The Audible: Among Dodgers, Bruins and Trojans, who’s best defensively?

• October 11, 2023

Jim Alexander: Welcome to the day-early Audible, which we’re posting Wednesday instead of Thursday while we know for sure the Dodgers still have any season left. All we know definitely is that they’ll be asking Lance Lynn to prevent a sweep by Arizona tonight, and the major-league leader in home runs allowed will be pitching in a park that’s said to be more amenable to the longball than usual if, as expected, the Diamondbacks decide to leave the Chase Field roof open.

As ugly as it’s been in Games 1 and 2, with Clayton Kershaw uncharacteristically shelled, Bobby Miller succumbing to rookie stage fright and Arizona’s aggressive hitters taking advantage, do you really want to watch the bottom of the first in Game 3 if you’re a Dodger fan? Maybe, instead, check the score at 6:25 or so and see if it’s safe to watch the rest of the game.

Mirjam Swanson: Sounds like a good strategy, if you’re a Dodger fan: Give it a minute or 20.

One thing’s for sure, Lynn won’t have rookie stage fright. One of the things that was appealing about him when he came to L.A. was his postseason experience, including three games he pitched against the Dodgers – remember his two scoreless innings to complete the Cardinals’ 13-inning victory over the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2013 NLCS or, four days later, his Game 4 performance: 5⅓ innings to earn the victory in another Cardinals win.

And as ugly as it’s been for the Dodgers the past couple games, I just can’t imagine this group getting swept in this first round. Right?

Right???

As determined as the Dodgers are to staying even keel, there’s gotta be some sense of pride or panic that’ll get their bats revved up, no?

And if they do, man, will that be disappointing. And you know what the conversation will immediately turn to…

Jim: The pressure’s already on Dave Roberts. During yesterday’s off-day availability, the Dodger manager did his presser via Zoom, and one questioner pressed him (no pun intended, but whatever) about why he wasn’t at the ballpark and why the team wasn’t doing a full-scale workout?

His answer to the latter made sense: “For some people they need to be there, they want to be there, and some guys I think it’s great they stay away. That’s why it’s optional. I think as much time as we spend together, some guys need to be away. And for me, I welcome that. There’s no cookie-cutter, one way to do things.”

Those who don’t have a close-up view of the day-to-day process probably are convinced that if you’re losing, you’re not grinding enough and need to do more, when in some cases it’s the exact opposite. And these guys all have their routines that have worked all season. Even with the situation as dire as it is, I’m not sure a radical change helps.

Which leads me to the other, scarier part of the question. When asked where he was on the day off, Roberts said he was in a meeting with the front office. That’s not uh-oh in the sense of his job’s on the line, necessarily (though some fans wouldn’t have an issue with that). It’s more uh-oh along the lines of, what exotic and risky strategies are Andrew Friedman and his quants going to suggest to the manager?

Maybe to use Michael Grove or (God forbid) Caleb Ferguson as an opener in front of Lynn tonight? Remember, before Game 5 of the Division Series in San Francisco two years ago, one of the front-office functionaries suggested using Corey Knebel as an opener in front of 20-game winner Julio Urias, for no other reason than to disrupt Gabe Kapler’s platooning. That was the same night the Dodgers used Kenley Jansen in the eighth and Max Scherzer in the ninth to close out the game and the series. Short-term gain, long-term pain; Urias had nothing in his first LCS start against the Braves, and Scherzer had a dead arm and couldn’t pitch the fateful Game 6, forcing Walker Buehler to go on short rest.

In other words, the more influence the front office has on strategy, the more there is that can go wrong. That’s the overthinking I discussed in Tuesday’s column. So unless the front-office functionaries have some sort of magical way of getting Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman going at the top of the lineup, I wouldn’t listen to them. Unfortunately, the manager is obligated to.

Mirjam: It could also be a more sensible lineup change – maybe Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernández starting? ’Cause they’ve got to do something to kickstart the offense. What’s the tally over their past five postseason games (all losses, as everyone knows)? Like, 4 for 38 with runners in scoring position? They’re not going to get perfect pitching, or even close to it, so they gotta start scoring.

