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The Memo: GOP strife captivates Capitol, but voters just see ‘dysfunction’ . . . The GOP’s internal strife is deepening this week, despite the narrow avoidance of a government shutdown over the weekend. An effort by hard-line Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to depose Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is expected to dominate the week on Capitol Hill. The Hill

Biden criticizes misinformation on "X" (Twitter), and targets Elon Musk's other companies widely . . . Since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter (now X), relaxed its misinformation policies on the platform and become increasingly critical of Democrats and the Biden administration, federal agencies have begun probing X, Tesla, and SpaceX, raising questions about targeting of the billionaire’s breadth of companies. Following Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year, his companies have been probed by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission as he has been an advocated for free speech on the platform. Just the News

DeSantis said he would support a 15-week abortion ban, after avoiding a direct answer for months . . . When Ron DeSantis seemed to say during last week’s Republican presidential debate that he would support a federal ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy, some anti-abortion activists called it the news they had been waiting months to hear. The president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a leading anti-abortion advocacy group, issued a statement thanking DeSantis “for his commitment to support minimum federal protections for babies.” Washington Times

Gaetz’s GOP support could put McCarthy Speakership in Democrats’ hands . . . Fresh off averting a government shutdown, House members on both sides of the aisle are being thrust into the second historic Speakership battle in a year — forcing Democrats to confront a big political decision. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Monday moved to force a vote on ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), largely based on the handling of a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open on Saturday. The Hill

Meet the Activist Wife Who Networks the Anti-MAGA White House While Her Prosecutor Husband Puts January Sixers in Jail . . . Attorney General Merrick B. Garland is the public face of the government’s unprecedented effort to identify, arrest, and prosecute those connected to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the Capitol. But the person handling the day-to-day management of the one of the largest and most politically freighted efforts in the history of American law enforcement has largely flown under the radar: Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. An appointee of President Biden, Graves’ office has prosecuted at least 1,100 Jan. 6 defendants – including roughly 200 people so far this year. Republicans claim that the Justice Department’s steady pace of Jan. 6 arrests and Graves’ prosecutions aim to keep one of Biden’s animating narratives in the news – that, as the president put it, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” RealClearInvestigations

Virtually Nothing the Liberals Say is True - Tucker Carlson 10/2/23 E.P 27 | Tucker Carlson Tonight October 2, 2023

Criminal Gangs Exploit Security Gaps to Infiltrate Airports . . . In a restroom stall in the departure hall of St. Thomas airport in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a recently hired worker waited in January with two taped-up bricks of cocaine until he heard the signal: stomping and knocking.  The airport worker reached down and passed the packages, weighing a total of nearly 5 pounds, under the partition separating him from the adjoining stall. His accomplice, whose face he wasn’t meant to see, stuffed them into a red backpack to take with him on a Spirit Airlines flight to Orlando, Fla. Wall Street Journal

Member of Iranian Influence Network Visited Biden White House Five Times . . . An alleged member of a secret Iranian government influence network visited the Biden White House at least five times for high-level meetings with senior U.S. officials, according to visitor logs. Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group, was outed last week as an alleged member of a vast Iranian-government-controlled propaganda network that helped push Tehran’s talking points in Washington, D.C., and influence policy, according to Semafor. Vaez reportedly communicated with senior Iranian government associates as part of the Iran Experts Initiative, an influence operation run by Iran’s foreign ministry. Free Beacon

Russia May Be Planning to Test a Nuclear-Powered Missile . . . Satellite imagery and aviation data suggest that Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile  — or may have recently tested one — with a theoretical range of thousands of miles. Movements of aircraft and vehicles at and near a base in Russia’s remote Arctic region are consistent with preparations that were made for tests of the missile, known as the Burevestnik or SSC-X-9 Skyfall, in 2017 and 2018, according to a New York Times analysis. U.S. surveillance planes have also been tracked in the area over the last two weeks, and aviation alerts have warned pilots to avoid nearby airspace. New York Times

Pentagon Sees Months Left in Supply of Weapons for Ukraine . . . The Pentagon has more than $5 billion remaining in its coffers to provide weaponry and other security assistance to Ukraine even after Congress declined to include more funding for the war in a weekend bill to keep the government open, Pentagon officials said. Wall Street Journal

Ukraine is officially America's new forever war. President Biden, how does this end? . . . By Sen. Mike Lee , Rep. Warren Davidson. Ukraine is the new obsession for Washington’s war hawks. "As long as it takes" remains the mantra of the Biden administration regarding support for Ukraine. According to reports from September's U.N. General Assembly meeting, U.S. and G-7 allies expect the war in Ukraine to continue for at least six to seven years. Of course, the other implication is "as much as it takes." No price tag is too high. No weapons system is off the table. All questions of risk and tradeoffs, along with those who raise them, are causally dismissed. Ukraine is officially America's new endless war. Fox News

Why MAGA Wants to Betray Ukraine . . . By Paul Krugman. So the federal government wasn’t shut down over the weekend, although we may have to go through this whole drama again in six weeks. Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, ended up doing the obvious: bringing a funding bill to the floor that could pass only with Democratic votes, because the hard-liners in his own party wouldn’t agree to anything feasible. And the bill didn’t include any of the spending cuts Republicans have been demanding, except for one big, bad thing: a cutoff of aid to Ukraine. New York Times

