Tuesday, October 29, 2024

October 29, 2024

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Oddsmakers betting big on Trump a week from election . . . Opinion polls in the presidential election are just now starting to swing toward Donald Trump, but the online political gambling markets have been betting big on the former president for weeks. A week before Election Day, Polymarket, a leading platform, has Mr. Trump a 2-1 favorite to win the election — his best odds since surviving an assassination attempt in July. At Kalshi, a U.S.-based election prediction market, Mr. Trump was tied with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month but now has better than 60% odds of winning. Washington Times

Politics

Legacy media drum final 'Hitler' beat against Trump over Madison Square Garden rally . . . With the election a week away, the Democrats and legacy media have found their final message against Trump, namely likening him to Adolf Hitler and calling him and his supporters racist. Trump achieved his long standing goal of packing the iconic New York City venue on Sunday evening. The event served as something of a capstone to his efforts at winning over blue state voters, even in Democratic bastions like the Empire State. The venue led some outlets, including MSNBC, to make comparisons to the 1939 Bund rally at the same location. Just the News

Trump: 'I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi'

Harris is pounding Trump on fascism. Some Dems think that's a mistake . . . Kamala Harris' hammering of Donald Trump's authoritarian rhetoric is alarming some Democrats in this critical swing state who fear that message is falling flat. Voters, they argue, have grown desensitized to Trump and the warnings about him. Polls not only show the economy remains the top concern here, but that Trump holds the advantage on it. And activists worry Harris' attacks on Trump are distracting from her strongest issue: abortion rights. Politico

GOP works to turn out pro-Trump Jewish voters in swing states to trim Democrats' edge . . . The door-to-door outreach to Jewish voters with a history of backing Republicans is part of a new effort the group is undertaking this year in five presidential battleground states in hopes of boosting Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election. Although surveys show that Jews vote decidedly Democratic, the Republican Jewish Coalition is hoping that the door-knocking will peel off enough votes to make a difference in an election year when the war between Israel and Hamas has stoked debate and provoked division. Associated Press

CNN panelist thrown off set comparing Muslim guest to terrorist . . . A conservative panelist was kicked off a CNN show and banned from the network after comparing a Muslim guest to a Hezbollah terrorist. Ryan Girdusky was booted from Abby Phillip's show Monday night after telling Medhi Hasan 'I hope your beeper doesn't go off.' That was a reference to a wave of booby-trapped pager explosions across Lebanon last month, which saw Israel target Hezbollah fighters and which killed at least 32, with thousands injured. Daily Mail

With Bannon's release from prison, Trump campaign regains key voice on election eve . . . With the presidential election fast approaching, one of Donald Trump's most supportive media personalities, Steve Bannon, is set to return to the fold as a wildcard in the final week of voting. After being sentenced to 120 days in prison after being convicted of contempt of Congress, popular right-wing podcast host and former Trump advisor Bannon was released from a federal prison in Connecticut on Tuesday, where he was incarcerated after failing to respond to two subpoenas during the House's January 6 investigation. Just the News

Virginia Appeals Order to Return Noncitizens to Voter Rolls . . . Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced late Sunday the commonwealth will file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to block the return of more than 1,500 noncitizens to voter rolls. The appeal follows a unanimous panel ruling Sunday from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting Virginia's request to stop an order from a lower court to reinstate noncitizens removed from voter rolls within 90 days of an election. Daily Signal

Poll shows Coach Walz could be headed for a home-state loss . . . Gov. Tim Walz's ticket may be on the verge of an improbable outcome in the vice-presidential pick's home state, with the first potential loss for Democrats since 1972's Richard Nixon landslide over the "acid, abortion and amnesty" campaign of the doomed George McGovern. The poll of 1,734 likely voters, conducted by Embold Research between Oct. 16 and 22, shows Harris and Walz barely ahead of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, 47.7% to 45.1%. And independents are breaking for Trump, 36% to 27%. New York Post

Harris could have had Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro - and Pennsylvania - instead of having to defend Minnesota with the knucklehead.

