Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

How the Israeli Attack on Iran Could Seed a New World War
Click to enlarge
The Intercept | Frank Giustra | 10/26/24

If you ask the average citizen of any country whether their leaders should start wars, almost all would give a resounding "No." The public, overall, opposes war, but tolerates leaders who prioritize power, legacy, and special interests over the wishes of their own people.

This is how we find ourselves recklessly stumbling toward a global conflict that could erupt out of the regional crises currently unfolding.

With its early Saturday morning attack, Israel is on the verge of dragging the U.S. into a regional war with Iran.

Let's start with the Middle East. With its early Saturday morning attack, Israel is on the verge of dragging the U.S. into a regional war with Iran. The plans were drawn up weeks ago and, despite U.S. warnings, Israel went ahead with the bombing.

Though, for the moment, Iran seems to be exercising restraint, U.S. leadership seems to not be up for the challenge of averting this conflagration. The Biden administration has proven ineffective. Not only has it failed to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, the administration is also emboldening Israel by providing military assistance against retaliatory attacks from Iran. ... Read more

Global summit blends AI and biotech
Axios | Alison Snyder | 10/31/24

The Biden administration this week is hosting a first-of-its-kind international summit about the use of artificial intelligence in the life sciences as governments and private industry increasingly push the boundaries of biotechnology.

Why it matters: The convergence of the life sciences and advanced AI could reveal the underpinnings of diseases, help identify new cures or produce more resistant crops. But there are barriers and bottlenecks - and potential risks - to combining the technologies.

The catch: Training today's advanced AI models requires massive amounts of high-quality, standardized scientific data. But there aren't many accessible databases with that information.

Officials hope the AI-Bioscience Collaborative (AIBC) Summit being held Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C., can begin unlocking troves of data that can be used in the life sciences. The gathering has not been publicly announced. ... ... ... Read more

Trump's vulgar rally becomes a drag on his campaign
Axios | Erin Doherty | 10/29/24

Donald Trump's much-hyped rally in New York has become an own goal that's weighing on his campaign as it tries to sprint to next week's election.

Driving the news: Republicans on Monday tried to stop the fallout from the racist, sexist and vulgar rhetoric by several rally speakers, including a comedian who called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

Democrats, Latino groups and others seized on the remarks - and the fact that Trump's campaign approved the speakers - as the latest sign that Trump's divisive rhetoric should disqualify him from a second term. ... Read more

MAGA world's hyper-confidence
Axios | Zachary Basu | 10/29/24

Donald Trump's surrogates, allies and foot soldiers appear supremely confident he'll be re-elected president next week, projecting an air of inevitability inconsistent with what polls portray as a coin-flip election.

A longtime member of Trump's inner circle told Axios: "We've never had data that looks this good."

Why it matters: Trump could win, potentially in a landslide. So could Vice President Harris. And yet the MAGA universe largely refuses to entertain the latter outcome - priming Trump's base for mass distrust, disbelief and denial of a second straight election loss. ... ... ... Read more

How a Russian dark fleet is used to evade international sanctions | 60 Minutes | 10/28/24 | 13:14

Trump identifies a scapegoat in case he loses
Axios | Sophia Cai | 10/29/24

If he winds up losing the election, Donald Trump already has lined up a scapegoat.

Trump is making clear that he'll blame Michael Whatley, the Republican National Committee chair who Trump tasked with building the party's massive "election integrity" team.

Why it matters: It's the latest sign of how Trump's false claims of election fraud in 2020 are at the core of the GOP's identity - and the "if I don't win, they cheated" mantra Trump has continued into the 2024 campaign.

1. Under Whatley - and at Trump's insistence - Republicans say they've amassed 200,000 poll watchers and poll workers across the country.
2. It's an unprecedented program that's partly aimed at collecting evidence of voter fraud at a time when Republicans have filed scores of lawsuits targeting voting eligibility rules, ballot-processing procedures and other issues.
3. Within the GOP, the program is actually a bigger priority than on-the-ground efforts to reach voters.

MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump's MSG rally
Axios | Alex Thompson | 10/28/24

NEW YORK - Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday opened with speakers who made racist, sexist and crass remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris and Puerto Ricans.

