YOU NEED TO GET OUT AND VOTE BECAUSE I CAN’T TAKE FOUR YEARS OF THIS:

I’M NOT GETTING COCKY BUT I AM MAKING PLANS: How to Stage an Intervention on 70 Million TDS Sufferers.

THAT’S NICE BUT WHERE THEY’RE REALLY NEEDED IS IN THE NEWSROOM: Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos wants more conservative opinion writers at paper.

Bezos — the world’s second richest person with a fortune that Bloomberg Billionaires Index valued at $211 billion as of Monday — is keen on gaining a more ideologically diverse readership by expanding his newspaper’s reach among right-leaning audiences, according to a report in The New York Times.

The Amazon founder, meanwhile, has remained silent over the non-endorsement controversy. He has not spoken publicly amid protests from high-level staffers and prominent figures such as Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Marty Baron, who was executive editor of the newspaper when Bezos bought the Washington Post more than a decade ago, denounced the move as an act of “cowardice.”

Washington Post staffers were reeling over Bezos’ decision to block the Harris endorsement, a draft of which was said to be all typed up and ready for publication.

The newspaper’s own reporters published an article which claimed that Bezos himself made the decision to veto the endorsement — a move that raised eyebrows since it broke with a tradition of 36 years less than two weeks before the election.

Bezos managed to anger his progressive readers and adding two or three Washington “conservatives” to the paper’s op-ed roster won’t do a thing to change the newsroom he let the radicals take over.

But other than that, he’s doing a fabulous job of running the paper.

THE SAME PARTY THAT DENIED SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION TO RFK JR AND CALLS TRUMP, WHO RECENTLY SURVIVED AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, HITLER? THIS IS THEM:

The Democrats aren't playing around. This is a clear message to Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/IXlRUIfQ0b

— @amuse (@amuse) October 27, 2024

Subtle, they ain’t.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (SPOOKY EDITION): Scary High Prices Hit Halloween Sweets, Costumes.

WELL, GOOD: Israel set to pass bills shutting down UNRWA despite int’l pressure.

The Knesset is set to pass two bills on Monday that would shut down the United Nations Relief and Works Agency operations in east Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank within 90 days, despite a massive international pressure campaign against such a step.

A source in the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that the bills were expected to pass.

Foreign Ministers from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement expressing their “grave concern” over the shutdown, particularly in light of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the war.

“It is crucial that UNRWA and other UN organizations and agencies be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively,” they said.

Israel is doing a fine job of protecting civilians and UNRWA is a Hamas front organization.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Today in Kamala Harris Cringeworthy Astroturfing Operations… “Anointed Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris cannot fake sincerity. Or the various accents that she’s been trying on like an overcaffeinated Imelda Marcos in the Neiman-Marcus shoe department. After a weekend like this last one, Dems must be wishing that she could at least do a half-assed job of faking running for president, as you’re about to see.”

HMM:

THERE IT IS: As I forecasted first last Monday, @realDonaldTrump is going to campaign in New Mexico. Private R polling suggests it’s close. We shall see.

Here from @2waytvapp six days ago:https://t.co/sfdid3QfIW

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) October 27, 2024

Abandon cockiness, all ye who enter here.

SCOTT PINSKER: There’s Something Weird Going On With the Media Coverage of Kamala Harris and Her Marxist Father.

THAT’S THREE MORE HEZBOLLAH COMMANDERS: Three Hezbollah commanders eliminated in southern Lebanon.

The Israel Defence Forces said on Sunday that they have eliminated three Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon, including commander of Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil Area, Ahmed Jafar Maatouk.

His successor and Hezbollah’s head of artillery in the Bint Jbeil area were also killed, the IDF said.

In a post on X, the IDF said, “The Commander of Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil Area, Ahmed Jafar Maatouk, was eliminated in an IAF strike. A day later, the IAF also eliminated his successor and Hezbollah’s head of artillery in the Bint Jbeil area. These three terrorists directed and carried out numerous terrorist attacks from the Bint Jbeil area including launching anti-tank missiles toward Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon.”

Israeli troops also located and confiscated four armed mobile launchers with approximately 160 ready-to-fire rockets.

