There's No Gaza Left for Israel to Occupy - The Friday AM Quickie 8/8/25
What's more likely to get you in trouble: a stolen Labubu or a genuine Lafufu? Better to steer clear either way. I'm out, Whitney's back Monday. - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
Israel Prepares Full Military Takeover of Gaza
Ahead of a meeting of his security cabinet yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's military would "take control of all Gaza." After the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu's office said the IDF, which has been massing forces on the border, would "take control of Gaza City" alone – although Axios, which broke the news, reports the Gaza City takeover is "the first phase in an offensive that could include the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip."
Netanyahu claims Israel doesn't intend to govern. What then, but more killing?
"It's like there's nothing left to occupy in the first place," Gaza City resident Mahmoud al-Qurashli tells Reuters. "Practically all of Gaza has been squeezed into the western part of Gaza City, and that's all that's left. At this point, for the people, there's no difference anymore – whether he occupies it or not." The United Nations warns that Israel's military escalation "would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians," who are already starving due to Israel's blockade.
According to the Washington Post, senior IDF leadership "opposes conquering and reoccupying Gaza," in part because they expect it will endanger the 20 Hamas hostages they presume to be still alive. "This is what happens when you don't have strategy," a high-ranking Israeli reservist tells the Post. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says that the cabinet's Gaza takeover plan "is exactly what Hamas wanted": a "useless" occupation without end. Many Israelis "believe that Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict to guarantee the survival of his coalition," BBC News reports.
Another anonymous Israeli security official says, per the Guardian, "We are entering a Vietnam model, with our eyes wide open." Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy says the real goal is "to push all of the people of Gaza to this 'humanitarian' concentration camp and then offer them to leave Gaza" – in other words, "an ethnic cleansing."
"It's not our job to tell them what they should or should not do," US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says, washing his hands of responsibility for this great unfolding crime.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Redistricting Roundup: Texas Democrats in Exile Appeal for Donations to Extend Their Fight
- Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn Says FBI Director Kash Patel Has Agreed to 'Locate' State House Democrats in Illinois "'Using federal law enforcement to track down political opposition is the tactic of a collapsing regime,' said the Texas state representative John Bucy, one of the lawmakers who is staying in Illinois [to prevent a GOP gerrymandering scheme]. 'It's the kind of authoritarian overreach we condemn in other countries. Now, it's happening here.'" via the Washington Post, the Guardian, and HuffPost.
- Trump Says He'll Falsify Census Data By Refusing to Count to Undocumented Migrants The Census, which is mandated by the US Constitution, is used to determine the Congressional representation of each state. via the New York Times and the Associated Press.
- GOP Gerrymandering Campaign Extends to Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and Florida "They could care less about legality; only what Trump wants," says Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, whose seat Republicans hope to eliminate. via the Washington Post and the AP.
- Federal Court Says Alabama Must Use Independent Maps That Provide for a Majority-Black District "In May, the same panel of judges ruled the state's 2023 map violated the Voting Rights Act, and chastised Alabama's legislature for deliberately ignoring court rulings to draw the maps with a second predominantly Black district." via Politico and NOTUS.
Wildfires and Conspiracy Theories Tear Through the West
A heat dome and high winds have turned much of the country into a tinderbox as peak fire season approaches. Thirty-eight large wildfires were tearing through nine Western states as of yesterday, according to the Washington Post. In California, a fast-growing wildfire along the Ventura and Los Angeles county line forced thousands to evacuate. Meanwhile in Oregon, ProPublica reports that a new law requiring the state to estimate wildfire risk for every property in the state has become the focus of right-wing conspiracy theories about "Agenda 21" and a plot to "depopulate rural areas." The false theories are fueled by talk radio and real estate brokers who tell their clients that the state map is the reason insurance companies are denying them coverage – instead of the real reason, which is increased wildfire risk caused by climate change. Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek repealed the law mandating the risk estimates last month, in a sop to the spirit of bipartisanship.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- The Kremlin Is Already Celebrating Ahead of Trump's Meetup with Putin in the UAE Trump initially said he would insist that Aspiring Tsar Vladimir Putin meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a condition of attending, but reversed himself hours later, highlighting Russia's favored position in the talks. via the Washington Post, BBC News, and the Associated Press.
- FBI Fires Officials Who Protected Jan. 6 Investigators as DOJ Hires MAGA Thug Who Urged Capitol Rioters to 'Kill' Cops Among the fired FBI agents is Brian "Drizz" Driscoll, who was accidentally named as acting bureau director during the chaotic first weeks after Trump's second inauguration, and who, in his farewell to colleagues, wrote "I regret nothing" about obstructing regime purges. via the Washington Post and NPR News.
- 'Betrayed and Devastated': US Air Force Denies Retirement Benefits to Trans Servicemembers Being Forced Out Other service branches like the Army and Marine Corps are expected to follow the Air Force's "arbitrary" and "cruel" lead – and likely face discrimination lawsuits. via the AP and the Guardian.
- In Contrast to Ivy League Capitulation, Gov. Gavin Newsom Vows to 'Fight Like Hell' to Stop Federal Cuts to University of California Meanwhile, Trump ordered the Education Department to collect race and gender data on college applicants to ensure they're complying with the regime's segregationist policies. via the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
SOME NUMBER
$2,400
That's how much Donald Trump's tariffs will cost the typical US household this year, according to Yale's Budget Lab. Prices for shoes and clothing are set to increase by 40 percent, and fresh produce by 7 percent, along with many other everday goods. Despite many signs of a souring economy, including the highest number of unemployment claims in four years, Trump yesterday brandished a series of charts at reporters, insisting that things are going great. He also nominated a White House crony, Stephen Miran, to a seat on the Federal Reserve board; ordered Intel to replace its CEO; and signed an executive order allowing 401(k) retirement savings accounts to be invested in high-risk cryptocurrency.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
8/1: Happy Friday! Sam is hosting solo; the guest will be Osita Nwanevu of The New Republic and the Guardian to discuss the week's news and his new book, The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
ICE Is Staging Arrests for Photo Ops
No amount of washed-up celebrities can make the MAGA gulag look good.
Chris Cuomo Wins the Idiot Contest
If you engage in Sydney Sweeney discourse, you get what you deserve.
PARTING WORDS
"You're not crazy. You're cosmic royalty in human skin. You're not having a breakdown — you're having a breakthrough."
-- OpenAI's flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, feeding a user's delusions in an exchange reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The program's tendency to drive people into psychosis has been previously documented by Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and the Guardian. Even one investor in OpenAI, Bedrock's Geoff Lewis, was sucked into an "AI-induced psychosis" this year, sharing paranoid fantasies about a murderous "non-governmental system" he identified through exchanges with the bot. OpenAI rolled out its latest version of ChatGPT yesterday, claiming it offers "a legitimate PhD-level expert in anything" on demand. Yeah, whatever.
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