Samantha Woll, Detroit synagogue president, found stabbed to death outside her home

Samantha Woll, Detroit synagogue president, found stabbed to death outside her home

Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports: Samantha Woll, a Democratic activist and prominent Jewish lay leader in Detroit, was stabbed to death outside her home. Police found Woll, 40, at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday in the city’s Lafayette Park neighborhood, local media said. She had been stabbed multiple times and was unresponsive. A trail of blood led to her home, which police believe may be the scene of the crime, the Detroit Free Press reported. No motive was known. Woll’s murder comes…

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Back-to-back plea deals pose grave legal threat to Donald Trump

Back-to-back plea deals pose grave legal threat to Donald Trump

CNN reports: Two stalwart allies of former President Donald Trump flipped against him this week, a staggering turn of events that could now pose a grave threat to his ability to fend off criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The rapid-fire developments are a massive boost for prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, and the separate but overlapping federal case against Trump that was filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith. The pleas are…

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Concerns about Jordan’s election denialism flare during failed bid for speaker

Concerns about Jordan’s election denialism flare during failed bid for speaker

The Washington Post reports: As Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) waged his battle to become House speaker, some House Republicans were uncomfortable with the possibility of having an election denier occupying the most powerful legislative seat in the U.S. government heading into a presidential election year. Jordan, who relinquished his nomination for the speakership on Friday after his third defeat on the House floor, was among the most prolific and vocal GOP lawmakers who worked to convince voters that the 2020…

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‘Mutiny brewing’ inside State Department over Israel-Palestine policy

‘Mutiny brewing’ inside State Department over Israel-Palestine policy

HuffPost reports: President Joe Biden’s approach to the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine is fueling mounting tensions at the U.S. government agency most involved in foreign policy: the State Department. Officials told HuffPost that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his most senior advisers are overlooking widespread internal frustration. Some department staff said they feel as if Blinken and his team are uninterested in their own experts’ advice as they focus on supporting Israel’s expanding operation in Gaza, where…

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Instagram sorry for adding ‘terrorist’ to some Palestinian user bios

Instagram sorry for adding ‘terrorist’ to some Palestinian user bios

BBC News reports: Meta has apologised for adding “terrorist” to the biographies of some Instagram users describing themselves as Palestinian. Meta said it fixed a problem “that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations” in some of its products. “We sincerely apologise that this happened,” it told the BBC. The platform has also faced accusations of suppressing content voicing support for Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza conflict. Some users say they have been “shadow banned” on Instagram over pro-Palestinian posts. This is when…

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House GOP drowning as crisis reaches breaking point

House GOP drowning as crisis reaches breaking point

Politico reports: When Matt Gaetz stepped to the microphones during Thursday’s three-hour private House GOP meeting on the speakership, the speaker he ousted promptly yelled at him to “sit down.” Kevin McCarthy was not the only Republican to vent fury with Gaetz, the Florida conservative who successfully ousted the House’s leader. The room met Gaetz with booing, profanities and calls to back off, according to multiple lawmakers in the room. When Gaetz refused, Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) stood up and…

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U.S. intelligence report alleging Russia election interference shared with 100 countries

U.S. intelligence report alleging Russia election interference shared with 100 countries

Reuters reports: The United States on Friday released a U.S. intelligence assessment sent to more than 100 countries that found Moscow is using spies, social media and Russian state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of democratic elections worldwide. “This is a global phenomenon,” said the assessment. “Our information indicates that senior Russian government officials, including the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence operation and perceive it to be effective.” A senior State Department official, briefing…

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Team Trump never dreamed Sidney Powell would flip on them — and then Kenneth Chesebro flipped too

Team Trump never dreamed Sidney Powell would flip on them — and then Kenneth Chesebro flipped too

Rolling Stone reports: Sidney Powell was the wildest of MAGA diehards — someone who swore long past the bitter end that Donald Trump won by a landslide in 2020, and insinuated that a long-dead Venezuelan dictator helped hatch a plot that flipped votes away from her guy. That’s why the former president and much of his inner circle didn’t think the conspiracy-addled lawyer would ever cooperate with prosecutors seeking to convict the ex-president. “Crazy as she was, she really believed…

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Threats couldn’t save Jim Jordan. But Trump-era intimidation has had an impact

Threats couldn’t save Jim Jordan. But Trump-era intimidation has had an impact

Aaron Blake writes: CNN on Thursday aired harrowing audio of the kind of intimidation and threats that an increasing number of Republican lawmakers says they’ve faced over their opposition to the speakership bid of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). And it’s ugly. The caller leaves a message for an unnamed lawmaker’s wife and, while repeatedly qualifying that they aren’t talking about violence, they do threaten to harass the woman endlessly in public. The caller says the woman’s husband must vote “Jim…

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Humanitarian aid cannot be weaponized. Gazans are depending on it

Humanitarian aid cannot be weaponized. Gazans are depending on it

Lisandra Novo writes: On October 13, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)—an impartial, neutral humanitarian organization key to the origin story of the Geneva Conventions—issued a rare and exceptional public statement reminding parties to the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law. After first condemning Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7, ICRC stated that “[t]he instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege…

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U.S.-approved aid faces several hurdles to reach desperate Gazans

U.S.-approved aid faces several hurdles to reach desperate Gazans

The Washington Post reports: The announcement Wednesday that President Biden had secured a deal to allow aid into the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip was hailed as a humanitarian breakthrough, but it was a limited and incomplete agreement, and there are some steep diplomatic hurdles to clear before aid can reach Palestinians in need. Wrapping up a trip to Israel on Wednesday, Biden told reporters that up to 20 trucks of aid from Egypt would be allowed into the enclave…

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Survivors of kibbutz attack turn their ire on Netanyahu

Survivors of kibbutz attack turn their ire on Netanyahu

Politico reports: Tomer Eliaz, a 17-year-old boy in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, was forced to go door-to-door by Hamas and tell neighbors to come out, saying he would be killed if they didn’t. Several opened up and were murdered, while others were hauled off as hostages to Gaza — with several children cooped up in chicken pens. After using the teenage boy as bait, the Islamist militants shot him dead too. Just 800 meters from the Gaza border, Nahal…

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Drones target U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria

Drones target U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria

Reuters reports: U.S. military forces in Iraq were targeted on Wednesday in two separate drone attacks, with one causing minor injuries to a small number of troops even though the U.S. military managed to intercept the armed drone, a U.S. official said. The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not say who was suspected of the attacks on the al-Asad air base and the al-Harir air base. But Washington is on heightened alert for activity by…

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