Welcome to The Now

 Looks like Mike Johnson is slipping into his role quite nicely (for the military-industrial complex):

 Republicans who were against the Ukraine-Russia war (mostly because Democrats were for it) being all in for the Israel-Palestine conflict, even using some of the same arguments that Democrats used for supporting Ukraine. Pundits calling the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson "boring," when history show that sometimes the "boring" politician in power is often the most dangerous. Religious people (particularly some Christians) who embrace Israel's actions in Gaza because they believe this is the first step to them entering Heaven.  The American government believing that it's military can simultaneously fight China, Russia and Iran. American voters who believe that participating in the two-party system is more democratic than supporting unions, strikes and worker protests.  Not making the connection about the advancements in AI and how various video/audio productions shared by the government and the media should be questioned.  Those of different creeds, ba...

 

The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression. For one aims at perpetuating resented injustice, the other is merely a momentary passion soon appeased - C.L.R. James .

 On Strike talks about the phenomenon of politicians "suddenly" forgetting about Medicare For All after Biden won the White House:

 Now that the US House of Representatives has elected a Speaker who just happens to believe that Donald Trump should still be president, CNN's Zachary B. Wolf wants to put to rest the "uniparty myth," namely that the daylight between Republicans and Democrats is negligible: Republicans’ House speaker morass continued Tuesday with a little help from former President Donald Trump. Yet another lawmaker with support from most House Republicans – Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who was picked as their party’s nominee – failed to get the support of nearly all Republicans. He dropped out of the running Tuesday afternoon, leaving Republicans again back at square one. Late Tuesday, the GOP conference selected a fourth nominee, Rep. Mike Johnson, who faces a floor vote Wednesday. Emmer, who supports military aid to Ukraine and who voted to certify the 2020 election, saw his chances fade in the most bizarre possible way hours after being picked. Trump lobbied against Emmer with a soci...

 Richard Medhurst talks about the "diplomacy myth" between Israel and Palestine, as well as the end of the "two-state solution:"

  You would think that with everything going on in Ukraine, YouTube would be as vigilant about making sure ads like this do not pop up as they are about actual videos criticizing the Ukraine government. You would think. 

 

 " Freaks and Geeks " and " Popular " shared two things: both were set in high school and dealt with characters/topics that were a little ahead of their time. Also, apparently the stars of both shows went head-to-head on Family Feud:

 There are two competing answers to this question. On one side, there are those who share The Times of Israel 's Tal Schneider's argument that Netanyahu saw the rise of Hamas as a way to prevent a unified Palestinian state from becoming reality and enabled Hamas towards that end. On the other side there's Business Insider 's Rebecca Rommen who writes that Netanyahu simply took a less active approach to dealing with Hamas .  So who is correct? Or more specifically: who is more correct? Rommen cites Middle East analysts like Laura Blumenfeld ("The approach was more of a seasonal mowing of the grass rather than scorched earth")  and Jonathan Spyer ("Netanyahu has never said he prefers Hamas, so people are extrapolating from his supposed behavior.") to support her argument. Schneider points to the uptick of work permits to Gaza since 2021 and Israel allowing "suitcases holing millions in Qatari cash to enter Gaza through it's crossings since 2...

 

 Along with RBN's Jaybefaunt , Medhurst has been punished for the "crime" of sharing information that's not approved by mainstream media.

 Although most of the bombing has been coming from one source in the past few days (even after telling Palestinians to go south to avoid being bombed), apparently this one incident was done by another party: If the surveillance apparatus of the Israeli government is so robust, wouldn't they have the means to produce evidence to back Biden's claim? Otherwise, critics will claim this is just the "40 beheaded babies" story all over again. 

 Australia decides that it's aboriginal population only sorta, kinda counts : Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues. Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed. To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well as majorities in four of Australia’s six states. The defeat will be seen by Indigenous advocates as a blow to what has been a hard fought struggle to progress reconciliation and recognition in modern Australia, with First Nations people continuing to suffer discrimination, poorer health and economic outcomes. More than 17 million Australians were enrolled for the compulsory vote, with many expats visiting embassies around the world in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s poll. The p...

