J-K: Light snowfall in higher reaches of Kashmir, IMD predicts cloudy weather for…
However, Srinagar and other weather stations across the valley experienced relatively warmer nights for this time of the season.
USPS gives critical warning about mail-in ballots as Election Day looms next week
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is warning Americans looking to vote by mail to post their ballots today to ensure they are counted. The USPS said it has already enacted “extraordinary measures” in preparation for Election Day on Nov. 5 in a press release posted Monday. “If you choose to vote by mail, please mail early as every day counts,” the USPS statement said. “We continue to recommend that it is a good common-sense measure for voters who choose to mail in their ballots to do so before Election Day and at least a week before their election office needs to receive them. If a ballot is due on Election Day, the Postal Service recommends mailing the ballot by this Tuesday (October 29).” ‘ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID’: GEORGIA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN NEW ELECTION RULES AFTER LEGAL FIGHTS A majority of U.S. states currently do not accept mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, 18 states and Washington, D.C., have varying grace periods to account for postal delays. Alaska gives voters a 10-day window for their ballots to arrive if postmarked by Election Day, while Texas gives an extra day. FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’ Among those 18 is the battleground state of Nevada, where ballots received up to four days after Election Day but postmarked by Nov. 5 are still counted. Ballots with unclear postmarks that arrive up to the third day after Election Day are also counted. Battleground states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia all require mail-in ballots to arrive on or before Election Day to count. GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE “In addition to the processes and procedures specific to Election Mail that the Postal Service deploys all year long, as in previous general elections, the Postal Service is deploying extraordinary measures in the final weeks of the election season to swiftly move Ballot Mail entered close to or on Election Day and/or the state’s return deadline,” USPS said. The postal agency said those measures began last week and include additional delivery and pick-ups scheduled, “specialized sort plans” to expedite the movement of ballots, and “local handling and transportation of ballots.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
DHS employee warned colleagues that Walz’s nomination ‘feeds into’ China’s efforts to influence DC
FIRST ON FOX : An official within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told colleagues that Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate “feeds into” activities the People’s Republic of China (PRC) were conducting “with him and local government,” warning that Beijing could “target” him to exert influence on U.S. policy. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., launched an investigation in August into Walz’s alleged “longstanding” ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Last month, Comer subpoenaed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for records relating to those alleged connections after a whistleblower notified the committee of the existence of a non-classified Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees, as well as additional intelligence reports that allegedly contained information regarding Walz’s alleged connections to the CCP. COMER SUBPOENAS DHS FOR RECORDS RELATING TO WALZ’S ALLEGED TIES TO CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY On Tuesday, Comer penned a letter to Mayorkas, making public the fact that DHS has been “unresponsive to the subpoena.” Now, Comer has unilaterally released a portion of DHS internal communications it received from the whistleblower. “Walt’s [sic] got the Vp,” reads the message, with the identity of the sender redacted. “You all have no idea how this feeds into what prc has been doing here with him and local gov.” The official added, “It’s seriously a line of the intel. Target someone who is perceived they can get to DC.” “The Committee is releasing the above message as an example of communications within DHS’s possession in which DHS officials express concern about the CCP targeting politicians and their influence operations at the state and local levels — and specifically, concerns about the CCP’s influence operations as they related to Governor Walz,” Comer wrote in a letter to Mayorkas Tuesday. Comer explained that the message was sent using a Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees, entitled “NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync,” the same chat identified in Comer’s subpoena. Meanwhile, Comer said that a whistleblower provided further information to the committee that indicates officials from DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis and Homeland Security Investigations have been involved in the agency’s investigative and/or intelligence work connected with the CCP, the state of Minnesota and Walz. “The Committee’s concerns surrounding CCP elite capture operations seeking to influence public officials like Governor Walz have intensified given recent reports about Governor Walz’s extensive travel history, unusual interactions in the People’s Republic of China, and recent inability to answer basic questions about his involvement in China,” Comer wrote. Comer is also subpoenaing all intelligence information reports and regional intelligence notes from November 2023 to present related to Walz. Last month, Comer revealed that Walz had “engaged and partnered with” Chinese entities, making him “susceptible” to the CCP’s strategy of “elite capture,” which seeks to co-opt influential figures in elite political, cultural and academic circles to “influence the United States to the benefit of the communist regime and the detriment of Americans.” HOUSE OVERSIGHT INVESTIGATING WALZ OVER ‘LONGSTANDING CONNECTIONS’ TO CHINA Comer has pointed to reports that Walz, while working as a teacher in the 1990s, organized a trip to China for Alliance High School students. The costs were reportedly “paid by the Chinese government.” Comer is investigating Walz’s 1994-created private company named “Educational Travel Adventures, Inc.,” which coordinated annual student trips to China until 2003 and was led by Walz. The company reportedly “dissolved four days after he took congressional office in 2007.” Comer said Walz has traveled to China an estimated “30 times.” Comer also pointed to Walz’s time in Congress, when he served as a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University — a Chinese institution that characterizes itself as having a “long-held devotion to and love for the motherland.” In 2019, Walz headlined the 27th National Convention for the U.S. China Peoples Friendship Association in Minnesota. Walz also spoke alongside the president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. A year later, the State Department exposed that organization as “a Beijing-based organization tasked with co-opting subnational governments,” including efforts to “directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC’s global agenda,” the House Oversight Committee revealed. WALZ APPOINTEE WITH APPARENT CCP TIES COULD EXPOSE POTENTIAL VEEP’S NATIONAL SECURITY WEAKNESS, LAWMAKER SAYS Additionally, in March of this year, Walz had a meeting with Consul General Zhao Jian to discuss “China-U.S. relations and subnational cooperation.” As for the subpoena, Comer said that DHS has been “unresponsive” and is not operating in “good faith.” Comer said the DHS “did not produce responsive documents.” Last week, Comer said he spoke with DHS’ senior advisor for legislative affairs during an Oct. 21 phone call, but said that official “offered no substantive information, nor any assurance that substantive information would be forthcoming.” “DHS has been wholly unresponsive, and the Committee is considering all available options,” Comer wrote. “The documents covered by the Committee’s subpoena will inform the Committee’s understanding of CCP political warfare against the United States and how effectively federal agencies are countering the communist regime’s infiltration operations.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign and DHS for comment.
Faith leaders react to Kamala Harris’ comments about her prayer life: ‘What do you do with your faith?’
Faith leaders from multiple denominations shared their reactions on Monday to Vice President Kamala Harris‘ recent public remarks about her prayer life and her campaign’s broader effort to focus on faith and religion during the final days leading up to the election. Last week, Harris told CNN’s Anderson Cooper during a town hall appearance that she prays “every day” and “sometimes twice a day.” While some of the faith leaders commended Harris for her public testimony about her faith, all of them indicated that – at the end of the day – it is actions that really matter the most, not words. “I think it’s a good thing when public officials do share the fact that they are people of faith and that they pray,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, who serves as associate dean and director of Global Social Action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “I think those kinds of expressions are important – they’re positive.” HARRIS HECKLED AT PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH, SAYS VOTING FOR HER FULFILLS GOD’S EXPECTATION ‘FOR US TO HELP HIM’ However, Cooper added that “the most important thing” is what one does with one’s faith. “How does it display what kind of person you are? How do you interact with others?” Cooper’s take was echoed by a former Catholic priest and Fox News religion contributor Jonathan Morris, who insisted “we need candidates who are willing to express not only in words, but in actions,” that they are faith-centered, God-fearing people. Morris said he wished that Harris would have been asked a follow-up question about the details of her daily prayer life. “I would have loved to have heard Anderson Cooper respond in this way: “What does your daily, and sometimes twice daily, prayer look like, sound like, or feel like? What does it mean to you?” Morris noted that he would never make a judgment on someone’s internal faith and prayer life, but he said that in Harris’ case, she is choosing to be public about it, and that opens her up to follow-up questions. CATHOLICVOTE CALLS OUT HARRIS FOR PHOTO WITH CONTROVERSIAL SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE DRAG NUNS The Faith & Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit that represents evangelical Christians, also echoed the argument that actions speak louder than words when it comes to faith. However, the group argued that Harris’ actions as a public official have been antagonistic to people of faith. “In an eleventh-hour attempt to appeal to America’s largest voting bloc, Vice President Harris is suddenly visiting churches and pretending she’s had nothing to do with the Biden-Harris administration’s posture of antagonism toward people of faith for the past four years,” said Timothy Head, the coalition’s executive director. “Harris has refused to defend religious freedom or take seriously the concerns of church-going Americans while pandering to pro-abortion radicals, making this last-minute effort both insincere and destined to fail. If ever there were an illustration of ‘too little, too late,’ this is it.” Harris, the daughter of a Hindu mother from India and an Anglican father from Jamaica, was influenced by a Christian woman throughout her upbringing, according to The Washington Post. HARRIS’ CATHOLIC DINNER SNUB IS JUST THE LATEST IN CAREER FULL OF SWIPES AT THE FAITHFUL, CRITICS CHARGE “I grew up in the Black church,” Harris said in a recent interview. During the interview, Harris discussed her relationship with her pastor, Rev. Amos Brown, noting that she called him immediately after she learned about becoming the Democratic nominee for president. Earlier this month, the Harris campaign launched a “Souls to the Polls” initiative, led by the campaign’s National Advisory Board of Black Faith Leaders. One of those advisory board members, Bishop Leah Daughtry, told CNN that faith leaders have been canvasing the country to make a case for Harris. Harris has also been campaigning at numerous churches as of late, where she frequently quotes Scripture verses, and on Monday, Harris received an endorsement from more than 1,000 faith leaders across the country. Meanwhile, this week, a Catholic advocacy organization, CatholicVote, released an ad calling on Harris to denounce a controversial drag group whose members have mocked nuns and other Christian symbols in their performances. In the ad, Harris can be seen in a picture with members of the group, which CatholicVote claims “intentionally mock[s] and degrade[s] Christians.”