It concluded with speeches from Trump, his wife, Melania, and billionaire Elon Musk arguing that Trump's the hopeful, optimistic choice.

Why it matters: Crude comments at Trump rallies aren't new. But many speakers at the rally unleashed rhetoric unprecedented in modern American history so close to an election. ...

Trump holds campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York | PBS | 10/27/24 | 6:01:29

Former DOJ Official Warns of Potential "Election Crisis" | Amanpour and Company | Amanpour and Company | 10/23/24 | 18:38

How long it took each state to be called in 2020
Click to enlarge
magazine | author | date

If 2020 is our guide, it's likely that the 2024 presidential election won't be decided on Election Day.

Why it matters: Any period of uncertainty could see the country thrust into a time of legal drama, paralyzed governance and overall distrust, as Axios' Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen reported.

Because of post-2020 legal changes nationwide - including in all seven swing states — many results could be slower than in 2020, when President Biden declared victory over former President Trump after the Associated Press called Pennsylvania on the Saturday after Election Day. ... Read more

Why Economists Hate Trump's Tariff Plan | WSJ | 10/18/24 | 8:17

America's Last Election Part 1: The Big Lie | If You're Listening | ABC News In-depth | 10/20/24 | 21:00

Trump shrugs off lifetime of scandals
Axios | Zachary Basu | 10/24/24

Driving the news: Days before the election, Trump's former chief of staff, retired four-star Gen. John Kelly, went on the record to warn that the former president is a "fascist" who would rule like a dictator.

"He commented more than once that, 'You know, Hitler did some good things, too,' " Kelly alleged to The New York Times, choosing to speak out after Trump floated using the U.S. military against political enemies.

Kelly, who left the White House in December 2018, also told The Atlantic that Trump wanted the kind of military generals Hitler had - generals who he said were "totally loyal to him." ... Read more

Steve Rattner: Trump's mass deportation and trade war plans will tank the economy | MSNBC | 10/24/24 | 13:41

Donald Trump groped me in what felt like a 'twisted game' with Jeffrey Epstein, former model alleges
The Guardian | Stephanie Kirchgaessner | 10/24/24

A former model who says she met Donald Trump through the late sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein has accused the former president of groping and sexually touching her in an incident in Trump Tower in 1993, in what she believed was a "twisted game" between the two men.

Stacey Williams, who worked as a professional model in the 1990s, said she first met Trump in 1992 at a Christmas party after being introduced to him by Epstein, who she believed was a good friend of the then New York real estate developer. Williams said Epstein was interested in her and the two casually dated for a period of a few months.

"It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together," Williams said. ... Read more

Trump's closing strategy: Make a splash and attack
Axios | Sophia Cai | 10/23/24

In the closing days of what he says is his last campaign, Donald Trump has launched a strategy combining splashy, attention-getting stunts with dark, apocalyptic messaging.

Why it matters: It's a scaled-up version of a familiar Trump routine - stay in the news, be provocative, deflect.

This strategy led Trump to that fry-cook photo op at a closed McDonald's, and to have a rally with Elon Musk. It's why he's planning a Sunday rally at New York's Madison Square Garden - a storied venue in a state he's highly unlikely to win, but that promises lots of media coverage.

It's also why Trump's messaging - wrapped in personal grievances throughout the campaign — seems to have escalated to a daily hunt for shock value. ... Read more

John Kelly tells NYT Trump said: "Hitler did some good things"
Axios | Sareen Habeshian | 10/23/24

Former President Trump has on multiple occasions praised Adolf Hitler, alleged John Kelly, his longest-serving White House chief of staff, to the New York Times.

The big picture: In a series of audio interviews with the NYT, Kelly raised concerns that Trump would rule like a dictator if elected next month, said he believes the GOP presidential nominee meets the definition of a fascist and claimed that he does not have an understanding of history or the Constitution.

"Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he's certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators - he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure," Kelly told the NYT. ... Read more

Americans split on idea of putting immigrants in militarized "camps"
Click to enlarge
Axios | Russell Contreras | 10/22/24

A policy proposed by former President Trump to round up and deport undocumented immigrants - even if it requires using military-guarded encampments - has Americans divided, per a new survey.

Why it matters: The survey results come as Trump is promising to carry out mass deportations using a 226-year-old law that allows the federal government to detain "enemy aliens" in times of war.

