White House Dossier's

Biden is worried about wider war in the Middle East. Here’s how it could happen . . . Biden administration officials are especially concerned that armed groups backed by Iran are preparing to exact more bloodshed. Aside from Hamas, those proxy forces include Lebanon and Iraq-based Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen. “We see a prospect for much more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel in the near term. And let’s be clear about it, the road leads back to Iran,” a senior Defense Department official told reporters Monday. The official was granted anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the record. Arab officials are worried, too. They are urging Washington to help defuse the tensions by using what leverage it has with Israel. Some say the United States should call for a cease-fire, but the Biden team is unwilling to do so, saying Israel has the right to respond to the Hamas attacks. Politico

Who is Speaker nominee Mike Johnson? . . . Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday became the GOP’s fourth nominee for Speaker.
Johnson, vice chair of the House GOP conference, won the nod just hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) clinched the nomination but was forced to drop out amid opposition. The Hill

Republicans Are Tearing Themselves to Pieces. Elise Stefanik Isn’t Joining Them . . . Steve Scalise. Tom Emmer. Gary Palmer. Jim Jordan. Mike Johnson. Everyone in the House GOP’s leadership ranks — plus a host of other rank-and-file members — has taken a shot at replacing Kevin McCarthy, with one curious exception: Elise Stefanik.The highest ranking Republican woman in the House, Stefanik has been conspicuously absent from the speakership discussion. While she has remained highly visible in running the conference meetings and offering enthusiastic endorsements of various failed nominees, the GOP conference chair has avoided throwing her own hat in the ring or even offering public comment about her intentions. It’s a potentially savvy move, allowing her to steer clear of the career-killing chaos now engulfing the GOP.  Politico

Biden Associate At Center Of China Money Transfers Played Golf With Joe Up To A Dozen Times, FBI Docs Show . . . Hunter Biden’s former business associate Rob Walker, who wired money from China to Biden family members, played golf with Joe Biden between “eight to twelve times,” he told the FBI in a December 2020 transcribed interview. Walker spoke to the FBI about his role in Hunter Biden’s business enterprise with Chinese partners and described his golf outings with Joe Biden, according to a partially redacted transcript of his FBI interview. Daily Caller

KJP says she misheard question after which she downplayed antisemiticism . . . White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday answered a question about antisemitism by talking about hate against Muslims. Tuesday, she said she had misheard the question. You be judge of whether the question was unclear as you watch the video on White House Dossier

Mark Meadows granted immunity in Trump DC election case . . . Mark Meadows reached an immunity deal with the Department of Justice ahead of testifying before a federal grand jury this year in the case against former President Donald Trump related to the 2020 election, according to a report. Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, reportedly testified that he informed Trump repeatedly after the election that allegations of widespread voter fraud were baseless, according to ABC News, which cited unnamed "sources familiar with the matter." Washington Examiner

U.S. readies plans for mass evacuations if Gaza war escalates . . . The Biden administration is preparing for the possibility that hundreds of thousands of American citizens will require evacuation from the Middle East if the bloodshed in Gaza cannot be contained, according to four officials familiar with the U.S. government’s contingency planning.  The specter of such an operation comes as Israeli forces, aided by U.S. weapons and military advisers, prepare for what is widely expected to be a perilous ground offensive against Hamas militants responsible for the stunning cross-border attack that has reignited hostilities. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail internal deliberations, said Americans living in Israel and neighboring Lebanon are of particular concern, though they stressed that an evacuation of that magnitude is considered a worst-case scenario and that other outcomes are seen as more likely. Washington Post

But, seriously, if you live in New York and don’t think the state’s ever-swelling army of border-hoppers is a serious problem, then you really — really — haven’t been paying attention. So no surprise, then, that a poll Tuesday from the Siena College Research Institute finds not only that New Yorkers are uber-stressed over immigration — but that President Biden has but a single-digit lead over Donald Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up next year. Clearly, federal fecklessness has consequences. New York Post

Weapons Flood Israel’s West Bank, Fueling Fears of New War Front . . . Long before Hamas militants burst out of their Gaza stronghold to massacre scores of civilians with handguns and assault rifles, Iran and its allies had accelerated efforts to smuggle weapons into a different part of the Palestinian territories, the West Bank. Using drones, secret airline flights and a land bridge that traverses hundreds of miles and at least four national borders, the smuggling operation is raising the specter of a new conflagration in the war between Israel and Palestinians. It also poses a growing threat to Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally which borders Israel and the West Bank and has been struggling to contain a growing flow of drugs and arms. Wall Street Journal

German city deletes pro-Hamas group from website after 'Post' query . . . By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL. The northern German city of Bremen deleted the entry of the reportedly pro-Hamas group “Bremer Peace Forum” (Bremer Friedensforum) because the group allegedly seeks the destruction of Israel. Christoph Sonnenberg, a spokesman for the city of Bremen, responded to a Jerusalem Post press query on Monday, stating “We have looked at the contents of the page 'Bremer Friedensforum' and have come to the conclusion to immediately terminate the link to the page of ‘Bremen.de.’ Israel's right to exist is inviolable for the Bremen Senate."  The Bremen journalist Dr. Marcus Ermler first exposed the antisemitic activities of the pro-BDS "Bremer Friedensforum" group last week on the pro-Israel website The Axis of Good (Die Achse des Guten). Jerusalem Post

Congrats to my friend Benny Weinthal for this victory! To share with you something extraordinary, Ben has been banned from Twitter/X, while Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is allowed to spew his venomous propaganda. We tried to appeal to Twitter, asking to restore Ben's access, with no results. Looks like Elon Musk hasn't gotten rid of all the libtards at his company yet.

