TODAY'S TALKING POINTS 10-01-15

TODAY'S TALKING POINTS

Congress averted a government shutdown. Lawmakers had until midnight to keep the government running through Dec. 11, and they followed through with a few hours to spare. The magic number is now 10 weeks — that’s about how much time they’ll have to work out a long-term budget deal before everyone in Washington starts getting heart palpitations again.

Russia launched suspicious airstrikes. Shortly after the nation’s leaders got the OK to use military force in Syria, they conducted airstrikes on what they said were “eight ISIS positions, including arms, transportation and control positions.” But United States officials are super suspicious, given that the areas Russia bombed apparently didn’t contain any Islamic State forces and may have actually been home to CIA-backed rebels. The U.S. promptly said "we need to talk."

If you're lost, you're not alone; here's a guide to who's fighting whom in Syria (paywall).

Palestine's flag was raised at the United Nations for the first time. Earlier this month, 119 countries voted in favor of flying the flag. Forty five countries abstained and eight voted against it, including the U.S. and Israel.

Before he raised the flag, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a powerful message to the General Assembly, saying the Oslo Accord is no longer valid and that Israel should "assume all its responsibilities as an occupying power." The Oslo Accord was signed between the two territories in 1993; it stated Palestine would attain independence in 1999. If Israel was now considered an occupying power, under international law, it would be obliged to provide things like education, sanitation and access to health care.

Hurricane Joaquin got a little more fierce. The tropical storm leveled up and turned into a Category 3 hurricane, and it’s headed toward the continental U.S. It’s expected to hit the East Coast hard this weekend.

Kevin McCarthy revealed the real reason for the Benghazi probe. The man most likely to fill John Boehner’s shoes told Fox News the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails is essentially a model for future GOP strategy. "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” he said “But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would've known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen."