Newsletters
Sign up for any of our newsletters below.
Paying members receive all editions of newsletters they’ve selected, non-paying readers will receive a sampling. Join The Dispatch for unlimited access.
Weekdays
The Morning Dispatch
Every weekday morning, Mary Trimble, Grayson Logue, and Peter Gattuso provide an essential news briefing, along with original reporting and analysis on the day’s biggest stories.
The Morning Dispatch
Government Funding Fault Lines Reemerge
September 13, 2024
Happy Friday! The Annals of Improbable Research magazine hosted the 34th annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at MIT yesterday. The awards—not to be confused with the illustrious Nobel Prize—recognize odd scientific achievements. One winner explored the feasibility of pigeon-guided missiles, and another evaluated the swimming abilities of dead trout.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official said Thursday the IDF killed nine Hamas terrorists in an airstrike near the central Gazan neighborhood of Nuseirat, targeting a Hamas command and control center that was previously used as a school. Three of the slain fighters were also employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), according to the IDF. The Hamas-operated Gaza Civil Defense authority reported 18 people in total were killed in the strike, while the U.N. said six of its employees died in the aerial attack. “Upon receiving reports claiming that local Palestinian UNRWA workers were killed as a result of the strike, the IDF requested that the agency provide details and names of the workers, in order to thoroughly review the claim,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani tweeted on Thursday. “To date, no answers have been provided by UNRWA despite repeated requests.”
- Israeli special forces reportedly attacked an underground missile factory in Syria—constructed by Iran but operated by the Iranian-backed, Lebanese-based terrorist group, Hezbollah—in a raid on Sunday near its border with Lebanon, according to unnamed U.S. officials. The Israeli government has declined to comment on the attack. The attack, the details of which emerged on Wednesday and Thursday, reportedly included airstrikes and an operation in which Israeli commandos rappelled from helicopters to retrieve sensitive information from the site. It also destroyed short- and medium-range precision missiles assembled at the facility. Syrian-state media reported that the raid killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russia was responsible for an airstrike that killed three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employees and injured two others in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast. The ICRC confirmed the deaths but did not assign responsibility for the strike, saying the employees’ vehicles were attacked as they prepared to transport wood and charcoal to civilians in Viroliubivka, a Ukrainian village near the front line. “I condemn attacks on Red Cross personnel in the strongest terms,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement. “It’s unconscionable that shelling would hit an aid distribution site.”
- The Biden administration issued new sanctions on Thursday against 16 individuals linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—including leaders of the country’s election commission and supreme court—accusing them of obstructing the country’s “transparent electoral process and the release of accurate election results.” The U.S. has previously recognized Maduro’s political opponent—Edmundo González, who fled to Spain last week—as the rightful winner of Venezuela’s presidential election in July.
- The United States Secret Service announced Wednesday that Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas designated January 6, 2025—the date Congress will convene to certify the results of the 2024 presidential election—as a National Special Security Event. The agency said it would work with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to design and implement “a comprehensive and integrated security plan.” This is the first time the procedural certification has received the designation, which is traditionally reserved for high-profile occasions such as presidential inaugurations, the U.N. General Assembly, and the Super Bowl.
- A North Dakota state district court judge on Thursday struck down a state abortion ban signed into law in April 2023 that prohibited abortions in most cases, allowing exceptions in cases of rape and incest up to six weeks of gestation, and exceptions for medical emergencies at any point in the pregnancy. The court ruled that the law violated North Dakota’s state constitution and that its text was too vague. “The Court concludes the law is impermissibly vague on its face, and as currently written it threatens to inhibit the exercise of constitutionally protected rights for both North Dakota physicians and North Dakota patients,” Judge Bruce Romanick wrote in his 24-page opinion. Attorney General Drew H. Wrigley promised to appeal the decision.
- New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned on Thursday, only one week after the FBI searched his home and seized his phone in connection with a criminal investigation. “The [New York Police Department] deserves someone who can solely focus on protecting and serving New York City, which is why—for the good of this city and this department—I have made the difficult decision to resign as police commissioner,” Caban wrote in a department-wide memo on Thursday. The resignation also comes after several senior members of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration have had their homes searched and/or phones seized. Adams had his own phones and iPad seized by the FBI in November 2023 as part of an apparent FBI investigation into his 2021 mayoral campaign and potential ties to the Turkish government. The mayor and his campaign also received a new round of subpoenas last month.
- Former Democratic Sen. James Sasser of Tennessee, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to China under President Bill Clinton, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 87, according to his family. After spending nearly six years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Sasser was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1977, where he went on to serve three terms before losing to former Republican Sen. Bill Frist in 1996.
Subscriber-Only Newsletters
Get exclusive access to our subscriber-only newsletters. Join Now
Three Times a Week
Dispatch Politics
Every weekday, David M. Drucker, Michael Warren, and Charles Hilu offer a heavily reported look at what’s going on in the parties’ struggle for political power, from the campaign trail to the White House.
Weekly
Stirewalt on Politics
Every Saturday, Chris Stirewalt, a political news veteran, uses his decades of experience to provide context (and some humor) when explaining what happened this week in national politics.
Weekly and As News Happens
The Collision
Every Thursday, Sarah Isgur and Mike Warren offer reporting and trenchant analysis to help understand the new and extraordinary intersection between the law and presidential politics.
Weekly
Techne
Every Thursday, Will Rinehart offers unique insights on technology policy, innovation, and other long-tail issues that are often ignored or overlooked.
Weekly
Dispatch Faith
Every Sunday morning, Michael Reneau provides a religion news roundup featuring curated essays from leading writers of various faiths.
Twice a Week
G-File
Every Wednesday and Friday, Jonah Goldberg draws on his deep understanding of American history, culture, and conservatism to analyze politics and policy.
Weekly
Capitolism
Every Wednesday, Scott Lincicome deciphers and explains how otherwise incomprehensible economic policies affect everyday Americans.
Weekly
Dispatch Weekly
Every Saturday, Rachael Larimore shares the best work that Dispatch staffers and contributors have produced over the past week.
Weekdays
Boiling Frogs
Every weekday evening, Nick Catoggio, formerly Allahpundit, offers a running commentary on how populism is changing the world—and America’s two major political parties.
Weekly
Wanderland
Every Monday morning, Kevin D. Williamson reports—as only he can—on American life, politics, and culture from coast to coast.