The News

 Israeli intelligence suggests Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, possibly before the U.S. presidential election, two Israeli

Driving the news: The sources said Israeli intelligence suggests the attack is expected to be carried out from Iraq using a large number of drones and ballistic missiles.

• Iran could quickly put its preparations into action if Tehran decides to strike soon, but the U.S. doesn't know if that decision has been made, a U.S. official told Axios.

What they're saying: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami said on Thursday that Israel made a mistake when it attacked Iran last week and stressed that Iran's response will be "different from any scenario" Israel might expect.

• A high-ranking Iranian source told CNN that Iran is planning a "definitive and painful" response that will likely come before the election, the network reported Wednesday.
• Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, chief of staff to Iran's supreme leader, told TV network al-Mayadeen on Thursday Iranian retaliation was "certain." He said the Iranian response will be "strong" and will "make our enemy regret" its attack.

Flashback: Israel openly attacked Iran for the first time ever last week, targeting Iranian military infrastructure and air defense systems — though not nuclear sites or oil fields — in multiple waves of airstrikes.

• Iran claimed to have defeated that attack with only "limited damage," but vowed retaliation.
• Israel's attack came in response to Iran's 180-missile attack against Israel three weeks earlier, which Israel's air defenses mostly repelled.

 In the final stretch of an election season teeming with ugly moments, from the racist and vulgar to the sexist and crude, Donald Trump on Thursday managed to do what he always does: outdo himself.

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” Trump said at an event with Tucker Carlson. “Okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face.”

The subject of this violent comment was Liz Cheney, perhaps the most high-profile Republican to support Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, and Trump made this statement amid endless evidence of the dangers he poses should he return to the White House. In this instance, Trump was slamming Cheney for being a “radical war-hawk” and suggesting she should be subjected to a taste of combat. But this use of such visceral imagery comes as he continues to threaten to prosecute his perceived enemies. This summer he promoted a social media post calling for Cheney to be placed on trial for treason before a military tribunal.

The Harris campaign and other Trump critics mischaracterized Trump’s comment as a call to put Cheney before a firing squad.

“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” Cheney responded on X. “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets are still chewing over whether President Joe Biden may or may not have called Trump’s supporters “garbage” in response to a comedian at a recent Trump rally describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” This morning, there was more quibbling over a report that the White House may have altered a transcript of Biden’s “garbage” dig. Given that Trump has often dehumanized and demonized his political foes and their supporters, saying they’re “scum,” the attention paid to Biden’s remark—which he clarified after the fact—is misplaced.

Trump’s menacing language—a constant for almost a decade—rarely draws the notice that Garbage-gate has received. To call this imbalance typical both-sidedism fails to adequately convey the failures of the media in 2024.

We’re all a bit desensitized. But the use of such violent rhetoric by hideous men within reach of the White House should still shock us. Anything less, well, is garbage.

 wo men are dead and at least seven people are injured after an overnight shooting in downtown Orlando, the city's police department said.

Police responded to a shooting call near East Central Boulevard and North Orange Avenue just at 1:07 a.m. Friday. Minutes later, police said they received another call about shots fired south of Washington Street on North Orange Avenue.

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said eight people were shot. Two of the victims died, six were taken to the hospital. Victims' ages are between 19 and 39, police said.

Smith said the suspect in the case was taken into custody. The suspect is 17 years old and has a previous arrest record, according to police.

Roads were closed overnight but have since reopened.

Video shows a large crowd dispersing in a chaotic scene. Police side 50,000-100,000 people were in the area for a Halloween celebration.