brooklynite
brooklynite's JournalMorning update from Israel/Gaza (BBC)
Death toll: 1,000
Israeli deaths: 500
Palestinian deaths: 400
Fighting still underway in Israeli territory
Dozens of civilian/military hostages held in Gaza.
Israel cutting off electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza
Source: NBC News
Israel's government will halt the supply of electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza, according to a statement tonight from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu said that the "first stage" of Israel's counteroffensive against Hamas had ended, claiming that Israeli military forces had fought off the "vast majority" of Hamas militants behind the early morning incursion.
He pledged to continue counterattacks without "limitations nor respite."
"We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack," he said.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/live-updates-hamas-israel-gaza-attack-rockets-gunmen-palestinian-rcna119316/rcrd20130?canonicalCard=true
GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel: always look on the bright side.....
https://twitter.com/dncwarroom/status/1710757011812458808So much for the Kushner peace deal (r sponsor of Saudi Arabia)
https://twitter.com/ksamofaen/status/1710629609757086172Illinois Democrats drew new maps. They pushed the GOP to the right.
TAYLORVILLE, Ill. — On a warm Friday night in the St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot, sweating men sipping cold beers dipped fish fillets into bubbling deep fryers as children played on the bouncy castle.
This down-home fish fry used to be a regular stop for U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a moderate Republican who grew up in this former coal town in Central Illinois. But that was before new district lines drawn in 2021 pushed him into far more conservative terrain — and into competition with a fellow GOP incumbent.
To keep his job in Congress, Davis had to square off with Rep. Mary E. Miller, a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus who closely aligned herself with former president Donald Trump. In the primary campaign, she assailed Davis for his willingness to compromise with Democrats and to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Miller, the hard-liner, won the 2022 race. Davis, the consensus-seeker, was out.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/07/illinois-congressional-map-gerrymandering/
Justice Janet Protasiewicz rejects calls to recuse herself from redistricting cases
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MADISON - The Wisconsin Supreme Court's newest justice has rejected calls from Republican legislative leaders to recuse herself from two lawsuits before the court involving the state's legislative maps, which she has described as "rigged" — a decision the Assembly speaker warned could push him to start unprecedented impeachment proceedings.
Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz released her decision just before the four liberal justices who control the state's highest court agreed over objections from conservative justices to take up one of the lawsuits that is aimed at undoing the current legislative maps that give Republicans an advantage in the statehouse.
Protasiewicz issued the order announcing her decision late Friday afternoon in response to requests from Republican lawmakers asking her to recuse from the cases because of her comments during a spring campaign for her seat. The lawmakers argued her comments amounted to pre-judging the cases.
"Recusal decisions are controlled by the law. They are not a matter of personal preference. If precedent requires it, I must recuse. But if precedent does not warrant recusal, my oathbinds me to participate," Protasiewicz wrote in an order released Friday evening.
Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/10/06/protasiewicz-rejects-calls-to-recuse-herself-from-redistricting-cases/71090029007/
Georgia Judge Absolutely Shreds Trump Co-Defendant's Latest Hail Mary
Source: Daily Beast
The Massachusetts-based lawyer was handed his latest loss in court on Friday, when Judge Scott McAfee handed down a blistering order denying an audacious attempt by Chesebro to get his indictment in the sprawling racketeering case dismissed outright due to an apparently trifling paperwork error. Chesebro’s attorney Scott Grubman filed a Hail Mary pass of a motion on Wednesday, claiming that Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was specially selected by District Attorney Fani Willis to help oversee the case, was late in submitting the appropriate paperwork necessary to formalize his appointment.
Citing an obscure section of the Official Georgia Code, the motion deemed Wade’s participation thus far in the case “void as a matter of law.” The indictment in Fulton County against Trump, Chesebro, and 17 other co-defendants over the hamfisted attempts to reverse Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, was filed on Aug. 17. Wade, however, didn’t hand in his signed oath of Special Assistant District Attorney until Sept. 27, following an inquiry from Grubman.
“Nathan Wade, who has and continues to serve as lead counsel in this case—including during the presentment of the case to the criminal grand jury and at the time the underlying indictment was returned—was not an authorized public officer by Georgia law,” Chesebro’s motion states.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-scott-mcafee-shreds-trump-co-defendant-kenneth-chesebros-hail-mary
How Trump was talked into -- and out of -- a run for speaker
“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 former President 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.).
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/06/trump-jim-jordan-house-speaker-endorsements-00120320
Iowa surrenders, will fall back to Super Tuesday for Democrats
Source: Politico
Iowa’s influential perch within the Democratic Party will come to an end Friday when members of the Democratic National Committee are expected to accept Iowa’s plan to release its presidential preference numbers on March 5, Super Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the committee’s deliberations and granted anonymity to describe them.
Iowa’s capitulation caps off more than a year of internal party machinations over how to retool the party’s presidential nominating calendar, prioritizing battleground states with more diverse populations over Iowa, long the party’s first-in-the-nation caucus state.
Following a plan blessed by President Joe Biden, next year’s nominating calendar will kick off with South Carolina on Feb. 3, followed by Nevada on Feb. 6 and Michigan on Feb. 27. Georgia, which was initially elevated to a top slot, wasn’t able to change its date, due to its Republican-controlled legislature and governor’s mansion. That means Iowa is effectively eliminated from the early-state process, while New Hampshire’s fate is still unclear.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/06/iowa-democrats-super-tuesday-00120337
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Name: Chris BastianGender: Male
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Home country: USA
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 94,803
