Negligent builders and developers might be responsible for hidden peril underneath Florida: ‘Some shady folks still used them’
Rick Kazmer – October 23, 2023
Recently released government data about the Sunshine State could provide a new moniker for Florida — the Lead Pipe State.
That’s because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that Florida has more lead pipes in its water systems — 1.16 million of them — than any other state, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Florida highlights a national problem, as some 9.2 million lead pipes carry drinking water to households around the country, the Times reports. It’s a concern that has lingered for decades with severe health implications.
As a result, the government plans to pump billions of dollars into lead-pipe-heavy states to tackle the problem.
“Every community deserves access to safe, clean drinking water,” EPA administrator Michael Regan told the Tampa Bay Times.
Why are lead pipes dangerous?
Drinking water contaminated with lead can cause heart problems, lower IQ rates among children, and anemia, among a list of other serious health problems, according to the EPA.
Lead was spotlighted in 2014 during the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. Lead leached into the water supply, causing severe health problems for the community.
Why are lead pipes still a concern?
Craig Pittman has been following the lead pipe story for Florida Phoenix, a nonprofit news site. In a recent column, he said that the building and development industry is partially to blame for lingering lead concerns.
Despite increased regulations during the decades, he wrote, lead solder, flux, and pipes were still being used. The government ramped up regulations on lead pipes in 1986.
“Even after lead pipes were banned … some shady folks still used them, figuring they wouldn’t get caught because the evidence was literally buried out of sight. Meanwhile, a lot of lead pipes were already in use all around the country,” Pittman wrote.
He talked to civil engineer Alison Adams, who works for the utility company Tampa Bay Water. Adams said the lead is often found after the public utility hookup, because it’s in the materials the builders used.
“Lead pipes were used in the building industry, not in public water supply,” she said. “A utility’s responsibility ends at the meter to a home. Lead pipes were used between the meter and in homes or businesses, including schools, as a matter of construction.”
What’s being done about lead in the water?
The EPA highlighted the lead problem as part of a survey of 3,500 water systems around the country. The Times reported that about $625 billion is needed to upgrade the systems.
President Joe Biden has promised $15 billion to clear out all of the nation’s lead pipes, according to the Times.
It’s a lofty goal that will target states with the most lead. After Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York have the most lead pipes, the Times reports.
How can I test for lead at home?
The EPA has a guide that outlines how to test your service line for lead. It includes details on the different faucets and fixtures that commonly contain the heavy metal.
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“Built his empire on lies”: Trump Org appraiser calls out “inaccurate” statements as Trump watches
Gabriella Ferrigine – October 18, 2023
Donald Trump Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty Images
Former president Donald Trump ventured back to Manhattan on Tuesday as part of his civil fraud case, which came about after New York Attorney General Letitia James argued that Trump, along with his sons Donald Jr. and Eric and the Trump Organization, had inflated the value of more than a dozen assets by hundreds of millions, subsequently using those phony values to defraud banks and insurers in order to secure more advantageous deals and secure loans.
As he entered the court, Trump chastised the case as “a witch hunt by a radical lunatic attorney general.”
“We built a great company — a lot of cash, it’s got a lot of great assets, some of the greatest real estate assets, anywhere in the world,” the ex-president added.
A key part of Tuesday’s trial proceedings came in the form of testimony from a real estate appraiser for the Trump Organization, who harshly criticized the company’s “inaccurate and inappropriate” behavior in attributing the faulty numbers to him.
The New York Daily News reported that former Trump organization executive Jeff McConney, in statements shown in court accounting for Trump’s value between 2013 and 2018, said that the appraiser — Cushman & Wakefield executive director Doug Larson — had advised him via phone in the specifics of assigning swollen values to assets such as Trump’s Wall Street tower.
Larson vehemently denied that the call took place, however, also rejecting McConney’s claim that he had worked “in conjunction” with the former president of any affiliates of the Trump Organization to appraise assets. “It’s inappropriate and inaccurate,” Larson said. “I should have been told, and an appraisal should have been ordered.”
At one point, Mark Ladov, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, cited an instance in which the Trump Organization ignored the numbers Larson crunched, adding a whopping 35 percent to 40 Wall Street in 2016, which Larson had valued at $540 million. In that year’s financial statement, the skyscraper was listed by Trump’s company at $735.4 million. And in 2013, the Trump Organization tacked on a 3.12% capitalization raise to 1290 Avenue of the Americas, attributing the rise to Larson’s input and increasing the building’s value to just shy of $1 billion.
