THE WAR ROOM: Israel today knocked down a ballistic missile fired out of Lebanon aimed at the Mossad intelligence headquarters in Tel Aviv. It’s a sign that Hezbollah is not backing down after taking a pounding in which hundreds of people have been killed in Israeli strikes.

  Hezbollah has launched dozens of rockets today despite its admission that yesterday the leader of its rocket force was killed. Hezbollah says it will not stop its attacks until Israel pulls out of Gaza

THE BIG ISSUE: With Kamala Harris focusing her campaign on abortion rights, outgoing West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he would not endorse the Vice President after she called for elimination of the filibuster to get the 51 Senate votes needed to establish abortion as a right for women in every state.

  The filibuster is unlimited debate that prevents a bill from getting to a vote, but now the Senate allows the “silent filibuster” in which no one has to stay up all night speaking.

    Manchin was outraged over Harris’s proposal. “Shame on her,” said Manchin, a longtime Democrat turned Independent., “She knows the filibuster is the Holy Grail of democracy. It’s the only thing that keeps us talking and working together. If she gets rid of that, then this would be the House on steroids.”

  Harris is running a campaign heavy on blaming Donald Trump for appointing the Supreme Court Justices who overturned the right to abortion. Of course, Trump says that’s exactly what he wanted and he’s proud of it.

  But Trump goes further even while the right to abortion is a bitter issue. He told a rally that once he’s president again women will no longer be thinking about abortion. He promised that, “Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. … you will no longer be thinking about abortion.”

THE OTHER WAR: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations Security Council yesterday that “Russia can only be forced into peace” and urged the UN not to overlook the Russian invasion while the world turns its attention to wars in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar. “Russia is committing an international crime,” Zelensky said. 

  The Security Council is frozen in regard to the Ukraine war because Russia is a member and has veto power over any resolutions condemning its invasion or calling for the withdrawal of troops. 

  Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance have campaigned against further help for Ukraine. Trump said, “Every time Zelensky comes to the United States he walks away with a hundred billion dollars,” and that “We’re stuck in that war unless I’m president. I’ll get it negotiated I’ll get it done, we gotta get out.”

HARD KNOCKS: Testifying yesterday before a House committee about his investment in a company that made a concussion drug, Hall of Fame former quarterback Brett Favre revealed that he has Parkinson’s disease.

  “Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” the 54-year-old Favre said during his opening remarks. “And I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me, because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart.”

  Parkinson’s can be caused by concussions and Favre has previously said he barely knows how many he’s had … maybe a thousand.

  The hearing was about the diversion of millions of dollars of welfare money diverted to such things as Favre’s concussion drug company, but his announcement stole the news of the day.

LIFE AWAITS: The man accused of lying in wait to shoot Donald Trump at the former president’s West Palm Beach golf club was charged yesterday with attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, a crime that carries a life sentence.

  A federal grand jury also indicted Ryan Routh, 58, for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting or intimidating a Secret Service agent. Routh originally was charged only with two gun crimes.

  Although Routh’s lawyers argued that he is not a flight risk, he was ordered held without bail.

  In one of those ironies of life, the federal judge assigned to the case is the Trump-appointed Aileen Cannon, who dismissed the secret documents against Trump.

  As part of the investigation FBI agents searched the home of Routh’s son, Oran, who they say was found to be in possession of “hundreds” of child pornography images. The younger Routh has also been charged.  

BANNED: We are now in the middle of the annual “Banned Books Week” and Washington Post reporter Niha Masih notes that books with LGBTQ+ themes dominate the list of most challenged books.

  She reports that more than 10,000 books were removed, at least temporarily, from US public schools during the 2023-24 school year. PEN America says that’s triple the number from the previous year.

  Book bans are being driven by legislatures in red states and “parental rights” groups. Masih writes that “Seven of the top 10 books in 2023 were challenged for LGBTQ+ content, and most were claimed to have ‘sexually explicit’ material.”

THE SPIN RACK: Tropical Storm Helene is moving north from the west end of Cuba and threatening the Florida panhandle with drenching rain and flooding. — After 20 years on Missouri’s death brow, Marcellus Williams was executed last night. He was convicted of the 1998 murder of a woman in St. Louis. Conflicting evidence had shaken confidence in the case and even the victim’s family had asked for the death sentence to be reduced to life. Yesterday the Supreme court turned down Williams’ final appeal. 

BELOW THE FOLD:  Out there on the campaign trail, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance visited a grocery store where he complained that after Biden-era inflation eggs cost $4 a dozen while he was standing in front of a sign that said $2.99 and he was holding a package of two dozen eggs.

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