Jordan’s Speaker Run, Gaza Hospital Attack, & AI Causing A Recession
October 18, 2023
No One’s Supportin’ Jim Jordan
On Tuesday, Republican Representative Jim Jordan took a solid blow in his bid for the House speaker’s gavel. The Ohio Republican, a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus and ally of former President Donald Trump, fell far short of the 217 votes needed to win his speakership, with just 200 representatives backing him. Despite Republicans holding a slim majority in the House, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was actually the frontrunner in the first vote, with all 212 Democrats in the House backing him.
20 House Republicans played spoiler in Jordan’s first vote, voting for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and a few other alternatives. Jordan’s opponents include more moderate GOP members, as well as a few Representatives who were frustrated with the House Freedom Caucus for tainting budget talks and driving out McCarthy.
While a few of those anti-Jordan Republicans say they’ll change their ballot choices when a second speaker vote takes place today, a few are still holding out on the far-right Republican. Nebraska Representative Don Bacon said that he “can’t get past the fact that a small group in our conference violated the rules to get rid of Kevin, and then blocked Steve,” referring to an incident last week where Scalise was blocked from the speaker’s race despite winning a majority of the GOP conference, 113-99. Jordan and other far-right Republicans promised that they would refuse to vote for him on the House floor, making his conference victory a moot point.
Democrats, meanwhile, were probably kicking their little feet in glee behind the benches of the House. With Jeffries standing as the frontrunner following the first vote, some have floated the idea of a bipartisan consensus speaker. “People are talking to one another. We’ve had a House that’s now been shut down by the extreme wing of their party,” said Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MA).
Some Good News
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett says it would be a “good idea” for Supreme Court to adopt ethics rules (CBS)
- ‘Every square inch is covered in life’: the ageing oil rigs that became marine oases (Guardian)
The World Is Changing – Are You Keeping Up?
- Every moment, the planet sends us signals. Rising seas, roaring wildfires, and record-breaking storms all shout the same message: climate change is the biggest story of our lifetime. Tune into this global narrative with Heatmap News.
- Heatmap News is Daily Pnut’s favorite source for climate change news. It’s not just another news outlet – it’s dedicated to the chronicle of our changing planet. With exclusive insights from top reporters, their non-partisan analysis ensures you get the unvarnished truth, every time.
- Learn about electric vehicles, power up your knowledge on sustainable energy, and stay abreast of the most groundbreaking climate trends. Climate change isn’t just science – it’s our shared history in the making. Be a part of the conversation with Heatmap News.
Another Day, Another Tragedy
- Late yesterday, a massive blast shook the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, the blast is estimated to have killed over 500 people. The hospital’s director told the press that around 350 casualties of the blast were hurried from the rubble of the al-Ahli hospital to al-Shifa, Gaza City’s main hospital.
- At the time of writing, it’s unclear who exactly is responsible for the blast. Israel has placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Islamic Jihad, a radical Palestinian militant group that often works with Hamas. The IDF’s chief army spokesman claimed there were no Israeli air force, ground, or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast, and said that intercepted communications indicated that an Islamic Jihad rocket was fired from the area just before the explosion. Islamic Jihad, for its part, blamed an Israeli airstrike for the blast, pointing to IDF warnings that the hospital should be evacuated, as well as past Israeli bombings of the structure.
- The explosion has kicked the conflict into an even higher gear, just as U.S. President Joe Biden prepared for his wartime visit to the Middle East. In the wake of the blast, a regional summit held in Jordan that Biden was supposed to attend was canceled, though he still plans to meet with Israel to secure passage for humanitarian aid to Gaza. The hospital strike has also sparked protests across the Middle East, with demonstrators taking to the streets in the occupied West Bank and Beirut.
Want To Know More?
- Spain rejects Israeli claims of its officials aligning with Hamas (Guardian)
- China and Russia criticize Israel as divisions with the West sharpen (CNN)
- UN Security Council rejects Russia’s resolution on Gaza that fails to mention Hamas (AP)
- Leaders to meet as EU struggles to put on united front over Israel-Hamas war (Guardian)
- Hamas admits Israel killed a top commander (Politico)
Coming To A Compromise With The Opposition
- After a year of silence between the two parties, Venezuela’s government and the opposition resumed talks regarding the country’s ongoing political crisis on Tuesday. Late in the day, leaders from both sides agreed to electoral guarantees for the 2024 presidential elections, which are now set to be held in the second half of next year.
- Tuesday’s summit in Barbados, mediated by Norway, was the first meeting between the two parties in over 11 months. Each side will put forth a single candidate for the 2024 election, though some potential candidates will still remain banned from participating in accordance with prior restrictions. President Nicolas Maduro was brought to the table by promises that the U.S. might ease some oil-related sanctions on Venezuela, though it’s unclear what exactly the White House has planned in that department.
Additional World News
- Water level at Amazon port in Brazil hits lowest point in 121 years amid drought (Guardian)
- As China’s Belt and Road project turns 10, it’s about more than just development (NPR)
- Hamas releases first video of a hostage taken to Gaza (CNN)
- King Abdullah on Gaza: ‘No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt’ (Reuters)
- Brussels attack: Belgian police shoot suspected gunman in killing of two Swedes (CNN)
- Putin in first pictured handshake with EU leader since start of Ukraine invasion (Politico)
- Versailles Palace evacuated again in security scare with France on heightened alert against attacks (AP)
“The differences that separate human beings are nothing compared to the similarities that bond us together.” – Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
It’s A Judeo-Christian Nation, Apparently
- Former President Donald Trump has joined with fellow GOP presidential candidate Governor Ron DeSantis in announcing that he would not allow Gaza refugees into the U.S. He also promised to expand his highly unpopular Muslim travel ban. He told his supporters in Iowa that he would begin “ideological screening” for all immigrants and turn away those who sympathize with Hamas and Muslim extremists.
- Trump reminded the crowd that, while he was president, the country stood up for Israel and “Judeo-Christian civilization and values.” Current and former members of communist and totalitarian parties and their sympathizers are already banned from entry into the U.S., but Trump wants the ban to extend to “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots, and maniacs.”
A Decade’s Worth Of Closure
- After 18 years of speculation and loose ends, Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, is set to plead guilty today and reveal details about her death. Van der Sloot was extradited to Alabama from Peru, where he is serving a 28-year sentence after confessing to killing a Peruvian woman in 2010.
- One of the deal’s conditions requires Van der Sloot to reveal how Holloway died and how her body had been disposed of, but his lawyer said, “There won’t be any further investigation or search … for Natalee’s remains.” Van der Sloot attempted to extort money from Holloway’s mom in 2010 in exchange for information about the disappearance, and a grand jury indicted him later that year.
Additional USA Reads
- Trump returning to Manhattan courthouse for New York civil fraud trial (Axios)
- Donald Trump decries gag order in federal 2020 election subversion case (CNN)
- Hochul heads to Israel on ‘solidarity mission’ (Politico)
- Supreme Court tells 5th Circuit to stop its defiance in ghost gun case (NPR)
- ‘We don’t wear that in this country’: Man punches Sikh teen in turban on NYC bus in suspected hate crime (NBC)
- 49 arrested at White House protest calling for Israel-Hamas cease-fire (Axios)
- Wexner Foundation cuts ties with Harvard over ‘tiptoeing’ on Hamas (CNN)
With Great Algorithms Comes Great Responsibility
- According to the head of the SEC, AI might one day cause a “nearly unavoidable” financial crisis unless financial regulators are able to quickly get a handle on the technology. SEC chairman Gary Gensler told the Financial Times on Monday that the U.S. financial system might one day face a massive financial crash due to the lack of diversity in AI models used by financial institutions.
- “It’s frankly a hard challenge,” said SEC chairman Gary Gensler. “It’s a hard financial stability issue to address because most of our regulation is about individual institutions, individual banks, individual money market funds, individual brokers; it’s just in the nature of what we do.” He added that AI regulation would be a “horizontal issue,” because “many institutions might be relying on the same underlying base model or underlying data aggregator.”
- His claims aren’t exactly unfounded, either. In 2010, the U.S. stock market lost a trillion dollars in value in just over half an hour before immediately recovering thanks to a glitch in high-frequency trading algorithms. Regulators quickly responded with new rules for the algorithms, but lawmakers hope to get ahead of the curve when it comes to AI.
Additional Reads
- Minecraft becomes first video game to hit 300m sales (BBC)
- How AI could speed up scientific discoveries, from proteins to batteries (NPR)
- Google, DOJ still blocking public access to monopoly trial docs, NYT says (Ars Technica)
- Australia fines X, accusing it of ’empty talk’ on fighting child sexual abuse online (CNN)
- Why Biden’s multibillion-dollar bet on hydrogen energy is such a big deal (Vox)
- How ‘A.I. Agents’ That Roam the Internet Could One Day Replace Workers (NYT, $)
- EasyJet flight canceled because of ‘defecation’ incident (CNN)