deconstruct

A Detroit synagogue president was found fatally stabbed outside her home Saturday morning.

Samantha Woll, 40, led the congregation of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. The synagogue confirmed Woll's death Saturday in a statement writing, “We are shocked and saddened to learn of the unexpected death of Samantha Woll, our Board President.”

“May her memory be a blessing,” the statement continued.

Authorities said a 911 call was made to Woll's home early Saturday, reporting an individual lying on the ground unresponsive. Police discovered multiple stab wounds on Woll's body and found a trail of blood leading to her house, where they believe the crime occurred.

An investigation is underway. At this time, the motive for the crime remains unknown.

Donald Trump's supporters are famously loyal. They followed his lead when he said the 2020 election was stolen from him. Some of them even stormed the Capitol to defend his honor and ended up in deep legal trouble. So far, many of them are sticking by him in the Republican presidential primary for 2024, as the rest of the field has been unable to knock him out of his polling lead.

And now, many of them are saying that they’d even be willing to have him be their president — from prison.

“If he’s convicted and he wins, put the Oval Office in whatever prison they have him in,” Dayna Duke, a Trump supporter from Arizona, said.

“It would be kind of fun to see actually. I know that sounds crazy,” Travis McMahon, a Trump rally attendee in Dubuque, Iowa, said.

​​“He can still run for president if he’s behind bars and he would still get the same amount of votes,” Republican Vicki Scott said. “Keep him tied up all next year, and we’re still going to vote for him. And I’ll tell you what, if it gets stolen again, it might be a third world war.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is marching ahead with his Speakership bid despite increasingly grim signs for his path to the gavel, eyeing another floor vote on Thursday even as GOP lawmakers signal that his opposition is likely to grow.

“The expectation is, at least from the chatter I’m hearing, is that there will be some others that will move away from the Jordan candidacy,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), who voted for Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on the first two ballots, told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s very clear that those numbers are not there and that it’s gonna get a lot worse,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who also backed Scalise in the first two rounds of voting, said after Jordan’s second failed vote, noting that he does not think he has a path to the gavel.

One centrist Republican who supported Jordan on the first two ballots said they are planning to jump ship.

“I committed to two votes. I’m not able to on the 3rd,” the lawmaker told The Hill in a text message.

Another Republican told The Hill that slowly increasing the number of votes against Jordan is a strategy among those opposing the Ohio Republican.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who previously handed Trump a gag order for attacking a court clerk on social media, ordered the former president to quiet down after he expressed frustration and interrupted real estate appraiser Doug Larson’s testimony by speaking loudly to his legal team.

New York State lawyer Kevin Wallace had complained to Engoron, saying that Trump’s “exhortations” were distracting to those on the witness’ side of the room, the Associated Press reported.

A few hours later, a reporter for Law 360 reported that an unnamed woman had “walked up to the front of the [public] gallery, approaching ‘the well’ where Trump was seated.” She was immediately confronted by law enforcement, who told her to return to her seat then later led her out of the courtroom.

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for New York State courts said the woman was a court employee who had since been placed on administrative leave. She was “yelling out to Mr. Trump indicating she wanted to assist him,” the spokesperson said.

“We are a broken conference,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told reporters after walking out of another meeting in the Capitol basement on Thursday.

Hours later, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the man Republicans nominated as their candidate for speaker just a day earlier, withdrew himself from consideration for the job, citing opposition from certain members of the Republican conference.

“There’s some folks that really need to look in the mirror over the next couple of days and decide, ‘Are we going to get it back on track,’ or are they going to try to pursue their own agenda,” Scalise told reporters.

“The world’s on fire. Our adversaries are watching what we do and quite frankly they like it,” Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

He expects his pro-Israel resolution to be the first thing to be voted on once the House reopens, but he said the clock is ticking to send Israel more weaponry to defend itself against Hamas. “We’re talking weeks. You can’t drag this out any longer.”

Speaker-designate Steve Scalise (R-La.) is struggling to win the support he will need to be elected to the top spot on the House floor, signaling what could be a sequel to his predecessor’s fight to win the gavel in January.

Scalise scored a victory on Wednesday by defeating House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in the conference’s internal vote to become the GOP nominee for Speaker. But the tally was a slim 113-99 victory, with around a dozen votes for others or “present” — and even after Jordan swung his support to Scalise following the vote, it was unclear if his supporters would do the same.

