Editor Daily Rundown: Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter
SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk became Twitter’s owner late Thursday as his $44 billion deal to take over the company officially closed, marking a new era for one of the world’s most influential social media platforms.As one of his first moves, he fired several longtime top Twitter executives, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. One of those confirmed the deal was complete.Chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, were let go, according to the people. Sean Edgett, the company’s general counsel, was also pushed out, one of the people said. The top executives were hastily escorted out of the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
MUSK TO KICK OPEN THE TWITTER PRISONS… NR: Elon Musk to Reverse Lifetime Bans for Twitter Users
Having successfully acquired Twitter after months of legal quagmires, Elon Musk now plans to reverse lifetime bans for Twitter users who were kicked off the platform for various speech infractions.The tech titan doesn’t believe in barring an individual from the social-media site for life, a source told Bloomberg. Twitter has permanently removed a number of political personalities, many of whom are considered right-wing internet provocateurs or conspiracy theorists. They include Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe, Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, and most significantly, former president Trump.The person with knowledge of Musk’s account reinstatement intentions said it’s unclear whether Trump will be allowed to return to Twitter.MEANWHILE, LEFTIST PUBLISHERS ARE TRYING TO BAN CONSERVATIVES… INCLUDING JUSTICE AMY CONEY BARRETT… DAVID STROM: The literary world comes out for censorshipIf there is one thing you can count on from publishers, academics, writers, MSM figures, and Leftists it is defending the right to shove pornography right into the faces of children. Anything less than pornographic books in the classroom is book banning.But when it comes to publishing books by conservatives, not so much. Publishing books by conservatives is an attack on human rights and should be stopped. It is a literal violation of human rights to allow conservatives to have their say in the public square.That is the position that over 325 (and counting–people are signing up continually) editors, publishers, booksellers, and other figures in the literary world. They are calling on Penguin Random House to not publish Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s forthcoming memoir.
HOME OWNERSHIP SLIPPING OUT OF REACH… NYT: U.S. Mortgage Rates Rise Past 7%
Mortgage rates barreled past the 7 percent mark on Thursday to their highest level since 2002, as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases, meant to combat inflation, continued to seep through the economy and weigh increasingly on the housing market.Rates on 30- year fixed-rate mortgages — the most popular kind among home buyers in the United States — rose to 7.08 percent, up from 6.94 percent last week and 3.14 percent from this time last year , according to the latest weekly survey by Freddie Mac. Rates had already surpassed 7 percent, according to other trackers, but this is the first time that the closely watched Freddie Mac survey surpassed that level in two decades.
THUS… BREAKING THIS AM… CNBC: Pending home sales fell 10% in September, much worse than expected
Pending home sales, a measure of signed contracts on existing homes, dropped a much worse-than-expected 10.2% in September from August, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Economists had predicted a 4% drop. Sales were down 31% year over year .
This marks the lowest level on the pending sales index since June 2010, excluding April 2020, when the Covid pandemic was in its early days.
AMERICAN DIESEL SUPPLY DWINDLING… ECONOMIC TIMES: Diesel shortage across the US? Reports say only 25 days of supply left
In the next six months, price increases and shortages of U.S. diesel are likely to emerge unless and until the economy and fuel use slow down. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on October 21 said that the stockpiles of diesel and other distillate fuel oils were just 106 million barrels, the lowest for this time of year since 1982. Distillate inventories were much lower than seasonal averages for the previous ten year s by a huge 26 million barrels. In the United States, diesel is used in agriculture, trucking, and even in the production of electricity.WHAT’S GOING ON WITH NATURAL GAS IN EUROPE? … CNBC: Europe’s ‘not out of the woods’ despite gas prices falling to 4-month lows[I]ntraday European gas prices even went negative at the start of the week — meaning that holders of natural gas paid buyers to take the cargo off their hands.“With gas storage near full, LNG inflows in oversupply and favourable mild autumn weather, prices are doing the work to keep the system balanced as commodities trade in the present,” Ehsan Khoman, head of commodities research at MUFG Bank, told CNBC via email. […]
But Europe’s energy crisis isn’t over, and analysts are warning European policymakers against complacency.
SCHUMER CAPTURED ON HOT MIC DISCUSSING SENATE RACES… John Fetterman’s Debate Performance ‘Didn’t Hurt Us Too Much,’ Chuck Schumer Says (VIDEO)Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Thursday downplayed concerns about Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman’s Tuesday debate performance.“Looks like the debate didn’t hurt us too much in Pennsylvania, so that’s good,” Schumer told President Joe Biden as the two met on a tarmac in Syracuse, New York, according to audio captured by Fox News. Fetterman and Mehmet Oz are polling within the margin of error in Pennsylvania, after the Republican closed a double-digit gap in roughly two months. More than 640,000 Pennsylvanians have already cast their ballots.