They’re facing Brandon Pfaadt today, and while it won’t be his postseason debut, he’s not exactly a weathered, confident vet, having allowed seven hits and three runs in 2.2 innings during the Wild Card Series.

Seems doable.

Jim: Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen are momentum stoppers, for sure. Pfaadt’s splits are fairly neutral in his limited sample size (19 games, 18 starts) on the big-league level this season: An .858 OPS by right-handed batters against him, .862 by lefties. And Roberts did talk about getting Kiké in the lineup today: “I do love the at-bats Kiké’s been taking and kind of trying to figure out if changing the lineup a little bit as far as structure makes sense.” So we’ll see.

That said, Mookie’s been struggling for a while now, after we got spoiled by his unbelievable August (1.355 OPS, 11 homers, 30 RBI). But one at-bat might be all it takes for him to get it going again.

OK, on to other matters. USC gets the lion’s share of college football headlines in SoCal, deservedly so, but are we spending too little time on what UCLA’s Chip Kelly is (finally) building in Westwood? You saw the Bruins beat Washington State last Saturday. This week they’re at Oregon State – and not to make light of a brutal situation for the Cougars and Beavers, but if UCLA sweeps those two do they win the Pac-2 championship?

Anyway, what’s your take on what you saw from the Bruins?

Mirjam: My take? No one has to climb atop a soap box to defend UCLA’s defense. Because the Bruins’ defense is LEGIT. And it has to be, because they have provided some cover for Dante Moore’s inevitable growing pains at QB.

Defense can seem boring, right? We like scoring! We like shootouts! That’s the exciting stuff.

But the type of defense UCLA is playing IS exciting. You could just feel how frustrated QB Cam Ward and Washington State were getting, as they continually got stuffed and stymied – and if not that, intercepted or stripped.

Ward hadn’t thrown a pick all season, 161 attempts altogether. The Bruins intercepted him twice – and forced two fumbles. They held a Cougars offense that came in having scored more than 30 points every game to just one offensive touchdown in Saturday’s game, a 25-17 UCLA win at the Rose Bowl.

Nationally, the Bruins are allowing just 3.74 yards per play, fewer than anyone in the nation. And they’ve given up only five offensive touchdowns in five games – second-fewest in the the nation.

Their success on that side of the ball is all the more stark considering all the problems we’re seeing on defense across town – though those issues are mostly just manufactured by the media, of course.

Jim: D’Anton Lynn for Coordinator of the Year. The Bruins’ defensive coordinator and son of former Chargers’ head coach Anthony Lynn has radically transformed that unit, so it is possible. And it is another testament to the benefits of adding fresh eyes and fresh ideas to your coaching staff.

See where I’m going with this?

Across town, Alex Grinch is embattled, again, as the Trojans’ defense alternates between great plays and missed assignments/blown coverages/whiffed tackles. And the impassioned (if implied) defense of his buddy by head coach Lincoln Riley is sounding increasingly hollow. Here’s Riley after Monday’s practice, complaining that, yes, it’s a media narrative that the Trojans’ defense is below par:

Asked Lincoln Riley about perception of the defense and he delivered a very impassioned answer in which he said, basically, the media “had their mind made up” that at any sign of adversity, a change would need to be made.

Pretty interesting watch for #USC fans: pic.twitter.com/u186Ze7BHL

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) October 11, 2023

It sounds so disingenuous, Riley’s take that, essentially, all these great things are going on that those of us on the outside don’t see or don’t recognize or can’t possibly understand. (That old “you never played the game” shibboleth isn’t overt, but it’s lurking just below the surface.)

But you don’t have to have played the game to recognize that, for example, blowing a 48-21 lead in the fourth quarter and being within an onside kick of having to go to overtime at Colorado is a failure. And you don’t have to have played the game to understand that what we’re seeing from the Trojans’ defense right now isn’t going to work against Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. or Oregon’s Bo Nix, just to name two.

