Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Israeli war cabinet votes to expand Rafah operation area, amid growing U.S. concerns
Axios | Barak Ravid | 05/10/24

Amid growing U.S. concerns about the humanitarian situation in Rafah, the Israeli security cabinet approved last night the "expansion of the area of operation" of the Israel Defense Forces in the southern Gaza city, according to three sources with knowledge of the details.

The big picture: President Biden said this week said if Israel invades Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, the U.S. will stop supplying it with artillery shells, bombs for fighter jets and other offensive weapons.

The latest: Two sources said this is a "measured expansion" that does not cross Biden's "red line." ... Read more

Republicans want to force Biden to send arms to Israel
Axios | Andrew Solender | 05/10/24

Republican lawmakers are pushing legislation aimed at stopping President Biden from withholding weapons shipments to Israel.

Why it matters: The administration's move to block the arms sales has drawn backlash from pro-Israel lawmakers in both parties.

Most recently, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) said in a statement on Thursday he is "deeply concerned" about the decision "as well as the President's comments about withholding security assistance to Israel."

What's happening: The administration has paused transfers of ammunition, 500-pound bombs and 2000-pound bombs - a way of signaling U.S. concerns about a potential invasion of Rafah, per Axios' Barak Ravid. ... Read more

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall

Five-year-old Milad Salama is excited for a school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem. On the way, his bus collides with a semitrailer. His father, Abed, gets word of the crash and rushes to the site. The scene is chaos-the children have been taken to different hospitals in Jerusalem and the West Bank; some are missing, others cannot be identified. Abed sets off on an odyssey to learn Milad's fate. It is every parent's worst nightmare, but for Abed it is compounded by the maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must navigate because he is Palestinian. He is on the wrong side of the separation wall, holds the wrong ID to pass the military checkpoints, and has the wrong papers to enter the city of Jerusalem. Abed's quest to find Milad is interwoven with the stories of a cast of Jewish and Palestinian characters whose lives and histories unexpectedly converge.

In A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, Nathan Thrall-hailed for his "severe allergy to conventional wisdom" (Time)-offers an indelibly human portrait of the struggle over Israel/Palestine and a new understanding of the tragic history and reality of one of the most contested places on earth.

"Dangerous" storms with potentially "intense" tornadoes threaten Central U.S.
Axios | Andrew Freedman,Rebecca Falconer | 05/07/24

A significant severe storm outbreak threatening much of the Plains and Central U.S. unleashed tornadoes across several states - including a destructive one that ripped through two northeastern Oklahoma towns late Monday.

Threat level: The Storm Prediction Center raised the risk level to "High," the most significant level on its risk scale that is rarely used, due to the tornado threat in central Oklahoma and southern Kansas into Monday night.

The storms are the result of a clash between cooler, much drier air from the west with fast-moving warm, moist air flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico and spreading across much of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.

The presence of strong winds well above the surface, associated with a dip in the jet stream, will help trigger severe thunderstorms and give them the energy needed to become supercells, which are thunderstorms that contain persistent, rotating updrafts. ... Read more

Exclusive poll: Most college students shrug at nationwide protests
Axios | Sareen Habeshian | 05/07/24

College protests against Israel's war in Gaza are dominating headlines. But only a sliver of students are participating or view it as a top issue, according to a new Generation Lab survey shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: The poll hints that the war - and the accompanying protests - might not hurt President Biden's election prospects among young voters as much as previously thought.

By the numbers: Only a small minority (8%) of college students have participated in either side of the protests, the survey of 1,250 college students found.

Students ranked the conflict in the Middle East as the least important issue facing them out of nine options. ... Read more

Kristi Noem Defends Killing Dog & Trump Sizes Up VPs | The Daily Show | 05/06/24 | 12:05

Inside Trump's stunning flip-flop on early voting
Axios | Alex Thompson | 05/02/24

After years of calling voting by mail "corrupt" and "crooked," Donald Trump and GOP committees are scrambling to convince their voters that it's safe and secure ahead of the Nov. 5 elections.