Right versus right in Ukraine . . . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to the United States last month bearing a powerful moral message: Ukraine’s cause in fighting back against Russia is an unusually clear case of good versus evil. Like Churchill rallying his people against Hitler’s forces in World War II, he urged continued American resolve in ensuring that the war ends in Ukrainian victory, and he warned that any compromise with Moscow will only invite more aggression. America, he argued, faces a stark choice between right and wrong. If only things were that clear. In fact, the lengthening and increasingly bloody conflict in Ukraine is forcing the United States to grapple with a moral dilemma: a choice not between right and wrong, but between right and right. Responsible Statecraft

Serbian Troops On Kosovo Border Stoke Fears Of New Balkan War . . . Kosovo, the partially recognized Balkan country, that declared independence from Serbia in 2008, has warned that the presence of Serbian forces along their shared border may indicate that its neighbor is poised to launch an invasion, with a landgrab much like that visited upon Ukraine by Russia. The prospect of a new war breaking out in Europe may have diminished somewhat, however, after Serbia claimed to have responded to U.S. pressure over the weekend by withdrawing at least some of the troops that had been massing on the frontier. TheDrive

Israel ambassador warns UN 'contaminated' by antisemitism, says peace with Saudis can 'transform' region . . . Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan had pointed remarks for the world body after being detained by its security personnel, telling Fox News Digital that antisemitism is "very prevalent" within the halls of the U.N. "The U.N. is a building, and it's fair to say that in this building, antisemitism sadly is very prevalent," Erdan said during an interview with Fox News Digital. "There are many antisemitic countries like Iran who want to annihilate the one and only Jewish state, and we don't hear any condemnation against Iran for saying it." Fox News

Money

Finance experts’ crucial advice for Americans who want to buy homes and ‘bloody Sunday’ . . . As decades-high mortgage rates shake up the real estate landscape, financial experts on the Ramsey Solutions team have provided advice for homeowners to navigate the volatile market. "If you're out of debt and you've got your emergency fund, prices aren't going to go anywhere but up, even with interest rates going up," Ramsey Solutions founder Dave Ramsey said on a "Fox & Friends" panel Friday. "So if you get an interest rate you don't like, you obviously can refinance later and get back out of it. But the housing market is just stalled." Fox Business

Ford, GM Lay Off About 500 Factory Workers as UAW Strike Effects Ripple Out . . . Ford Motor and General Motors have laid off an additional 500 workers combined, knock-on effects from the United Auto Workers’ ongoing strike. Late Monday, Ford said it idled two factories that supply parts to a sport-utility-vehicle assembly plant in Chicago, where workers walked off the job on Friday. Work stopped at a stamping plant near the SUV factory and an engine plant in Lima, Ohio, resulting in the layoffs of about 330 employees, the company said. Wall Street Journal

Obscure federal commissions and boards funded by taxpayers, contribute to budget bloat and patronage . . . This weekend Speaker McCarthy succeeded in passing a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for 45 days, averting a government shutdown. The funding measure, which many of the more conservative Republican House members criticized, maintains 2023 fiscal year spending levels until the House and Senate can pass long-term funding bills. Though the large federal agencies — like the Departments of Defense and Agriculture — will continue operating, often overlooked are the smaller federal entities — commissions, institutes, and administrations —that continue to receive funding year after year with almost no public attention and can serve as a patronage network for the sitting president using powers granted in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Just the News

Culture

Congressman’s Car Stolen at Gunpoint in Washington . . . Rep. Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) was carjacked in Washington on Monday evening, according to his office, the second lawmaker this year to be the victim of a violent crime in the nation’s capital. Cuellar wasn’t physically harmed, said Jacob Hochberg, his chief of staff.  The incident occurred Monday evening in the Navy Yard neighborhood when three armed assailants approached the congressman while he was parking and stole the car. Wall Street Journal

Where they’re headed: New data reveals illegal immigrants’ top destinations . . . New York may be complaining the loudest about the influx of illegal immigrants, but government data shows the migrants from the Biden border surge are reaching every corner of the country and straining communities’ ability to accommodate them.
The numbers are so overwhelming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hasn’t been able to start deportation proceedings in about half of the cases, according to data provided to a federal court tracking roughly 2,500 migrants caught and released over a few days in May. Washington Times

Charlotte Sena, 9-year-old girl abducted from NY park, was found safe inside cabinet of suspect’s camper . . . The 9-year-old girl who was abducted from an upstate New York park over the weekend was found safe inside the cupboard of a camper RV belonging to the suspect, who was caught after leaving a ransom note at the child’s home. Charlotte Sena was rescued from the home of alleged abductor Craig Nelson Ross Jr., 47, putting an end to her nightmarish ordeal that began Saturday when she was taken from Moreau Lake State Park in Saratoga County, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday night. New York Post

Alina Habba Denies Donald Trump's Lack of Jury Is Her Fault . . . Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, has denied suggestions that the former president is not getting a jury trial in his New York $250 million fraud civil case because his legal team did not request one in legal filings. On the first day of proceedings, Judge Arthur Engoron told the Manhattan courtroom that "nobody asked for" a jury trial, and that is why the outcome of the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James will be decided by the judge in a bench trial. Newsweek

Rep. Bowman Pulls Fire Alarm Again While Trying To Flush Urinal . . . New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman again found himself trying to explain away an awkward situation today, as he apparently once again pulled the Capitol fire alarm whilst attempting to flush a urinal. "Oh my, is that what that does? I thought it was for the urinal," Bowman reportedly said when questioned by the Capitol Police. "I was just trying to get rid of my waste. Shaking hands with an old friend, you know? I thought pulling that lever would evacuate my urine from the receptacle. My mistake!" Babylon Bee