House GOP picks Scalise as Speaker nominee – National & International News – WED 11Oct2023

House GOP picks Scalise as Speaker nominee.

UAW strikes 8,700 workers at KY Ford plant after blasting automakers over layoffs.

Reports: Israel had multiple warnings of Hamas attack, ignored them.

NATIONAL NEWS

House GOP picks Scalise as Speaker nominee

In a secret ballot following a closed door caucus meeting, House Republicans have selected Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) as their nominee to replace Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. Scalise narrowly won a majority of his caucus, 113 to 99, defeating Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). After the vote, Jordan said he would vote for Scalise whenever the official vote comes to the floor of the full House.

However, Scalise has detractors and skeptics within his party. Some moderates object to the fact that Scalise will not unequivocally state that the 2020 election was not “stolen” from Donald Trump. There are also at least 7 MAGA members who have declared themselves a “hard no” on Scalise. Kevin McCarthy was unseated last week when just 8 Republicans joined all Democrats in a vote to oust him. There are also concerns about Scalise’s health since he is currently undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.

A vote could come as soon as tomorrow, but Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry says he wants to give Scalise enough time to firm up his support before bringing a full floor vote. McHenry and other Republicans are eager to avoid a drawn out voting process like the one that happened in January when McCarthy failed 14 votes before finally winning the 15th. It remains to be seen whether or not such a showdown can be avoided given the fractious squabbling in the House GOP. 

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UAW strikes 8,700 workers at KY Ford plant after taking automakers to task over layoffs

In a surprise move today, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has called 8,700 workers at a Ford F-series truck plant in Kentucky to strike. Fain is expected to discuss the decision in a Facebook Live even this afternoon.

The announcement came after the union boss slammed layoffs at non-striking plants by Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. As of this writing, Fain has not yet announced any new strikes at any GM or Stellantis plants.

Since the beginning of the United Autoworkers strike nearly four weeks ago, about 25,000 Ford, General Motors and Stellantis workers have walked off the job. The UAW is employing a “stand up” strike strategy, striking certain key plants and facilities instead of walking off all 146,000 workers. The strategy allows the UAW flexibility and greater leverage in negotiations, and also allows them to conserve their strike find.

Since the first strikes were announced, the automakers have also idled or laid off about 4800 workers at non-striking plants. The automakers claim these layoffs are necessary since some of the facilities on strike produce parts needed at other facilities, leaving those facilities without materials, or because non-striking facilities produce parts for assembly plants which are on strike.

UAW President Shawn Fain has rejected these explanations, saying that this is strike back from the automakers meant to pressure UAW membership into accepting a less favorable contract. Fain points out that each of the automakers has billions in profits and could easily afford not to idle any non-striking workers.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Israel had warning of Hamas attack, ignored it

More sources have confirmed reporting on Monday from the Associated Press, the Times of Israel and other outlets claiming that Egyptian intelligence officials had warned their Israeli counterparts of “something big” brewing in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed these reports as “fake news”. His office has claimed, more noncommittally, that Netanyahu was not apprised of these warnings.

Following a closed-door intelligence briefing, House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul confirmed to reporters that Egypt had passed on intelligence to Israel about three days before the attack that Hamas was up to something. Other outlets have reported that Egypt’s Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel called Netanyahu personally to warn him 10 days before the attack. Abbas told Netanyahu Hamas was planning “something unusual, a terrible operation”. 

Anonymous Egyptian intelligence officials have said they were “shocked” by Netanyahu’s indifference. One said Netanyahu shrugged it off, saying Israel’s military was “submerged” in troubles in the West Bank.

As a result, Israeli Defense Forces took hours to arrive in southern Israel where about 1500 Hamas fighters, whose only means of transport were power gliders, motorcycles and golf carts, were rampaging.

Hamas surprised by lack of resistance

Hamas leadership themselves were apparently shocked that their attackers did not meet IDF resistance sooner. Sources claim that Hamas had much more modest goals for these operations, hoping to kill a few Israelis, embarrass Netanyahu and the IDF and bring back a handful of hostages in hopes of negotiating with Israel for port access. 

Instead, the attackers met no resistance for hours and ran amok, with no coordination or direction, striking opportunistically until the IDF finally arrived. Hamas now has about 200 hostages it didn’t want, and is facing much greater blowback from Israel than it had bargained for. Currently, about 100,000 IDF soldiers are amassing around Gaza’s border and Israel is carrying out dozens of air strikes a day, destroying schools, apartment buildings and even the third-oldest mosque in the world. There’s also a total blockade, no water, no power, no food, no fuel, and no means of escape after the IDF bombed Gaza’s only land crossing into Egypt to the south.