The new pirates of the Caribbean

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/28/boat-strikes-piracy-illegal-hegseth/

Attacks against alleged drug boats are lawless.

There’s a name for attacks on civilian ships on the high seas: Piracy. That’s also an unfortunately plausible description of the Trump administration’s bombings of vessels around South America that it says are carrying drugs.

Trump hasn’t bothered seeking Congress’s approval for these attacks, probably because a majority wouldn’t approve of the intentional killing of noncombatants. The made-for-social-media boat explosions will likely continue, but they should be called what they are.

Red Cross slams Hamas for staging fake hostage recovery

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416981

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a rare and sharply worded statement on Tuesday, criticizing the Hamas terrorist organization for staging the recovery of a hostage’s remains in Gaza.

Footage released by the IDF on Tuesday showed Hamas terrorists burying the body in the ground before summoning Red Cross personnel and then retrieving it in their presence, creating the false impression of a genuine discovery.

It was later announced that the remains that were handed over to Israel were those of hostage Ofir Sarfati, whose body was retrieved by the IDF in a special operation two years ago.

Netanyahu orders "powerful" strikes in Gaza as ceasefire breaks down

 https://www.axios.com/2025/10/28/israel-break-ceasefire-hamas-bodies-rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he had ordered "powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip immediately" in retaliation for what Israeli officials say was a Hamas attack on Israeli forces in the city of Rafah.

The big picture: The deal to end the war in Gaza was easily President Trump's biggest diplomatic achievement this term. It's now looking incredibly fragile.

The hostage crisis takes new turn – What are Israel's options?

 https://www.israelhayom.com/

Israel examining punishment measures after terror group returned additional remains of Ofir Tzarfati, who was not among 13 deceased hostages remaining in Gaza. Events have triggered renewed pressure from Right to escalate military action.

Israel strikes Gaza after it accuses Hamas of violating ceasefire and staging hostage discovery

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/28/middleeast/israel-military-strikes-gaza-latam-intl

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out “immediate, powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a short statement. The US was notified of the decision to carry out strikes in Gaza, a US official told CNN.

A military official said Hamas had attacked Israeli troops east of the so-called yellow line, which separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the remainder of the territory. The troops, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, had come under RPG and sniper fire, the official said.

Trump, 79, Gets Confused Explaining Water to the Navy

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-gets-confused-explaining-water-to-the-navy

The president went on a baffling rant about the scientific properties of water on board the USS George Washington.

Donald Trump went on a deranged rant about the power of water to destroy magnets during a rambling address to the U.S. Navy just off the coast of Japan.

Speaking aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during his tour of East Asia, the president appeared to suggest—in a largely incoherent speech—that he is pushing for aircraft carriers to use “steam for the catapults” and hydraulics for elevators, while wrongly claiming that water can disable magnets.

Wall Street Journal editorial board: Trump ‘wrong’ on Reagan, tariffs

 https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5575025-wall-street-journal-slams-trump

“Mr. Trump is wrong about the Reagan speech, and he was wrong when he said on social media that ‘Ronald Reagan LOVED tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy,'” the Journal wrote in an editorial published on Sunday.

“The Gipper was a free trader. In the 1987 speech, Reagan was trying to explain why he was making an exception to his free-trade policies on semiconductor imports from Japan,” the newspaper argued. “Mr. Trump has been fortunate that his tariffs haven’t triggered much retaliation, which has spared us from a global trade war. But the tariffs are doing economic damage by raising costs for consumers and businesses and by dampening animal spirits that should be soaring with his tax bill and deregulation.”

Trump reacted in anger to the ad, which featured remarks from Reagan that criticized tariffs, calling the spot “fake” and terminating all trade negotiations with Canada over the ad.

“He can boast about tariffs all he wants,” the Journal added. “But he shouldn’t get away with taking Reagan’s trade beliefs in vain.”

Trump 'taking Reagan's trade beliefs in vain': WSJ editorial board slams tariffs on Canada

Ford doubles down on Reagan ad that got Trump fuming

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/27/ford-doubles-down-reagan-ad-trump-tariffs-00624042

 Ontario Premier Doug Ford has no regrets about being a pain to the Trump administration.

Trump abruptly terminated trade talks with Canada on Thursday night over an ad paid for by Ford’s government that used excerpts from a 1987 radio address by Reagan in an effort to sway public opinion on tariffs in Republican-held districts. The ad, Trump claimed, was intended to interfere in the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on whether the president can unilaterally impose tariffs.

