Politics

PBS NewsHour reports: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the case Tuesday that the United States should immediately send aid to Israel and Ukraine, testifying at a Senate hearing as the administration’s massive $105 billion emergency aid request for conflicts in those countries and others has already hit roadblocks in the divided Congress. President …

The Washington Post reports: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who has spent nearly three decades in Congress, announced Monday night that he does not plan to seek reelection next year. He was first elected to Congress in a special election in 1996 to succeed then-Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who had been elected to the Senate. Known for his signature bow ties …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: As Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign dealt with widely publicized financial strains and some prominent mega donors signaled they were closing their checkbooks, the Florida governor turned to people with an incentive to stay on his good side: businesspeople, lawyers, lobbyists and others whose employers or clients have financial interests before state government. Many obliged. Campaign …

NBC News reports: Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced plans Monday to seek subpoenas for three influential conservatives who have been a key focus of the panel’s investigation into Supreme Court ethics. In a joint statement, Committee Chairman Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on federal courts and oversight, said previous …

WDW Magic reports: In what marks a significant upheaval to the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, over thirty employees have resigned from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the governing entity responsible for Walt Disney World. This mass exodus includes almost half of its senior leadership and follows Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ controversial takeover of the district, raising serious concerns …

The Messenger reports: Two powerful House GOP chairmen are probing the D.C. attorney general’s investigation of the conservative legal mastermind behind the Supreme Court’s hard right turn, which led to overturning Roe v. Wade. It was reported in August that D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb launched an investigation into Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the conservative Federalist Society, after one of …

“Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7. Calls for a ceasefire are a call for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to …

Mediaite reports: Piers Morgan confronted Vivek Ramaswamy on the “medieval barbarism” of his proposal for how to deal with Hamas after its terror attack on Israel. In a speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, the aspiring 2024 presidential candidate said he “would love nothing more than for the IDF to put the heads of the top 100 …

CBS News reports: Hundreds of people stormed into the main airport in Russia’s Dagestan region and onto the landing field Sunday, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, Russian news agencies and social media reported. Russian news reports said the crowd surrounded the airliner, which belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings. Authorities closed …

The Hill reports: Newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday said a standalone bill for Israel aid will come to the House floor this week, in an indication that President Biden’s request for aid to Ukraine will be further delayed. “We’re going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House. I know our colleagues, our Republican …

Florida Politics reports: On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Ron DeSantis defended his record in dealing with the state’s recurrent neo-Nazi protests under his governorship, saying he acted “swiftly and decisively.” “Our record is second to none and we will continue to lead on these issues,” DeSantis told host Kristin Welker Sunday. Welker pressed DeSantis to respond to claims from Rep. …

Haaretz reports: Facing a barrage of criticism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deleted a controversial social media post on Sunday in which he blamed the defense and intelligence establishment for giving him faulty assessments before the deadly Hamas attack on October 7. The prime minister then published a new tweet, saying that he apologizes for his claims and that he fully …

Florida Politics reports: The ongoing feud between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump took a turn into Cheech and Chong territory Saturday. In the latest of a series of statements from Team Trump suggesting the DeSantis campaign is experiencing the “kiss of death,” spox Steven Cheung trolled the Florida Governor by telling him to sample local cannabis products while in Nevada …

The Daily Mail reports: Ron DeSantis says the United Nations is a ‘mess’ and a ‘total farce’ as he vowed to strip U.S. funding from the General Assembly if he becomes president. The Florida Governor and 2024 hopeful told DailyMail.com that the UN has become a “den” where “bad actors in the world get together and misbehave.” The UN General …

Reuters reports: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza runs counter to international law and risks creating a catastrophe that could last decades. Lavrov made the comments, some of Moscow’s most critical of Israel yet, in an interview with the Belarusian state news agency Belta, which released them on Saturday. “While we condemn terrorism, we …

Axios reports: Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who testified to the Jan. 6 select committee about his experience during the Capitol riot, is considering a run for Congress. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) announced Thursday he will not run for a 10th term, opening up his safely Democratic district in the central Maryland suburbs for the first time in nearly two …

CNN reports: More than 100 countries cast votes at the United Nations on Friday to support a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, even as Israel’s military announced it is “expanding ground operations” in the besieged enclave. In New York, 120 UN member nations voted for a “sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” in the war …

Reuters reports: Israeli air and ground forces are stepping up operations in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s chief military spokesperson said on Friday, amid reports of heavy bombing of the besieged enclave. Internet and mobile phone services were cut off in the Palestinian territory, a local telecoms firm and the Red Crescent said. “In the last hours, we intensified the attacks …

Politico reports: The presidential campaign Dean Phillips launched on Friday is such a longshot that some of his colleagues call it a vanity project. Other top Democrats privately deem it a mid-life crisis. It may also be the clearest distillation to date of the undercurrent of discontent with Joe Biden among Democratic Party voters, even if it’s not likely to …

The Washington Post reports: Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) announced Thursday he will not seek a 10th term in 2024, creating an open congressional seat and ending a tenure that earned him praise as a champion of campaign finance reform. Sarbanes’s announcement, which surprised Maryland politics watchers, was posted in a statement on his House website that said he hoped to …