November 11, 2023
Vol. 12, No. 2038

FAR TOO MANY: Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that “far too many Palestinians have been killed” in Gaza under Israeli bombardment, a blunt statement of the Biden administration’s increasing concern about what has become a slaughter of Palestinian civilians in the fight to eliminate Hamas militants. “Far too many have suffered these past weeks,” Blinken said, “And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them.”

  World opinion is turning on Israel. French President Emanuel Macron told the BBC that while France “clearly condemns” the “terrorist” actions of Hamas, Israel must stop bombing and killing women and babies. “These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed,” Macron said. “So, there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So, we do urge Israel to stop.”

  Israel claims it is hitting only military targets while telling civilians to get out of the way, but hundreds of residential buildings have been demolished and more than 10,000 Palestinians have been reported killed. 

  The International Red Cross says the Gaza medical system is collapsing. “Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people,” the ICRC warned.

  Israel, in the meantime, has revised its number of dead in the October 7^th attacks downward from 1,400 to 1,200. They say they are having trouble in some cases determining whether remains are of victims or Hamas attackers because of clothing and the condition of the bodies. Some were burned in cars and homes.  

STREETS OF NEW YORK: FBI agents this week seized the electronic devices of New York Mayor Eric Adams in a deepening investigation into the financing of his political campaign. Agents approached Adams on the street, asked his security detail to step aside, and took the mayor’s two cellphones and an iPad. The devices have already been returned to the mayor.

  The NY Times reports that the feds have been looking into whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government and others to funnel money into its accounts.

  Word of the investigation went public on November 2nd when FBI agents searched the home of the mayor’s chief fund-raiser and seized two laptop computers, three iPhones, and a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams.”

  Adams is a former New York police captain and has a reputation for insisting that people around him follow the law to the point of being annoying.

CHINA SYNDROME: President Biden and China’s Xi Jinping  plan to meet in California next Wednesday in what the Biden camp hopes will be a calming and stabilizing of relations between the two countries.  There’s a lot of tension, not to mention the Chinese spy balloon that floated over the US.

  The meeting will happen as the two leaders attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco known as APEC. On the agenda are Taiwan independence and unfettered elections, the war in Ukraine, and the war between Israel and Hamas.

  Interestingly, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is often mentioned as a future candidate for president, recently visited China and met with the Chinese president.

BEAR IT: The three giant panda bears that have resided and been on loan to the National Zoo in Washington were sent home to China this week. Mei Xiang, 25, Tian Tian, 26, and their 3-year-old son Xiao Qi Ji have gone home, leaving the panda exhibit empty. China owns and leases all giant pandas in US zoos. The last four pandas on loan are in Atlanta, scheduled to go back to China next year.

THE SPIN RACK: The Vatican says transgender people can be baptized within the church, regardless of the state of sin in which a person is living and so long as doing it doesn’t create “public scandal or confusion among the faithful.” — The Big Ten has banned Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh from being on the field for the last three games of the 2023 season amidst an NCAA investigation into sign-stealing from opposing teams orchestrated by former staffer Connor Stalions. — The town of Grindavik 25 miles from Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik has been ordered evacuated because the Fagradalsfjall volcano is rumbling and threatening to erupt. — The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled this week that former president Donald Trump can appear on the Republican primary ballot next year but left open the possibility he could be struck from the general election ballot because of his inspiration and failure to control the January 6th 2021, Capitol insurrection. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Ever notice how when you use self-checkout at the grocery you always need someone with a key to come and help? Unknown items in the bagging area, it doesn’t read the barcode … it’s always something.  Booths, a small chain grocery chain in northern England since 1847 is firing the self-checkout machines in all but two of its stores.

  Booths said in its announcement that customers are always happy to interact with a human being and that they want to delight customers “with our warm northern welcome.” Imagine that, a business that wants to have human contact with customers.