As of this writing, there is a tentative partial release of hostages plus a ceasefire that may stretch as more hostages are released. Hamas can’t strategically release all the hostages—partly because they don’t control all of them (there are other groups) and partly because the hostages hold their ticket to survival.
How this plays out, no one knows. What we do know is that the Biden administration has been working with Qatar, Egypt, and israel to work through details and push for this to happen, often over the objections of Israel’s far-right cabinet. Benjamin Netanyahu has said as much directly.
Still, as an experienced negotiator says:
The Guardian:
Wisconsin supreme court appears poised to strike down legislative maps and end Republican dominance
Decision from four liberal justices in lawsuit could eliminate some of the most gerrymandered districts in the United States
The four liberal justices on the court all seemed ready to embrace an argument from challengers in the case, Clarke v Wisconsin elections commission, that the maps violate the state constitution because they include more than 70 districts. It was unclear, however, how the justices would handle the redrawing of a map and whether it would immediately order elections for the entire legislature next year in new districts. Wisconsin voters elect 99 assembly members every two years, but only about half of the 33-member state senate would normally be up for election next year.
Bolts magazine:
Democrats Held Off the GOP in Legislative Races This Year, Again Bucking Expectations
The party gained some seats across more than 600 elections held throughout 2023, though the GOP continued its surge in the Deep South.
Democrats won five additional legislative seats this year, Bolts calculated in its second annual review of all legislative elections.
That’s a small change, since there were more than 600 seats in play this year. But it goes against the expectation that the party that holds the White House faces trouble in such races. In 2021, the first off-year with President Biden in the White House, the GOP gained 18 new seats out of the roughly 450 seats that were in play, according to Bolts’ calculations. (Three special elections will still be held in December, but none is expected to be competitive.)
It also mirrors Republicans’ disappointment in 2022, a midterm cycle that saw Democrats defy recent history by flipping four legislative chambers without losing any. They pulled off a similar feat this year: Democrats held off GOP hopes of securing new chambers in New Jersey and Virginia and instead gained one themselves in Virginia, the fifth legislative chamber they’ve flipped in two years.
Still, these aggregate results mask regional differences, with Democratic candidates continuing their descent in much of the South. That too is an echo of 2022, when the GOP’s poor night was somewhat masked by their surge in a few red states like West Virginia, where Democrats still haven’t hit rock bottom; this year, Republicans surged in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Susan J. Demas/Michigan Advance:
Conservatives really don’t want to take no for an answer on abortion bans
The anti-abortion movement won a momentous victory last year when the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
After almost a half-century, the constitutional right to abortion was suddenly snatched away, leaving the matter up to the states, just as conservatives had insisted they desired. Long-dormant state abortion bans sprung back into effect, while red states wasted no time in enacting even more draconian measures, like criminalizing out-of-state travel for abortions.
It looked to many like conservatives were on an unstoppable roll to end legal abortion access in the U.S.
The only problem was that Americans weren’t on board.
Vanity Fair:
Kari Lake’s Senate Bid Is Giving Off Trump-Veep Vibes: “She’s Hedging Her Bets”
Kari Lake is ostensibly running for a US Senate seat in Arizona, but the cross-country itinerary she’s mapped out to promote her campaign appears better suited for someone with national aspirations or a book to sell. Since announcing her campaign on October 10, the pro-Trump media star, who was defeated in the Arizona gubernatorial election last year, has logged a pair of visits to both Florida and Nevada and attended events in Texas and Colorado.
To some in Trumpworld, this is a curious strategy for a candidate running in a highly competitive state. “A lot of it looks and smells like the kind of stuff you’d do on the [presidential campaign] trail,” a Trump operative said, before downplaying the prospect of Donald Trump actually choosing Lake as his vice president. “Personally, I don’t see it,” they added. “But obviously, President Trump is a big fan, so you can’t count her out.”
That’s how everyone who says Donald Trump was unfit (I’m looking at you, Bill Barr and Peter Meijer) should talk. None of this “but I’d still vote for him ...” Country before party.
Jennifer Rubin/The Washington Post:
The administration vowed to fight antisemitism. How is it doing?
The national strategy obligates the administration to “continue to respond to prominent antisemitic acts and voices and use every appropriate opportunity to reaffirm the Administration’s profound commitment to countering antisemitism.” And it has acted forcefully.
Columbia Journalism Review:
Warped Front Pages
Researchers examine the self-serving fiction of ‘objective’ political news
What appears in a newspaper is less a reflection of what is happening in the world than what a news organization chooses to tell about what is happening—an indicator of values. Last year, for instance, the Times decided to heavily cover the Russian invasion of Ukraine—understandable, to be sure—but also largely ignored policy implications of the midterm election on the war, as Republicans were threatening to block military aid. Abortion rights were clearly critical to the midterms (with potential impact on laws and judges), whereas crime rates were essentially irrelevant (with no discernible policy hanging in the balance), yet the Times chose to publish twice as many articles on crime (a topic generally favored by Republicans) as on abortion (a topic key to Democrats). The paper also opted to emphasize inflation, rather than job or wage growth, in economic coverage—another choice that catered to Republicans. The Times provided admirably extensive coverage of potential threats to democracy, but in general, midterms coverage didn’t engage much with the dangers posed to the integrity of the election.
The choices made by major publishers are not wrong, per se, for the same reason that one newsroom cannot objectively know how to cover an issue, or how much to cover it: no one can. Still, editorial choices are undeniably choices—and they will weigh heavily on the upcoming presidential race. Outlets can and should maintain a commitment to truth and accuracy. But absent an earnest and transparent assessment of what they choose to emphasize—and what they choose to ignore—their readers will be left misinformed.
Cliff Schecter on the fightin’ mad Republicans:
