JIM TREACHER: Not Everything in 2023 Is Awful: Only almost everything.

MATT TAIBBI: Thanks, to a Politician Who Did His Job. When the IRS visited my home, Jim Jordan actually did something about it. Why couldn’t I call a Democrat?

Anticipating criticism for expressing public thanks to a Republican congressman, I’d like to ask Democratic Party partisans: to which elected Democrat should I have appealed for help in this matter? The one who called me a “so-called journalist” on the House floor? The one who told me to take off my “tinfoil hat” and put greater trust in intelligence services? The ones in leadership who threatened me with jail time? I gave votes to the party for thirty years. Which elected Democrat would have performed basic constituent services in my case? Feel free to raise a hand.

Exit question: “If silence is the answer, why should I ever vote for a Democrat again?”

NETANYAHU DUBS GAZA OFFENSIVE ISRAEL’S “SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE:” “We always said never again — never again is now.”

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: ‘I Have No Regrets:’ Mike Pence Suspends Republican Presidential Bid.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: This private lander could be the first US machine on the moon this century.

QUESTION ASKED: Did Biden just promote a fake hate crime?

“Twenty-five years ago today, Matthew Shepard lost his life to a brutal act of hate and violence that shocked our nation and the world,” the White House said . “The week prior, Matthew had been viciously attacked in a horrific anti-gay hate crime and left to die — simply for being himself.”

“Today, as threats and violence targeting the LGBTQI+ community continue to rise, our work is far from finished,” the president continued . “No American should face hate or violence for who they are or who they love. I once again call on Congress to send the Equality Act to my desk so that we can ensure LGBTQI+ Americans have full civil rights protections under our laws — because every American is worthy of dignity, acceptance, and respect.”

There’s just one problem: Matthew Shepard was indeed tragically murdered, but it almost certainly wasn’t because of his sexuality.

Yes, Sheppard’s death was believed to be an anti-gay hate crime at the time it occurred, but extensive reporting and evidence in the many years since has drastically undercut the original understanding of what happened as gaps in the narrative have arisen.

Earlier: The true story of Matthew Shepard: it wasn’t homophobia that killed him. “I’m not going to get into the details, except to note one thing: one of the killers was not a homophobic hater, but was in fact an on-again off-again lover of Matt’s. This is hardly the stuff of a homophobic hate crime; it was a meth-fueled murder spree that was ignited because the perpetrators were trying to steal a cache of the drug from Shepard.”

UPDATES: Voyager probes get virtual tune-up to keep decades-long missions going and going.

I GUESS SOME PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW RIDUCLOUS THEY SOUND:

Well, we certainly don’t want “violence and extremism” to break out among Palestinians. That might lead to decades of terrorist violence, and the rejection of peace offers. Oh, wait.

THERE ARE STILL POCKETS OF SANITY IN THE ACADEMY: My law school is one of them. Law Professors Protest University’s Silence on Genocidal SJP Rally.

A few of my colleagues declined to sign because they thought the letter should focus on calling for the university to adopt the Kalven Report, which advises universities not to take official position on issues of public import. I agree that my university, and other secular universities should adopt this principle. But so long as they do not, I think it’s appropriate to call them out when they comment on certain things, even when they have nothing directly to do with the university, but stay silent on others, even when they occur at the university.

MICHAEL WALSH: The Lights Go Out in Georgia.

Cue now the chorus of voices shouting about the Steal, despite the fact that a) at the time no courts took any of the cases and b) now that the matter is being adjudicated, the Trump team is losing and rolling over on its own. Ms. Powell, one of the former president’s staunchest defenders whose personal credibility considerably enhanced public trust in the rightness of Trump’s case, did what was best for herself in taking the plea deal; Powell is not stupid, and wisely chose not to sacrifice herself for someone who would toss her aside without a second thought — and who in fact has already distanced himself from her.

In any case, I have discussed the arguments regarding the Steal in two pieces here at the Pipeline; The System IS the Steal, and The Sting, and addressed many of the issues as they were happening in my columns for the Epoch Times, which were favorable to Trump.

Trump has attempted to bolster his support by identifying himself with the fate of the nation, directing most of his animus at his most potent challenger, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, largely for his effrontery in running against Trump for the nomination. Trump is demanding “loyalty” in a field in which loyalty is situational at best, and usually goes by the name of back-scratching. But the Republic is in too desperate a shape for considerations of “loyalty” when “victory” is the only thing that matters. Unbeholden to anyone else for his surprise victory in 2016, no one else is beholden to him now that he has squandered it in defeat. The only loyalty any candidate owes is to the country he seeks to lead, and Donald Trump is not the nation.

As the Romans knew, politics is a cruel, masculine business. Once the election was called for Joe Biden, however unfairly or even illegally, the Trump campaign should have congratulated the “winner,” withdrawn, and lived to fight another day; in other words, it should have emulated Richard Nixon, who lost the closely contested election of 1960 to John F. Kennedy. However difficult, that would have been the honorable and patriotic thing to do. Recall that from the start of his first presidential campaign Trump was already questioning the reliability of the electoral system and even then hinting he would contest any count that he lost.

Read the whole thing.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Settlement of University of Wyoming “God Created Male and Female and Artemis Langford Is a Male” Case. “Defendants are hereby permanently enjoined from censoring Schmidt’s views on the sexual identity of Artemis Langford and from applying the one-year table ban on Schmidt that was initiated on December 7, 2022.”

CHANGE: Flatiron Building, Famous New York Landmark, to Be Converted to Condos. The triangular 22-story building, which has been vacant since 2019, may be among the highest profile office-to-residential conversions.

New York City’s historic Flatiron Building is officially preparing for its new life as a home to condos.

Following an auction of the property earlier this year, The Brodsky Organization has most recently bought a stake in the landmarked building — which is owned by GFP Real Estate. The investment confirms that the building, which sits at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, will be converted into condos.

Sources confirmed Brodsky’s stake, as well as the “likely” conversion, to The Messenger. The deal was first reported by The Real Deal.

The triangular 22-story landmark located at 175 Fifth Avenue has a typical floorplan of 10,600 square feet, with a total square footage of 255,000 square feet, according to materials by GFP. At the May auction, GFP Chairman Jeffrey Gural estimated that the building would cost $100 million to renovate, in addition to the $161 million he dropped on the winning bid.

Sources involved in similar investment sales say that the conversion will be rather pricey. It’s estimated that the developer would have to charge about $1,600 per square foot to break even and closer to $3,000 a square foot to turn a profit. The triangular floor plan may also make for oddly shaped apartments.

They’re going to have their work cut out to redo the plumbing stacks in an office building that’s over 120 years old to individual kitchens and bathrooms: Turning offices into apartments could help save downtowns, but it’s complicated.

HMM: Intermittent fasting is safe, effective for those with type 2 diabetes, suggests new study.

STAY WARM: Sunbeam Royal Luxe Microplush Heated Electric Blanket, Full Size. #CommissionEarned

GRAY LADY RETURNS TO FORM: Why has the New York Times hired a Hitler sympathizer?

Adolf Hitler is back in vogue at the New York Times. I never thought I’d live to see the day.

Until now, the very nice liberals who run the newspaper were probably quite relieved that the world had mostly forgotten about that time in the 1930s, when it had a Nazi-loving Berlin bureau chief called Guido Enderis. Among his many failings, Enderis wrote a puff piece about chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, calling him ‘an outstanding go-getter’. But the New York Times leadership kept him on, despite complaints from colleagues, because they considered his high-ranking sources in the Nazi Party too good to lose.

Of course, this is not to say the New York Times editors and the family that owns it are now or ever have been Nazi supporters. Rather, it shows that despite all the protestations of moral virtue and speaking truth to power – and other tired, self-aggrandising journalistic clichés – at its heart, the Gray Lady answers only to its own agenda, which has consistently been focussed on keeping proximity to power.

IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Stopping diabetes drug metformin early may raise risk for dementia.

RIP: Richard Moll, Night Court Actor, Dies at 80. He starred as Bull Shannon on the NBC sitcom.

MARK JUDGE: Exemplum: Why a Christian Thriller Made for $10,000 is Better Than Killers of the Flower Moon.

Last week I found myself bored at the ridiculous run time (three hours plus) of the new film Killers of the Flower Moon. At the same time, I was mesmerized by the small independent film Exemplum, which runs at one-third the length of Flower Moon. Budget? $10,000.

You read that correctly. Exemplum, a black-and-white movie written, directed, produced and starring a gifted young filmmaker named Paul Roland, was made for the cost of a used car. It’s not a perfect film, and yes, the low budget shows, but overall this is a captivating spiritual drama that asks the big questions about God and the nature of evil.

Martin Scorsese, the director of Killers of the Flower Moon (budget: $200 million) has a long history of addressing both the lives of men who defy moral codes, only to descend in the end into tedium. He also has made Catholic films with themes of spiritual struggle, like Silence. Yet with the raw and well-written Exemplum, Paul Roland has made a better Scorsese movie than Scorsese’s own Flower Moon.

The Irishman’s last act felt like an eternity. Why do Scorsese’s recent movies have such a long running time?

JON GABRIEL: Here we go again, shrugging off the warning signs of antisemitism and what comes next.

Eighty years ago, antisemites wanted Jews out of Europe. Today, they want them out of Israel. Only the outfits have changed, replacing brown shirts with black masks.

Yes, once again, Antifa is looking quite Fa these days:

The ones calling everyone Nazis & fascists are the Nazis & fascists cheering on the biggest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. We did try to warn you about Antifa… https://t.co/QTwBt76h4i

— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) October 28, 2023

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Habemus Decentis Edition.

SLOWER, PLEASE: Disney Delays Snow White, Elio During Dismal Year. “So if they tone down the political content, they’ll upset employees and the media, but continue alienating customers. If they don’t change course, they’ll risk pushing consumers even further away both at the parks and at the theaters. It’s hard to feel much sympathy though, considering they allowed this to happen in the first place. What’s that line again about reaping what you sow?”

ACADEMIA’S CLOSE-MINDED CULTURE: Conservative Harvard professor describes ‘condemnation’ for views on marriage, abortion.

THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT ACADEMIA: California professors worry calling Hamas terrorists will reflect badly on them: report.

JOHN LUCAS: The Biden Administration Reaches New Heights of Reprehensibility: Our national security interests are proving to be too much of a hard sell, so Biden goes with the “war is good for business” route to raise money for war.

GIVE ‘EM HELL: ‘This Is F***ing The USA’: New Yorkers Rip Into Man For Tearing Down Flyers Of Missing Israelis.