U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel to push for more humanitarian aid for besieged Palestinians in Gaza. On the ground, Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City in their campaign to crush the enclave's ruling Hamas group. Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel traded blows in the north.
Palestinians carry an injured woman in Gaza's Bureij refugee camp Thursday.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
2. ISRAEL FUNDING
Although the House (read Republicans) approved a $14.5 billion military aid package Thursday for Israel, don't look for it to clear the Senate (read Democrats) anytime soon. The strictly partisan approach would offset the emergency aid with controversial spending cuts elsewhere and falls short of the funding for Ukraine requested by President Joe Biden.
3. NEW MILITARY LEADERS
Republican senators worried about military readiness joined Democrats to confirm senior military nominees who had been blocked for months by Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti is now the first woman to lead that branch of the military. Tuberville has been criticized by Republican colleagues for blocking nearly 400 nominees since February in protest of the Pentagon paying for service members who travel out of state to get an abortion.
4. BANKMAN-FRIED CONVICTED
Four days on the witness stand didn't help Sam Bankman-Fried after a New York jury convicted the FTX founder of fraud for cheating customers and investors of $10 billion or more. FTX was the world's second-largest crypto exchange before collapsing into bankruptcy a year ago. "His crimes caught up to him," a prosecutor said.
A courtroom sketch of Bankman-Fried's cross-examination this week.
(Elizabeth Williams via AP)
5. WAGE THEFT SETTLEMENT
Uber and Lyft will pay $328 million to end a lawsuit alleging they stole from drivers for years by improperly deducting sales taxes and fees from their wages. Wage theft is hard to track, but the Economic Policy Institute has estimated it in 2014 at $50 billion per year — more than three times the total of yearly car thefts, robberies, burglaries and shoplifting combined.
The settlement didn't make the companies admit wrongdoing. Shouldn't it at least hurt their star rating?
6. TUPAC SHAKUR PLEA
Duane Keith "Keffe D" Davis, a former street gang leader, pleaded not guilty to the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis wrote in a 2019 memoir that he handed a gun to a member of his gang who had been sitting in the backseat of the car from which the shots were fired that killed Shakur.
"Keffe D" Davis was arraigned yesterday in Las Vegas.
(Ethan Miller/Pool Photo via AP)
7. VEGAN ≠ EXPENSIVE
You can spend a lot of money on groceries as a vegan — but you can also spend very little, because for all the fuss over plant-based meat, most ingredients for vegan cooking are fresh produce and pantry staples. Toni Okamoto of Plant-Based on a Budget showed us two affordable whole-food recipes that would make perfect Thanksgiving dishes.
8. LESS VAPING, TOBACCO USE
Fewer high schoolers are vaping and using tobacco than a year ago, the CDC reported. Health officials believe that increased prices and laws raising the minimum purchase age to 21 are some of the factors behind the drop from 14% to 10%. Still, one in 10 middle and high school students told respondents they had recently used a tobacco product, which is still 2.8 million kids.
9. 'NOW AND THEN'
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving Beatles, released the group's last-ever singleyesterday with the help of machine learning technology that isolated John Lennon's vocals from demos he recorded in the 1970s. George Harrison's guitar parts were added from recordings in 1995, six years before his death.
Got those post-Halloween blues? Well, we have some perfect streaming antidotes to lift your (non-scary) spirits. If your kids (or you) haven't outgrown The Wiggles yet, tune in to this Hot Potato doc; a comedian struggles to afford blueberries in Gavin Matts: Progression; and there's a missing man in a small town in Last Stop Larrimah. But wait, you say you DO want more scary stuff? Then Saw X will cut it for you.
**LOVE **HATE **ATE
One thing we love: Making lists of NYC restaurants for family to try when they visit.
One thing we hate: New York City's incredibly convoluted process at finding the right high school a year before your 8th grader steps through the door.
One thing we ate: M&M's. Reese's Cups. Starbursts. Hershey Kisses. M&M's. Tootsie Pops. Nerds. Jolly Ranchers. Twizzlers. Lollipops. Chocolate Bars. Sour Patch Kids. M&M's, Skittles. Candy Corn. Gummies. Mints. Jawbreakers. Kit Kats. M&M's. (What am I leaving out?)
not to be accusatory,
but it's kinda "convenient" how bears suddenly decide to take a mandatory months-long nap through all the major family holidays.
