| WORDS OF WISDOM | | "Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter." | | OLIVER GOLDSMITH | |
Good morning. Today, we're covering Supreme Court justice concerns, Netanyahu's appeal and Dickens’s favorite work.
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 | | FBI Director Says Gunman Flew Drone Near Stage Hours Before Trump Shooting | FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on the Hill on Wednesday that the FBI has “easily 700 agents” investigating the July 13 attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life. In a wide-ranging hearing, Mr. Wray also confirmed that the gunman flew a drone over the site of the Trump rally for 11 minutes just hours before the rally started.
Mr. Wray said investigators believe that suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks first visited the site of the former president’s Butler, Pennsylvania, rally one week before the July 13 event and then again on the morning of the event. Evidence collected so far suggests Mr. Crooks acted alone, Mr. Wray said.
The hearing follows two days of testimony from law enforcement officials involved in the investigation of the shooting. Monday’s hearing with Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle led to her resignation the next day. On Tuesday, a top Pennsylvania state police official confirmed that the gunman had brought an explosive device to the rally and that the police easily had warned the Secret Service about the shooter. | | | |
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 | | In Address to Congress, Netanyahu Urges US, Israel to ‘Stand Together’ Amid Ongoing War | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday made an appeal for the United States to support Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorist group. In a speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington, the Israeli leader spoke of the horror of the Oct. 7 massacre, the courage of Israeli soldiers, and the decades-long alliance with the United States.
“President Biden and I have known each other for over 40 years,“ Mr. Netanyahu said. ”I want to thank him for half a century of friendship to Israel, and for being, as he says, ‘A proud Zionist’—actually he says, ‘A proud Irish-American Zionist.’”
The Israeli leader’s visit comes at a dynamic moment, amid signs of a burgeoning Gaza peace plan and shake ups in the U.S. presidential race. On July 19, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced an Israel–Hamas cease-fire deal was on “the 10-yard line” of completion. Two days later, President Biden suspended his 2024 reelection campaign. | | | |
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 | | ‘David Copperfield’: A Book About Memory, Writing, and Fatherhood | | Long acknowledged by the public and critics as one of his greatest works, “David Copperfield” inspires reflection on the meaning of fatherhood and its relationship to memory and writing. The novel chronicles the search for an absent father, as can be seen at the beginning in which the narrator of the tale, David, visits his father’s gravestone and reflects on how his father died before he was born.
When his mother remarries, a bad father replaces David’s deceased one. Fathers are essential not just for moral guidance but for survival. A man fails as a father when he is a bad moral influence and shows no love. This is true for men stepping into the role of father just as much as for biological fathers. David’s stepfather, ominously named “Mr. Murdstone,” fails utterly both in guiding and in caring for his stepson.
Fortunately, a good father figure appears. Mr. Micawber enters David’s life when the troubled young man is at his lowest point. Careless with money and excessively effusive, Micawber and his wife are genuinely kind and generous. This loving kindness is exactly what David needs: affirmation of his worth as a human being.
A father’s role, however, doesn’t stop at affirmation, but that is all Micawber can offer. David’s search for a complete model of fatherhood continues… | | | |
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