Why it matters: Democrats have built a large mail-in voting advantage over the GOP in swing states that could decide the election, as many Republican voters have bought into Trump's stated distrust of voting by mail.

Driving the news: Trump - who has long cited mail-in voting in questioning the results of the 2020 election - abruptly shifted his public messaging this month.

- "ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS," he posted on Truth Social. ... Read more

Exposing the NSA's Mass Surveillance of Americans | CYBERWAR | VICE | 04/27/24 | 22:20

Trump's N.Y. criminal trial: Who has testified and who hasn't
Axios | Jacob Knutson | 04/30/24

Former President Trump's first criminal trial in New York has so far featured witness testimony from a veteran tabloid publisher, former longtime Trump assistant and a former director at a bank.

The big picture: As Trump faces charges for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over his alleged involvement in a hush money payment, some of the case's star witnesses including Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen and adult film actress Stormy Daniels have yet to take the stand.

The trial was set to resume Tuesday with testimony from a key document witness over the creation of an LLC allegedly used by Cohen to distribute payments in an alleged hush-money scheme in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

Daniels has said she was paid $130,000 to bury her claim that she and Trump had sex in 2006. ... Read more

Watch Rachel Maddow Highlights: April 29 | Rachel Maddow | 04/29/24 | 20:16

UFOs: Last Week Tonight | John Oliver | 04/25/24 | 26:17

Mental health diagnoses jump among seniors
Axios | Tina Reed | 04/29/24

The share of patients with mental health diagnoses rose 40% nationally from 2019 to 2023, with the most significant jump among seniors, according to a FAIR Health analysis shared first with Axios.

Why it matters: While the data reflects the anxiety and stress of the pandemic era, it could also point to reduced stigma in seeking care and increased access via telehealth.

By the numbers: Mental health diagnoses rose across all age groups, according to the data from FAIR Health, which used a database of roughly 46 billion commercial insurance claims - including Medicare Advantage - to examine in-network claims between 2019 and 2023.

1. The largest increase (57%) was among those aged 65 and over. About 14% had a mental health diagnosis in 2023, up from 9% in 2019.
2. The second largest increases (about 44%) were among patients ages 23-40.
3. The share of patients ages 23-30 with a mental health diagnosis increased from 19% to 28%, while it increased from 18% to 25% for those 31-40.
... Read more
Elon Musk, The Tesla CEO received quick approval on expanding Tesla's business in the world's largest auto market, as the company's sales and stock prices have slumped.

Young Americans' wealth has soared since the pandemic
Axios | Emily Peck | 04/29/24

Read more
Their Starting to Post All the Old 'Last Week Tonight' Videos on YouTube. Kinda Confusing

Nuclear Weapons, Russian Geckos & Thailand | John Oliver
S1 E12: Nuclear Weapons, Russian Geckos & Thailand: Last Week Tonight | John Oliver | 04/28/24 | 30:06

DEI backlash pushes shell-shocked colleges to the right
Axios | April Rubin | 04/22/24

Big-name colleges are now cracking down more aggressively on pro-Palestinian protests, which they say are getting increasingly intense and disruptive.

Why it matters: Politicians exerting massive pressure on universities over protests, diversity efforts and curricula have started to push administrators to the right.

Congressional testimony by Columbia University's leadership and the school's subsequent aggressive posture toward student protesters this week spotlighted the increasing influence of conservatives on America's campuses. ... Read more

AI computer on your ears
Axios | Ina Fried | 04/22/24

In debuting a new wearable computer at the TED conference last week, Iyo CEO Jason Rugolo aims to follow in the footsteps of Humane's AI Pin while avoiding that company's missteps.

Why it matters: Many expect the AI era to inspire new types of hardware products, but there's little agreement what form they will take.

