Categories Uncategorized

Florida students protest Sasse appointment over LGBTQ issues

University of Florida students and faculty are protesting the possible naming of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) as the institution’s next president.

Protesters interrupted a question-and-answer session attended by Sasse on the school’s campus on Monday where they argued his opposition to same-sex marriage and his positions on LGBTQ issues made him unsuitable to serve as the school’s leader.

The students and faculty protesting Sasse say he has a documented history of embracing anti-LGBTQ+ messaging and criticizing legislation and landmark legal decisions on which modern LGBTQ+ rights hinge.

A Change.org petition organized by Leyka Rumalla, a junior at UF, urges the university’s board of trustees should reject the recommendation by a search committee that Sasse be selected for the post. The petition argues that Sasse’s political views “do not align with the values that the students at the University of Florida hold.”

“They are discriminatory and non-representative of our student population,” the petition states.

Sasse issued a statement following the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states that called the decision “a disappointment.”

“Marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and dad,” Sasse said. “As a society, we need to celebrate marriage as the best way to provide stability and opportunity for kids.”

More than seven years later, preserving the “sanctity of marriage” is still listed as a top priority on Sasse’s website, and the Nebraska senator has been critical of the House-passed Respect for Marriage Act – federal legislation that would address a national patchwork of marriage laws by requiring all states to recognize same-sex and interracial unions as legally valid.

The senator sought to quell the criticism during his Monday appearance, where the first question of the session centered on the Nebraska Republican’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

In response, Sasse said the Supreme Court’s decision affirming same-sex marriage rights, Obergefell v. Hodges, is the “law of the land”  and that won’t be changing, adding that “inclusion” is squarely what he seeks if and when he takes over as head of the university.

“I believe in the universal dignity and the immeasurable worth of every single person. All the tens of millions of Floridians, all…56,000 students here, all 30,000 faculty and staff,” Sasse said. “Every person has immeasurable worth and dignity, and we need to create a community of inclusion and respect and trust where people feel heard and appreciated and cherished.”

“There are definitely federal policy issues where I’ve had disputes before about which decisions courts should be making versus legislatures, but Obergefell, for example, is the law of the land and nothing about Obergefell is changing in the United States. So your question is: do I support and affirm everybody in this community? Absolutely. And frankly, one of my jobs would be to make sure that we as a community work hard for everybody to feel included, and one piece of that is making sure we understand what metrics we have to make sure we’re getting better at making people feel included.”

There have been questions, however, about whether today’s Supreme Court, which has a six-three conservative majority, could overrule the Obergefell decision.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the six conservatives, said in a concurring opinion to the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade decision that Obergefell and other due process precedents should be reconsidered.

Momentum for the Respect for Marriage Act increased after Thomas issued his concurrent opinion, but Sasse in July Sasse told reporters that it was unnecessary, accusing Democrats of voting in favor of the bill to further divide Americans.

“Is there a single case about it? I’m not not answering questions that are about hypotheticals that are just Pelosi trying to divide America with culture wars,” he said, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

After Sasse’s comments, protesters could be heard during his appearance chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Ben Sasse has got to go.”

At times, the chants became louder when a door to the room would open, with the session at one point pausing for 30 seconds while the GOP senator was answering a question about in-person, hybrid and zoom classes.

“Obviously, I wish they didn’t have the position they have, but I strongly support the right people to protest and exercise their free speech rights,: Sasse said. “I won’t say I precisely welcome the protesters, but I sort of intellectually and constitutionally welcome the protesters.”

Sasse also received similar questions about abortion and how he will be willing to break with the GOP in the future in the top job at the school. He said that the office of the university’s president has little to do with anything on the abortion front and that the role and serving as the senator of a deep-red state are “completely different.”

The student Q&A was sandwiched between similar events with faculty and school employees during Sasse’s visit to Gainesville, Fla.

Some University of Florida students have said they worry about the campus’s future under Sasse’s leadership, especially in a state that earlier this year heavily restricted K-12 educators’ ability to teach their students about sexual orientation and gender identity under what has become known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

RJ Della Salle, an openly gay freshman at UF studying political science, told the school’s student newspaper the Independent Florida Alligator that Sasse’s comments on the Court’s Obergefell ruling troubled him, and he would have thought twice about attending the university if Sasse had been serving as its president when Salle was still applying to colleges.

Salle, who lives in the Lavender Living Learning Community for LGBTQ+ students at UF, told the Alligator he planned to attend a protest on Monday outside Emerson Alumni Hall, where Sasse is slated to speak with faculty, staff and students in a series of panel discussions.

“We either have someone who’s a genuine homophobe as our president or we have a sleazy politician who just says what the people that he’s trying to get elected by want to hear,” Salle said.

The university’s board of trustees is scheduled to formally consider Sasse’s candidacy at its Nov. 1 meeting.

Source: TEST FEED1

NAACP blasts Tuberville for 'flat out racist' reparations comments

NAACP president Derrick Johnson on Monday accused Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) of spreading dangerous rhetoric after the senator claimed Democrats want reparations for minorities because they are “pro-crime.”

“Senator Tuberville’s comments are flat out racist, ignorant and utterly sickening,” Johnson said in a statement on Monday. “His words promote a centuries-old lie about Black people that throughout history has resulted in the most dangerous policies and violent attacks on our community.”

