Morning Announcements

Today's Headlines: With the big day tomorrow, 54 million Americans have already voted, up 8 million from this point in 2022, and in the 27 states that report party affiliation, Democrats are outpacing both Republicans and unaffiliated voters, while in the 14 states that report by age, voters over 40 account for more than 80% of early votes. Meanwhile, Trump’s attempts to influence the results hit a wall when a federal judge dismissed his lawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s results if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, calling it “infeasible” because ballots are already cast and the government had no workable plan to segregate votes for the other Dan Sullivan while preserving voter secrecy, though the DOJ says it will appeal, naturally. The other big midterm drama came out of Michigan, where Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the Senate primary, switched her endorsement from Democrat Abdul El Sayed to Republican Mike Rogers after insisting to colleagues as recently as the day before that she’d stick with El Sayed, and instead of attending a unity event with El Sayed at a Black church in Detroit, she popped up with Rogers at a different Black church, leaving her own staff to show up at the El Sayed event. Drama. On a more worrying note, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, 53, suffered a stroke Saturday but is reportedly awake, alert, and being treated at Johns Hopkins. In a first, ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales was indicted in Texas for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly ramming his car into a Mexican construction worker in Houston, leaving the man with a broken leg. Meanwhile, Trump had a rough Halloween when a federal judge threw out his $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over the Epstein birthday book drawing, saying he was “grasping at straws” and dismissing it with prejudice so he can’t refile. Finally, a private jet from Austin to the Bahamas crashed near Cresthaven, Florida, reportedly not far from Mar-a-Lago, killing nine, with videos showing it nosediving into a fireball near a highway.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

USA Today: Early voting surges past 54 million, topping 2022 midterm total

AP News: Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska Senate race

AP News: El-Sayed's primary opponent stuns Democrats by endorsing Republican opponent in Michigan Senate race

Politico: Haley Stevens' bombshell sends Michigan Senate race into chaos

NYT: Senator Chris Murphy Is ‘Awake and Alert’ After Suffering a Stroke

CNN: An ICE officer has been charged after striking a man with a car in Houston

AP News: 'Grasping at straws': Judge dismisses Trump suit against Wall Street Journal over Epstein letter

CNN: Learjet plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida kills 9

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Today's Headlines: Trump canceled a bunch of his remaining pre-election rallies in favor of “telerallies,” and when asked why, he said “I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas,” then called the reporter disgusting and told them to “put yourself in shape, you look like hell.” Meanwhile, in Alaska, Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered a criminal investigation into Mary Peltola’s campaign over its role in recruiting the other Dan Sullivan and suggested the state could withhold certification if Peltola wins, and the DOJ escalated with grand jury subpoenas and records preservation demands (fun detail: the incumbent Sullivan was himself recruited from Ohio to run against a different Dan Sullivan). The DOJ was busy elsewhere too, expanding its effort to prove thousands of noncitizens are on California’s voter rolls by issuing grand jury subpoenas to local election officials. On the foreign front, Ukraine agreed to pull back strikes on Russian oil refineries until after the midterms, just as Donald and Putin would like, while Russia keeps hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and cities and Trump keeps calling for Zelensky’s ouster. Back at the White House, the NYT reports Natalie Harp has moved her operation into Trump’s private dining room off the Oval Office, which might explain the extra unhinged mood, and he’s also trying to evict the press corps and turn the briefing room into an indoor swimming pool, following those gilded “FDR pool” renderings. On the security front, the NYT reports US intelligence sees Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as the target of a Chinese spy plot via a Singapore data center executive who was allegedly passing info to Beijing, and Trump was told and took no action against Huang, Nvidia, or China, while Hegseth told a judge that Trump’s DC arch is a “generational national defense opportunity” because you can deploy drones and snipers from it. Turning to capitalism, Alphabet had its worst day ever, losing roughly half a trillion dollars in market value after weak revenue drivers, higher costs, and cash worries during the AI transition, while DoorDash is buying Instacart for $17 billion and Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital is buying ADT for $7.6 billion. Finally, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao says hackers stole at least $1.7 billion, the largest crypto heist ever, though he insists “user funds are safe.” Ok.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

The Independent: Trump cancels final Kansas and Iowa rallies before Election Day — and unloads on reporters asking about it

NYT: Alaska Governor Orders Investigation Into Peltola Campaign Over Second Dan Sullivan Recruitment Claims

NYT: Trump Administration Pressures California With Expanded Voter Fraud Investigation

WSJ: Ukraine Pauses Strikes on Russian Refineries After Pressure From U.S.