 The great-grandson of Henry Ford (who once said that his employees should be able to afford the cars they make) whines about the workers who have made his family crazy rich (h/t Status Coup):

 Breaking Points reports that apparently there's no "Plan B" after Hamas is taken out:

 

 They did put out a statement : " The Black Agenda Report editorial team is grateful to our readers for their support and patience. Last week we were unable to publish BAR due to circumstances beyond our control.   BAR’s web site was hosted by News Click, a media organization located in India, whose offices were  raided  by that country’s government, ostensibly on a search for “foreign influence.” This investigation was prompted by a  New York Times story , which claimed that a News Click co-founder promoted what they called “Chinese propaganda.” News Click has denied these charges but the police raid and seizure of devices prevented access to Black Agenda Report’s site.  We have returned this week with the help of a new web host. The new site is still in the design phase and there will be some changes in the near future as we make necessary adjustments. We appreciate your continued understanding as we rebuild our online capabilities.  Thank you a...

 Since the Hamas attack, three prominent Muslim anchors (Mehdi Hasan, Ayman Mohieddine and Ali Velshi) have not been seen or heard of.  The Business Standard reports that they were " quietly taken out of the anchor's chair " for no clear reason, but speculation is that their faith were perceived to be a conflict of interest as their role as journalists. 

 To go from being surprised by the Hamas attack to knowing exactly where they are is a bit of a stretch: 

 This is not a joke. Well, not an intentional one: Unlike RFK Jr. and Cornel West , Uygur has decided to run as a Democrat . And yes, as Ron and Kit have mentioned, Uygur will have some legal/constitutional hurdles as he was not born in the United States.  Also: Uygur's robust platform  has a total of four policy issues: Time Off for Mothers - Paid Family Leave  Higher Wages - $15 Minimum Wage  Affordable Health Insurance – Public Option  Fight Corruption – End Gerrymandering  Not sure if foreign policy will be added later. He does have a book coming out though. 

 There's also a question posed: Do we need bosses?

 

 Nevermind the fact that Hamas was involved in the recent attack yet Israel has decided to punish every Palestinian in the Gaza Strip in retaliation, but we have people like Haley who want to involve Iran (who while they may be a beneficiary, they not claimed responsibility for taking part in what's happened):  

It certainly seems that way:

 Lee Camp and Richard Medhurst (respectively, not together) have their own takes:

 

 Ever wonder why taxes haven't gone up to pay for helping Ukraine with billions of dollars?

  Lee Camp explains .

 

 

 If the Shutdown was going to ruin the economy, than why would the US still try and fund Ukraine?

 His staff had Code Pink protesters arrested (apparently for the crime of wanting him to live up to one of his old foreign policy stances):

 There are many , many , many reports that the West (the UK in particular ) is running out of weapons for the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Not "running out" as in, "we can't fight our own personal wars," but more like, "this proxy war has just about served it's purpose." Now instead of facing reality and trying to save face by trying diplomacy with both Ukraine and Russia, the focus is being shifted to China (who for all intents and purposes, are on firmer ground than Russia). There are indications that China is getting tired of the saber-rattling.  But let's be clear what's happening: Instead of accepting that a non-American, non-European nation will become the world's new #1 financial powerhouse, the US and Western Europe would rather entertain World War III. They would rather risk the lives of every man, woman and child on the planet than live in a (slightly) more equitable economic landscape. 

 

 While the end of the 2023 Writer's Strike is a breath of fresh air to late night talk show hosts (not to mention Drew Carey's wallet ), one of the point of contention the writers had with the owners was the use of Artificial Intelligence. Specifically the realization that Hollywood wouldn't hesitate to replace writers with a bot that could spit out scripts for way less money. Well, this should be something for both writers and actors to be concerned about, because apparently Tom Hanks and Robin Williams are being used with their (family's) consent. This question has been asked before, and it will be asked again: wouldn't it be easier to replace the CEO's with AI?