Having to outscore people every time out isn’t sustainable. (Come to think of it, that’s the same lesson the Dodgers have been learning the last few days.)

Mirjam: Disingenuous is one way to put it.

This is Emperor’s Got No Clothes territory: You know how UCLA is giving up a few blades of grass every play? The Trojans are allowing 5.72 yards per play. You know how the Bruins have allowed just five offensive TDs all season? USC’s allowed 21.

And the Trojans have faced second- or third-string QBs among their first six opponents, who are collectively 10-24. Their next six opponents are, at this point, 26-7.

But don’t believe your eyes, believe Riley – whose own defense needs work, too.

Not his defense on the field, but his defensive posturing. Letting some well-founded criticism so clearly get under his skin – and, in turn, his players’ skin – seems misguided.

He’s implied Grinch was calling the right plays but that his players weren’t tackling as well as they do in practice (which, only the Trojans know – because their practices are closed).

But why not issue a healthy challenge to his players instead of throwing them, underhandedly, under the bus?

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Why not call them out, say it aloud: You can do better, I know you can! If I was a player, I’d rather that than be subtweeted in a news conference while my boss attempts to keep pressure off him and his coaching staff?

Riley’s comment about the media’s response “the first second there was any adversity this year”? I’m looking at HIS response.

But! They do have Caleb Williams, and as long as they have him, they might actually be able to outscore everyone all season.

The Dodgers, though, they’ll need to score more than two runs tonight.

​ Orange County Register 

New Texas-style barbecue joint opening in Costa Mesa

• October 11, 2023

Texas-style barbecue’s popularity in O.C. shows no signs of slowing down. The latest contender is Holé Smokes.  Founded by Ian Bason, a second-generation restaurateur who leads the day-to-day operations at his family’s Mexican restaurant, Holé Molé, and chef Dan Ramon, a Texas native and BBQ enthusiast, the Costa Mesa eatery will officially open Thursday, Oct 12.

“After more than a year filled with smoke, patience and a lot of love, Holé Smokes is bringing the heart and soul of Texas barbecue to Orange County,” Bason said in a written statement. “This venture has been an eye-opening experience in restaurant ownership and a true testament to the strength of family, and although there were more setbacks and trials than anticipated, we know the wait will be well worth it.”

The inaugural menu will feature brisket, tri tip, pulled pork, smoked shrimp, St. Louis-style ribs and chicken, all of which can be purchased per plate (with one or two sides) or by the half pound. Plates come with such barbecue staple sides as mac and cheese, broccoli slaw, potato salad, beans, chips and queso, and fries.

Holé Smokes also prepares brisket and pulled-pork sandwiches, as well as smashburgers.

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All meats are smoked on the premises using pecan and oak logs. The restaurant will seat 50 guests inside, 18 at the expansive bar and 30 on the patio. It opens in the same complex as Doria’s Haus of Pizza and Green Chilis.

Holé Smokes will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Find it: 1500 Adams Ave., Unit 100B in Costa Mesa; holesmokes.com

​ Orange County Register 

Albertsons merger could kill 5,750 Southern California jobs; bill to pay severance gets vetoed

• October 11, 2023

By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde | CalMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have given grocery store workers who are laid off as a result of a merger or acquisition a week of severance pay for every year of their service.

The veto, announced Sunday night, comes after the governor signed two other grocery worker protection bills. Advocates have been pushing for the measures since last fall when Kroger and Albertsons announced plans for a massive merger. The $24.6 billion deal involving two of the largest grocery chains in the United States faces antitrust scrutiny but, if approved, it could happen in early 2024.

Newsom said he vetoed the bill — Senate Bill 725 — because other laws already protect these workers.

He cited the state’s Grocery Worker Retention law, which since 2016 has required companies that merge or buy another grocer to retain existing workers for at least 90 days, and the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies with 100 or more workers to give them 60 days notice before mass layoffs.

He also noted that affected workers could tap unemployment insurance.

