Beltway Insider: Trump, Israeli, Palestine Peace, Russia/Ukraine, Pentagon Media, No Kings Protests, Virginia Giuffre

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Saturday, 18 October 2025 17:52

Written by Janet Walker

President Trump, who has been lauded as the facilitator of the 20-point Israeli Gaza Peace Plan, has now turned his attention to the Ukraine Russian conflict and is again speaking with Putin to implement an armistice.

The President's job approval rating, according to Gallup featured in The New York Times for the period ending October 19, 2025, of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President remained consistent at 40% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president remained consistent at 56%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Israel and Gaza: A Simmering Peace

After the first week of a tenuous peace treaty, the news from both Gaza and Israel are that both have already violated parts of the 21 point peace plan. And granted the initial phases will be met with hesitancy on both sides, as it is challenging to switch the war mentally off and hope that the other side does as well.

With Israeli soldiers still armed and poised to enforce the "Yellow Line," which signifies the demarcation line, between the Gaza Strip and the border of Israel, and Israel Defense Forces, who are stationed along the border have been ordered to shoot on sight.

The tragedy of course, is that the line was not clearly marked and over this first week, a family who had survived the two years of intense warfare, crossed the line and were killed. "Israeli forces have killed 11 members of a Palestinian family in Gaza, the deadliest single violation of the fragile ceasefire since it took effect eight days ago," Al Jazeera reported. Without warning the IDF fired upon a vehicle of seven children and three women, who were confused in their directions.

After the shocking tragedy and what many have called the bloodthirsty Israeli military, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has indicated the demarcation lines will be more clearly marked and visible by all.

Although it appears the simmering peace treaty is holding, the future remains murky. The deep seeded hatred between these two nations is never more evident than the condition in which the mangled and mutilated bodies of the dead hostages were returned. Neither side can claim the other is worse, as the ravages of war, no matter how justified, have only seeded the future retaliations.

Israel Accuses Palestine of Violating Peace Accord

The first step in the peace treaty was the return of all hostages, living and dead. Both Israel and Palestine moved to meet that first demand.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists captured approximately 251 hostages, and while some had been returned throughout that last two years, others, approximately 24, had died in captivity. The total number of Hamas held Israeli hostages at the time the peace deal was brokered totaled 48, 28 had died, and 20 were still alive. Those 20 have been returned, and the remains of 18 others are still in Gaza.

"Late on Thursday, Hamas said it was committed to the agreement and reiterated in a statement that extracting the remaining bodies requires equipment to remove the rubble. It noted that the necessary tools are "unavailable due to the occupation's ban on their entry" and that therefore "any delay in the return of the bodies falls entirely on the Netanyahu government,"' The New York Times reported.

As the hostages were taken over two years ago, those of whom died enroute were taken to locations that are now buried under tons of cement from the bombing raids and securing them in the allotted time frame seems to be a set up for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withhold aid.

Aid Trucks Roll Slower Than Agreed

For the thousands of Gazans who have returned to Gaza City, this week, the hollowed bombed out buildings, the despair borders on desperation as Israel has yet to open the Rafah border, and has not yet, in this first week, allowed the agreed upon 600 Aid Truck per day to deliver supplies, to a desperate and dying people.

"Many relief officials blamed Israeli restrictions for shortages that led to hunger and malnutrition throughout the enclave. While Israel blocked all supplies entering Gaza for nearly three months earlier in 2025, Israeli officials have recently said they were no longer limiting the amount of aid that can go into the territory. Under the cease-fire agreement, Israel committed to allowing a surge of desperately needed supplies into the enclave," The New York Times reported.

The Israeli-Gazan war more than 70,100 were killed with the severest casualties, more than 68,172, suffered by the Palestinians and 1,983 Israeli most of whom were killed during the initial October 7, 2023 attack. The infrastructure has been so severely crippled that any rebuild will take decades. For the shellshocked and innocent victims of Prime Minister Netanyau's determined effort to disarm, and dismantle Hamas there is little hope.

Although the death toll has yet to be verified, approximately 18% of Palestinians who lost their lives were children. And that was before the government began to withhold food, and the famine set it, starving the weakest.

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Trump Works Putin in Hopes of Peace

President Trump, with a tentative victory holding in Israel, has set his sights on ending the Russian Ukraine war, and has met with both Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There is more at stake in this negotiation, as Ukraine borders Poland, and as errant missiles have already crossed over the borders, NATO, and other European leaders are more prepared to stop Putin, that handing him control of one region, which echoes of his takeover of Crimea, in 2014, after the Sochi Olympics.

If he is given the Donetsk region, in a cease fire, in the future, he will once again move on the Ukraine, and granted it will be under a different administration, but none the less, he will make another move, until the whole of Ukraine is once again under Russian control.