“We’ve seen this before from the far-right, and we’ve seen what they can do when they take power,” Johnson continued. “Next time the Senator wants to talk about crime, he should talk about Donald Trump’s hate-fueled rally on January 6, 2021, and the attacks that followed. Perhaps the real criminals are in his orbit.”

Tuberville’s comments came at a rally hosted by former President Trump in Minden, Nev., on Saturday. He accused Democrats of being intentionally soft on crime.

“They want crime because they want to take over what you got,” Tuberville said. “They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) defended Tuberville Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying the comments were not meant to be racist and that the rise in crime across the country cannot be ignored.

With midterm elections less than a month away, Republicans have used the increase in crime to mobilize voters. They’ve accused Democrats and liberal district attorneys as being soft on prosecuting offenders.

Johnson’s statement followed CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers’s comments on the network’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday. 

Sellers said Tuberville’s comments evoked “racist tropes” and a larger belief in them within the Republican party.

“For him to give these racist tropes — I mean, it infuriates me,” Sellers said. “But this is a large swath of the Republican Party that they have to deal with that they have never done.”

Source: TEST FEED1

A Texas city has seen the biggest home price drop since June. Here is the top 10

The Texas capital city of Austin is seeing the biggest drop in home prices in the country, according to a new analysis from realtor.com.   

The median list price in Austin now stands at $558,275, a 10.2 percent decline since prices peaked in June.  

The Federal Reserve has since raised interest rates by 1.5 percent since June in a bid to cool inflation, hikes that are contributing to a cooling housing market and higher monthly mortgage payments.  

At the same time, home prices in Austin are hardly cheap, even by recent standards. The median list price noted by realtor.com is still up more than 2 percent from September 2021.  

“Home shoppers in these areas are probably excited to see these prices come down. But to put it into context, it’s still above where it was last year,” Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in the analysis. 

Coming in second on realtor.com’s list is Phoenix, where the median price has dipped by 9.9 percent since June. The median home price in the Arizona capital is $493,500.   

Soaring mortgage rates reached a 16-year high last week, contributing to falling demand in what had been some of the pandemic-era’s hottest markets, such as Austin. Prices do remain up 14 percent from the same time last year across the country, according to the real estate company. 

Hale noted that home prices “cool off as we move from the heat of the summer into the fall. But this reflects more than seasonal cooling in prices.”  

For the analysis, Realtor.com looked at the monthly median home list prices in the 100 largest U.S metros, then calculated the price change since the market peaked in June. The site only included the metro with the largest drop in any state.  

Another pandemic-era hotspot, Palm Bay, Fla, finished third on the list of metro areas where prices are dropping the most.  

The city, which sits between Daytona and West Palm Beach,  is cheaper than both of its neighbors, according to the analysis. Median list prices in Palm Bay have fallen by 8.9 percent since June, to $379,995.  

Charleston, S.C. and Ogden, Utah, where home prices have fallen by 8.6 percent, round out Realtor.com’s top five.  

Prices are expected to cool and experts predict mortgage rates will rise further nationwide as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates to fight inflation.   

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last month the U.S. housing market will likely “have to go through a correction” to make home more affordable.  

Here are the 10 U.S. cities experiencing the biggest price drops.  

1. Austin -10.3  
2. Phoenix -9.9  
3. Palm Bay, Fla. -8.9  
4. Charleston, S.C. -8.6  
5. Ogden, Utah -8.6  
6. Denver  -8.0  
7. Las Vegas -7.9  
8. Stockton, Calif. -7.7  
9. Durham, N.C. -7.5  
10. Spokane, Wash. -7.4

Source: TEST FEED1

Putin’s ‘harsh’ retaliatory strikes on Ukraine escalates tensions

VIENNA – Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered a barrage of rocket attacks against Kyiv and nine other Ukrainian cities, an action the Russian president himself characterized as a “harsh” response to an explosion on a crucial bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula.

The White House condemned the attacks, which killed at least 11 people, saying they had no military purpose and demonstrated “the utter brutality of Mr. Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people.”

“These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” President Biden said in the statement.

The escalation comes as the U.S., allies and security experts have raised the alarm that the prospect of nuclear confrontation to its most dangerous point since the Cold War. 

Experts characterized the overnight missile attacks as a brutal but somewhat predictable response by Putin to the bridge attack, and one that was less risky than the use of a tactical nuclear weapons that he has threatened.

“The easiest, fastest way for [Putin] to strike back is to use missile strikes on civilians, so that’s what he did today,” said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t use nukes, but he loses a lot if he uses nuclear weapons.”

The Russian president retaliated after an explosion on Saturday damaged the Kerch Bridge, a Russian rail and road line to Crimea, which Russia overtook in 2014. Putin had celebrated its opening in 2018, and is viewed as a key supply route for Russia’s military offensive on the south of Ukraine. 

Ukrainian officials have long viewed the bridge as a strategic target that would strike at Putin’s heart and Moscow’s military operations and embarrass the Russia leader.  

“This bridge was important to Putin, it was one of his pet projects and it was difficult to engineer, it took a long time to build this thing,” Haring said. “He took it personally and it shows the weakness of Putin, but it also shows that he’s got nothing left, his only response is to target civilians.” 

