Thursday, October 5, 2023

10/5 WAKE-UP CALL: The House Is Not a Home

Republicans started announcing their plans to run for speaker of House. A day after Kevin McCarthy was removed from the post, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and conservative Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, stepped into the fray Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, chair of the Republican Study Committee, reportedly said he intends to run. A Hern spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R., N.C.) said candidates would make their pitches next Tuesday in hopes of voting the following Wednesday. House business, including efforts to fund the federal government before a November deadline, was put on hold until then. McCarthy was booted in a 216-210 vote following months of fighting with hard-right conservatives, days after he had engineered legislation to avoid a shutdown.

➤TRUMP TRIAL JUDGE HAS HISSY FIT: The Manhattan judge deciding Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial lost his cool on Wednesday — slamming his hand on the bench and snapping, “This is ridiculous” — as the former president’s lawyers grilled his ex-accountant over inconsistent testimony.  The judge’s annoyed reaction came after Trump’s side claimed that Donald Bender, a partner at accounting firm Mazars USA, was evading their questions. The attorneys had also repeatedly insisted they needed to meticulously go through Trump’s financial records with Bender “year by year.” 

“Don’t waste time,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said sternly. Trump attorney Jesus Suarez had spent part of Tuesday afternoon and all of Wednesday morning cross-examining Bender — and said he would continue with the questioning through the end of the day. “This is ridiculous!” Engoron said, hitting his hand on the bench. “Mr. Bender isn’t on trial here." Trump attorney, Christopher Kise, said the only things Bender “seems to recall are what the government wants him to recall.”

➤UAW, FORD REPORT PROGRESS: Negotiators for the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor have narrowed their differences on pay increases after a new offer from the automaker amid "really active" talks, people familiar with the bargaining among the Detroit Three automakers and the union said on Wednesday. UAW President Shawn Fain plans to update the union's 150,000 members at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis on Friday, a person briefed on the union's plans said. It is not clear whether Fain will order a fresh round of walkouts, or declare sufficient progress has been made to delay strikes at additional plants.

➤WORKERS STRIKE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: More than 75,000 nurses, pharmacists and other employees of the Kaiser Permanente health system walked off the job in the largest U.S. healthcare strike on record. Their contracts expired, and the unions couldn’t reach an agreement with Kaiser about increasing wages. Kaiser said that it would use temporary workers, but if needed, postpone appointments and expand its network to retail pharmacies and non-Kaiser hospitals. The system serves 12.7 million members at 40 hospitals and more than 620 medical offices, mostly on the West Coast but also in Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland and Virginia. The strike, which is scheduled to last as long as three days, involves workers in five states and Washington, D.C.

➤BIDEN OKs STUDENT FOREGIVENESS: U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that his administration has approved an additional $9 billion in student debt relief for 125,000 borrowers. Biden has said he will pursue new measures to provide student loan relief to Americans after the Supreme Court blocked his plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. The president said the latest announcement brought the total approved debt cancellation by the his administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million Americans.

➤SEVERAL MILES OF BORDER WALL TO BE BUILT: The Biden administration will waive 26 federal laws to allow several miles of border wall construction in South Texas, leading former President Donald Trump to argue that his signature policy was correct all along. The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the US Federal Registry on Wednesday, allowing the construction in Starr County, Texas, part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing 'high illegal entry.'  'There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,' DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (main) stated in the notice.


➤PUTIN SUFFERS SETBACK: Russia withdrew most of its Black Sea Fleet from its main base in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian missile and drone strikes are challenging Moscow’s hold on the peninsula. The vessel moves represent a setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose 2014 military seizure of Crimea marked the start of his attempt to take control of Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment. Moscow’s ships will still be able to fire missiles on civilian infrastructure, naval experts said, but the withdrawal comes as Ukraine is dealing with slow counteroffensive advances, heavy losses and uncertainty about the future of U.S. aid.

➤TWH GIVES COMMANDER THE BOOT: President Biden’s dog Commander was recently booted from the White House as reports have emerged that the German shepherd has bitten more personnel than previously disclosed, creating what staffers are calling a dangerous workplace, according to a report. “We’re beyond the point of worrying about trust being broken. We have to speak up,” a source familiar with the president’s Secret Service detail told the news station. There have been 12 documented biting incidents — including 11 with US Secret Service staff — involving the 2-year-old pooch in the past year. But sources told CNN that the actual number of incidents is higher as other White House workers have been on the receiving end of Commander’s acts of aggression.


⚾MLB PHILLIES 7 MARLINS 1:  Bryson Stott hit a grand slam, J.T. Realmuto homered and doubled and the host Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Miami Marlins 7-1 to sweep their National League wild-card series on Wednesday. After taking the best-of-three set against Miami in two games, the Phillies advance to meet the major-league-best Braves in the NL Division Series. Game 1 will be played on Saturday in Atlanta. Stott, whose sixth-inning blast put Philadelphia up 7-0, said in a postgame interview on ESPN, "My body, I can't really feel it right now. This crowd is insane. I was running around the bases and I couldn't feel myself."

⚾MLB RANGERS 7 RAYS 1: Nathan Eovaldi tossed 6 2/3 strong innings to fuel the Texas Rangers to a sweep of their American League wild-card series on Wednesday, courtesy of a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla. Evan Carter belted a two-run homer and Adolis Garcia also went deep for the fifth-seeded Rangers, who advance to face the Orioles in the AL Division Series. Game 1 of the best-of-five series is scheduled for Saturday in Baltimore.

⚾MLB TWINS 2 BLUE JAYS 0: The Twins held on to win 2-0 over the Blue Jays to complete a two-game sweep in their best-of-three American League wild-card series. It marked the first playoff series win since 2002 for Minnesota, which will play the Houston Astros in the AL Division Series.

⚾MLB D-BACKS 5 BREWERS 2: The resilient Arizona Diamondbacks rallied again on the road to complete a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League wild-card series. Ketel Marte's single keyed a four-run rally, Zac Gallen battled through six innings and the Diamondbacks came back for a 5-2 victory over the Brewers in Game 2 on Wednesday. Arizona overcame a 2-0 deficit to conclude the best-of-three series, having escaped a 3-0 hole to win the opener 6-3 on Tuesday.


➤SIMONE BILES WINS 20TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE: Gymnast Simone Biles led Team USA to victory at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships yesterday in Antwerp. It’s the first world title for Biles since 2019, when she won five events in Stuttgart. She is now the most decorated gymnast in history, with 26 medals, including 20 gold. It was the seventh straight women’s team world championship title for Team USA.

➤FALL IS IN THE AIR: Better late than never. Most of the country sweated through a sweltering summer and a late Indian summer, but fall weather is finally arriving. According to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center, a strong front will be bringing cool air across the whole continental U.S. through next week. The autumn foliage season is finally arriving in the northeastern part of the country, too.





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