Following Tuesday’s events, Attorney General James said that while the former president could “rant and rave” all he wanted, it would not alter the fact that he “built his empire on lies.”
“Mr. Trump may lie, but numbers don’t lie,” she said. “Mr. Trump’s entire empire is built on nothing but lies. Sinking sand.”
James has asserted that Trump routinely overstated his net worth to financial institutions by between $812 million to $2.2 billion, depending on the year and the specific applications he filed. She is seeking a penalty of about $250 million. Late last month, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron, in a summary judgment, ruled that Trump had committed fraud in the state for years by misrepresenting his financial status while steadily expanding his real estate.
Engoron’s decision effectively barred Trump and his adult sons from conducting business in New York ever again. The judge also ordered punitive measures, including that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded — meaning he will lose control of key real estate if upheld following appeal — and ordered that an outside “receiver” must be appointed to supervise the management of those Trump properties.
“The next borrower, or the one after that, might default, and if its (financial statements) are false, the lender might unfairly be left holding the bag,” Engoron wrote. “This will distort the lending marketplace and deprive other potential borrowers of the opportunity to obtain loans and create wealth.”
Trump at the hearing also took shots at his former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, saying he “didn’t have the guts” to show face. Cohen has acted as a key witness in 2019, providing pivotal testimony that catalyzed James’s investigation.
“If I was afraid of Donald, I wouldn’t have written 2 NYT bestsellers, testified before the Mueller team, seven congressional committees, 23 appearances before the Manhattan DA, and provided information to the NYAG that is the basis of this trial,” Cohen told the Daily News.
“Looking forward to seeing you in court very soon!” he quipped to his old client.
Large portion of Americans doubt democracy and view violence as acceptable, poll finds
Brendan Rascius – October 18, 2023
J. David Ake/AP
A large portion of Americans on both sides of the aisle favor getting rid of democracy and imposing violence on their political opponents, among other authoritarian measures, according to a new poll.
Thirty-one percent of Donald Trump supporters and 24% of President Joe Biden supporters said democracy is “no longer viable” and an alternative system should be tried, according to an October poll from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
The poll surveyed 2,008 registered voters from Aug. 25 to Sept. 11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
Other key findings:
When asked whether it is acceptable to employ violence to stop political opponents from attaining their goals, 41% of Biden supporters and 38% of Trump supporters said yes.
30% of Trump supporters and 25% of Biden supporters said elections should be suspended in times of crisis.
41% of Trump supporters and 30% of Biden supporters said they favor either conservative or liberal states seceding from the union.
Nearly half of Biden supporters, 47%, and 35% of Trump supporters said the government should restrict the expression of views “considered discriminatory or offensive.”
The polling comes as Trump, the leading contender for the GOP nomination, continues to claim without evidence that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
The results, which signal a desire for an authoritarian crackdown, come at a time when public trust in government is at a near-record low, according to the Pew Research Center. In a 2023 poll, only 16% of Americans said they trusted the government to do what is right at least most of the time.
The poll reveals “really troubling findings about democracy and the potential for violence,” Rick Hasen, the director of UCLA’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, said on X.
‘The View’: Rachel Maddow Says Jim Jordan Winning Speaker Would Be Like Trump Putting ‘Rudy Giuliani on the Supreme Court’
Andi Ortiz – October 18, 2023
Rep. Jim Jordan remains in the running to become the next Speaker of the House, but he is struggling to come up with the necessary votes to win the job. But Rachel Maddow isn’t looking forward to that possibility, comparing it on Wednesday to Rudy Giuliani getting a spot on the Supreme Court.
Stopping by “The View” on Wednesday, the MSNBC host admitted she was glad that Jordan lost the first vote, and worried what his speakership might actually look like.
“I think that had Mr. Jordan been chosen, it would have been a big deal for the country,” Maddow said. “It would be like if Trump was president and put Rudy Giuliani on the Supreme Court, you know what I mean?”
That comparison earned a full belly laugh from Whoopi, as Sunny Hostin and her co-hosts conceded it was “a very good example.”
“I mean, there was nobody who was more important in Congress to Trump’s effort to overthrow the lawfully elected government of the United States than Jim Jordan,” Maddow added.
“So then, to make him second in line to the presidency? And in charge of congress certifying the election results in 2024? I mean, he’s still in the running, maybe it’ll still be him. That’ll be a big deal if it happens, in all the wrong ways.”
All that said, Maddow was pretty confident that, no matter who ends up with the gavel, they aren’t going to enjoy their time with it.
