Good morning and happy Thursday. If you’ve ever wished you could make a combo nacho investment in both art and memes, we have good news. Now that Congress has pulled PBS’s federal funding, the network has decided to raise money by auctioning off 30 of Bob Ross’s paintings. The joy of painting can be yours for an estimated price of … $38,000.

Programming note: The weekend is almost here. And according to the federal government, next Monday is Columbus Day. Many states double up and also celebrate some variation of Indigenous Peoples' Day. Regardless, it's a holiday. So we're following the government's lead and taking the day off. The Elective will be back in your inbox on Thursday, October 16.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

POLITICS

📆 Chaos ensues as shutdown enters day nine

As if airports weren’t stressful enough already. The federal government shut down nonessential operations last week due to a Senate budget impasse. This week, the pain hit air travelers when thousands of flights were canceled due to air traffic control staffing issues.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the shutdown is worsening the existing shortage of air traffic controllers. Like other essential federal employees, they’re working without pay during the shutdown.

• Barring a potential change in policy by Trump, back pay is coming as soon as the shutdown ends.

• But some aren’t playing along and are instead calling in sick, leading to cancellations and delays at some airports.

There is some good news, though. The IRS has shuttered most of its operations due to the shutdown. Unfortunately, that also means it had to furlough half of its workforce.

Is the end in sight? Nope. A Senate vote to pass a short-term budget and reopen the government failed for the sixth time yesterday. A move to ensure military troops get paid is on the table, though … as are threats by the Trump administration to yank funding for more green energy contracts.

• One thing that hasn’t materialized yet? The White House’s rumored shutdown-induced mass federal layoffs.

In better news, President Trump said last night that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza peace plan. Remaining hostages could be released as soon as this weekend.

GOVERNMENT

🎙️ U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, rumored to be Trump’s least favorite Cabinet secretary, spent four hours on Tuesday testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators grilled her over the Department of Justice’s handling of politically sensitive cases, the firing of FBI agents and federal prosecutors, Jeffrey Epstein, and National Guard deployments. Bondi refused to answer some questions and gave pointed responses to others. Democratic senators weren’t happy, but the boss was thrilled. After the testimony, Trump hit social media to double down on one of Bondi's attacks on the dodgy service record of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

👨‍⚖️The new U.S. Supreme Court term is off to the races. Justices heard arguments on Wednesday in a case challenging an Illinois state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted after Election Day as long as they were postmarked by Election Day (18 other states have similar laws). Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) filed the suit, but a lower court threw it out and said Bost didn't have legal standing to sue because he wasn't harmed by the law. Rather than deciding the case itself, the Supreme Court here will only rule on whether Bost's suit can proceed.

✈️ As of October 3, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will no longer take sex or race into account when hiring companies to fulfill federal contracts. DOT says the decades-old practice of affirmative action in government contracts violated the Constitution. The policy was challenged in court in 2023. That case was still working its way through the courts earlier this year, when the new Trump DOT said it would no longer defend the practice.

POLITICS

💼 Senate confirms 107 Trump nominees

Despite the sombrero meme war ongoing shutdown, normal Senate business is still chugging along. The Senate voted along party lines (Rs for, Ds against) on Tuesday to confirm 107 of Trump’s nominees for high-level roles in the administration, including:

• Ambassadors to 25 countries, including the first U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas since 2011 (that’s former NFL star Herschel Walker)

• Four representatives to international organizations (who will have the diplomatic rank of ambassador), including the D.C.-based Organization of American States (that's North and South America) and the Rome-based U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

• Directors of the U.S. Commercial Service, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey

• 16 U.S. attorneys

Aaaand a whole slew of random deputy assistant under secretaries of blah blah blah. In total, the Senate has confirmed 264 of Trump's picks so far this year.

One agency that may need some attention? The Federal Election Commission. The FEC can no longer legally operate — it oversees campaign finance law — because its six-member board is down to two.

Elsewhere in politics…

1. Good for Democrats: Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is preparing a bid for U.S. Senate. Mills is an A+ recruit for Democrats as they hope to finally defeat longtime moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R).

2. Good for Republicans: Jay Jones, the Dem nominee for attorney general of Virginia, is still reeling from revelations that he talked about killing a political opponent in 2022. He’s canceling events, interviews, and even fundraisers.

TRIVIA

When you think of the Oval Office, what do you picture? Probably the famous desk or the room’s goofy shape. If you’ve seen a more recent picture, you might notice a change: a metric buttload of gold.

But President Trump’s interior design go-to is getting expensive. The price of gold has risen 54% this year as investors seek a safe haven from geopolitical uncertainty. It’s now more expensive than ever before. To the nearest hundred, what is the current market price of one troy ounce of gold?

Hint: It’s above $3,000.

MILITARY

🧊 Trump’s use of National Guard gets icy reception

In response to what he views as President Trump’s illegal assault on his state’s sovereignty, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is threatening to do the only thing he can do in such dire circumstances: Resign from the National Governors’ Association.

• Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are threatening to leave the nonpartisan NGA if it doesn't condemn Trump's use of the National Guard in their states.

In a letter to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, the current NGA chair, Pritzker claimed the NGA's "credibility" was at stake and said he hoped "principled leadership" would prevail over politics.

In his latest National Guard move, Trump federalized troops from both the Texas and Illinois branches of the Guard and sent 500 of them to the Chicago area to “U.S. government personnel who are performing federal functions” (aka: immigration enforcement).

• Guard troops from one state are not typically sent to another. Nor are they typically federalized without the permission of that state’s governor.

• Gov. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson sued this week to prevent the deployment, which Pritzker is calling "Trump's Invasion."

• The White House responded, arguing Pritzker and Johnson "have blood on their hands" for ignoring "violent crime" in Illinois.

• As you might expect, Trump himself chimed in. He thinks the two Democrats “should be in jail” for failing to protect federal agents.

What’s next? A hearing on Pritzker's lawsuit is scheduled for today. Even if Trump prevails in court, he could have another problem brewing: Some Republican senators are reportedly getting queasy about the president’s National Guard usage.

Meanwhile, over in Oregon, another hearing is also set for today over Trump’s use of the Guard there. Protests at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland have raged for months. Now, Homeland Security is threatening to quadruple the federal presence there if the city doesn't step up security.

In other military news, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new "barracks task force" to improve living conditions for U.S. troops. He said a 2023 report found "poor living conditions undermine quality of life and readiness."

• The Pentagon Press Association thinks Hegseth's new rules for reporters inside the (literal) Pentagon "appear designed to stifle a free press."

BRIEFS

● The feds arrested a man for purposely starting the Palisades fire in L.A. that burned 6,800 structures and killed 12 people in January. The DOJ charged him with destruction of property by means of fire. More charges, including murder, could be coming.

● Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday to federal charges that he lied to Congress during a sworn testimony in 2020. His trial is set to begin on January 5, assuming his lawyers’ plan to get the case tossed fails.

● South Carolina state judge Diane Goodstein lost her home to a fire on Sunday, weeks after a ruling against the Trump administration’s attempt to access her state’s voter files. State investigators say there is no evidence that the fire was caused by arson.

● At least 24 people were killed after Myanmar's military used a paraglider to bomb a crowd of anti-government protestors at a Buddhist festival. Myanmar’s government was overthrown by the military in 2021, returning it to dictatorship after 10 years of peace.

● France's government is again in turmoil after Sébastien Lecornu resigned his post as prime minister after just 26 days on the job. President Emmanuel Macron will soon appoint a replacement in what will be his sixth PM in two years.

QUOTE

ANSWER

As of the evening of October 8, 2025, the price of gold was fluctuating between record highs of $4,000 and $4,100 per troy ounce — that’s about 1.1 normal ounces, by the way. Gold’s little brother, silver? You can get an ounce of that for just $49.