Government Funding, Cori Bush Investigated, & Neuralink’s In People Now
January 31, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Wednesday! Today, we’re talking about government funding, fears about the Middle East conflicts, a rejected ceasefire deal, Ukraine tension, Rep. Cori Bush being investigated, Citibank being sued, and Neuralink.
Here’s some good news: Britain’s government will ban the sale of disposable vapes and limit the selection of flavors to prevent children from becoming addicted to nicotine. Also, a new ruling from the E.U. will require companies that sell medicines and cosmetics to cover at least 80% of the extra costs needed to get rid of pollutants that are polluting urban wastewater.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
House Republicans, Divided
After months of complaining about the situation at the border, it appears that House Republicans are the ones responsible for killing a bipartisan border deal. Why? Because former President Donald Trump told them to. Why’d he want the deal killed? So that he has more ammo to use against Joe Biden on the campaign trail.
“I just heard Speaker [Mike] Johnson saying it’s absolutely dead, which is what I wanted to hear,” GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told CNN. “As a matter of fact, he said so clear, ‘I don’t know why people keep asking me about it,’ because as it stands right now, there’s no way forward.” Of course, Johnson denies killing the deal just for Trump, but said that he had met with the presidential hopeful “at length.”
House Republicans are also struggling to pass a bipartisan tax deal thanks to a different sort of infighting. Some GOP lawmakers want to shoehorn border security language into the bill, incumbents with upcoming elections want to send money to their districts, and some far-right Republicans are mad that Johnson has reached out to House Democrats to get the deal passed. The tax bill is expected to see a vote sometime this week, but Johnson will have his work cut out for him if he wants to rein in his coworkers.
Biden Wants To Go Back In
Following the deaths of three U.S. soldiers at an American base in Jordan on Sunday, President Biden says he’s decided on how the military will respond to the deadly drone attack. Experts are worried that the retaliation might result in a war with Iran – Biden says Iran was responsible for the drone attack “in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it.”
The war hawks, of course, are all for it. For example, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement, “I am calling on the Biden Administration to strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces, but as deterrence against future aggression.”
However, according to one Middle East expert, it’s not so cut and dry. We can’t truly tell how much “command and control” Iran has over the various militias conducting strikes against American troops in the Middle East, he said, adding, “Is Tehran saying: we want to ramp up the pressure here? Or do these militias, some of whom are fairly obscure, even answer directly to Iran at all?” Other analysts expect the White House to target Iraq, Syria, or Yemen, stopping short of hitting targets within Iran – though Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf are still on the table.
Netanyahu Says No
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that he won’t be accepting a ceasefire deal that involves the release of Israel’s Palestinian prisoners, or the withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza. The announcement comes as the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar are trying to bring Israel and Hamas to the negotiating table to figure out a ceasefire agreement.
- The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar hammered out a peace framework with Israel at talks in Paris over the weekend. According to the press, the first step in that framework would involve a prisoner trade on both sides of the conflict, bringing about a six-week pause in the fighting.
- Next steps would involve trading combatants held by both sides. Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s announcement seemingly invalidates their deal. The sudden turn is likely due to internal pressures from Israel’s divided coalition government, which came to power through delicate compromises with far-right Israeli lawmakers.
World War Z – In Ukraine
- On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked his country’s senior military commander, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, to step down due to personal differences. Unfortunately for the president, he’s gonna have to do more than just ask nicely – Zaluzhnyi has refused to step down himself, leading experts to believe that Armed Forces’ Commander-in-Chief will be forcefully dismissed from his position instead.
- “There are not fundamental issues between them but Zelenskiy’s office has been concerned that Zaluzhnyi has been making political not military statements,” said one opposition Ukrainian lawmaker who’s close to the general. The leaders have clashed a few times publicly, with Zaluzhnyi saying the war had reached a stalemate in November while Zelenskiy pushed back. According to recent polls, the commander would be Zelenskiy’s biggest opposition should Ukraine hold a presidential election during its war, though the president has called military participation in politics a “huge mistake.”