By the numbers: 50% of Americans surveyed oppose setting up encampments for undocumented immigrants, while 47% favor the idea, according to the annual survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), in partnership with the Brookings Institution. ... Read more

Meta's new facial recognition helps recover accounts, spot fake ads
Axios | Sam Sabin | 10/22/24

Meta is gradually releasing facial recognition technology across Facebook and Instagram to help users locked out of their accounts and to spot scam ads that improperly use a celebrity's image.

Why it matters: This is the first major expansion of Meta's facial recognition system since its 2021 rollback.

The company has also been running a test of the technology to spot so-called "celebrity bait ads," which often rely on AI-generated images of famous people to entice users into buying into whatever scam they're promoting. ... Read more

What La Nina Will do to Earth in 2025
Click to enlarge
YouTube.com | Alex McColgan | 09/17/24

Join with me today as we dive into the fascinating climate cycle that became the stuff of legend centuries before we had the science to explain it.

I'm Alex McColgan, the founder of the Astrum brand, and your host on this podcast. Come and listen as I tell you about incredible missions, fascinating discoveries, and everything I've come to love about space.... Read more

Israel gave the White House its demands for ending the war in Lebanon
Axios | Barak Ravid | 10/21/24

Israel gave the U.S. a document last week with its conditions for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon and allow displaced civilians from both sides of the border to return to their homes, two U.S. officials and two Israeli officials told Axios.

Why it matters: The Israeli Prime Minister's Office gave the paper to the White House ahead of President Biden's envoy Amos Hochstein's visit to Beirut on Monday to discuss a diplomatic solution to the conflict, Israeli officials said.

US intelligence about Israel's plans to attack Iran leaked, sources say | CNN | 10/20/24 | 8:19

One-third of Americans agree with Trump's racist remark on immigrants
Click to enlarge
Axios | Russell Contreras | 10/18/24

One in three Americans say that immigrants entering the country illegally today are "poisoning the blood of our country" - language echoing the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler, a new survey finds.

Why it matters: The results suggest that in a nation of immigrants, many Americans have bought into the historically racist rhetoric that Donald Trump has used to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment while promising mass deportations if he's re-elected president.

The big picture: The annual survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), in partnership with the Brookings Institution, measured the nation's deep political divisions in part by checking their feelings toward the phrase "poisoning the blood of our country." ... Read more

Jan. 6 case appendix to be released Friday after judge denies Trump's request
Axios | Lauren Floyd | 10/19/24

The judge in former President Trump's federal Jan. 6 case on Thursday evening rejected his lawyers' request to delay the court-ordered release of a redacted appendix of new evidence from special counsel Jack Smith.

Why it matters: Trump's lawyers said delaying the case until after the election would allow them to submit a counter to the appendix that the special counsel's office filed, but U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan denied their request and ordered Smith's dossier be unsealed with redactions on Friday.

Trump is in a close race against Vice President Kamala Harris and he was seeking to delay the appendix's release until after Nov. 14. ... Read more

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v.s. DONALD J. TRUMP, Defendant | CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257

Harris' Independence Day: Takeaways from her interview with Fox News
Axios | Zachary Basu | 10/17/24

Vice President Harris ventured into the lion's den Wednesday to deliver a message that many Americans - including anxious Democrats - have been waiting to hear:

"My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency," Harris told Fox News' Bret Baier.

Why it matters: In the highest-risk interview of her campaign, Harris took the rare step of distancing herself from the unpopular, aging president she serves - touting a "new generation of leadership" to millions of skeptical Fox News viewers.

Key takeaways
1. Turning the page. ...
2. The border albatross. ...
3. No "basket of deplorables." ...

Between the lines: Both campaigns saw the interview through their own predictable, partisan lenses: Trump's side called it a "train wreck"; Harris' saw it as a "masterclass. ..." Read more

Election Subversion 2024: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | 10/17/24 | 28:43

U.S. titans tighten supply chain grip
Axios | Hope King | 10/17/24

Driving the news: Amazon on Wednesday became the third Big Tech giant in recent weeks to announce ambitions to tap nuclear energy to power surging AI demand.

The company said that it's signed three new agreements to help develop nuclear energy projects: building at least four small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) in Washington state; exploring an SMR project in Virginia; and investing in fuel startup X-energy.

Separately, auto giant GM said today it's investing $625 million more in cash and credit into Canadian mining company Lithium Americas to help start a new joint venture in Nevada. ... Read more

Click to enlarge
China controls the bulk of lithium refining, and that will pose a challenge to battery companies and car makers hoping to qualify for lucrative new tax credits.

Meet the billionaires funneling millions into the 2024 race
Axios | Ivana Saric | 10/16/24

A handful of powerful megadonors have played an outsized role in shaping the 2024 presidential race through mammoth donations toward their favored candidates.

Why it matters: The amount of money being injected into 2024 races means this election cycle is poised to become the most expensive federal election ever, according to a new analysis released by the research group OpenSecrets last week.

The big picture: President Biden's replacement on the Democratic ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris spurred "an enormous boost in fundraising" among Democrats, per OpenSecrets. ...

Elon Musk
Timothy Mellon
Miriam Adelson
Dick and Liz Uihlein
Mike Bloomberg
Reid Hoffman & Michelle Yee
Read more

Israel vows to improve Gaza conditions after U.S. threat to withhold weapons
Axios | Barak Ravid | 10/16/24

Israeli officials have been assuring their U.S. counterparts that Israel will act quickly to improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza following an ultimatum from the Biden administration, two Israeli officials tell Axios.

Driving the news: Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin sent a letter to Israeli leaders on Monday warning that shipments of U.S. weapons to Israel could be affected if Israel does not take steps within 30 days to improve the conditions in Gaza, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios.

Senior U.S. officials emphasized that the letter was not intended as a pretext for withholding weapons but as an attempt to spur a change in direction from the Israeli government. ... Read more

In photos: Hurricane Milton's aftermath
Axios | Sareen Habeshian | 10/11/24

Hurricane Milton has resulted in at least eight deaths, as officials continued to survey damage from the storm on Thursday.

The big picture: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the death toll from Wednesday night's hurricane was expected to rise in coming days, and the state was working to restore power and replenish fuel supply. Over 2.6 million people remained without electricity as of 8:45pm ET Thursday. ... Lots of photos

Behind the Curtain: The Republican welfare state
Axios | Jim VandeHei,Mike Allen | 10/11/24

Republicans spent decades railing against welfare recipients. Now, they're deeply reliant on them to win elections.

Why it matters: The explosion of people getting 25% or more of their income from government aid - and Republican reliance on their votes - vividly explains the rise of former President Trump and the remaking of the Republican Party.

The big picture: Trump rose to power with the backing of the working class, then reoriented the party to focus on them as much as big business.

This helps explain the massive surge in government spending under Trump, his continued opposition to trade agreements, his scorn for GOP ideas to gut Social Security and Medicare, and his us-vs.-them rhetoric. ... Read more

In photos: Northern lights dazzle skies across the U.S. and world
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 10/11/24

The northern lights returned to skies across the U.S. and the world over Thursday night after a powerful solar storm triggered stunning celestial displays also known as aurora borealis.

The big picture: Extreme G5 geomagnetic conditions were observed reaching the Earth for the first time in 21 years on Thursday and remained at G4 levels overnight, per NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, which warned the storm had the potential to disrupt communications and the electric power grid. ... Lots of pictures

What we couldn't prepare for with Hurricane Milton
Axios | Erica Pandey | 10/10/24

The big picture: It's nearly impossible to fully prepare for the projected scale of devastation of a storm like Milton.

There are still people and pets in the path of the storm who weren't able to - or didn't - evacuate in time.

FEMA - whose workers will be on the front lines helping people and managing the destruction - is already short-staffed, and is now spread even thinner due to the back-to-back hits from Helene and Milton.

The scale of the storm itself and the unpredictability of its precise path meant that it was impossible to gauge where the most help would be needed on Florida's coast. ... Read more

Trump White House Got in the Way of Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Investigation
The Intercept | Shawn Musgrave | 10/08/24

Six years after Brett Kavanaugh joined the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, a Democratic senator claims the FBI barely followed up on explosive sexual assault allegations that emerged during his nomination. A report released Tuesday lays out how White House officials kept a tight leash on the FBI’s inquiry, contrary to Trump’s claims at the time that the agency had “free rein” to investigate the claims. ... Read more

Investigation Into Sexual-Assault Allegations Against Justice Brett Kavanaugh

On July 9, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Before his confrmation hearing, Kavanaugh was subject to a routine "full-feld" background investigation by the FBI, which is a standard part of the confrmation process for all judicial nominees.

On September 4, 2018, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, following the ordinary procedure for considering Supreme Court nominees, commenced four days of hearings on Kavanaugh's nomination. On September 12, allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, which had not been uncovered during the FBI's full-feld background investigation, began to surface. Over the next few days, Senators and the public learned of accusations by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while the two were in high school. According to a letter Ford sent to Senator Dianne Feinstein, then the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, "Brett Kavanaugh physically and sexually assaulted [Ford] during High School in the early 1980's" by locking her in a bedroom, climbing on top of her, attempting to remove her clothes, and putting his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.1 Kavanaugh publicly denied Ford's allegation.2

After Ford came forward, new allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh emerged, most notably from Deborah Ramirez, a classmate of Kavanaugh's at Yale University. On September 23, 2018, Te New Yorker reported Ramirez's allegation that, while in college, Kavanaugh "exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away."3 Kavanaugh publicly denied this allegation as well.4

Logan Act: Why it could be illegal for Trump to call Putin
Axios | Ivana Saric | 10/01/24

Recent revelations about former President Trump's personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin have raised questions about whether Trump violated U.S. law.

Why it matters: With just weeks to go before the presidential election, the reports from journalist Bob Woodward's new book "War" have raised fresh questions about Trump's ties with leaders of one of the U.S.' greatest geopolitical adversaries.

Driving the news: News of Trump's reported phone calls with Putin have caught the attention of his opponents as a possible violation of the Logan Act, which restricts private citizens from engaging in diplomatic affairs with U.S. rivals. ... Read more

Milton to hit Florida as "dangerous major hurricane" Wednesday night
Click to enlarge
magazine | author | date

Threat level: The storm track is looking more likely to slip just south of Tampa Bay, between there and Sarasota. Where the peak surge hits will cause widespread, potentially "catastrophic" destruction, the National Weather Service warned.

The National Hurricane Center has lowered Tampa Bay's storm surge projections slightly, to a still-record-setting 8- to 12-foot surge above ground level.

As of Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center forecast brings the full wrath of the storm ashore near or just north of Sarasota, Siesta Key and Punta Gorda, with a "catastrophic" 10- to 15-foot surge. This forecast may still be adjusted. ... Read more

Timeline of Gaza | 3500 BCE to October 7th, 2023 | UsefulCharts | 07/xx/24 | 36:19

Historical Origin of the 12 Tribes of Israel | UsefulCharts | 03/xx/24 | 32:26

With Hurricane Milton, climate change is a key factor
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 10/08/24

Hurricane Milton, which reached the top 5 list of most intense storms on record in the Atlantic Ocean, poses a dire threat to Tampa Bay and other highly populated areas on Florida's west coast.

The big picture: Human-caused climate change is among several factors that conspired to propel Hurricane Milton's rarely seen "explosive" intensification.

Sea level rise tied to climate change makes this storm potentially more destructive today than it would have been even a few decades ago.

Threat level: The storm, now a high-end Category 4, is on course for a calamitous encounter with the 17th-biggest metro area in the U.S. That area is unusually vulnerable to storm surge due to its coastline's shape and large population living near sea level. ... Read more

Kamala Harris: The 2024 60 Minutes Interview | 60Minutes | 10/07/24 | 20:49

Why voters won't hear directly from Donald Trump in the 60 Minutes election special | 60Minutes | 10/07/24 | 2:09

Woodward's "War" reveals new Biden backstory
Axios | Mike Allen | 10/08/24/span>

The backstory: "War" - from Simon & Schuster, Woodward's longtime publisher - is about the collision of three ongoing wars. It covers events from Jan. 6, 2021, to mid-August 2024:

It started as a book about the war in Ukraine, beginning with the Russian buildup.

After Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Woodward added the Middle East.

The struggle for the American presidency is at the center of it all.

