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Thursday, November 2, 2023

11/2 WAKE-UP CALL: Biden Favors Cease Fire 'Pause'


President Biden was last night confronted by a bearded female rabbi who demanded a ceasefire in Gaza - leaving the president claiming he had asked for a 'pause.' Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg stood up during his speech in Minnesota and told the president: 'As a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire right now.' Biden told her: 'I think we need a pause. A pause means give time to get the prisoners out.' He added: 'I'm the guy that convinced Bibi (Netanyahu) to call for a ceasefire to let the prisoners out. I'm the guy that talked to (Egyptian President) Sisi to convince him to open the door.' The White House later clarified that Biden was referring to the hostages - not prisoners - held by Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which 1,400 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. He was heckled by Rosenberg while speaking to a crowd of 200 donors at a private Minneapolis fundraiser. The rabbi's striking appearance gave rise to questions as to whether she is trans, but Rosenberg herself deliberately avoids the issue. 

➤CIVILIANS TO LEAVE GAZA: More foreigners prepared to leave the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday as its Hamas-run government said at least 195 Palestinians died in Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp, strikes that Israel said had killed Hamas commanders. Americans among first civilians allowed to leave Gaza. Egypt allowed hundreds of foreign passport holders, including Americans, and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip to flee through the Rafah crossing Wednesday as the humanitarian crisis intensified and the war's combined death toll climbed above 10,000. 

A State Department spokesman said about 400 U.S. citizens are seeking to leave the territory, along with their family members. Egypt had refused to accept refugees amid concerns Israel might not allow them to return but made an accommodation for those in dire need of medical help. More than 2 million Palestinians remain trapped while Israel has bombed Gaza relentlessly since the attack of Hamas militants on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7.

➤U-S- INTEL HAD STOPPED TRACKING HAMAS: U.S. intelligence agencies all but stopped spying on Hamas and other violent Palestinian groups in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They instead directed resources to hunt for al Qaeda leaders and, later, Islamic State, according to U.S. officials familiar with the shift. American intelligence outsourced the spying on Hamas to Israel—Hamas had never directly threatened the U.S—confident it would detect any threat. 

Now, more than 30 Americans are dead and 10 missing, fears of a regional war are mounting and billions of dollars in U.S. military hardware are heading to the Middle East since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead and 200-plus held hostage. Some officials say the U.S. misjudged the threat to its national security. 

💸FED LEAVES INTEREST RATES UNCHANGED: The Fed left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high and signaled they would remain elevated well into next year to keep inflation dropping. This is the second consecutive central-bank meeting without a rate hike; the Fed last lifted its benchmark federal-funds rate in July, to a range between 5.25% and 5.5%. To avoid causing an unnecessarily severe downturn, Fed officials don’t want to overdo rate bumps, but they also don’t want to let inflation to reaccelerate or settle at levels well above their 2% target. A continued slowdown in inflation could allow the central bank to continue holding rates steady, while any price-pressure acceleration might mean raising rates again. The pause helped Treasury yields retreat and U.S. stocks climb.


➤DON JR. TESTIFIES: Donald Trump Jr. took the witness stand Wednesday in his father's real estate fraud trial, becoming the first of the former president's children to testify in a case in which $250 million in damages and a ban on the iconic Trump Organization operating in New York is at stake. The oldest child of former President Donald Trump said he didn't recall whether he worked on financial statements concerning his father's assets and liabilities. In its fraud case brought against several members of the Trump family as well as the Trump Organization, the New York Attorney General's Office has described the statements from 2011 to 2021 as "fraudulent and misleading," and said they included a "staggering" number of highly-inflated asset valuations.

➤TLAIB DODGES CENSURE VOTE: “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) dodged a censure vote in the House over her history of anti-Israel remarks and participating in a pro-Palestinian protest last month that spilled into a Capitol office building. The lower chamber on Wednesday night voted 222-186 to block a resolution to censure Tlaib after Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced the measure last week. Every Democrat voted to table the resolution, along with Michigan GOP Reps. John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg and Bill Huizenga and 20 other Republican lawmakers. Thirteen other Democrats and 11 Republicans were absent. Greene’s resolution faults Tlaib for “antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations, and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex.