“While the goal of limiting the disruptions caused by grocery mergers and acquisitions … is laudable, existing law already provides protections for displaced workers,” he said. “The additional obligations in this bill are unduly prescriptive and overly burdensome.”

California could be among the states most affected by a Kroger and Albertsons merger.

Kroger operates 233 stores under the Ralphs, Food 4 Less and Foods Co brands in California, and Albertsons operates 579 stores under the Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and Pavilions names, according to a report by the Los Angeles research group, Economic Roundtable.

Counting merger’s costs

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, 115 of 159 Albertsons stores are located within two miles of a Kroger store. The merger could result in 5,750 jobs lost in the Los Angeles region, according to the report.

The union that represents many California grocery workers is raising alarms about the potential layoffs. The United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council said in a statement:

“A merger between these two companies could result in large-scale layoffs for workers, grocery stores closing down, particularly in food deserts and rural areas, increasing food costs, and a reduction in a variety of products, including seasonal, organic, and climate-friendly plant-based foods for consumers,”

The companies denied that, saying no “frontline” employees would lose their jobs, because the companies plan to sell hundreds of stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, which has agreed to maintain store jobs and bargaining agreements and may use the Albertsons name in California.

Grocery store workers rallied Thursday, Oct. 5, to support a bill that would have paid severance to grocery workers laid off because of mergers or acquisitions. Photo courtesy of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Photo courtesy of the United Food and Commercial Workers union

Some grocery workers said they would feel more secure with legal protections.

Judy Wood, a cake decorator at Albertsons who has worked in grocery stores for 36 years, said she feels let down by Newsom’s veto.

“We were deemed essential workers during the pandemic and we stood behind our governor at that time,” she said.

“We kept the food going to people if they needed it and we stood on those frontlines. We were subjected to COVID all the time. We were there for him during that time … but he’s not there for us now.”

Wood, 65, said she’s nearing retirement and plans to leave California because living here is hard on her $21.02 hourly pay.

‘Essential heroes’

State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, the Los Angeles Democrat who authored SB 725, said the governor’s veto is disappointing.

“Without our bill, it leaves essential workers vulnerable to a potential merger, as a vast majority of these workers are already struggling to make ends meet for their families,” she said.

Hours before the veto, the United Food and Commercial Workers praised Newsom for signing two companion bills to strengthen protections of grocery store workers.

Assembly Bill 853 will require grocery or drug store companies to notify the state attorney general 180 days before finalizing a proposed merger or acquisition, and to submit an impact analysis of the deal. The analysis would include effects on community “food deserts,” prices, the supply of experienced grocery workers, as well as unemployment, wages and benefits.

“Grocery workers have seen the effects of mergers and acquisitions in the industry — from job loss to centers of their communities going dark,” said Todd Walters, president, UFCW Local 135  in a statement. “AB 853 will give California’s decision makers the information needed to know just how proposed mergers in the grocery and drug-retail industries will affect their lives and can make an informed decision on the impact of mergers on our state.”

AB 647 will strengthen the state’s existing Grocery Worker Retention Law, expanding its 90-day retention provision to include warehouse workers. And it includes stronger enforcement mechanisms, including giving grocers 33 days to resolve a violation before a worker can sue.

Mark Ramos, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, said he’s grateful Newsom signed the two bills but worries the veto will mean displaced workers won’t have enough money if the merger goes through.

Noting that Newsom once called grocery workers essential heroes, he added, “It makes me wonder, are heroes disposable?”

​ Orange County Register 

What was Hamas thinking? For over three decades, it has had the same brutal idea of victory

• October 11, 2023

By JOSEPH KRAUSS

JERUSALEM — In the three and a half decades since it began as an underground militant group, Hamas has pursued a consistently violent strategy aimed at rolling back Israeli rule — and it has made steady progress despite bringing enormous suffering to both sides of the conflict.

But its stunning incursion into Israel over the weekend marks its deadliest gambit yet, and the already unprecedented response from Israel threatens to bring an end to its 16-year rule over the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s retaliation for the Hamas assault, in which over 1,200 people were killed in Israel and dozens dragged into Gaza as hostages, will likely bring a far greater magnitude of death and destruction to Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians have nowhere to flee and where 1,100 have already been killed.

