JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) is seeking the post of Speaker of the House (Shutterstock).

Jim Jordan’s path to the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives is proving difficult and perhaps impossible.

The controversial Congressman from Ohio failed again on Tuesday to win enough support from his fellow Republicans to put together a majority in the House, as all Democrats are expected to vote against him.

Twenty of his colleagues in the GOP voted for other candidates, so the conference adjourned for the day and will try again tomorrow. Jordan was the man who engineered the ouster of Kevin McCarthy (R-California) on the idea that he was too willing to compromise on budget issues with Democrats.

Under the Constitution, all spending bills must originate in the House, but to become law they must get the approval of the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority and then be signed into law by the president.

Who blew up the Gaza hospital?

HAMAS vs. Israel (Shutterstock).

Hundreds of people have been killed in an explosion at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. Palestinian sources say it was the result of as Israeli air strike, while Israeli sources say it was the Islamic Jihad group that fired a faulty rocket that was responsible.

The incident at the Al Ahri Arab hospital brought more cries of indignation in a brutal conflict in which civilians have been killed by both sides.

President Joe Biden said, “I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion” and called upon all sides to avoid accidental or deliberate attacks on civilian sites.

At the same time, Israeli forces are battling the Hezbollah group in the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Out come the big (U.S.) guns

RUSSIA VS. UKRAINE (Shutterstock).

American long-range missiles were used by Ukrainian forces on Tuesday in its war against Russian invaders.

The missiles, known as ATACMS, have a range three times longer than the HIMARS missile system, previously supplied to Ukraine by the U.S. Reports indicate that they were used to damage runways at a Russian-occupied base in eastern Ukraine and destroyed nine helicopters, an ammunition dump and other facilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr thanked the U.S. for the aid, which included “about” 20 of the missiles, which can reach nearly all of the Russian-held bases in occupied areas of east Ukraine.

India plans moon mission by 2040

The growing space effort by India has some new goals. The government announced on Tuesday that it wanted to have an Indian space station in orbit by 2035 and a crewed mission to land on the moon by 2040.

So far, the only nation to land a man on the moon is the United States, although China has announced plans to do some. The U.S. is also planning a manned lunar mission and – later – a manned trip to Mars.

Weather: Is this really autumn?

There is Halloween candy in the stores and we’re halfway through the college football season, but there’s not much sight of golden leaves and autumn chill. The forecast for our West Orange County area is for partly cloudy skies through Saturday.

Wednesday will have a daytime high of 85 with an overnight low of 62. The weather will warm to 92 (64) on Thursday, but then drop to 89 (63) on Friday. The temperature will drop to 80 (60) on Saturday.