Putin blamed “Ukraine’s special services” as the “initiators, performers and masterminds” of the bridge attack. Ukrainian officials have not publicly taken responsibility for the attack, but The New York Times reported that a senior Ukrainian official corroborated Russian reports that Ukraine was responsible. 

Close to 100 people were injured by Russia’s wide scale attacks against Ukraine on Monday. Critical infrastructure was hit, temporarily disrupting water and electricity services, Ukrainian officials said. 

The strikes on Kyiv raised the potential of foreign governments being caught up in the damage – with an unused German-visa office coming under fire on Monday.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote on Twitter that the U.S. Embassy Kyiv team is “safe after another wave of Russian strikes on civilian sites. Grateful to those responding and working to keep us safe, and heartbroken for those hurt, here and across Ukraine.”

Moldova’s foreign minister said that at least three Russian cruise missiles launched from its Black Sea Fleet had crossed into its airspace, condemning it as a violation. 

“I think the international community will certainly have a reason to be more concerned and see it as a major escalation,” said Marcin Zaborowski, security expert at GLOBSEC, a think-tank based in Bratislava, Slovakia. 

Zelensky is expected on Tuesday to address an emergency, virtual session of the leaders of the Group of 7 nations that include the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan in addition to the European Union. 

“Russia’s horrendous attacks against Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine show the desperation of the Kremlin. These indiscriminate attacks on civilians are war crimes,” tweeted European Council President Charles Michel. 

Zaborowski said Putin’s framing of the bridge explosion as an act of terrorism could pave the way for the Russian leader to move from calling the military offensive in Ukraine a “special operation” to declaring all-out war. He might then say a full mobilization in Russia was necessary, he said.

There has been much worry about whether Putin has an “off-ramp” to de-escalate the conflict, a point Biden made at a private Democratic fundraiser last week.

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen described Putin as a “cornered animal” in an interview with ABC News on Sunday. Putin has faced backlash in Russia over embarrassing battlefield defeats and an exodus of Russian men from the country fleeing Putin’s partial mobilization.   

Mullen said that the pressure on Putin has made him “more dangerous,” and called for stepped up diplomatic work to end the war.

But Ukrainian officials and their supporters are pushing back on calls for negotiations, warning that Russia would use any pause in fighting to seek relief from sanctions while regrouping militarily and preparing for harsher attacks against the civilian population. 

“Russians need to know that such actions are not unpunishable,” said Hanna Shelest, director of Security Programs at the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism. She called for additional sanctions and more military support for Ukraine.

“For example, these long range missiles that can be used by HIMAR systems, that we’ve been asking for, now is quite a good time to say ‘yes, you can get that,’” she said. 

To avoid provoking Putin and to prevent U.S. weapons from being used for attacks on Russian territory, the U.S. has handicapped the HIMARS it has delivered to Ukraine to only strike targets within 50 miles, less than the nearly 200-mile-range the multiple rocket launch systems typically reach. 

The U.S. is the largest provider of military equipment to Ukraine, with an estimated $17.5 billion since Russia’s invasion. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Brussels on Wednesday and conduct in-person meetings with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a 50-nation grouping of ministers of defense and chiefs of defense committed to providing support for Ukraine. 

Zaborowski echoed the need for more military aid, in particular longer-range artillery for HIMARS and missile defense.

“Ukrainians just have to be given more resources to protect against missile attacks, essentially they need missile defense… and we might actually get deliveries of systems that have a larger range than Ukrainians have been given so far,” he said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden condemns Russia missile strikes, reinforces support for Ukraine

President Biden on Monday condemned the Russian military’s missile strikes in Kyiv and multiple regions of Ukraine, reiterating the United States’ commitment to supporting Ukraine amid the escalating war.

“These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes. Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom,” Biden said in a statement.

Russia launched the missiles in apparent retaliation for an attack on a bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. At least 83 missiles were fired on Ukraine on Monday.

Biden, in his statement, also called on Russia to end the war and remove its troops from Ukraine.

The president offered his condolences to the victims, calling the killings senseless. At least 11 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.

“They once again demonstrate the utter brutality of Mr. Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people,” Biden said.

The missile strikes mark a dramatic escalation as Russian troops have recently been pushed back thousands of miles amid Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin has come under pressure for the failings of what he calls a “special military operation.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Here's what you need to know about this week’s Social Security COLA hike

The Social Security Administration is expected to announce its largest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to Social Security in four decades on Thursday, a move that could leave people living on the program with more income to deal with inflation.

It is expected that the hike will be 8.7 percent, a boost to the more than 70 million Americans benefitting from the program. 

Retirees, widowers, those who are disabled and others will all see the increase reflected in their 2023 benefits.

On average, retirees now receive a monthly benefit of $1,656. The new COLA adjustment would increase that total by $144.10, according to the Senior Citizens League, a bipartisan advocacy group.

Beneficiaries can estimate their own increases by multiplying their gross benefit amount by 0.087. 

Around 25 percent of Americans receive Social Security, and 1 in 5 U.S. household budgets will be affected by the COLA spike, meaning it could have a significant impact on the economy as a whole.

And for people depending on Social Security every month, it will especially be important. One-quarter of American seniors rely on their monthly social security payment for all or the majority of their earnings. 