Driving the news: Rugolo on Wednesday demonstrated the Iyo One, a wearable computer featuring two large earbuds, custom-fit for the wearer and capable of pass-through and even augmenting sounds from the real world, while also responding quickly to a wide range of voice queries. ... Read more

The Greatest Book a Politician Ever Wrote
Politico | Michael Grumwald | 04/21/24

That's a story from Workdays, Graham's campaign book about his stints as a pooper-scooper at a horse auction, an orderly at a nursing home, a mechanic at a Toyota dealership and other humble jobs he worked on his way to the governorship. He won the race in a massive upset and went on to serve two terms as Florida's governor and three terms as its U.S. senator. He also served more than 400 days working in his constituents' jobs. After Graham died Tuesday at age 87, President Joe Biden celebrated the workdays in a statement, noting that his former Senate colleague "knew it matters to walk a mile in other folks' shoes."

Workdays is my favorite book by a politician, partly because Graham was probably my favorite politician - nerdy, funny, curious, courteous, compassionate, widely respected and magnificently weird. But it's mostly because Workdays is an amazing glimpse into what politics ought to be. ... Read more

Workdays: Finding Florida on the job by Bob Graham

But the workdays were never just political performance art. They really worked because Graham really worked. The cover of Workdays shows Graham gritting his teeth and spraying sweat as he struggled to wrap a steel cable around a logpile; he didn't look like a very talented "skidder operator," the job he was doing for a North Florida lumber company, but he was clearly trying his very hardest. Lots of politicians talk about "the dignity of work." Not so many back it up by picking tomatoes and shoveling manure.

Graham always put in a full day on whatever job he was doing, and his genuine respect for his co-workers and their craft comes across on every page. He spent his day at the nursing home feeding and bathing patients and changing their soiled bedsheets with Johnny Denton, "a 33-year-old Black man of Santa Claus shape and ebullience" who earned $2.45 an hour. He was clearly moved by Denton's dedication to his patients, by his belief that "these old folks must be good, because God let them live so long," by the care he took to fold the seams in the sheets under the bed so nobody would get sores.

How the strong U.S. dollar is rippling through the world economy
Axios | Neil Irwin | 04/19/24

With the world's finance ministers gathered in Washington this week, one topic is coming up over and over: A surge in the value of the U.S. dollar against most other major currencies is making life complicated for economic policymakers around the world.

Why it matters: The flip side of the stronger dollar is weakening in other major currencies, which tends to fuel inflation in countries that have already been struggling to bring price pressures down.

It also makes dollar-denominated debts overseas - especially common in emerging markets - more onerous, essentially throttling economic activity. ... Read more

Medicaid: Last Week Tonight | John Oliver | 04/18/24 | 28:12

Jon Stewart on Iran, Israel, and Trump's Hush Money Trial | The Daily Show | 04/15/24 | 14:46

Google fires 28 employees over protest of cloud contract with Israel
Axios | Jacob Knutson | 04/18/24

Google fired 28 employees on Wednesday after sit-ins at the company's offices in protest of its cloud computing contract with the Israeli government.

Why it matters: The protests stemmed from long-brewing discontent among a group of Google and Amazon workers over claims that Israel is using the companies' services to harm Palestinians.

Context: The group of workers, called No Tech For Apartheid, organized sit-in demonstrations earlier this week at Google locations in New York City, Seattle and Sunnyvale, California to protest Project Nimbus.

Nimbus, which went into effect in July 2021, is a $1.2 billion artificial intelligence and computing services agreement between Google, Amazon Web Services and the Israeli government. ... Read more

AI optimists crowd out doubters at TED
Axios | Ina Fried | 04/18/24

Some of the biggest names in tech took to the TED stage this week to reiterate the boundless possibilities of AI, with only brief nods to its risks and few new ideas for addressing them.

Why it matters: The technology industry is racing to create AI systems that could surpass human intelligence - and also believes they will somehow remain within our control.

Driving the news: Industry giants painted bold pictures of utopian breakthroughs.

1. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis suggested that while today's science sees only a few limbs of the tree of knowledge, AI could allow us to see "the entire tree" one day.
2. Mustafa Suleyman, Hassabis' co-founder at DeepMind and now a top Microsoft executive, went further, contending that we should think of AI as "a new kind of digital species."
3. Investor Vinod Khosla, meanwhile, promised AI would deliver free medical advice and education to all.