Hamas officials say they are prepared for any scenario, including a drawn-out war, and that allies like Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah will join the battle if Israel goes too far.

“I don’t think anyone really knows what the endgame is at the moment,” said Tahani Mustafa, a Palestinian analyst at the Crisis Group, an international think tank. But given the amount of planning involved in the assault, “it’s difficult to imagine they haven’t tried to strategize every possible scenario.”

Shaul Shay, an Israeli researcher and retired colonel who served in military intelligence, said Hamas “miscalculated” Israel’s response and now faces a far worse conflict than it had anticipated.

“I hope and I believe that Israel will not stop until Hamas has been defeated in the Gaza Strip, and I don’t think that this was their expectation before the operation,” Shay said of Hamas.

FROM UPSTART INSURGENCE TO PROTO-STATE

From its establishment in the late 1980s, on the eve of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Hamas has been committed to armed struggle and the destruction of Israel. At the height of the peace process in the 1990s, it launched scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. The violence only intensified with the breakdown in peace talks and the far deadlier second Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Hamas attacks were met with massive Israeli military incursions into the occupied West Bank and Gaza that exacted a far heavier death toll on Palestinians. But as the violence wound down in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and some 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza, while maintaining tight control over access to the enclave by land, air and sea.

Hamas claimed the withdrawal as vindication for its approach, and the following year it won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections. In 2007, after bitter infighting, it violently seized Gaza from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Over the next 16 years, through four wars and countless smaller battles with Israel that rained devastation upon Gaza, Hamas only grew more powerful. Each time it had more rockets that traveled farther. Each time its top leaders survived, securing a cease-fire and the gradual easing of a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. In the meantime, it built a government — including a police force, ministries and border terminals with metal detectors and passport control.

And what of the thousands of Palestinians killed, the flattened apartment blocks, the crumbling infrastructure, the suffocating travel restrictions, the countless dreams deferred in Gaza, a 40-kilometer (25-mile) coastal strip sandwiched between Israel and Egypt?

Hamas blamed Israel, as did many Palestinians. The Hamas government has seen only sporadic protests over the years and has quickly and violently suppressed them.

NEGOTIATIONS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS

If Hamas’ armed struggle against Israel looks like a failure — or much worse — consider the alternative.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank recognized Israel and renounced armed struggle over three decades ago, hoping it would lead to a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

But the talks repeatedly broke down, partly because of Hamas’ violence but also because of Israel’s relentless expansion of settlements, now home to more than a half million Israelis. There have been no serious peace talks in well over a decade, and the Palestinian Authority has become little more than an administrative body in the 40% of the occupied West Bank where it is allowed to operate.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an 87-year-old moderate, has been powerless to stop settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions or the unraveling of longstanding arrangements around a sensitive Jerusalem holy site. He has been sidelined during every Gaza war — including this one — and the Palestinian Authority is widely seen as a corrupt accomplice to the occupation.

“Palestinians have tried everything from elections to boycotts to the (International Criminal Court) to engaging in a supposed peace process,” said Mustafa, of the Crisis Group. “You’ve had one of the most conciliatory leaderships in the entire history of the Palestinian national movement, and that still hasn’t been enough.”

Still, the scale of last weekend’s attack takes Hamas’ approach into uncharted territory.

“It is unclear what Hamas’ endgame is beyond either fighting to the death or liberating Palestine,” said Hugh Lovatt, a Mideast expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The latest attack marks a “complete strategic rupture,” he said.

“Despite conducting attacks against civilians in the past and fighting previous wars against Israel, (Hamas) did also simultaneously engage in political tracks,” including negotiations with Abbas’ Fatah movement and even tacit coordination with Israel, Lovatt said.

“Now it appears to have fully embraced open-ended violence as its long-term strategic choice.”

