Bleak midterm outlook shadows bitter Democratic battle . . . The 2022 midterm elections — and the very real possibility that Democrats could be swept from their House majority — is hanging over the bitter political fight within the party over President Biden’s domestic agenda. The centrist House Democrats representing swing districts who see their seats as providing Democrats with their majority say progressives are being short-sighted and selfish by holding up a vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill they could tout as a major victory back home. If Democrats do lose the House, these lawmakers suggest it will be the fault of liberal colleagues in diamond blue districts who have little to fear themselves in next year’s midterms. The Hill

 

Anti-Biden ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ catchphrase becomes all the rage on right . . . Little did NBC NASCAR reporter Kelli Stavast know that she had just launched an instant political sensation last weekend when she said fans were cheering driver Brandon Brown — and not shouting a profane anti-Biden chant. “Let’s go, Brandon” has exploded on the right, arming cheeky conservatives with a deceptively innocuous cri de coeur that takes sarcastic swings at President Biden and the mainstream media without running afoul of technology censors. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, gave the catchphrase his seal of approval, saying “The clip is surreal.” “Listening to the NBC reporter say, ‘Look, they’re chanting let’s go Brandon.’ It captures everything about fake news all at once.” Washington Times

 

 

 

 

Tulsi Gabbard accuses Biden's Homeland Security Sec. Mayorkas of boldly lying to Congress . . . Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard slammed President Biden's immigration policies on Saturday during "Justice with Judge Jeanine," which she said had serious humanitarian and national security consequences. "The Biden-Harris administration has an open-door policy at the borders," the Hawaii Democrat said. "The reality is that people are being let in and crossing the border every single day." Under the Biden administration, encounters between Border Patrol and illegal immigrants have skyrocketed. In August, there were over 200,000 encounters, up more than 300 percent from the same month in 2020. Fox News

 

 

Pentagon's Subversion Games and Double Standards Endanger Americans . . . Opinion/Analysis by Rebekah Koffler. Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, who had criticized military leadership on social media for the poorly executed US exit from the Afghan war, has been charged with six crimes in a special court-martial. This vindictive act of disproportionate punishment of a US citizen, who simply exercised his constitutional right to free speech, demonstrates the Pentagon’s double-standard when it comes to dealing with those who challenge what the military calls “chain of command.” While only a handful of brave officers, like Scheller, reach the headlines, there are hundreds of us who’ve lost careers and livelihoods for speaking truth to power. Intolerance of dissent and criticism and retaliation against whistleblowers is a systemic problem in the Pentagon and the government bureaucracy at large. The almighty permanent government strikes back with vengeance at anyone who dares to disclose its incompetence, airing it out in public. The incompetence and double-standards of the Pentagon and our spy agencies endanger Americans. New York Post

 

 

 

Navy engineer, wife accused of trying to sell nuclear submarine secrets . . . A turncoat Navy engineer was bagged by the feds for trying to pass along US nuclear secrets — inside half a peanut-butter sandwich, court documents allege. The 42-year-old Maryland suspect found himself in a jam when it turned out the foreign operative he thought he was dealing with was actually an FBI agent, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Sunday. The feds say Jonathan Toebbe of Annapolis stashed secrets about the country’s Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines on a blue, plastic-coated SD memory card — then sandwiched the tiny device between two slabs of bread slathered with peanut butter. New York Post

 

EXCLUSIVE: Israel may accept Iran as nuclear-threshold power on condition of US-Russian guarantees . . . Israel, Iran, the US and Russia are engaged in secret talks for Israel’s acceptance of Iran as a nuclear threshold power in return for a US-Russian guarantee that Tehran will not cross the threshold to make a nuclear bomb. Kremlin sources say that reports of a forthcoming summit between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, possibly on Oct. 22, attest to those talks making progress towards a deal. A strong clue to this secret ploy also came from Washington. Last week, an Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata met with his US counterpart Jack Sullivan for what was officially billed as a discussion of Plan B, should President Joe Biden’s bid to revive the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran fail. This presentation was meant to distract from the secret track afoot brokered by the two big powers on the Iranian nuclear issue. DEBKAfile

 

