11/16/23
Good morning! It’s Thursday, November 16th.
International Day for Peace, which the UN started after they declared 1995 a Year for Tolerance. Which… I mean, I get what they were going for, but a day of peace sounds a lot better than – eh, I don’t know. Just tolerate it. Just for the year.
And now, the news.
Biden and Xi
-via AP News
Let’s start with President Biden’s visit to San Francisco, where he met with China’s president Xi for the first time in a year, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative conference.
The lunch menu included ravioli and Carolina gold rice pilaf – not sure why that’s relevant but it was a part of the story. Somehow.
Also, right before this recording it came out that the two agreements on issues such as curbing fentanyl production and resuming military-to-military communications.
Details to come soon, I would presume, but in the meantime – not too shabby.
This shouldn’t be too big of a surprise. About half an hour before this news broke, the news was big time covering Biden giving thumbs up when he was asked about progress. So… I guess it was a warranted thumbs up.
Israel-Hamas War
And then over to the Israel-Hamas war, where CNN is exclusively reporting an unbroken 100-minute video from Hamas bodycam footage, provided to CNN from the Israel Defense Forces, appears to show the beginnings of the October 7th attack on Israel that claimed an estimated 1,200 people.
It also includes footage of the tunnels Hamas uses to move through Gaza.
It’s been almost six weeks since the attack and, on Wednesday, Israeli forces lead a raid on Gaza’s largest hospital. Described as a “precise and targeted operation,” soldiers found "military equipment used by Hamas” but no evidence of the Hamas tunnels.
Texas Abortion Lawsuit Grows
-via NPR
A suit alleging that Texas’ anti-abortion law endangers Texans who can get pregnant has grown to include twenty plaintiffs.
It was originally filed in March and only included five plaintiffs, but that number now has grown to twenty, with two OB-GYN doctors in the mix.
In July, a district court judge agreed with the plaintiffs that the law needed to change, but the state appealed directly to the Texas Supreme Court, which meant the state’s THREE overlapping abortion bans currently stand.
A hearing is scheduled for November 28th for the state’s Supreme Court to consider a temporary injunction.
New Hampshire Switches Up Primary
-via NBC News
Hey, heads up! New Hampshire, desperate to keep it’s “first in the nation presidential primary” title has moved it’s primary date up to January 23rd. Politically, the Biden campaign, as well as the DNC, are not thrilled because they want South Carolina to be the first primary. Not the first election, that’ll be Iowa’s January 15th caucus.
It’s all a little bit of a confusing mess but fear not – you can go to www.raisingvoters.org and take the pledge to be a voter. When ya do that, you’ll be signed up for election reminders and never have to worry about missing an election. It’s free (but you can also donate, should you be so inclined)!
K thanks…..
Trump Crime Update Time
-via CNBC
And finally,
Trump Crime Update Time
(Seems pretty obvious to me, I’m sure Trump’ll throw a fit, edition)
Judge McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia election stealing crimes case, aka the RICO case, said on Wednesday that he will issue a protective order barring the public release of sensitive evidence exchanged between prosecutors and the defense lawyers because, according to him, he doesn’t want this case tried in the court of public opinion before it’s tries in an actual court.
This comes after a leak earlier this week of video testimony from Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, which was given to prosecutors as part of their plea agreements.
Jonathan Miller, an attorney representing one of the RICO defendments, Misty Hampton, told the judge that he gave the videos to “one media outlet,” because he believes the public had the right to know what Ellis, Powell, and Chesebro told the court, since those statements “help my client.”
Okay but like – my dude. I am not a juror. (If only wishing made it so. Lemme get that hot goss!) I’m not your audience. Worry about your actually jury.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of peace. Yeah, that’s right – I believe in peace and I’m not afraid to say it.
But you know what… because you believe in peace too… I’m proud of you.