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 My son has narrated the last book I wrote.
Please consider listening to it and encouraging others to do so too. (Click on Book Cover) World & Nation 'Herculean effort' underway to rescue Floridians, DeSantis says; Ian targets South Carolina: Live updates  Ian was set to make landfall Friday afternoon on the coast of South Carolina after strengthening late Thursday into a Category 1 hurricane. It will then move inland across the state and into North Carolina by Saturday. Officials in Florida, meanwhile, were assessing the damage and continuing search and rescue efforts after Ian slammed into the Fort Myers area on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm. There were 21 deaths, but Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday that only one was confirmed as a result of the storm. Officials were still evaluating the cause of the 20 other deaths. "There's been really a Herculean effort," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday morning of crews' work to restore power, assess damage and rescue residents.
Putin Signs Documents to Annex Ukrainian Regions  Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties on Friday to annex four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces, escalating his seven-month war and taking it into an unpredictable new phase. "This is the will of millions of people," he said in a speech before hundreds of dignitaries in the St George's Hall of the Kremlin. "People living in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region are becoming our compatriots forever." At a ceremony that Kyiv called a "Kremlin freak show" devoid of legal meaning, Putin delivered a 37-minute diatribe against the West, accusing it of "sheer Satanism," before signing the treaty documents with the Russian-backed heads of the four entities. They then all clasped hands and chanted "Russia! Russia!" in unison with hundreds of dignitaries, who rose in a standing ovation. Fed's preferred gauge shows inflation accelerated even more than expected in August Inflation in August was stronger than expected despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to bring down prices, according to data Friday that the central bank follows closely. The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy rose 0.6% for the month after being flat in July. That was faster than the 0.5% Dow Jones estimate and another indication that inflation is broadening. On a year-over-year basis, core PCE increased 4.9%, more than the 4.7% estimate and up from 4.7% the previous month. More officers walking off job, running for office to push back against defund-police movement America’s cops are fed up. They say they’ve been defunded, scapegoated as violent racists, vilified for the mistakes of a few rogue officers, and challenged by sharp increases in shootings and murders. Now some are pushing back in a way they never expected: walking off the job to run for elected office. There are more than 100 current or former police officers on the ballot this year for federal, state, and local offices, with more than 90 running for seats in their state legislature. Nearly all are running as Republicans. Pentagon chief: Too soon to determine responsibility for Nord Stream pipeline rupture NATO officials say damage was deliberate, vow a collective response to further attacks U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday agreed with NATO officials that the damages to the Nord Stream pipelines running between Russia and Europe were the result of sabotage. But, during a press conference in Hawaii with his Philippine counterpart, Mr. Austin said it was too early to assign blame. “There’s a lot of speculation but, quite frankly, until a complete investigation is done, no one will be able to really determine for certain what happened,” he said. The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal political decision-making body, said the leaks are causing risks to shipping in the area and heavy environmental damage. They vowed that a deliberate attack against such critical infrastructure would be met with a “united and determined” collective response by NATO members. In Reversal, Biden's Education Dept. Excludes Many From Student Debt Relief  The Biden administration on Thursday changed its guidance on who qualifies for federal student loan forgiveness, hours after six Republican-led states filed a challenge to its student debt cancellation program. President Joe Biden said in August that the U.S. government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for millions of debt-saddled former college students, keeping a pledge he made in the 2020 campaign for the White House. The decision from the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday affects Federal Family Education loan (FFEL) borrowers - whose loans were issued and managed by private banks but guaranteed by the federal government - and does not allow them to consolidate their loans and qualify for debt relief. Earlier, the department's website advised these borrowers that they could consolidate these loans into federal direct loans and qualify for relief. Pennsylvania Senate race tightens, Oz eats into Fetterman’s lead, poll shows The race for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania is tightening, according to a new poll that finds Democrat John Fetterman’s lead over Republican Mehmet Oz has shrunk to a statistical tie. The Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey of Pennsylvania voters shows the race within the 3-point margin of error, with 45% of respondents backing Mr. Fetterman and 43% backing Mr. Oz. Another 8% of voters are still on the fence, and 2% plan to vote for someone else. While Mr. Fetterman has maintained the lead in polls throughout the race, the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Mr. Oz has whittled the Democrat’s lead down to 4 percentage points, from 9 points in mid-August. Elon Musk’s Text Messages Show Twitter Deal Going Off the Rails Text messages released by the Delaware court show the rise and fall of Elon Musk's ill-fated bid to buy Twitter, through conversations with Jack Dorsey, Joe Rogan, Gayle King and others. On Thursday afternoon (September 29), the Delaware Chancery Court released hundreds of text messages between Elon Musk and other relevant parties in the Twitter deal. Given that it’s Musk, the exchanges are revealing, irreverent, and extremely fun. They’re also a rare look into the inner workings of Silicon Valley dealmaking, giving us some insight into Musk’s process and how he lost interest in his prized acquisition. This week, we dig into the most revealing exchanges, with some analysis along the way: Two weeks before Musk announced he’d acquired 9.2% of Twitter, he received a text about his influence over tech policy conversations from Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. From the outset, it’s clear: controlling Twitter means great political influence. More Top NewsBiden's mental sharpness is increasingly doubtful, and it's a serious issue How do you know President Joe Biden is genuinely losing the mental faculties required to govern? One way is to look at his White House staff scrambling to cover up every clue that this is the case. At a recent event, Biden called for Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) to come forward, but the congresswoman was killed last month in a car crash. "I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Rep. McGovern, Sen. Braun, Sen. Booker, Rep. — Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie? I thought she was going to be here — to help make this a reality." Walorski’s death in Elkhart, Indiana, in August had been traumatic for all of Washington and for the Michiana-area district she served. Walorski, who had written op-eds for the Washington Examiner, was killed along with two staffers while visiting and serving constituents. Her bipartisan work on hunger, the subject of the event in question, had earned her respect on both sides of the aisle. Problematic Kamala Harris not fit to become president No matter how the midterm elections fare, the looming 2024 presidential election forces thorny difficulties for the Democratic Party. The thought of running an unpopular and declining octogenarian against either Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024 takes elder abuse to an extreme — but like it or not, that campaign starts the day after the midterms (if not before). President Biden‘s recent interview with “60 Minutes” made it painfully clear why his 2020 campaign emanated from the basement — and reminded everyone of his need to be handled with kid gloves by the media. One could hardly call it a fair fight between Mr. Biden and anyone, much less the GOP front-runners. Yet Mr. Biden‘s option to tag out and allow a strong partner into the ring is hampered. His vice president, picked for gender and race rather than strength, brings abysmal poll numbers, a lengthy history of verbal linguine and a cackle that makes ears bleed — all of which cause extensive heartburn among insiders. Vice President Kamala Harris‘ turn as the border czar, along with the face palms she fosters at the microphone, provides little assurance that Ms. Harris brings strong acumen to the stage. Furthermore, while Mr. Biden ran as a “basement candidate,” it remains unlikely that Mrs. Harris can repeat that strategy.
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