The Texas Border & Taylor Swift Gets White House Support
January 29, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Monday! Today, we’re talking about an attack in Jordan, the Texas border crisis, Ukraine corruption, North Korea missiles, Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment articles, how historians feel about the 14th Amendment, and the White House’s concerns about Taylor Swift.
Here’s some good news: A guaranteed basic income program in Austin gave people $1,000 a month for a year, and a recent study found that on average, program participants spent more than half of the cash they received on housing. After the yearlong program, the participants were “substantially more housing secure” than when they enrolled. Also, third-grade math teacher Shelby Lattimore has gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, garnering praise for her creative take on teaching financial literacy by using a classroom system that requires her students to pay rent for their classroom essentials, including their own desks.
More Militant Mayhem In The Middle East
Three U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone attack on a small U.S. base in Jordan on Sunday. The deaths mark the first time that U.S. forces have died in the Middle East since October 7 of last year, and is also an unexpected disruption in Jordan, which has been seen as stable in recent years. Over thirty others were injured in the strike, which U.S. officials said was fired by Iran-backed militants from somewhere in Syria.
“We shall respond,” said President Joe Biden at an event following the news of the attacks. The U.S. is still determining which group is responsible for the attack, saying that their current knowledge only shows that “it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”
“These service members embodied the very best of our nation: Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty. Unbending in their commitment to our country — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism,” said Biden. “Have no doubt – we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing.” Looks like more conflict is headed to the Middle East.
An Internal Crisis At The Border
In case you missed it, Texas and the federal government have been beefing over the Lone Star State’s increasingly draconian border policies. The state has deployed floating barriers, razor wire, the Texas National Guard, and state troopers to cut off the flow of immigrants at the border, causing conflict between the state’s border forces and federal border agents.
“We have never seen the point that we have right now,” said one immigration attorney, adding, “We are at a very critical issue right now because we’re testing, really, the essence of the Republic of the United States and whether or not the Supreme Court has authority, whether states have to abide or find a way to interpret it the way that they want.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott, meanwhile, has indicated that he’s willing to push Washington even further.
To deal with this unusual border clash, Washington lawmakers are looking to hash out a deal to beef up federal border protections. The new deal would allow the White House to shut down certain parts of the border if the number of people unlawfully crossing in an area exceeds 4,000 a week. Some of the people stopped at the border would be able to get into the U.S. if they’re able to prove they’re escaping torture or prosecution in their home country.
Corruption In Kyiv
- Another day, another issue for Ukraine. This time, though, the issue is internal – the country’s ministry of defense has been rocked by yet another corruption scandal. On Saturday, Ukraine’s SBU security service arrested five people who were allegedly trying to steal $40 million set aside to fund the purchase of shells in Kyiv’s war with Russia.
- Among those arrested were two senior defense officials, furthering the history of corruption issues within the defense ministry, which has seen a series of scandals throughout the war with Russia. Those scandals culminated in the firing of Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov last September. This time, the graft involved a government contract to purchase over 100,000 mortar shells from a private arms firm named Lviv Arsenal.
- The two defense officials had reportedly conspired with the firm’s chief executive and other employees in a scheme to purchase the shells for almost $40 million in total – not a single projectile made its way to Kyiv, but a significant portion of the $40 million made its way to a bank account in the Balkans. The SBU said it was able to track down much of the money, which will be returned to the state, and the five people arrested for the scheme will all face up to 12 years in prison.
The Least-Relaxing “Cruise” Of All Time
- On Sunday, South Korea’s military claimed that North Korea had fired off yet another round of cruise missiles, raising tensions even further between the two neighbors. In a statement related to the incident, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missiles were fired over North Korea’s port of Sinpo, a major shipyard for Pyongyang that produces important vessels such as missile-firing submarines.
- North Korea fired off an earlier round of missiles last week, putting South Korea, Japan, and their allies in Washington on high alert. The new tests involve Pyongyang’s newest Pulhwasal-3-31 “strategic” missile, which flies low like a plane to avoid radar detection. Their “strategic” designation has some experts worried that the missiles might one day be used in a nuclear capacity – we love to hear it!
Additional World News
- Istanbul shooting: One person killed after masked gunmen attack church in Turkey (CNN)
- Tuvalu’s prime minister reportedly loses his seat in crucial elections on the Pacific island nation (AP)
- Thousands join protests against femicide in Kenya after rise in killings (ABC)
- French farmers aim to put Paris ‘under siege’ in tractor protest. Activists hurl soup at ‘Mona Lisa’ (ABC)
Middle East Reads
- CIA Director William Burns to hold Hamas hostage talks Sunday with Mossad chief, Qatari prime minister (CBS)
- How a West Bank Palestinian theater went from symbol of hope to casualty of war (NPR)
- Biden administration discussing slowing some weaponry deliveries to Israel to pressure Netanyahu (NBC)
- Gaza’s largest remaining hospital is near collapse, Doctors Without Borders says (NPR)
- UN chief urges donors to reconsider UNRWA funding withdrawal (Guardian)
- Famine in Gaza is being made ‘inevitable’ says UN rapporteur (Guardian)
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie
False Statements Or False Accusations?
- Yesterday, House Republicans released two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The House Committee will meet on Tuesday to mark up the articles, which charge Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and having “breached the public trust” by allegedly making “false statements.”
- Rep. Bennie Thompson said the articles are missing “any real charge or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors – the Constitutional standard for impeachment,” adding that “Republicans’ so-called ‘investigation’ of Secretary Mayorkas has been a remarkably fact-free affair.” Only one Cabinet official has ever been impeached in American history – Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
If That’s Not An Office, I Don’t Know What Is
- 25 Civil War-era historians filed a U.S. Supreme Court brief arguing in favor of keeping former President Trump off the ballot in Colorado. “For historians,” the group wrote, “contemporary evidence from the decision-makers who sponsored, backed, and voted for the 14th amendment [ratified in 1868] is most probative. Analysis of this evidence demonstrates that decision-makers crafted section three to cover the president and to create an enduring check on insurrection, requiring no additional action from Congress.”
- The 14th Amendment bars anyone who has participated in an insurrection from running for office, but Trump’s lawyers argue that even if Trump did incite an insurrection (which, they argue, he did not), the presidency is not an “office” as described in the 14th Amendment. Trump’s second impeachment was for inciting an insurrection.
Additional USA Reads
- E. Jean Carroll Promises to ‘Do Something Good’ With Trump Trial Money (NYT, $)
- Severe storms bringing flooding, rain and heavy snow along eastern US (ABC)
- First-of-its-kind campaign fundraiser in the works with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Biden (NBC)
- City Councilmember Yusef Salaam says NYPD pulled him over without explanation (CBS)
- Jury to decide fate of LA socialite for fatally striking two kids with her car (Guardian)
- Ivy League Campus Wars Aren’t About Gender … Are They? (NYT, $)
- Environmental officials working to clean up fuel after fiery tanker truck crash in Ohio (ABC)
We Need To Regulate AI … Swiftly
- This week, thousands of AI-generated, sexually explicit images of pop star Taylor Swift were spewed across the internet, giving us yet another reason to regulate the emerging technology. The images were so widespread that they began trending on X, bringing the White House to make a statement on the issue.
- “We are alarmed by the reports of the…circulation of images that you just laid out – of false images to be more exact, and it is alarming,” said the White House’s press secretary. “While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation, and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people.”
- On X, the images were viewed millions of times. Things got so bad that the site was forced to entirely shut down searches for Taylor Swift – now, searching for the singer’s name returns a page that reads “Something went wrong. Try reloading.” X released a statement saying, “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards such content. Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them.” Taylor seemed to take the whole thing in stride, considering her joyful appearance at boyfriend Travis Kelce’s win last night, which sends the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks.
Additional Reads
- Thousands invade Tampa for the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival (AP)
- Vince McMahon, WWE founder, resigns amid sex trafficking allegations (CNN)
- Russian man who flew from Denmark to LAX without a ticket or passport is found guilty of being a stowaway (CNN)
- Woman says she lost her voice screaming after she was stuck overnight on ski resort gondola (CNN)
- Aeromexico passenger opens plane door and walks on wing (BBC)
- Museums to close exhibits featuring Native American artifacts as new federal regulations take effect (CNN)