The boost comes as inflation squeezes Americans’ budgets, affecting costs of holiday travel and groceries alike.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

A COLA boost of 8.7 percent is very rare and will likely be the largest increase ever received by most beneficiaries alive today. 

Historically, increases rose above 8.7 percent only three times. All of those hikes were decades ago — between 1979 and 1981 — which was also a time of high inflation.

Annual automatic COLAs were first introduced in 1975. 

The adjustments are based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, while the 8.7 percent figure was estimated based on August figures. The estimate is smaller than a previous forecast of 9.6 percent.  

COLAs also reflect the index’s increases from the third quarter of the previous year and applied to the corresponding quarter of the current year in which the COLA became effective, according to the Social Security Administration.

Annual increases help ensure beneficiaries maintain buying power when inflation causes prices to spike. They are also permanent and will gradually increase incomes throughout individuals’ retirement years.

But whether an extra $144.10 each month translates into greater purchasing power remains to be seen, as a large proportion of older individuals’ benefits goes toward paying for health care and housing— two sectors that have seen costs spike.

The National Council on Aging estimates more than 15 million U.S. adults aged 65 or older are economically insecure and have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Inflation rates and housing costs can also vary depending on where you live, and not every beneficiary will receive equal benefits from the COLA. 

“Without a COLA that adequately keeps pace with inflation, Social Security benefits purchase less and less over time, and that can create hardships especially as older Americans live longer lives in retirement,” a September Senior Citizens League statement reads. 

The large COLA might also put some retirees over an income threshold that requires them to pay income taxes on part of their benefit. Single filers who have a combined income equal to or below $25,000 pay no taxes on their benefits. For joint filers, that threshold is $32,000. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Zelensky on Putin strikes: Russia trying to ‘wipe us off the face of the earth. Completely.' 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said that Russia is trying to wipe Ukrainians “off the face of the earth” after a barrage of strikes hit the country, including in the capital city of Kyiv.

“The 229th day of full-scale war. On the 229th day, they are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth. Completely. Destroy our people who are sleeping at home in Zaporizhzhia. Kill people on their way to work in Dnipro and Kyiv,” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel. 

The Russian strikes against Ukraine’s capital and several other areas throughout the country come after an explosion Saturday collapsed part of the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. 

The incident was another battlefield setback for Russia, as the blast impacted a key artery of connection to Ukraine, and the new strikes appear as Russian retaliation. 

“Today, the whole world once again saw the true face of a terrorist state that is killing our people. Not only on the battlefield, but also in peaceful cities. A country that only covers its true bloody and criminal essence and goal with talks about peace. And to all offers of real peace it responds with missile strikes,” Zelensky continued in another Telegram post.  

The Ukrainian president said Russian attacks are attempting to sow “panic and chaos,” take down the country’s energy system and target the Ukrainian people.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Russia strikes Kyiv, other cities in Ukraine in wake of bridge explosion

(VIENNA) – Russia launched attacks striking the center of Kyiv and dozens of regions in Ukraine on Monday in apparent retaliation for what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “terrorist attack” on a crucial bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. 

The missile strikes on the heart of the capital city, in addition to rocket attacks across the country, marked a dramatic escalation by Russia as its troops are being pushed back on thousands of miles of territory in a lightning counteroffensive by Ukrainian armed forces and Putin comes under increasing pressure for the failings of what he calls a “special military operation.”

At least five civilian deaths were reported and 12 people were wounded in Kyiv on Monday as at least 83 missiles were fired on the country. Ukraine’s armed forces said that air defenses succeeded in downing 43 missiles. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address from Kyiv that Russia had attacked a dozen regions in his country — including Lviv in the west, Mykolaiv in the south, Dnipro in the east and Kharkiv in the north — with missiles and Iranian drones. He also labeled Russian officials “terrorists” and said that the aim of their attacks was to destroy Ukraine’s energy systems and target civilians. 

“They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are hopeless. The second target is people. Such a time and such targets were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible,” Zelensky said, but added, “Ukraine was before this enemy appeared, Ukraine will be after him.” 

The early morning attacks on Kyiv appeared to land in the center of the city, with video and photos showing a crater in a playground in a central park in the city, damage across the street from the opera theater and the windows of buildings blown out.

Zelensky said he held urgent calls with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Sholz, and French President Emanuel Macron to address an emergency session of the Group of 7 nations. 

“We discussed the strengthening of our air defense, the need for a tough European and international reaction, as well as increased pressure on the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said of his call with Macron. 

Russia’s attacks also appeared to cross into Ukraine’s neighboring countries, with Moldova’s minister of foreign affairs, Nicu Popescu, saying that the Russian ambassador was being summoned after three cruise missiles launched from Russian ships in the Black Sea crossed Moldova’s air space. 

“Moldova condemns in strongest possible terms violation of its airspace by three Russian cruise missiles as Russia attacked Ukrainian cities this morning,” Popescu tweeted. “We condemn Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine.”

The attacks on Ukraine came a day after Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian city of Zhaporzhzhia killed at least 13 people and injured 50, including six children.

Ukrainians had been bracing for such attacks following the massive explosion on the Kerch Bridge early Saturday morning. The road and rail line is viewed as personally important for Putin, both a symbolic and physical representation of Russia’s control over Crimea since Moscow invaded in 2014. 