The risk, known as a "Moloch trap," is that individuals or organizations will take actions that make sense for themselves but end up harming society. (Poker champion Liv Boeree traced this dilemma in a TED AI talk last year.) ... Read more

Trump, the defendant, confronts courtroom reality
Axios | Zachary Basu | 04/17/24

Two days into his historic criminal trial, former President Trump is confronting the same rare feeling that fueled his erratic behavior in the wake of the 2020 election: a loss of control.

Why it matters: Trump is quickly learning that Manhattan's criminal courthouse is not like the court of public opinion, where he's broken every rule of politics and bulldozed his way to total Republican dominance.

Trump's campaign has been marked by choreographed rallies in front of adoring crowds, a few interviews mostly with sympathetic media, and angry rants outside courtrooms and on social media. ... Read more

World braces for Iran-Israel cyberattacks following missile attack
Axios | Sam Sabin | 04/16/24

Cyberattacks are likely to be high on the list of options Israel and Iran are considering this week as they map out retaliatory actions, experts say.

Why it matters: Iran's drone and missile attack against Israel on Saturday brought the two nations into unprecedented territory.

Israel's military leaders have already vowed to respond to the attack.

"The overt hostility and the overt physical aspects of the state-on-state confrontation moved things into a different sphere," Andrew Borene, executive director for global security at Flashpoint, told Axios. ... Read more

The reality of being a criminal defendant on trial finally dawned on Trump. He didn't take it well.
Politico | Kyle Cheney | 04/16/24

Donald Trump is learning a hard lesson: Criminal defendants don't get to set their own schedules.

Three times on Monday the former president asked Justice Juan Merchan to cut him loose from his hush money trial to attend to other matters - some personal, some political and some legal. Three times the judge responded with, essentially, "eh, we'll see."

Could he attend his son Barron's high school graduation on May 17? I'll get back to you, Merchan said.

It's a jarring new reality for Trump, who has been accustomed to setting the agenda for most of his adult life - and, in the years since his presidency, has bounced between his sunny Florida resort and political rallies brimming with adoring fans. But this spring, he'll have to spend most weekdays in a drab 15th floor county courtroom in a city with very little MAGA. ... Read more

Powerful conservative funds hand out millions to pro-Trump far-right groups
TheGuradian | Peter Stone | 04/16/24

Two powerful conservative non-profits have donated millions of dollars to a number of pro-Trump groups led by key far-right allies Stephen Miller, Charlie Kirk and others that have promoted election denialism, extremist anti-immigrant policies and legal challenges to bolster the Maga movement.

Based in Wisconsin, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Bradley Impact Fund in 2022 separately doled out six- and seven-figure checks to groups such as Miller's America First Legal and Kirk's Turning Point USA, and other Trump-friendly bastions such as the Heritage Foundation and Michael Flynn's America's Future. ... Read more

Pittsburgh streets flooded as severe storms threaten Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic
Axios | Rebecca Falconer,Andrew Freedman | 04/12/24

Heavy, relentless rains flooded Pittsburgh-area streets and prompted water rescues Thursday night, as a severe storm system threatened parts of the eastern U.S. into Friday.

The big picture: A rare flash flood emergency, the National Weather Service's highest flood alert category, was issued for parts of Pittsburgh, where up to 4 inches of rain had fallen just before 9:30pm Thursday.

The heavy rains were triggered by the same storm system that unleashed tornadoes and heavy rains across much of the South and Southeast this week, with flood emergencies declared in three other locations.

On Wednesday, thunderstorms brought so much rain to New Orleans that the day ranked as the third-wettest April day on record there. ... Read more

FBI chief warns of "coordinated attack" threat to U.S. after Russia shooting
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 04/12/24

The FBI is growing increasingly concerned about a potential attack in the U.S. similar to last month's Russia concert hall shooting, bureau director Christopher Wray said Thursday.

The big picture: "As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once," Wray told lawmakers as he urged Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Zoom in: "Our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home," Wray told the committee.

"But now increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall" that killed more than 140 people, he added. ... Read more