsed in federal court on the day of his arraignment ... and he wound up pleading not guilty on the tax charges." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Races

Tyler Pager & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "The Democratic Party officially dislodged Iowa from its prized status as the first state in the presidential nominating process Friday, approving the state Democratic Party's plan to release their results on Super Tuesday next year. The decision ends a nearly two-year fight over Iowa's place in selecting a Democratic nominee, which resulted in a complete overhaul of the calendar. President Biden and his aides elevated South Carolina to the first spot, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later, and then Michigan. The original plan called for Georgia holding a primary just before Michigan, but Democrats in that state were unable to move up their date, because of Republican opposition."

Ramaswamny Makes Up Stuff About Protesters. Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign claimed Thursday that protesters ran into their parked car at a campaign stop in Grinnell, Iowa. But local police later said that's not what really happened. Ramaswamy's car, with no one inside it, was struck by another car in a parking lot outside a coffeehouse. His campaign told Politico Thursday that two protesters hit Ramaswamy's car, but police say that the accident involved a driver unconnected to the protest. 'Our investigation has revealed no evidence to substantiate' the claim that protesters hit Ramaswamy's car on purpose and fled, police said in a statement Thursday night. Instead, police say that a woman had eaten lunch at a deli and backed out of a parking spot into the campaign's rental vehicle. A report was taken and the driver was released with a summons for unsafe backing. '[The driver] stated she was not in the area to protest, she did not know who the vehicle she struck belonged to, she did not intentionally back into the vehicle, and she did not flee the scene of the accident,' police said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.)"

~~~~~~~~~~

It turns out that hawking Donald Trump's Miracle Covid Cure can land you in jail for quite a spell: ~~~

~~~ Florida Man et Fils. Orlando Mayorquin of the New York Times: "A Florida man and three sons who used a business masquerading as a church to sell more than $1 million of a deadly bleach solution that they claimed was a 'miracle' cure for Covid-19 and other diseases were each sentenced on Friday to several years in prison, federal prosecutors in Miami said. Mark Grenon, 66, of Bradenton, Fla., and one of his sons, Joseph Grenon, 36, were sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to defraud the government, while the two other sons, Jonathan Grenon, 37, and Jordan Grenon, 29, were sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison for defrauding the government and contempt of court, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a news release."

~~~~~~~~~~

** Israel/Palestine. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israel and Gaza were at war on Saturday after Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets into southern and central Israel in a surprise morning attack that was among the biggest from Gaza in years, and the Israeli military said that armed gunmen had crossed the border fence in several locations and infiltrated Israeli communities.... The assault began without any warning about 6:30 a.m. on the Jewish Sabbath and the morning of a festival, the last of the series of Jewish high holidays. It was almost 50 years to the day after the surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces over Israel's northern and southern borders at the opening of the 1973 war that traumatized the nation. Within the first hour of the attack, salvos of rockets had slammed relentlessly into Israeli towns and cities, striking as far north as Rishon LeZion, about 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, and Ramla, near Israel's international airport. At 8:15 a.m. sirens also sounded in central Jerusalem, and loud booms could be heard." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is at war following an early morning surprise attack from Gaza that left at least 22 people dead. Hamas claimed to have captured several Israeli soldiers near the border after its militants entered Israel by land, sea and air using paragliders. The assault came after thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said its troops are fighting in at least a half-dozen locations. Some residents in Israel said militants were trying to break into their homes."

News Lede

Afghanistan. New York Times: "Two 6.3-magnitude earthquakes killed nearly 200 people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, the second major quake to hit the country in less than two years. At least 180 people were killed and around 600 injured, according to the chief of the regional hospital in Herat Province, where the quake struck hardest. The number of casualties is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue, officials said."