What's the US doing? The Hamas Israeli War.

Well It's not really clear, other than the Navy has been engaged in shooting down drones and missiles that are aimed at Israel, which is a direct intervention in the war. Having said that, when somebody shoots a missile there isn't that much time to figure out where it's going, and Iran, through its proxies, has been attacking our troops in Iraq and Syria for quite some time.

We seem to be getting ready to deploy ground troops, somewhere, in support of Israel's efforts.

And it's pretty clear that we're staging in case this goes regional in a fashion that we feel we need to get into.

It's interesting how we're rushing headlong into this, without much thought.  Over the weekend, on one of the weekend shows, some politician was arguing that the US should raid into Gaza if we know where some American hostages may be held.  I don't doubt, moreover, that we would.

Israel, for its part, has never overtly asked for US boots on the ground, or aircraft in the air, in any of its wars.  And it hasn't needed them.

Caution. Deep water ahead.

Wednesday, October 10, 1973. Vice President Agnew resigns.

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned as Vice President and then, on the same day, plead no contest to income tax evasion, this baack in the day when such accusations would doom your position in office.

Angew was the son of a Greek immigrant father and an American mother of English background.  Mixed marriages were unusual for those of Greek ethnicity in the first place and even more unusually, he was raised as an Episcopalian rather than as Greek Orthodox.  He served in the Army during World War Two and entered politics thereafter.

His tax troubles lead Maryland to disbar him as "morally obtuse", back when there was such a thing as a state bar that would disbar somebody for being morally obtuse.  He died in 1996.

The USSR began airlifting military equipment to Egypt and Syria.

The Senate passed the War Powers Act.  It'd be vetoed, but Congress over road the veto.

Famed economist Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises died in New York at age 92.