Additional World News
- US charges Iran drug dealer and Canadian Hells Angel over alleged assassination plot (Guardian)
- Imran Khan: Pakistan former PM jailed for 10 years in state secrets case (BBC)
- US reimposes some sanctions on Venezuela over ban on opposition candidates (ABC)
- US issues travel alert for Bahamas amid increase in crime (ABC)
- EU threatened ‘Armageddon’ to force vote on Ukraine aid, Orbán says (Politico)
Middle East Reads
- Israel military operation destroys a Gaza cemetery. Israel says Hamas used the site to hide a tunnel (AP)
- Israeli tanks ‘firing live ammunition’ in Khan Younis hospital complex, aid group says (CNN)
- Israeli undercover forces dressed as women and medics storm West Bank hospital, killing 3 militants (AP)
Bush Comes Under Fire
- Progressive Democratic Rep. Cori Bush announced on Tuesday that her campaign’s spending on security services is being investigated by the Justice Department. An NBC News review of Bush’s campaign expenditures found that she has spent over $750,000 on security since her first run for Congress in the 2018 cycle. Bush came under fire when she married her security guard, Cortney Merritts, then kept him on her campaign payroll for providing security services.
- Bush says she has faced “relentless threats to my physical safety and life” since being elected, but she is “not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead [has] used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services.” She said she’s cooperating with the investigation, but stressed, “I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false.”
Citi Doesn’t Care About Scam Victims
- New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit yesterday alleging that Citibank illegally refused to reimburse scam victims. The suit says those who lost their money were targeted partly due to Citibank’s lax security measures. “Citi has overpromised and underdelivered on security, reacted ineffectively to fraud alerts, misled consumers, and summarily denied their claims,” the lawsuit reads.
- James’ lawsuit argues that Citibank must provide reimbursement under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). Citibank defended its security and refund practices in a statement, saying it “closely follows all laws and regulations related to wire transfers” but that “banks are not required to make clients whole when those clients follow criminals’ instructions and banks can see no indication the clients are being deceived.”
Additional USA Reads
- 5 suspects arrested in California desert killings in dispute over marijuana, sheriff’s officials say (AP)
- ‘White Lives Matter’ member gets 18 years for firebombing church that planned drag events (NBC)
- Illinois election board dismisses 14th Amendment case against Trump, though an appeal is expected (CNN)
- Anchorage hit with over 100 inches of snow − so heavy it weighs 30 pounds per square foot (USA Today)
- ACLU warns Supreme Court that lower court abortion pill decisions relied on “patently unreliable witnesses” (CBS)
- Mayor Adams Is Braced for Defeat on 2 Criminal Justice Bills (NYT, $)
The Scariest Job On Earth
- Elon Musk’s Neuralink has apparently implanted one of its chips into a human brain for the first time ever, according to a post on X by the billionaire. He stated that the subject was implanted with the chip on Sunday, and is recovering well – “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” he added.
- Neuralink is focused on implanting chips into human brains to allow people to interface with computers without lifting a finger. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal,” wrote Musk in a separate post. He specified that Neuralink’s first product, called Telepathy, will be focused on letting people without limbs control computers with their brains.
- The company, like most Musk enterprises, has seen its fair share of controversy in the past, though its human trials have been approved by the FDA. Multiple sources have shown that Neuralink rushed its testing on monkeys, killing many of the animals in the process. One such death occurred in 2022, when the company was trying to get a primate to play the game Pong with one of its chips.
Additional Reads
- Dying ex-mobster who stole Wizard of Oz ruby slippers is spared prison time (BBC)
- Right whale juvenile found dead off Martha’s Vineyard. Group says species is ‘plunging toward oblivion’ (USA Today)
- How Often Is Taylor Swift Shown at NFL Games? (NYT, $)
- ‘A lot of it is sloppiness’: the biologist who finds flaws in scientific papers (Guardian)
- Australian TV news channel sparks outrage for editing photo of lawmaker who said her “body and outfit” were photoshopped (CBS)
- Starbucks is launching its olive oil-infused beverages nationwide (CNN)