MONDAY 10/21/24

Dead Heat – Latest Washington Post/Schar School poll of more than 5,000 registered voters, conducted in the first half of October shows Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump tied at 47% among registered voters who “definitely/probably” will support the respective candidate. Harris has a one-point lead among likely voters, at 49% to 48%.

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Four! – Arnold Palmer was a gentlemanly professional golfer who dominated his sport from the mid-1950s through the ‘60s. Those of us who do not follow golf closely perhaps know him best as the inspiration for an eponymous non-alcoholic cocktail. 

To former president and amateur golfer known for – guess what? – cheating, Donald J. Trump, Palmer meant more than golf and Arnold Palmers. Much more.

“This is a guy that was all man,” Trump said at his campaign rally Saturday in Palmer’s hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, held at the local airport that, like the lemonade/sweet tea cocktail, is named for the golfer. “He took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’ I had to say it.”

And so, Trump spent the first 12 minutes of his rally at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport speaking about, er, Arnold Palmer’s size. Apparently, the golfer did not have small hands.

At least one of Palmer’s survivors, daughter Peggy Palmer, was not amused.

“I thought it was an unfortunate way to remember my dad,” Peggy Palmer told The Independent.

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Not the End – War in Gaza is “not over” following the killing by the Israeli Defense Force of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said (per Al Jazeera) but the beginning of the end. 

“Today, evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not complete,” the Israeli PM said last week. 

Meanwhile, a senior member of the Israeli hostage negotiation team has told Haaretz the killing of Sinwar has not led to any changes in either side’s position in negotiations.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa