Cross-Examination

• Jordan wins speaker nomination: On Friday, Representative Jim Jordan (OH) won the Republican nomination for House speaker by a vote of 124-81 over a last-minute challenge from Austin Scott (GA). The trouble is that thus far 55 Republicans have yet to throw their support behind Jordan, who will need 217 votes to win. The House is looking to schedule a speakership vote on Tuesday, with Republicans hoping to get everyone on board and avoid another drawn-out, multi-vote fight like the one that occurred over Kevin McCarthy’s nomination back in January. Dan Crenshaw (TX) warned that the “high-pressure campaign” to get Republicans frustrated by McCarthy’s ouster to support Jordan was the “dumbest way … and as somebody who wants Jim Jordan, the dumbest thing you can do is to continue pissing off those people and entrench them.” While some members have expressed their refusal to support Jordan, McCarthy yesterday said, “I think Jim Jordan can get the votes.”

• Good news: GOP reclaims Louisiana governorship: On Saturday, Louisiana held statewide elections, and Republican state Attorney General Jeff Landry unexpectedly won the governor’s race outright over a crowded field, receiving over 50% of the vote and thereby avoiding a runoff election in the Bayou State’s jungle primary. Landry’s win flips the only Deep South state that had a Democrat governor — John Bel Edwards was term-limited. Landry, who had received Donald Trump’s endorsement, called the victory “a wake up call and it’s a message that everyone should hear loud and clear, that we the people in this state are going to expect more out of our government from here on out.” As AG, Landry repeatedly clashed with Edwards and the Biden administration over several issues, including their promotion of gender-bending medical malfeasance on minors and policies limiting oil and gas production.

• Global day of jihad: Last week, former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal called for Friday the 13th to be a “global day of jihad” in response to Israel’s military response to Hamas’s unprovoked murderous attack on innocent Israelis. How did Khaled Mashal’s day of rage pan out? Several nations including the U.S. issued warnings alerting people to be aware and encouraging the maxim, “If you see something, say something.” There were several protests where a few people were arrested, but thankfully no violent uprisings or significant terrorist attacks … so far. Thus, it would appear at this point it was not a credible threat. This also may show the low regard the rest of the Islamic world has for Hamas.

• Omar’s disinformation: In a blatant attempt to spread anti-Israel propaganda, Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar (MN) reposted on X (formerly Twitter) disinformation from Hamas. One of Omar’s reposts claims Israeli airstrikes targeted fleeing Palestinian civilians. However, it turns out that a car in a convoy that is seen exploding was actually due to a car bomb placed by Hamas, not the result of an Israeli airstrike. Another of Omar’s reposts shows images of dead children who were claimed to have been victims of Israeli’s strikes in Gaza, but the images were in fact from 2013 and depicted dead Syrian children who had been gassed by President Bashar al-Assad. Clearly, Omar has no qualms over propagating a false narrative to support her vile anti-Semitic views.

• Menendez and FARA: The hot water surround Democrat Senator Bob Menendez (NJ) is getting hotter. The longtime Democrat senator was charged with bribery last month and is now facing additional charges related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Menendez has a long record of opposing FARA, with the latest being in 2020 when he blocked a bipartisan effort to create stricter penalties for foreign governments and individuals who violate the law. “It seems shortsighted to provide additional enforcement tools before we have figured out what that regime should look like,” Menendez argued at the time. “So, before this body passes any tweaks or new tools and adds to the current patchwork of FARA regulations and exemptions, I think we should take a step back and take a comprehensive look, and we have not done that.” Now that Menendez is being accused of FARA violations for accepting hundreds of thousands in bribes from Egypt for his “power and influence as a senator,” it makes sense why he was repeatedly opposed to any expansion of the law.

• House GOP launches probe into Biden’s climate corps: On Friday, House Republicans launched an investigation into Joe Biden’s unilaterally created American Climate Corps. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee requested documents from AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith, who was tasked to run Biden’s new Climate Corps. At issue is a question over the legality of Biden’s new program since Congress never gave him authorization to create it. Where is the money coming from? Well, apparently from other agencies, as one of the first actions of Climate Corps was to partner with AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service to provide $15 million for the creation of Forest Corps, which plans to hire 80 people beginning next summer in order to learn about forest and grassland management.

Headlines

• American death toll passes 30, Israel-Lebanon border heats up (National Review)

• Hamas blocking mass evacuation in Gaza as IDF urges civilians to move south (National Review)

• Israeli woman, 25, hailed as a hero for killing terrorists, leading team that saved kibbutz from Hamas (NY Post)

• Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the U.S. in 2020, reportedly devised terror plan (Fox News)

• U.S. ally Qatar’s ties to terrorism scrutinized after Hamas attack on Israel (Daily Wire)

• MSNBC loses 33% of primetime audience during coverage of Israel war while Fox and CNN surge (NY Post)

• Airlift ordered by DeSantis evacuates 300 Americans from Israel (Daily Wire) | Republican congressman rescues 96 Americans from Israel (National Review)

• Now do Ukraine: Russia offers to mediate Israel-Gaza negotiations, Putin says “no alternative” to two-state solution (Fox News)

• Six-year-old Palestinian American boy is killed in anti-Muslim attack in Illinois (NBC News)

• These are the safest and most dangerous cities in the U.S. (Daily Mail)

• Biden closed Q3 with more cash on hand than entire GOP field (Washington Examiner)

• Why is Biden honoring George Floyd’s birthday? (PJ Media)

• Nearly 70% of active service members are overweight, report finds (Military Times)

• Humor: Couple asks waiter for to-go box they can leave in car to make it smell like chicken parm for three weeks (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.