- Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on the winner's circle of choices for GOP House Speaker 

The devastation continues in the war between Israel and Hamas, with millions of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caught in the crosshairs.
 

• The death toll ticked upward as Israel escalated fighting in Gaza following Saturday’s terrorist attack by Hamas, which claimed more than 1,200 Israeli lives. On Wednesday, the Israeli government stopped the flow of all food, electricity, and other essential goods and services to Gaza. After years of internal division, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior opposition leader Benny Gantz created a wartime cabinet, and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) began pounding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes. The Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday that at least 1,100 people, 326 of them children, have been killed by the retaliatory strikes, and at least 5,339 more have been wounded. 
   

• With an area of just 88 square miles, the narrow Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has been subjected to a lockdown by the Israeli government for over 15 years. During that time, Gaza’s two million residents have been banned from traveling freely, and are subject to regular individual screenings and physical searches. Many experts on the conflict, including the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, say the conditions inflicted upon Gaza have made the region an “open-air prison.” Hamas took scores of hostages, including Americans, into Gaza after launching its assault. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed in a briefing on Wednesday that at least 22 Americans were killed in Saturday’s attacks by Hamas in Israel, and another 17 American nationals remain unaccounted for. Kirby warned about the “very distinct possibility these numbers will keep increasing.”
   

• The IDF reported carrying out over 2,600 strikes across Gaza since Saturday. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Wednesday that more than 263,000 people have been displaced across Gaza since Israel began shelling the territory in response to Saturday’s attack by Hamas. More than 1,000 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed, and 560 more are completely uninhabitable. Gaza’s hospitals—already starved for medicine and supplies—are now barely operational. The enclave’s sole power plant has been shut down due to lack of fuel. Sewage has begun accumulating in the streets. More than 60 percent of the Gazan population are women and children.

Misinformation about the conflict has run rampant across social media since Saturday’s attacks. 
 

• A top European Commissioner, Thierry Breton, wrote a letter to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday accusing the company of hosting misinformation and illegal content about the war, in potential violation of the European Union’s content moderation law. The platform is subject to Europe’s Digital Services Act, which could result in billions of dollars in fines for X if regulators conclude that violations occurred. Hamas has seeded many of the horrific videos being shared to terrorize civilians and take advantage of threadbare content moderation on X and Telegram in particular. Researchers found that a group of 67 X accounts spread coordinated disinformation about the war. X CEO Elon Musk famously disbanded much of the company’s content moderation team shortly after he took over the company. Doctored or completely fake images are being circulated, and images from video games are being posted on TikTok as “actual footage.” Old images from the Syrian civil war and a Hezbollah propaganda video are similarly being disseminated as breaking news. Disinformation and unverified claims are making their way to Israelis through popular messaging apps like WhatsApp. 
   

• Over the weekend, a Wall Street Journal report stated that Iran had helped to plan Hamas’ attack on Israel. But according to several American officials, the U.S. government has collected multiple pieces of intelligence contradicting that report, concluding that key Iranian leaders were surprised by the attack, and fueling doubts that Iran played a direct role in planning the attacks. Furthermore, Israel, and its key regional allies have not found any evidence to support the claim of Iranian involvement in the assault. That hasn’t stopped GOP presidential candidate Tim Scott from calling for an immediate freeze on $6 billion in Iranian assets.  

Fall is upon us, and with it, the official start of Spooky Season. If the thought of celebrating with a scary movie night secretly puts you off your candy corn, Ruined is the podcast for you. Hosted by horror aficionado and Lovett or Leave It head writer Halle Kiefer and her squeamish friend and co-host, Alison Leiby, Ruined unpacks a different horror movie every week. And for those of you like Alison, who are too scared to watch, fear not – Halle will ruin the movie for you! Let Ruined help you survive spooky season with your dignity intact. Listen each week wherever you get your podcasts

As if we didn’t have enough fucking horrors to deal with, a slim majority of Republicans in the House of Represenatives hoisted Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) on their shoulders to become the party’s next nominee for Speaker of the House. However, like recently-ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy, it’s clear that his path to election will not be smooth. In a closed-door vote, House Republicans voted 113-99 to name Scalise, the number 2—in every sense—House Republican, as their choice to succeed McCarthy. You may remember Scalise from voting to overturn the 2020 election results, or from once reportedly describing himself as “David Duke without the baggage,” or from the fact that he represents the congressional district that elected Duke himself to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1989. 

Scalise narrowly bested House Judiciary Chairman and fellow MAGA nutjob Jim Jordan, a favorite of members of the far-right Freedom Caucus. You’d think the Freedom Caucus would be happy about having these two guys to pick from, but instead they’ve decided they prefer Jordan and are now feigning outrage about the possibility of a Scalise speakership because of his whole, you know, virulent racism thing. And so they’ve delayed a full House vote. No such objections to Scalise when he was House Majority Leader or Minority Whip, though! Could we be in for another 15-vote death march before the shambolic House GOP elects a speaker? It’s very possible. A victory for either Scalise or Jordan would mean the furthest-right members of the GOP caucus would be in complete control of the chamber, if there were any doubts left.

A retired Deutsche Bank risk management official testified in disgraced former president Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York on Wednesday, saying that Trump obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans using fraudulent appraisals, or “statements of financial condition.” Sounds like our guy!

Fossil fuel giant Exxon Mobil bought American rival Pioneer Natural Resources in a $60 million all-stock deal that will make the combined company the largest oil producer in the United States. Monopolies are so back!

Members of the New York GOP delegation in the House of Representatives have moved to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after his indictment was unsealed revealing additional federal charges of wire fraud, device fraud, identity theft, and falsifying records, mostly related to stealing his donors’ credit cards. 

After a three-count indictment replaced a collapsed plea deal, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika formally removed an old gun possession charge from the Hunter Biden case. 

Mary Lou Retton, the first American woman to win the Olympic all-around title in gymnastics in 1984, has been hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia. Retton does not have health insurance, which forced her family to launch an online fundraiser for her medical care. 

Traci Soderstrom, an Oklahoma City judge, may lose her job for sending more than 500 text messages to her bailiff during a murder trial, including ones mocking the prosecutor, praising the defense attorney, and calling a key witness a liar. She has been under investigation since July when she was caught on camera scrolling through social media and texting during that trial. Girl, get off your phone!!!

Ah, the great outdoors. Or, as some of us like to think of it, the ultimate open-concept area. There’s so much potential there, so why not make your outdoor space really work for you?

Article can help. Their curated catalog of outdoor furniture makes living, dining, and lounging outside easy and comfortable. The flexible range of styles means you can do more with the space you’ve got — and look really good doing it.

Find everything you need to live out your outdoor dreams this summer with Article. Article is offering our readers $50 off their first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com/CROOKED and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

The Biden administration announced a nationwide ban on so-called “junk fees,” refunding $140 million to consumers, and protecting customers in the future.