10/12/23

Good morning! It’s Thursday, October 12th.

Harry Potter Book Day! What a great day to remember that you can love a book, the stories, the movies, all of it… and still not like the author.

“Yer a wizard ‘arry!” (I regret nothing)

And now, the news.

Update on Israel

-via AP News, Washington Post, CNN, and Al Jazeera

We of course start with the Israel-Hamas war.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they will “crush and destroy” Hamas, and announced he’d teamed up with his chief political rival, former military Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, to form an emergency unity government specifically created to prosecute the war.

The announcement appears to be a clear sign that this war will continue to escalate. Currently, as of this recording, 300,000 Israeli troops are along the southern border of Gaza.

Here in the states, the FBI, along with Homeland Security, issued a PSA that, although no current intelligence suggests a planned domestic attack, we should remain vigilant. According to the FBI, terrorist organizations abroad have used previous conflicts between Hamas and Israel “to call on their supporters located in the United States to conduct attacks.”

Though let me again note that, in their PSA, they specifically note that there are no known planned attacks.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah blamed the U.S.’s support of Israel for the attacks. We’re sending the USS Gerald R Ford, which is our newest and most best aircraft carrier, as well as nearly 5,000 soldiers and warplanes. Hezbollah specifically noted the naval ship in their message, saying it “will not scare our people or the resistance movements that are ready for the confrontation.” The group then called on Arab and Muslim nations to condemn the intervention.

Gaza’s only power plant ran out of fuel on Wednesday. So now the only power is coming from generators which also run on the same fuel that they’re out of after Israel cut off all supplies into the territory.

House Update

-via NBC News (Santos) and NY Times (Scalise)

And then, from that very serious story, we have to go to the United States House of Representatives. How embarrassing for us.

Okay first, let’s talk about the fight for Speaker. It appears, after some secret backroom meetings (where members couldn’t even bring their phones in – you know, exactly like the Founders envisioned for a democracy) that Steve Scalise will get the GOP nomination for Speaker.

However, he only narrowly won the nomination – it was a 113-99 vote. Obviously all Democrats will vote against him so he very clearly does not have the speakership locked up. In fact, although technically there’s a nominee, I would say Wednesday found the House no closer to a Speaker than it was when they ousted McCarthy.

And again, I cannot stress this enough – the House is paralyzed without a Speaker. We’ve got a budget that needs passing, two serious wars happening, and a whole country that needs to be run. And the Republicans are such binkuses that they can’t put their family drama aside and get the work done.

Incredible.

There does appear to be a small group of Republicans ready to do some good work though – announced by House Rep Anthony D'Esposito, there is a group of six House Republicans from New York that are supporting a resolution to expel George Santos from the House.

Kicking him out will require a two-thirds vote in the House, or 290 votes. Democrats have 212, and it’s very easy to imagine they’ll all vote yes. Then it’s up to just 78 Republicans to do the right thing. Currently, who knows. But hey, maybe they’ll surprise us here!

UAW Strike Expands

-via CNN

The United Auto Workers strike is expanding once again, this time adding 8,700 workers at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant.

The Kentucky Truck Plant, also known as KTP, is one of Ford’s most profitable plant, with vehicles at that plant producing an annual revenue of $25 billion, which is about one-sixth of its overall global revenue.

Wild how much money these companies are willing to lose, money they probably won’t even really notice, instead of treating workers well.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… Hermione. And Ron. Listen, it’s not that Harry didn’t do great stuff, but he often kind of just fell into it. Hermione with her books? We love a nerd! And sweet Ron, with his giant family. Come on!

Ugh… I really wish these books stayed mostly the same but were written by someone else.

But more than that, more than Harry Potter… because hey you know what? You’re also pretty magical… I’m proud of you.