09/24/24

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, September 24th.

Cherries Jubilee Day!

I don’t totally know what a cherries jubilee is but I know it’s black cherry and so I love it.

And now, the news.

Update: Conflict in the Middle East

-via Washington Post

Over the last few weeks, the conflict in the Middle East has grown, with a lot of news coming out on Monday. So I thought today would be a good day to sum up, to the best of my abilities, where things stand and how we got here.

On Monday, Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 492 people and injured at least 1,645 others. The casualty count does not decipher between civilians and combatants, so that number does include at least 35 children, 58 women, and two paramedics.

Monday is the deadliest day of attacks since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began in October, after Hamas’ attack on Israel.

As a reminder – Hezbollah and Hamas are different, but they are allies that are both backed by Iran.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recorded a message that urged Lebanese civilians to evacuate the area ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah.

In recent days, Israeli forces have turned their attention from the Gaza Strip and towards Hezbollah in Lebanon, as both Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been trading rocket attacks on a near-daily basis.

This comes on the heels of last week’s attack in Lebanon when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in a coordinated attack that Hezbollah has blamed on Israel, but for which Israel has not commented.

The explosions happened in two waves, in Lebanon, Syria, and Beirut.

In total, nearly 40 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

So things are… escalating. Which we don’t love. Not great.

However, right now this is a conflict. It is not yet officially being called a war. Some believe that’s because there are not yet boots on the ground. But with rockets flying on a near-daily basis, some, like King’s College London military analyst Andreas Krieg, are wondering if that’s the right metric.

However, that neither side wants to officially call this a war could be a sign that they want to achieve whatever they believe their goals are without creating larger conflict or being blamed for one.

In Lebanon, all court and judicial departments across the country will suspend work today, with the exception of urgent cases. It’s unclear whether they will resume services tomorrow.

So that’s where things stand.

As always, with this story, things are fast-moving. So it’s a hard story to cover but, I believe that basically catches us up with where things are right now.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I know it’s a short episode, I promise the news is back for real, but this is an important story. Hundreds of people have been killed. Thousands injured. And I just don’t think it’s appropriate for me to cover all of that and then with a whoosh be like “you’ll never believe what those wacky republicans are up to now!”

But honestly… you’ll never believe what those wacky Republicans are up to now, so make sure you come back tomorrow!

I’m proud of black cherries. Cherries in general, but black cherries are just so good!

But more than that… more a black cherry shake – because you are also a delight… I’m proud of you.