Aid For Ukraine, Immigration, & Millennials Are Getting Rich
March 1, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Friday! Today, we’re talking about Israel firing on Palestinians, aid for Ukraine, Canada’s immigration, Rishi Sunak’s warning, U.S. immigration, IVF, and millennials getting rich.
Here’s some good news to hold you over through the weekend: a recent study found that several European countries have reached some of their sustainable energy targets for 2030 a decade early. All E.U. member states made progress in the 2010s toward reaching the goal of access to “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. In the U.K., a trash collector was on his rounds and saw two people and their dog trying to escape a house fire. He scaled the building to the second-floor balcony three times to rescue the occupants. Finally, this week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $25 million in funding to support clean energy technology deployment on Tribal lands.
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
Massacre In The Middle East
According to Gaza health authorities, the IDF aimed at a crowd of people waiting for aid near Gaza City and killed at least 112 Palestinians and wounded over 700 more. Israel has denied shelling the aid trucks. “Early this morning, during the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the northern Gaza Strip, Gazan residents surrounded the trucks, and looted the supplies being delivered. During the incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling,” said an IDF statement on the incident. The Israeli military added that its soldiers had opened fire at the crowd “only in face of danger when the mob moved in a manner which endangered them.”
The IDF has posted a spliced drone video of the incident, which involves multiple jump cuts. After one such cut, about a dozen bodies suddenly appear in the shot – it’s unclear if those deaths were caused by trucks moving, Israeli gunfire, or the crowd crush. The U.S. is reportedly still investigating the incident, but when asked if the altercation would affect ceasefire talks, President Biden replied, “Oh, I know it will.”
Expediting Arms Shipments
According to two U.S. officials and one senior lawmaker, the U.S. is considering sending military equipment stockpiles to Ukraine – even though it doesn’t have the resources to replace those stockpiles – as a short-term solution to Ukraine’s equipment woes while a $60 billion foreign aid bill sits on the floor of Congress.
The plan hinges on a power called “presidential drawdown authority,” which allows the White House to send allies weapons and ammo already held by the Pentagon instead of waiting for manufacturers to pump out new equipment. The government still has authority from Congress to hand out about $4 billion worth of stockpiles, but top Democrats are reportedly worried that using the rest of the drawdown budget would lessen pressures on Congress to pass the foreign aid bill and draw criticism from the GOP for reducing American firepower during a time of global conflict.
To get the foreign aid bill passed, Democrats are actually employing an interesting trick: top Congressional Democrats appear to have offered Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson protection if he puts the bill to a vote. In an interview with the New York Times, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that “a reasonable number” of Democrats would vote against his impeachment if House Republicans called to oust him following the foreign aid vote. Take the deal, Mike…you know you want to.
Canada Clams Up
- In 2016, Canada removed visa requirements for Mexican nationals seeking asylum within its borders. On Thursday, Canada’s government reinstated that requirement, saying that an influx of people seeking asylum has pushed the country to a “breaking point.” According to the data, the number of Mexican nationals looking for asylum in Canada rose from 260 to 23,995 between 2016 and 2023 – a 9,000% increase over just seven years.
- Many of those asylum seekers have headed to Quebec, with the province recording 60,000 new asylum seekers in the first 11 months of 2023. “The number of asylum seekers welcomed by Quebec is far too high and our services are overwhelmed,” said Christine Fréchette, the provincial immigration minister. Quebec has asked Ottawa for $1 billion CAD ($736 million USD) to help with the influx, while Mexico has expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s new policy.
Apparently Mobs Rule This Monarchy
- Rishi Sunak has warned U.K. police of a “growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule” in the country, saying that law enforcement needs to ramp up its responses to protests against politicians and democratic processes. Human rights group Amnesty International quickly countered his claims, saying that Sunak was “wildly exaggerat[ing] the issue.”