Rubio responds to comedian's Puerto Rico joke during Trump's MSG rally: 'What insult comedians do' . . . Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Monday responded to the controversial insult joke about Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. "Puerto Rico isn't garbage, it's home to fellow American citizens who have made tremendous contributions to our country," Rubio began a post on X. "I understand why some people were offended by a comedians [sic] jokes last night. But those weren't Trump's words," the Cuban American senator continued. "They were jokes by an insult comic who offends virtually everyone, all the time….. because that is what insult comedians do." New York Post

Harris unveils new "black preacher" accent in Philadelphia

Culture

Poll finds GOP men identify as 'highly masculine' more than Democratic dudes . . . A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 53% of Republican men, but only 29% of Democratic men, consider themselves "highly masculine." The nonpartisan research group reported this month that Republican men were more likely than Democratic men to embrace stereotypically "masculine" qualities such as confidence, risk-taking, assertiveness and physical strength. Washington Times

Bezos addresses Washington Post endorsement fiasco, cites distrust in media . . . Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos penned an op-ed defending the paper's "principled decision" in not endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 race. Bezos began the piece Monday by citing a Gallup poll showing Americans losing trust in the media, even falling below Congress, telling readers "Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working." Fox News

National Security

China increases number of DF-26 'Guam killer' nuclear missiles in arsenal, DIA says . . . China is expanding the number of road-mobile DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles that Beijing has called the "Guam killer" for its ability to attack American forces on the Pacific island, according to a Defense Intelligence Agency report on foreign nuclear threats. The DIA stated that China is deploying more DF-26s, described as Beijing's first-ever precision-strike nuclear capability. "The commingling of nuclear and conventional capabilities raises the potential for inadvertent escalation during a conflict," the report said. Washington Times

China can't make its intentions about invading Taiwan any more clear.

US Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges . . . The U.S. is running low on some types of air-defense missiles, raising questions about the Pentagon's readiness to respond to the continuing wars in the Middle East and Europe and a potential conflict in the Pacific. Interceptors are fast becoming the most sought-after ordnance during the widening crisis in the Middle East, as Israel and other U.S. allies face an increasing threat from missiles and drones fired by Iran and the militias it supports. The shortfall could become even more urgent after Israel's Friday night strikes on Iran, which U.S. officials fear might spark another wave of attacks by Tehran. Wall Street Journal

International

Pentagon says North Korea sent 10,000 troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine . . . The deployment reflects rapidly warming ties between North Korea and Russia, which has caused deep unease in Washington and Seoul, South Korea. South Korean intelligence officials, who first reported the troop deployment plans, worry that the North's troops and ammunition will bolster Russia's campaign inside Ukraine while giving Kim Jong-un's regime vital battlefield training and access to sophisticated Russian military technology. The military personnel likely will join Russian forces operating near Ukraine over the next several weeks. Washington Times

Money

Deficit Threat Drives Bond Yields Higher . . . The prospect of a rising federal budget deficit is fueling a sharp climb in bond yields, with investors betting a challenging fiscal situation will only get worse after the election. Treasury yields, which rise when bond prices fall, jumped Monday after a $69 billion government auction of 2-year notes attracted tepid demand from investors. That marked the latest leg in a weekslong bond-market selloff that began after a run of strong economic data undercut bets on rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Wall Street Journal

Jamie Dimon launches scathing attack on Biden-Harris administration after privately backing VP . . . Jamie Dimon told a conference of bankers Monday that he's 'tired of this s***' when it comes to regulation on banks from the Biden-Harris administration. The JPMorgan Chase CEO - who has reportedly eyed the position of Treasury Secretary under Harris - said this despite an investigation revealing he privately backs Kamala Harris for president. Dimon, 68, blasted several major U.S. financial regulatory initiatives on Monday and vowed to oppose those he thinks would hurt banks. Daily Mail

You should also know

Lost Chopin waltz unearthed after almost 200 years . . . A new piece of music believed to be by the Polish composer Frederic Chopin has been discovered nearly 200 years after it was written.

The unknown waltz was unearthed in the vault of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. The rare manuscript - dated between 1830 and 1835 - was discovered by curator Robinson McClellan while he was cataloguing new collections. He then worked with a leading Chopin expert to authenticate the score. BBC

People opt out of organ donation programs after reports of a man mistakenly declared dead . . . Transplant experts are seeing a spike in people revoking organ donor registrations, their confidence shaken by reports that organs were nearly retrieved from a Kentucky man mistakenly declared dead. It happened in 2021 and while details are murky surgery was avoided and the man is still alive. But donor registries in the U.S. and even across the Atlantic are being impacted after the case was publicized recently. A drop in donations could cost the lives of people awaiting a transplant. Associated Press

Guilty Pleasures

Moment Kamala Harris' Michigan rally crowd goes awkwardly silent . . . At one point in her speech, the crowd began to rhythmically chant her name - 'Ka-ma-la, Ka-ma-la, Ka-ma-la' - when Harris made a feeble attempt to turn the tables. 'Now I want each of you to shout your own name. Do that,' Harris said with a laugh. 'Because it's about all of us.' Some people began to murmur but the vast majority of people in the crowd went silent in confusion, lowering signs and looking around. Daily Mail