Biden Returns to U.S. From Israel Trip as He Prepares to Address the Nation

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As Air Force One was refueling at Ramstein Air Base in Germany Wednesday night, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to reporters about his call with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi about opening the Gaza-Egypt border for humanitarian aid.

Biden told reporters that al-Sisi was “completely cooperative” and “deserves some real credit because he was accommodating.”

After more than 10 days of the war, at least 3,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Wall Street Journal. . .

China supports Egypt’s efforts to open humanitarian corridors, and is willing to strengthen coordination with Egypt and Arab countries to promote an early, comprehensive and lasting solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Chinese state media said on Thursday.

China appreciates Egypt’s role in cooling the situation, and stressed that the most urgent task is for a ceasefire and stopping the war as soon as possible, President Xi Jinping said in talks with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Thursday morning. (Read more from “Biden Returns to U.S. From Israel Trip as He Prepares to Address the Nation” HERE)

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Dem Politician Continues Paying Husband’s Salary Despite Campaign Finance Complaints, Records Show

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Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush’s campaign continues to pay her husband’s salary for unknown services despite campaign finance complaints accusing the Bush campaign of wrongdoing, records show.

The Cori Bush campaign’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) records for July through September 2023 indicate her husband, Cortney Merritts, was paid $12,500 for an unknown “wage expense” and $350 for a “gas expense” incurred in the most recent fundraising quarter.

Merritts received five $2,500 payments from Cori Bush for Congress despite campaign finance complaints from multiple organizations, according to the FEC records. The payments were previously classified as security services until the Bush campaign changed the classification in April, previous FEC filings indicate.

Merritts is not a licensed security guard in either Washington, D.C., or St. Louis and his most recent professional experience appears to be in the moving industry, Fox reported. Bush’s campaign began paying Merritts in the 2022 election cycle and he has brought in more than $100,000 from his wife’s congressional campaigns, Fox News found. (Read more from “Dem Politician Continues Paying Husband’s Salary Despite Campaign Finance Complaints, Records Show” HERE)

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Top Law Firm Rescinds Job Offers to Ivy League Students Who Signed Anti-Israel Statements

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A top law firm has reportedly rescinded its job offers to Ivy League students who signed anti-Israel statements in response to the mass murder of Jews in Israel by Hamas.

Davis Polk, a top U.S. law firm, said in an internal email to employees that the students’ statements do not represent the firm’s values, according to a report by NBC News.

The law firm announced that it has already rescinded three letters of employment for law students from both Harvard and Columbia University, as they signed onto organizational statements about Israel.

“These statements are simply contrary to our firm’s values and we thus concluded that rescinding these offers was appropriate in upholding our responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for all Davis Polk employees,” Neil Barr, Managing Partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell, said in the email. (Read more from “Top Law Firm Rescinds Job Offers to Ivy League Students Who Signed Anti-Israel Statements” HERE)

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Has Israel Hit ‘Pause’ on Ground Invasion, or Is It Planning ‘Something Different’ for Hamas?

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In the blinding fog of war, ambiguity is often a calculated stance rather than mere indecision. This could be the case with Israel’s military strategy in its war against Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) last week indicated that it was prepared to up the ante by sending ground troops into the Gaza Strip, the territory Hamas controls.

The IDF had rallied a strong force around Gaza’s perimeter, but now, the impending incursion appears to have been paused, leaving the international community in a state of speculation.

Israel’s Defence Forces have spent the past week preparing for a massive operation to crush Hamas after some 360,000 reservists were called up to encircle Gaza with tanks, artillery and armoured vehicles.

But now the expected ground assault appears to be on hold, with IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht refusing to confirm his troops will deploy into the Palestinian enclave.

‘We are preparing for the next stages of war. We haven’t said what they will be,’ Lt Col Hecht teased.

(Read more from “Has Israel Hit ‘Pause’ on Ground Invasion, or Is It Planning ‘Something Different’ for Hamas?” HERE)

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Joe Biden Visits Israel, but Continues to Remain Silent on the Iran Threat

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Given the latest war developments, a hot question in Washington is whether President Biden should stick to his plan to visit Israel immediately.

Here’s a bigger, better question: What’s Biden’s plan for Iran?

. . .

All of which leads to a growing suspicion the president’s decision to travel halfway around the world has an ulterior motive.

The timing suggests it is designed primarily to stall and perhaps prevent Israel from launching its expected ground assault into Gaza.

The assumption is that Biden has failed to get Netanyahu’s agreement to hold off, and so is forcing the issue by showing up on the prime minister’s doorstep. (Read more from “Joe Biden Visits Israel, but Continues to Remain Silent on the Iran Threat” HERE)

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Pentagon Warns Risky and Coercive China Air Encounters Could Trigger a War

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China is engaged in a systematic program of military intimidation and coercion involving dangerous jet intercepts of U.S. and allied aircraft that could trigger a U.S.-China conflict, the Pentagon’s senior policymaker for Asia said Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner told reporters the Chinese military is engaged in a coordinated campaign featuring “risky and coercive” actions by jet fighters that have made close passes to U.S. and allied aircraft flying in international airspace.

More than 180 incidents involving U.S. aircraft have taken place, mainly over the South China Sea and East China Sea, since 2021. The number over just the past two years is more than occurred during the entire decade prior to 2021.

The incidents have included what Mr. Ratner said were “reckless maneuvers” by Chinese Su-27 and J-16 jets flying very close to, or in front of, patrolling U.S. aircraft. In some cases, the Chinese jets released chaff or flares that could have damaged the engines of the U.S. aircraft.

When added to an additional number of dangerous intercepts involving allied aircraft, the total number of risky incidents is nearly 300, Mr. Ratner said. (Read more from “Pentagon Warns Risky and Coercive China Air Encounters Could Trigger a War” HERE)

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White House Vows ‘Tough Questions’ for Netanyahu

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John Kirby, the White House’s National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told reporters aboard Air Force Once en route to Israel on Tuesday evening that President Joe Biden would have “tough questions” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they met Wednesday morning.

Biden’s trip was intended to show solidarity for Israel in its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which attacked Israel without provocation Oct. 7 and murdered 1,400 peoople.

But after Palestinians — and their allies — blamed Israel for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City that reportedly killed hundreds of people, Biden appeared to be taking a different stance, promising that U.S. officials would investigate. Notably, Kirby refused to say that the U.S. gave Israeli officials the benefit of the doubt when they categorically denied that Israel had anything to do with the explosion. (Israel blamed the explosion on a misfired rocket, aimed at Israeli civilians, fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.) Kirby also dodged questions about whether the White House believed Israel was living up to its promise to obey international law.

Later in the press briefing, Kirby explained that “tough questions” did not mean “menacing,” but that the U.S. would ask Israel about its next steps in the war. (Last week, Biden had said that Israel had not only a “right,” but also a “duty,” to fight Hamas.) (Read more from “White House Vows ‘Tough Questions’ for Netanyahu” HERE)

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Ukrainian Firm Tied to Hunter Planned Meetings With DC Lawmakers After Joe Biden Got Prosecutor Fired, Memo Shows

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Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings planned on holding meetings with congressional lawmakers in Washington, D.C., shortly after then-Vice President Joe Biden successfully pressured Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor, according to a memo released in September.

Burisma was paying Hunter Biden more than $80,000 per month in spring 2016 when then-VP Biden successfully pressured Ukraine into firing Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin. The Ukrainian firm hoped to have meetings in D.C. with two senators and a house lawmaker right after the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Shokin, according to an itinerary released by the House Ways and Means Committee in September.

Lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies planned on briefing Burisma on March 30, 2016, ahead of a meeting with the staff of then-Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, the document shows.

Burisma representatives met with a staffer in Portman’s office but did not make any specific demands, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Portman did not know about the meeting and never spoke with Burisma, the source said. The Caller granted anonymity to speak on a sensitive issue. (Read more from “Ukrainian Firm Tied to Hunter Planned Meetings With DC Lawmakers After Joe Biden Got Prosecutor Fired, Memo Shows” HERE)

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Major Eco-Activist Groups Have Nothing to Say About Biden’s Oil Deal With Socialist Dictator

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Numerous prominent environmentalist groups had nothing to say about the Biden administration’s decision to ease oil sanctions on the socialist Venezuelan regime.

The Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earthjustice, Climate Defiance, Greenpeace USA and Xtinction Rebellion’s Washington, D.C., arm (XR-DC) all declined to comment or did not respond to questions asking whether they approved of the sanctions reduction deal, which is expected to lead to a sharp increase in oil exports, according to Reuters. The Biden administration will ease U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil sales in return for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s promise to hold “freer” elections next year, according to The Washington Post.

Each of these environmentalist groups has opposed the continued expansion of fossil fuel use and infrastructure in the U.S., and they routinely facilitate legal challenges or protests to curtail domestic coal, oil and gas activity. The groups have vehemently opposed oil drilling in the U.S., including the Willow project, citing their fears that such activity will contribute to climate change.

(Read more from “Major Eco-Activist Groups Have Nothing to Say About Biden’s Oil Deal With Socialist Dictator” HERE)

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House Delays Second Vote for Speaker After Jordan Comes up Short

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The GOP-led House opted not to hold any more votes on Tuesday after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) failed to win the speakership in the first and only ballot of the day.

Congressional aides had reportedly said they expected a second vote in the evening, but Jordan later said the next ballot would happen at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The timing could still change.

“We are going to keep working,” Jordan told reporters after noting he had some “great discussions” with colleagues.

Two hundred Republicans voted for Jordan in the House floor vote earlier on Tuesday while 20 GOP holdouts picked other people in their party. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the nominee for the Democrats, got 212 votes. No one got a simple majority in the chamber that was needed to secure victory, leaving Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who is serving as speaker pro tempore, to gavel the House into a recess. (Read more from “House Delays Second Vote for Speaker After Jordan Comes up Short” HERE)

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