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Biden Says It's Time to End the Gaza War - The Monday AM Quickie 6/3/24

By Jacob Silverman —

Is Trump's conviction a sign that even the ultra-powerful aren't above the law, or is it a craven descent into banana-republic-style political persecution? I have a guess! -Jacob

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THE BIG NEWS

Biden Says It's Time to Stop the Gaza War

"It's time for this war to end," said President Joe Biden on Friday, speaking about the disastrous eight-month Israeli military campaign in Gaza that his government has directly facilitated. The president presented an Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, return hostages, and provide a "full and complete ceasefire." Hamas has seemingly embraced the deal.

But there have been mixed messages about whether Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu agrees with a proposal that is catered to his government. Israeli officials have repeatedly deprecated the importance of recovering hostages alive – to the outrage of hostages' family members – and said that it would continue to fight Hamas beyond any ceasefire agreement. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both said they would leave Netanyahu's government if it agreed to the proposal.

On the ground, the horrors only compound, as Israel continues to bomb Rafah. In the last few weeks, one million people, many of them starving, have fled Rafah, looking for safe zones that don't exist.

Dr. Anthony Fauci's Congressional Testimony Promises Republican Histrionics, Maybe Some Needed Truth

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime government public-health official, will testify in front of a House panel today, during which Republicans are expected to unload on him for four years of pent-up Covid-19 grievances, real and imagined. They might be joined by some Democrats, who are reportedly concerned that one of Fauci's colleagues deliberately withheld information from public-records requests. The line of questioning revolves around the larger question of US government support for "risky virus experiments," as Politico described them.

Besides the controversial question of viral research, there's still a lot we don't know about the government's pandemic response. A recently disclosed memo indicated that, while social distancing helped save lives, the six-foot distancing standard was basically made up without much supporting research (or follow-up studies). The year-long House Republican investigation into the pandemic and Covid's origins has been mired in propaganda and conspiracism, though it's also yielded some surprising bipartisan success. With Dr. Fauci in the dock today, we're likely to experience more of the former.

Felonious Trump Joins TikTok, Says He Wouldn't Mind Jail

Our newly convicted ex-president joined TikTok over the weekend, completing his complete u-turn on the Chinese video sharing app. When in office, Trump called for the banning of TikTok and stuck to the usual hawkish anti-Chinese rhetoric. Since then, he's become acquainted with prolific Republican donor, and major TikTok stakeholder, Jeffrey Yass, who's helped a number of Republican politicians find religion on the supposedly dangerous foreign app. Trump's first post was a video of him attending a UFC event.

In another damage-control media appearance, Trump said that he wouldn't mind house arrest (of course) or jail time. "I'm okay with it," said Trump to some Fox News sycophants. Maybe they should indulge him.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Protesters' Occupation of Brooklyn Museum Ends in Arrests Demonstrators stormed the Brooklyn Museum, an art museum in (you guessed it) Brooklyn, and hung a banner from the front of the building that read, "Free Palestine, Divest From Genocide." Eventually, the NYPD arrested 29 people, charging some of them with assault and trespassing. via Reuters.
  • Starvation Plagues Children in Gaza A survey last month found that 85 percent of children in Gaza had gone at least one day during a three-day period without food. There's no definitive count of how many Palestinian children have died from malnutrition. via The Guardian.
  • AI Is Consuming Tremendous Resources For Dubious Value AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT are devouring hardware, water, and electricity at a stunning rate. The environmental and industrial footprint of AI mania is challenging utilities and data centers. via The Guardian, Axios, and MIT Tech Review.
  • Hunter Biden Gun Trial Set to Begin Hunter Biden's criminal trial on three federal gun charges is supposed to start today. The president's son, a longtime addict with a history of self-destructive behavior, is accused of buying a gun while abusing drugs, which is a violation of federal law. via CNN, WaPo, and ABC News.

SOME NUMBER

5

That's how many times media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who's 93, has been married, following his wedding over the weekend in which he got hitched to Elena Zhukova. Described as a retired biologist, Zhukova, who's 67, was once married to a Russian industrialist, and her daughter, the socialite Dasha Zhukova, was married to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and is now reportedly in a relationship with shipping titan Stavros Niarchos. Money, power, love, an ornery right-wing billionaire who probably has a library of prenups – so relatable.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

6/3: Happy Monday! Sam & Emma speak with author and historian William Hogeland, proprietor of the “Hogeland’s Bad History” newsletter on SubStack, to discuss his recent book The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Trump ROASTS Libertarian Party As His Convention Appearance Devolves Into Chaos

It's refreshing to see Trump forced to ad lib in front of a group of hecklers for the first time in a while.

Donald Trump's Incompetent Lawyer Throws Him Under The Bus

If you're a defense lawyer who's just lost the trial of a lifetime, the best thing to do is blame your obviously insane client.

PARTING WORDS

"Starbucks baristas did us a huge favor by organizing. And many people would have said that that wasn't strategic. That wasn't manufacturing jobs. That wasn't in tech. That wasn't in these areas where it would be strategic to try to tackle our economy. No, you know what it was: it was people saying, we're going to organize even though people say that this is a throwaway job, that this is a college job, that this is a job for immigrants and women and so it doesn't have as much value. They said, no, no, no. Economic rights are directly tied to social rights. And this job matters, too."

-- From a speech by labor leader Sarah Nelson, a flight attendant who in recent years has become one of the most eloquent and visible advocates for unions and the working class.

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