➤SANTOS SURVIVES EXPEL EFFORT: The House has rejected a push to expel embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., as the lawmaker faces mounting legal challenges and growing criticism from his fellow Republicans.  Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., who led the push to expel Santos, has called his fellow New York lawmaker “unfit to serve.” 

“George Santos' many deceptions coupled with the ever-expanding legal case against him further strengthen my long-held belief that he is unfit to serve in Congress, and for that reason, I will be sponsoring a resolution to immediately expel George Santos from the House of Representatives.,” D’Esposito said in a statement. But lawmakers rejected the push 179-213, with Republicans appearing to defer to the House Ethics Committee, which released a statement Tuesday saying it will announce its next steps on its current investigation into Santos by Nov. 17.

➤SENATE PASSES FUNDING BILLS: The Democratic-led Senate passed a trio of government funding bills Wednesday with broad bipartisan support, a move that some senators hope will pressure the Republican-controlled House to change course from its partisan approach. The Senate voted 82-15 to approve funding bills covering military construction and veterans affairs, agriculture, and transportation and housing. The vote breaks a lengthy logjam on government funding ahead of a Nov. 17 deadline to avert a shutdown. “There is definitely uncertainty with regard to how the House will respond to our strong bipartisan votes on appropriation bills,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., a member of the Appropriations Committee. “But we hope that they will conclude, especially seeing the strong bipartisan votes, that the only way forward is through bipartisanship.” Baldwin said she hopes the progress will move Congress to approve a short-term funding bill to buy time for a “final product before the end of the year — and that’s simply the strategy that I am pursuing.”

➤BLM ACTIVIST SENTENCED: A Black Lives Matter activist has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after she was found guilty of funneling tens of thousands in fundraising donations from her organization into her personal bank account, leading to her living an expensive lifestyle. The BBC reported that 23-year-old Xahra Saleem of London served as the director of a charity that benefited disadvantaged youth in Bristol, called Changing Your Mindset. Saleem was also an organizer of a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7, 2020, in response to the death of George Floyd in the U.S.


⚾RANGERS ARE W-D CHAMPS: The thunderous bats that had produced an offensive feast a night earlier disappeared for most of Wednesday’s Game 5 of the World Series and the starting pitchers took charge.  One team wasted its ample chances and the other capitalized on scarce opportunity until a ninth-inning outburst removed all doubt.  The Rangers became World Series champions for the first time in the franchise’s 63-year history with a 5-0 victory over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.  


The World Series title was the fourth for Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, who won three with the Giants. Along the way the Rangers won all 11 of their road games this postseason to establish an MLB record. 

✞ICONIC COACH BOBBY KNIGHT DEAD: Iconic as he was controversial, Bob Knight for decades embodied the spirit of basketball in a corner of the world mad about it. His hard-nosed, fundamentals-driven style and attention to detail became deeply rooted in the culture of the sport for basketball fans in southern Indiana and elsewhere, his admirers standing as ardently by him as his critics often chastised him. At the height of his success, few in the sport were more recognizable, or more noteworthy.

Knight died in Bloomington, according to a post on bobknight.com, a website that represents Knight and his foundation. The school later confirmed Knight's death, announcing his passing ahead of the Indiana women's exhibition game Wednesday at Assembly Hall. He was 83.  

🏈RAIDERS AXE COACH AND GM: The Las Vegas Raiders fired head coach Josh McDaniels, general manager David Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi a day after the team lost to the Detroit Lions 26-14. That brought the Raiders to a 3-5 record for the season. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce is expected to be named interim coach, according to ESPN.

🏈RAMS’ STAFFORD NURSING A SORE THUMB: Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is a big question mark looking ahead to Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. He did not practice yesterday due to a thumb injury and may have to sit out the game.

🏈VIKINGS’ COUSINS UNDERGOES SURGERY: Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins underwent surgery yesterday to repair a torn right Achilles tendon. The team released a statement saying the surgery was a success. This type of surgery normally requires three to four weeks of immobilization.

🥶BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE: A record blast of cold air is sweeping through most of the U.S. About 70 million people were under freeze warnings from eastern Texas to New York yesterday, and below-normal temperatures were recorded across the East and the South. The chill was expected to continue this morning with record lows possible from the Lower Mississippi Valey across much of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic and into northern New England. Muskedon, Michigan, got 11.5 inches of snow on Halloween, an October record.



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