‘They’re running out of time’: Ukraine’s counteroffensive is gaining urgency as winter approaches . . . While the world is distracted by geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, Ukraine continues to fight Russian forces across a swathe of the country, battling through deep Russian defenses along the south and east. It’s an understatement to say Ukraine’s counteroffensive, launched in June, has not been as successful as Kyiv and its Western allies hoped it would be — with Russian forces deeply dug in to defensive positions, progress has been tough for Ukraine and only a dozen or so towns and villages have been recaptured. CNBC

Money

Treasury just dropped a financial bomb, but Bidenomics means the worst is yet to come . . . With all the chaos and heartbreaking loss of life around the world today, few noticed the Treasury Department drop a financial bomb: the deficit for fiscal year 2023 was $1.7 trillion, growing 23 percent in a single year as the Treasury used $879 billion just to service the federal debt. But Bidenomics means the worst is yet to come, and multi-trillion-dollar deficits are the new normal. Fox Business

Exxon, Chevron Invest in the West as Global Conflicts Increase . . . As the world becomes more dangerous, the two largest Western crude producers are focusing their investments closer to home. Chevron in a $53 billion deal that gives it access to one of this century’s biggest oil finds in the South American country of Guyana and allows it to double down on shale by expanding its presence to North Dakota. Both regions are established oil producers with limited geopolitical tensions, affording Chevron new reserves with fewer risks. Wall Street Journal

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: Central banks have been 'dead wrong' . . . JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday warned against relying on the economic forecasts of central banks like the Federal Reserve, recalling how their projections were "100% dead wrong" in the not-so-distant past. "Prepare for possibilities and probabilities, not calling one course of action, since I've never seen anyone call it," Dimon said during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Saudi Arabia. Fox Business

Culture

Consumer Reports finds more lead, cadmium in chocolate, urges change at Hershey . . . Consumer Reports on Wednesday said it has found "concerning" levels of lead and cadmium in a new array of chocolate products, and renewed its call for Hershey (HSY.N) to reduce the amounts of heavy metals its chocolate contains. The magazine said 16 of the 48 chocolate products from various makers that its scientists tested recently in seven categories - dark chocolate, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and mixes for brownies, chocolate cake and hot chocolate - contained potentially harmful levels of lead, cadmium or both. Reuters

You Gorged on Your European Vacation but Lost Weight. Why? . . . Americans who eat their way through Europe sometimes come home surprised to see a lower number on the scale. weight loss on European sojourns points to unhealthy American diets and processed foods. It’s also true that the food is often healthier in Europe. Ultra-processed foods common in the U.S. include artificial additives and highly refined ingredients and are rich in starch, sugar and salt, says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University. He points to a study in the European Journal of Nutrition that found that among adults in the U.S., 57% of calories come from ultra-processed food, compared with 12% in Europe. Studies show a link between eating more processed foods and obesity, weight gain, diabetes and heart disease. Wall Street Journal

Americans are addicted to sugar. And the food industry is responsible for developing this addiction. Sugar is added to everything, even ketchup and tomato sauce. It's done deliberately so people keep buying it. Those who come from outside of the US and taste American food for the first time notice that everything tastes sweet, not just sodas, everything.  It takes a few weeks to get used to it. American deserts taste disgusting to me because the only taste you feel is that of sugar and nothing else.

I've tried to keep sugar away from my kids as they were growing up but failed to develop good eating habits. They are now waling around with sugar-laced Starbucks drinks in their hands and "healthy" cereal bars. I feel helpless. Sugar is a drug. And don't get me started on all the chemicals in our food. The food supply is literally poisoned. Love America and capitalism. Hate totalitarianism and socialism. But sometimes capitalism backfires at us. Pardon my rant!

Trump appointee strikes down NYC gun-license requirement of ‘good moral character . . . A federal judge ruled Tuesday that New York City’s requirement for a gun license applicant to have “good moral character” ran afoul of the Constitution. U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan, a Trump appointee, said the requirement gave officials “vast discretion on licensing,” which was inconsistent with the nation’s founding and traditions related to firearm ownership and possession. Washington Times

California DMV suspends Cruise’s self-driving car permits, effective immediately . . . The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday suspended Cruise’s deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles, effective immediately. The news follows a barrage of safety concerns and incidents since Cruise, owned by General Motors, received approval in August for round-the-clock robotaxi service in San Francisco. “When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits,” the California DMV said in a statement. CNBC

Video | Biden engages medal of science winner in death grip and won’t let go

Older Americans are dominating like never before, but what comes next? . . . Even beyond Washington, a geriatric elite also controls many other aspects of an aging society, to such an extent that in some professions there are deep concerns about how those roles will be filled in decades to come. In medicine, big business, farming, construction trades, and across much of the American economy, the workforce is getting older and older. In the leadership ranks, the elderly are increasingly staying in command, well past traditional retirement age, which can sometimes limit the positions available to younger workers from a wider variety of backgrounds. Washington Post

Flesh-eating parasite spread by sand flies is causing skin infections in US, CDC says . . . A flesh-eating parasitic disease, typically seen in people who travel to tropical or subtropical areas, is now spreading through some sand flies in parts of the U.S., according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis. The disease, known as leishmaniasis, occurs through a bite of an infected female sand fly, which consumes blood to produce eggs. The Hill

Republicans Place House Speaker Job On ZipRecruiter . . . House Republicans have placed the job of House Speaker on ZipRecruiter in what political commentators are calling a rare show of unity for the party. "Kevin McCarthy wasn't good enough!" Rep Matt Gaetz screamed wildly as he entered the job requirements into ZipRecruiter. "Any random person who comes in off the street is sure to be better than him. Babylon Bee