Republicans Want Zohran Mamdani to Win: ‘Leftist Agenda in Action’

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-want-zohran-mamdani-to-win-leftist-agenda-in-action-10946752

 Zohran Mamdani is poised to become New York City's next mayor — and some high-profile critics are already licking their chops, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“Assuming he gets elected, Mamdani will be the most prominent Democrat in America the day he takes office,” DeSantis posted on X. “Voters across the country will be able to watch his leftist agenda in action and know that his path is the Democrat path nationally.”

A victory on November 4 by Mamdani, who leads former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa in polls with early voting already underway, will “be good for Republicans, bad for New York City,” DeSantis said.

Former DOJ officials say Comey case is vindictive, call for dismissal

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/27/comey-vindictive-prosecution-amicus

More than 100 former Justice Department officials urged a federal judge in Virginia on Monday to dismiss charges against former FBI director James B. Comey, arguing that the prosecution was fueled by political animus and not guided by legal standards.

The brief to U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, who is presiding over the Comey case, was signed by former senior Justice Department officials across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations, including former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder, former Bush administration acting attorney general Peter Keisler and dozens of former U.S. attorneys across the country.

Victims of Palestinian Attacks Say Prisoner Releases Will Lead to More Violence

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/victims-of-palestinian-attacks-say-prisoner-releases-will-lead-to-more-violence-1086498f?mod=hp_lead_pos8

Some of those freed as part of Gaza cease-fire were serving long sentences for crimes like murder

Tal Hartuv was at home in northern Israel on the afternoon of Oct. 11 when she saw the list of Palestinian prisoners slated for release as part of the Gaza cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. She recognized a name: Iyad Fatafteh. He was one of two men convicted of stabbing her multiple times with a machete and murdering her American friend 15 years ago.

“There is no justice, and I feel helpless,” said Hartuv, 59 years old, who was born in the U.K. and has been living in Israel for over 40 years. She said Fatafteh’s release has undone the past 15 years of healing. “It brings it all back up again,” she said.

Senator Graham: Trump’s Gaza ceasefire lets Hamas grow stronger

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416908

Senator Lindsey Graham criticizes President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, citing King Abdullah’s doubts about a peace enforcement mission and Hamas’s growing power.

US Senator Lindsey Graham expressed deep concern over President Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, warning that it may unintentionally empower Hamas rather than neutralize the terror group.

In a social media post published Sunday, Graham said he fully agrees with King Abdullah of Jordan's analysis of the current security proposal for Gaza, calling the idea of an international force tasked with disarming Hamas "unrealistic."

"To expect an international force to go to war with Hamas to require their disarmament is unrealistic. To expect Hamas to disarm without the threat of confrontation is unrealistic," Graham wrote.

London’s sad decline is a warning to New Yorkers

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/27/london-decline-mamdani-sadiq-khan-new-york/

London’s economy has gone into a sad decline. And as New York prepares to elect a left-wing mayor, perhaps voters there should reflect on London’s lessons — because their city could easily be going the same way.

The depreciation of the British capital’s once powerhouse economy is becoming more obvious every day. The City of London used to be the key financial hub for all of Europe; this year it dropped out of the list of top 20 initial public offering markets in the world, overtaken by Mexico and Oman. Major British companies have shifted their listings to New York, while some newer ones don’t even bother considering London. Many of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs have decamped for Milan or Dubai, with Nikolay Storonsky, the founder of the wildly popular fintech app Revolut, the latest to join the exodus. House prices, which admittedly had reached eye-watering levels, have started to go into decline, with sales of properties of at least 5 million pounds ($6.67 million) down by about 15 percent over the last year and multimillion-pound price cuts in the ultra-luxury market.

But the main problem is surely this: London has shifted a long way to the left. The Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan is now in his third term as mayor, and has partnered with the Labour government in power nationally to crush the economic life and energy out of the city. Under Khan and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, new ideas get blocked and wealth creation is demonized. Wealthy “non-doms” (residents whose primary homes are outside Britain), who used to be taxed only on their British rather than their worldwide income, now find all of it subject to some of the highest levies in the world. Unsurprisingly, they are fleeing elsewhere. Tourists, who in most of Europe are spared the 20 percent VAT, or sales tax, now must pay it in Britain — deterring the big spenders from Asia and the Gulf who used to flock to London’s high-end stores.