Israel launches expanded Gaza ground operation — but won’t use the I-word

“It’s the second stage of the war,” Netanyahu said in a speech Saturday. “We’re going to save our country.”

Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant sit at microphones with three Israeli flags behind them.

The IDF also said it killed the head of Hamas’ Aerial Array, Asem Abu Rakaba, and Ratib Abu Tzahiban, commander of Hamas’ Naval Forces of the Gaza City Brigade. The military added that it had struck 150 tunnels and bunkers belonging to Hamas.

“What we are seeing now in Gaza is what is termed a ‘Reconnaissance Pull,’” said Mick Mulroy, formerly a top Pentagon official for the Middle East. “This tactic is applied to large unit formations in which small elements locate and rapidly exploit enemy weakness. Once the weakness, seams and gaps are discovered, they bring in the parts of the main body of the assault.”

“Over time, we could see the entire ground force in Gaza fully engaged in fighting Hamas by this effort,” Mulroy continued.

The former head of the U.S. Central Command, retired Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, said that purposeful movements into Gaza — as opposed to a full-scale invasion — also ensure the IDF doesn’t get stretched thin.

“This is an infantry fight,” he said. “A lot is going to be put on people on the ground, not just on the front lines, but behind the front lines, ensuring that you are secure [and] that Hamas is not going to pop up in your rear and attack your command posts, your medical aid stations and your all your logistics elements.”

Hamas is equipped with thousands of gallons of fuel that can be used for vehicles and rockets, ammunition, plenty of food and water and medicine — an indication of just how long it has had to prepare for a fight like this. Before this new phase, the Gaza health ministry claimed nearly 8,000 Palestinians had been killed during Israeli retributory strikes and the siege of Gaza, which followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that saw 1,400 Israelis slain.

In his own remarks Saturday, Gallant couched the operation in stark terms, saying, “This will not be a short war. It is a long war that will require us to be strong, as individuals, as a society, as leaders. Above all, our security forces will be strong. This is a war on our home. This is a war we didn’t choose. It’s either us or them.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/28/israel-gaza-ground-operation-00124104

Unusual sky here in GA tonight

3 Expert Shoemakers Say Ron DeSantis Is Probably Wearing Height BoostersKEK

The internet has questions about the governor’s boots. So I asked the experts.

By DEREK GUY

10/31/2023 05:00 AM EDT

Derek Guy is a menswear writer who has written for the Washington Post, Financial Times and Esquire. He runs a men's style site called Die, Workwear!

In the last few weeks, posts mocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ strangely shaped cowboy boots have racked up millions of views on Twitter and TikTok, with online sleuths trying to determine whether he’s wearing height-boosting insoles to pump himself up against a 6’3” primary frontrunner with a penchant for nicknames who reportedly considered calling DeSantis “Tiny D.” (If the 2001 Yale baseball team roster is to be believed, DeSantis stands at 5’11”.) Posters have sketched over photos of the boots, showing where they think DeSantis’ feet sit inside. “Slay queen,” captioned one TikTok user. Hashtags like “parisfashionweek” and “mallgothfashion” abound. And former President Donald Trump himself even shared one of the posts on Truth Social.

It sounds vain to fret over height in a political race, but DeSantis has reason to worry: Over the last century or so, taller candidates have tended to have an advantage in general elections — with the notable exceptions of former President Barack Obama, who is shorter than Mitt Romney, and President Joe Biden, who is shorter than Trump.

Three top experts in the field say the cowboy boot truthers might be onto something.

“I’ve dealt with these politicians many times,” says Zephan Parker, the bespoke bootmaker behind Houston’s popular Parker Boot Company, which, he says, has made height-increasing cowboy boots for a number of Texan politicians. (No, he won’t reveal any names.) “I’ve helped them with their lifts. [DeSantis] is wearing lifts; there’s no doubt.”

For Parker, there are two giveaways. At a DeSantis campaign event in Tampa, a photo was taken of him from his side, showing the governor in his black cowboy boots and navy worsted suit. Traditional Western boots are typically built with an elevated heel, ranging from 1 1/2” to 1 7/8”. DeSantis’ boots have a traditional Western silhouette, but, to Parker, the heels appear shorter. When you stick inserts into cowboy boots, the combination of the height-increasing lifts and the heels can “turn them into five-inch stilettos,” Parker says. “That’s too much for the common man. So on a ready-made boot, they’ll cut down the heel about half an inch to accommodate the lifts, which looks to be what happened here.” (Shaving down the heels does negate some of the height value of having lifts in the first place.)

The other giveaway, Parker says, is the boots’ tops (what most people would recognize as the shaft). Cowboy boots are made to fit snugly; on their website, Tecovas recommends getting boots sized so that you feel a rush of air leave the boot when your heels drop into place. But such a snug fit leaves little room for a wedge-shaped lift, so people who wear lifts often have to size up in width. This increases all the other measurements in tandem, including the circumference of the tops.

Looking at the photo of DeSantis at his Tampa campaign event, Parker points out how the tops are pushing against his trouser legs. “He looks like he’s wearing trousers with an eight-inch opening,” the bootmaker estimates, “which is plenty of room for a Western boot on a man of his proportions.” The fact that the tops push against the trouser legs suggests to Parker “the boots are bigger than intended, probably to accommodate his lifts.”…

DeSantis’ campaign denies the allegation that he’s wearing lifts. On Monday, DeSantis told podcast host Patrick Bet-David that his boots are “just standard, off-the-rack Lucchese boots.” In an email to POLITICO Magazine, DeSantis’ press secretary, Bryan Griffin, writes, “Considering the fact that Politico Magazine admittedly spent money to consult ‘boot experts’ to run this hit piece on DeSantis tells you all you need to know about their ‘journalism.’ The governor doesn’t pad his boots, but if he ever needed anything to line a pet cage or fold up and wedge under a table leg, that would be the highest and best use for Politico Magazine.” (To be clear,POLITICO Magazine did not compensate any of the boot makers quoted in this story.)

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/31/desantis-boots-shoemakers-00121044