At least seven Republicans say they plan to back someone other than Scalise; at least six others say they are undecided; and some have declined to comment on who they will stand behind — enough resistance to deny Scalise the Speakership on the House floor.

Democrats are all expected to unite behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) as their preferred Speaker, just as they did in lockstep through 15 ballots in January. That means Scalise, just like deposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), can only afford a handful of Republican defections.

But a second floor fight for the Speakership — a sequel to McCarthy’s marathon battle in January — would come with a dangerous backdrop: a war in Israel and a November government funding deadline, both of which loom over the divided GOP conference.

The House is set to reconvene at noon on Thursday, but it is not clear whether it will then move to a floor vote for Speaker.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said he plans to vote for McCarthy for Speaker on the House floor. Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Bob Good (Va.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Max Miller (Ohio), Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Lloyd Smucker (Pa.) are among those who have said they plan to vote for Jordan.

North Carolina Republican lawmakers voted to override the Democratic governor’s vetoes on two election bills on Tuesday, giving themselves new power over election administration and shortening a key voting deadline ahead of the 2024 election.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bills earlier this year, saying in a statement that they make it harder to cast ballots, but Republicans have a supermajority in the legislature and voted to override his vetoes.

The bills promise to affect the swing state’s presidential election next year, though litigation is expected and could delay or block the implementation of challenged provisions.

In interviews earlier this year, advocates said they were most concerned about Senate Bill 749, which will rework the composition of state and local election boards, the five-person bodies that oversee democratic operations and certify election results.

County boards register voters, operate polling sites, and count ballots, while the state board appoints individuals to and oversees those local boards. Currently, all election boards in the state are controlled by the governor’s party, with nominations made by state parties and appointments made by the governor.

The legislation removes the governor from the process completely, creating state and local boards that are evenly divided between the two parties and comprised of members appointed by state legislative leaders.

Republican supporters of the legislation say it takes the politics out of election administration, but experts say it could result in a nightmare scenario of deadlocked election boards unable to complete the basic tasks of election administration.

NGP VAN provides tools used by Democrats, from the White House to local school boards, to raise money and mobilize voters. But with new management in recent years, it has been stripping its operations to the bare bones.

The potential decline of these tools — which have given Democrats a significant technology edge over Republicans over the past few cycles — would be so threatening to operations that a handful of top Democratic digital firms recently called a roughly hourlong Zoom meeting with leadership of the company to seek answers. Among their demands: reassurance that NGP VAN wouldn’t dismantle one of its top products, an online organizing and fundraising tool called ActionKit. Without it, Democrats worried about their prospects during the 2024 cycle and beyond.

“I’m hoping that I’m wrong, that we’re all wrong, that everyone’s fine,” said a former NGP VAN employee, granted anonymity to speak candidly about their former employer. “But this could mean something really bad for 2024.”

The alarm relayed on the call reflected a larger concern: that the Democratic Party has grown too dependent on a small handful of companies to carry the bulk of its campaign operations.

Democrats up and down the ballot have long relied on NGP VAN to run their campaigns. Now, consultants and former employees are concerned that repeated layoffs will lead to problems with the party’s most vaunted tech tools. Some consultants are on the precipice of turning their back on NGP VAN altogether, according to six NGP VAN clients who spoke with POLITICO.

But the company’s monopoly-like grip on Democratic campaigns means there’s no clear alternative that can immediately replace it.

Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign entered this month with just $5 million in cash available for the primary, a sum that reignites doubts about his solvency, budgeting and ability to gain ground on front-running former President Donald Trump.

The pain is so acute that DeSantis is redeploying aides from his Tallahassee headquarters to Des Moines for the stretch run of a do-or-die Jan. 15 Iowa caucus. A better-funded operation might hire locally rather than shift resources. Past presidential campaigns have typically employed such a move only as a last-ditch cost-saving measure — and to look for a campaign-changing boost in an early state.

"The cash crunch has accelerated in the past month. It’s a huge problem," said one DeSantis donor. "If it continues to trend downwards and Trump continues to poll ahead, at some point they’re going to have to figure out if it makes sense to pull out and save face for 2028."

The fundraising numbers and decision to move staff from Florida to Iowa, confirmed by campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo, were first reported Wednesday by The New York Times. Overall, DeSantis' operation raised $15 million over the last three months through a joint fundraising committee, his leadership PAC and his campaign, Romeo said.

