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DNC Starts With Dems Divided Over Gaza - The Monday AM Quickie 8/19/24

By Jacob Silverman —

Don't let the scary crypto orb project run by the insane AI guy scan my eye, please. Thanks. -Jacob

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THE BIG NEWS

DNC Starts With Dems Divided Over Gaza

The Democratic National Convention opens today in Chicago with Democrats still having not reconciled with the Uncommitted movement, which seeks an end to Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. Expect a heavy police presence, daily protests on behalf of Gaza and LGBTQ rights, 50,000 attendees, 5,000 delegates, and enough "let's go ahead and win this thing" speeches to fill four days of airtime. Vice President Kamala Harris was already officially nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee via a virtual rollcall, so this will very much be a ceremonial affair, a coronation that Democrats hope to coast through.

Today's events open with President Joe Biden (name rings a bell), Dr. Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. The list of speakers continues from there, and it's all mainstream, down-the-line Democrats – no WWE wrestlers or golf pros at this one – with the pageantry culminating in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz publicly accepting his nomination on Wednesday and a primetime speech from Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday.

Democrats will lay out policy priorities and some kind of agenda beyond "beat the bad man," something that's arguably been lacking as Harris and Walz have embarked on an energetic series of rallies preaching to the faithful.

It is also, crucially, an opportunity for Harris to somehow appeal to the Uncommitted movement, whose members want to vote Democratic but are outraged by the Biden administration's complicity in Israel's crimes. It's possible that Harris will utterly fumble this moment with some vague policy triangulation and typical centrist Democratic cowardice. At minimum, she needs to pound the podium for a ceasefire. It would also help if Chicago police and the many other militarized law enforcement agencies on the ground there this week don't brutalize protesters calling for an end to this horrific war.

There is pretty much no platform or streaming service on which the events won't be available. There will be endless turgid commentary from cable news, but this newsletter will be sure to stick to its core competency of meme-based punditry.

Still No Gaza Ceasefire as Israeli Attacks Continue

Despite efforts from US, Egyptian, and Qatari meditators, there is still no ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas rejected the latest US proposal yesterday, claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is widely considered, even by his own ministers, to be sabotaging negotiations – kept changing the terms. The latest draft deal would have Israel retaining a great deal of military control over Gaza while preventing residents of northern Gaza from returning to their homes. In fact, it didn't sound much like a ceasefire and was referred to by some as a "bridging deal."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday – his ninth trip there since October. Israeli forces continued to launch strikes across Gaza, using US-supplied weapons to kill dozens of people over the weekend, including a mother and her six children. The official Palestinian death toll recently passed 40,000, but many experts fear it could be several times higher than that.

Ukraine Seems to Be Doing a Decent Job Of Invading Russia

The surprise Ukrainian invasion of Russia is two weeks old now, the fighting having spread from Kursk to the Belgorod region. Ukraine has made unexpected gains and forced Russia to redeploy some of its forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touted that Ukraine's position in Russia was "getting stronger." Ukrainian forces blew up two Russian bridges and captured more than 100 Russian soldiers. At the same time, Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are closing in on Pokrovsk, a strategically important city straddling roads that are important for Ukrainian supply lines.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • The GOP Is Losing It Over Harris' Proposal to Go After Price Gougers Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed a federal ban on price gouging in order to address a rise in prices in groceries and other essential goods. Republicans, who want corporations to make as much money as possible at the expense of common people, are very mad about this. via AP, WaPo, and HuffPost.
  • AI Might Not Kill Us After All A new study has found that large language models like ChatGPT "cannot learn independently or acquire new skills, meaning they pose no existential threat to humanity." Can we devote the billions of dollars spent on this crap to something useful then? via University of Bath.
  • A New Stonehenge Discovery Is Blowing Historians' Minds A mineralogical test on the central stone of the Stonehenge monument shows that the rock came from northern Scotland. The discovery implies that neolithic tribes across what's now Great Britain had trading and social relationships. "It completely rewrites the relationships between the Neolithic populations of the whole of the British Isles," said one researcher. via The Independent and The Guardian.
  • Covid-19 Is Once Again "Surging" This Summer Recent tests show that Covid levels in wastewater are as high as they've been in two years. In this new endemic phase, Covid is less deadly but continues to disable people and to evolve, with some doctors recommending a new booster shot coming this fall. via NPR and CNN.

SOME NUMBER

200

That's how many days it's been since Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl, was killed by Israeli forces in a massacre that also killed members of her family and two paramedics who attempted to save her. Zeteo reporter Prem Thakker has repeatedly asked the US State Department for answers, as chronicled in this new video.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

8/19: Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Richard Slotkin, cultural critic and historian, professor of English and American Studies at Wesleyan University, to discuss his recent book A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Republicans Are Already Planning For A Post-Trump GOP

Some prominent Republicans seem to be laying the groundwork for a Trump-free future. In August.

Does Joe Rogan's "Comedy Career" End Like This?

How can someone so popular be so unfunny?

PARTING WORDS

"Well, first of all, I also said there were a lot of benefits to that wave of immigration, but has anybody ever seen the movie ‘Gangs of New York’? That’s what I’m talking about. We know that when you have these massive ethnic enclaves forming in our country, it can sometimes lead to higher crime rates."

-- Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance, who's definitely not beating the "weird" allegations, used a throwback, 1850s-style nativism to call for a crackdown on migration at a recent rally. It might also be worth noting that "Gangs of New York" is a scripted movie, a piece of fiction.

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