Lebanon's Deadliest Day Since October

Israel attacks Lebanon: Early this morning, the Israeli military struck over 300 sites across Lebanon, aiming at militants with the terrorist group Hezbollah. The strikes killed at least 100 people and injured more than 400. Lebanese authorities say this is the country's deadliest day since this round of fighting started last October.

Yesterday, Hezbollah launched 150 rockets, drones, and missiles into northern Israel, an especially aggressive show of force that they say was in retaliation for Israel's killing of 61-year-old Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah commander, on Friday along with 10 other affiliated militants.

Prior to his death, the U.S. State Department had put a $7 million bounty on Akil's head, due in part to his role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut and in taking American hostages.

This comes on the heels of an attack last Tuesday, most likely linked to Israel, in which thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria, killing 12 (mostly members of Hezbollah, though two young children perished as well) and injuring many others.

"A day after these deadly explosions, more detonations triggered in Beirut and parts of Lebanon Wednesday—including several blasts heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by Tuesday's explosions," reports the Associated Press, which notes that at least 25 additional people were killed and more than 600 wounded.

"We are at the start of a new phase in the war," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday.

Trump gains in Arizona: New polling from The New York Times/Siena College finds that Republican nominee Donald Trump has gained a bit more of a lead in Arizona while maintaining his lead in Georgia, both states won by Joe Biden in 2020. One swing state to watch right now? Traditionally red North Carolina, where Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is closing the gap between herself and her opponent.

Arizona is particularly interesting because Harris appears to have a Latino voter problem. The same poll, back in August, "found Ms. Harris leading by five percentage points." It's Latinos who've seemingly moved away from Harris, "though a significant number—10 percent—said they were now undecided," reports the Times. Interestingly, the Democratic candidate for Senate, Ruben Gallego, is polling well there despite Trump's lead, suggesting a fair number of voters may split their tickets this time around.

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Scenes from Lisbon: Some softcore pro-natalism from the Lisbon airport. If you did not travel with a stroller, you may borrow one there, free of charge (and leave it at your gate when you board). If you're traveling with a small child, you get to go through special expedited customs, security, and passport control lines. In fact, people are kind of cutely offended if you don't take them up on this; it's culturally important to let families go first. After traveling through Portugal and Cabo Verde (formerly a Portuguese colony), I am grateful for the small ways this culture attempts to make everyday tasks easier for families with young kids.

(Liz Wolfe)

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QUICK HITS

On the disappearance of religion/faith from elections. "A House committee focused on threats from China argued in a report released on Monday that U.S. federal research funding had helped to advance Chinese technologies with military applications, helping to fuel a potential national security rival to the United States," reports The New York Times. It could simply be that I've been offline, vacationing, for too long and that I've missed much of the analysis. But is anyone else a little alarmed by the relative quiet following a second attempt on Donald Trump's life? The would-be assassin, Ryan Routh, doesn't appear to be as ideological as one might expect, mostly fired up by the war in Ukraine rather than domestic politics. In case you missed it: Zach Weissmueller and I talk Gender Queer, book bans, and school curricula with Erika Sanzi.

Did you know that federal law prohibits selling raw milk across state lines? I did not, until reading this. More on the laws by state here. American taxpayers are forced to pay for…COVID tests? Does anyone even do those anymore? Speaking of, in competition for the worst headline I have ever seen: "Public-Health Officials Should Have Been Talking About Their Sex Parties the Whole Time." I do not want to know about the horniness of tyrants, and I think that COVID-policy architects deserve accountability for their wrongdoing. "Sometimes, the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all," writes Russell Shaw in The Atlantic, making the case for how parents can and should step back to improve kids' outcomes (and their own). Paglia rarely misses:

Camille Paglia explains the fundamental contradiction of modern liberalism pic.twitter.com/8gn4eioLq2

— Jash Dholani (@oldbooksguy) September 22, 2024

Where's the lie:

in many ways mark robinson is the most american politician of them all. a stone cold pervert with zero social awareness and an enormously undeserved ego. extremely racist in ways that don't even make sense. addicted to hardcore pornography. like it or not, he is our avatar

— america's lounge singer (@KrangTNelson) September 19, 2024

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