Behind the scenes: Because Simon & Schuster pulls out all the stops for Woodward, he was able to make late changes to the manuscript after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris on July 21. ... Read more

How Israel's war spread beyond Gaza
Axios | Dave Lawler,Jacque Schrag | 10/07/24

Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked immediate fears of regional war. A year later, those fears are close to fruition.

The big picture: Israel is fighting on two fronts, against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, while engaging in an escalating tit-for-tat with Iran, a key patron of both militant groups.

Driving the news: While the war in Gaza is ongoing, the heaviest fighting has recently shifted to southern Lebanon.

More than 1,000 people have died in Lebanon since Israel began an intense bombing campaign on Oct. 1, followed by a ground invasion.

Israel says its goal is to clear out Hezbollah infrastructure to allow civilians who fled northern Israel after Oct. 8, 2023 - when Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging cross-border strikes - to safely return home. ... Read more

Hurricane Milton: Dire scenario looms for Florida
Axios | Andrew Freedman | 10/07/24

Evacuations are underway in the Tampa Bay area and other parts of the Florida Gulf Coast as Category 3 Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifies and is forecast to make landfall midweek.

Threat level: The storm poses a dire scenario of a direct hit on Tampa Bay from the west-southwest, which would push an unprecedented 8-to-12-foot storm surge into the Bay and other locations along and to the south of where the eye crosses the coast.

Hurricane and storm surge watches have been issued along the state's west coast.

For comparison, the peak surge in Tampa Bay during Hurricane Helene was at the range 4 to 8 feet. It proved extremely damaging, and raised awareness about the city's overall surge risk exposure. ... Read more

Jack Smith's endgame
Axios | Sam Baker | 10/04/24

Special counsel Jack Smith's latest account of Jan. 6 is full of vivid new details depicting then-President Trump inflaming a violent insurrection despite knowing he had lost.

Why it matters: Smith and his team are pulling out everything they can muster to persuade the courts that their case against Trump should go forward.

The special counsel's latest brief, unsealed Wednesday, is an effort to keep the case against Trump alive in the face of the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity.

Job No. 1 is to convince the courts that Trump's actions were the actions of a private person desperate to cling to power - not those of a president carrying out his official duties. And the additional evidence prosecutors put forward in their latest brief is designed to help make that arguments. ... Read more

Liz Cheney says at GOP birthplace it's "our duty" to reject Trump
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 10/04/24

ormer Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) at a campaign event with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday urged voters to "reject the depraved cruelty" of former President Trump and vote for the Democratic presidential nominee.

The big picture: "In this election, putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration," said Cheney at the event in the birthplace of the Republican Party at Ripon, Wisconsin. "It is our duty."

"We cannot turn away from this truth," said Cheney in her first campaign event with Harris since she endorsed the Democrat last month. ... Read more

Federal Courts: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | 10/03/24 | 27:10

Read: New filing unveils additional evidence in Trump's 2020 election case
Axios | Sareen Habeshian | 10/03/24

A lengthy motion from special counsel Jack Smith was unsealed Wednesday, making public what prosecutors say is new evidence that former President Trump and his allies tried to subvert the 2020 presidential election results.

The big picture: U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the 165-page redacted motion, despite Trump's opposition.

In response to a recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, Smith filed the motion seeking a determination Trump was acting as a private citizen and not as the president when he sought to overturn the 2020 election.... Read more

New filing unveils additional evidence in Trump's 2020 election case.pdf

Trump "resorted to crimes" to try to keep power in 2020, Jack Smith alleges
Axios | Erin Doherty,Sareen Habeshian | 10/03/24

Special counsel Jack Smith outlined in a motion unsealed by a judge on Wednesday what he called former President Trump's "increasingly desperate" efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results.

Why it matters: Trump and his legal team had opposed the motion, arguing it would interfere with the November election results. The filing unveils new details in connection to the Republican presidential nominee's Jan. 6 case.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed the redacted motion on Wednesday.

State of play: Smith in the motion wrote that Trump's "scheme was a private criminal effort." He emphasized throughout the document that the former president was acting in his capacity as a candidate, not a president. ... ... ... Read more

How Israel's air defenses knocked down Iran's missiles
Axios | Colin Demarest | 10/03/24

Israel's air defenses, supported by the U.S., mostly neutralized the threat from Iran's approximately 180-ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

The big picture: Only one civilian was killed, in the West Bank, in one of the most intense aerial attacks Israel has ever faced. Once again, Israel's vaunted air defense systems lived up to their reputation.

How it happened: Israel's Arrow, designed to take out long-range missiles like the ones Iran launched, played a key role.

The system "performed as expected" and produced "wonderful" results, Israel Aerospace Industries CEO Boaz Levy told Axios. State-owned IAI developed the system in partnership with the U.S.

The Arrow is one of the most sophisticated air defense systems in the world, with an advanced radar system to detect incoming projectiles and supersonic interceptors to knock them down. ... Read more

Israel plans massive Iran payback with Middle East on edge
Axios | Barak Ravid | 10/02/24

Israeli officials staring down all-out regional war tell Axios Israel will launch a "significant retaliation" to Tuesday's massive missile attack within days that could target oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites.

Why it matters: Israel and Iran have never been closer to opening up a new and far more dangerous front in the war that has engulfed the Middle East.

Iran threatened on Tuesday that if Israel responds with force to the nearly 200 missiles it launched on Tuesday, it will attack again.

If that happens, Israeli officials say all options will be on the table - including strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. ... Read more

Midwestern nice debate: Vance and Walz find surprising common ground
Axios | Erin Doherty ... | 10/02/24

The lone vice presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) was substantive and unusually civil, with the candidates exchanging policy proposals on immigration, abortion and gun violence but not personal attacks.

The big picture: VP debates rarely change the trajectory of an election - but this one did appear to temper the tone, however fleetingly.

Vance stepped out of his role as former President Trump's campaign trail attack dog. He laid out a new, more nuanced approach to "mass deportations" under a Trump-Vance administration and seemed to concede that abortion bans - which he has supported - can be harmful to some women.

Walz, for his part, nodded along with several of Vance's answers. At one point Vance laid out a very different approach to paid family leave than the one Walz had just espoused, and the Minnesota governor said he actually agreed with many of Vance's ideas and thought they could be incorporated into Harris' plans. ... Read more

In VP Debate, JD Vance Downplays Jan. 6 Insurrection & Refuses to Admit Trump Lost 2020 Election | DN | 10/02/24 | 4:31

OpenAI speeds ahead as it shifts to for-profit
Axios | Ina Fried | 10/02/24

OpenAI used a developer event in San Francisco on Tuesday to announce several capabilities, the most provocative of which allows developers to make use of the same real-time speech capabilities recently added to ChatGPT.

In showing off the product to the press on Monday, OpenAI chose a demo of the capability paired with Twilio's cloud communications platform.

In the demo, OpenAI showed its Realtime API powering an AI agent to make a call on its own to a fictional candy store and order 400 chocolate-covered strawberries.

Asked about safeguards, OpenAI said it wasn't watermarking its AI voice to allow it to be detected, or mandating how people disclose their use of AI. ... Read more

Past wars loom over Israel's ground operation in Lebanon
Axios | Barak Ravid | 10/01/24

Israeli officials insist their ground operation in southern Lebanon will be limited in scope and length.

But Israeli officials said that twice before - in 1982 and 2006. Those invasions of their northern neighbor escalated into far wider, deadlier and more protracted conflicts.

Why it matters: That could happen again. The most dramatic possible consequence of a ground invasion would be if it convinces Iran to change course and get directly involved to save the militia it has built for decades.

But there's another scenario U.S. officials have been warning about for months: pro-Iranian militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen could come to Hezbollah's help and either send their fighters to Lebanon or open another front through Syria. ... Read more

Professor John Mearsheimer: 'Israel is trying to drag the US and Iran into a shooting war' | The Spectator | 10/01/24 | 40:13

The stock market's astonishing returns
Click to enlarge
Axios | Felix Salmon | 10/01/24

A year ago, the 30-year return for the S&P 500 was 834%, which is to say it rose just over ninefold between the end of Q3 1993 and the end of Q3 2023.

Today, the index's 30-year return is 1,135% - it's risen more than twelvefold in the past 30 years, and currently stands at an all-time high.

Why it matters: The stock market has been on a tear of late - up 34% over the past year and up 20% year to date.

That's the best stock-market performance in the first three quarters since 1997, and it's boosted total returns over pretty much any time horizon. ... Read more