Nice work, fellas — and don’t listen to Biden or Harris.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Trump Is Swinging Hard In the Closing Days and It’s Fun To Watch. “The main event for Trump was his rally at Madison Square Garden, which the Democrats have been freaking out about since it was announced. While Kamala Harris keeps hiding behind celebrities, Trump boldly wanders into places that aren’t known to be friendly to Republicans.”

I HAD BEEN ASSURED THAT THE REPLACEMENT THEORY WAS NOTHING BUT RIGHT-WING PARANOIA:

Lockland is a town of 3,400 residents.

3,000 immigrants from Mauritius were imported to the town in the past year.

Now town resources are collapsing. pic.twitter.com/JDHbtCjdoa

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 27, 2024

Mauritania, not Mauritius, but the point stands.

DOG BITES MAN: Tim Walz Calls Trump Madison Square Garden Attendees Nazis.

DECLINE IS A CHOICE: California may lose two more refineries, would have to rely on gas from abroad.

Short on the heels of another major refinery closure, Valero signaled it is considering closing its two California refineries that produce over 14% of the state’s gasoline. Refinery closures already have the state importing 8% of its gasoline supply, which means the state could soon have to significantly increase its imports of refined products such as gasoline, on top of its existing reliance on the Middle East and South America for the majority of its crude oil.

Valero announced its profit is down significantly due to very low margins from its refinery business, prompting a question during its earning call about its costly California refineries.

Valero CEO Lane Riggs responded the company has already “minimized strategic [capital expenditures]” in the state and “California is increasing its regulatory pressure on the industry, so we’re really considering everything — all options are on the table.”

While Riggs did not explicitly state that the refineries, which represent over 14% of the state’s remaining refinery capacity, could be shut down, California legislators were quick to ring the alarm bell and tie the potential closures to new refinery regulation powers being granted to the state in a special legislative session called by the governor.

“When California Governor Gavin Newsom said in 2021 he didn’t see a future for oil in CA, I didn’t know 2024 would be the year he ended it at lightning speed,” said State Assemblymember Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, on X. “Today, another refiner said “all options are on table” with refineries here. We can thank Newsom’s legislation.”

The country as a whole needs more refining capacity and our largest, most self-destructive state is effectively outlawing it.

ROBERT SPENCER: What Sort of Man Votes for Kamala Harris? “Even more of a head-scratcher, however, is another video that two Democrat groups have just released. It features a young man happily watching pornography on his phone (and I’m just not going to describe what he is doing) until a fictional Republican congressman bursts into the room and snatches the phone out of hand. ‘Sorry,’ says the severe, graying, red-tie-wearing phone confiscator, ‘you can’t do that.'”

They’re flailing.

ET TU, CNN?

NEW: CNN’s Scott Jennings says Kamala Harris is a “double-threat” because she can’t think on her feet and can’t answer the expected questions.

CNN has railed on Harris after her town hall event.

Here are the top reactions:

6. Axelrod: She is word salad city.

5. Jennings:… pic.twitter.com/Mdrr46uzbz

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 24, 2024

That’s nice but voting for Trump is nicer — no getting cocky.

BOTTOM STORY OF THE DAY: Kamala Harris Officially Chickens Out of Doing Joe Rogan’s Podcast.

WELCOME HOME: Crew-8 returns to Earth.

A Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Oct. 25, wrapping up a record-setting mission.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast from Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. Eastern. The spacecraft had undocked from the ISS at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Oct. 23.

The splashdown marked the end of the Crew-8 mission, returning NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. The four spent 235 days in space, 232 of them on the station.

In a statement several hours after splashdown, NASA said the four had been taken to a local medical facility “for additional evaluation” separate from the standard medical evaluations done on the recovery ship. NASA did not elaborate on what prompted that evaluation, and the agency said at a post-splashdown briefing that the the crew was doing well after splashdown. NASA added in its statement that “out of an abundance of caution, all crew members were flown to the facility together.”

That 235-day mission is a record for the longest flight of an American crewed spacecraft.

Crew-9 is set to return in February with Starliner strandees Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Now That’s One Devoted Swiftie. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news and this week we have the mysterious case of the tell-tale iPhone, an O.J Simpson impersonator, and going to jail for Taylor Swift.”

