On October 3, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was voted out. McCarthy, who took a record length of four days and fifteen ballots to get voted in, has had the third-shortest speakership in American history and is now the first and only Speaker to be removed from office.
His removal was spearheaded by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, longtime critic and rival of McCarthy, who accused him of making “secret side deals” with the President to secure funding for the Ukraine War as a result of his negotiation with Democrats to implement the 45-day government funding stopgap bill, which delayed a government shutdown.
The house spent three weeks at a standstill with not only an impending government shutdown but also a raging war in the Middle East before nominating Speaker Mike Johnson, described by Politico as “an ideological partisan and a Donald Trump ally.”
On October 25, a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, killed between sixteen and twenty and injured between fifty and sixty. The shooter has been confirmed as Robert Card, an army reserve firearms instructor, who was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound days after the shootings, following a long and exhaustive manhunt.
The killings were carried out in more than one place, including a bowling alley, a restaurant, and a Walmart Distribution Center. In accordance with the manhunt, local businesses had been advised to lock down or close, all public schools were closed the following day, and all citizens had been instructed to stay in their homes until the manhunt was completed and the shooter was apprehended.
The tragedy marks the 565 mass shooting of 2023 in the United States. Regarding the impact and grief felt, Representative Chellie Pingress explained, “It’s a very tight knit community in spite of the fact that it’s a city, and I’m just sure there’s an enormous number of grieving families. People who went out bowling or went out to eat and didn’t expect anything like this to happen.”
President Joe Biden concluded his statement on the tragedy by reiterating his stance on gun reform. “ I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack.”
Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, stated that he had spoken with “leaders of the resistance in Lebanon and also Palestinian groups” in recent weeks and heard of plans that are “more powerful and deeper than what you’ve witnessed” in an interview by Steve Inkeep for Morning Edition.
This comes at a time when rumors of Iran’s supplying of weaponry for Hamas has been widely publicized and speculated, especially in America, with the U.S. State Department saying Iran has, in fact, provided not only weapons but also additional support to Hamas. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell recently called China, Russia, and Iran an “Axis of Evil” and referred to the Israel-Hamas war as an immediate threat to American safety as well as a “worldwide problem.”
Despite evidence of Iranian-trained militant groups throughout the Middle East, including Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and of course Gaza, Amir-Abdollahian claimed in his interview with NPR that Iran only gives Hamas “political support.” Before the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. was attempting to ease tensions with Iran, evidenced by the $6 billion prisoner exchange back in September. Since the conflict has erupted, that process has unsurprisingly been halted.
Going into the upcoming Third Republican debate on November 8, the candidates who have secured spots are Florida Governor Ron Desantis, former U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Tim Scott, U.S Senator from South Carolina, appears to be close to securing a spot. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Former Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson have lower odds and could very well be absent.
Despite not a single appearance at any debate so far in this race, former President Donald Trump is still the frontrunner by far. Even Desantis, Trump’s closest competitor according to recent polling, lags behind the former president by thirty-seven percentage points.
Although Trump has failed to materialize in any meaningful way, his presence has most certainly been felt. His absence has prompted criticism most blatantly from Desantis in the last debate, who used his first answer to address the elephant not in the room, only to tear into his stance on abortion later in the debate.
Candidates who aspire to break Trump’s lead have their work cut out for them. According to data taken on October 26, Trump has been polling at 56.9 percent, with Desantis lagging behind at 14.1 percent.
Many are reporting warm temperatures especially given this time of year, which come as a result of 2023 being an El Niño year. El Niño is the phenomenon defined by the Pacific Ocean experiencing a large increase in temperature. The weather patterns over the past three years have been more or less defined by the La Niña pattern, which has a cooling effect on temperatures due to the Pacific Ocean decreasing in temperature.
El Niños and La Niñas are opposite ends of a climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean, called ENSO for short. The acronym ENSO quite self-explanatorily stands for El Niño-Southern Oscillation. This spectrum is not only defined by the two extremes discussed earlier, but a neutral phase as well. It’s easiest to visualize as a pendulum that swings back and forth between the duration of 3 to 7 years.
The last El Niño was in 2016, which also happened to be the hottest year on record. Climate experts predict that either this year or 2024 will become the hottest year. More record-breaking temperatures are sure to come, as the past eight years have been the hottest on record.
Tensions over Iran
Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, stated that he had spoken with “leaders of the resistance in Lebanon and also Palestinian groups” in recent weeks and heard of plans that are “more powerful and deeper than what you’ve witnessed” in an interview by Steve Inkeep for Morning Edition.
This comes at a time when rumors of Iran’s supplying of weaponry for Hamas have been widely publicized and speculated, especially in America, with the U.S. State Department saying Iran has, in fact, provided not only weapons but also additional support to Hamas. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell recently called China, Russia, and Iran an “Axis of Evil” and referred to the Israel-Hamas war as an immediate threat to American safety as well as a “worldwide problem.”
Despite evidence of Iranian-trained militant groups throughout the Middle East, including Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and of course Gaza, Amir-Abdollahian claimed in his interview with NPR that Iran only gives Hamas “political support.” Before the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. was attempting to ease tensions with Iran, evidenced by the $6 billion prisoner exchange back in September. Since the conflict has erupted, that process has unsurprisingly been halted.
On October 25, a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, killed between sixteen and twenty and injured between fifty and sixty. The shooter has been confirmed as Robert Card, an army reserve firearms instructor, who was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound days after the shootings and after a long and exhaustive manhunt.
The killings were carried out in more than one place, including a bowling alley, a restaurant, and a Walmart Distribution Center. In accordance with the manhunt, local businesses had been advised to lock down or close, all public schools were closed the following day, and all citizens had been instructed to stay in their homes until the manhunt was completed and the shooter was apprehended.
The tragedy marks the 565 mass shooting of 2023 in the United States. Regarding the impact and grief felt, Representative Chellie Pingress explained, “It’s a very tight knit community in spite of the fact that it’s a city, and I’m just sure there’s an enormous number of grieving families. People who went out bowling or went out to eat and didn’t expect anything like this to happen.”
President Joe Biden concluded his statement on the tragedy by reiterating his stance on gun reform. “ I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack.”
