Donald Trump planning a rally in the Bronx (NYC) on Thursday

Biden and Trump cut a deal on debates. Then the fighting started.

Source: Washington Post

Less than two hours after President Biden made his move Wednesday to upend the nation’s presidential debate tradition, two of CNN’s top political journalists were on the phone with Donald Trump’s high command.


“We are sending you a proposal for a debate that will be in your inbox at 10 a.m.,” one of them told the Trump senior leadership, Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio, in a call, before rattling off the terms of a June 27 meeting in Atlanta, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

By 10:14 a.m., Biden’s campaign had announced the president would attend the CNN event. The Trump campaign agreed minutes later. One of the most consequential disruptions to the sequence of American presidential campaigns since the first televised debate in 1960 had been completed by lunchtime.


The only thing left was for the campaigns and the country to figure out what had happened. Disagreements about the debate conditions and the agreement’s significance flared even as voters began hearing the news. At 10:56 a.m., CNN announced terms that largely followed the demands Biden had announced earlier that morning — a first meeting in June, organized by a network on Biden’s suggested list, with no live audience.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/17/biden-trump-cnn-debate-decision/

Israeli army finds bodies of 3 hostages in Gaza killed at Oct. 7 music festival

Source: Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Friday its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.

A photo of 22-year-old Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck ricocheted around the world and brought to light the scale of the militants’ attack on communities in southern Israel. The military identified the other two bodies as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.

All three were killed by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border, where militants killed hundreds of people, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking,” saying, “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-hostages-shani-louk-a37e4fd656b46be36c4c659a9c2aac7d

THIRD WAY campaign ad "Coward"

COOK POLITICAL upgrades AZ-SEN to LEAN D; downgrades MT-SEN to TOSS-UP

4 dead after severe storms rip through Houston; nearly 1M without power

Source: Houston Chronicle

Houston Mayor John Whitmire confirmed in a press conference Thursday night that four people have died in the severe storms that slammed Houston earlier in the evening.

Whitmire added that non-essential personnel should stay home Friday and estimated that it can take up to 48 hours for a resumption of power across the area. Houston ISD canceled all classes Friday, as well.

The National Weather Service in Houston said "Severe thunderstorms moving west of the Houston metro area have a history of producing damaging winds. Remain alert for a possible tornado. Take shelter if you are in the path of this storm!"

...snip...

The NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare "high risk" of flash flooding north of Houston, including areas like Huntsville, Livingston and Trinity. A flood watch is in effect Thursday afternoon and night along and north of I-10, including in Houston and Harris County.
The time frame of concern begins around 2-4 p.m. across northern Houston, the National Weather Service in Galveston said. The weather predictors say it's unclear when the heavy storms will begin to progress southward. "Despite the uncertainty, the boundary will eventually push southward towards the coast by the evening or overnight hours, taking its rain and thunderstorm activity with it," the NWS wrote in its forecaster's discussion.





Read more: https://www.chron.com/weather/article/houston-weather-storms-flooding-19461571.php

Those office romances never work out....

Group glues 'Free Palestine' posters on NYC subway, causing $10K in damage: police

Mary Trump live (4:30) on the Trump trial

Greg Steube has achieved a rare feat: Successfully forcing a bill to the House floor

Source: Politico

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) has a rare feat in modern congressional terms: Forcing floor consideration of legislation — on this occasion, a bill he crafted that would provide tax relief for losses due to federally declared disasters.

He invoked a rarely successful procedural tool, the so-called discharge petition, to compel a floor vote on his legislation aimed at helping victims of hurricanes, wildfires and the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. The Florida Republican hit 218 signatories — a majority of the House — of supporters on Wednesday, according to the chamber clerk.

Discharge petitions rarely succeed. The last one to hit the necessary number of signatures to force floor consideration concerned the Export-Import Bank, back in 2015. Steube called for the Senate to act swiftly once it passes the House.

Democratic Whip Katherine Clark called on Democrats to sign onto the discharge petition in a meeting Wednesday, a person familiar told POLITICO. More Democrats have signed onto the petition than Republicans.



Read more: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/05/16/congress/a-successful-discharge-petition-00158356