Monday, October 23, 2023

10/23 WAKE-UP CALL: Republican Family Feud Getting Ugly


Multiple Republican lawmakers lashed out at their GOP colleagues on Sunday as the House remains frozen without a speaker, calling the situation embarrassing. A handful of hard-right Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., earlier this month, and Republicans in the lower chamber have failed to coalesce around a replacement.

House Democrats refused to vote to save McCarthy and have since refused to lend their support to Republican speaker candidates, including Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana. McCarthy on Sunday told “Meet the Press” that the situation is “embarrassing for the Republican Party” and the country as a whole.

➤NEWT SUGGESTS A WOMAN FOR SPEAKER: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich floated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the next speaker. Gingrich appeared on Fox News Sunday to provide an analysis of the Republican Party's plight in finding a new leader in the only chamber it currently holds a majority. By the time the House convenes again on Monday, it will have been 20 days without a speaker.

➤STABBING APPARENTLY NOT A HATE CRIME: Mourners attended a funeral service Sunday afternoon for a synagogue president found stabbed to death outside her home as investigators announced that they've found no evidence yet that the murder was driven by antisemitism. Police Chief James White said on Sunday that there are no early indications that that the killing was motivated by hate. He added that investigators were working with the FBI to analyze forensic evidence to piece together a timeline leading to Woll’s death and more information would be revealed Monday. "No evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism," White said in a statement. He did not elaborate on whether police have a motive in mind or a suspect.

➤NASHVILLE CHIEF'S SON IS SOUGHT IN SHOOTING OF TWO OFFICERS: The authorities in Tennessee were searching on Sunday for the estranged son of Nashville’s police chief, a day after the chief’s son was identified as the suspect in the shooting of two police officers outside a Dollar General store. The officers were investigating a stolen vehicle Saturday afternoon in La Vergne, Tenn., about 20 miles southeast of Nashville, when they confronted the suspect outside the store, the La Vergne police chief, Christopher Moews, said at a news conference on Saturday. During a struggle, he said, the man shot the two officers with a handgun: one in the shoulder, and the other in the groin and forearm.

➤ISRAEL RAMPS UP RESPONSE: Israel ramped up its bombing of targets on three fronts, including a rare airstrike in the West Bank, as humanitarian aid trickled into the Gaza Strip in an international effort to ease the hardship the conflict has wrought on the two million civilians trapped there. An Israeli soldier died during an operation in Gaza, and the Israeli military struck a mosque compound in the West Bank’s city of Jenin that it said was being used by militants to plan attacks. It also struck a target in southern Lebanon, where it said militants were attempting to launch antitank missiles at the Israeli side of the border. International efforts remained under way to free hostages in Gaza and prevent the fight from escalating into a regional conflict. President Biden held talks Sunday with leaders in Israel, the U.K., France and other countries as Israel weighed the consequences of any ground invasion of Gaza.

The Israeli military hit targets in Syria, the West Bank and Gaza amid growing concerns the war will spread more widely across the Middle East. President Biden has warned Iran and other foes of Israel in the region to stay out of the war. The intensified military actions came as a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid that was scheduled to make its way into Gaza from Egypt for a second day finally arrived late Sunday after a long delay. U.N. relief chief Martin Griffiths said 14 trucks, six fewer than the previous day, reached Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.



Booby traps planted by Hamas terrorists in Israel included a bomb disguised in a child’s pink backpack in the hopes it would kill an innocent victim, the Israeli military said Sunday. Haunting footage posted online by the Israeli Defense Forces showed a soldier unpacking a child’s seemingly innocuous, colorful, heart-and-star-adorned school bag found laying in a field.

Inside were explosives set to go off if someone tried to pick it up. “The bag was booby-trapped, containing a remote-activated explosive device—weighing 7 kg,” the IDF wrote. “Hamas purposefully chose to booby-trap a child’s backpack with the hope a well-intentioned civilian would pick it up.” The IDF said the insidious device was just one of many located in Israel that were left behind by Hamas in hopes of killing more Israelis after the terrorists murdered more than 1,400 people on Oct. 7.

➤IRAN SENTENCES 2 FEMALE JOURNALISTS: An Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced two journalists to years in prison for their coverage of the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini last year, state media reported on Sunday. The death of 22-year-old Amini last September while in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code unleashed months of mass protests across Iran, marking the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in decades. Iran's state news agency IRNA said Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively on charges, including collaboration with the U.S. government and acting against national security. Lawyers for the two women have rejected the charges.

🎧LEAKED AUDIO; REP CURSES STAFF: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, was recently heard on recorded audio going off on one of her staff members in a profanity-laced tirade in which she said he and another staff member had no brains and are “f- -k-ups.” Jackson Lee, a Hillary Clinton-endorsed congresswoman who built a reputation in Washington as being one of the “meanest” members of Congress, has represented the same Houston, Texas district in the House of Representatives for over 28 years. 


In March, Jackson Lee threw her name in the running to become the mayor of Houston in an off-year election, which if elected, would bring her time in Congress to an end. In audio obtained by Texas newspaper Current Revolt and published on Saturday Jackson Lee is heard speaking with a male staff member when she asked, “You took a piece of paper from that woman regarding something that was owned by Duncantell. Where is it? What date was it?” The man answered by telling the representative he gave the piece of paper to Jerome, who took it upstairs.

➤YOUR DIABETES RISK MAY DOUBLE IF YOU EAT THIS FOOD TWICE A WEEK, SAY HARVARD RESEARCHERS: Just two servings of red meat per week can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed. Swapping the red meat for plant-based proteins, by comparison, was linked to reduced diabetes risk, the study found. Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed more than 30 years of health data and dietary choices for 216,695 participants.

🏈NFL EAGLES 31 DOLPHINS 17: Jalen Hurts threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third on Sunday night as the Philadelphia Eagles pulled away from the visiting Miami Dolphins in the second half for a 31-17 win. Hurts, who was 23-of-31 passing for 279 yards and an interception, snapped a 17-17 tie with a 14-yard scoring strike to A.J. Brown with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. Brown, who ran through an attempted tackle around the 10-yard line, caught 10 passes for 137 yards.

Philadelphia (6-1) put the game away with a 13-play, 83-yard drive that came after Darius Slay intercepted Tua Tagovailoa at the Eagles 1. Kenneth Gainwell administered the lethal blow with a 3-yard scoring run at the 4:46 mark of the fourth quarter.

🏈NFL CHIEFS 31 CHARGERS 17: Patrick Mahomes completed 32 of 42 passes for 424 yards, four touchdowns and one interception, and the Kansas City Chiefs held on for a 31-17 win over the visiting Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday afternoon. Travis Kelce finished with 12 catches for 179 yards and caught the go-ahead touchdown for Kansas City (6-1), which won its sixth straight game. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Rashee Rice and Isiah Pacheco also caught one touchdown apiece.

⚾MLB RANGERS 9 ASTROS 2: Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi remained unbeaten this postseason, but it was the support he received from contributors known and overlooked that aided his cause. And thanks in large part to Eovaldi, the Rangers are now just one win away from reaching the World Series for the first time since 2011.

Mitch Garver had three hits and two RBIs and Adolis Garcia socked a grand slam as Texas beat the Houston Astros 9-2 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday. The Rangers squared the best-of-seven series at 3-3 and forced a decisive Game 7 set for Monday by extending their postseason road winning streak to seven games. Texas won for just the second time in 10 games when facing elimination and snapped a five-game skid in such contests. The road team has won all six games of the ALCS. The road team won all seven games of the 2019 World Series, with the Astros falling to the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park.

🏈SOURCES: TEXAS QB QUINN EWERS TO MISS TIME WITH AC JOINT SPRAIN: Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers is expected to miss time after suffering a grade 2 AC joint sprain in his right shoulder. An MRI on Sunday revealed the sprain in Ewers' throwing shoulder, which occurred during the No. 7 Longhorns' win over Houston on Saturday night. The injury is not expected to be season-ending. A more finite timetable should emerge this week.

🏈BRONCOS SAFETY KAREEM JACKSON EJECTED AGAIN FOR ILLEGAL HIT: Kareem Jackson was ejected from a game for the second time this season in the Denver Broncos' victory against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, with coach Sean Payton saying that the safety's "priors'' might have influenced the call. Jackson was ejected with 13 minutes, 49 seconds left in the 19-17 victory for his sideline hit on Packers tight end Luke Musgrave. He has been fined four times this season for unnecessary roughness -- for a total of $89,670, and likely will face another fine and potentially a suspension given his status as a repeat offender.


Posted

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)