Finally Friday Reads: Slow-Ride Tryptophan Edition

Margalit Moses came home today. She’s a 78-year-old retired teacher from Kibbutz Nir Oz. She has 3 children and  8 grandkids. She likes birdwatching & knitting. She just beat cancer and will now get her much-needed meds.

Good Afternoon, Sky Dancers!

Let the leftovers feast begin! Lunch today was pumpkin pie.  How about you?

Thirteen Israeli women and children held hostage in Palestine made it home today. The cease-fire is holding.    They were held in captivity for 49 days.

The IDF has received the first batch of hostages, 13 mothers and children who were released from after 49 days in Hamas captivity.

The released hostages will be brought to hospitals where they will meet their families. They will be released through the Rafah crossing into Egypt before being flown to Israel. The Egyptian Communications Ministry said that they are preparing for the hostage’ release at the crossing, which includes the Thai hostages.

The release of the 13 hostages is the first of four expected stages. Hamas has agreed to release some 50 hostages over the four days of the truce with Israel, all children, mothers and other women. The sides agreed that Hamas may eventually free more, in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire by a few more days.

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The released hostages are only a small group out of some 240 held by Gaza terrorists.

Israel is set to release 150 Palestinian prisoners held for terror offenses, all of them women and minors. It will free 39 today in return for the first 13 Israelis to return.

The next group of 13 hostages is scheduled to be released on Shabbos.

Additionally, the Prime Minister of Thailand has announced that 11 Thai workers -out of 23- were released from captivity in Gaza. This comes after extensive direct negotiations between the government of Thailand and Hamas’ masters in Tehran.

Abigail Edan will spend her fourth birthday as a hostage as the White House has said she is not among the first 13 Hamas hostages released. She lost both her parents in the Hamas Raids.

The Mirror reports that 24 hostages in total were released.  There were no U.S. hostages released in this first group.

Twenty-four hostages, including Israeli hostages, have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) before they passed into Egypt to undergo medical checks before being taken back to Israel to be reunited with their families. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, confirmed the news.

“Those released include 13 Israeli citizens, some of whom are dual citizens, in addition to 10 Thai citizens and a Filipino citizen,” he said. Qatar was a key mediator in the hostage release.

However, one of the youngest known to be captured, Abigail Edan, will be reportedly spending her fourth birthday as a hostage. It comes as the White House said there were no Americans among the first group of 13 hostages released today.

Abigail was kidnapped during the surprise October 7 attack by Hamas as militants stormed her kibbutz in southern Israel, murdering her parents Roy Edan, 43, and Smadar Edan, 40. The couple’s two other children, 10 and six, survived after hiding for hours inside the family home.

It’s hoped Abigail and two American women will be among the first 50 captives released by Hamas in exchange for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners. The exchange is set to focus on women and children being held as hostages and those in Israeli jails.

Here’s a quick push for donations to the Chef and the organization that kept many of us fed here in New Orleans after Hurricane Ida.  They continue to feed Ukrainians under siege also.

Don’t forget that Donald Trump negotiated for the release of 5000 Taliban.  President Biden speaks on the negotiations with Hamas.  I am certainly glad to see the cease-fire.  Release of hostages and no more bombs dropped on innocent Palestinians is a relief.

Ohad Munder Zikhri was released today alongside his mother and grandmother Ohad turned 9 while in Hamas captivity.

Additionally, the Red Cross facilitated the release of 33 Palestinian prisoners from Ofer prison to Ramallah. This is from CNN’s website where there is a continually updating thread on the releases.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday it facilitated the transfer of 33 Palestinian prisoners, released as part of the Israel-Hamas truce deal, from an Israeli prison to the West Bank.

“We have now successfully facilitated the release of 33 Palestinian detainees from Ofer prison to Ramallah,” the ICRC’s Israel and Occupied Territories branch wrote on X. “We have managed to do so thanks to our neutral intermediary role.”

In total, 39 Palestinian women and minors were released from three prisons — Damon, Megiddo and Ofer – on Friday, according to the Israeli prison service.

I’m going to keep it short today. I did want to mention an essential investigation from The Daily Beast about dark money flowing to the MAGA movement and the Freedom Caucus. “The Secret Megadonor Behind the MAGA Movement’s ‘Nerve Center’. In the aftermath of Jan. 6, one conservative group has been buying up real estate around Capitol Hill and growing its influence. Much of that is thanks to this one secret donor.”  This is reported by TDB’s Senior Political Reporter Roger Sollenberger.

In a few short years, the Conservative Partnership Institute has become known in Washington as the “nerve center” of the MAGA movement—an outsized power player in Congress and a hotbed of election denialism.

What hasn’t been known, however, is who exactly has underwritten the group’s rise and rapid expansion, as the conservative nonprofit buys up prime real estate on Capitol Hill and turns pricey row houses into outposts for the House Freedom Caucus—until now.

It turns out there’s one relatively unknown conservative megadonor behind much of the group’s expansion. And that donor is not on the familiar shortlist of major Republican backers. In fact, he’s not even among the top 100 political donors in the country.

His name is Mike Rydin, a retired Houston software developer. And thanks to the tens of millions of dollars he’s provided at a critical time, Rydin’s name is now all over the group.

The Daily Beast pieced together details in financial statements and other public records to identify Rydin as the largest donor by far to CPI, which Rydin confirmed in a phone call on Tuesday. In the aftermath of Jan. 6, this previously low-profile nonprofit—which has a staffing roster that reads like a Jan. 6 witness list—has found itself flush with cash and aggressively buying up ornate Capitol Hill properties. Much of that is thanks to their unsuspecting donor.

But Rydin, who gave CPI more than $25 million in the aftermath of Jan. 6, insists he doesn’t know “anything about” the Capitol attack. He also claims ignorance about CPI’s well-documented ties to central figures in Donald Trump’s attempt to reverse the 2020 election, and even total ignorance of those attempts themselves.

While those claims are difficult to accept at face value, the value of Rydin’s gift to the group, in both its size and its timing, is nothing short of incredible.

When Trump left office, CPI was a bit player in the larger ecosystem of conservative influence. But after the Jan. 6 attack, the upstart organization established itself as a safe haven for departing Trump administration staff and extremist allies, offering cush positions to figures like Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, top adviser and confidant Stephen Miller, and anti-election attorney Cleta Mitchell.

Over the last two years, CPI has undertaken an ambitious expansion. The group staffed up, creating a network of partner organizations and affiliates and stuffing their ranks with seasoned GOP operatives and green hires alike. To accommodate that growth, CPI carved out a substantial physical footprint in the D.C. area, converting swaths of prime Capitol Hill real estate into offices and VIP landing pads while building out a 2,200-acre retreat and lodge on the Maryland shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

Read more at the link.

Release hostage Aviv Katz Asher is 2. She was released with her mother Doron Katz Asher, 34, and her sister Raz, who is four,

One final article in the New York Times analyzes if the former Governor Nikki Haley–who appears to be consolidating the Never Trump Vote–can actually take down Trump in the Republican Primary.  “Could Haley Really Beat Trump? Big Donors Are Daring to Dream. Powerful players in the business world have gravitated toward Nikki Haley, aware that she remains an underdog but beginning to believe she has a chance. This analysis is by Kate Kelly and Rebecca Davis O’Brien.

In recent weeks, a group of chief executives, hedge fund investors and corporate deal makers from both parties have begun gravitating toward Ms. Haley and, in some cases, digging deeper into their pockets to help her.

Her ascent in the polls and strong debate performances have raised hopes among Republicans hungering to end the dominance of former President Donald J. Trump that maybe, just maybe, they have found a candidate who can do so.

“I’m a long way from making my mind up — something could change — but I’m very impressed with her,” said Kenneth G. Langone, the billionaire Home Depot co-founder, who has donated to Ms. Haley’s campaign and is considering giving more. “I think she’s a viable candidate. I would certainly like her over Trump.”

Ms. Haley’s fresh appeal to the moneyed crowd is coming at a critical juncture in the race, when positive buzz and steady cash flow are vital to a candidate’s survival. With less than eight weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Ms. Haley’s campaign and allied political committees need money to pay for travel, advertising, staff and a ground game to draw out potential voters.

Some business leaders say they appreciate her focus on cutting taxes and government spending. Others praise her foreign-policy chops and her search for a winning Republican message on abortion rights, on which she has sought a moderate path but recently tacked to the right by saying she would have signed a six-week ban as governor of South Carolina.

Most say they see her as a welcome alternative to Mr. Trump, whom they blame for inciting the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, for costing Republicans a Senate majority in last year’s midterm elections and for being too volatile as a commander in chief. They also prefer her to President Biden, whose economic policies and age many cited as a concern.

“It’s invigorating to be truly excited by a candidate again,” said Jonathan Bush, the chief executive of a health-data startup and a cousin of former President George W. Bush. He hosted a virtual fund-raiser for Ms. Haley in early November.

Well, at least it would be fun to see Trump deal with another woman. Especially since this one also is not white.

That’s it for me today.  If you’d like to learn more about the released hostages, there are pictures and a short profile at this Sky News link.

I hope the rest of your weekend is spent in peace and relaxation.  Enjoy it!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?