“Even if you could fast forward to the end of this process, whenever it ends, with whoever wins, what does that person win? The worst job in America!” she said. “And they get to hold it for five minutes, and then get fired, and then we start again. I mean, there’s nothing to look forward to for anybody here. It is a sad thing.”
Trump is slamming Israel and babbling about Barack Obama. Who would vote for that mess?
Rex Huppke, USA TODAY – October 13, 2023
Former president and current criminal defendant Donald Trump, the front-runner in the GOP presidential primary, is getting worse.
I realize that’s a mighty high bar for him to clear, but he’s doing it, each day showing independent voters and Republicans who still value sane leadership why he should never be allowed within 10 square miles of the White House.
In the wake of the hideous Hamas attack on Israel, with American lawmakers and both sides of the aisle pledging full support for our ally, Trump’s political instincts told him to slam Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and say: “Israel was not prepared.”
Trump criticizes Israel then praises Hezbollah. Whose side is he on?
“You know, Hezbollah is very smart,” Trump said. “They’re all very smart.”
MAGA loyalists’ minds won’t be changed by anything, but those voters also won’t be enough, should Trump win the GOP nomination, to get him back into office. He’ll need to win over independents and even some moderate Republicans who put country over party while making headway with the ever-growing number of Generation Z voters who, based on recent elections, broadly reject Trump’s MAGA movement.
How is he going to do all that when he’s running around the country insulting an ally reeling from an unspeakable terror attack and generally sounding like his brain has turned to oatmeal?
Trump’s insensitive Israel comments are just the start of his recent madness
Consider an assortment of baffling/disturbing comments Trump has made in speeches and on social media just in recent weeks.
He has repeatedly misidentified President Joe Biden as former President Barack Obama, recently saying at a rally “you take a look at Obama and look at some of the things he’s done” and then, in an interview this week about Biden’s response to the attack on Israel, saying, “It’s all coming through Iran, and Obama, he doesn’t want to talk about it. … He doesn’t even mention them in a statement.”
The Fox News interviewer had to correct him afterward.
Trump can’t keep Jeb Bush and George W. Bush straight …
In another recent interview, Trump said: “We have the worst education almost in the large world, the world that people know about.” As opposed to the large world people don’t know about?
Referring to Jeb Bush, Trump said: “He got us into the Middle East. How did that work out?” It was President George W. Bush who “got us into the Middle East.”
… much less Joe Biden and Barack Obama
In a Sept. 15 speech in Washington, D.C., Trump suggested Biden will lead America into World War II, which ended in 1945: “We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war. Just think of it, we would be in World War II very quickly if we’re going to be relying on this man.”
When questioning someone’s lucidity, it’s generally best to sound lucid yourself.
Do independent voters want a president echoing the words of Hitler?
“We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco – how’s her husband doing, anybody know?” Trump said as the crowd laughed. “And she’s against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house – which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”
Speaking of immigrants, Trump said in an interview earlier this month: “It is a very sad thing for our country. It’s poisoning the blood of our country.”
That language mirrors lines in Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and is in line with the way white supremacists discuss immigrants.
Face it, the drunk at the end of the bar is making more sense than Trump
And in a Florida speech this week, he went on this rant (I’ve used all-caps and phonetic spelling to illustrate the pronunciation of words he loudly emphasized): “Instead of keeping terrorists and terrorist sympathizers out of America, the Biden administration is inviting them in. You know why, because he’s got a boss. Who’s his boss? Barack HOO-SANE Obama. Barack Hoo-sane Obama. You remember the great Rush Limbaugh, Barack Hoo-SANE Obama. He’d go, Barack Hoo-SANE Obama.”
While Republicans question Biden’s age, Trump appears to be losing it
Petty criticism of Israel (Trump remains mad at Netanyahu because the prime minister accepted that Biden won the 2020 election), violent rhetoric, mixing up the names of political rivals, mocking an attack on a lawmaker’s spouse and generally sounding like the town drunk slouched at the end of the bar airing conspiratorial grievances. And that’s only a small sample of Trump’s madness over the past few weeks.
Setting aside his two impeachments, his incitement of an attack on the U.S. Capitol, his election denialism and the 91 state and federal felony charges he faces, I have to ask independents and on-the-fence Republicans alike: Would you actually vote for that mess? Is that really the best the Republican Party can offer America and the world?
People will keep taking swipes at Biden’s age, though Trump is only three years younger. But if you listen and pay attention to the former president, you’ll see a profoundly unhinged man teetering on a full separation from reality.
