10/15/24

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, October 15th.

Global handwashing day.

And I don’t know what it says about us that we need a whole day to remember to wash out hands, but I also don’t know what it says about us that we needed whole PSAs for people to remember how to wash their hands in covid.

I’ll tell you this though… whatever it says, it’s not good.

And now, the news.

Update: Middle East

-via AP News

Let’s start with an update on the Middle East where, on Monday, the United Nations announced that more than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the last three weeks of a rise in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

In this announcement, the UN warned of a “lost generation” in the country.

Displaced children are currently being crammed into schools that have been turned into shelters where three or four families are all living together, with only a plastic curtain to separate them, as sometimes 1000 people will share twelve toilets – though not all of those 12 toilets are even guaranteed to work.

This, as Prime Minister Netanyahu tells UN peacekeepers that they, too, must evacuate as the fighting intensifies.

In the last few days, five peacekeepers have been injured by Israeli strikes.

On the other side, 4 Israeli soldiers were killed and seven were severely injured on Sunday by an airstrike from Hezbollah, which Hezbollah called retaliation for strikes last week that killed 22 in Beirut.

Now I’m not lawyer, but if I may suggest…. If you stop killing people, the other side might stop killing people and then like… fewer people will be killed.

Just a thought.

FEMA Workers Threatened

-via ABC News

On Monday, the Rutherford County sheriff’s office in North Carolina announced they have arrested and charged a man who (allegedly) threatened FEMA workers in the area after the man.

The man, Williams Parsons, was armed with a handgun and rifle.

Threats against FEMA workers have been consistent this hurricane season. And I’m not trying to blame anyone specifically, because there is not yet a clear motive for this man’s actions, but I do have to wonder, I think it’s responsible, actually, to wonder, how large of a part Donald Trump’s constant lying about FEMA’s response to the hurricanes played in this threat to the workers.

Canada and India

-via NY Times

On Monday the Canadian government expelled India’s top diplomat, as well as five others, and accused the Indian government of homicide and extorsion in what they say is intended to silence critics of India who are living in Canada.

In retaliation, India expelled six Canadian diplomats.

This goes back to last year when a Sikh activist was assassinated, which Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said was orchestrated by the Indian government.

This comes as a Canadian commission is investigating the interference of foreign powers in domestic politics. A report in June identified China and India as the two countries that pose the biggest risk of foreign interference.

Meanwhile, the United States, as well as the EU and other Canadian allies are trying to bring India over to their side, to counter the effect Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having on the world.

So that’s… that.

Canada – out here making news!

Diddy

-via CNN

As he continues to sit in prison, and honestly hopefully never leaves, at least six more lawsuits were filed against Diddy on Monday. The suits accuse him of sexual assault against men, women… and a 16-year-old boy.

This is just the latest from the prosecuting attorneys who previously said they were representing at least 120 alleged victims. A number that they say also includes minors.

Hey, guess what… this dude’s a monster.

Trump Hates America

-via Twitter

And let’s finish up with a quick check in on Trump’s campaign.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump casually said that the military should be used against American citizens who don’t agree with him.

“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. Not even the people that have come in…” (and then he made some racist comments about people who have immigrated into our country because he is a white supremacist) “But I don’t think they’re the problem in terms of election day. I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical left lunatics. And I think… and they should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the national guard or if really necessary, by the military.”

He also went to Coachella over the weekend (hey loser, Coachella was a few months ago). He had a rally in the desert, during which he said that if California doesn’t follow his little presidential rules (because he’s fine with states doing whatever they want if it means taking away bodily autonomy, but not if it means anything else), he said this would be the response: “And we’ll say, ‘Gavin if you don’t do it, we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all forest fires that you have.’ It’s not hard to do.”

That was the rally where people were bused the two miles in from the parking lot to the rally, but because he didn’t pay his bills, the buses left and people were literally stranded in the desert for hours.

He claimed 100,000 people were at the rally… he had a permit for 15,000.

And finally, in Pennsylvania, he wrapped up a town hall by saying, "Let's not do any more questions. Let's just listen to music. Who the hell wants to hear questions?" And then they played Ave Maria, Time To Say Goodbye, It's A Man's World, YMCA, Hallelujah, Nothing Compares 2 U, An American Trilogy, Rich Men North of Richmond, November Rain, and Memory from Cats while he just… swayed.

Truly weird.

So in summary, this week in the campaign he’s threatened to use the military against American citizens who don’t agree with him, withhold funding from the most populous state in the country if they don’t meet every demand, didn’t pay his bills and left his rallygoers stranded and… made rallygoers listen to, among other songs, November Rain - the 8:57 Guns and Roses classic about a musician grieving the death of his girlfriend who died by suicide.

And it’s only Tuesday!

The race is tied!

There are 21 days until Election Day.

www.raisingvoters.org/increaseturnout

Our democracy literally depends on it.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of people that wash their hands. Feels like a pretty easy lift but… you’d be surprised.

But more than that, because you’re not gross… I’m proud of you.