HMM: Shock Poll: Trump Is Close in New Mexico.

KA Consulting’s metrics claim a much closer race than the symphony of major pollsters, all of whom have Harris comfortably carrying the Southwestern state. KA Consulting polled 612 likely voters between October 16 and 18 and cited a recent NBC poll that found Trump’s position strengthening among Hispanics as evidence that Trump can pull off a shocking upset in the Sun Belt. Nearly half of the state’s population identifies as Hispanic, and the politics of a border state cannot be discounted during an election cycle where illegal immigration has dominated policy discussions.

The consulting firm also cites former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s strong polling numbers in the state before he dropped out of the race to support Trump as evidence that Trump could improve on his poor showings in 2016 and 2020.

New Mexico is a border state, too, which is why I mentioned it as a (very) outside chance for Trump in this week’s Wargaming the Electoral College.

THAT WOULD BE NICE: CNN Analyst: Trump Could Capture His ‘Great White Whale’ in 2024.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE WARRIORS GONE?

I’ve had a number of people ask me what I think happened that caused our senior military leadership to go from being the most respected institution in America to being a bunch of banana republic narcissistic self-serving politicos.

There are so many ways to answer that, but I…

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) October 24, 2024

Read the whole thing.

IT WOULD TAKE A HEART OF STONE NOT TO LAUGH: Harris’s Radical-Left Base Is Angry She’s Trying to Hide Her Extreme Left-Wing Beliefs. “There’s been an odd disconnect between the campaign’s economic populist ad strategy and the event strategy that focuses almost exclusively on Liz Cheney kumbaya optics that depress the base right as voting begins and don’t provably win more swing voters than bread-and-butter issues.”

WOEING: Boeing is still bleeding money on the Starliner commercial crew program.

Apart from technical execution, Ortberg identified Boeing’s errors in cost and risk estimation as other reasons for the company’s poor performance on several fixed-price government contracts, including Starliner.

“We’re not going to be able to just wave the wand and clean up these troubled contracts,” he said. “We signed up to some things that are problematic.”

Ortberg said he is reluctant to ditch all of Boeing’s troubled contracts. “Even if we wanted to, I don’t think we can walk away from these contracts,” he said. “These are our core customers that need this capability. We’ve got long-term commitments to them. So walking away isn’t an answer to this.”

However, Orberg added that Boeing could reassess programs as they shift from one contract phase to the next. NASA’s commercial crew contract with Boeing has a maximum value of $4.6 billion, but that assumes the agency gives Boeing the green light to fly six operational Starliner missions.

Assuming Starliner flies six missions with four astronauts at the fixed price of $90 million per seat (SpaceX Crew Dragon costs $65 million per seat), Starliner would generate $2.16 billion in revenue for Boeing.

That’s revenue, not profit, for a program that’s already cost Boeing $1.85 billion in losses. If there’s a business case remaining for Starliner, it must be incredibly slender.

THIS JUST CAME IN: Boeing Explores Sale of Space Business.

The effort, part of a strategy by Boeing’s new Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg to streamline the company and stem its financial losses, is at an early stage and may not result in a deal.

Boeing faces a deepening financial crisis. Its largest labor union has rejected two contract proposals and extended a strike that has halted most of its airplane production. Meanwhile, Boeing’s space and defense projects have been hobbled by delays and cost overruns.

For decades, the company has worked hand-in-glove on big National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs, including the Apollo astronaut missions and creating the space station. In recent years, SpaceX has supplanted Boeing’s role as a top agency partner. NASA recently opted to have two astronauts wait months for a ride back from the ISS on a SpaceX craft after problems emerged on Starliner’s first-ever human spaceflight.

Boeing is expected to keep its position overseeing the Space Launch System, some of the people said. The SLS is a huge rocket NASA is paying the company to build to start future lunar-exploration missions. The rocket successfully completed its first flight for NASA about two years ago, though Boeing has faced production challenges and quality control issues with the system.

I’m guessing that’s because SLS is an irresistible (and unaffordable for NASA) cash cow.

IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™ Election Ejection Edition, Part Deux.