- Sunak’s statement is a response to a rise in protests outside MPs’ homes and offices, as well as threats against their personal homes. “Elected representatives have been threatened and had their family homes targeted. Council meetings have been repeatedly disrupted and, in some cases, abandoned,” said the Home Office. “These are not isolated incidents or legitimate means of achieving change through force of peaceful argument… It is as un-British as it is undemocratic … If public confidence is to be maintained and the integrity of the democratic process is to be preserved, it cannot be allowed to stand.”
More Mixed Nuts
- Macron stands by remarks about sending troops to Ukraine (Politico)
- Chad opposition leader Yaya Dillo killed in gun clash (Guardian)
- Norway’s king may soon return home from Malaysia, palace says (Reuters)
- Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano erupts 13 times in past day, prompting airport delays (AP)
- Hearse drivers refuse to take Navalny’s body to Moscow funeral, Putin critic’s team say (CNN)
- Russian rocket successfully puts Iranian satellite into orbit (AP)
More Funny Business At The Border
- A federal judge has blocked a new Texas law that would have given police power to arrest people suspected of illegally entering the U.S. The judge, who said the law violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause, conflicts with federal immigration law, and could hamper U.S. foreign relations and treaty obligations, is yet another blow dealt to Gov. Greg Abbott’s ongoing efforts at the border.
- The news came as both current President Biden and former (and maybe future) President Trump visited the southern border. Biden went to Brownsville, a border town in the Rio Grande Valley, while Trump visited the slightly busier area of Eagle Pass. An NBC News poll from January found that 57% of registered voters said Trump would handle securing the border better, while 22% said the same for Biden.
Alabama Makes An Adjustment
- Yesterday afternoon, Alabama’s House passed a bill 94-6 (the Senate agreed unanimously) to ensure IVF access would remain possible in the state after the state’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that put the procedure at risk. Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to sign the bill into law late next week.
- The news comes after many IVF clinics in the state began pausing the procedure until they could work out the legal ramifications of their offerings. The news also comes just a day after U.S. Senators failed to protect IVF on a federal level.
More Nuts In America
- After U. of Georgia Killing, Lawmakers Seek Tougher Immigration Laws (NYT, $)
- Deadly Texas blaze torches 1 million acres – the largest in state history – as more infernos rage (CNN)
- Tlaib declines to say whether she’ll back Biden in November, encourages look at ‘whole ballot’ (Politico)
- Exclusive: Texts reveal shadowy role witness played in defense attorney’s push to disqualify Willis from Trump case (CNN)
- Would Mitt Romney vote for Donald Trump over Joe Biden? He says ‘absolutely not’ (USA Today)
- Prosecutors in hush money case plan to use quotes from Trump’s books against him at trial, filing says (ABC)
Millennials Make Millions
- According to a new study, millennials are set to become the “richest generation in history” over the next 20 years, despite all their spending on avocado toast and oat milk lattes. Research by real estate consultancy Knight Frank shows that people born between 1981 and 2000 are set for a “seismic” economic windfall over the next 20 years, mainly thanks to inheriting wealth from the generations before them.
- That generational transfer of wealth is expected to see U.S. millennials alone inheriting about $90 trillion in the next 20 years, “making affluent millennials the richest generation in history,” according to the study. Essentially, millennials born into rich families will become richer – a tale as old as time.
- The research also showed the percentage of different generations who expected to see their wealth grow over the next year. 75% of millennials said they thought their wealth would grow this year, compared to more than 53% of Baby Boomers, 56% of Gen Xers, and 69% of Gen Z respondents.
More Loose Nuts
- Man rescued 2 days after accidentally plunging 400 feet over California cliffside (NBC)
- Caitlin Clark passes Lynette Woodard for major-college record (ESPN)
- First-ever photos show humpback whales mating—and they’re males (National Geographic)
- Jets believe Mecole Hardman leaked game plans to opponents out of spite, per report (CBS)
- Florida man pleads guilty to smuggling thousands of turtles to Hong Kong and Germany (NBC)
- A billionaire-backed campaign for a new California city is off to a bumpy start (AP)
