08/15/24
Good morning! It’s Thursday, August 15th.
National Relaxation Day
Imagine! Imagine relaxing on a Thursday!
And now, the news.
Israel-Hamas War
Let’s start with the Israel-Hamas war, where ceasefire talks have hit yet another speedbump as a leader of Hamas said the militant group will only participate if talks focus on a proposal detailed by President Biden back in May.
It is unlikely that Hamas will show up to ceasefire negotiations, which are meant to continue today.
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi signed off on a letter from dozens of House Democrats, as well as the Secretary of State, urging President Biden to stop sending weapons to Israel. Probably because they’re being used for genocide!
But this is a marked change from Nancy Pelosi who is apparently feeling herself after finally convincing Joe Biden to step down. She has, since the October 7th attack on Israel, been in support of Israel being able to defend itself (despite not being a big fan of Prime Minister Netanyahu). But this is the first time she’s supported a stop on weapon deliveries.
WHO Declares mpox an International Concern
-via NPR
On Wednesday the World Health Organization declared a recent surge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (aka DRC) a “public health emergency of international concern,” with the chair of the emergency committee that the WHO convened saying that weaknesses in the surveillance system means,"What we're seeing is tip of the iceberg.”
In an effort to be proactive, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared mpox an emergency for the first time ever. So far there are 14,000 reported cases and 511 deaths in the DRC, with children making up 70% of the cases.
Experts believe it’s hitting children harder because of a combination of not having protection from the smallpox vaccine, which was discontinued when the related virus was eliminated in 1980, and 40% of the children in the region being malnourished.
Here in the states, while the threat remains low, the CDC did issue an mpox alert last week.
Iranian Hack of Presidential Campaigns
-via CNN
And, while I remain suspicious that everything happening leaking from the Trump campaign is because of a hack… it turns out that, per Google, an Iranian attempt at hacking our presidential campaigns is ongoing and more wide-ranging than we previously knew.
It goes as far back as May and June, when a hacking group linked with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted about a dozen people associated with the Biden and Trump campaigns (lol remember when Biden was running for reelection? And it was like – oh no! How are we gonna do this??).
So it started as far back as May, but even on Wednesday Google was still seeing unsuccessful attempts to log into the Trump and Harris campaigns.
So far, it appears only Roger Stone fell for the phishing attempts. Which, again, makes sense to me! The man has a President Nixon back tattoo. Not a lot of big thinking happening there.
Anyway, these attempted hacks are really worrisome, because we’re trying to run a democracy here. But just a reminder that the biggest threat our democracy currently faces is Donald Trump.
So get out there and get some friends to vote!
If only there was a group that could help you increase voter turnout…
Hey! Have you gone to raisingvoters.org/beavoter lately?
RFK Jr Submits His Resume
-via Washington Post
And because we love comedy here… RFK Jr, he of the “I offer to eat five more brain worms” RFK Jrs, tried to get a meeting with Kamala Harris, to trade his support in exchange for a cabinet position when she wins.
Imagine!
Imagine Kamala Harris being like “yes, RFK Jr, you’re support would help me. And also I trust you with a cabinet position.”
Remember that, in a leaked video of him talking to Trump, it sort of sounded like he and Trump might try and find a way to work together. Now he’s going after Kamala.
It almost sounds like, and hear me out here… this dude knows he’s going to lose and truly doesn’t care who wins, he just wants a seat at the table.
I don’t know man. Maybe your raven friends will help. But Kamala Harris is too smart for you, little buddy.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… ravens. They’re smart.
Also Ravens like One Tree Hill.
Also relaxing – I read about it once. Seems neat.
But more than that, more than relaxing, because I know about you… I’m proud of you.