NYT: As Trump Faces Down the Midterms, a Grim Mood Takes Over the White House

NYT: Trump Pushes to Evict White House Press Corps

NYT: Nvidia Chief, Jensen Huang, Is Seen as Target of Chinese Spy Plot

WaPo: Hegseth tells court Trump’s arch needed for national defense

WSJ: Alphabet Sheds Half a Trillion in Market Value in Stock’s Worst Day Ever

CNBC: DoorDash to acquire Instacart for $17 billion

WSJ: Josh Kushner’s Thrive to Buy ADT for $7.6 Billion

WSJ: Binance Suspends Transactions as It Probes What May Be Biggest-Ever Cyber Heist

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Today's Headlines: Flavio Bolsonaro arrived in Miami under the protection of our own president after missing Brazil’s Supreme Court deadline to surrender his passport, and the Trump administration, voted in to be tough on immigrants and crime, has given this criminal immigrant and his family visas, though Brazil’s Supreme Court isn’t backing down, with a justice ordering a police investigation into a donor network co-founded by JD Vance and its ties to Flavio’s campaign, which is a crime in Brazil if the money is foreign and should make things awkward with Lula. Speaking of Vance, he reportedly reached out to a powerful Iranian hardliner at Trump’s direction to revive peace talks, a classic good cop/bad cop while Trump threatens to restart the war after next week’s midterms, and the Pentagon told Congress the war has cost more than $47 billion so far. Meanwhile, Israel is still pending, since we technically know the results but not whether Gadi Eisenkot can form a coalition. Back home, Trump posted that the Alaska Senate election should be canceled and Sen. Dan Sullivan handed another term automatically, and he also called for Democrat Mary Peltola to be prosecuted after the NYT reported her campaign staffers helped recruit the other Dan Sullivan onto the ballot to siphon votes. On the health front, RFK Jr. announced he’ll use “enforcement discretion” to let companies sell unapproved peptide injections without FDA review, even though reporting says FDA scientists advised against widespread use and weren’t included in the decision. In economic news, the Fed held rates at 3.75 to 4% despite persistent inflation, with Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack dissenting in favor of a quarter-point hike. Finally, labor icon and United Farm Workers founder Dolores Huerta died at 96, leaving a legacy of fighting for immigrant, labor, and women’s rights, and 14 children.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

WaPo: Flávio Bolsonaro lands in Miami, declares himself Brazil’s true ‘leader’

WaPo: Brazilian judge orders investigation into JD Vance donor network

WSJ: Vance Reaches Out to Iranian Hard-Liner in Bid to Restart Peace Talks

AP News: Iran war's cost to American taxpayers grows to an estimated $47.1 billion

AP News: Takeaways from Israel's inconclusive election

WSJ: Trump Calls for Alaska Democratic Senate Candidate to Be Prosecuted

NYT: RFK Jr. to Allow Broad Use of Unapproved Peptide Injections

WSJ: Fed Holds Rates Steady but Two Officials Sought Another Increase

NYT: Dolores Huerta, Who Founded United Farm Workers With Cesar Chavez, Dies

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Today's Headlines: Netanyahu’s party failed to win a majority in Israel’s election and, per exit polls, came in second behind opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, with Netanyahu’s coalition losing 14 seats from its 64 in 2022 to land around 50, while Eisenkot’s bloc has 52 or 53 and the two Arab parties hit record representation with 17 or 18 seats, which means Eisenkot would need them to form a government, and while final results are due in two days, a coalition could take weeks, and if no one reaches 61 seats, there’s another election. Over in Brazil, the just-defeated Flavio Bolsonaro fled to the US, fearing arrest after police asked for his passport in a billion-dollar money laundering probe, and the State Department says it plans to issue visas to him and his family, so happy to help, apparently. Back home, hackers targeted the FEC’s website a week before the midterms, knocking its campaign finance filing system offline during the most expensive election in history, with the FEC saying “we have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems,” which doesn’t exactly narrow it down, and meanwhile Trump posted a $1 million reward for tips on voter fraud, past or future, that lead to convictions, without saying where the money comes from. At the Pentagon, Hegseth ordered a one-day “stand down” so troops can vote, so here’s hoping they vote based on their experience with this war, and he’s also pressing Congress to formally authorize renaming the Defense Department the Department of War, which has so far only been done by executive order, at up to $125 million for new signs, websites, and uniforms. In Texas, a judge ruled that Gov. Greg Abbott must let his opponent, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, review over a thousand pages of unredacted communications with Elon Musk, a major Abbott donor, though Abbott is appealing. Finally, the FT reports that Don Jr. went on a two-day hunting trip in remote Mongolia with the Russian oligarch who paid for one of his Bahamas wedding parties, where he killed an endangered sheep with valuable horns, and afterward he had dinner with Mongolia’s president to discuss US-Mongolia relations and business opportunities.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