In a video address Sunday night, Putin called the explosion on the bridge “a terrorist act” and blamed “Ukraine’s special services” as the “initiators, performers and masterminds.”

But Ukrainian officials, while celebrating the bridge destruction, have withheld claiming responsibility, raising questions among security experts if Ukraine actually carried out such an attack. 

“Among the experts, there were serious considerations, we discussed this a lot, should we do it and should we do it now?” said Hanna Shelest, director of security programs at the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism.”

“On the one hand we understand the importance of it for logistics, because the Russian weapons and fuel supply for the southern front are definitely happening through this bridge and it would be good not to have it,” she said.

“But at the same time, understanding the symbolism for the Russian president, the risks of the response were higher than the real consequences, because you always can target all those stockpiles of ammunition directly, by HIMARS, what they’ve been doing all these months,” she added, referring to the long-range multiple rocket launcher systems provided by the U.S.  

“We’ve been celebrating the idea of the bridge, but not that we did it,” Shelest said. “Not one Ukrainian service said anything about it, ‘we can do it’ or ‘how it happened.’”

The barrage of attacks on Ukraine follows the appointment Saturday of Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, Reuters reported. Surovikin previously served in Tajikistan, Chechnya and Syria. 

Further, Putin’s unpredictability in carrying out the war in Ukraine has triggered alarm among the U.S., allies and security experts that the Russian leader is on the brink of deploying nuclear weapons to catastrophic effect. 

The Russian leader has repeatedly raised Russia’s nuclear capabilities, warning against viewing his threats as a “bluff” against what he said are Russia’s national security interests.

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen on Sunday said during an interview on ABC that Putin is a “cornered animal” after mounting losses in Ukraine and is becoming “more and more dangerous” to the world. 

President Biden last week warned the world was close to “Armageddon” amid Putin’s nuclear threats. 

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — As midterms near, both parties remain on edge

Ohio Senate candidates Rep. Tim Ryan (D) and Republican J.D. Vance will debate tonight in an increasingly tight race in a state that has been considered reliably red in recent years. The Hill’s Julia Manchester writes that while the GOP has historically had an advantage in Ohio, recent polling shows Ryan closing the gap with Vance.

A Wednesday Marist Poll survey shows Vance leading Ryan 46 percent to 45 percent, while a Spectrum News-Siena College survey released last week showed Ryan leading Vance 46 to 43 percent.  

The debate is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. CST and will be hosted by station WJW-TV, owned by Nexstar, The Hill’s parent company.

On Friday, Nexstar will host a debate between Georgia Senate candidates Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican Herschel Walker, but questions remain about whether Walker will attend following scandals that rocked his campaign this past week.

The woman who asserts that Walker, who campaigns as staunchly anti-abortion, paid for her abortion in 2009 told The New York Times that he urged her to terminate a second pregnancy in 2011. She allegedly refused, ending their relationship, and gave birth to their son.

“As a father, he’s done nothing. He does exactly what the courts say, and that’s it,” the woman told the Times. “He has to be held responsible, just like the rest of us. And if you’re going to run for office, you need to own your life.”

The Hill has not independently verified the account.

Walker denied knowing about the 2009 abortion until it was reported by the media. New text messages between Walker’s wife and ex-girlfriend show that his wife had tried to act as a mediator between the two parties, according to published accounts. Meanwhile, conservative activist Christian Walker, Herschel Walker’s son, “denounced his father as a liar and hypocrite and criticized him for having multiple children” (NBC News).

▪ The Washington Post: Republican Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.), Tom Cotton (Ark.) to rally in Georgia for embattled Herschel Walker.

▪ Axios: Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) criticizes Herschel Walker following scandal.

▪ The Washington Post: A month before the midterms, abortion is in focus as the GOP backs Herschel Walker.

▪ The New York Times: “Saved by Grace”: Evangelicals find a way forward with Herschel Walker.

In the final weeks before November’s elections, strategists and political observers on both sides of the aisle reacted to the drama of Georgia’s Senate contest by bracing for dreaded October surprises, wary of factors that could reshape the already unpredictable outcome in key races, reports The Hill’s Max Greenwood.

“In ’18 – and a lot of other midterm years – you knew what was going to happen. There was a very consistent throughline,” Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist, told The Hill. “You knew a wave was coming. Now, we don’t know. And it’s the cause of much heartburn.”

The polling site FiveThirtyEight still reports that Democrats are slightly favored to win the Senate.

▪ The New York Times: Four weeks out, Senate control hangs in the balance in tumultuous midterms.

▪ Politico: The battle for the Senate majority remains a nail-biter.

It took a while, but Republicans are coming home for Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, putting him squarely in striking distance of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) in the state’s Senate contest, writes The Hill’s Al Weaver. Over the last month, Republicans have grown increasingly hopeful over Oz’s chances as attacks on Fetterman’s campaign strategy amid his stroke recovery and stance on crime have helped vault the former TV doctor back into contention.

“I feel a lot better about Pennsylvania than I did four or five weeks ago. That’s for sure,” one Pennsylvania-based GOP operative told The Hill, adding that there was a “panic” that set in amongst state and national Republicans and extended into the world of former President Trump.