The ham has slipped off his sandwich. It’s time to stop pretending otherwise.
Hamas’s Shock Attack Should Spark Our Horror—and Our Questions
Haggai Matar – October 11, 2023October 16/23, 2023 Issue
This appalling violence emerged within a context, and we need to understand that context in order to achieve peace.
An Israeli solider stands at the grounds of a music festival after Saturday’s deadly attack by Islamist Hamas militants.(Ilia Yefimovich / Getty)
TEL AVIV—After waking up early Saturday to sirens and a barrage of hundreds of rockets, we learned about the unprecedented assault that Palestinian militants from Gaza carried out on Israeli towns near the border. More than 1,000 Israelis were massacred so far—many in their homes and many others at a music festival—and more than 150 others were abducted and taken to Gaza. Not since 1948 has Israel faced such an invasion, with entire villages overrun and communities decimated.This article appears in the October 30/November 6, 2023 issue.
As the hours passed, and Israeli ground forces made confused, chaotic attempts to regain control of the towns seized by Hamas, the Israeli military launched air strikes, which have killed more than 765 Palestinians so far. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to inflict a level of pain on Gaza that “our enemies have never seen.” (For reference, in the worst of the previous wars with Gaza, Israel killed over 2,300 Palestinians—more than half of them civilians.) The terror felt by people who saw armed militants in their streets and homes, or by those being held captive in hostile territory or facing the sight of approaching fighter jets and tanks, is unimaginable. Attacks on civilians are war crimes, and my heart goes out to the victims and their families.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.595.0_en.html#goog_2115949710https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.595.0_en.html#goog_2115949711https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.595.0_en.html#goog_2115949712READ MORE00:0401:12
But contrary to what many Israelis are saying, while the army was clearly caught completely off guard, this was not a “unilateral” or “unprovoked” attack. The terror Israelis feel right now—myself included—is a sliver of what Palestinians have been feeling on a daily basis under the decades-long military occupations of the West Bank and Gaza.
The October 7 attack by Hamas must also be seen in the context of more recent developments. One is the pending deal to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel pursued by President Biden. For years, Netanyahu has argued that peace can be achieved without talking to Palestinians or making any concessions. The Abraham Accords, brokered by the Trump administration, stripped Palestinians of one of their last bargaining chips and sources of support: the solidarity among Arab nations (though the strength of that solidarity has long been in question). The prospect of losing perhaps the most important of those states may well have helped push Hamas to the edge.
Meanwhile, commentators have been warning for weeks about escalating violence in the West Bank. More Palestinians and Israelis have been killed there during the past year than in any other year since the Second Intifada of the early 2000s. The Israeli army routinely raids Palestinian cities and refugee camps. The far-right government has given Jewish settlers a free hand to set up new illegal outposts and launch pogroms against Palestinian towns and villages, with IDF soldiers killing or maiming Palestinians who try to defend their homes. During the high holidays, Jewish extremists challenged the status quo arrangement between Jordan and Israel over the administration of the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, backed by politicians who share their ideology.
In Gaza, meanwhile, the ongoing siege is steadily destroying the lives of more than 2 million Palestinians, many of whom live in extreme poverty, with little access to clean water and only about four hours of electricity a day. This siege has no official endgame; even the Israeli state comptroller found in 2017 that the government had never seriously discussed ending the blockade or even considered any alternatives to the recurring rounds of war and death.
All of this does not justify the killing of civilians. That is absolutely wrong. Rather, it reminds us that there is a reason for everything that is happening now, and that—as in all previous outbursts of violence—there is no military solution to Israel’s problem with the occupied territories or the resistance that naturally emerges in response to apartheid.
In recent months, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been marching for “democracy” and “equality,” with many saying they would refuse military service because of the Netanyahu government’s increasingly authoritarian policies. What those protesters and reserve soldiers need to understand—especially now, as many of them halt their demonstrations and join the war against Hamas—is that Palestinians have been struggling to achieve those same demands for decades, facing an Israel that to them has always been completely authoritarian.+972 Magazine published an earlier version of this article.
As I write these words, I am sitting at home in Tel Aviv, trying to figure out how to protect my family in a house with no bomb shelter or safe room. I hear people around me saying that now is the time to eradicate Gaza entirely—calling for genocide. Yet I remember that everything that I am feeling now, which every Israeli must be sharing, has been the life experience of millions of Palestinians for far too long. I recall how, for years, Palestinians have been telling me that Israelis “are savages; you can’t negotiate with them”—as Israelis are saying about Palestinians. The only solution, as it has always been, is to bring an end to Israel’s regime of apartheid, occupation, and siege and promote a future based on justice and equality for all of us. We have to change course not despite the horror, but precisely because of it.
Haggai Matar is the executive director of +972 Magazine and the codirector of Local Call, two media outlets run by Palestinian and Israeli journalists on the ground and committed to opposing apartheid and promoting equity, justice, and freedom of information.
We denounce violence in the Israel-Hamas war — but we have to find a way to coexist | Opinion
The Kansas City Star Editorial Board – October 12, 2023
TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY
We will say it in no uncertain terms: The violent attack on Israel by Hamas Saturday was extreme, brutal and unexpected. More than 2,000 people have died on both sides.
But when war breaks out, we choose sides. It’s a human thing to do. We claim an injured party and give our support through statements, donations, thoughts and prayers. Sometimes those sides involve people far away, thousands of miles from us. But sometimes those sides are our neighbors, those who identify with the people fighting in the war.
Religious and nonreligious ethnic Jews live in the greater Kansas City area. Muslims live here. Palestinians live here. They are our neighbors.
How can we reconcile the grief for those we care about with trying to understand a different group of people who are causing pain and harm to our own?
Just a thought: Are we supposed to find common ground? Or are we just supposed to turn our heads and focus on one side — our side?
A war broke out Saturday, when Hamas, a pro-Palestine organization, attacked Israel. The assault that was launched from the Gaza Strip (a coast sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea) killed over a thousand Israelis. Others were captured and kidnapped. On Sunday, Israel retaliated and killed more than a thousand Palestinians. We have seen the news in credible media, but fake headlines and photos have circulated.
What is Hamas? It’s described by the Associated Press as “a Palestinian Islamic political party, which has an armed wing of the same name. The word is an acronym for the Arabic words for Islamic Resistance Movement.” Many call Hamas a terror organization, especially after the horrific and violent attack last weekend.
Immediately, American leaders were sympathetic to Israel. The United States is sending military aid to Israel to fight against Hamas. Rallies were held across the U.S.
On its website, the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City says, “We Stand with Israel,” with a statement that called for donations to its effort to support victims of the violence. A vigil was held Monday in The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Overland Park.
The Muslim and Palestinian voice has seemed muted in Kansas City this week, but events where people come together for Palestine are beginning to happen. A “KC Rally for Palestine” is planned Saturday afternoon at the Mill Creek fountain on the Country Club Plaza. The rally notice appeared on the Al-Hadaf community organization’s Instagram account. The organization describes itself as “a Palestinian-led organization dedicated to the centering of Palestinian voices and the liberation of Palestine through community engagement.”
We’ve reached out to several in the local Palestinian community this week, and, when contacted, we vow to lend their voices to our coverage as we have the Jewish community.
Interfaith discussion, history lesson
Monday night, the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council had its monthly meeting. When we learned the theme — Israel and Palestine — we knew we had to join and hear what this multicultural, multiethnic and multireligious organization had to say about what was happening.
That night, a group consisting of members from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Scientology and transcendental faith traditions listened to a Jewish man talk about the war and the history of the land people are fighting for.
Alan Edelman, chair of the interfaith organization, said the conflict is as old as the Bible, and that one way to understand it is by asking an important question, maybe the question:
“Is it possible for two people to share one piece of territory that is sacred to both of them?”
Edelman described himself as a member of the peace movement. “In the peace camp, we like to say that the Palestinians (need to) understand that after 2,000 years of homelessness and a good deal of persecution, the Jewish people are entitled to return to their homeland.”
But then he added: “And the Jews have to understand that when they got a homeland, the Palestinians lost theirs.”
After Edelman gave a history lesson on the land and its people, he said the thing on everyone’s mind:
“If you’re confused, join the club. It’s a complicated situation.”
Edelman said he believes both the average Israeli and the Palestinian just want to raise their families in peace. “The innocent people suffer” at the hands of extremist leaders making decisions.
“You really don’t have a government on the Palestinian side or the Israeli side who wants to have conversations about peace. What is going on now isn’t going to encourage anyone to come to the table to talk peace,” he said.
Edelman gave a measured, informative talk, but did he provide solutions? Could anyone?
Zulfiqar Malik, not a Palestinian but a Muslim and Interfaith Council member, thanked Edelman for the presentation, and added, “I am of the Abrahamic faith and, God willing, we have to continue our efforts. We have to pray for it. I know it takes a lot of effort, a lot of patience, a lot of prayers for peace. If we don’t have peace in our hearts how can we expect peace around the world?”
Unprovoked attack, human rights violations?
As we listen to the many sides invested in the conflict, we can say who we think is more right or more wrong. Was it wrong for Hamas to attack the way it did? Many news outlets are using the words “unprovoked” attack. On the surface and at the level of aggression used, it certainly was.
But could the attack be a response to human rights violations outlined in a United Nations Human Rights Council report in April 2023? The UN council said it was “gravely concerned about the dire humanitarian, socioeconomic and security situation in the Gaza Strip, including that resulting from the prolonged closures and severe economic impediments and movement restrictions that in effect amount to a blockade.” The report called Israel “the occupying power.”
The Rev. Kelly Isola of the Unity faith said she saw terms such as “occupied” and “under oppressive rule” used on social media. She said people are discussing this in a “binary way” but believes there’s more than two sides.
“I don’t support Hamas and yet there’s innocent people everywhere being killed and paying the price. I don’t want to discount that,” she said.
The council wants to educate people and craft a statement against the violence, and we think that’s a good idea, but it won’t end a war. Only peaceful talks will. And as it stands, the ongoing violence, pain and grief will prevent that from happening anytime soon.
A message for those of us neither Jewish, Muslim nor Palestinian: One way to work toward peace in our community is to get to know those different from us. There are many groups, such at the Interfaith Council, that can provide an answer. The council has an upcoming “Table of Faiths” dinner next week. For more information, visit kcinterfaith.org/2023-table-of-faiths
The Kansas City Star Editorial Board wants to hear the voices of Palestinians and Jews on the topic of peaceful solutions to the war. Please send your thoughts to oped@kcstar.com
Here’s the military support the US is sending toward Israel, from US Navy ships to munitions
Elias Chavez – October 11, 2023
Missiles launched from the Iron Dome defense system attempting to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza strip.MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images
The US is sending munitions, aircraft carriers, and fighter jets toward Israel after the Hamas attacks.
The aid package includes the newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.
Specific munitions are uncertain, but Israel needs weapons for their Iron Dome defense system.
After the surprise attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas over the weekend, the US has been swift in its response and providing aid.
On October 7, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and abducting others. Israel responded with a series of airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip.
Some 1,000 Israelis had been killed as of Tuesday, with another 3,400 injured, Israel’s embassy in the US said. Gaza’s health ministry reported at least 830 Palestinians had been killed, with at least 4,250 injured.
Here’s what the US is providing to and around Israel amid the conflict.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the US Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier to date.
The USS Gerald R. Ford in a fjord in Oslo.STIAN LYSBERG SOLUM/NTB/AFP via Getty Images
The supercarrier, out on its first full deployment, is now moving toward Israel as a show of support from the US, as Insider previously reported.
Included in the USS Gerald R. Ford strike force are a number of other cruisers and destroyers.
The USS Normandy, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser.
The US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy getting underway for deployment as part of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Colbey Livingston/Handout via REUTERS
The USS Normandy can fire missiles to strike land targets or fire missiles to defend against aircraft or incoming missiles.
The USS Thomas Hudner, one of four Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers in the fleet.
The USS Thomas Hudner in the Bosphorus on its way to the Mediterranean Sea in 2021.REUTERS/Murad Sezer
The USS Thomas Hudner provides both offensive and defensive capabilities and can act independently or as part of a larger strike force.
The USS Ramage, another Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.
The USS Ramage in the Arabian Gulf.REUTERS/Specialist 2nd Class Miguel Angel Contreras/U.S. Navy/Handout
The USS Ramage similarly provides offensive and defensive capabilities for the strike force.
The US Navy destroyer USS Carney.
The US Navy destroyer USS Carney on its way to the Mediterranean Sea.REUTERS/Yoruk Isik.
The USS Carney is another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and was first launched in 1994. The ship has since been upgraded in 2009 and 2016, where it received a new cannon and missile launcher.
The USS Roosevelt, designed to operate independently in a high-density, multi-threat environment.
The USS Roosevelt, a US Navy ship, sets sail in the Bosphorus.REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo
The USS Roosevelt is the fourth Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in the fleet.
Several F-35 fighter jets, considered to be the most advanced fighter jet in the world.
F-35A Lockheed Martin fighter jet lands on a motorway.NTB/Ole Andreas Vekve via REUTERS
The US is also augmenting several of its Air Force operations in the region, including F-35 fighter jets.
