"The House was thrown into even more chaos after House Republicans' speaker designate, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), withdrew from the race once it became clear he had no path to win the election, leaving the House leaderless for a 10th straight day.

"GOP lawmakers are set to meet for their fifth consecutive day of closed-door meetings on Friday as they plot a path forward and try to coalesce around a candidate who can get the 217 votes necessary to become speaker on the House floor. Members are expected to reconsider a number of rule changes that could dictate how they choose their next speaker, but it remains unclear when the chamber will vote on its next nominee.

"After a day of meeting behind closed doors with the full conference and those opposed to his speakership, Scalise announced Thursday night he would be withdrawing his name from the running."

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"This Sunday, hours after Hamas's first attack on Israel, Biden's National Security Council promised that the $6 billion ransom Biden agreed to pay in exchange for five hostages had not yet been released to Iran. The money sat in a Qatari bank where it had been transferred from South Korea where it had been held at Washington's request as part of sanctions on Iranian oil sales.

"'Not a single cent from these funds has been spent,' an NSC spokeswoman said, 'and when it is spent, it can only be spent on things like food and medicine for the Iranian people.'

"But if the Biden administration can monitor the $6 billion and make sure it is spent only on food and medicine, surely it must also have the ability to refreeze the money if the terms are violated. Otherwise, the terms were useless from the start. ...

"Obama's vision for a rebalanced Middle East built around a civilized and responsible Iranian regime was vaporous wish fulfillment. The nuclear deal was a terrible mistake. Biden's decision to relax oil sanctions to revive it was bone-headed. Biden's decision to unfreeze $6 billion compounded the litany of errors.

"All these huge blunders contributed to the war now unleashed on Israel. Biden can begin to undo the damage he and Obama did to the region by refreezing the $6 billion. It won't make everything right, but it would be a start."

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"As evidence of civilian atrocities mounted, President Joe Biden emerged in public to unequivocally denounce the Hamas terror attacks as 'pure unadulterated evil' but his repudiation cannot hide the long embrace by his party's liberals of the two main actors behind the staggering violence that rocked the Middle East: the political and military leadership in Palestine and their backers in Iran. ...

"Security experts said the weekend attacks exposed the peril of a decade-long Democrat pursuit of an elusive deal to end Iran's nuclear and terrorist activities combined with a romanticism in liberal academic and political circles of a Palestinian 'struggle.'

"That 'struggle' "has repeatedly resorted to inflicting terrorist casualties on innocent civilians dating to the days of Yasser Arafat and the Achille Lauro ship hijacking, where a wheelchair-bound American Jew was executed and thrown overboard."

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"It wasn't just a crime against Israel -- it was a crime against all humanity.

"Among other atrocities, Hamas terrorists waited in vans to slaughter 260 Jews who were among the thousands attending a music festival -- a genocidal crime that was the largest single murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

"The mostly young people who were murdered in that ambush, and the many elderly people, women and children killed in Hamas attacks across southern Israel, were not part of any military operation nor caught in any crossfire. They were deliberately targeted -- on the streets, at a bus stop, or in their homes -- for brutal killings and kidnappings that we are only now learning about. It was easy to do because it was inconceivable that such war crimes would be committed by supposed freedom fighters.

"Now we have learned from the Wall Street Journal that Iran was at the heart of the planning, funding and approval of this operation -- making a mockery of an American administration that freed up to $6 billion in exchange for the release of five hostages. Already, more Americans have been reported lost in this fighting than were recovered by that deal and, of course, new hostages -- reportedly including more Americans -- have been taken."

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"The Harris Ranch Tesla Supercharger station is an impressive beast. With 98 charging bays, the facility in Coalinga, California, is the largest charging station in the world. ...

"Superchargers charge vehicles up to the 80% sweet spot in as little as 20 minutes, but to provide that kind of power for nearly 100 bays takes something solar can't provide -- diesel generators.

"Investigative journalist Edward Niedermeyer discovered that the station was powered by diesel generators hidden behind a Shell station. Reporters at SF Gate tried to find out how much of the station's electricity was from the generators, but couldn't get a response from Tesla.

"The station isn't connected to any dedicated solar farms, which means that absent the diesel generators, the station is powered by California's grid."

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"California is raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers from $15 an hour to $20. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all get 33% raises?

"But we can't. Not even California's fast-food workers will all get them. Despite the Left Coast's magical thinking, it is impossible to wave a magical legislative gavel and increase everyone's pay. Twenty dollars an hour will price some workers out of the market, and being unemployed, they will earn the real minimum wage, which is zero. Fast-food chains will replace them with machines to take customers' orders.

"Democrats seem never to understand that raising the price of everything doesn't increase the value of anything. Burgers and fries won't be worth more just because Sacramento decrees it. Prices will go up, people will buy less, fewer staff will be needed, jobs will be lost.

"As Thomas Sowell wisely wrote in his latest book, Social Justice Fallacies, which came out last month, 'People tend to buy less at a higher price. If so, then employers -- not being inert chess pieces [to be moved around at the whim of government] -- tend to hire less labor at a higher price, imposed by minimum wage laws, than they would hire at a lower price, based on supply and demand.'"

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"US President Joe Biden's administration is to build a section of border wall in southern Texas in an effort to stop rising levels of immigration.

"Around 20 miles (32km) will be built in Starr County along its border with Mexico, where officials report high numbers of crossings.

"Building a border wall was a signature policy of Donald Trump as president and fiercely opposed by Democrats.

"In 2020, Mr Biden promised he would not build another foot of wall if elected.

"His administration passed a proclamation soon after taking office that said building a wall across the southern border 'is not a serious policy solution'."

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"The two major political parties remain unpopular in the U.S., with 56% of Americans viewing the Republican Party unfavorably and 58% saying the same of the Democratic Party.

"Although both parties are about equally disliked, the public chooses the Republican Party over the Democratic Party by healthy margins when asked which will better safeguard the nation's prosperity and security.

"Fifty-three percent of Americans believe the Republican Party will do a better job of keeping the country prosperous over the next few years, whereas 39% choose the Democratic Party.

"A slightly larger majority, 57%, have greater faith in the Republican Party to protect the country from international terrorism and military threats, while 35% favor the Democrats.

"The latest results are from a Sept. 1-23 Gallup poll in which more than eight in 10 Americans disapprove of the job the politically divided Congress is doing, close to six in 10 disapprove of President Joe Biden's job performance, and nearly three-quarters feel pessimistic about the direction of the economy."

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"In the three months since President Joe Biden decided to campaign on the glories of 'Bidenomics,' inflation started creeping back up, the unemployment rate rose, and his approval ratings on the economy have steadily dropped. Now, stagflation is back in the news. All of it is leading Democrats to urge Biden to ... shift his messaging.

"Stagflation -- the combination of rising inflation, high unemployment, and a stagnant economy not seen since the disastrous Jimmy Carter years -- is suddenly in the headlines.

"On Friday, for example, CNBC ran a story: 'Stagflation is 'the big bogeyman out there' -- and many increasingly fear its return.'

"The story pointed out that climbing oil prices and 'the specter of higher-for-longer inflation have reignited concern about stagflation risks.'"

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"The Supreme Court justices will take the bench Monday for the first argument of the new term, a year filled with battles over guns, social media and the administrative state.

"The court so far has agreed to hear roughly 35 cases this term, though the justices are all but certain to add more throughout the fall. Decisions are expected by next summer. ...

"Here are the major cases on the Supreme Court's docket this term..."

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