But some of the money can be spent only in the general election, because it was raised from big donors who already gave the maximum primary donation. And despite rounds of layoffs that were part of a much-publicized reset, DeSantis burned through more primary cash than he raised over the last three months.

At the end of the second quarter, DeSantis had $6.6 million in primary funds available, according to an NBC News analysis of his last campaign finance filing — roughly $1.6 million more than his campaign says it has now.

If DeSantis doesn't turn it around soon he might not make it to the Iowa caucus. Haley is already polling ahead of him in NH.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/04/new-hampshire-nikki-haley-desantis-00119864

Why fear an automated text message? The reasons are mind-bendingly ludicrous, but surf long-running waves of disinformation around 5G networks, the COVID vaccines, and a nefarious federal government intent on harming its citizens.

“These tests and exercises or drills, if you prefer, are always preceding of, or simultaneous with, an actual created crisis,” the Hawaii-based pastor J.D. Farag said in a recent sermon, clips of which spread on X and TikTok.

“The crisis is first simulated and then created,” said Farag, who has nearly 300,000 subscribers on his “End Times news and global events” YouTube page, before comparing the impending event to the Sept. 11 attacks and COVID-19.

Jason Shurka, a spirituality influencer with around 170,000 followers each on YouTube and Instagram, warned followers in videos last month that an emergency broadcast, “disguised as a test,” would send a high-frequency signal to devices across the country “with the intention of activating graphene oxide and other nanoparticles that have been inserted into billions of human beings around the world through the obvious mediums,” presumably a reference to the COVID-19 vaccine.

On Truth Social, the Trump-backed social media network, one QAnon influencer noted the emergency test coincided with rumored nuclear evacuation drills in Russia and warned, “You and your body have been continuously assaulted by every poison, bioagent, medication, and criminal warfare device (millimeter, x-rays, and microwaves) conceivable, for your entire lives.”

And on TikTok, one since-removed video included the caption, “Y’all get ready. October 4th their [sic] activating Marburg virus through 5 g signal which they are activating on October 4. This will affect anyone who took the shots.” The accompanying video featured anti-vaccine activist Todd Callender warning that a 5G broadcast would cause “liquid nanoparticles to swell” and release heretofore contained pathogens into the bodies of COVID-19 vaccine recipients, causing “a Marburg epidemic” as well as, really, a race of human zombies. (The Marburg virus is a dangerous hemorrhagic fever virus.)

On Reddit, one user shared what they claimed was a text message from their landlord, notifying tenants that “we intend to enter your apartment and shut off your power” for two hours because of the supposed fire risk to “all our multiple appliances that we furnish for all of the apartments.” The same text message warned tenants of a distinct risk for “the Covid vax’d.”

The news isn’t all bad: At least a few conspiracy-theory-minded webizens see the Wireless Emergency Alerts test as a positive development: One Truth Social user, for example, pointed out that the digits in the military times for the announced start and end to the test, 14:20 and 14:50, added up to 17 ― a supposed reference to Q, the 17th letter in the alphabet and a calling card for the QAnon conspiracy theory.

“PROOF The White Hats Control the 10/4 EAS Test!” the post announced, using a slang term for upstanding patriots.

“According to some, White Hats have full control of communications,” another Truth Social user posted separately. “If anything these vibrations will be healing frequencies so I’m told…… I for one am not taking any measures to hide my phone…..”

A second lawyer for Rudy Giuliani is seeking to depart his legal team in Georgia, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News, a move that would appear to leave the former New York City mayor without any local lawyers in the state.

A motion to withdraw has been submitted to the clerk, the sources said. A judge in the case has to sign off on the motion.

News of the move comes after several other former attorneys of the Trump ally have sued Giuliani for failure to pay his bills, including his longtime friend and attorney Bob Costello, who sued Giuliani for over $1 million in payments due to his firm.

Earlier, an additional lawyer for Giuliani in Georgia, David Wolfe, submitted his own motion to withdraw from his representation of Giuliani.

House Democrats on Tuesday said they do not plan to save Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) when a vote on ousting him from the top spot hits the floor later in the day.

Emerging from a more than two-hour meeting in the Capitol, House Democrats said they will vote to oust McCarthy from the Speakership.

“We are following our leader and we are not saving Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters.

Asked if a decision was made as a caucus not to support McCarthy, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) responded, “yes.”

This news follows McCarthy's statement that he won't give Dems anything to save his Speakership.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4235572-mccarthy-says-he-wont-give-democrats-anything-in-exchange-for-support-as-speaker/