• Hamas accepts Trump’s deal: “Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Donald Trump announced via Truth Social. “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed-upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.” While the full specifics of the peace plan have yet to be fleshed out, Hamas will disarm and return all remaining Israeli hostages by Saturday; Israel will withdraw from Gaza and return several hundred imprisoned militants; Hamas will be granted “amnesty”; and an international group will take charge of the administration and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. The two-year-long war is now effectively over. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked “Trump for his leadership, his partnership, and his unwavering commitment to the safety of Israel and the freedom of our hostages.”

• Dems perpetuate the Schumer Shutdown: On Wednesday, Senate Democrats once again blocked a clean resolution vote to end the partial government shutdown. With the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the stopgap spending bill to a floor vote, Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, voted against advancement; the tally was 54-45. Thus far, two Democrats and one independent senator who caucuses with Democrats have sided with Republicans. Schumer and company are holding up reopening the government as they demand that Republicans agree to extend temporary COVID-introduced ObamaCare subsidies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has rejected the Democrats’ bully tactic, stating, “I know this story’s getting old. You’re trying to find new angles, but it’s the same [thing], the conversation will happen when we open up the government.” He added, “Nothing’s changed.”

• SCOTUS church bomb threat more sinister than believed: On Monday, we covered a possible threat to the Red Mass traditionally attended by Supreme Court justices; new details paint a more ominous picture. Louis Geri was camped outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew when police confronted him at 6 a.m. Geri warned police to “call the federales” and that he had explosives. A standoff then took place during which Geri flaunted some of the 200 explosives he had with him and warned that several police officers would die if they did not stand back. A manifesto he handed over to police showed premeditation as well as hate for Catholics, Jews, the Supreme Court, and ICE. The standoff ended in Geri’s arrest after he stepped out of his tent to urinate on some trees. Bomb technicians have reported that Geri’s explosives were fully functional.

• Trump floats declaring antifa a foreign terrorist organization: Conversing at the White House with a number of journalists who have covered antifa and been beaten and battered by the group for doing so, Donald Trump was asked if he would move to declare the radical-leftist group a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). “I think it’s the kind of thing I’d like to do,” Trump answered. In the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, Trump officially designated antifa a domestic terrorist organization. However, designating it as an FTO would make it harder for the group to publicly exist, as it would make it illegal for anyone in the U.S. to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to the terrorist group. Steve Witkoff, the State Department’s special envoy to the Middle East, says designating antifa an FTO is possible because “there are extensive foreign ties.”

• Palisades Fire arson arrest: “Florida resident” Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested at his home on Tuesday on charges of igniting the Lachman fire, which was contained above ground but continued burning underground until the Santa Ana winds reignited it, leading to the Palisades Fire. An Uber driver who resided in California at the time, Rinderknecht was “agitated and angry” the night he started the fire, according to some of his passengers. Rinderknecht is charged with destruction of property, which carries a mandatory minimum five-year sentence if convicted. The arrest of a suspected arsonist in connection with these devastating fires is a blow to the “climate change” narrative that leftists breathlessly spun as homes were being burned to the ground.

• National Guard federalization the latest subject of judicial ping-pong: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Donald Trump can federalize the Oregon National Guard, overturning a lower court’s decision, but the ruling still bars him from deploying them. The Ninth Circuit says it is acting in the interest of preserving the status quo as it takes more time to address the weighty legal questions involved. The court will hear oral arguments today as the Trump administration looks to have the lower court ruling fully overturned. The administration says it has the authority to federalize the Guard under the Posse Comitatus Act due to the failure of authorities in Chicago and Portland to quell anti-ICE demonstrations.

• Big beautiful tax relief this spring? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was passed in July was massive, so most Americans are unaware of everything it accomplished. One unexpected benefit of the bill will be larger-than-expected tax returns next April. Retroactive tax relief for 2025 is already in place, but for the large number of Americans who haven’t reduced their withholding, they won’t see the results until they receive what may be the largest tax returns in a decade. Taxpayers can expect to see $91 billion in refunds for the 2025 retroactive cuts, plus another $30 billion in reduced withholding for 2026. These cuts could average $1,000 per taxpayer. Contrary to the inevitable Democrat spin, these tax cuts will primarily benefit middle- and upper-middle-income filers who earn between $60,000 and $400,000, with caps preventing higher earners from seeing much relief.

• Musk’s boycott of Netflix having an impact: On October 3, tech billionaire Elon Musk posted on X, “Netflix is deliberately choosing to pay people to created sexualized content for children. Freedom of speech should be respected, but this is PAID speech. Netflix is going out of their way and reaching into their wallet to push this.” He announced he canceled his subscription to the video streaming platform and encouraged others to join his boycott. Musk is not wrong in his criticism, as Netflix’s platform hosts a number of children’s programs that directly promote transgenderism and LGBTQ ideology, including the cartoon “Dead End: Paranormal Park.” Following Musk’s boycott, Netflix has seen a surge in canceled subscriptions, and its market cap has taken a $15 billion hit. Thus far, Netflix has not taken any action or made any public statements. Netflix executives may hope that ignoring the boycott will lead to it ending, but it appears to be growing instead.

Headlines

• Inside the Hunter Biden-linked proposal to sell off land around the U.S. embassy in Romania (NY Post)

• CUNY’s “Global Antifa” course encourages students to aid domestic terrorists (The Federalist)

• Harvard hires drag queen as visiting professor in gender and sexuality studies (Fox News)

• Humor: James Comey produces letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials saying he’s totally innocent (Babylon Bee)

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