Biden Heads To Israel & Elon Wants To Charge For Twitter
October 19, 2023
Biden Backs Bibi, And Nobody Is Surprised
On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden continued his diplomatic trip to Tel Aviv, playing up Washington’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas while securing a deal to get limited humanitarian aid into Gaza.
During a speech, Biden compared Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel to 9/11. “You can’t look at what has happened here … and not scream out for justice. But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”
Biden also appears poised to send billions of dollars in aid to Israel. The White House has plans to ask Congress for $2 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel, and it’s reportedly drafting a $100 billion foreign aid package as well, with at least $10 billion going to Israel. On the flight back home, Biden also spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on the phone, who agreed to reopen Egypt’s border crossing with Gaza and allow up to 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the area.
While Biden visited Tel Aviv, the U.S. announced that Israel was not to blame for Tuesday’s explosion at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, which killed almost 500 people. While Israel and Palestinian groups have blamed each other for the blast, the White House backed its ally in the finger-pointing, claiming that Israel could not have been responsible for the bloody explosion after analysis of “overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information.” Islamic Jihad, which Israel blamed for the attack, denied responsibility.
The U.S. also vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Wednesday, which would have called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict in order to allow aid into the Gaza Strip, where over 3,000 people have now died.
Some Good News
- California will give some Mexican residents near the border in-state community college tuition (ABC)
- Researchers work to extend pets’ lives (CBS)
Burning Up In Brazil
- An exceptionally dry summer has turned Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, into a climate dystopia you’d expect to see in an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. The tourist center, located in a heavily-forested area where the Amazon and Negro rivers meet, has seen its waterways dry up under drought conditions while wildfire smoke chokes out the normally-blue skies.
- The crisis was sparked by the combination of the El Niño weather phenomenon and human-caused global warming. Droughts have dried up the area’s rivers, bringing them to 121-year lows while also sucking the moisture out of local forests, turning them into matchboxes with roots. The state of Amazonas has recorded 2,770 wildfires during the current dry season, the most ever recorded. Nearby rivers reaching record lows has compounded the wildfire problem by making boat transit harder and taking away the water necessary to fight the fires.
A Far-Flung Freakout In France
- On Wednesday, eight of France’s airports were shut down in response to bomb threats, with other key locations also closing due to security issues. The country’s Strasbourg, Nantes, Biarritz, Toulouse, Lille, Lyon-Bron, Nice, and Beauvais airports were all preemptively closed in order to allow security teams to clear them as France remains on its highest level of security alert in response to the conflict in Palestine.
- Other French landmarks closed down for security reasons include the Palace of Versailles (which has been shut down three times in less than a week) and the Louvre (which was closed for safety on Saturday). The country’s high-security alert was raised following a knife attack at a school last Friday.
Additional World News
- Deadly attack in Belgium ignites fierce debate on failures of deportation policy (AP)
- US State Department warns Americans not to travel to Lebanon amid Israel-Hamas war (CNN)
- Watch: Pentagon releases new footage showing uptick in Chinese jets harassing U.S. aircraft (Politico)
- Australian journalist says she was detained for 3 years in China for breaking an embargo (NBC)
- Bolsonaro was engineer of ‘wilful coup attempt’, Brazil congress inquiry alleges (Guardian)
- Almost nine in ten Australians support plan to outlaw lies in political advertising, poll shows (Guardian)
- Putin touts solidarity with China in Xi’s pitch for new world order as crisis grips Middle East (CNN)
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Jim Jordan Gets Jilted (Again)
- We still don’t have a Speaker of the House. Rep. Jim Jordan failed to garner enough votes yet again on Wednesday in the second round of voting – in fact, despite picking up two more Republicans, he also lost four colleagues’ votes. Some are now calling for a vote to expand Rep. Patrick McHenry’s authority as the speaker pro tempore.
- To elevate McHenry, Republicans would likely have to make some concessions to entice the vote of a few Democrats. Currently, the left is still voting as a unit for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who remains the closest to actually securing the speakership (though that’s certainly more of a pipe dream). The House will meet again later today.
Please Cease Your Calls For Peace
- Capitol security restricted the public’s access to the building on Wednesday after a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in the Israel/Hamas conflict. Hundreds of protestors affiliated with If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace gathered both inside and outside the Cannon House Office building.
- Capitol police arrested dozens of protestors throughout the afternoon. “Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings,” the Capitol Police said of the arrests in a post on X. The protests coincided with the U.S. decision not to support the U.N.’s call for a ceasefire that would allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.
Additional USA Reads
- Leonard Allan Cure, freed after wrongful conviction, shot dead in traffic stop (NPR)
- Blast reported aboard small cruise ship; crew member taken to hospital (AP)
- Biden’s ambassador pick tells senators ‘Israel’s security is paramount’ (NBC)
- Fracas in courtroom when family of slain girl’s killer tries to attack him after he pleads guilty (CBS)
- Rachel Powell, Who Used Bullhorn to Rally Rioters on Jan. 6, Gets Nearly 5 Years (NYT, $)
- Biden picks acting Massachusetts US attorney to succeed Rollins (Reuters)
- New York, Overwhelmed, Toughens Stance on Housing Migrant Families (NYT, $)
Operation: Stop The Platform From Growing
- As X (F.K.A. Twitter) continues to spiral under the – I guess we’ll call it “leadership” – of Elon Musk, the company is scrambling for new ways to earn more revenue and make it more appealing to advertisers. X’s revenue has declined by at least 55% year-over-year every month since Musk took over the company last October, with hundreds of advertisers at least partially withdrawing from the platform.
- Another problem for the social media site is a spike in bot activity under Musk, which many say has degraded the platform. Starting Tuesday night, the company began charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 annually to “post & interact with other posts,” in an attempt to make running large-scale bot operations less financially feasible.
- The test won’t affect existing users, and people unwilling to pay will still be able to view posts and follow accounts, according to the company’s support team. The operation (named “Not A Bot”) is mainly aimed at making the platform more hospitable for actual human users, and Musk really wanted us to tell you that it’s “not a profit driver.”
Additional Reads
- IRS to test free tax-filing platform in 13 U.S. states. Here’s where. (CBS)
- Lionel Messi tops MLS salary list with record $20 million (ABC)
- Scholastic to separate books on race, gender and sexuality for book fairs (Guardian)
- Topeka, Kansas urges Latinos to move there through financial incentives (NBC)
- Solar-powered off-road car finishes 620-mile test drive across north Africa (Guardian)
- Scientists surprised by source of largest quake detected on Mars (Reuters)
- Giant tortoise named Frank the Tank seeks new home for next 100 years (Guardian)