The Jan. 6 committee will hold its ninth and likely final hearing on Thursday at 1 p.m., and committee members are expected to discuss Trump’s central role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

No live witnesses are scheduled for the hearing, which will consist of video evidence and member presentations, including footage from a Danish film crew shot for a documentary about Roger Stone. It’s looking increasingly unlikely that the panel will issue subpoenas to Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, and members must decide whether to enforce subpoenas they’ve issued to GOP members of Congress who have proved uncooperative (The New York Times).

Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Ginni Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who recently spoke with the panel, may not be featured at Thursday’s hearing (MSNBC).

Also on the table: when to turn investigative files over to the Department of Justice and whether to make criminal referrals. As for the future of the committee? Its chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) are at odds. Thompson says this hearing will be the commission’s last, while Cheney says more hearings are possible (The New York Times).

USA Today: Nearly 4 in 10 Americans hold Trump “responsible” for the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, poll shows.

Other legal woes are mounting for Trump, including in the Justice Department’s investigation into the mishandling of government records at Mar-a-Lago, writes The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. While the former president scored early wins in the process — with a judge granting his request for a special master to review the documents — legal experts say he may not fare as well as his case is pushed before new judges. 

“All indications are that the appellate litigation continues to move in the government’s direction,” said Brad Moss, a national security law expert.

After an appellate court removed more than 100 classified records from special master review and later agreed to an expedited schedule to review the DOJ’s challenge to the special master’s approval, Trump’s legal team appealed to the Supreme Court. Thomas gave the Justice Department a week to respond.

Politico: Trump’s legal drama is nowhere in the campaign ad wars.

Beyond Mar-a-Lago, the former president is the subject of a Georgia investigation to determine if he and others tried to interfere in the 2020 election. The prosecutor in that criminal probe is seeking testimony from former Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, former Trump White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, among others.

All parties are scheduled to testify next month after the midterms (Axios).

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Here are seven governors’ races to watch. 

▪ The New York Times: The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to grant nearly unfettered authority over elections to state legislatures.

▪ The Hill: A new political rival is emerging for Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis: The media.  

▪ The Washington Post: New Florida records raise more questions about DeSantis’s migrant flights.

▪ The New York Times: Judges in Ohio and Arizona on Friday blocked state bans on abortion as opponents challenge restrictive state laws. … Meanwhile, Barnard College in New York next year plans to offer medication abortion to students (The Hill). 

LEADING THE DAY 

➤ GLOBAL NUCLEAR RISKS

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been described as boxed in, without an off-ramp and “desperate” as the war he started with Ukraine in February racks up heavy casualties, a growing list of Russian military miscalculations and ominous warnings coming from the capital cities of two nuclear powers.

This morning, Ukraine reports that multiple explosions rocked Kyiv and other cities at rush hour, apparently the result of revenge missile strikes following Saturday’s bombing of a strategically important bridge that links Russia and Crimea (Reuters). Kyiv reported at least five deaths and 12 wounded after today’s attacks, the worst in months and a clear escalation.

Putin today will convene a meeting of Russia’s security council (CNN). Some train and car traffic, halted on Saturday, has resumed on the damaged bridge but the humiliating event underscored Russia’s recent setbacks and prompted Putin on Sunday to blame Ukraine and to rage about what he called an “act of terrorism” (Reuters).

The agenda of Putin’s council meeting today was not immediately clear, but as The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports, the bombing of the Kerch Strait Bridge is seen as personal for the Russian president. Ukraine did not claim credit. The blast was thought to be the result of a truck bomb that exploded as fuel-laden train cars traveled on the bridge along a parallel track.

Russian missile strikes immediately following the fiery bridge event also hit civilian areas in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, with at least 12 killed and at least 49 injured, including six children. Ukrainians said on Sunday they were preparing for more Russian reprisals (The New York Times).

President Biden’s recent comments during a Democratic fundraiser about taking seriously Putin’s nuclear threats as a warning of “Armageddon” were reinforced by the White House on Sunday even as the president’s advisers repeated there is no new Western intelligence pointing to orders by Putin or planning by Russia to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukrainian or other targets. 

White House national security spokesman John Kirby, drawing a distinction between imminent threats and potential risks, said during an interview with ABC’s “This Week” that “the president was reflecting the very high stakes that are in play right now.”

“When you have modern nuclear power and the leader of that modern nuclear power willing to use irresponsible rhetoric the way that Mr. Putin has several times in just the last week or two, as well as the high tension in Ukraine over just the course of the last few days,” Kirby said. “So, the president, I think, was accurately reflecting the fact that the stakes are very high right now” (The Hill).

Biden stands firmly behind Ukraine and is willing to send the country additional U.S. weapons systems, aid and ammunition, Kirby added. Ukraine has made such requests.

Russia’s missile strikes deep into Ukraine today will intensify calls for allies to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems, reported The Washington Post, which published a series of photographs from Kyiv following the latest attacks.

▪ The Hill’s The Memo, Niall Stanage: Biden’s “Armageddon” warning raises fresh questions. 

▪ The Hill: Putin is “a cornered animal,” retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC News on Sunday.

▪ The New York Times: Russia’s domination of Central Asia and the Caucasus region is unraveling as the Kremlin focuses on the war in Ukraine — and border violence is flaring.

▪ The Hill: Sunday talk shows: U.S. grapples with fraught Russia, global challenges.

