NEW YORK NEWS
Gongressman Lee Zeldin drew a crowd of over 7,000 people to a campaign event on Long Island. The gubernatorial hopeful was joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ahead of the election, where he is hoping to become the first Republican to defeat an incumbent Democrat since 1995. The polling still shows Zeldin behind, with many political analysts claiming that Hochul will retain her seat, even by a slim margin. Other notable names coming out to campaign with Zeldin are former New York Governor George Pataki, who was greeted at campaign events with old “Pataki ‘94” signs, and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. Zeldin is hoping to emulate Youngkin’s surprise win in deep-blue Virginia in 2021. “This is about all of you taking control your government again,” Zeldin told the crowd at his rally.
Governor Kathy Hochul also called in the big guns, having former president Barack Obama cut a radio ad for her and bringing in Hillary Clinton for a campaign rally. The Democratic Governors Association, which normally doesn’t involve itself in New York given the electoral demographics, created a new Super PAC to help push Hochul over the finish line. This is seen as a sign of the party’s growing fears that a late-stage surge by her Republican opponent Lee Zeldin could result in an upset in the blue state. Hochul herself has been playing defense on the campaign trail after her debate performance left many wondering if she was as worried about the rise in crime in the Empire State. “These are master manipulators. They have this conspiracy going all across America trying to convince people in Democratic states that they’re not as safe,” she told PoliticNation host Al Sharpton on MSNBC. “Safer places are the Democratic states.”
The Zeldin and Hochul campaigns submitted their last campaign finance disclosures before the election. Since the last disclosure, Hochul raised $3.5 million, bringing her contribution total to $49.8 million. This exceeds the previous record of fundraising for a New York Gubernatorial candidate sent in 2014 by Andrew Cuomo, when he raised $46.9 million in his race against Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. Madison Square Garden got in on the action by spending $560,000 on ad buys for the sitting governor, this after she pledged to make restorations to the arena and Penn Station, which sits underneath it.
Lee Zeldin raised $3.5 million since the last disclosure, bringing his total for the campaign to $21.4 million, or 43% of what Hochul has brought in. Zeldin’s success in the polling has started to bring in nationwide resources from such groups as the Republican Governors Association, which has donated a combined $2 million to two Zeldin PACs; cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder gave a million to another Zeldin Super PAC.
US NEWS
The Mortgage Rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has reached its highest level since 2002, topping 7%. The popular mortgage rate was only 3.14% a year ago and has been steadily rising along with the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increase, which are meant to combat inflation. Freddie Mac, which has been tracking borrowing costs since 1971, clocked the rate at 7.08%, well below the all-time highs of the early 1980s, when the rates were over 18 percent. The increased housing costs, however, leave many homebuyers wondering what to do next. “As inflation endures, consumers are seeing higher costs at every turn, causing further declines in consumer confidence this month,” Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement. “In fact, many potential home buyers are choosing to wait and see where the housing market will end up, pushing demand and home prices further downward.”
Elon Musk walked into Twitter headquarters with a sink, telling all the people who expressed their displeasure over his purchase of the social media giant to “let that sink in.” The world’s wealthiest man changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit” (and then again to “Twitter Complaint Line Operator”) and immediately fired the top executives at Twitter and its entire Board of Directors. Musk also gave an ultimatum to his new employees that they have until November 7 to fix the Twitter subscription service, Twitter Blue. In response to rumors that Musk was planning on laying off 75% of the workforce, a group of employees circulated and signed a letter to Musk saying that, “A threat to workers at Twitter is a threat to Twitter’s future. These threats have an impact on us as workers and demonstrate a fundamental disconnect with the realities of operating Twitter.” In the letter, obtained by Time, the employees demanded of “current and future leadership” to not fire anyone, not change work conditions (specifically allowing remote work), and “transparent, prompt and thoughtful communication around our working conditions.”
Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in his San Francisco home. The suspect, who is in the United States illegally on a Visa overstay according to ICE, was apparently carrying a black bag and shouting “Where’s Nancy” during the 2 a.m. home invasion. The bag allegedly contained zip ties, tape, rope, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, a journal and “at least one hammer.” Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer and is still recovering. Nancy Pelosi was out of town in Washington, which explains why there wasn’t better protection around the home of the person who is second in line to the Presidency. In a statement, Speaker Pelosi said, “Since the horrific attack on Paul early Friday, we have been deluged with thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and warm wishes. We are most grateful.” Pelosi gave a small medical update, saying, “Thanks to the excellent trauma care medical team at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Paul is making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.” The alleged attacker was hit with a litany of state and federal charges, which carry between them decades worth of prison time.
The Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine Joint Rules/Legislative Committee voted to prohibit trans-identified minors from receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery. The rule would prohibit medical professionals from prescribing minors puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and referrals for “gender-affirming” surgeries. However, the adolescents currently undergoing treatment with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones would be allowed to continue if they agreed to take part in an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved clinical trial at a university affiliated center, according to board members at the meeting. This decision comes amid a nationwide call for States to ban these procedures on minors, which was started after the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh exposed the policies of the Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. On the federal level, President Joe Biden was interviewed by a trans TikTok star, who claims to be in day 222 of “being a girl” at the time of the interview. When asked if states should have the right to “ban gender-affirming healthcare,” Biden replied, “I don’t think any state or anybody should have the right to do that—as a moral question and as a legal question. I just think it’s wrong.”
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on two cases that would affect affirmative action policies in college admissions. Students for Fair Admissions, a legal advocacy group that opposes affirmative action, has filed complaints against both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina for “employing racially and ethnically discriminatory policies and procedures” when accepting students. The lawsuit against Harvard argued that Asian-American students need significantly higher standardized test scores to gain entrance into elite colleges. While both cases ostensibly cover the same issues, they were separated, because the Court’s newest Jurist, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, is recusing herself from the Harvard case because she recently served a six-year term on the Harvard Board of Overseers. “American colleges and universities should welcome all students who have the academic capabilities, interests, and values to perform well in their institutions,” Heritage Foundation Center for Education Policy Director Lindsey Burke remarked. “They should reject racial preferences in favor of genuine diversity — a student body admitted based on merit that has a wide range of life experiences and political and philosophical viewpoints, all of which contribute to a robust climate of free expression and academic inquiry on campus.”
WORLD NEWS
In Seoul, South Korea, a Halloween celebration turned to literal horror as a stampede killed over 150 people and injured 82 others. The causes of the stampede are still being investigated. The tragedy took place during the annual celebration in the neighborhood of Itaewon. 100,000 people gathered in the streets in the first gathering post-Covid. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered a period of national mourning. “This is truly tragic,” Yoon said in a statement. “A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night.”
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, colloquially known as “Lula,” defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and will be the next President of Brazil. The tightly contested race ended with a margin of 50.9% to 49.1% with the edge going to the self-described socialist. Lula is a founding member of Brazil’s left-wing Worker’s Party. He was a perennial presidential candidate before finally coming to power in the 2002 Brazilian elections, and held office from 2003-2010. Lula is also a populist and something of an icon in Latin America, where his ideology, Lulism, is a popular strand of socialist thought. Other South American countries, like Venezuela, have turned to the Left in recent years, only to see their countries decimated by the policies. Lula campaigned on a climate change platform which vowed to protect the Amazon rain forest.
The European Union became the latest bureaucratic body to impose new regulations on gas-powered cars. Seeking to end the use of carbon dioxide emissions on roads by 2035, Ministers in the EU reached a provisional agreement to increase incentives and subsidies for electric vehicle producers and report every two years. “With these targets, we create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers,” Jan Huitema, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, said in a statement. “In addition, purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers. I am pleased that today we reached an agreement with the Council on an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and supported a 100% target for 2035.” The European Union has adopted the official policy of becoming “a climate-neutral society” by 2050 in accordance with the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.
