In Michigan, Muslim and Arab American voters reconsider support for Biden
Anger at the Biden administration’s response to the conflict in the Mideast is widely shared by Arab Americans in Michigan, where Muslims have a large population. Many Arab Americans were outraged by President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, his embrace of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his pledge that “we will continue to have Israel’s back.” While Biden has made repeated gestures of support to Muslims and Arab Americans, and Muslims turned out in large numbers for Biden to help defeat President Donald Trump, some of those voters now feel Biden’s approach to Palestinian issues and Israel is indistinguishable from Donald Trump’s.
The house GOP has its leader. But can he be a rainmaker?
The decision to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker and replace him with a little-known congressman, Mike Johnson, R-La., has left a glaring financial gap for House Republicans headed into 2024 when the party has to defend its narrow and fragile majority. McCarthy’s political operation brought in more than 100 times the amount of money that Johnson has collected so far in 2023. The willingness of House Republicans to trade a party rainmaker for a member who has raised less than some more junior colleagues has caused a deep sense of uncertainty.
Vocal on Israel, DeSantis is challenged on his silence on neo-nazis in Florida
As Israel’s war against Hamas has become an animating force in the Republican presidential primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has cast himself as a staunch defender of the Jewish state, earning him attention from the media and praise from some Republican voters. But DeSantis has earned fewer plaudits for his response to a recent series of neo-Nazi demonstrations in Florida. Unlike other prominent Republican politicians in Florida, the governor stayed silent after each incident. Now one of the governor’s allies in Florida, state Rep. Randy Fine, the only Jewish Republican in the state Legislature, publicly switched his support to Donald Trump, citing DeSantis’ failure to confront antisemitism more publicly.
Cohen’s testimony sets the stage for Trump’s hush-money trial
On his first day of testimony in the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump, Michael Cohen landed some blows on Trump as he calmly recounted committing crimes on the former president’s behalf. His testimony supported the central contention of the trial, which stems from a lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general: that Trump inflated the values of his assets to boost his net worth. Cohen’s second day was bumpier. Under questioning from one of Trump’s lawyers, Cohen appeared flustered and admitted to several lies. The two-day spectacle offered a preview of how Cohen might perform on the bigger stage of the criminal trial.
A new school for Uvalde
In the year since a teenage assailant strode into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers, the building has stood empty. That was poised to change Saturday as residents broke ground for a new elementary school in place of the one that became the scene of one of the worst school mass shootings in U.S. history. Robb Elementary is slated to be demolished once the numerous lawsuits and law enforcement investigations are concluded and there is no more need to secure evidence from the crime scene. The new school will include a number of safety measures the former one lacked.
Vast tunnel network, hidden by Hamas, poses a daunting threat
The Israeli military announced last week it had struck a tunnel that allowed Hamas to “infiltrate Israel through the sea.” The sea tunnel was unusual, a sign that Hamas has designed deadly new ways to attack Israel. The armed group has miles of tunnels under the Gaza Strip, but the exit to this one was on a beach. Among the possible reasons Israel delayed sending troops into Gaza after the Hamas attack Oct. 7, one stands out, military experts say: the tunnels. Hamas, which oversees Gaza, is believed to hide weapons, fighters and even command centers in the warren of underground chambers.
Desperate for air defense, Ukraine pushes U.S. for ‘Franken’ weapons
Ukrainian officials are so desperate for more air defenses to protect their power grids that they are willing to experiment with a monster of a weapons system that was the brainchild of Ukraine and is now being pursued by the Pentagon. U.S. officials call it the FrankenSAM program, combining advanced, Western-caliber, surface-to-air missiles with refitted Soviet-era launchers or radars that Ukrainian forces have on hand. Two variants of these improvised air defenses — one pairing Soviet Buk launchers and American Sea Sparrow missiles, the other marrying Soviet-era radars and American Sidewinder missiles — have been tested in the United States and are set to be delivered to Ukraine this fall, officials said.
Kremlin’s onetime pick to be Ukraine’s puppet leader is shot in Crimea
A Ukrainian former lawmaker whom the Kremlin had hand-picked to lead a puppet administration in Kyiv, Ukraine, was shot and wounded in occupied Crimea in an apparent assassination attempt, Ukrainian and Russian officials said Saturday. Oleg Tsaryov, 53, a pro-Russian business executive who participated in Moscow’s invasion, was shot as part of a “special operation” carried out this past week by Ukraine’s domestic security agency, according to a senior Ukrainian intelligence official. According to Western intelligence agencies, had the Russian invasion succeeded, the Kremlin would have installed Tsaryov as Ukraine’s leader.
Pleas for aid and a scramble for supplies in Acapulco after Hurricane Otis
Thousands of Acapulco, Mexico, residents were still dealing Saturday with the chaos and destruction of Hurricane Otis, which had turned their paradise into a wasteland. Three days after the Category 5 storm came ashore, residents were navigating streets coated in broken glass, uprooted trees and fallen telephone poles. People throughout Acapulco were searching ransacked stores for water and other sustenance. Many were pleading for basic resources from Mexico’s leaders, as members of the military were rationing food and water to households. Otis killed at least 39 people, including 29 men and 10 women, according to Mexican officials on Saturday.
As China looks to broker Gaza peace, antisemitism surges online
As the Israel-Hamas conflict intensifies, China has stepped up efforts to pitch itself as a neutral broker for Mideast peace. China’s top diplomat has called his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, urging restraint. A Chinese envoy is traveling in the Middle East, pledging to help avert a wider war. At the United Nations on Wednesday, China vetoed a resolution on the war that did not call for a cease-fire. But even as China seeks to turn down the temperature diplomatically, a surge of antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment is proliferating across the Chinese internet and state media, undermining China’s efforts to convey impartiality.
By wire souces