FINANCIAL LIFT…for sure

Americans for Prosperity Action, the political network founded by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and the late David Koch, has endorsed Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential nominating contest.

Here was their formal announcement yesterday…

Click to access AFPA-Endorsement-Memo-.pdf

The commitment by the network bolsters Haley as the campaign enters the final seven weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

Since the first Republican primary debate, Haley has steadily climbed in polls; the Orange Despot – unfortunately – remains the dominant front-runner in the race.

The endorsement by the network will give her access to a direct-mail operation, field workers to knock on doors and people making phone calls to prospective voters in Iowa and beyond. The group has tons of money to spend on television advertisements, as well.

The sinister element of the old Lobsterman’s personality can NOT wait for someone to ask her during a debate/press conference why she would get an anti-environmentalist Koch endorsement.

Attention young people!!!

SAVE THE ENDANGERED NORTH ATLANTIC LOBSTERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4TH and a MILE!!!

Only sports can provide these moments…

Chills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DES MOINES to DUBUQUE

The Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the Republican nominating calendar, are poised to play an especially consequential role in 2024.

But with only 49 days to go, Donald John Trump’s top rivals are running out of time to catch him as DeSantis and Haley thrash each other in the final sprint to the starting line.

That being said, as most of you know, the old Lobsterman is hoping for ‘divine intervention’ by a guy named Smith.

I call him Jack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREEN MOUNTAIN INSANITY

Law enforcement authorities, in Burlington, Vermont, have arrested a suspect in the shooting of three students of Palestinian descent that the city’s mayor said was being investigated as a possible hate crime.

The suspect was expected be arraigned today in connection with the shooting of the students, three men in their 20s who attend American universities.

They were shot and wounded on Saturday by a white man with a handgun while they were walking near the University of Vermont, the police said. Two of the victims were wearing Palestinian kaffiyehs, a traditional headdress.

Two of the victims were in stable condition, the authorities said. The third sustained much more serious injuries.

The federal government opened discrimination investigations earlier this month at half a dozen universities following complaints about anti-Muslim and antisemitic harassment. 

Since the start of the war on October 7th, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has also opened inquiries into Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania and Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, along with a K-12 school district, Maize Unified in Kansas.

Last week, the federal government opened discrimination investigations into half a dozen universities, including Columbia, Cooper Union and Cornell in New York.

NO CLEAR UNDERSTANDING

Israel and Hamas each signaled a willingness over the weekend to prolong their truce if it allowed for more hostages and Palestinian detainees to be freed.

But…

BOTH sides have taken issue with the names presented by the other for the final day of exchanges under the deal, according to multi-media outlets this morning. Officials from Qatar, the lead mediator, were trying to address the differences.

Israel and Hamas were/are at odds over the hostages and prisoners set to be released today, the final day of a four-day cease-fire, putting their truce on shaky ground and raising questions about whether the pause could be extended.

So far, Hamas has released 39 Israeli hostages under the deal and Israeli has freed 117 Palestinian prisoners. Another 19 hostages in Gaza – 17 Thais, one Filipino and one Russian-Israeli dual citizen – have been released since last Friday through separate negotiations.

Israel has said that it is prepared to grant another day’s pause for every 10 hostages Hamas releases beyond the 50 outlined in the agreement.

But…

Qatar has indicated that one potential challenge in extending the agreement could be whether Hamas can locate!!! more of the hostages, some of whom are being held in various locations within Gaza by other armed groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

h/t: Financial Times and Times of Israel.

A BITTER ENVIRONMENT

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving!

One of the things that was very much under-reported over the weekend was the staggering number of more than three dozen members of Congress that have announced they will NOT seek re-election!!! next year, some to pursue other offices and many others simply to get out of Washington.

The wave of lawmakers across chambers and parties announcing they intend to leave Congress comes at a time of breathtaking dysfunction!!! on Capitol Hill, primarily instigated by House Re’Trump’licans.

The House GOP majority have spent the past few months deposing its leader, waging a weekslong internal war to select a new speaker and struggling to keep federal funding flowing…with critical deadlines facing us in January and February.

It is NOT only GOP lawmakers who are opting to leave; Dems, too, are rushing for the exits, with retirements across parties this year outpacing those of the past three election cycles.

And, while most of the departures announced so far do NOT involve “competitive” seats, given the slim margins of control in BOTH chambers, the handful that provide pickup opportunities for Republicans or Democrats could help determine who controls Congress come 2025.

h/t: BALLOTPEDIA.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES…who knows

A four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appears to be taking effect today, signaling the start of what could be the longest pause in fighting in the seven-week war [maybe] and paving the way for an exchange of some Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners…3 for 1.

As I type away, there have been NO reports of fighting for several hours, and dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid had entered Gaza from Egypt.

Israel said that eight aid trucks contained fuel and cooking gas, a small but significant amount for a territory that has ALL but run out of fuel.

The deal, brokered by Qatar in weeks of talks, calls for Hamas to return 50 of the women and children taken hostage during its October 7th attacks in Israel that set off the fighting, and for Israel to release 150 imprisoned Palestinian women and teenagers. The exchange would occur in phases across the four days of the cease-fire [how this will be handled is anyone’s guess].

 The complexities of the present are beyond any understanding by the old Lobsterman.

GOBBLE, GOBBLE…

Gobble, Gobble…

Hear the turkey say

When Thanksgiving comes along

I think I’ll run away!!!

60 YEARS AGO…

Six decades have passed since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

The event stunned the nation and disrupted complacent assumptions about the stability of the American order. The assassin, NO matter his purposes, delivered a blow to the American spirit with disorienting effects that linger today.

These were/are myths that grew up around Kennedy’s death and, curiously enough, remain widely believed…to this day.

Many trace the assassination to a “climate of hate” created by right-wing businessmen, religious leaders, politicians, and a few media figures. This became the prevailing interpretation of the assassination.

Sound familiar at ALL?!!

The widespread feeling that “dark elements” in American culture contributed to Kennedy’s death – encouraged by media figures and specific politicians – promoted an anti-American attitude that shaped the radical and countercultural movements of the ’60s and endures into today’s current social divide, extending its institutional reach…the deep state, victimhood, etc.

In this regard, the effects of the assassination are ALL around us.

PRECARIOUS…at best

Like ALL things coming out of the Middle East these days, sometime late last night/early this morning, local time, the cease-fire’s start will be announced within the next 24 hours, and it will last for at least four days, said the government of Qatar, which helped lead the negotiations. It added that the pause in fighting would also allow for more aid and fuel to reach civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli government and Hamas agreed to a brief cease-fire!!! in Gaza to allow for the release of 50 hostages captured during Hamas’s assault last month on Israel and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel…3 for 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If the multiday pause holds, it would be the longest halt in hostilities since Hamas’s October 7th attacks prompted Israel to begin its bombardment and subsequent ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said women and children would be among the hostages released and that “the release of every 10 additional hostages will result in an additional day in the pause.”

My questions are: Specifically, what does that mean?!! And, who will monitor those transactions…and where?!!

According to Israeli authorities, hostages probably will NOT be released until late Thursday/early Friday, local time, at the earliest, to allow time for Israeli judges to review potential legal challenges to the prisoner release.

I’ll just close with some personal thoughts: Pause for humanitarian aid :YES.

That said, NO form of hostage-taking should ever be rewarded, it only begets more.