China’s Xi Emphasizes ‘Peaceful Reunification’ With Taiwan, Days After Record Show of Force . . . Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan days after China’s People’s Liberation Army sent a record 56 bombers and other aircraft on sorties near the self-ruled island in a single day. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen answered in a speech the following day, saying Taiwanese people would not bow to Chinese pressure. “The historical task of the complete reunification of the motherland must be fulfilled, and can definitely be fulfilled,” Mr. Xi said in Beijing on Saturday, adding that achieving that goal by peaceful means is in the interests of people in Taiwan. Wall Street Journal

 

Pakistani Scientist A.Q. Khan, Who Secretly Sold Nuclear-Weapons Technology, Dies at 85 . . . Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani scientist who shared nuclear-weapons technology and know-how with countries the U.S. regards as rogue states after helping his country build its first atomic bomb, died Sunday. He was 85 years old. At home, Dr. Khan was widely seen as a hero for making Pakistan the only nuclear-armed country in the Islamic world and giving it a deterrent against its rival, India, which also has atomic weapons. Abroad, he ran a clandestine network selling nuclear-weapons technology. Libya, Iran and North Korea, all hostile to the U.S., were beneficiaries of his expertise. Pakistan gave him a state funeral Sunday, and the national flag was ordered flown at half-staff. Prime Minister Imran Khan praised Dr. Khan for his “critical contribution” to making Pakistan a nuclear-weapons nation. Wall Street Journal

 

 

 

Top 5 richest Americans on Forbes 400 List: Who are they? . . . The same multibillionaire has topped the list for four consecutive years. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Larry Page. Fox Business

 

Video | Biden discusses dismal jobs report and then flees from the press
 

'Watters' World' investigates Nancy Pelosi's financial dealings up to $315 million in assets . . . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has served in Congress for nearly 34 years and presently presides in a top-tier position as one of the most powerful figures in the U.S. government. Amid a recent flurry of complicated decisions she's had to face as leader of her caucus, Fox News host Jesse Watters launched a "Watters' World" investigation into her financial dealings during her tenure in politics. Watters condemned her policies, saying they're making it "harder and harder for average Americans to accumulate wealth," shackling them with taxes and "destroying the dollar with reckless spending."  The current salary of a Speaker of the House sits in the low six-figures, yet Pelosi is one of the richest members of Congress. Fox News

 

If Trump Wins in 2024, Then Who Threatens Democracy? . . . A Washington Post essay by Robert Kagan, a neoconservative pundit associated with the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, warned that “we are already in a constitutional crisis” because of the certainty that Mr. Trump and his voters will reject his defeat in the upcoming 2024 election and trigger the worst crisis “since the Civil War.” The alternative outcome goes unmentioned thanks to a giant lacuna that exists in half of America’s mental landscape, and in the mental landscape of 99% of the media. Mr. Kagan relies on some just-so oversimplification, but we’d be foolish not to see the risk of civil disorder and legal shenanigans as high no matter who loses in 2024. Downtowns were boarded up on the eve of the 2020 race not against angry and aggrieved Trump voters. Rural riots are hardly a thing. It was in deeply blue areas that local officials feared mass violence if the election didn’t turn out the way Democrats wanted. Wall Street Journal 

 

Smoking marijuana could lead to breakthrough COVID cases, study finds . . . Heavy marijuana users who are also vaccinated may be more susceptible to breakthrough cases of COVID-19, a new study found. The study, published last Tuesday in World Psychology, found that those with a substance use disorder (SUD) — a dependence on marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, opioids and tobacco — were more likely to contract the coronavirus after receiving both of their vaccination shots. Those without a SUD saw a 3.6 percent rate of breakthrough infections, compared to a 7 percent rate in those with a SUD. At 7.8 percent, those with marijuana use disorder were most at risk for breakthrough infections, the study found. Among other substances, the risk disappeared when considering issues such as underlying health conditions and socioeconomic status. New York Post

 

Miami: Cat-astrophe averted as fans catch falling feline using flag at American football game . . . Video footage showed the black and white feline apparently clinging by its claws to fabric on the front of the upper deck after it got stuck. It fell about nine meters to the lower level of the stadium, where fans used an American flag as a makeshift net to safely catch it.

 

 "They were trying to grab it from above and they couldn't reach it, but they were scaring it downward," said Craig Cromer, a facilities manager at the University of Miami and season-ticket holder who with his wife Kimberly brings the flag to each home game. "It hung there for a little while with its two front paws, then one paw, then I was like, 'Oh my goodness, it's coming soon'." Mr Cromer unhooked the flag from the railing and the cat fell into it and was secured by the crowd before being taken away by stadium security workers. Sky News