Saturday News: “U.S. urges Israel against Gaza ground invasion, pushes surgical campaign”; “Mike Johnson praised ‘18th-century values’”; “A year later, Musk’s X is tilting right. And sinking.”; “Youngkin administration says 3,400 voters removed from rolls in error, but nearly all now reinstated”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, October 28.

• Q&A: Rich and Poor Nations Have One More Chance to Come to Terms Over a Climate Change ‘Loss and Damage’ Fund
• Doctors from around the world unite to call for urgent climate action
• What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis
• Russia and Ukraine intensify fight over Avdiivka, another ruined city
• Russia-Ukraine war: Putin ‘loses entire brigade’ as Moscow suffer painful losses
• Speaker Johnson: US ‘can’t allow Vladimir Putin to prevail in Ukraine’
• Johnson throws down gauntlet on Israel-Ukraine spending battle (“Johnson, in his first interview with Fox News on Thursday, said he told the White House the consensus of the GOP conference ‘is that we need to bifurcate’ aid to Ukraine and Israel.” BTW, Johnson says we don’t know “what is the endgame in Ukraine,” but we also don’t know “what is the endgame” is in Israel. So why is he differentiating between the two?)
• Israeli ground forces are inside Gaza, IDF confirms
• Allies Fear US Is Overextended as Global Conflicts Spread
• Israel expands ground operation in Gaza and bombs Hamas tunnels after knocking out communications
• UN calls for immediate “durable and sustained humanitarian truce” in Israel-Hamas war
• U.S. urges Israel against Gaza ground invasion, pushes surgical campaign
• Israel continues expanded ground offensive; internet blackout worries aid groups
• Israeli poll finds 49% support for holding off on Gaza invasion
• In the Cities of Killing (“The Hamas massacre, the assaults on Gaza, and what comes after.”)
• I Might Have Once Favored a Cease-Fire With Hamas, but Not Now
• ‘A spider’s web of tunnels’: inside Gaza’s underground network being targeted by Israel (“The vast labyrinth used for smuggling and Hamas operations has long been a barrier to large-scale invasion”)
• Israel Widens Ground Operations as Airstrikes Intensify
• Iran Warns of New Fronts Against the US If Gaza War Drags On
• Trump doubles down on calling Hezbollah ‘very smart’
• Agreement reached for Biden-Xi talks, but details still being worked out, official tells AP
• The Supreme Court must decide if it wants to own Twitter (“The justices risk miring the entire federal judiciary in the content moderation wars.”)
• Sweeping new Biden order aims to alter the AI landscape
• Biden has succeeded all along. The media can’t ignore it.
• A GOP plan for the census would revive Trump’s failed push for a citizenship question
• New House speaker Mike Johnson praised ‘18th-century values’ in speech
• Mike Johnson points to a Biden impeachment, even if the facts do not
• House Speaker Mike Johnson Blames Mass Shootings on “the Human Heart,” in Case You Were Thinking the GOP Might Actually Do Something About Guns
• 15 Not-Fun Facts About Speaker Mike Johnson
• No Wonder Donald Trump Loves Mike Johnson
• What’s Up With Speaker Mike Johnson’s Black Son?
• Johnson’s speakership win fails to end House GOP infighting
• Mike Johnson, the Thinly-Veiled MAGA Speaker
• The Christian Nationalism of Speaker Mike Johnson
• Mike Johnson’s Wife Runs Counseling Service That Compares Being Gay To Bestiality, Incest
• Mike Johnson is well within the mainstream of today’s GOP (Yep, far right.)
• White House hits Johnson over claiming gun violence was a matter of the ‘heart’
• Former President Trump Expected to Testify in Civil Trial on Nov. 6, New York AG Says
• Judge orders Ivanka Trump to testify in $250 million fraud case
• Some of Trump’s closest allies have yet to be offered plea deals in Georgia case
• Arizona prosecutors ask about 2020 pressure campaign by Trump allies
• Playbook PM: Will Dean Phillips stop Trump or help him?
• Twitter takeover: how a year of Elon Musk rendered the platform useless (“We’ve watched in horrified fascination as the town square that was once the world’s collective pulse has gone up in flames”)
• A year later, Musk’s X is tilting right. And sinking.
• Menendez’s Wife Got Mysterious Job at Egypt-Linked COVID Lab (Menendez should resign immediately or be kicked out.)
• After Shooting, Maine Senators in the Spotlight on Guns
• Stephen King on Mass Shootings: We’re Out of Things to Say
• Gun Maine suspect used to kill 18 people was bought legally just days before psychiatric evaluation, sources say
• Maine mass killing suspect found dead, ending search that put entire state on edge
• Video: Courage for America Launches TV Ad Slamming Rep. Kiggans for Mike Johnson Speakership Vote (“Rep. Kiggans must be held accountable for choosing an election denier as her leader.”)
• Youngkin: No to New Hampshire’s presidential primary (“The deadline to file for New Hampshire’s closely watched presidential primary was 5 p.m. Friday — and Gov. Glenn Youngkin did not file.”)
• Mother Jones: “If Republicans win a majority in the upcoming legislative elections, abortion and voting rights are in peril. And that’s just the start.” (Bottom line: participation in anti-democracy activities like “Stop the Steal” or the 1/6/21 insurrection should be automatically DISQUALIFYING.)
• Youngkin administration says 3,400 voters removed from rolls in error, but nearly all now reinstated
• Virginia reinstates nearly 3,400 voters after accidental purge (Was it really “accidental?”)
• Fairfax County judge weighing fate of suit over Youngkin’s carbon market withdrawal (“Judge David Oblon heard oral arguments from Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson and Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Nate Benforado Friday morning in Fairfax Circuit Court. The hearing, which lasted about 30 minutes, concluded with the judge saying he would take the case under advisement before issuing a written decision. “)
• Fairfax school board candidate disqualified over address error
• Flip and Defend-A-District Friday: Volume XIX (Focus on “some of the outstanding and courageous candidates running for School Board”) (Anne Donohue, Carol Medawar, Samantha Newell, Sandy Anderson, Antonia Saunders)
• NEW ADS: Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Launches Paid Media Campaign for Local Moms Demand Action Volunteer Candidates in Virginia (“$100k Campaign Highlights 11 Moms Demand Action Volunteers Running in Critical Local Contests”)
• Charlottesville’s statue of General Lee is gone for good
• Old cases connected to corrupt Norfolk officer to be reviewed by UVA Innocence Project
• Muslim students stage walkouts in Fairfax high schools over Gaza war
• Spotsylvania superintendent: school division is not banning books
• D.C.-area forecast: Another very warm one today and it’s still mild Sunday (“The first signs of change show up tomorrow as clouds thicken and rain odds grow. On Monday, a strong cold front passes.”)