🛰️ Axios AM: Space war fears

Plus: NFL-MLB collision | Tuesday, November 01, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Bank of America   Axios AM By Mike Allen · Nov 01, 2022 🦃 Happy Tuesday, and welcome to November. 🇮🇱 Polls close in Israel at 4 p.m. ET. Latest. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,185 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Noah Bressner. 📨 Live onstage in D.C. tomorrow — please join us: I interview White House deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon and senior adviser Anita Dunn on Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. Register here to attend in person. 🎰 Situational awareness: Powerball soars to $1.2 billion — 4th-largest in U.S. history — after no winner last night. Latest.     1 big thing: Space war danger Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios   Private satellite networks that aid militaries in wartime are becoming potential targets for enemy forces — stoking fears that earthly conflicts will push further into space. Why it matters: The U.S. military has historically relied on large, expensive satellites for situational awareness on the ground. Those spacecraft are obvious targets for attacks, Axios Space author Miriam Kramer writes. Ukraine is relying on SpaceX's Starlink constellation of internet-beaming satellites after Russia cut off internet service to the nation. Senior Russian foreign ministry official Konstantin Vorontsov said last week that commercial satellites could be "legitimate" targets in wartime if used for military purposes. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to Vorontsov's statement that any attack on a commercial U.S. satellite would provoke a response from the U.S. 🔭 Zoom out: The Pentagon is highlighting the lack of rules as a major threat to U.S. assets. "The risk of inadvertent escalation is particularly high due to unclear norms of behavior," says the Pentagon's 2022 National Defense Strategy, released last week. Share this story ... Sign up here for our weekly Axios Space newsletter.     2. Database tracks threats against officials Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios   Researchers at Princeton and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) are building the first-ever national database that tracks incidents of threats and harassment against government officials, Jennifer A. Kingson writes for Axios What's Next. Why it matters: The dangerous climate is dissuading people from running for public office — and prompting officials to step down. Initial findings: Women officials are targeted 3.4 times more often than men. Threats of death and gun violence are more than twice as common as any other form of threat. 🔬 Zoom in: The states accounting for the highest share of incidents against poll workers and election officials: Pennsylvania (16%) ... Georgia (14%) ... Michigan (13%) ... Wisconsin (10%) ... and Arizona (6%) — all 2024 battleground states. Share this story ... Get Axios What's Next each weekday.     3. Pelosi filing refutes conspiracy theories Pelosi break-in scene on Friday. Photo: KGO-TV via ABC via Reuters An FBI criminal complaint against David DePape, the 42-year-old charged with the attempted kidnapping of Paul Pelosi, debunks right-wing conspiracy theories about the case that blitzed Twitter. What we know (via Reuters): The complaint says DePape was prepared to "detain and injure" Speaker Pelosi — and arrived at the Pelosis' three-story townhouse with zip ties, tape, rope and at least one hammer, which he used to attack Paul Pelosi. Paul Pelosi made an emergency 911 call at 2:23 a.m. Friday to report that a man he did not know was in his home, and that the man told him that he planned to wait for Speaker Pelosi. About 8 minutes later, Colby Wilmes, a San Francisco police officer, knocked on the Pelosis' front door. Pelosi and DePape were struggling over a hammer. When the officer asked the men what was going on, DePape responded that everything was "good." DePape pulled the hammer from Pelosi's hand and swung it, striking Pelosi's head and knocking him unconscious, according to the complaint. Police officers restrained DePape. DePape told police his ID might be in his backpack on the back porch near the broken glass from a smashed door window. Paul Pelosi told police he was asleep when DePape, whom he had never seen before, entered his bedroom, asking to see his wife. Pelosi said he was able to go into the bathroom to make a 911 call. DePape told police in a recorded interview that he planned to take Speaker Pelosi hostage. He said that if she "lied," he planned to break her kneecaps. Read the 8-page complaint ... Share this story.     A message from Bank of America Empowering Native Americans through UNITY     United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) elevates and supports the voices of young Native Americans as they work to strengthen their communities. During the pandemic, Bank of America funding helped UNITY enhance the technology that allowed them to stay connected with members.     4. 📷 1,000 words Photo: Alex Brandon/AP President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden wave after giving treats on the South Lawn of the White House last night to 5,000 guests, including kids of first responders — firefighters, nurses, cops and National Guard. Read the story.     5. 😬 Tech's 2000 flashback Data: Yahoo Finance. Chart: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals 2022 is looking like 2000 for the tech industry, Axios managing editor Scott Rosenberg and media trends expert Sara Fischer write. In both years, tech stocks took a tumble in the spring after peaking in the stratosphere. Six months later, with a recession looming, big companies started cutting payrolls. Startups began checking their burn-rate runways. Other parallels: The 2000 market, like today's, got hit by the Fed's tightening interest rates after a spell of easy-money policies. (In 2000, it was to protect against Y2K bug problems.) In November 2000, as today, the U.S. was heading into a tight national election. Share this story ... More later this morning in Sara Fischer's weekly Axios Media Trends. Sign up here.     6. 🐦 Musk dons new hat Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's Halloween party at the Moxy Hotel in Manhattan's East Village last night. Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images Elon Musk has picked up another job title after his Twitter takeover: CEO. He made it official in a document filed with the SEC — just days after tweeting he has "no idea who the CEO is." Musk also runs Tesla, SpaceX, brain-chip startup Neuralink and a tunneling firm, the Boring Company. 🗞️ D.C.-geist ... WashPost front page, "As his power grows, Musk worries many in Washington," by Mary Jordan: "[T]he eccentric entrepreneur rarely visits Washington and is increasingly critical of the federal government. He does talk to foreign presidents and prime ministers, according to people who work directly with him." "He also owns and controls more than 3,000 satellites circling the Earth — far more than any nation, including the United States."     7. 📚 Judge blocks publisher merger Novelist Stephen King autographs books on Aug. 2 as he leaves U.S. District Court in Washington, where he testified in the antitrust case. Photo: Tom Brenner/Reuters A federal judge blocked Penguin Random House's effort to acquire Simon & Schuster, saying the proposed $2.2 billion merger could "substantially ... lessen competition in the market," Axios' Shawna Chen writes. Why it matters: It's a win for the Biden administration, which has sought to push the envelope of antitrust enforcement, and views the case as a precedent-setter for mergers and acquisitions at large. Penguin Random House is the largest book publisher in the U.S. Simon & Schuster is fourth-largest. Both publishers plan to appeal. Keep reading.     8. 🏈 ⚾ Philly plays Houston in football, baseball on Thu. Fans take a selfie before the World Series Game 3 rainout at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia last evening. Photo: Drew Hallowell/MLB Photos via Getty Images Game 3 of the World Series was postponed last evening due to rain in Philadelphia, pushing each game in the series back a day, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. This Thursday, originally an off day, will now feature Game 5 in Philly and the NFL's Texans-Eagles in Houston for "Thursday Night Football." 🔎 Between the lines: MLB intentionally avoided scheduling World Series games on Sunday, which belongs to the mighty NFL. Now, a potential Game 7 would go head-to-head with "Sunday Night Football." That's not great news for TV ratings, which are fighting years of decline. Neither is the Thursday conflict, which will see plenty of viewers choose America's obsession over its pastime. New World Series schedule ... Get Axios Sports each weekday morning.     A message from Bank of America Meet three United National Indian Tribal Youth leaders     Bank of America has partnered with UNITY for over a decade. The organization is one of many nonprofits serving the Native community that received a total of $3.1 million in grants in 2020, aligned with Bank of America's commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity.   📬 Thanks for starting November with us. Please invite your friends to sign up to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. 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