White House Dossier's

Gaza fighting intensifies as hostage deal takes shape . . . Israel intensified its offensive in northern Gaza ahead of a potential deal with Hamas that would see the militant group free dozens of hostages in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners and a partial pause in fighting. A possible agreement comes amid growing domestic pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to secure the release of more than 200 Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas and other militants during the group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Relatives of the hostages have in recent days organized street protests and a march to Jerusalem that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators, and on Monday met with members of the war cabinet in Tel Aviv. Israel and Hamas were nearing a deal on Tuesday to exchange at least 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza for some 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, according to officials familiar with the negotiations. Wall Street Journal

How many aid groups knew Hamas was hiding in a hospital and lied about it?

Israeli military, border residents push Netanyahu to deal with Hezbollah too . . . Many Israelis who live near the border say their military can’t end the fighting without assuring them that Hezbollah can’t do to them what Hamas did to Israelis in the south. Israeli military officials have amplified the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a decisive blow. The issue has become a point of contention in Israel’s war cabinet, where Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has pushed for broader military action against Hezbollah, and in Washington, where the Biden administration has put consistent pressure on Israel to refrain from taking provocative steps in Lebanon that could drag the American military deeper into the fight. Wall Street Journal

Biden highway funding tied to woke priorities . . . "Projects that have not sufficiently considered equity and barriers to opportunity in their planning, as determined by the Department, will be required to do so before receiving funds for construction," the DOT's Notice of Funding Opportunity. "Projects that have not sufficiently considered climate change and environmental justice in their planning, as determined by the Department, will be required to do so before receiving funds for construction," the document adds. The two funding conditions cite President Biden's day-one executive order titled "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government." Fox News

Everyone wants politically correct highways, don't they?

FBI ordered agent to scrub anti-Trump posts: Whistleblower . . . Top FBI officials ordered an agent to scrub his Facebook page to delete anti-Trump vitriol before they would promote him to head the bureau’s Miami field office, which covers former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, a whistleblower told Congress. In a disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee, the whistleblower said Jeffrey Veltri was promoted earlier this year to become the special agent in charge of the Miami office.The whistleblower called Mr. Veltri “adamantly and vocally anti-Trump” and said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate and Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore were involved in directing Mr. Veltri to cleanse his social media. Washington Times

At least NY Attorney General Letitia James didn't hide that she was going after Trump for political reasons, getting elected on the platform.

Maryland hate crime official says reports of Hamas baby murders "fake" . . .  A member of a Maryland task force aimed at combating hate crimes published numerous antisemitic social media posts, including claiming that the babies brutally murdered in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack were "fake," and comparing the nation of Israel to Nazi Germany. Zainab Chaudry, an anti-Israel activist who serves as the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Maryland office, made the posts in the weeks following Hamas' attack, which saw more than 1,200 people killed, including children and babies, as well as numerous rapes and destruction of property. Fox News

Wyden: Biden phone surveillance scheme could be illegal . . . Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is questioning the legality of a White House program that enables law enforcement to access trillions of phone records, according to a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) published on Monday. Wyden is pushing the DOJ to publish information on a program called Data Analytical Services for public transparency, according to the letter. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has paid AT&T over $5 million for Americans’ records, frequently without a warrant, since 2009, in what Wyden says may be an illegal program. Daily Caller

Chinese forced labor made your kids' school lunch fish sticks . . . The U.S. government is among the largest institutional buyers of seafood, purchasing more than $400 million in 2022. The investigation found that a portion of this spending goes toward importers that source fish from processing plants using Uyghur labor, in violation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Poltico

Money

Musk sues liberal Media Matters . . . X, a social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America, alleging that the liberal media watchdog group defamed his platform after a published report on how ads for major advertisers appear next to posts with antisemitic rhetoric. X alleged that Media Matters “exploited” the platform’s features of allowing users to control the content they see on their feed by creating a secret account designed to evade normal safeguards and manipulate “every aspect of the system through which posts and advertisements appear, ultimately creating the side-by-side images of objectionable content and advertisements.” The Hill

OpenAI employees threaten to quit unless Altman reinstated . . . The future of OpenAI was in jeopardy Monday, as the vast majority of employees threatened to quit if the board that fired the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, didn’t resign itself and restore him to power.

Some top investors were still pushing to reinstate Altman to his CEO role as of Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter. In interviews later in the day, Nadella left open the possibility that Altman could return to OpenAI in his former role, adding that his goal is to work with Altman in either scenario. WSJ

Best Thanksgiving for gas prices in years . . . The national average of gas prices could drop to the lowest level around Thanksgiving in years, according to new estimates. On Monday, AAA reported that the average national price of gas was about $3.31 per gallon — nearly a 10 percent decrease from last year’s average of $3.67 per gallon during the same period. The national average for gas prices has fallen or remained flat for about 60 consecutive days, according to a AAA press release last week. The Hill

Culture

NYC communists pushing Gaza ceasefire got millions from Goldman Sachs . . . Visitors to the People’s Forum in New York City can attend a seminar on Karl Marx, learn about Vladimir Lenin and "the path to revolution," or help activists organize anti-Israel protests. It’s all made possible by a $12 million donation from Goldman Sachs’s charitable arm. The People’s Forum was the single largest recipient of aid from the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund in 2019, tax filings show. The group received more than the American Friends of Cancer Research, Salvation Army, and Hamilton College—Goldman Sachs chief executive officer David Solomon’s alma mater—combined. Washington Free Beacon

Columbia lets anti-Israel protestors overrun law school . . . Administrators at Columbia Law School stood by for hours on Thursday as anti-Israel protesters took over the law school's lobby, refusing to shut down an unauthorized demonstration that disrupted nearby classes for nearly three hours and violated several school policies. Part of the protest was captured on video. The law school has said nothing about whether the demonstrators will suffer any consequences. Washington Free Beacon

Jon Lovitz blasts politicized late night comedy . . . Actor and comedian Jon Lovitz took aim at the politicization of late night comedy, calling out liberal hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers during an exclusive interview with FOX News Digital. "I don't like it. I don't like it," Lovitz said. "They were comedy shows. And now, except for Jimmy Fallon, they've all become very political. And for me, it's just- it's too much." Fox News

Woman accused of murdering former in-laws with poisonous mushrooms . . . The host of a weekend family lunch at her Australian country home was charged Thursday with murdering her ex-husband’s parents and aunt with poisonous mushrooms and attempting to murder a fourth guest, police said. Police arrested Erin Patterson, 49, at her home in the Victoria state town of Leongatha, where her former husband’s parents, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, 68, were invited for lunch on July 29. All four guests were hospitalized the next day, and only Ian Wilkinson survived. Associated Press

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this it taking problems with your inlaws much too far.

Emotional support alligator asked to leave ballgame . . . An emotional support alligator walks into a ballpark ... and is asked to leave. That's the story that's made headlines in recent days, thanks to viral photos and videos showing Wally — a six foot long, 55 pound alligator wearing a harness and leash — and his human companion outside of Citizens Bank Park during a Phillies game on Wednesday night. NPR

I assume there was also some danger of one emotional support pet eating another.