FOR ISRAEL, VICTORY COULD AGAIN PROVE ELUSIVE

Israel appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive in Gaza. It could reoccupy the territory and try to uproot Hamas, in what would surely be a long and bloody counterinsurgency. But even that might just drive the group — which is also present in Lebanon and the West Bank — back underground.

And Hamas has a horrifying trump card that could give Israel pause.

Hamas and the more radical Islamic Jihad militant group are holding some 150 men, women and children who were captured and dragged into Gaza. Hamas’ armed wing claims some have already been killed in Israeli strikes and has threatened to kill captives if Israel attacks Palestinian civilians without warning.

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Hamas may succeed — as it has in the past — at trading them for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in a lopsided deal that Palestinians would see as a triumph and Israelis as agony.

Israel has faced virtually no calls for restraint in the wake of the Hamas attack, but that could change if the war drags on.

In the end, the two sides could find themselves returning to the status quo: An internationally mediated truce, with Hamas ruling over a devastated and aid-dependent Gaza, and Israel redoubling security along its frontier.

That too, for Hamas at least, would look like a victory.

​ Orange County Register 

As strikes devastate Gaza, Israel forms unity government to oversee war sparked by Hamas attack

• October 11, 2023

By JOSEPH KRAUSS and WAFAA SHURAFA

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival on Wednesday to create a war-time Cabinet overseeing the fight to avenge a stunning weekend attack by Hamas militants. In the sealed-off Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas, Palestinian suffering mounted as Israeli bombardment demolished neighborhoods and the only power plant ran out of fuel.

The new Cabinet establishes a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics, and as the Israeli military appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. The war has already claimed at least 2,300 lives on both sides.

The Israeli government is under intense public pressure to topple Hamas after its militants stormed through a border fence Saturday and massacred hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival.

Militants in Gaza are holding an estimated 150 people taken hostage from Israel — soldiers, men, women, children and older adults — and they have fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past five days.

The Cabinet, which will focus only on issues of war, will be led by Netanyahu, Benny Gantz — a senior opposition figure and former defense minister — and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. A former chief of a staff and another government minister were named as “observer” members.

Still, Israel’s political divisions remain. The country’s chief opposition leader, Yair Lapid, was invited to join the Cabinet but did not immediately respond to the offer. It appeared that the rest of Netanyahu’s existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, would remain in place to handle non-war issues.

Israel’s increasingly destructive airstrikes in Gaza have flattened entire city blocks and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath debris. A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a tiny, coastal strip, would likely result in a surge of casualties for fighters on both sides.

Hamas launched a fresh barrage of rockets into Israel on Wednesday aimed at the southern town of Ashkelon.

Some 250,000 people have fled their homes in Gaza, most crowding into U.N. schools. Others sought the shrinking number of safe neighborhoods in the strip of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

After nightfall, Palestinians were plunged into pitch blackness in large parts of Gaza City and elsewhere after the territory’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down Wednesday. Only a few lights from private generators still glowed.

Israel on Sunday halted the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine into the territory. The sole remaining crossing from Egypt was shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit nearby.

The Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, only has enough fuel to keep power on for three days, said Matthias Kannes, a Gaza-based official for Doctors Without Borders. The group said the two hospitals it runs in Gaza were running out of surgical equipment, antibiotics, fuel and other supplies. “We consumed three weeks worth of emergency stock in three days,” Kannes said.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive surgeon at al-Shifa said he had 50 patients waiting to go to the operating room as more critical wounded are treated. “We’re already beyond the capacity of the system to cope,” he said. The health system “has the rest of the week before it collapses, not just because of the diesel. All supplies are running short.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said other hospitals’ generators will run out in five days. Residential buildings, unable to store as much diesel, likely will go dark sooner.

Egypt and international groups have been calling for humanitarian corridors to get aid into Gaza. Convoys stood loaded with fuel and food Wednesday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, but were unable to enter Gaza, an Egyptian security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

In Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, rescue workers and civilians carried men covered with blood and soot towards ambulances after strikes toppled buildings. Streets were left blanketed with metal, chunks of concrete and thick dust.

