Wednesday, October 11, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.
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Joe is always busy.
Watch the President’s speech yesterday on the war in Israel. 👇 9 minutes +
'An act of sheer evil': Biden pledges support for Israel, American Jews in speech.
WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced Hamas, calling the surprise attack on Israel launched by the Palestinian militant group "an act of sheer evil," and stressed U.S. support for Israel as it mourns the killing of more than 1,000 people, including at least 14 Americans.
The president also voiced concern for Americans being held hostage by Hamas, an Iranian-backed Islamist group, whose stated purpose, he said, is to "kill Jews."
"There are moments in this life, and I mean this literally, when the pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend," Biden told reporters at the White House.
Biden described what he called "stomach turning" reports of "parents butchered," "babies being killed," "entire families slain" and "women raped, assaulted and paraded as trophies."
At least 14 Americans died in the attack. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a separate briefing that the U.S. believed 20 Americans were missing but it remained unclear if they were being held hostage.
Biden said Hamas had threatened to execute hostages, including survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, in violation of "every code of human morality." He said the group's brutality and "blood thirstiness" was a reminder of the "worst rampages of ISIS." (Reuters).
One more thing.
Washington Post columnist, Jennifer Rubin, on Biden’s speech, which you can watch above. 👆
A speech of amazing moral clarity. I don’t know that any president has spoken more eloquently about evil and the trauma of the Jewish people. At the same time he spoke with PM about law of war. Key. He distinguished between Hamas and Palestinians. Perhaps his best speech ever
— Jennifer Truthful, Not Neutral Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) October 10, 2023
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More proof. America stands with Israel.
Blinken to visit Israel this week.
The secretary of State’s trip is being billed as “a message of solidarity and support.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel later this week in a show of support for its government, the State Department said Tuesday.
The trip, announced by spokesperson Matthew Miller at a Tuesday press briefing, will see Blinken land in Israel on Thursday. While Miller did not provide additional information about logistics, saying that “this is a trip we’re still putting together,” he affirmed that it was intended to show U.S. support for Israel.
“It will be a message of solidarity and support,” Miller said on Tuesday. “We’re there to support them as they fight against these brutal terrorist attacks, to talk about what additional assistance we can provide them.”
Blinken’s visit would be a major sign of U.S. support for the Israeli government as Israel wages war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The intensified fighting came in the wake of an unprecedented surprise attack on Saturday by Hamas militants who stormed the border walls around Gaza, launched rockets toward Israeli cities, and entered settlements and towns in southern Israel, killing and kidnapping Israeli civilians and military personnel.
Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed since fighting began over the weekend. Fourteen American citizens have been killed and 20 American citizens are missing and unaccounted for, national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed at a White House press briefing on Tuesday. The U.S. believes that some Americans are among the hostages in Gaza. (Politico).
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Two up-and-coming Democratic Leaders making us proud during this difficult time.
AOC is a remarkable leader.
On Monday, on RMS, Representative Dan Goldman explained what Hamas’ goals are, and what the situation is now inside Gaza.
I hadn’t heard anyone else as knowledgeable and clear about the differences between the adversaries in this War. A must-watch.
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Sadly, criminal con-man, George Santos, is representative of the Republican Party of 2023.
George Santos charged with 10 additional crimes in updated indictment.
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Tuesday unveiled an updated indictment of Rep. George Santos, adding 10 new federal charges and bringing the total counts faced by the Long Island Republican to 23.
According to prosecutors, Santos stole people’s identities, made charges on his donors’ credit cards without their authorization and submitted false campaign reports that listed non-existent loans and contributions that were fabricated or stolen.
Santos was originally indicted in May. He pleaded not guilty to the original 13 charges
The new charges in the so-called superseding indictment are: one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of access device fraud.
Last month, prosecutors disclosed in court papers that Santos has been in plea talks with the government.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have been escalating pressure on Santos by targeting his associates. In August, they indicted a former Santos campaign aide for allegedly impersonating a House leadership aide while soliciting contributions for Santos’ campaign. Last week, another Santos aide, his former campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to fraudulently reporting a nonexistent loan that Santos had claimed to have made to his campaign.
