AL AQSA STORM: Open warfare broke out today as Palestinian militants in Gaza fired as many as 3,000 rockets into Israel while invading several small Israeli towns. 

  The militants crossed into Israel by land, sea and air, their attacks resulting in the deaths of at least 41 Israelis. Palestinian militants infiltrated at least seven Israeli communities and army bases. Some of the assailants used paragliders, indicating a well-planned and executed operation. They used a drone to knock out an Israeli tank.

  The country’s Health Ministry said that at least 779 wounded Israelis have been treated at hospitals. Israel retaliated with massive strikes on Gazan cities, killing at least one Palestinian. 

   Dozens of Israeli jets struck back at 17 military compounds and four command centers belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called up reservists and in a televised statement declared, “We are at war.” 

  Today’s assault came 50 years and a day after the Yom Kippur War of 1973, when Israel was surprised by a massive Arab attack and its very existence was shaken. Some Israeli soldiers today have been captured and civilians reported to be blockaded within their homes, calling for help.

  Muhammad Deif, the leader of the military wing of Hamas said in a recorded message that today’s “al Aqsa Storm,” named after a sacred Muslim temple, was launched so that “the enemy will understand that the time of their rampaging without accountability has ended.”

JOB SHOCK: The US economy added 336,000 jobs in September, which came as a shock to economists who had predicted the number would be 170,000. September was the 33rd consecutive month of job growth.

  In the “good news is bad news” world of economics, stocks immediately took a dive on the announcement because more jobs means a hot economy and continuing high interest rates to fight inflation.

  The unemployment rate remained at 3.8 percent, the same as August. It’s been below 4 percent since December 2021, a stretch not seen since the late 1960s.

THE WALL: President Biden said yesterday that he is forced to continue building the southern border wall even though he doesn’t want to do it. Biden said yesterday that money for 20 miles of wall was appropriated in 2019 and he has no choice but to spend it for that purpose. Biden had campaigned for president pledging that he would not build another mile of wall.

  But it’s a convenient inconvenience for Biden, giving him the opportunity to do something to stem the tide of illegal migration.

THE WAR ROOM:  NASA satellites have revealed how the war in Ukraine has left thousands of acres of farmland abandoned as the result of rockets, missiles, artillery, and mines.

  National Public Radio Reports that between 5.2 and 6.9 million acres of prime farmland have been abandoned since the start of the war in 2021. The abandoned fields represent between 6.5 and 8.5% of Ukraine’s total cropland.

  Ukraine provides about 9 percent of the world’s wheat. The abandoned fields have already cost the Ukraine economy about $2 billion, and the loss of more land is expected as the war drags on.  

TRIPLE FLIP: Just out of semi-retirement, gymnast Simone Biles won a record-tying sixth all-around world title Friday night at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp. She is tiedwith Japan’s Kohei Uchimura and at 26 she is now the oldest American woman to win a world championship medal.

 Biles came out in the first round with a near-perfect vault and finished second in the uneven bars, which is not her best event. She was near-perfect on the beam and killed it with her floor performance. She said afterwards about how well she did, “I don’t know, I think I’m always shocked.” 

SLEEPLESS: The pillow entrepreneur just might be losing sleep. Lawyers representing Mike Lindell, the guy who hawked “My Pillow” on cable television and has been a supporter of Donald Trump as well the big lie that the former president won the 2020 election, this week filed to withdraw from representing Lindell in lawsuits because he’s unable to pay his legal bills. They cited “millions” of dollars in unpaid fees, leaving Lindell without a lawyer in defamation suits in which several plaintiffs seek more than $1 billion in damages.

  One of the plaintiffs suing Lindell, the voting machine company Smartmatic, expressed concern that Lindell is using his lawyerless status “as an opportunity to fund-raise for his election fraud campaign” because he has already sent out a fund raising appeal.

  Lindell appears to be in the same hole as Rudy Giuliani, who was also deeply involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He’s in debt to his lawyers for millions, put his New York apartment on the market for $6.5 million, and the IRS has put a lien on his Palm Beach, Florida property to recover$549,435.26 in taxes. 

  Adding to that, the New York Times published a devastating story revealing Giuliani as a notorious drunk.

THE SPIN RACK: Denying rumors that he’s going to resign, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he’s going to finish out his term and run for re-election. — Speaking about Donald Trump’s hold on Republican extremists in Congress, former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that, “At some point maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members.” — The couple killed recently by a grizzly bear in Banff, Canada managed to send out a last-minute emergency text saying, “Bear attack bad.” Authorities are mystified as to how the two experienced backwoods campers managed to fall victim to a bear, which also killed their dog.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Late night host John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight went dark during the writers’ strike, but Oliver told NPR he was able to make money and help striking staff by doing standup gigs, some of which “was not yet fit for human consumption.”

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