Medical teams and rescuers struggled to enter other areas where roads were too destroyed, including Gaza City’s al-Karama district, where a “large number” were killed or wounded, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Strikes have killed at least four Red Crescent paramedics, the organization said.

The risk of the war spreading was evident Wednesday after the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military position and claimed to have killed and wounded troops.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack but did not comment on possible casualties. The Israeli army shelled the area in southern Lebanon where the attack was launched.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned other countries and armed groups against entering the war. The U.S. is already rushing munitions and military equipment to Israel and has deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as deterrence.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked a village south of Nablus, opening fire on Palestinians and killing three, the territory’s health ministry said. More than two dozen Palestinians have died in fighting in the West Bank since the weekend.

Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists, massed additional forces near Gaza and evacuated tens of thousands of residents from nearby communities.

Toppling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, would likely require prolonged ground fighting and reoccupying Gaza, at least temporarily. Even then, Hamas has a long history of operating as an underground insurgency in areas controlled by Israel.

Hamas said it launched its attack Saturday because Palestinians’ suffering had become intolerable under unending Israeli military occupation and increasing settlements in the West Bank and a 16-year-long blockade in Gaza.

Shock, grief and demands for vengeance against Hamas are running high in Israel. Past conflicts with Hamas included heavy bombardments of Gaza but ended with the group still in power. Netanyahu said this week that Israel is committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

In a new tactic, Israel is warning civilians to evacuate whole Gaza neighborhoods, rather than just individual buildings, then levelling large swaths in waves of airstrikes.

Israel’s tone has changed as well. In past conflicts, its military insisted on the precision of strikes in Gaza, trying to ward off criticism over civilian deaths. This time, military briefings emphasize the destruction being wreaked.

“We will not allow a reality in which Israeli children are murdered,” Defense Minister Gallant said in a meeting with soldiers near the southern border on Tuesday. “I have removed every restriction — we will eliminate anyone who fights us, and use every measure at our disposal.”

Even with the evacuation warnings, Palestinians say some are unable to escape or have nowhere to go, and that entire families have been crushed under rubble.

Other times, strikes come with no warning at all, survivors say.

“There was no warning or anything,” said Hashem Abu Manea, 58, who lost his 15-year-old daughter, Joanna, when a strike late Tuesday leveled his home in Gaza City. “We were sitting there as civilians, dressed like anyone else.”

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Israeli airstrikes late Tuesday struck the family house of Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, killing his father, brother and at least two other relatives in the southern town of Khan Younis, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told The Associated Press. Deif has never been seen in public and his whereabouts are unknown.

The Israeli military said more than 1,200 people, including 189 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, a staggering toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria that lasted weeks. In Gaza, 1,100 people have been killed, according to authorities there. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israeli territory, and that hundreds of the dead inside Gaza are Hamas members.

Shurafa reported from Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Amy Teibel and Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem, Jack Jeffrey and Samy Magdy in Cairo and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

The American Academy of Pediatrics conjures 10 Halloween pedestrian safety tips

• October 11, 2023

Dr. Sadiqa A. I. Kendi | (TNS) American Academy of Pediatrics

With Halloween around the corner, it’s a good time to consider ways to improve the safety of trick-or-treaters planning to roam neighborhoods and communities. The holiday brings delight to many but also heightens the risk of pedestrian injuries, as costumed characters dart from house to house or are distracted by scary sights and sounds, especially after nightfall.

Those who are handing out treats at home can also help improve safety by keeping pathways to the door well lit and free of any obstacles like bicycles or garden hoses that might block the path of visiting goblins, witches and ghosts. Drivers should be extra careful on the roads that day, especially between 5:30 and 9:30 p.m., when trick-or-treaters are most likely to be out.

It’s always best for an adult to accompany young children when they trick or treat. Often your town or park district will offer Halloween activities earlier in the day so you can avoid going out after dark. Older children should travel in groups and create a “buddy system” to get each other home safely and prevent walking alone.