To Putin this is not a land grab, the war in Ukraine is about his legacy and reunification of the pre-1990 Soviet Union. His desire is too make Russia strong again. His philosophy is as simple as Mr. trump's both leaders want to return their nations to a pre-1990 glory, for Trump it is a post WWII greatest generation, and for Putin it is when communism ruled, before democracy broke his nation into pieces. So as long as Putin is President, his agenda, hidden or not, is to regain all of Ukraine, and then other nations in the region that where once part of the pre-democratic fall of Russia.  

Press Corp Departs Pentagon

In an ongoing effort of the Trump Administration to dismantle the First Amendment, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, introduced new policy which would have members of the Pentagon Press corps, to agree to only report on previously vetted and released information.

"Fox News, along with ABC, CBS and NBC, did not sign the Defense Department's press policy by Tuesday's deadline, having earlier in the day denounced the new regulations in a joint statement that included CNN, which previously said it would not sign," The Washington Post reported.

Those members of the Pentagon Press Association who refused to sign, were forced to leave the building, which meant breaking down offices, many of whom were resident press corps members, that had long held a position in the building.

Other requirements included not soliciting  confirmations or cultivating sources from other members of the defense or pentagon staff, as media were permitted, under all other administration to move freely within the building.

Of the media remaining, many are freelancers or social media influencers.

No Kings Protests

Cities around the nation gathered today in a nationwide "No Kings" protest, the second under the Trump Administration, and the largest in the ten months since he returned to the White House.

Massive crowds filled the streets of New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Seattle, and smaller crowds in smaller cities such as Kitty Hawk, NC, Virginia Beach, VA, and even a surprising turnout in Austin, Texas. There are a record number 2,500 events scheduled throughout the nation.

So why the push now? Trump is elected to a full four year presidential term and will remain in office. What do protestors hope to achieve?

"The protests have been a venue for all-encompassing outrage at the Trump administration. But gauging unofficially by the chants, signs and our conversations with attendees, some key themes stand out above the rest. Many protesters have focused on Trump's immigration raids and deployment of troops to US cities, perceived threats to democracy, opposition to billionaires, and cuts to federal programs — particularly health care," CNN reported.

Another important motivation in the protests is the upcoming 2026 mid-term election. And while the Trump Administration is praising efforts to restructure the house through redistricting in easily approved GOP held strongholds, like Texas, with continual "No Kings" protests citizens across the nation should be able to see clearly that the Trump Administration policies are repugnant to the nation and winning is impossible unless the GOP stacks the deck.

World News: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sentenced

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

For the seven days ending October 19, 2025, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 50,115 to 778,741,840. The total worldwide death toll increased by 106 to 7,102,636 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated September 28, 2025, from the World Health Organization).

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre's "Nobody's Girl," Topples Her Alleged Rapist

Virginia Roberts Giuffre's "Nobody's Girl," published by Knopf and due out October 21, 2025, has already initiated blowback on the monarchy as Prince Andrew, once the Duke of York, has after meeting with his brother, King Charles III, relinquished his title and all honors it bestowed.

Giuffre committed suicide last April in Australia, which seems odd for someone who had secured so many victories in her effort to exposure the most elite sex trafficking organization in modern history. From the grave, her memoir gives reader's some insight into the special privileges afforded members of the entitled class, and the complete lack of judicial assistance for any who attempt to disrupt the status quo.

"Nobody's Girl," is graphic, with excerpts appearing in the UK's The Guardian, the details are shocking and horrifying. The names and events, of course, are the same as we have heard throughout the years and are now completed with a full account of the encounters. Other's are included also, she mentions, "Billionaire Number One," who raped her and them tipped her a $100. The excerpts presents Mar-a-Lago has the trolling ground, whether Mr. Trump had full knowledge of the illegalities or not, his Florida club were mentioned.

Of course, the outrageous behavior of Prince Andrew, which for all involved seemed normal at the time, even the fact that all those involved, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, knew the girls, not only Robert-Giuffre, were underage, and the sex was transactional.

The Washington Post interviewed ghost writer, Amy Wallace, as Roberts-Giuffre is no longer alive to speak with the media, has become by proxy her spokesperson, and may have touched on the enormous psychological toll sexual assault and abuse victims bear.

To demand justice equates to reiterating the story again, and again, and again, over the course of years, all the while not seeing the hand of justice move, and still the only choice, for some, is to speak, and speak, and continue to speak, until justice is finally levied holding those accountable who flagrantly and arrogantly abuse the system.

For all involved, the fact the Ms. Giuffre has died, by suicide, is the perfect ending for those who would label her mentally ill, crazy, and like in the film "Tar," mark her with behaviors that would cause her to become a pariah, living or dead.

Nike President and CEO Elliott Hill Speaks with CNBC’s Sara Eisen on "Squawk on the Street"

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.