Virginia election tests national political strategies

+ Yemen's Houthi attacks on Israel; sharing misinformation US Edition - Today's top story: Are journalists serving Virginia's voters well? Election could offer insights on media on national level [View in browser]( US Edition | 2 November 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( As a swing state, Virginia is rich political terrain for Democrats and Republicans to test future national campaign strategies. As such, what Virginia voters do on Nov. 7, 2023, has implications for the 2024 presidential election and how candidates navigate critical issues such as abortion, the economy and public education. Virginia, for example, is the only Southern state that has not put new restrictions on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has called for prohibiting abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy and argues that the limit is “reasonable,” “common sense” and an alternative to the outright bans that have drawn voter backlash in other states. But Democrats have called Youngkin’s proposal a sign that Republicans will impose stricter measures on abortion if they win control of the General Assembly. As a journalism professor and diligent voter in Virginia, Jeff South has [closely followed how the media has reported]( on issues such as abortion and the positions each of the candidates has taken – the kind of information voters need to cast their ballots. “What I have learned,” South wrote, “is that democracies are best served when media coverage focuses on issues that affect society and people’s everyday lives and minimizes ‘horse race’ reporting that obsesses over who is ahead in opinion surveys or fundraising.” After all, what happens in Virginia may not stay in Virginia. Howard Manly Race + Equity Editor Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives a thumbs-up during an Economic Club of Washington event on Sept. 26, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) [Are journalists serving Virginia’s voters well? Election could offer insights on media on national level]( Jeff South, Virginia Commonwealth University With the balance of political power at stake in the Virginia legislature, voters in this key swing state may reveal clues for the 2024 presidential election. A house in a kibbutz In Be'eri, Israel, was the scene of part of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. Amir Levy/Getty Images [Jewish response to Hamas war criticism comes from deep sense of trauma, active grief and fear]( Dov Waxman, University of California, Los Angeles Many people who aren’t Jewish are responding as if what’s been taking place is just another episode of Israeli-Palestinian violence. But it’s different for many Jews. Tabulating votes during one of the many ballots held by House Republicans to choose a speaker. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File [3 reasons the House GOP is not any more dysfunctional than the Democrats − even after the prolonged speaker chaos]( David R. Jones, Baruch College, CUNY In the wake of the three-week internal GOP battle to choose a speaker, a scholar of Congress says that what looks like dysfunction is actually something else. [Gaza bombing adds to the generations of Palestinians displaced from their homes]( Michael Vicente Perez, University of Memphis A scholar who has studied Palestinian refugees for 20 years explains the history of their displacement and the stakes involved for those living in an indefinite exile. [Despite his government’s failure to anticipate Hamas’ deadly attack, don’t count Netanyahu out politically]( Brent E Sasley, University of Texas at Arlington Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presided over disasters before – and remained in power. But is the intelligence failure preceding the Hamas attack so big that this time he won’t? [How Houthi attacks affect both the Israel-Hamas conflict and Yemen’s own civil war – and could put pressure on US, Saudi Arabia]( Mahad Darar, Colorado State University Missiles from rebel Yemeni groups risk widening the Middle East conflict. But the motivation behind the attacks could be more about self-interest. [How to deal with visual misinformation circulating in the Israel-Hamas war and other conflicts]( Paul Morrow, University of Dayton A human rights scholar explains how social media users can take charge of what content comes into their feed and reduce the risk of receiving misinformation. - [In the Israel-Hamas war, children are the ultimate pawns – and ultimate victims]( Omer Bartov, Brown University For Jewish people, Hamas’ violence against children was reminiscent of the Holocaust. For Palestinians, The Israel Defense Force’s killing their children reminds them of a painful past, too. - [Young, female voters were the key to defeating populists in Poland’s election – providing a blueprint to reverse democracy’s decline]( Patrice McMahon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln The autocratic Law and Justice Party looks set to be turfed out by a center-left coalition, which gained more than half of all votes. - [Palestinian Christians and Muslims have lived together in the region for centuries − and several were killed recently while sheltering in the historic Church of Saint Porphyrius]( Christine Shepardson, University of Tennessee Many Christian and Muslim families in Gaza today were displaced following the creation of new Arab and Jewish states. Today, Palestinian Christians occupy a complicated place in this region. - [A Halloween party in Boston turned ugly when a gang hurled antisemitic slurs and attacked Jewish teenagers]( Andrew Sperling, American University Shortly after World War II, European Jews immigrated to American cities like Boston and were often met with violent antisemitism. - [Kristallnacht, 85 years ago, marks the point Hitler moved from an emotional antisemitism to a systematic antisemitism of laws and government violence]( - [‘I see no happy ending’ − a former national security leader on the Gaza hostage situation]( - [What exactly caused the explosion at a hospital in Gaza? Without an independent, credible investigation, it will be hard for everyone to agree]( - [Trump’s violent rhetoric echoes the fascist commitment to a destructive and bloody rebirth of society]( Like this newsletter? 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