10/17/23

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, October 17th.

National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day!

I talked about this last year too, but it’s very important to me! And listen, I get it, everyone’s way of organizing works for them and their own brains but like… please clean your virtual desktop. You will feel so much better.

And now, the news.

Israel-Hamas War

-via AP News, AP News, CNN, and NY Times

We start with the Israel-Hamas war, where news just broke that President Biden will visit Israel tomorrow, ahead of concerns that the war will expand. It is believed that Israel’s ground offensive will not start before tomorrow.

In Gaza, the territory is running out of water, as Israel cut off water for the area following Hamas’ deadly attack. They all cut off access to power, which means the small amount of water they are able to get is contaminated by sewage and seawater.

Overnight, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the United States and Israel “have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza.”

This is tricky, because again, Israel has cut off escape routes, as well as water and power in the area.

A group called Cluster, which is led by UNICEF, is now warning that Gaza is at “imminent risk of death or infectious disease outbreak” unless water and fuel are allowed to enter the area.

Meanwhile, Hamas has released their first video of a hostage – a 21-year-old French Israeli woman who says she suffered an arm injury and was brought to Gaza.

Here in America, on Saturday in Illinois a 6-year-old Muslim boy, and his mother, were stabbed multiple times by their landlord, in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

They were attacked after the boy’s mother proposed they “pray for peace.”

House Will Vote for Speaker

The House will vote for a Speaker today. I’m not sure what to say about this. Jim Jordan is currently the front runner. He doesn’t have the votes. The party remains in chaos and continues to bring the country down with them.

I remain annoyed.

Amy Coney Barrett Likes Ethics

-via CNN

In “someone’s been watching The Good Place,” news… Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett became the latest Justice to agree to the wild idea that… ethics are good, actually. At a University of Minnesota Law School, the Justice confirmed that the high court has been having conversations about ethics and she agreed it would be a good idea for the court to have a formal code, “particularly so that we can communicate to the public exactly what it is that we are doing in a clearer way than perhaps we have been able to do so far.”

I mean… A-Leak-O having fancy dinners and while Thomas taking pictures with the Kochs and then everyone voting exactly how the people paying for those things is, for me, a pretty clear picture of what you’re doing, but hey – yeah dude. Get some ethics. Give it your best shot.

SCOTUS Continues Ghost Guns Ban

-via NPR

And speaking of the Court… on Monday they stepped in to make sure the ban on so-called “ghost guns” stayed in place, after a 5th Circuit judge sided with a gun manufacture’s argument that “hey – maybe we should all stop worrying about who’s buying disassembled gun parts. What are they gonna do? Put them together?”

This ruling voids the lower court’s ruling, and I know that’s confusing but here’s the bottom line – as it stands, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives (aka ATF) regulations are going into effect, meaning disassembled gun parts must carry serial numbers and anyone buying them needs to pass a background check, just like they would if they bought the whole gun in-person.

Trump Crime Update Time

-via ABC News (ACLU Settlement), AP News (Truth Social) and AP News and Rolling Stone (Gag Order)

And because we could all use a little fun…

Trump Crime Update Time

(One of these isn’t really about him, edition)

Let’s start with the one that’s not really about him, but is also totally about him. The ACLU has reached a settlement with the Biden Administration, that would, if approved, provide benefits for the thousands of migrant families that were separated under Trump’s cruel family separation policy.

Additionally, under the proposed agreement, new standards will be set meant to limit family separations in the future.

Also, speaking of Biden (this has nothing to do with Trump Crime Update Time but I just needed a little barrier between these two stories)… the Biden campaign has joined Trump’s Truth Social website! Their profile picture? Dark Brandon. Their first post? “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!”

Their reason? According to Twitter “it’s mostly because we thought it would be very funny.”

Also, they’re only following one person: Trump.

No notes, this is a strong move.

And speaking of… uh… I guess speaking of posting online? Judge Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s federal election crimes case, has imposed a narrow gag order meant to prevent him from making statements that target prosecutors, possible witnesses, or court staff.

Trump will obviously appeal, under the argument of “oh bah bah bah but I wanna just say anything that comes into my silly little head!”

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of clean virtual desktops. And look, I’m not here to call anyone out. I’m certainly not going to name names. But if you ask me for computer help, and then I see your computer and it looks like you’re just randomly dragging files you only need once onto your desktop and then it’s just an unalphabetized and not even straightened message of, what appears at first glance to be, hundreds of files… I’m not gonna do anything in the moment, but it will haunt my dreams.

And if you think you’re the person I’m talking about here… you’re wrong actually. I’m thinking of one specific instance that happened at work years ago. YEARS ago. Still haunts me.

But more than that… because that person doesn’t listen to this podcast… I’m proud of you.