North Korea, a longtime aspirant to join the world’s nuclear club, on Monday said its most recent barrage of missile launches were a simulation of “an actual war” that would use nuclear weapons aimed to “hit and wipe out” potential South Korean and U.S. targets. The staged launches were in reaction to recent military drills conducted by North Korea’s enemies, state media reported Monday.

“Through seven times of launching drills of the tactical nuclear operation units, the actual war capabilities … of the nuclear combat forces ready to hit and wipe out the set objects at any location and any time were displayed to the full,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said (Reuters).

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early on Sunday, marking its seventh launch in recent days and adding to alarm in the U.S., Japan and South Korea. Officials in Seoul fear the uptick in missile launches signal that North Korea is closer than ever to resuming nuclear testing for the first time since 2017 (Reuters). 

Kim Jong Un, following a path set by his grandfather in 1948 and then his father, appears determined to pressure his neighbors and the United States with aspirations to control the Korean Peninsula, employing missile tests, nuclear threats and military exercises. 

Although U.S. analysts say North Korea’s only ally, China, which serves as a lifeline to Pyongyang, has potential leverage to intercede with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, Beijing has shown no inclination to intervene despite risks posed to the Asia Pacific region (Al Jazeera and Foreign Affairs). 

In contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who urged Putin in February to negotiate with Ukraine, by September posed to the Russian president “questions and concerns” about his aggressive aims against his neighbor, Putin conceded (The Guardian).

In other world headlines, cables vital for Germany’s rail network in the north were intentionally cut on Saturday morning, causing an almost three-hour halt to all rail traffic. The incident is being investigated and raised alarm bells after what NATO and the European Union last month called acts of sabotage in the Baltic Sea against Nord Stream natural gas pipelines (Reuters).  

▪ Bloomberg News: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gets a tough lesson in what it means to run his country.

▪ The Washington Post: Norway is portrayed as both hero and villain in Europe’s energy crisis.

▪ Barron’s: The United Nations General Assembly will convene an emergency meeting at 3 p.m. today to discuss Russia’s latest annexation of parts of Ukrainian territory.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ TECH 

As this week begins, the on-off-on (maybe) Elon Musk purchase of Twitter for $44 billion is, let’s say, still unsettled. There’s a stay in Musk’s lawsuit against Twitter and if the deal doesn’t close involving armies of lawyers, the court case is back on for November.

Most Americans do not use Twitter, and studies show that those who do tend to lean to the left. From a social media perspective, those who believe Musk is destined to own Twitter at some point are keenly interested in what he’ll do with the company, considering his iconoclastic business style, personal history on the platform and outspoken cheerleading for free speech (not necessary factual speech) (The Hill and NPR).

One certainty is that the entire Musk-Twitter saga is going to be studied for years in business schools (Reuters).

Musk’s possible purchase of Twitter also raises the question of Trump’s potential future on the platform. Twitter banned the former president in 2021 in the wake of violence at the Capitol and Trump’s falsehoods. Some speculate Musk, if Twitter’s owner, would reinstate Trump (The Hill).

The Washington Post: Chicago scientists are testing an unhackable quantum internet in their basement closet.

OPINION

■ Joe Biden knows how to use Donald Trump, by Ezra Klein, opinion columnist, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3fUSGGp 

■ The Libertarian Party is collapsing. Here’s why, by Andrew Koppelman, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3rHzrmx

WHERE AND WHEN

🌎 Happy Indigenous Peoples Day in the United States!

The House meets at 10 a.m. on Tuesday for a pro forma session. Members are scheduled to return to the Capitol on Nov. 14.

The Senate convenes Tuesday at 11 a.m. to begin procedural consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2023. Senators also are scheduled to return for work on Nov. 14.  

The president will return to the White House from his home in Wilmington, Del., at 2:50 p.m.

Vice President Harris heads to Princeton, N.J., this morning to speak to a Democratic National Committee fundraising event at a private residence at 11:25 a.m. The vice president will fly to New York City this afternoon and pretape an episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” at 4:15 p.m. before returning to Washington this evening. 

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group hold annual meetings in Washington today through Sunday.

🖥 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ CYBERSECURITY 

Cyberattacks are on the rise, and the federal government is considering whether to help private insurance companies cover costs related to severe cyber incidents, writes The Hill’s Ines Kagubare. Officials from the Treasury Department and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently asked industry stakeholders to weigh in on a need for a federal insurance response to “catastrophic” cyber incidents and if so, how such a program should be implemented. 

➤ PANDEMIC & HEALTH 

By 2023, half of Medicare beneficiaries will sign up for private Medicare Advantage plans, The New York Times reports, but most large insurers in the program are accused of fraudulent practices to inflate their profits by billions of dollars. The evidence appears in lawsuits, inspector general audits and among investigations by watchdogs. Why does it matter? Aside from the interests of patients and consumers, a program devised to help decrease healthcare spending instead became substantially more costly than traditional Medicare, defying the original intent, the Times reports. The culprits: eight of the 10 biggest Medicare Advantage insurers (two-thirds of the market), according to federal audits. UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance and Kaiser, four of the five largest players, have been accused in federal lawsuits of efforts to overdiagnose to make patients appear as sick as possible in order to collect higher rates from the government. 

