The Slatest for Oct. 17: An Underrated Threat to the 2024 Election

In Fani Willis’s RICO indictment of Trump and his allies, she accuses them of trying to steal voting system software in Georgia. If they did manage to get copies of the software, it poses a broader threat to the next presidential election. “Simply put: Possessing copies of voting system software enables hackers, thieves, and even foreign governments to install it on their own computers, create replicas of the voting systems, probe them for weaknesses, and develop ways to exploit vulnerabilities,” Cliff Albright, Richard DeMillo, and Susan Greenhalgh write. They make the case for why we need a federal investigation into the alleged voting system breaches.

And speaking of Trump and his various legal troubles: Dennis Aftergut and Frederick Baron explain why Judge Tanya Chutkan’s gag order on the former president is crafted perfectly to withstand a First Amendment claim.

An explosion at a hospital in Gaza killed 500 people on Tuesday. Yara M. Asi, a Palestinian expert in global health who has worked with medical professionals from Gaza, explains how damage to vital health services may reverberate for years, if not generations.

Plus: A nuance in Jewish law and culture has become particularly relevant in recent days: pikuach nefesh, the notion that, if complying with a Jewish law would endanger you, that law may be suspended. Abraham Josephine Riesman and S.I. Rosenbaum argue that this principle is being tragically misused to justify the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza.

And as conditions deteriorate, Egypt has blocked off a possible route of escape, keeping its border with Gaza closed. Fred Kaplan explains the competing pressures that might be going into Egypt’s decision.

Really? This guy? Noted conspiracy theory bonehead Jim Jordan might become speaker of the House?

Well, maybe not! Jordan fell short in the first vote on the House floor, but he’s still trying, as of this writing anyway. Ben Mathis-Lilley lays out why Jordan is such an unlikely choice, and the particularly tough bind he puts vulnerable swing-state Republicans in.

Plus: Several former Ohio State wrestlers say the team physician sexually abused them in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and that the coaches—including Jordan, who was an assistant coach at the time—knew and did nothing. (Jordan denies that he knew anything about it.) Hang Up and Listen spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim about the scandal.

Members of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle are telling the same damning story about their former boss. Alex Kirshner catches us up on a particularly juicy narrative emerging from their testimony.

A.I. may not get a chance to kill us after all, if this kills it first. Scott Nover shines a light on an existential threat to the technology that’s working its way through the courts.

The Scholastic Book Fair’s scheme to appease state book bans has succeeded in … making everyone furious. Rebecca Onion breaks down what happened.

As we head into chilly months, grits are the perfect base for protein. Bryan Lowder explains why it’s time to add the breakfast food to your dinner rotation.

… much like the hallmarks of the early internet, and of autistic logic. “Here, in this vast interconnected constellation of freaks, geeks, obsessives, compulsives, and maladjusted eye-contact-dodging miscreants, is God’s perfect kingdom for undiagnosed and diagnosed autists alike—one wrought in their own image by them, for them,” Patrick Marlborough writes. They reflect on the decline of the internet as a safe haven for people with autism.

Thanks so much for reading, and we’ll see you tomorrow.