Dhanteras 2024 Shubh Muhurat: Puja timings, vidhi and what to buy
The timing for the Dhanteras puja is between 6:57 PM and 8:21 PM tonight.
Fox News Power Rankings: Arizona is Trump’s to lose, but this election is anyone’s to win
After an unprecedented four years in politics, voters are evenly divided on who should next lead the free world. Former President Donald Trump is one state closer to a stunning comeback in this week’s Fox News Power Rankings; the final forecast before the election. But Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris both have pathways to victory, and among many scenarios, it is plausible that Democrats win by a single electoral vote. Americans feel overwhelmed at the end of this presidential cycle. They have grappled with rising prices, illegal immigration, abortion laws, two global conflicts and the sudden departure of an incumbent from the presidential race. Meanwhile, Trump faced indictments over Jan. 6 and storing classified documents, crushed more than a dozen rivals after reentering the presidential race, and survived two assassination attempts. Through it all, the former president has kept an unbreakable bond with his voters. For more than a year, Trump has received support from between 48% to 50% of voters in the Fox News Poll, while support for the Democratic candidate has been more elastic. Now, as the final week of the campaign begins, this electorate is locked in. Polls show a tight national race and curiously, the battleground states are just as close. This weekend, Harris spoke at a rally with Michelle Obama in Michigan with a sharply negative message about Trump and women’s health. The tone stood in contrast to previous appearances by the first lady and is a sign that the campaign feels the race is close, or even that they are behind. On Sunday, the vice president went to Philadelphia. There are more voters here than any other city in battleground Pennsylvania and combined, Black and Hispanic people make up the majority of its population. Those voters remain a weakness of Harris’ new coalition. FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: VOTER OUTREACH, BALLOT EFFICIENCY AND A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING Harris’ visit to a Puerto Rican restaurant the same day, however, proved to be more helpful than the campaign could have expected. Later that night, Trump made his closing arguments at Madison Square Garden. The event was visually powerful. Some Republicans on the fence about “MAGA” who saw throngs of supporters in red hats in Manhattan could have been persuaded that the movement is more popular and inclusive than before. But the program gave Democrats new attack lines about Trump and his allies’ dark rhetoric, and included jokes from an insult comedian about Puerto Rican, Latino, and Jewish people. The Trump campaign distanced itself from the remarks Monday, telling Fox News the joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” These moments are not quite the strategic mistakes that some observers believe them to be. Trump has a long record of comments like these, and they help drive his supporters to the polls. But there is a large Puerto Rican community in Pennsylvania, where the margins will matter. 5 NUMBERS THAT WILL DECIDE THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION The rally was a bow to the campaign’s full-throated effort to turn out young males, including low-propensity voters. This could be the bloc that gets Trump over the line on November 5. But last week, there were rumblings that this could be a reunion with Nikki Haley to play for the 20% of higher-propensity, non-MAGA Republicans who say they will vote for Harris in November. This event was not that. The former president remains very well-positioned on two of the top three issues. The economy is by far and consistently the most important issue in deciding voters’ ballots. Voters say Trump will better handle the issue by 7 points. He is even more heavily favored on immigration at 15 points. The strength reverses for abortion, where voters favor Harris by 13 points. The issues polling looks less lopsided further down the list, though still with a Trump advantage. Harris leads on health care, climate change and election integrity, while Trump is ahead on Israel, crime, and guns. Fox’s latest survey also asked voters which issue was motivating them to vote. 12% said the economy, but 11% chose candidate character and values, and 10% said protecting democracy, rights, and freedoms would get them to the polls. The presidential race is a toss-up. Neither Harris nor Trump have the 270 electoral votes required to win the race. They need to win the right combination of six toss-up states worth a total 82 electoral votes to bring it home. Surveys show races within the margin-of-error in all the battleground states, but when looked at together, the polling in Arizona tells a different story. In eight high-quality polls conducted in this state since August, Trump has been ahead in seven. His edge has been between 1-6 points. That advantage does not exist for Harris or Trump in any other battleground state. Immigration continues to be a highly important issue in Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico. In the latest Wall Street Journal survey, 25% of voters said immigration was the most important issue to their vote, higher than any other battleground. It was a “deal-breaker” issue for 24% of voters. And Arizona voters preferred Trump on the issue by 10 points. Trump allies do not appear to be a drag. Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake is less popular with voters despite their shared policies and traits (her Senate race remains Lean D). But the level of ticket-splitting is high and has endured throughout the campaign. This is still a highly competitive race. If Trump loses, it will be because of suburban growth and non-MAGA Republican voters, who are a strong faction. There is also an abortion measure on the ballot. But the statewide polling has been directionally consistent and immigration reigns supreme. Arizona moves from Toss Up to Lean R. (Fox News Power Rankings are nonpartisan pre-election predictions. Each ranking is informed by data, reporting, and analysis.) Battleground states have been won and lost together in recent elections. Trump won the bulk of them in 2016; Biden flipped them
Delhi NCR news: Delhi Police, NCB bust meth lab in Noida, 5 arrested
Special Cell of Delhi police also participated in the operation as the drug network had footprints across several places in the NCR of Delhi.
Andrew Spira’s New Book: A Guide To Entrepreneurial Resilience
Spira’s book is the message that challenges are not roadblocks, but stepping stones to success.
America is a decomposing myth
The world, we are told, is on the eve of witnessing the most consequential US presidential election since witnessing the last most consequential US presidential election. The hyperbole has a familiar ring because the so-called “stakes” have a familiar ring. Anyone with even a passing understanding of American history knows that presidential elections have always been cast as a binary choice between the past and future, prosperity and decay, peace and war, and, lately, democracy and authoritarianism. The myth that girds these “choices” is that American voters have a choice at all; that the two dominant political parties are, save the glib edges, ideological adversaries when, on, say, urgent matters of war and peace, they remain steadfast soulmates to the core. The billionaire oligarchs who run the whole decrepit show in America know that “democracy” is a sweet illusion meant to convince the gullible that party 1 is different from party 1a. That is the stubborn conundrum confronting Arab and Muslim American voters: The leaders of party 1 and party 1a have, on the defining issue of these awful times, promoted and defended a blatant genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. So, who to choose or whether to choose at all? Remember, there is no “daylight” on this cowardly, abominable score between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Both have played willing and enthusiastic handmaidens to their indicted darling in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both have backed every sickening measure of the state-engineered atrocities that have killed more than 43,000 (and counting) mostly Palestinian children and women – the carpet bombing, the deliberate starvation, the denial of medical care, the spread of disease, the forced marches, and on and on and on. Both refuse, of course, to use the short, sharp word “genocide” to describe – not as a rhetorical cudgel, but as a matter of international law – the crimes being committed by an apartheid state in Gaza and the West Bank. Both believe unquestionably that Israel has the absolute “right to defend itself” despite the ongoing “extermination” of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. And when their fellow citizens took to the streets and university campuses to demand a stop to the wholesale killing and apocalyptic destruction, Democrats and Republicans dismissed these enlightened Americans as “terrorist” sympathisers and applauded the draconian efforts by powerful, entrenched interests to silence the “protesters” through force, threats, and intimidation. But, as election day approaches, fretting Democrats and their compliant allies – among the “progressive” cognoscenti in the mainstream media ecosystem – have grown ever more nervous. Their palpable anxiety has been on puffing display on forgettable cable TV programmes and in forgettable online columns meant to reassure one another that everything will turn out all right. Alas, for the forlorn, a spate of national and state polls – if they are accurate – reveal a deadlocked race for the White House. In some “swing” states with could-possibly-tip-the-scales-sized Arab and Muslim populations, Trump appears to be edging ahead. The prospect that America may soon elect a fascist as commander-in-chief is registering with Kamala Harris and obedient company in the Democratic Party establishment and beyond. Oh heavens, what shall we do? “Outreach.” Yes, “outreach”. “Outreach” is a euphemism for pretending to “listen to” Arab and Muslim voters when, all along, Harris et al have ignored a grieving community that the Democratic nominee for president suddenly thinks she can mollify with meaningless bromides. “We are working night and day to arrange a ceasefire in Gaza,” Harris keeps repeating like a wind-up metronome. Sure, you are. The obscene “facts on the ground” confirm that your peace-making pleas are a hollow, cynical pantomime. When “outreach” doesn’t work, Harris and the “progressive” wailing heads have resorted, in effect, to blackmail. Arab and Muslim Americans will be responsible, they say, for electing a Muslim-banning autocrat if they cast a “protest vote” against the top of the Democratic ticket. Apart from being an outrageous affront, blackmail is rarely a convincing strategy. This is my advice to the Arab and Muslim American voters in crucial bellwether states like Michigan: Do not listen to craven politicians and journalists who, in lockstep with the leaders of party 1 and party 1a, have granted Israel the uncontested licence to kill as many Palestinians as it wants to, for as long it wants to, for whatever reason it wants to. To the uncommitted movement, I urge you to remain uncommitted in guise and spirit. Do not be dissuaded from remaining faithful to your conscience by the appeals of charlatans who believe that Palestinian lives are cheap and disposable. Do not reward the charlatans who believe that Palestinian lives are cheap and disposable by heeding their specious advice and choosing between disingenuous leader 1 and disingenuous leader 1a. Do not be swayed by the predictable stable of apologists who claim that electing Trump would only make matters “worse” for Arab and Muslim Americans. Muslim and Arab Americans have, for generations, been viewed as fifth columnists who pose an existential threat to America. You cannot be trusted. You remain “outsiders”. Accordingly, you have been treated with disdain. You have been jailed or blacklisted for speaking out. Your loyalty has been questioned. You have been routinely taken for granted. You are expected to behave. You are supposed to remain invisible and mute. Do not oblige the charlatans. I implore you, instead, to exercise your agency by depriving leader 1 and leader 1a of what they value most – position and power. Again, to the uncommitted movement, I urge you to remain uncommitted. Decency and history demand that, together, you shout: “Enough.” It is the right and just thing to do. Opting for leader 1 or leader 1a is a vote – whether you are prepared to admit it or not – for the co-architects of the genocide that has turned Gaza into dust and memory. You will not be to blame if Trump prevails. That will be the exclusive fault of millions of
CNN bans conservative commentator after verbal attack on Mehdi Hasan
US network says it has ‘zero room for racism’ after Girdusky tells Hasan: ‘I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.’ CNN has banned a conservative commentator after he verbally attacked British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan by referring to a series of exploding handheld devices in Lebanon that targeted Hezbollah. “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” Ryan James Girdusky said during a heated debate with Hasan, a prominent broadcaster and outspoken critic of Israel’s war on Gaza, on the show CNN Newsnight with host Abby Phillip on Monday. In a statement, the network said: “There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air.” Nearly 40 people were killed and thousands wounded in two days of unprecedented attacks in September when pagers, walkie-talkies and other handheld communication devices exploded across Lebanon, which were blamed on Israel. Guests on CNN Newsnight were debating the upcoming United States presidential election and the controversial Madison Square Garden rally of Republican candidate Donald Trump, including remarks made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico. Hasan, founder of new media company Zeteo, criticised the rhetoric at the rally during which several speakers, including Trump, made racist and sexist comments aimed at several minority groups, including Black Americans, Latinos and Jews. At one point, Hasan acknowledged that the accusation that Trump and his supporters are Nazis is “inflammatory”. “But if you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop doing, stop saying,” Hasan said before he was interrupted and talked over by Girdusky, who went on to note that Hasan himself was called an “anti-Semite more than anyone at this table”. “I am in support of the Palestinians, so I am used to it,” Hasan said. Girdusky then replied, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off”, in an apparent reference to the mass attacks in Lebanon. “Did you just say I should die? Did you just say I should be killed?” Hasan responded. Phillip, the host, chastised Girdusky and apologised to Hasan following a commercial break while noting that Girdusky had been removed from the panel of guests. “There is a line that was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me,” Phillip said. CNN also said in its statement, “We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate including between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding.” Sharing @CNN’s statement and a quick message from me about what happened on tonight’s show. I take this very seriously and want to again apologize to @mehdirhasan and I hope he’ll join us another time. pic.twitter.com/O9l0Ftv5NZ — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) October 29, 2024 “But we will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed. Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network,” it added. Hasan, who has been hosting Al Jazeera’s Head to Head show, has yet to issue a statement about the incident. He, however, shared the statements from CNN and Phillip on social media platform X. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft think tank, said, “Every day, we think we may have hit rock bottom, and every day we are proven wrong.” Girdusky later posted on X: “Apparently you can’t go on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.” Adblock test (Why?)