That guilty plea appears to have prompted, at least in part, the updated indictment, which describes a scheme in which Santos and Marks conspired to falsely show that his congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter in order to qualify for a program run by the Republican National Committee that would provide financial and logistical support to his campaign.
To execute that scheme, prosecutors allege, the two falsely reported to the FEC that at least 10 of their family members had contributed to his campaign and falsely reported that Santos had loaned the campaign a significant amount of money, including a purported $500,000 loan. At the time of that fabricated loan, according to prosecutors, Santos had less than $8,000 in his personal and business bank accounts.
Prosecutors also accused Santos of stealing his donors’ personal and financial information and using it to repeatedly charge their credit cards without their authorization, then transferring the funds to his campaign, the campaigns of others and to his personal bank account.
In one case, Santos allegedly repeatedly charged a donor’s credit card with at least $44,800 in charges.
He then transferred the vast majority of one of those charges — an amount of nearly $12,000 — to his own bank account, according to the indictment.
A lawyer for Santos declined to comment on Tuesday. Santos, who is running for reelection, has said he doesn’t plan to resign from the House and intends to continue his campaign. “I’m going to fight the witch hunt,” he told reporters following his arraignment. “I’m going to take care of clearing my name.” (Politico).
One more thing.
Democrat Thomas Suozzi launches bid to take back George Santos’s seat.
Long Island Democrat Thomas Suozzi on Tuesday announced a bid to retake his former congressional seat now held by scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), joining a growing number of candidates vying for the seat amid speculation that Santos could be forced out of office.
Suozzi said Tuesday that he’s filing a committee to run for Congress next year and that he will launch a formal campaign after local elections in November. “The madness in Washington, DC, and the absurdity of George Santos remaining in the United States Congress is obvious to everyone,” Suozzi said in a statement on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Suozzi held New York’s 3rd Congressional District seat for three terms, defeating Santos when he first ran in 2020.
background and qualifications while seeking office. Suozzi has been a longtime critic of Santos. In an op-ed for the New York Times shortly before Santos was sworn into office in January, Suozzi called his successor “a con man.” He called for Santos’s removal from office “by Congress or by prosecutors, because there is no indication that he will be moved by conscience to voluntarily resign.” Some of the other Democratic contenders seeking Santos’s seat include Democratic fundraiser Zak Malamed, former N.Y. state senator Anna Kaplan and Josh Lafazan, a member of the Nassau County legislature.
Santos also faces a handful of Republican primary challengers, including investment banker and Afghanistan war veteran Kellen Curry, former New York Police Department detective Mike Sapraicone, and former Israel Defense Forces member Daniel Norber. (Washington Post).
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Pricing at the Post Office.
Price of a Forever stamp is going up. Here’s how much they will cost in January.
The United States Postal Service on Oct. 2, 2023, released a new Forever stamp honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The postal service announced on Oct. 6, 2023, that the price of a Forever stamp will increase to 68 cents on Jan. 21, 2024.
The price of First-Class postage is going up again.
The U.S. Postal Service said today the price of a Forever stamp will increase by 2 cents on Jan. 21, 2024. The stamp will go from 66 cents to 68 cents.
The price hike notice was filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission.
The postal service said it will not change the additional-ounce price. It will stay at 24 cents. But, it asked for increases in fees for certified mail, post office box rental fees, money order fees and the cost to purchase insurance when mailing an item.
Other fee increases proposed are:
Letters, metered, 1 ounce - increase from 63 cents to 64 cents
Domestic postcards - increase from 51 cents to 53 cents
International postcards - increase from $1.50 to $1.55
International letter, 1 ounce - increase from $1.50 to $1.55
“As inflationary pressures on operating expenses continue and the effects of a previously defective pricing model are still being felt, these price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue to achieve the financial stability sought by its Delivering for America 10-year plan. The prices of the Postal Service remain among the most affordable in the world,” the postal service said in a news release.
The postal service last increased the price of a Forever stamp on July 9, 2023, from 63 cents to 66 cents. In January of 2023 the price increased from 60 cents to 63 cents. (PennLive.com).
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