💉 The Hill’s Data Dive: 

Despite GOP resistance to vaccines, the vast majority of seniors in Republican-led states have been vaccinated, The Hill’s Daniel de Visé reports. Their vaccination levels are approaching the national average for older Americans, suggesting that the anti-vaccine movement is largely a priority for the young.

In the five deepest red states, as measured in the 2020 presidential election, COVID-19 vaccination rates among seniors range from 86 percent to 91 percent, according to public health data. The national average in that age group is 92 percent. The same trend holds for seniors seeking first and second booster doses, leading officials to theorize that seniors ultimately put health above politics. 

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,062,564. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 345, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

THE CLOSER

And finally … Beatles memorabilia fetches big prices — and new discoveries can be surprising. How about a gravy-stained tablecloth circa 1966 from a long-gone San Francisco catering and restaurant company that served the Fab Four ahead of what turned out to be their final official concert at Candlestick Park? 

That signed cloth, featuring a sketch by John Lennon (also known for some of his later art), signatures of Ringo Starr and George Harrison, and doodles by folk singer Joan Baez, is being auctioned online in Los Angeles through Oct. 19 with an estimated value of up to $25,000, reports The Washington Post. The tablecloth was displayed in 1966 by the caterer at his business for six days before it was stolen and then mysteriously returned to the original owner’s family last year by a woman in Texas. 

The tale of the dinner doodling (with a photo from that 1966 evening) appears in Goldmine Magazine and San Francisco Chronicle.

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!

Source: TEST FEED1

Five October surprises that shook recent US elections

The Georgia Senate race was shaken earlier this week when a report emerged alleging that GOP candidate Herschel Walker, a staunch abortion opponent, paid a woman to terminate her pregnancy in 2009.

Though Walker denies the report, the punches keep coming — from his son Christian Walker calling him out for allegedly lying about the incident to the follow-up report that the woman was the mother of one of Walker’s children.

While it remains to be seen what impact the revelations have on Walker’s chances in the Senate, the scandal joins a long list of so-called October surprises that have historically upended elections in their final weeks.

Here are five of the biggest October surprises of the last few decades.

Trump tests positive for COVID-19 (2020)

Former President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2, 2020, injecting uncertainty into an already contentious and unprecedented race.

Only months into the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines remained several months away, and the now-standard Paxlovid treatment would not become available for almost two years. At 74 years old, Trump was also in a high-risk category for the virus.

Despite initial claims that the former president was doing well, Trump was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center later on Oct. 2, after his blood oxygen levels fell. Aides reportedly worried that Trump would need to be placed on a ventilator and would not be able to walk to the helicopter.

Trump spent three nights in the hospital being treated with monoclonal antibodies and Remdisivir, before returning to the White House on Oct. 5, 2020. The former president made a dramatic showing upon his return, stripping off his mask for a photo opportunity.

Access Hollywood bombshell roils Clinton-Trump race (2016)

Then the Republican nominee for president, Trump faced severe backlash during the 2016 election when The Washington Post published the “Access Hollywood” tape on Oct. 8, 2016.

In the 2005 tape, Trump was caught on a hot microphone making lewd comments about women, including the now infamous line, “Grab them by the p—y.”

“I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump can be heard saying on the tape. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the p—y.”

Trump later apologized “if anyone was offended” by the conversation and dismissed the comments as “locker-room banter.”

Comey letter reopens Clinton email investigation (2016)

Despite the bombshell “Access Hollywood” tape in October 2016, Trump’s troubles would be subsumed by another surprise by the end of the month.

Only 11 days before the election, FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress, saying that he was reopening his investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecure email server.

Comey had initially decided in July 2016 not to prosecute Clinton over the private email server that she had used as secretary of state under former President Barack Obama. However, on Oct. 28, 2016, Comey told Congress that the FBI had learned of the existence of emails that appeared to be relevant to the investigation.

In the end, the new emails did not change the FBI’s conclusion in the Clinton email investigation. However, many have speculated, including Clinton herself, that the Comey letter cost her the election.

Romney hit with leaked “47 percent” video (2012)

During his 2012 campaign against Obama, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was caught on tape dismissing “47 percent” of voters in a leaked video just weeks before the election.

While this surprise technically occurred in mid-September, Romney’s comments were largely considered to be the “October surprise” of the year. Speaking at a private fundraiser, Romney accused nearly half of the country of being “dependent upon government” in the video released by Mother Jones on Sept. 17, 2012.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney said. “All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.”

The comments gave the Obama campaign ammunition for its efforts to paint Romney as out-of-touch with the general population.

“That hurt,” Romney said, while reflecting on the leaked video in 2013. “There’s no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign.”

Bush’s 1976 DUI arrest is resurfaced (2000)

Former President George W. Bush had acknowledged his difficulties with alcohol and his decision to get sober from the outset of his 2000 campaign.

However, just five days before the election, it was revealed that Bush had been arrested for drunk driving in Maine in 1976. Thirty years old at the time, Bush pleaded guilty, paid a $150 fine and briefly lost driving privileges in the state.

Another non-October “October surprise,” the media ran with the story on Nov. 2, 2000. Democratic candidate Al Gore deemed it inappropriate to comment on the matter, and Bush went on to win the election — though his win was contentious.

Source: TEST FEED1