11/01/23

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, November 1st.

National Author’s Day

Well, well, well…

Actually, you know what? No – because I was gonna do a little bit about how I wrote a book, but actually I just think authors are great. I know a few of them. I’ve read a few of them. I like imagining that old one’s would have jackets with elbow patches.

It’s all very romantic and I love it.

And now, the news.

Israel-Hamas War

-via CNN, NPR, NBC News, and NY Times

I know that, in general, I’ve started almost every episode talking about the Israel-Hamas war. Mostly because it’s an incredibly important story, but also because it’s just easier for me to start with that story before I go into other things. It’s harder to go from a story, like, making fun of House Republicans and then transition into this story.

But today we need to start with this story because it is a big story.

Targeting a Hamas commander, Israeli Defense Forces launched an airstrike on a refugee camp in Northern Gaza, killing what is currently only being called “a large number of people.” The director of Gaza's Indonesian hospital says “hundreds” are dead or injured, with many still trapped in the rubble.

This is Gaza’s largest refugee camp.

In a statement released on Tuesday, an Israeli human rights organization condemned Israel’s aerial bombardment of Gaza, saying “the scale of killing Israel has and continues to wreak on Gaza is horrifying.”

Meanwhile, here in the states, Jacob J. Lew, who served as Treasury Secretary during the Obama administration, was finally confirmed as the next ambassador to Israel. That’s right, this whole time, we just… didn’t have an ambassador to Israel.

He was confirmed on a 53-to-43 vote, with Senators Graham and Paul the only Republicans to vote for him.

Also on Tuesday, FBI director Chris Wray says that the war between Israel and Hamas has led to a spike in threats against the United States.

This is tricky, because on the one hand, the point of this show is not to time travel or scare you. But on the other hand, it’s important to be aware of what’s happening.

In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental, Wray noted, “The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level.” He also said that the FBI’s biggest concern is that violent extremists, including foreign terrorist groups as well as domestic terrorists, will use the conflict to carry out attacks against Americans.

This comes on the same day that the person who made antisemitic threats against Jewish students at Cornell University over the weekend was taken into custody.

The anti-defamation league noted that preliminary data shows a nearly 400% increase in incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault since Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel.

On top of that, last Wednesday, The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it’s recorded nearly 800 complaints and bias incidents against Muslims nationwide since Oct. 7, though the number may be higher since, per the organization, hate crimes against Muslims are massively underreported in America.

And I don’t… I don’t know what the answer here is. I know no one’s counting on me for that, thank goodness, but still… I want to have an answer. I want there to be an answer.

But maybe, just for now, just for the moment, we can let more powerful people than us working on a bigger answer, while we just do this one small thing… put just a little, just 7% more, love into the world today. Make it just a little nicer for someone else, in hopes that they’ll pay it forward.

Maybe it’s naive. It’s actually probably almost certainly naive, but that’s what I’ve got.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Not much else happened, but I also just thought today was an important day to focus on all of that.

I’m proud of authors. Especially my friends. Especially any of them that might be listening this morning while they drive their daughter to school.

Just… for example.

But more than, um… vinegar (it’s also national vinegar day which I’m fine with because I love a nice vinegar-y bite)… because you are also a little tangy but it makes the fish and chips all the better for it… I’m proud of you.