THE MEDIA COVERED UP FETTERMAN’S CONDITION… SALENA ZITO: The painful story of how John Fetterman arrived at Tuesday night’s humiliation[T]he truth about John Fetterman’s cognitive abilities remained buried, a secret, but a secret well-known to journalists with personal access to him since late July and to those who have observed him failing to comprehend anything his supporters say to him on the rope line.They said and wrote nothing. The question is, why? Were they afraid they would receive the vicious cancel treatment and threats that Burns got? Were they afraid they would hurt the political team they were not-so-secretly rooting for? Either reason is a stain on the journalistic profession — those culpable should really never again mock anyone who questions the honesty of the press.REPORT: STACEY ABRAMS MAY BE ‘LAYING THE GROUNDWORK TO AGAIN QUESTION THE FAIRNESS OF THE ELECTION’ … AXIOS: GOP scoffs at Stacey Abrams’ voter-suppression warnings in GeorgiaDemocrat Stacey Abrams is again raising concerns about voter suppression in Georgia, rejecting claims that record early turnout has undermined her criticism of the state’s new Republican-crafted election law. […]Abrams, who became a national voting rights advocate after her narrow 2018 defeat, is trailing GOP Gov. Brian Kemp in public polling averages. Her renewed warnings have drawn speculation that she is laying the groundwork to again question the fairness of the election.DEMS ON TRACK TO LOSING HOUSE… ‘BIDEN IS UNPOPULAR EVERYWHERE’… NYT: The 2022 Race for the House, in Four Districts, and Four Polls
President Biden is unpopular everywhere. Economic concerns are mounting. Abortion rights are popular but social issues are more often secondary.
A new series of House polls by The New York Times and Siena College across four archetypal swing districts offers fresh evidence that Republicans are poised to retake Congress this fall as the party dominated among voters who care most about the economy.
ESTABLISHMENT GOP TRIES TO SOOTHE IMPEACHMENT TALK… NYT: With Majority in Sight, Republicans Hush Talk of Impeaching Biden
Privately, many Republican lawmakers and staff members concede that there does not appear to be any clear-cut case of high crimes and misdemeanors by Mr. Biden or members of his cabinet that would meet the bar for impeachment. […]“I say if you’re the commander in chief and you invite an invasion on our southern border, if you’re the commander in chief and you leave Americans on the battlefield in Afghanistan to fall into the hands of the Taliban, what are we supposed to do with you?” Joe Kent, a Republican and 2020 election denier running for a House seat in Washington, said in a radio interview. “This is exactly why we have the ability to impeach presidents.”BREAKING THIS AM… ‘ASSAILANT’ ASSAULTS PELOSI’S HUSBAND INSIDE THEIR HOME… SUSPECT IN CUSTODY… JAKE SHERMAN: BREAKING — @SpeakerPelosi’s husband was “violently assaulted” in the couple’s San Francisco home, her office says. (STATEMENT)LUNATICS RUSH TO SLANDER RIGHT… LAURENCE TRIBE: This is nightmarish. I wish Paul Pelosi a full and rapid recovery. The far right has normalized the use of violence even against the families of public officials with whom somebody might disagree. This absolutely must stop.NEW REPORT SAYS COVID LAB LEAK WAS ‘MOST LIKELY’ SOURCE… RICHARD EBRIGHT: Senate Report, 10/27/22: “Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.” (LINK, SCREENGRAB)‘NATURAL ZOONOTIC ORIGIN NO LONGER DESERVES THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT’… WSJ: Covid-19 ‘Most Likely’ Leaked From Lab in China, Senate GOP Report SaysWASHINGTON—The Covid-19 pandemic that has killed millions worldwide “was most likely the result of a research-related incident” in China, and not natural transmission of a virus from animal to human, a new report by Republicans on the Senate health committee concludes.The study cites details about the early spread of the SARS-COV-2 virus, which causes Covid; the fact that no animal host has been identified nearly three year s into the pandemic; and troubled biosafety procedures at labs in the Chinese city of Wuhan to buttress its conclusion.The 35-page report by Republican committee staff acknowledges that definitive conclusions about the pandemic’s origins are impossible without more evidence. But, it says: “The hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL PLAYING HIDE-AND-SEEK FROM COVID… WAPO: For those still trying to duck covid, the isolation is worse than everOf course Jeremy Pelofsky and Christine Grimaldi want people to meet their new baby. This is their only child, after all, the long-awaited first grandkid on either side.
But first, some ground rules.
The visit will take place in the backyard. Anyone who wants to come over will need to take a rapid coronavirus test. And if guests want to hold the baby or go inside to use the bathroom, they’ll be asked to wear a mask.COMING MONDAY… GOVERNMENT REPORT: MOST UFOS ARE SIMPLY UNIDENTIFIED HUMAN-MADE STUFF… NYT: Many Military U.F.O. Reports Are Just Foreign Spying or Airborne TrashWASHINGTON — Government officials believe that surveillance operations by foreign powers and weather balloons or other airborne clutter explain most recent incidents of unidentified aerial phenomenon — government-speak for U.F.O.s — as well as many episodes in past year s.The sightings have puzzled the Pentagon and intelligence agencies for year s, fueling theories about visiting space aliens and spying by a hostile nation using advanced technology. But government officials say many of the incidents have far more ordinary explanations.Intelligence agencies are set to deliver a classified document to Congress by Monday updating a report made public last year that said nearly all of the incidents remain unexplained. The original document looked at 144 incidents between 2004 and 2021 that were reported by U.S. government sources, mostly American military personnel. […]Military analysts remain puzzled by the third video, known as Flir1. The object captured in the 2004 video appears to hover over the water, jump erratically, then peel away. Military officials say that event is more difficult to explain, but officials who have studied it are convinced it is not a piece of alien technology.
[I]ntraday European gas prices even went negative at the start of the week — meaning that holders of natural gas paid buyers to take the cargo off their hands.
“With gas storage near full, LNG inflows in oversupply and favourable mild autumn weather, prices are doing the work to keep the system balanced as commodities trade in the present,” Ehsan Khoman, head of commodities research at MUFG Bank, told CNBC via email.
Intelligence agencies are set to deliver a classified document to Congress by Monday updating a report made public last year that said nearly all of the incidents remain unexplained.