CNN: Netanyahu suffers rebuke in Israeli elections, exit polls indicate

NYT: Flávio Bolsonaro Leaves Brazil for the U.S. After Election Defeat

Axios: U.S. granting visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and family

Reuters: Hackers target US FEC system, disrupting campaign finance disclosures days before midterms

NBC News: Trump offers $1 million reward for voter fraud tips that lead to convictions

MS Now: Hegseth gave troops a day off to vote, but those votes may not break the way he hopes

The Hill: Pentagon presses Congress to keep measure changing name to ‘Department of War’

Bloomberg Law: Abbott’s Elon Musk Records Can Be Seen by Election Opponent (2)

The New Republic: Don Jr.’s Hunting Trip Reveals He’s Closer to Putin Ally Than We Knew

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Today's Headlines: Flavio Bolsonaro refused to concede to Lula and said he’d seek an annulment, and after Trump called the result “another rigged election,” Flavio conceded minutes later, though he still plans to sue over Lula’s “abuse of incumbency” (he’s also under investigation for corruption and money laundering, police ordered him to surrender his passport, and a source told the Washington Post he’s terrified his father will die in jail and that he’ll be jailed this week, so like father, like son). On the strongman beat, the WSJ reports the Trump administration is pushing Hungary’s ousted Viktor Orban for UN Secretary-General and trying to get Russia and China to “joint nominate” him, which would make it very likely. Meanwhile, Trump’s DOJ charged James Comey a third time, with two counts of leaking sensitive info to a New York Times reporter in 2016, which we only know because Comey asked a judge to unseal the indictment, and it was signed by specially appointed deputies of Todd Blanche rather than career prosecutors (the seashells case is delayed until 2027 while a judge weighs dismissal), and in what looks like a bizarre coincidence, just hours earlier a different judge ruled the DOJ wrongly fired Maurene Comey, the Epstein prosecutor and Comey’s daughter, and ordered her reinstated with backpay, which matters for the other prosecutors fired the same way. On the Epstein front, House Judiciary Democrats released a 50-plus page report on Trump’s documented ties to Epstein and are calling for an independent special counsel, also to look at Blanche’s conflicts and why the DOJ won’t release all the files. In tech news, Anthropic filed IPO paperwork, with a listing possible as soon as the week before Thanksgiving, and its 400-page filing shows it isn’t really profitable in the technical sense, though it earned over a billion dollars in interest on its cash and forecasts outcomes ranging from curing cancer to humans losing control of AI, while the FTC also demanded Anthropic executives testify in a consumer harm probe similar to its OpenAI investigation, with more subpoenas coming. Speaking of AI’s costs, Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees, 27% of its workforce, as part of an “AI efficiency push.” Finally, Halloween candy prices are up 7.7% over the past year, more than twice overall inflation, and while the National Retail Federation forecasts record spending of $13.5 billion, NielsenIQ says candy sales are down almost 7%, and today is also Israel’s election day, so stay tuned.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

Reuters: Trump says Brazil election looked 'rigged' as Bolsonaro refuses to recognize Lula win

WSJ: Viktor Orbán, U.N. Secretary-General?

WaPo: Justice Dept. charges James Comey, ex-FBI director, for a third time

NBC News: Judge orders DOJ to reinstate former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, daughter of ex-FBI director

MS Now: House Judiciary Democrats release 50-page report on Trump’s alleged involvement in Epstein files

WSJ: The Biggest Takeaways From Anthropic’s IPO Prospectus

Axios: FTC demands Anthropic execs testify in expanding AI safety probe

CNBC: Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts as AI leads to efficiency push

WaPo: Halloween candy is more expensive than ever

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices