10/14/24

Good morning! It’s Monday, October 14th.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This is a day to honor the culture and history of Native American people, while also reminding non-Native Americans that we live on stolen land.

I actually found a map where you can type in your address and see who was here before. Which allows me to acknowledge today that this podcast is being recorded on the ancestral lands of the Chumash Peoples who were removed unjustly and that in this community, we are the beneficiaries of that removal.

And now, the news.

Update: Middle East

-via AP News

Let’s start with an update on the Middle East as, over the weekend, it was announced that the United States will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and about 100 troops needed to operate it – and this feels like a good time to remind you that, because Israel is an ally, there are always a limited number of troops in Israel.

As the world waits (nervously) for Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s October 1st attack, the Israeli military has not let up on Gaza, where their offensive has already killed 42,000 Palestinians and displaced, multiple times, more than 90% of the 2.3 million residents. Over the weekend, Israeli airstrikes killed 22 Palestinians… in a refugee camp.

And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough…

The United Nations food agency has reported that no food has entered Gaza since October 1st.

So that’s… the update there.

Not sure how to transition to the next story but, uh… here’s the whoosh.

Hurricane Milton Update

-via USA Today

And of course, an update on Hurricane Milton. President Biden visited Florida for the second time in a week, to once against evaluate storm damage.

He also announced free federal funding for everyone who has registered for help – this includes grants for temporary housing, home repairs, and loans, as well as an additional more than $600 to help communities build back.

Meanwhile, more than 920,000 customers are still without power.

Elon and Trump

-via NY Times, CNN, and Washington Post

And listen, it was kind of a slow news weekend, but there was this one story that seemed, to me, like it should have been a pretty huge story.

But for some reason, it’s not really getting the traction it should

But fear not. I am here. Once again. I will save the news.

I am… such a hero.

As you may be aware, Elon Musk, he of the “ugh” Musks, is a huge Trump supporter. And it kind of makes sense, right? These are two people you never want to find yourself in conversation with, so like… it makes sense that they’d find each other. Neither of them really seem like they’re capable of real friendships, so I guess it works?

So Elon is all about Trump, literally jumping for joy at a rally for him (if you haven’t seen that picture yet, please go to show notes. It’s the top image in the NY Times article .. Elon looks, and I don’t mean to be mean but… he looks so lame! And Trump looks so annoyed.

Just like the start of any good romcom!

Okay back to it – Elon’s a supporter of Trump. Trump’s bringing Elon out on stage with him.

Elon also bought Twitter (which I’m still not convinced was on purpose) and he uses that platform to spread conspiracy theories about the Democrats, race-bait his followers, repost AI videos about Kamala, or just straight-up insult her.

And others.

This is besides the point but, since he bought twitter, turned it into X because what a dork to love a letter of the alphabet so much, the app has pushed so much white supremacist stuff my way. So many Stephen Miller tweets get pushed to me, as notifications on my phone.

That’s what he’s done with the app.

Now though, he’s doing something else.

Not only is he pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a super PAC, but last month the Trump campaign connected with Twitter to block links to the hacked Trump campaign materials circulating on the site.

This story, that one of the biggest apps for communication and news is corroborating with a presidential campaign to suppress information from voters, should be a bigger story.

It’s not.

NY Times put all of this together in a piece called “Musk Is Going All In to Elect Trump.” It was one paragraph in a longer piece that simply said this: “The relationship has proved significant in other ways. After a reporter’s publication of hacked Trump campaign information last month, the campaign connected with X to prevent the circulation of links to the material on the platform, according to two people with knowledge of the events. X eventually blocked links to the material and suspended the reporter’s account.”

His comments about Detroit have all been forgotten in the news. As has the weeks, just last month, that he and JD Vance terrorized Springfield with lies about Haitians, who have immigrated to the country legally, eating the town pets. On Sunday Trump reacted to a heckler in the audience by suggesting that this would be the conversation with her parents when she gets home: “‘Was that you darling?’ And she gets the hell knocked out of her.”

On Friday, in Aurora, Colorado, a state that, like Springfield, he claims is being overtaken by Venezuelan gang members (for the record, authorities in the city, including its Republican mayor, say that while they have arrested eight people linked to a Venezuelan gang, apartment buildings and the city have not been taken over, despite what Trump claims). While in Aurora he promised to create a program called “Operation Aurora” to dismantle “illegal migrant criminal networks.” He says he would do so under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

The last time that act was invoked was the World War 2 internment camps.

I don’t know why the news is okay with moving on quickly from these stories. Part of it, I would assume, is because the next story comes along so quickly.

But it’s all a part of the same narrative – Donald Trump is not fit for office and, at the same time, is likely committing election fraud by coordinating with Elon Musk’s super PAC.

If they’re not going to tell that story, you better believe I’ll at least do it.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of Indigenous Peoples. And people that understand the history of where we are.

But more than… desserts. It’s also National Desert Day… because you are also sweet… I’m proud of you.