Here are some more suggestions:

— For older children going out with friends, agree on a specific time when they should return home and get flashlights with batteries for everyone. Carry a cellphone for quick communication.

— Only go to homes with a porch light on and, ideally, a well-lit pathway.

— Make sure that shoes fit and costumes are short enough so kids don’t trip on them. Hats and/or masks should fit properly to prevent them from sliding over eyes and blocking vision.

— Remember reflective tape for costumes and trick-or-treat bags.

— Remain on well-lit streets and always use the sidewalk and crosswalks. If no sidewalk is available, walk at the far edge of the roadway facing traffic.

— Never cut across yards or use alleys.

— Only cross the street as a group in established crosswalks (as recognized by local custom). Never cross between parked cars or out of driveways.

— Don’t assume the right of way. Motorists may have trouble seeing trick-or-treaters. Just because one car stops doesn’t mean others will.

— Caution kids about the risk of distracted walking, including text messaging, talking on or looking at their phone phone and listening to music.

Research has shown that evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. are the riskiest times of day for child pedestrians at any time of year. About 64% of child pedestrian deaths occur in daylight hours or at dusk, and most (62%) child pedestrian traffic fatalities occurred mid-block, rather than at intersections.

While parents often worry about tainted candy on Halloween, cars and traffic are really the bigger concern. Let’s keep the scares to a minimum and enjoy this Halloween.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Sadiqa A.I. Kendi, MD, MPH, FAAP, CPST, is the division chief of the pediatric emergency medicine division at Boston Medical Center and associate professor of pediatrics at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Kendi is an expert in pediatric injury prevention, with a focus on health equity.

©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Check out all kinds of sleek rides at Cars N Copters in Huntington Beach

• October 11, 2023

Check out some of the coolest ways to meet that need for speed this weekend in Huntington Beach.

Cars N Copters on the Coast will roll into town Sunday, featuring some of the sleekest cars out there. There will be hypercars, exotics and luxury cars, including high-end brands such as Koenigseggs, Bugattis, Paganis, Mclarens, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins, parked along Pacific Coast Highway for people to check out.

Your interests lie more with the sky? The event also features helicopters from several local law enforcement agencies as well as some that are privately owned.

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Cars N Copters benefits the Huntington Beach Police and Community Foundation.

If you go

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on October 15

Where: 21351 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach

Cost: Free admission

Information: carscopterscoast.org

​ Orange County Register 

Shonda Rhimes to bring ‘Black Barbie’ documentary to Netflix

• October 11, 2023

Karu F. Daniels | New York Daily News (TNS)

Netflix uber-producer Shonda Rhimes has snapped up the rights for “Black Barbie: A Documentary,” which chronicles Mattel’s 1980 introduction of the first Black doll, bringing some much-needed diversity to the iconic brand.

The film, first shown at SXSW earlier this year, was written and directed by filmmaker Lagueria Davis, whose aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell worked at Mattel and was one of three Black women who advocated for the groundbreaking toy.

According to the documentary’s logline, “Black Barbie” examines “the importance of representation and how dolls can be crucial to the formation of identity and imagination.”

Cultural commentators, historians and consumers also weigh in on the impact of the doll. Mitchell and other Black women share their own stories of not seeing themselves represented, and how Black Barbie’s arrival affected them.

“Telling Black Barbie’s story has been such a personal journey and it warms my heart to celebrate the legacy of my aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins and Stacey McBride Irby in our film,” Davis said in a statement about the documentary’s acquisition. “We couldn’t have asked for better collaborators than Shondaland and Netflix to bring this story to the world.”

During its 2022 International Women’s Day celebration, Mattel released a Barbie doll in Rhimes’ likeness — dressed in a replica of the outfit she wore for a Variety magazine cover story months before.

Netflix’s “Black Barbie” announcement comes on the heels of Greta Gerwig’s history-making, billion-dollar-plus feature film starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as her anatomically correct male counterpart Ken. The all-star cast also features Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Simu Liu and Academy Award winner Helen Mirren.

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©2023 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register