The US is deploying several of the stealth fighters to help deter Iran, a regional adversary that backs Hamas and Hezbollah.
Insider previously reported about 20-25 fighters would head to the region and be tasked with deterring the expansion of the war and preventing potential Iranian aggression.
Several F-15 fighter jets.
An Israeli F-15 fighter jet takes off during a joint international aerial training exercise.REUTERS/Amir Cohen
F-15s are extremely maneuverable, tactical fighters designed to give the Air Force an upper hand in air-to-air combat.
Several F-16 fighter jets, designed for both air-to-air combat as well as air-to-ground combat.
An F-16 fighter jet at the Volkel Air Base.REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The F-16 is a versatile and lightweight fighter.
Several A-10 fighter jets, designed to provide close air support to ground forces.
A US Air Force A-10 fighter aircraft stands during a media day.Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images
They’re designed to be used against maritime attacks and ground targets such as tanks and other armored vehicles.
Israel reportedly requested interceptors and precision-guided munitions.
Rockets fired from Gaza City being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images
Al Jazeera reported that $2 billion worth of US munitions had been pre-supplied to be used in case of emergencies in Israel.
Correction: October 11, 2023 — An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the source of the Israeli death and injury estimates. The Israeli Embassy in Washington provided the death estimate, and the Israeli health ministry, which is not in Washington, provided the injury estimate. The story was updated with the embassy’s Tuesday estimates for those killed and injured.
Biden and Congress Craft $2 Billion Aid Package as Israel Vows to ‘Crush’ Hamas
Eric Cortellessa – October 11, 2023
President Joe Biden confers with his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a roundtable with Jewish community leaders in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Oct. 11, 2023, in Washington, DC. Credit – Drew Angerer—Getty Images
As Israel prepares to launch a likely ground invasion into Gaza, the Biden Administration and leading members of Congress are crafting an American aid package of roughly $2 billion in supplementary funding to support the nation’s war effort against Hamas, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell TIME.
The funding would go toward replenishing Israel’s stockpile of interceptors for its Iron Dome missile-defense system, artillery shells, and other munitions. If approved, the assistance would come at a crucial time for Israel, as it gears for a lengthy and devastating offensive against the terror group that brutally massacred more than 1,200 Israelis in Saturday’s surprise attack.
“We’re heading into a war for many, many weeks, maybe several months, in which the objective is to dismantle Hamas,” Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, told TIME shortly after attending a briefing from White House officials on the situation. “It will be perhaps the highest casualty war Israel has faced since the War of Independence,” he added, referring to the 1948 blitz that five Arab nations waged against Israel shortly after its establishment. “But Israel didn’t ask for this.”
While there’s strong bipartisan consensus on bolstering Israel’s campaign against Hamas, the White House is planning to tie that assistance to more polarizing causes: military support for Ukraine and Taiwan and increased border security funding. In a call with senators Tuesday night, administration officials said they were drawing up a supplemental defense package that would cover all four portfolios, according to a source on the call.
That’s sure to turn the measure into a flashpoint in Washington. Many hard-right Republican lawmakers vehemently oppose sending more resources to Ukraine and have been willing to destabilize the government over it. A small band of right-wing rebels recently ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker in part because of his continued support for U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
The White House would not confirm or deny its plans. “We’re in active conversations with Congress about additional funding that we know we need specifically for Israel and Ukraine,” White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said. “I’m not prepared to detail those conversations for you right now or tell you what the parameters are going to be.”
Both Sherman and a senior White House official said they expect President Joe Biden to send a formal request to Congress over supplementary Israel funding in the coming weeks. “My tentative figure, along with a number of others, is that we can introduce legislation on this for $2 billion,” says Sherman, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. While Biden may want to leverage GOP eagerness to help Israel swiftly in order to secure a new tranche of Ukraine aid, Sherman expects the Israeli package will ultimately pass as a stand-alone measure.
The effort to advance supplementary Israel aid comes after the country suffered a massive intelligence and military failure over the weekend, resulting in a multi-front incursion by Hamas terrorists into Israel through land, air, and sea. The militants stormed kibbutzim in southern Israel near the Gaza border, where they savagely attacked civilians—including acts of barbarism such as beheading babies—and took hundreds hostage. At least 14 Americans were killed in the attack and others were taken hostage. Administration officials are unsure of the exact number of U.S. hostages but said on Wednesday that 17 Americans are still missing.
Egyptian security officials warned Israel in the days ahead of a looming attack, according to multiple reports, and some in Israel have cast blame on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet for diverting military resources away from the Gaza border to protect West Bank settlements.
