Extra, Extra
Broken Promises: “Lawmakers should consider how they will explain in the coming years why America could no longer stop a disease outbreak overseas from reaching the homeland. Or why thousands of children who depended on lifesaving nutritional supplies made in American plants were left to die. Or why China is capitalizing on the vacuums left by America’s retreat.” I don’t think (enough) lawmakers will consider these things. But the rest of us sure as hell should. NYT (Gift Article): ‘We Are Seeing Complete Destruction’: The Damage Done by the U.S.A.I.D. Freeze.
+ Minerals and Deficiencies: “The Trump administration is stepping up its push for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hand mineral rights worth hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S., after Zelensky’s initial rejection of the demand fueled President Trump’s escalating broadsides against Ukraine’s leader.” Like everything associated with Trump’s view on Ukraine, this is backwards, blaming the victim instead of the invader. Timothy Snyder on the sadism of American policy to war-torn Ukraine“It amounts to blackmail enabled by ongoing Russian invasion. In effect, the United States is telling Ukraine to concede its resources to the United States, under the threat that American aid will be otherwise withdrawn, and those resources will be taken by Russia.”
+ Body Politic: “Early on Friday morning, the Israeli military announced that the body of Ms. Bibas — nominally returned, along with those of her sons, by Hamas to Israel on Thursday — appeared to be that of someone else. And an autopsy of the two boys, aged 4 and 8 months at the time of their abduction, revealed that terrorists killed them in Gaza ‘with their bare hands,’ the military said … For Palestinians, the devastation wrought by Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 raids — a reaction that, among other consequences, razed Palestinian burial grounds and killed thousands of children including some younger than Kfir Bibas — has long overshadowed Hamas’s terrorist attacks at the start of the war.” NYT (Gift Article): Fate of Bibas Family Recalls Trauma of Oct. 7, Renewing Fears for Gaza Truce. Times of Israel: Oded Lifshitz, hostage slain by Islamic Jihad, was journalist and peace activist.
+ Knee Soreness: “When Meta made its surrender to the right on speech issues last month, I felt confident that it would only lead the Trump administration to ask for even more. And now here’s the new FTC chairman, arriving right on queue with a timely reminder: in crony capitalism, there is always another ass to kiss.” How Meta’s concessions to the right may have backfired. (Weakness rarely leads to strength.)
+ Mail Pattern Boldness: “President Donald Trump is preparing to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent mail agency into his administration, potentially throwing the 250-year-old mail provider and trillions of dollars of e-commerce transactions into turmoil.”
+ Vile Heil Phile Bile: French far-right leader cancels CPAC speech over Steve Bannon’s ‘Nazi’ salute. Speaking of Nazi salutes, Elon Musk’s DOGE is going after the agencies that regulate his companies.
+ Rink Blots: While the NBA all-star game was brutally boring and suffered terrible viewership, the NHL all-star experiment captured the attention of even non hockey fans. 4 Nations Face-Off: Connor McDavid scores golden goal for Canada to take down Team USA. Meanwhile, “the New York Yankees’ facial hair and grooming policy, an infamous edict in place for nearly 50 years, was formally amended for the first time Friday.” Yankees to allow ‘well-groomed beards‘. (To counter the move, the Dodgers just signed ZZ Top.)
