Biden aides slam Trump for calling Hezbollah ‘very smart’  —  Aides to President Biden and his campaign blasted former President Trump on Thursday for remarks a night earlier in which Trump described Hezbollah as “very smart” amid unfolding violence in Israel.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, facing censure motion, calls Hamas actions ‘war crimes’  —  U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said Wednesday evening her critics are purposefully distorting her position to make it seem she is sympathetic to Hamas and its attacks on Israel, which she called “war crimes.”

10/12/23 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM … But worse.  Maybe way worse. … Only the stakes this time are higher, the time frame is shorter, the opposition is larger and the House Republican Conference is angrier. … After winning the GOP speaker nomination on Wednesday — barely …

Cenk Uygur running for president as Democrat  —  The News  —  Progressive pundit Cenk Uygur will challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination, offering himself as an alternative to an incumbent who “is definitely going to lose” if he makes it to the general election.

North Carolina's cautionary tale for purple states  —  Republicans have made themselves so powerful, it doesn't matter if Dems win elections. … North Carolina Republicans are having a very good year, and now that they've locked down both the legislature and the judiciary …

Kushner Says Schumer Told Mother's Friends He Was ‘Going to Jail’  —  Trump's son-in-law and former adviser said he spent millions in legal fees while facing accusations of campaign ties to Russia … Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, says he had to calm …

The Massacre in Israel and the Need for a Decent Left  —  On Tuesday evening, I was drinking on the porch of my friend and neighbor Misha Shulman, the Israel-born rabbi of a progressive New York synagogue called the New Shul.  All day, he'd been on the phone with congregants deeply distraught …

Live updates Humanitarian crisis unfolds in Gaza; Blinken visits Israel  —  TEL AVIV — A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza after Israel ordered a “full siege” of the territory, causing shortages of electricity, food and water in retribution for Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on Saturday.

Trump's anti-immigrant onslaught sparks fresh alarm heading into 2024  —  His comments have renewed concern from Latino leaders, civil rights groups and experts on extremism, particularly as Trump has established a wide lead in polls of the Republican primary

Texas Republicans are fighting about whether it's OK to associate with white supremacists  —  Last week, Jonathan Stickland — president of the far-right Defend Texas Liberty PAC and a former state representative — met with notorious white supremacist Nick Fuentes and other right-wing extremists.

Fetterman: America ‘not sending their best and brightest’ to Congress  —  Sen. John Fetterman said Wednesday that America “is not sending their best and brightest” to represent them in Congress.  —  “Sometimes you literally just can't believe like, these people are making the decisions that are determining the government here.

Samuel Alito Really, Really, Really Wants to Save This Racial Gerrymander in South Carolina  —  On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, a challenge to South Carolina's congressional map based on the contention that it was an impermissible racial gerrymander.

The New Republican Establishment  —  An alternative Trumpist governing elite gets closer to ruling the party.  —  In the final account, the rise and fall of Kevin McCarthy might read like the familiar tale of a Republican congressional leader toppled by a small but uncompromising right-wing faction.

Trump Lawyers Want Us to Believe Key Witness Knows Nothing  —  During his bank fraud trial in New York, Donald Trump's lawyers said ex-controller Jeff McConney wasn't an expert on real estate values—except that was his job for Trump.  —  For years, a high-ranking accountant at the Trump Organization …

It's Not Me, It's You: Cornel West's Messy Breakup  —  The presidential candidate's last-minute decision to ghost the Green Party is just the latest rift within the perennially squabbling American left.  —  Cornel West thinks the Greens can't take him where he wants to go.

Judge Accused of Sending Wildly Inappropriate Texts During Her First Murder Trial  —  The Oklahoma judge swapped more than 500 texts about everything from a prosecutor's genitals to a “pretty” cop, an investigation found.  —  An Oklahoma judge could be booted from the bench after an investigation found …

Saudi, Iranian Leaders Hold Rare Call to Discuss Israel-Hamas War  —  Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman discussed the war between Israel and Hamas in a call with Iran's president, the first such conversation between the two leaders who normalized relations earlier this year.