Since the attack, Netanyahu has declared a war against Hamas, vowing to abandon Jerusalem’s strategy of containing the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” the Israeli premier said. “Hamas is ISIS, and we will crush and eliminate it just as the world crushed and eliminated ISIS.”
The Israeli military has amassed forces along the Gaza border in what appears to be the early stages of a ground invasion. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group near the region to deter Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militant groups from joining the fight.
In remarks Tuesday, Biden said the U.S. was sending “additional military assistance” to the Jewish state. “We stand with Israel, and we will make sure it has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack.”
The escalating conflict stands to inflict even more destruction and suffering in the strip, where roughly 2.3 million Palestinians live. “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this week. “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed.” At the White House’s congressional briefing Wednesday, several members pressed the administration on how it would ensure that Palestinian civilians in Gaza have access to food, water, and medicine in the coming months.
Both American and Israeli officials are anticipating support for Israel to waver as the war ramps up and Palestinian civilian casualties mount. Hamas is known to place its weapon depots in densely populated areas, effectively using Palestinian non-combatants as human shields. It then disseminates photos and videos of their deaths through media channels in an apparent bid to turn public opinion against Israel.
Still, officials say, the Biden Administration plans to stick with Israel over the long haul. It’s been warning members of Congress of the pain and bloodshed likely to come as Israel moves to decimate an enemy that caught it off guard. “Nothing is worse than underestimating your rival,” says Uzi Arad, Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser from 2009 to 2011. “We underestimated their determination or their motives or the extremes to which they were willing to go.”
An Oklahoma judge could be removed from office for sending more than 500 texts during a murder trial
Ken Miller – October 12, 2023
In this still image from security camera video, Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom looks at her cellphone during a murder trial on June 12, 2023, at the Lincoln County District Court in Chandler, Okla. (Lincoln County District Court/The Oklahoman via AP) (AP)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A new Oklahoma judge could lose her job for sending more than 500 texts to her bailiff during a murder trial, including messages mocking the prosecutor, praising the defense attorney and calling a key witness a liar.
The chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court recommended the removal of Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom in a court filing Tuesday following an investigation by the state’s Council on Judicial Complaints.
Soderstrom, who was sworn in on Jan. 9 after being elected in November, was suspended with pay pending the outcome of a hearing by the Court on the Judiciary, which will determine whether to remove her from the bench.
“The pattern of conduct demonstrates Respondent’s (Soderstrom’s) gross neglect of duty, gross partiality and oppression,” Chief Justice John Kane IV wrote. “The conduct further demonstrates Respondent’s (Soderstrom’s) lack of temperament to serve as a judge.”
A phone call to a number listed for Soderstrom rang unanswered before disconnecting Wednesday.
The judge’s texts included saying the prosecutor was “sweating through his coat” during questioning of potential jurors and asking “why does he have baby hands?” according to Kane’s petition. The texts described the defense attorney as “awesome” and asked “can I clap for her?” during the defense attorney’s opening arguments.
Soderstrom also texted a laughing emoji icon to the bailiff, who had “made a crass and demeaning reference to the prosecuting attorneys’ genitals,” Kane wrote.
Khristian Tyler Martzall — the man who was on trial while the judge was on her phone — was eventually convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the 2018 death of Braxton Danker, the son of Martzall’s girlfriend, and sentenced to time served.
Martzall’s girlfriend and the mother of the child, Judith Danker, pleaded guilty to enabling child abuse, was sentenced to 25 years and was a key prosecution witness who was called a liar by Soderstrom during testimony.
“State just couldn’t accept that a mom could kill their kid so they went after the next person available,” Soderstrom texted, according to the filing from Kane.
Soderstrom’s texts also included comments questioning whether a juror was wearing a wig, if a witness has teeth and calling a police officer who testified, “pretty,” adding, “I could look at him all day.”
When questioned by the Council on Judicial Complaints, Soderstrom said her texting “probably could have waited” rather than realizing the comments should never have been made. She said she thought, “oh, that’s funny. Move on.”
Security video published by The Oklahoman newspaper showed Soderstrom texting or messaging for minutes at a time during jury selection, opening statements and testimony during the trial in Chandler, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City.
Kane’s petition also said Soderstrom had previously criticized other attorneys and prosecutors, and berated a member of the courthouse staff.
Soderstrom should be removed for reasons that include gross neglect of duty, gross partiality in office and oppression in office, Kane wrote.
